Sekrit Projekt II

Part two of my Sekrit Projekt. Now coming together. Here's a kind of how-to for the guns I have scratch built.

Sausages of milliput. Kindergarten education in effect.

The starting point for each cannon was a sausage of milliput, rolled to the desired thickness, and left overnight to dry. In fact, the thicker of the two required nearer 48hrs to be completely rigid. I tried to make a couple of grooves in the barrels (on the left hand side in the above picture) to add some interest to the otherwise plain surface.

Brass rod through the barrels
and details sculpted

Brass rods were placed through the barrels at the right distance to balance the guns when placed in their carriages. A little more milliput was used to sculpt the mouths of the barrels, and a little more around the brass rods to thicken them up. A little knob of milliput was added to the rear of each barrel, and a touch-hole added to each. I tried to cut a couple of grooves onto the barrels, just to add a little decoration. This turned out to be harder to do when the milliput was dry, as it had a tendency to crumble.

What a mighty pair

The cannons were then mounted on the carriages made from the moulds I had previously made from the Sea Dogs Deck Guns. The pins through the barrels being used to support the guns. The carriages really take a couple of uninspiring guns and make them into believable artillery pieces.

Liquid green stuff to cover some chips and holes

Complete and ready for painting. I had tried to make a mould of the Khadoran anvil from the shield of a M.O.W. Kovnik (to represent a captures Khadoran Gun), but the curvature on the underside was not enough to go round one of the barrels. I can try to sand more of the underside to make it fit, or curve the mould more once I have taken an impression of the symbol, but neither is sure to work.

Otherwise, I have spoken to a friend who has suggested he may be able to find some Fleur-de-lys from the shoulders of some GW battle maidens that I can use to make a mould. That would be ideal.