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Thursday 24 March 2016

How to build a small generic pre-dreadnought battleship: Part 2: The armament

The model has two types of armament:
  • The Primary or Main Armament, which is mounted in two turrets
  • The Secondary Armament, which is mounted in casemates along the side of the ship

The Main Armament
The turrets were made from ½-inch/12.5mm square lengths of basswood.


Each of the two turrets was ⅝-inch/15mm wide, and the positions of the gun barrels was marked ¼-inch/6mm in from each end edge of the turret.


Holes large enough to accommodate the turrets' gun barrels (which were made from lengths of bamboo skewer) were then carefully drilled in the places that had been marked.


The turrets were then cut off the end of the length of basswood, and the centre of the bottom of each turret was marked.


The corners of the turret were then cut off at an angle of approximately 45° and holes large enough to accommodate a short length of bamboo skewer were then carefully drilled in the centre of the bottom of each turret. (The lengths of bamboo skewer that will fit into these holes was used to help to fix the complete turrets in place on the completed model.)


The turrets were then sanded to smooth out any minor imperfections and to round the corners off.


Short lengths of bamboo skewer were then glued into the holes on the face of each of the turrets to become that turret's gun barrels. These lengths of bamboo skewer were cut so that approximately ⅜-inch/10mm protruded from the turret.


The turrets were then set aside in order to allow the glue to cure.

The Secondary Armament
The casemates for the secondary armament were very simple to make. They were holes drilled in the the sides of the model's hull into which short lengths of bamboo skewer were then glued. In this model three holes were drilled on each side of the hull, the centre holes being 2-inches/5cm from the bows and stern, and ¼-inch/6mm from the top of the hull. Holes were then drilled ⅜-inch/10mm either side and in line with the centre holes.


The lengths of bamboo skewer were cut so that approximately ¼-inch/6mm protruded from the side of the ship's hull. These were then glued in place.

2 comments:

  1. A most comprehensive and accurately detailed description of How to make Your Toy-Like Battleships...well done BOB. KEV.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev,

      Cheers old chap! The final part should be appearing in a day or two.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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