Ten gun carriages and the first breeching

Halfway through December, a photo of the underside of a gun carriage. The little rings I made earlier are clearly visible here. I glue those rings in place, which makes the whole thing rigid. I did have to number everything and keep the parts together, because the holes in each axletree and each carriage are of course slightly different. So it all fits together in one way only. But sturdy it certainly is.

A day later I was at the halfway mark: five done, five to go. It takes me about two hours to assemble one gun carriage.

All ten assembled

On 29 December all ten were assembled. So it is time for the rigging. I started with the breeching. In Zu Mondfeld I found a picture of the breeching knot at the ringbolt, and that is what I copied. A bit of fiddling, but it worked. For the whippings I used very fine thread.

By now all the quoins have been fitted with a small turned handle as well: 1 mm thick at the widest point and 2 mm long. They have all been painted red.