Thank you all for your interest and kind words !
Progress is ongoing-- slow but steady now that the weather has turned more typically Northern European ( English !)
( wet, even wetter and then windy ) which in the absence of classic car activity does chain me to the model bench more effectively
Wikipedia entry on Bretagne.... broadly accurate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_sh ... gne_(1855)
but this caused me some thought and consternation...
The main battery of Bretagne used 36-pounder long guns, the heaviest available calibre, instead of the more modern 30-pounder long gun on which other ships standardised their armament. The aft of the ship was round and featured gun ports, like on Napol�on on her successors. Although she carried 130 guns of various calibres, Bretagne featured no less than 180 gun ports; this allowed the crew to reinforce the artillery on one arc if needed and time permitting, such as before a shore bombardment, and fire up to 80 guns on one target.
So far so good.....
... but then this..... caused some thoughts and wobbles
The ultimate increase in French capital ship design, Bretagne increased the number of heavy guns on the lower battery to 18 on each side, from the 15 of the Bretagne of 1766 and 16 on the Oc�ans. In the original design, half of these guns were 36-pounder long guns, as to maximise firepower at the price of standardisation on 30-pounder long guns that typically prevailed at the time, the other half being 60-pounder Paixhans guns. The middle deck fielded 18 30-pounder short guns and another 18 Paixhans guns of 60 pounds. The upper battery was armed with thirty-eight 30-pounder howitzers. Two 50-pounders and eighteen 30-pounder caronades complemented the armament on the deck. This gave Bretagne a broadside of 2,924 pounds (1,431 kilograms), compared to the 2,400 of the original Oc�an design.
now then.... after consulting a number of experts in the field of French warships of this era....( cheers-- you know who you are...!
)
( with considerably more knowledge and better reference libraries than I have.....
It would suggest the above Paixhan theory perhaps to be slightly flawed for my depicted era of 1856...? ==> as the sources consulted by the above exports of the period makes no mention of these having actually been installed ( at this time )...
checking the sparse selection of photos was inconclusive either way, and contemporary paintings ( these also inconclusive ! ) led me to the following decision!
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For the sake of the models appearance....
( symmetry of gun barrel lengths and appearance )
To have the 1 st battery( bottom row) consist of all 36 pdrs ( as per first quote)
with the 2 nd Battery (middle row and 3 rd Battery ( upper row) consist of all 30 pdrs.
The weather main deck will features carronades and muzzle loading guns-as well as
' a brace of canon de 50 '
anyhow onwards to tangible things in 1/700
................................................................................................................................................
The image below shows the difference 'twixt 36 pdrs and the Paixhan shell guns ( shorter barrel and no muzzle flare )
( these are small items in 1/700! )
I hope this will vindicate my decision as above !
The very small gun-port lids feature a scale thickness and have the correct steps in profile on the underside.
( the upper batteries-- split into upper and lower lids are
much smaller still!)
Noteworthy is the previously described gluing tongue
A trial install of a unpainted gun barrel into a selection of the apertures in the hull....
was encouraging in appearance !
It did also however reveal that all my initial drilling into the hull for the gun-ports......
( thread page 1 and 2) was not all of an entirely uniform depth... necessitating a test fit-and cutting to length of each barrel.
( ....up to 0.4 mm variation
-which does not sound much-
- but would equal to 280 mm in real-life 1-1 scale)
though its nothing that a quick swipe with a sanding stick cannot change!
The barrels that have been installed so far were bedded on to a dollop of white glue at the inboard end to give a cushion==> and an even and strong grab.
The white glue slower setting time also allowed tuning of the angle and heights of the barrels for some time! ( wiggle room time)
The gunport lids were installed using the handy and ( much! ) aforementioned glue tongues....
.......and using a good dollop of white glue to obtain a secure joint
( the glue dollop ends up going up behind the inside edge of the PE brass square in the side of the hull--giving secure adhesion
Early days still-- but the look and effect is increasingly promising !
The lids--once set and tuned--will receive a slight wash and very very light drybrush
onwards on to more lids ... and then the 2 rows of 30 pdrs will be next !
Thereafter the ship will be mounted on her sea base-....
-.......as it is getting increasingly more delicate to handle with all the protrusions
held on mainly with my will-power !!
