More Scale Stuff
by John
There is the 1464 Turkish bombard (black), 17 tons, 307kg granite ball; the 1779 long naval gun off USS Constitution or HMS Victory 24lb balls; and a 32lb carronade. All 1:10 scale. Interesting to see them together on my kitchen table?
johnsmachines 
It is such a monster compared to the seemingly delicate little 24 pounders!
LikeLike
Great. I made my point.
LikeLike
Wow. That’s really cool!
LikeLike
I salute your workmanship John. Two really nice models. That small CNC lathe is a cracker, what make is it?
I have improved and modified numerous model pieces of ordnance, but have yet to attempt a scratch project. Looking at the range of skills you applied, I don’t think I will! From all I have read, boring a barrel of 300mm accurately is a real achievement.
I have just completed the repair of a 400mm hard brass piece in which the bore was damaged by a previous craftsman, who tried to bore it out from 20 to 23mm. He must have given up half way down, after leaving three ugly score marks inside the bore. I had it rebored professionally to 25mm, then inserted a marine stainless tube to create a new bore of 19mm. The outside diameter at the breech is 65mm.
The stainless liner serves a double purpose in locking the trunnions in place, They are a continuous bronze bar, set below the centreline, and partially bored through when the barrel was bored. I secured the stainless liner with the strongest loctite, then ran wicking loctite through the trunnions until they took no more. They will never move without an oxy acetylene torch. Finally, before boring through the liner at the touchhole, I applied more loctite under pressure into the brass touchhole, to fill any voids between liner and brass. Loctite loves brass so much it sets even exposed to air. So you have to work quick, as it’s a devil to remove.
I don’t know how the law stands in your country, but my strong preference is for fully functional models. I’m actually not too bothered about firing them, as long as I know it’s possible. The piece described above came with a carriage made of cocobolo wood. The quoin was missing so I made one of mahogany. All!I need now is a little brass handle for the quoin.
I look forward to seeing more of your work.
LikeLike
Hi Tim, in order, the small CNC lathe is a Boxford TCL 125. I converted it to run MAch 3 as the controller. (when I say “I” converted it I must admit that the electronics were done by an expert friend.) But I rarely use it these days, since converting the bigger Taiwanese lathe. The Boxford is still best for tiny parts say under 10mm diameter.
Boring the cannons was not difficult, just time consuming, after making an accurate D bit and hardening it. I used the CNC lathe to shape the end of the D bit.
Quite a few of our old smooth bore muzzle loader cannons in Oz were rebored with steel sleeves, and many of those were rifled. The sleeve was usually longer than the original bore, poking out of the muzzle by 6″ or so.
I am interesting in your Loctite techniques, and can see myself trying them.
The law, alas, is very strict here re firearms, and I am blocking up the touch holes (ie spiking them). It does seem a bit bit sad to be altering otherwise accurately reproduced historical models, but I do agree with the law in this instance. Plus when I do hand them on to the grandchildren, I do not want them to be tempted….
Thanks for the feedback and the very interesting info. Stay in touch. ps. where are you? UK?
John
LikeLike