The Ship Model Forum

My Steve Nuttal 15"and 4" barrels arrived yesterday for my Hood model. I already made barrels on my own lathe, but Steve unwittingly sent me a sample barrel to convince me of my childish attempts and show me "how it's done". Still, not being the average modeler, I had a few modifications on my wish list which Steve was kind enough to incorporate. Note below how a RN 15" barrel ends in several rings which are, from inside to outside, the inner "A' tube, the 'A' tube, the stop ring and the 'B' tube. The picture is from "To sail no more" showing Vanguard being decommissioned.

[img]http://www.warshipmodels.com/~users/Foeth/barrels1.jpg[/img]

You can see they're beautifully represented adding even more detail to the barrel.

[img]http://www.warshipmodels.com/~users/Foeth/barrels2.jpg[/img]

In order to glue to barrels, I made a small fitting template using 1.0mm styrene rod (Plastruct) and a 1mm piece of styrene cut to exact size.

[img]http://www.warshipmodels.com/~users/Foeth/barrels3.jpg[/img]

You can set your Chopper (buy one if you don’t have one) using your Mitutoyo calipers as shown below. I slightly adapted my Chopper, you may have to do so as well. This is an excellent method to set your Chopper to a certain length accurately and easily repeatable. I usually set it to within 0.1mm to build as accurately as possible, and on rare occasions to within 0.05. Check if it's set correctly using scrap styrene.

[img]http://www.warshipmodels.com/~users/Foeth/barrels4.jpg[/img]

Here the jig is in place to have the barrels properly aligned. I added a barrels to the jig, added CA to the rear of the barrel (there is a peg at the end going 4mm into the styrene barrel end). I also had the barrels stop at the blast bags so I could use simple styrene tubing (set to the right diameter with my lathe) for the blast bags. It’s much easier to add a blast bag on styrene than brass. The blast bag retainer ring was also added to the barrel on my request.

[img]http://www.warshipmodels.com/~users/Foeth/barrels5.jpg[/img]

I love the set up on the jig for adding the barells. Thanks again

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Dick Wood

Ok Foeth, so now we know you can build a 1/72 15" turret - but what's about your 1/350 Hood?

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Great idea with this jig - many thanks for sharing!

Jorit

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Hum...did anyone noticed if the 15' guns in front of the Imperial War Museum vanished away!?!?! Just kidding!!!!
Foeth, your Hood is going very very well...she deserves to be on a shrine

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"Build few and build fast,
Each one better than the last"
John Fisher

A shrine? Hmm, I like the thought Filipe!

And Jig was indeed the word I was looking for....

But this is the easy part. The 4"guns are next! They are really great!