Cutting Out Gunports

A close up of the tracing paper also showing the circular gun ports.The tracing paper had been very accurately cut to the shape of the top of the hull much in the same way that the cardboard template.

I then placed a fresh sheet of tracing paper over the hull and marked all the centre of the gun ports this would hopefully save working out the other side.

The light you can see behind the hull is a daylight lamp which is an absolute must for modelling it produces a very natural light while remaining very cool unlike spot lights that make you very hot while working under them. Made by the daylight company.

This proved to be the easiest way of removing the waste from the gun ports by drilling a series of holes about 2mm in diameter around the inside edge and then using a knife to join the holes up and remove the rest of the waste. It was then finally finished with a file.

You can see from this photo that the blocks for the dummy canons worked out very good for centre with only a couple being sightly to one side, but not enough to hinder the placement of the canons.

I will in due course black all the blocks out so as not to be visible.

It was time to mark out the the top line of gun ports, these had to be a different size to accept a brass casting, I also temporary made up a gun carriage to make sure the gun would be in the centre of the opening, this again proved to be quite good with only having to raise the opening about 2 to 3 mm.

The gun ports on the bottom and the second from bottom were lined with walnut .5 x 3mm this was almost as time consuming as cutting the gun ports themselves.

I found it much easier to lay a piece of masking tape over the hull to mark out the gun ports and were positioned in such a way that they were square to the water line.

The centres all worked quite acceptable with the blocks inside the hull for the dummy canons.

It was time to cut out the gun ports, I had already transferred the centre lines onto a sheet of tracing paper before sealing the hull with varnish.

I laid the template onto the hull and drilled a small hole through the centre of the gun port and then laid the tracing paper over the hull again and compared the centre lines with the drilled hole and adjusted to suit.