French Ironclad Neptune 1:250 Scale

[Michael Mash]

This group of images begins by showing a pair of views of the (paper) railing installed at the top of the aft superstructure.

Next, Neptune needed her 37mm Revolving Cannons. There are four of them, two for the forward superstructure and two for the stern superstructure. At 1:250 scale they are tiny. But I managed to get three decent images (209, 210 and 211) showing them installed. The guns are made of 9 parts, all paper. They appear to be similar to the “Gatling Gun”.

The vintage photo (213) gives one of the best views I have of one of the guns on the stern superstructure with two sailors next to it.

Kind Regards,
Mike

[Renaud]

These are Hotchkiss, they look quite similar to the well-known Gatling guns, however, their mechanism differs a lot.

[Royaloakmin]

Still awesome, Mike!

[Michael Mash]

Thanks for the information Renaud regarding the 47mm Hotchkiss guns.
It's always a pleasure to get your insight.

Thanks Fred!

In the background of image 215, I show a template with rigging lines. They are paper, painted black. That is the material I will use to create the rigging on and around the davits.

While studying the vintage photos from Renaud, I recently realized the aft davits are about 10% larger than the forward davits. So . . . I enlarged my davit drawings by 10% and made four more. Photo 218 shows the two sizes side by side. Each pair has the larger davit on the left and the smaller davit on the right. The small davits measure 36 feet in height, while the larger davits measure 40 feet in height.

Vintage photo 221 shows the davits in action. This image does a good job showing the rigging attached to the columns on the deck, supporting the davits as they swing out over the water. Looks like they have deployed the boats, and are in position to retrieve them as needed.

Kind Regards,
Mike

[abhovi]

Astonishing work Michael.

[Michael Mash]

Thank you Ab for the encouraging words.

[Don Boose]

Belated kudos on those superb Hotchkiss guns and thanks for the info on your rigging methodology (I am still trying to grasp that you make your rigging from paper) and the davits. As always, I appreciate the period photographs that put your modeling in context and, incidentally, show just how accurate that modeling is.

Don

[Michael Mash]

Thanks Don for the generous remarks.
Yes, those vintage photos are interesting, and also the source of a vast amount of detail.
Mike

[romanmodels]

Good work as always Mike.

[firdajan2]

Hi Mike,

Time by time I´m checking the whole thread, and it still fascinates me.
Your accuracy and patience is incredible.
Now I´m sure when you will finish it. When there will be the cover of the gun

Do you remember it ?

Jan