Making my own cannon; Scratchbuilding 4.7" guns for the destroyers

but of course it turns out that there aren't any suitable 4.7' mounts in 1/200 scale

       Much to my chagrin it seems that there aren't any suitable 1/200 scale 4.7" mounts with shields to fit the destroyers that I am building. I am almost happy for it; this way all of both models will be entirely scratchbuilt. A rather perverse way of looking at it, but I will have to live with that.

back to our original source we start scaling things up...

 

the outer sleeve of the gun is made of aluminum tubing,

 I chose to use aluminum as it is soft enough to cut easily with a craft knife

 

but you will have to open the mouth of the tube as the cutting process crimps the tube

next insert a bit of brass rod through the length of the aluminum tube 

so that about 3/32" sticks out, apply superglue to this

 

originally I intended to use 5/32" square Plastruct rod, but my local was out of stock

 thus I had to substitute balsa for the breachblock , this is glued to that tiny bit of brass rod

 

next I cut a bit of plastic tubing for the pedestal

 and notched one end to be the saddle for the gun tube

 

more superglue and it is ready for a shield

 

once I was happy with the prototype I entered mass production

 

the shield is simply a card fold-up like a gift box

 

I tried to make the guns rotate but that turned out to be rather fiddly

 so they will be glued in place once the painting is done

 

I think that they turned out rather well

 

now I find myself thinking about ammo lockers..... 

... and railings

 

but, after eight of these, I might just be able to control myself

 

besides I need to build the torpedo launchers, 

and about eighteen Carley floats, 

and six lifeboats, 

and some searchlights...