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Project- my first Civil War Cannon – 1/6 scale


Custermen
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I had to obtain some more stock supplies. I wanted to finish the Breech so I could mate it with the barrel, but I decided I need to finish all the breech mechanism before I should permanently glue it to the Barrel as it would be much easier to work. One problem was how to install the Shaft so I could assembly and disassemble it. I went through 2 designs and 3 fabrications before I got it. I had to have a way to insert the Shaft and attach the main Cam and the Worm Cam so it will be in correct clocking position. (BTW: the museum piece at Frankfort is NOT clocked correctly.)

 

Here is the Breech Mechanism Assembly. I threw on some quick paint to see how it would look. I need to work on the paint mixes---I probably should have gone a little slow on the paint as the paint has reduced the tolerances of the moving & sliding parts and it doesn't work as freely. I'm hoping a spray finish will smooth that out. The Worm Cam on the left is painted to look like tarnished brass but it is a little to Gold. The front end is not painted as I will have to putty after mating with the Barrel.

 

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A view of bottom of Breech. There is a metal plate screwed on bottom to hold the Breech Block in place as it slides back and forth. You can see the Breech Block is closed against what is the aft end of the Barrel.

 

I'm using Silver or Aluminum paint to show the contact of the moving parts. One replica gun had the entire rotating Cam as unpainted metal -- but it was streaked and rusted. I put 3 different colors on this Cam plus Rust but I had to sand it some to allow it to move. That added some realistic scratch marks.

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I had to re-make the Pintle Mount for the Barrel. Trying to make sure the gun will mount vertical and not tilted to one side.

 

Meet Lt. Henry Clay Holt, Commander of Buckner Battery.

He will be operating the Williams Gun until I can recruit and out-fit a gunner.

 

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Highlights of military career.

 

Admitted in US Naval Academy on September 21, 1858--- Class of 1862.

Released from USNA in April 1861

Commissioned Midshipman in CS Navy and assigned to CSS Jackson

October 12, 1861 - Battle of the Head of Passes, an attack on Union blockade.

January 11, 1862– Battle of Lucas Bend(Columbus, KY)

 

After fall of New Orleans, the Confederate Army formed a privateer unit: Confederate River Defense Fleet.

Assigned as 2nd officer to cotton-clad ram CSS Little Rebel, the flag ship of CRDF.

June 6 – Battle of Memphis. CSS Little Rebel is grounded and crew escapes.
CRDF is dissolved and officers released from service.

 

Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in CS Army on June 19, 1862.

Department of Mississippi, General Daniel Ruggles

June 25 – Lt. Holt assigned to carry dispatches from Grenada to Capt. Brown, CSN, commander of CSS Arkansas.

July 25 – Appointed A.A.I.G. and later assigned duty as Post Adjutant or P.A.C.S.A

September 20, 1862 – Appointed 1st Lieutenant & Drill Master at Camp Moore, Louisiana, a training base for new recruits located directly south of McComb, MS.

August 5 - Campaign at Baton Rouge. Lt. Holt was recognized in official records.

 

Summer 1863 - General Chalmers began organizing more cavalry regiments and training them at Grenada.

Commander of Buckner Battery in September 1863. Volunteers were assigned to the battery, most from the 56th Alabama Partisan Rangers(cavalry).

Assigned to Col. Robert “Black Bob” McCulloch’s cavalry brigade of General Chalmers’ cavalry Corps.

Participated in General Chalmers West Tennessee Raid:

+ Battle of Salem, Miss. October 8, 1863 -

+ Battle(1st) of Collierville - October 11, 1863 - Guns of Buckner Battery destroyed the train carrying General Sherman and his staff, Generals Lightburn and Ewing. The Confederates failed to capture the Union earthen fort and General Sherman.

+ Battle of Wyatt, Miss - October 13, 1863 -

 

January 1864 – Buckner Battery and Lt. Holt transferred to General Polk’s army.

No record of his service after February 1864.

 

After the war, Henry Holt returned to Tullahoma Tennessee where he married and started a law practice. Henry Holt got into a heated argument with another lawyer, James Aydelott. On August 8, 1868, Henry called Aydelott to come out in the street of Tullahoma and settle this. They drew pistols and Henry’s gun misfired and he was shot and killed. He is buried in Tullahoma.

 

This figure is a Brotherhood of Army 1/6-scale figure title “CS Infantry Officer, Virginia”

I would like to try to update his uniform to match what would be more accurate for Lt. Holt. Would he have retained some pieces of an Army uniform or even his Navy uniform while serving in the cavalry?

