Build log · Phase 7, Fitting out the gun deck

Shot garlands evenly spaced with a small template

22 December 2019 · How-to

Made a start on the shot garlands, the strips holding the round shot that go around the hatches on the gun deck. As this is my first time making them, I put the first attempt to the forum. I did not know, for instance, whether the holes need to be deeper or are fine as they are, and I have read about various methods of fixing the balls. Pingu57 thought the depth was fine and confirmed what I had read about varnish: lay the balls in the wet varnish and once it has dried they are fixed. So I can carry on with an easy mind.

First attempt: a strip with shot, still loose

The depth of the holes, for the forum's judgement

Because I could not find a description anywhere on the internet of how to make shot garlands evenly spaced, here is the way I did it the next day. Who knows, someone may find it useful.

Template

First I made a small template from the hard plastic that is also used for drawing stencils. With hole punch pliers I cut two small circles side by side out of it. Because the balls at the two hatches sit at different spacings, you see four holes: the left-hand pair is slightly closer together than the right-hand pair, which matches the drawing. Then it is a matter of pencilling in the left-hand circle each time, placing the template with its right-hand circle over that pencil circle and pencilling in the left-hand one again. That way you step along the strip with a fixed pitch.

All the circles marked out, evenly spaced

Filing

Then each circle was filed out on the pillar drill.

The result after all the holes have been filed out

Frame and shot

Next I made the frame that goes around the hatches and gratings, and laid the balls in the wet varnish. When the photo was taken the varnish was still slightly wet, so I am curious whether they will stay put. But in the end this is what it looks like.

The shot garlands around the hatch, varnish still wet

Edwin1966 asked whether the spacings are the same on almost every ship, so that you could make one long template and mark everything out in one go. I think not: the scale differs from model to model and on mine there are already two spacings. Besides, making a long template is precisely what is so difficult: how do you get all the holes on it at the same spacing? That only works if you use exactly the same step every time, and that is what the small template is for. Fvrank suggested another alternative: print the circles with their centre points, cut them out, stick them on and then drill.