16 - Carronades
Had to do some more re-work now. Having made up a carronade I rapidly discovered that it was to large to fit inside the gun port and angled up (incorrect gun port bulwark placement?) anyway to correct I removed the sills and reduced the height of the bulwarks before re-fitting much lower. The carronades should look like they could be pushed straight out of the gun port with no ledge to stop.
Building the carronades was equally unusual. I initial used a drill to widen the slots in the upper wooden section of the assembly to ensure the trunnion brackets fitted (the wood was way to small for them) but for some went too deep as you need to get some copper wire through both trunnions and the carronade loop. I also drilled holes according to the plans which are not used. As far as I can tell you only need two holes on the side close to the front.
For the barrels I painted them black and then using a tip from MSW used a heavy lead pencil to go over the raised sections. This gave them some contrast and hence made them look more realistic. I had been uncertain about dry brushing as that would indicate more wear than most naval ships would be prepared to countenance. Afterwards I sprayed with a gloss varnish as the metal parts should look metal and the difference between that and my standard wood matt varnish would help the model.
I resolved after drilling 1 holder and seeing the difficulty one of the pins would have in fitting through the swivel brackets that I would glue the carronade to the front sill and not try and fit a pin through (which would be difficult in some of the more tricky gun ports).
FUTURE TIP - Do not follow my advice and use the pins. The best time to drill the holes for the pins would be before fitting the capping rails. If you do not then you will be knocking the carronades when rigging and some will cone undone..
Luckily carronades are probably the easiest cannon type to put ropes around as there is only one. I still found it fiddly though. My end roping solution though was as follows. Without the carronade in place I would cut a length of 'rope' - do not cut too small expect waste. I would then tie a figure of eight through one of the bulkhead loops. Sounds easy - 'tie a figure of eight' though in reality much cursing and failed loops resulted. The best method seemed to be some advanced tweezer action. Loop once , hold the loop at the join point take the loose end and wrap is around the upper section and then push through the hole before tightening. I would then thread the carronade onto the string leaving it on its side. Next apply glue to the carronade and place in position. Problem here was that the instructions ask you to paint the wheels black and the glue for this section is super glue. Applying super glue to waterbased paints causes the paint to mix with the glue making an unsightly black mess if you do not place the carronade exactly right first time... I would recommend not painting the metal touching the decks of the wheels but only do the sides. No one will see the unpainted section, even the bit slightly raised from the floor and as an advantage you get a better joint and no mark should you need to move it (and you will).
Now wait a short while for the glue to dry before tying the last loop. A simple hitch knot is required here with the knot tightening to take as much slack (as you require) from the connected rope. Do not pull to far as a hitch knot will undo. Then snip the excess rope off before applying a dab of super glue to each of the knots to keep them stable should they decide to work loose. Ta daaa carronades done. They really help to give the model some form. Even with my lowly modelling skills.
Were I starting again apart from not painting the undersides of the carronades I also would purchase two pairs of tweezers as they are really quite handy.