By mid-1863, most of the Confederate cavalry were armed with rifles and carbines and operated as mounted infantry----i.e., they rode to the battle and fought on foot. I need to swap out his officer's sword for a Colt pistol and find him a slouch hat.

 

 

 

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After struggling to decide what the true color used on the Carriage, I finally decided there was no real standard as the Army mixed the colors in the field. They did have a formula but after exposure to sun and weathering and mud, the color could vary quite a bit.

I decided on this mixture: Field Green, Military Brown and Yellow.

This is a little dark and I plan to weather it some and add a dusting of dirt---and of course rust.

Note the carriage bolt Washer and Nut added between every other spoke.

 

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Look closely and you may see a bullet hole in one of the spokes.

 

This wheel measure a little less than 6 inches in diameter. That is equal a 36-inch diameter in full scale. The wheel will come up to half the height of Lt. Holt.

 

Correction to previous post: General Chalmers formed a cavalry division. It wasn't unit General Forrest was promoted in February 1864 and Chalmers was placed under his command that a cavalry corps was formed for operations in North Mississippi.

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I had hoped to finish building the gun and the carriage and possibly post a photo with a base coat of paint. But I had a production hold up.

 

After assemblying my Barrel/Breech, I took a long look at it. The Barrel seems too long. I mounted it on the carriage for another look. Then I compared it to a photo of one in a museum---not just one original but two originals.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong as I followed the drawings. The drawing shows the length of the bore from where you load the round to the muzzle to be 48 inches(real gun scale). I had another source that put it about 10 inches shorter. I believed the “scaled” drawings were more accurate however, the drawings were supposed to be taken from the actual cannon shown in the lower part of this photo.

Below is a photo of comparison. I took a photo of my Model and then edited the image to obtain an approximate length shown in the photo of the Gun from Watervalet Army Arsenal.
It looks like I will have to cut off ~1 Inch or less.

I will continue working on the Carriage by adding hardware and priming it for painting. I plan to add a hook-and-loop support under front of carriage to stow a rammer and hang a bucket. I don't evenision this gun using a rammer except to clean the bore after a dozen shots or at end of the day.

 

{Disregard the grids in this image as they are not 1-inch scale. It is just a print-out that was reduced in size.}

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What a fantastic project! is it just me but I'm thinking the current lenght of your cannon looks right since the picture wasn't taken at right angles (term?) to the real gun???

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What a fantastic project! is it just me but I'm thinking the current lenght of your cannon looks right since the picture wasn't taken at right angles (term?) to the real gun???

 

I see what you are talking about. Good eye!

 

And this is a great project. Very interesting to see your progress.

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Well, I did it---I cut out almost 1-inch of the barrel back at the rear end next to the Trunnion fitting. I'm dying to get this model to a point where I can start splashing Paint.

I tried to contact the museum to ask questions but the shop guy may not be working there now. I had worked hard to get the barrel tapered and as round as possible. I had built a simple lathe that allowed me to rotate it by hand as I sanded it by hand. Very basic tools. I was really worried what it would look like if I chopped out a section of the barrel. I had used the drawings to get the exact OD's at each end so if I chopped out a large section that would mean that OD was wrong and the taper would not look right. I was afraid I would have to start all over with the barrel.

I think it looks okay. I will finish it and try to attach all the permanent hardware----nuts & set screws and sights--- and post a photo in a few days.

 

Here is a photo of my Wheels and Axle after the first coat of paint. I worked the Rims to make it appear worn down to the bare metal with some specks of original Black paint still showing and then added some Rust. I plan to add "wash" and stains to show fading and grease on the green wheel and spokes. Then I will use dry paint medium for the first time ever and add a layer of Mississippi dust.

I have also been adding hardware to the main Beam that attaches to the Axle. I am ready to attach to the Axle and add final touches before Priming it for paint. Maybe it will be almost complete this weekend.

In the left part of the photo is the "brass" worm cam. I tested a Gold paint mixed with Brown; don't worry, I stripped that paint and used actual Brass paint.

 

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The drawing in the background is not related to my Project. It is just a drop cloth.

