I am contemplating my next effort and it doesn’t seem to fit any existing categories.
I would like to scratch build a 3inch Ordnance rifle.
To that end I purchased this extraordinary book of drawings. Most are actual government drawings for the construction of the actual weapons and their carriages. They are complete down to the size , shape and count of the nails - not kidding.
Still studying the drawings and will be for some time yet - there is a lot to digest . First step will be to decide on the scale - I would like to go big .
a look inside…
I think the site would benefit from a category for artillery.
Cheers- Richard
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As I see no specific catagory I thought I would begin by continuing this thread.
As a study for an upcoming scratch build I dug an old Marine Models white metal kit out of the stash - mid 1970’s IIRC
1/16 Parrot Rifle .
I want to build a 3” Ordnance Rifle and so I had hoped to modify or turn from scratch a barrel to install on the carriage.
To compliment it I purchased a limber kit on eBay . The limber is one of Model Expo’s redo of Marine Models original kits . Much improved with Britannia metal and cleaned up molds .
Marine Models strangely never offered the 3” Ordnance rifle so I planned to modify the kit barrel or turn one from scratch. Model Expo does , however, offer one and they currently have one on deep sale for less than the cost of the material for a new barrel alone so I ordered one . I expect it this coming week.
I have largely assembled the limber from the new kit and the gun carriage from the ancient and considerably poor quality Marine Model castings - flash , warpage , sprue gates everywhere. All you see here is now in Tamiya fine light grey primer . I will update when the new gun kit arrives.
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I received the new gun kit from Model Expo today .
As previously mentioned it was on deep sale and cost less than the material with shipping to turn a barrel from scratch.
As in the limber , the quantity of the castings is greatly improved over the 1970’s era castings from the original kit - I will be using the new kit for the Ordnance rifle and complete the original kit as the Parrot rifle . Wrestling with olive drab paint colors right now .
It seemed there was a bit of variation ( no surprise there ) back in the day - I have shot the limber and gun carriage with Tamiya Olive Green as their Olive Drab seems too dark .I am playing with mixes now between the two .
The next issues is the barrel itself from the new kit .
Here in the government drawings as well as photos it can clearly be seen that the profile of the barrel is concave.
I made 1/16 scale drawings using the dimensions given and made a template , gluing the drawing to a piece of aluminum and cutting it out.
Here it can be seen that Model Expo has produced the barrel with a straight taper and also got the shape / size of the cascabel wrong .
Looks like a tune up is in order .
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You’re right. I’ve long thought there should be an artillery category.
I’ll follow it this.
The straight taper is easier to do on a lathe, although refining it would have been a simple matter for them afterward.
One would think 3 inch cannons would have roughly the same proportions. Mine are are only 41 inches in total length and have a step in the barrel.
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I am going to retract my previous statement regarding the quality of the casting in the new gun kit .
When I began assembling it I discovered the trails suffer from extreme shrinkage - too much material and / or too rapid cooling.
Here is the original 1970’s era Marine Models kit posed with straightedge…
And the new kit showing the concave sides …
I contacted Model Expo regarding this issue and the barrel shape and received a prompt and courteous reply thanking me for the information but essentially there is nothing they can do .
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