AiP 1/32 Gatling Gun carriage re-made - Part 1.5

...I wasn't happy. The job I made of the new Gatling carriage just wasn't quite right (a reminder)...

The problem is that the gun's breech mechanism is laying right on top of the 'box' where the elevation mechanism should go (a wheel and screw arrangement which lifts and lowers the gun). At the moment there is no room for the screw to go between the box and the breech. Here's an idea of how it should look...

The elevation screw (inside red circle) lifts and lowers the gun barrels.

I hated to acknowledge what obviously had to be done...I was going to have to raise the trunnion holes in order to make space between the carriage and gun breech. Bugger!

Damn! No space between the breech and the elevation 'box'.

Well, after a lot of cursing and sawing away with my craft knife (must buy a micro-saw) I detached the end of the carriage with the trunnion holes and added a new 'end' piece and then re-attached the trunnion pieces on top on the new end pieces...Phew!

A bit rough and ready, but whatever works!

It's all getting a bit slap-dash now and a little messy but if I can get this first attempt to work and look right I'll know how to tackle any further carriages I make.

Messy maybe, but it did the trick...

I now have adequate space between the breech and 'elevation box' on the carriage (don't know if that's the correct term for it) to insert the screw mechanism. Obviously, now I'm satisfied, I will have to tidy the job up, but I'll add the elevation screw first.

Well, it's not the best piece of scale modelling but it's better than the original AiP attempt (sort of). I really wanted to do a little wheel but just couldn't find a suitable part in my scraps box.

I'm back on course now - this model has turned out to be a bit of a prototype really, as I work out the best way to make a 1/32 gun carriage with my chosen materials. Though I hope that once I have added the extra detail and painted this attempt it will look OK.

Back to square one, but I'm a bit happier now!

The good thing about modifying the way the gun attached to the carriage - and raising it - is that it solves one of the main issues with the original AiP model. It get's rid of the annoying 'droopy gun'!

Next: Adding the detail and painting.

Historical note: I mentioned that this form of Gatling - mounted on a conventional artillery gun carriage - was an earlier form of the gun. But there seems to have been another reason this 'heavy' carriaged version of the gun was in use - apparently it was useful for engaging fixed (or fortified) positions. In this case the ability to transverse - sweep left and right quickly - was not such a big issue (perhaps). I'm still reading but what amazed me was how very large calibre automatic guns were in use quite early on, guns like the Hotchkiss and Maxim 'Pom-Poms' were mounted on gun carriages (Wikipedia: "...37 mm Nordenfelt-Maxim or "QF 1-pounder" introduced during the Second Boer War, the smallest artillery piece of that war. It fired a shell one pound in weight accurately over a distance of 3,000 yd (2,700 m)".