Riveting for Real

by John

The strength and resistance to twisting and other movements of the Armstrong cannon is in the chassis.  Specifically the design and strength of the longitudinal girders, AND the box section structure at the front of the chassis.

The box section has been a challenge in the 1:10 model.  Actually, it has been a bit of a nightmare.

It has taken me 3 full day sessions to work out how to construct this assembly, to make the parts, to join them together, then a lot of filing to make the assembly fit the girders.

And, of course, the parts are riveted together, and I am a total novice at riveting.

So this is the result.  Not totally finished and assembled, but getting there.

Again, I left my camera at the workshop.  These are photos which I took with my phone.

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The box section is an assembly of parts.  The ends were silver soldered.  The panels which show are steel, and will all eventually be riveted to the end sections.  At this time, some joins are still just bolted and nutted.

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This is the front of the chassis.  The rivets look OK yes?

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And the inside rivets were the first ones to be inserted.  Mostly worked OK.  They are copper, will eventually be painted the same colour as the girders.

And after the riveting, I have spent almost a full day of gentle and progressive filing to make the box section fit the girders.  It all fitted beforehand.  But after riveting, nothing fitted.  All of that hammering clearly changed some of the dimensions.  But, despite all of my pessimism, it all eventually fitted.

Now, I have another chassis to make.

Do I repeat the method, or maybe try something more efficient.  Like making a solid block of brass or steel, shape the exterior to dimensions, then hollow the interior?  Still pondering that one.

Part of the equation is that the riveting gun died.  Not sure what happened.  Maybe a blown O-ring?   The final few rivets in the above pictures were hammered.  My hammering is definitely not as neat as the rivet gun.   I do have a rivet gun on order, but they are estimating an arrival date of the END OF JUNE!   I cannot wait until then.  And the faulty gun is not mine so I feel diffident about pulling it apart and maybe repairing it, maybe really screwing it up.

The last time that I cursed the virus I lost 25% of my readers, so I will just think it.