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I was able to make contact with the guy who worked in the shop at the Watervliet Army Arsenal Museum on the Williams Gun there. He was the one who made the drawings. I wanted to contact him and get some answers on my Q's about this rare gun.
He said he had inspected and dimensioned the Williams Gun at West Point Museum. He also said all of these guns were different lengths. Makes sense as they were hand made and few of the parts would be cast.
Bad News
1- He verifies his drawings are correct and the Length of the Bore was 47-31/32 inches. I thought my Model did not have the correct proportions so I cut the barrel down on my Model.
2) He said the Army Arsenal closed down their Museum. And he doesn't know what happened to the original Williams Gun---probably one of 4 originals still left.

 

Here is the description of the Williams Gun that was at Watervliet Army Arsenal.
All my calculations are from original Williams guns, I spent time at West Point museum recording measurements of their gun.

 

The overall length of the gun is 68- 3/32 inches.
From the muzzle to the breech opening is 47 -31/32 inches.
The breech block or carrier opening is 18 -7/16 inches, plus the final length of the gun is 1-11/16.
Add these together and the TOTAL length of the entire gun is 68.095 Inch (or actually .001 thousands over 68 3/32 inch).
The barrel length, forward of the large OD(excluding the brass trunnion fitting) is 39- 31/32 long.
The total length of the bore is 47- 31/32.

I just had to alter my Model to make it look what the way I thought it should and scaling off the photos. After re-assembling, I measured the Bore Length and it is 43 inches in scale. I guess that is a happy medium. His drawings said 48 and other sketches and resources said 38.

 

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Here is Lt. Holt inspecting the first Williams Gun received fresh from the foundry at Mobile. He is still waiting for the Carriage to be finished and painted.

 

I like this photo as it shows the relative size of this gun.

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I still can't up-load 2 photos on one post.

 

The main Beam of the carriage still needs some work. I'm trying to place the Elevation Screw without getting it too close to the hooks for securing the rope. I may have to remove those altogether.

 

 

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Great project. Seems there is a lot of work. Could you take some detail pictures in the museum for your project?

 

I added some more paint and highlighted some of the nuts and bolts with silver then topped with Rust. Then I took my Model to show the Director of our town's museum. I had mentioned it to her but did not show a photo. She was already discussing how and where and when to display it. When she saw the model she was intrigued with it. It will fit nicely on a 17 X 17 inch pedestal that stands about 4 feet high and has a glass case that fits over it. She is trying to decide if we want to wait until the next Civil War history event such as the anniversary of the Battle of Collierville in the Fall.

 

I also showed it to a couple of people in the Town Hall. The Museum falls under the control of the Town Hall. One of the people there lead our small group of volunteer researchers who studied the battles and skirmishes and events from the Civil War time. My model was the first time for them to visualize the Williams Gun size and understand its operation.

 

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((Why is this posting the same photo again??))

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I have tried to describe how the mechanism worked on this breech-loader gun. In my PowerPoint talks, I used an animated drawing that I made. I'm an engineer and it took awhile for me to understand it.

Now, I can show how the gun operated using my Model.

I added a Yellow sticker at the front end of the Breech Block so you can see how it moves. You really can't see the (brass) Worm Cam on the left side. It rotates but it doesn't really operate the Hammer.

 

Step 1= Breech is OPEN. Gunner loads a round in the barrel chamber. The ball and charge is wrapped with a flash paper. Gunner also caps the nipple on the Left side under the Hammer.

Steps 2 & 3 = Crank is rotated to close the Breech.

Step 4 = Final pull of the Handle rotates the Worm Cam to drop the Hammer and fire the gun.

 

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Returning back home from a little trip I finally found your gun-project finished. I'm blown away by the result. Wow, modeling at it's finest. Thanks again for sharing this stunning project with us here!

 

Lars

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Thanks, Mr. Moderator.

 

My main purpose of posting this here was to motivate me to keep at it. I have appreciated the comments. I don't have many tools as a real hobbyist would have available to them. I had to borrow tiny drill bits. Most of my model parts were made with a lot of hand filing. I also thought I would use this thread to inform some about this very rare weapon. I haven't received a lot of Replies but it has been interesting to see the number of Reads this thread has accumulated.

 

I'm not done yet. I am working the final paint finish. THIS is the real reason I came here. I thought my questions about weathering was more indept and I was sure I had at least one feedback suggestion---I couldn't find it.

Here are two of the Questions I previously posted.

 

Here are my questions>

Q1: How do I paint the gun to replicate a Steel gun painted Black with wear?

Do I start with a base coat of Gun Metal and then add Black? I think it would be best to paint Black and then dry brush the Gun-Metal to add the wear.

