9/14/2020: 3D Printing a Pivot Gun

Took a shot at printing a pivot gun again. After a try at printing the gun and slide as separate parts, I went after it all in one piece again. I used Siraya Tech Build, Smokey Black resin this time, it's supposed to be structurally stronger. It certainly makes for an interesting print. The print didn't come out great; the front of the slide is deformed, and part of the cascabel didn't print, but these things can be repaired and the model made usable.

2/28/2022: 3D Printing a Boat Howitzer

Getting a job with odd hours left little time for me to do anything else. Then COVID hit and I works full time through that, till some "karen" guy came along and got me fired. So I haven't done anything on any of the models for a year and a half, but I have some time for myself again. I haven't even printed anything on the Mars since that stuff back in 2020. Someone asked if I could print something for them, a plate that goes into an electrical box to mount a smart-thrmostat I think, and since I had resin in the vat, I figured to give something a go.

I had a file set-up for the launch's boat howitzer, so that's what I decided to print. Imagine my surprize when it printed properly. Add my surprize that the model was scaled almost half the size it should have been! So now I have a 1:72 scale boat howitzer, but figured that at the right scale it should print better with everything being thicker...right? I rescaled the file to the right size, angled it a bit more, and waited 4 hours to find it printed great! Back on page 35 I went over making the 3D model and a first attempt at printing it.

3/1: 3D Printing an anchor

Another item that failed on my first try was the anchor. This time it printed just fine. The second anchor came out fine as well, but I have something else to print before getting to the last two.

3/13-16

Gave printing a pivot gun another shot, but if came out almolst exactly the same as the last one. I rearranged the supports to address the problem areas and using a gray version of the strong resin, printed it once more. This time it came out great. Well, there's some flaws, but nothing easy to see or making it unusable.

One more issue though was the low-poly gun barrel which left it with a faceted appearance. I worked up the gumption to redo the barrel in the 3D model and printed it once more. The new smooth barrel came out great, and I think I'm about done printing pivot guns.

3/16-17:Launch

Modeling the fittings that the boat howitzer pivot on, I decided to model the rail with all the pivot blocks attach. This would fit in the printer in one piece, so it was divided into two; fore and aft. The rail was glued onto the launch after the top of the hull was sanded to be flat and smooth. Then some paint was applied to it and the boat howitzer.

The stanchions, boarding steps, and block shells were reprinted with the stronger gray resin, and the stanchions, blocks, and anchors got some paint. The steps with be paint after they're installed.

3/17-25: Un-rigged the model and got it up on the bench so I can install some of the stuff I've been printing, and I'm still printing.

Started painting the pivot guns and pretty much finished painting the launch and it's boat-howitzer. The gun on the sled is actually glued in place, the carriage I think I'll just tie down. I modeled some oars for the boats, only printed 11 of them so far - the blades need to be a little thicker.

The wheel I got from Shapeways looked great, but was much too fragile. I was getting a bit tired of finding spokes and glueing them back on and finally made and printed a new wheel.

In anticipation of what I'll need to finally properly rig the model, I started making Shroud fairleads and bullseyes. Shroud fairleads or "sizing trucks" as Olof Eriksen calls them in his book; Constitution All Sails Up and Flying, guide lines from the belaying pins up to the shrouds so they don't droop down over the deck - see the red arrows in the picture below. Comparing them to Eriksen's drawings, the were pretty much the same from Constitution's to Constellation's. I modeled the double-hole ones and printed them, and the bullseyes, in three sizes. I'll probably need to make single hole ones as well.

I've made several pin-rails for the fore and main masts of wood, but didn't like any of them, so I decided to model new ones. On a whim, I printed a version with the belaying pins in place. It seems this resin will be strong enough to handle this idea, so now it's finishing the model for the main mast pin-rail.

I feel I did a rather sloppy job on the pivot gun's deck circles, so I decided to 3D model and print new ones of those too, though they aren't done yet.