Post by weedsrock2 on May 3, 2017 2:57:22 GMT
Originally posted by Seisen
By Seisen
Several people have asked how I go about making the turrets for my AAWAS scratchbuilds. There is really no "science" to it at all, so in response to the requests Im posting a quick "how to" for my BB/BC main gun turrets. Plenty of other modelers have much more detailed methods, and better looking turrets for sure, and I encourage others to share their techniques here.
First is finding the sheet styrene for the turret. Im not precise at all, I just grab what is generally an appropriate "thickness" for the turrets that are for whatever ship. You'll see that I have already cut a "turret ring" or "barbette" from styrene tubing and attached it to the ship figure...
Next, just cut some squares or rectangles of an approximate width and length for the turrets you are creating...
Depending on the "style" of the turret, just rough-cut to shape using a chisle style exacto-blade. Here are three examples of rough-cut turrets. Top is an American "hex" style, middle is more of an Italian and German style, and the bottom is more Royal Navy/UK style. The turret's facing is to the right. Notice one has an angle-cut front...
The next step is the most important for my technique...sanding. I prefer to use the fingernail emeryboards the ladies use on their nails. Standard files can be too rough and the emeryboards give you better control and surface area...
We'll work with the UK style turret in this example. Sanding the sides of the turret you are eliminating the corners of the rough-cut creating a rounded look. Pictured are two different sizes of styrene rod. Again there is no science to it, using what looks best for an appropriate thickness of the gun barrels...
Having decided on the "thicker" rod for 15 inch or 16 inch guns, we've cut two random lengths for the barrels. No need for precision here as we will shorten the barrels later...
To attach/affix the gun barrels I use superglue. No "pre-drilling" with pin-vise or "pegging"...just hold the barrel with your tweezers, dip one end into some superglue (making a small ball of glue on the end) and then attach to the front of the turret. The glue is intentionally excessive as it will create the look of "barrel covers" where the gun and turret meet...
Here we see the turret with both barrels attached. Be sure to pay attention to the distance between the barrels. It can be wide or close, but if making several turrets for the same ship, try to be consistent here...
Now cut the barrels together to make the appropriate length. Again I prefer to just "eye-ball" the cut, but take care to make barrel lengths consistent for turrets on the same figure...
Now taking a rough-cut length of styrene strip, measure a section to represent the sterioscopic/optic rangefinders for the turret. This is just simple detail here. If you like, you can add small "verticle" pieces of styrene rod to represent periscopes or fume-extractors. You can also add AAA "gun tubs" or even pedistal mounted light guns for a more detailed effect. Attach/glue the strip styrene to the top-rear of the turret...
Now all that's left to do is attach/glue your turret onto the barbette/ring on your ship figure. Pay attention to the placement of the turret here, you want the front of the turret just at the front of the barbette/ring so that there is plenty of "overhang" from the rear of the turret. This will make your ship look accurate/appropriate from a profile view...
And that is it guys...nothing fancy at all!
By Seisen
Several people have asked how I go about making the turrets for my AAWAS scratchbuilds. There is really no "science" to it at all, so in response to the requests Im posting a quick "how to" for my BB/BC main gun turrets. Plenty of other modelers have much more detailed methods, and better looking turrets for sure, and I encourage others to share their techniques here.
First is finding the sheet styrene for the turret. Im not precise at all, I just grab what is generally an appropriate "thickness" for the turrets that are for whatever ship. You'll see that I have already cut a "turret ring" or "barbette" from styrene tubing and attached it to the ship figure...
Next, just cut some squares or rectangles of an approximate width and length for the turrets you are creating...
Depending on the "style" of the turret, just rough-cut to shape using a chisle style exacto-blade. Here are three examples of rough-cut turrets. Top is an American "hex" style, middle is more of an Italian and German style, and the bottom is more Royal Navy/UK style. The turret's facing is to the right. Notice one has an angle-cut front...
The next step is the most important for my technique...sanding. I prefer to use the fingernail emeryboards the ladies use on their nails. Standard files can be too rough and the emeryboards give you better control and surface area...
We'll work with the UK style turret in this example. Sanding the sides of the turret you are eliminating the corners of the rough-cut creating a rounded look. Pictured are two different sizes of styrene rod. Again there is no science to it, using what looks best for an appropriate thickness of the gun barrels...
Having decided on the "thicker" rod for 15 inch or 16 inch guns, we've cut two random lengths for the barrels. No need for precision here as we will shorten the barrels later...
To attach/affix the gun barrels I use superglue. No "pre-drilling" with pin-vise or "pegging"...just hold the barrel with your tweezers, dip one end into some superglue (making a small ball of glue on the end) and then attach to the front of the turret. The glue is intentionally excessive as it will create the look of "barrel covers" where the gun and turret meet...
Here we see the turret with both barrels attached. Be sure to pay attention to the distance between the barrels. It can be wide or close, but if making several turrets for the same ship, try to be consistent here...
Now cut the barrels together to make the appropriate length. Again I prefer to just "eye-ball" the cut, but take care to make barrel lengths consistent for turrets on the same figure...
Now taking a rough-cut length of styrene strip, measure a section to represent the sterioscopic/optic rangefinders for the turret. This is just simple detail here. If you like, you can add small "verticle" pieces of styrene rod to represent periscopes or fume-extractors. You can also add AAA "gun tubs" or even pedistal mounted light guns for a more detailed effect. Attach/glue the strip styrene to the top-rear of the turret...
Now all that's left to do is attach/glue your turret onto the barbette/ring on your ship figure. Pay attention to the placement of the turret here, you want the front of the turret just at the front of the barbette/ring so that there is plenty of "overhang" from the rear of the turret. This will make your ship look accurate/appropriate from a profile view...
And that is it guys...nothing fancy at all!