Q5: Also thinking about how to weather it. Mud (wet or dried) or Dust? I have read the articles about adding mud and grime. Any suggestions?

 

 

I bought my first bottle of paint media ---dry powder. It was red Rust. I tested it out for the first time. I applied it with a regular medium hobby brush and also tried a brush we bought for oil paints that has the bristles fanned out in a wide arch. The application went well except it got everywhere. I could not control it easily so I got "rust" in places that I didn't intend to put it---including all over my work area and on my shirt.

Next, I applied the Fixer. This was NOT what I expected. A railroad hobbyist said to expect the Fixer to diminish the color. It "melted" the dry media and even removed it. I had rust on my carriage and had to repaint sections with Green. It seems that I should have just applied the media by mixing with paint thinner and painting it on. If that is the case, then I am paying triple the price for the dry paint media.

 

Q: How would it work if I brushed on the paint media and then sprayed it with Dullcoat?

 

A few weeks ago, I had found a webpage that showed how to apply the paint media and it included photos. If someone has a link, please share it.

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I can't answer your first question because I think you already did a perfect job painting the metal parts of you gun. Concerning the weathering, 'dust' would be my first choice. Since the gun is painted with darker colors I would choose a shade lighter pigments e.g. 'Dry Mud' or 'Europe Dust' by MIG.

When I started to experiment using pigments I used - no joke! - water as a paint media. You can easily paint on the pigments, wash away redundant pigments and if you don't like the result at all, remove the pigments completely. If you like the result you can airbrush the gun with mat lacquer finally.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

You have made a fabulous model, Sir!

 

An amazing piece of craftsmanship. Congratulations.

 

The painting as it stands in the pictures here has an excellent 'look' about it. If you do not mind a small suggestion, less is more has always seemed to me a good watch-word for weathering. Good luck in your final steps!

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Thanks for the comments.

 

Old Man --- I read you loud and clear.

 

I spent about $25 on several shades of dry paint media and tried it out for my first time.

 

I applied the dark mud (Umber) by wetting the brush with water and dabbing it on the wheels around the rim. Applied the Fixer and it looked good.

Next I wanted to dry brush a light coat of road dust (Grey). I was trying to get the effect of the carriage having rolled through a shallow stream and then ran down a long dusty road. The final look was great but I had to seal it. When I apply the Fixer, the Grey just washed away.

 

I went back to the wet application and applied dried mud using the same Grey. It came out way too heavy and splotchy.

Less is more so I wiped off the Grey. I will go back to old school method using liquid Paint and apply my road dust with the "dry brush" method.

 

I have a photo before I removed the Grey. But I won't post it. Instead I will work on it some more and see if you like the final product.

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  • 2 months later...

I have not posted an update to my thread in some time. I'm now working on a base for my Williams Gun which I hope to use when it goes on display at our small local museum. Also, I'm still working on dry paint application techniques. I figured I could practice this on my base.

 

I just HAD to update with these photos of a Replica of the gun that I finally got to see and touch. I was truly floored when I walked up to a sutler's tent at a re-enactment last weekend in Holly Springs. This gun wasn't use in the re-enactment but it appeared they had fired it a few times.

This replica was from North Carolina and I didn't talk to the owner but with one of those who did know a little bit about it. We discussed the differences between the Replica and the Real Deal. Most of this has been presented in one of the first 2 or 3 posts. For example, he said this gun had no brass parts: there should be at least 3. He also said the Spring Safety was NOT part of the original gun. I'm still pondering on that.

 

I actually got to man the crank. I almost talked them into letting me fire a Blank round but there were too many people around to do that.

 

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Try it again.

 

Note how the Hammer is cocked just before release. The Spring Safety is the piece of metal between the breech and the Crank. It has a Bolt that protrudes out and stops the Crank from opening the breech until you depress the Spring.
The mechanism was smooth. I always wondered if the force used to turn the Crank would pull the sights off target but there is no chance of that unless the operator is excited.

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  • 3 weeks later...
superchief

Nice job, unusual subject. Scratch building of any prototypical item always interests me, it's a different form of model building. As for the piece's finish and appearance...I have a rule of thumb. If it is in a diorama setting(telling a story, people involved) some weathering is fine. But if the piece is being displayed as a representation of the prototype (no people, no scenery) it would look better as a museum display, i.e. factory fresh. In my opinion a model looks silly (especially ship models) all rusted out and weathered sitting on brass pedestals on a fine wood base. But this is one man's opinion, your results may vary!

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