Small Carronade model - 68 pdr.

I made this from Richard Stewart and Donald Heyes book 'Scale Model Cannon' as one of the most realistic of the selection in the book.

It's still awaiting a number of rope-eyes and I'm debating whether to try building a section of dummy hull with rope tackle etc. I used oak stripwood from B&Q instead of the BDMS flats the authors recommended.

It's rather small - about 5" OAL, and another thing I'm thinking of is building it again at double scale.

I tried bluing it with a paste similar to the G96 product available in gunshops. Whether the stuff was too old (it had dried hard and I added distilled water to try and revive it) or the mild steel was unsuitable, it didn't take well. I went black quick enough, but adhesion was poor to nonexistent, so I scotchbrited and WD40'd it all off again. Might try again when I can persuade myself to buy some proper G96...

Edited By Mick B1 on 14/09/2018 19:06:46

I have a recipe given to me 40 years ago for a witch's brew containing sodium nitrite and caustic soda (from memory). This is to be made into a strong solution which boils at considerably more then 100C. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me which is why I've never tried it but if you're interested let me know and I'll try to find it. I have a vague idea where it is! If you do decide to try it, use a bit of scrap first, it would be a shame to mess up all your excellent work. I'm assuming it is steel, if cast iron all bets are off.

I’ve found Sandblasting to be a good base for blacking, you get a really deep black on steel.

Mick B1 - I think it looks just great as is. Nice job!

By 'eck - it's a non-shooter, but at first I wondered if you were suggesting some sort of fiendish propellant...

Yes, it's plain BDMS, allegedly EN1a, though it's not quite as free- and clean-machining as some I've had.

As for Vic's sandblasting - isn't that likely to give a matt finish?

The other cannon in my album was also turned from BDMS, washed in near-boiling detergent water immediately prior to applying G96 paste, then washed again, oiled and polished. That produced a glossy finish that's lasted 16 years with little maintenance.

found the brew on the interweb, as I said liquids boiling at 140C. I wouldn't try this on the kitchen stove, if it works let us know**LINK**

Nice model Mick. A carronade is on my list of things I'd like to make. Where are you getting the rope eyes from?

Clive

Let's see if they're any b100dy good first...

How did you fit the pivot block on the under side of the barrel.

Threaded it 5/16" x 32 x approx. 6mm deep, then did part-turns of the die on the spigot till the block lined up.

There are drawings of a long 12 pounder & carriage and a carronade & carriage in C Nepean Longbridges book " The Anatomy of Nelsons Ships". There are also full details of the ships construction.

Brian

There are drawings of a long 12 pounder & carriage and a carronade & carriage in C Nepean Longridges book " The Anatomy of Nelsons Ships". There are also full details of the ships construction.

Brian

Edited By BDH on 15/09/2018 12:51:33

As regards bluing the metal - I think you'll find that the sodium nitrate is now classed as an explosive precursor so that, for our safety, the freedom we once had to buy it has been removed.

An option is to rust blue it. You can still buy ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac) on ebay and if you dissolve 2 grammes into 100 grammes of water, you have an effective rust bluing solution. I'd try on scrap steel first and see if you like the result. Method is to swab the solution sparingly onto the degreased steel and leave supported above a dish of water for a couple of hours until a light grey/brown rust forms on the surface. Then immerse the item in boiling water for a few minutes, let it cool and rub off the loose fine rust with 0000 wire wool. Repeat the swabbing, rusting, boiling and wire wooling five or six times until the metal looks a sort of grey colour after the final wire wooling. The last step is to rub in some linseed oil, which will give some corrosion protection and turn the colour from grey to blue/black.

You can actually use sodium chloride at a pinch(!) in place of ammonium chloride but the process might take longer to get to a good blue.

I hope the Oak doesn't attack the mild steel. At our MenzShed one of the guys thought he had the answer for storing some black smith drills (1/2" shank), drilled some holes in a block of wood, put the drills in, and the next week the drill shanks had rusted and had to be forced out of the holes, not too much damage, but what a mess, I made a new rack from steel.

I'v only ever used heat for bluing steel.

Ian S C

Excellent model, well done Mick.

I would agree with Ian S C regarding the use of oak

Roy

Ian and Roy,

Ain't no rust to speak of on me 24-pounder trunnions after 16 years in contact with oak:-

I think the trunnion caps are 9/16" silver steel, and I may have varnished the oak before laying in the barrel - but I think that's unlikely as I was looking for a close running fit and reckon I cut the mount with a 9/16" slot drill, but it's all a bit vague now...

Oh yes, and I think I've got the grain in the oak running the wrong way - should be horizontal.

And thanks for kind words.

Edited By Mick B1 on 15/09/2018 16:52:30

Sodium nitrate isn't on the EPP list, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/licensing-for-home-users-of-explosives-precursors/licensing-for-home-users-of-poisons-and-explosive-precursors

So you can buy it OK . Try ebay.

Robert.

Looking at ebay, sodium nitrate is quite expensive, potassium nitrate is quite a bit cheaper. It is used in curing ham amongst other things. No idea whether it would work as well, perhaps some chemist out there can comment

I think buying saltpetre to go with a model blackpowder cannon might generate questions?

I'd imagine if it were set up to fire, it would perform much like one of those small flintlock or percussion pocket pistols, say like an original Deringer.

Any road up, family are saying they like it as it is, as have some on here - so for the time being I'll not be following up on bluing/blacking.