Thank you!
It took a lot of hours of work, but I have the actual gun fully detailed. I probably spent 4 hours just on the breech details and getting the hinging and counter-balance system arranged in correct engineering.
I created two versions: breech closed and breech open. The handles and cams are in the correct position for each mode. The first two images are screen prints from SketchUp and the second two are Podium Rendering Engine photo-realistic outputs. Notice that the areas that are black show up as polished chrome on the renderings.
While the drawing was challenging just in the details, what made it more so was ensuring that every part was a complete solid, no backwards faces, and all parts were fully attached to the model in enough places so the print would be stable in the 1:72 scale. I want to print the entire receiver is as few pieces as possible. I think I’ll print the breech assembly in the open position as a separate parts. All the rest will fit on my printer as I showed earlier in thread.
There are left- and right-hand guns since the powder hoists come up the central column of the turret. The port and center gun have their hoists back-to-back so they have their powder hoist doors on opposite walls meaning the guns are loaded from two different sides. The starboard gun loads on the right side with the powder door on its left.
I still don’t have my hands on the kit or the barrels. Without them I can’t get too far into the weeds of the internal structure. I know that the guns are right. I will start designing the hardware in the gun rooms themselves including the rammer (which extends into the officer compartment) and the projectile cradle and the spanning tray. Getting the guns right was the centerpiece of this whole undertaking. And in doing so gives me a boost in confidence to do the rest.