Rolling Gun Barrels and Masts - Another Approach

[Sakrison]

Rolling small tubes and gun barrels can be one of the most frustrating tasks in paper modeling, especially ship-building, where there are gun barrels and masts all over the place. I found a way to take some of the pain out of it, at least for me.

I’m building GPM’s Bismarck in 1/200 scale. The gun barrels are printed on cardstock, about 60-pound. Rolling them was giving me fits. Here’s how I solved that:

I used Adobe Photoshop® but almost any graphics program should work.

I redrew the barrels in Photoshop using one of the kit barrels as a pattern. After all, they are just a bunch of rectangles. I had to do some color adjustment by trial and error, but redrawing took only 10-15 minutes.

Once I had the barrel redrawn, I used PhotoShop to stretch it to twice its width, stretching it in the same direction as I would be rolling it. Once I had it stretched, I copied and pasted it, putting four barrels on a letter-size sheet.

I printed the sheets on bright white 24-pound letter paper, a little heavier than what the GPM kit’s instruction sheets are printed on. If you use 20-pound copier paper, you will need to stretch the original to 2-1/2 to 3 times its width, or use a slightly larger-diameter rod for the final roll.

I cut them out, touched up the edges with a marker (black) and a watercolor pencil (grey), and began rolling each barrel.
Roll #1, I rolled it on a ¼-inch dowel, unrolled it and,
Roll #2, 1/16-inch brass rod, and then,
Roll #3, 1/32-inch brass rod.

Roll #3 gave me close to the finished diameter I wanted, but I rolled and unrolled each barrel several more times before gluing it. Each time, the roll got tighter and easier to handle.

When I was satisfied with the tightness and diameter (after 5 or 6 rolls on #3), I carefully glued the breech end of the barrel first. This is the thickest part of the barrel and the easiest to glue. It also stabilizes the rest of the barrel and makes it easier to handle the narrower sections.

Next, I glued the muzzle section of the barrel. I used a pin to apply Tacky Glue to the part, and a gentle twisting motion to tighten up the muzzle. Then I glued the two sections in between.

Finally, I touched up the muzzle with my grey watercolor pencil.

Comparing my barrels with the kit’s barrels, mine are smoother, with less conspicuous joints, and they are a little stiffer. And I can print and roll as many as I have to until I get four matched pairs.

Do my barrels match the exact diameter of the kit barrels? Who knows? They look about the same, and they look consistent with the scale drawings and kit photos. And they are clean, straight, well-matched, and easy to make.

--David

[Inky]

This is a great idea. I am working on the USS Arizona so this will make it so much easier with all the barrels.

Thank you for the tip.

[Sakrison]

I haven't tried this on tapered barrels but it should work. And if your kit is digital, it would be easy enough to experiment. If anyone tries it on tapered barrels, post the results here.

[SJPONeill]

Sounds like a good solution, David, to a challenge that many of us struggle with...the way I read this, you are using more layers of thinner paper to achieve a better end result...do you muzzles still look open/hollow?

Simon

[Draco]

Sakrison, an easy way to know if the barrell width is ok is to compare with the turret openings and the internal support structures. Or, if you want a headache, the main gun diameter was about 70 cm in the smaller and 150 cm nearest the turret. Just do the scale conversions. The hollow was 38 cm diameter.

SJPONeill: about the hollowing, depending the layers of paper employed, you can end with a hollowing greater or tigher that the original GPM model, and closer to the real ship.

[Sakrison]

Originally Posted by SJPONeill

Sounds like a good solution, David, to a challenge that many of us struggle with...the way I read this, you are using more layers of thinner paper to achieve a better end result...do you muzzles still look open/hollow? -- Simon

Simon, you read it exactly right. The thinner paper is much easier to work and the extra layers give it the right thickness. And it does leave a hollow muzzle.

My first barrels might be a little too narrow at the muzzle. I'm going to try increasing the amount of stretch to three times the original. Another possibility would be to do the final roll of the 2X piece around a 1/16" brass tube. That might yield a better barrel diameter and a very realistic looking muzzle.

Back to the lab...

[CharlieC]

This sounds a lot like a technique I've used for tank gun barrels. The difference in tank guns is that there are often tapered sections where an outer tube is shrunk onto the barrel. I should show the steps but I'm a bit pushed for time at the moment.

A short description runs like this:

- Find/make a piece of dowel the correct scale diameter of the bore.
- Using a piece of 80 gsm (20 lb for Americans) mark out the barrel length + 20-30mm.
- Roll the paper onto the dowel as tightly as possible and mark when the diameter is the same as the desired muzzle diameter, diameter at the mantlet and the intermediate diameters.
- Unroll and mark off and cut out the shape created - for a simple tapered barrel it will look like a rectangle with one corner sliced off.
- Now roll the paper back onto dowel and glue with thinned PVA glue.
- Once finished it will look like the desired barrel but will have a prominent paper edge.
- When the glue has dried paint it with sanding sealer and let dry (doesn't take long).
- Chuck the barrel in a drill using the extra length to hold the barrel. Run at fairly slow speed and sand the paper edges off. Sand the paper back to the correct outer diameters - it may need a further sanding sealer coat if it the glue coat was a bit thick. Finish with fine sandpaper #400 or so.
- Push out the dowel, cut off the extra length and paint to desired colour.

If it all works well you get barrels are smooth, dimensionally accurate and best of all cost nearly nothing to make - unlike various aftermarket alternatives.

Regards,

Charlie

[Michael Mash]

David,
Nice description of your technique.
It seems many kits instruct the builder to print the gun barrels on card.
Along with you, I discovered that rolling them from paper is much easier and gives a cleaner result.
Mike

[Sakrison]

After much experimentation, and rolling a whole bunch of barrels, I think I've hit on the solution for the right barrel diameter:

Stretch 3X, trim about an inch off the breech end, which won't be seen anyway, and print. The attached sheet is letter-size (8.5"x11") in case you want to use my solution.

To save ink, I erased much of the grey that will end up inside the roll.

The result appears to have the right diameter and a realistic-looking muzzle.

Now I think I'll roll OUT the barrel and have myself a glass of ale.
--David

[Leif Ohlsson]

Good idea, David, rolling paper tubes of thinner paper than provided in most kits! I will remember this, and follow your advice of stretching 3X for starters. Thank you for this. - Leif