Hi to both of you, Just spent more than the kit cost on wood and brass cannons for the VICTORY. Toying with the Idea of leaving them unpainted! The brass does add something,so what do you think.The look or accuracy.[^]
take in consideration the effect of sea water and gunpowder to the cannons, watch plenty of pirate movies for refs!!!
Greetings Jim:
At the end of the day it is whatever suits your fancy. I have seen both on models and the brass does look nice, the black iron more realistic. There were a lot of ships with rich captains or patrons that had at least some of the cannons in brass (one up on the other guy, eh). Plus I am sure you know that small guns like swivels were usually brass.
You could start by placing some brass cannons on the upper decks and look at them a while before making a final decision, or possibly leaving the quarterdeck guns brass and blackening the others.
Enjoy!
Bruce
I ran into the same issue when I did my scatchbuilt Congress (as she appeared at Hampton Roads)
I left the trunnion caps off when I did the cannon, and left them in brass…didn’t like it, so I dipped the cannon into Blacken it and blackened them.
Personal preference really.
Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com
I just read an article on this subject in Ships in Scale. It appears that HM ordnance changed from brass to iron around 1740 or so, although whether or not the earlier brass cannons were blackened for service use wasn’t mentioned. I suspect that was up to individual captains.
Bruce