23 december 2018
The trunnions are mounted in the Guns and then put on the gun carriages . After having assembled everything, I had one complete Gun with gun carriages over and one Gun. First I wanted to put them in a box somewhere, but my wife wanted to put them in the living room. So a small display case was purchased and so there is now also a 32 Pound Gun in our living room to show off.
Actually I was a bit surprised by her action, at first she had indicated never to place a ship in the living room. I always start from the 'Happy wife, happy life' principle, so I never really insisted on putting a ship in the living room anyway. Now she's over I'm going to reward her with a few extra guns and other parts. I promised her that I would be the first to build the '34 Ft Launch Boat' as an extra project. I will place this project in the column 'Construction projects HMS Victory'.
I can't continue with the 32 Poud Guns now. The breeching ropes and tackles have yet to be made, but I am not yet in possession of an 'Endless Ropewalk. I have had contact with America to buy the Byrnes machine, but it is no longer in stock. Jim still has to decide if he will build an extra series and I want to wait for that. Domanoffs also supplies such a machine, but I'm not sure about the quality. Does anyone have experience with this machine?
For the time being I will first make the hatches for the Gun ports. As soon as I start working on the breeching ropes and tackles, here is another message.
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Greetings,
Henk
9 december 2018
In the past week I have mainly run production behind the lathe. On deck will be 15 pieces 32 pounds Guns and I have produced a few extra. I know there are all kinds of new technical possibilities like CNC and 3D. I see model making purely as manual work, so the Guns are turned by hand. So I measure and check a lot.
The Guns are turned out of pieces of brass around 15 mm and 95 mm long. Just to be sure I started with 17 pieces for when one would go wrong. At the end I have 17 pieces left.
My starting point is to follow the drawings as much as possible and I am satisfied with the result. Today I turned the trunnions of the Guns and next week I can finish them further.
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Greetings,
Henk
1 december 2018
The production of the axles has taken quite some time. The axles of the gun carriages are equipped with iron rings, so that the wood cannot split. I provided the axles with brass rings. After that the axles are provided with holes, so that the wheels can be secured on the axle.
The sides of the gun carriages consist of 2 blocks, which are held together by several pins. One of the pins is deepened in the wood. Then all the other holes, pins and eyes are made. In order to be able to assemble the gun carriages properly, I used a mould. After placing the wheels the horses are ready for the time being.
Next Tuesday all the brass is in for the cannons and I can start the production of the cannons.
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Greetings,
Henk
18 november 2018
The Lower Deck will have 15 pieces of 32 pound guns on it. The gun carriages for the 32 and 24 pound guns are the same, so I made a few moulds, so I can process several parts at the same time.
In the past few weeks I have converted many drawings into working drawings. All parts are produced by myself, so also the Rigging Blocks are made by myself. The barrel of the gun and the iron parts are made of brass and these parts are not colored. The intention is to follow the drawing as much as possible.
Meanwhile I started with the gun carriages. The sides have been milled and the other parts are custom made. In the coming week the axles will be turned on the lathe and then the first 15 horses can be put together.
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Greetings,
Henk
