The 68-Pounder Smooth Bore Muzzle Loader (SBML) was a heavy piece or ordnance which in the Crown Colony of Victoria was installed in some quantity in the defences around Hobson's Bay from the 1860s onward.

Making the Model

On a recent trip to the Victorian holiday town of Daylesford I was able to photograph and measure one such piece in some detail and this, as well as a serendipitous discovery on the internet of a good top and side elevation of the fortress carriage used with the piece inspired me to have a go at modeling it.

My find was on the Palmerstone Forts Society web-page and I reproduce below the drawing of the gun carriage. This was what I principally worked from. I printed the drawing out and worked out what scale it was at "on the page" as it were. For example, I knew that the real carriage was 16 feet long. I converted this figure to millimetres, measured the picture I had and realised it was 1:23 the size of the real thing. Using this info I was able to reduce it further on a photocopier until it was the scale I wanted for my modeling project (in this case 1:64 to go with the figures I like to game with). From this I was able to take some measurements to by the sheet, strip and rod styrene that was going to form my raw material.

I used this same method to work out a scale drawing for the gun itself.

I then cut up (very carefully!) some of the 1:64 pictures and used spray adhesive to affix them to appropriately-sized pieces of plastic sheet or whatever. I then very carefully cut them out. Parts that were somewhat unclear from the drawing I referenced from photos I had taken of the real thing.

I found that the carriage cheeks were the trickiest part of the operation. In 1:64 scale the steps on this piece are very fine and fiddly to do. I actually found it was best to use a new, sharp blade and rather than saw painfully away at 2mm thick plasticard, it was best to give the blade a number of sharp raps on the back with a hammer to chisel the blade cleanly through the plastic.

Assembly was easy using liquid model aeroplane glue, taking very great care to keep the right-angles nice and square.

Sources:

The AmmoGrafix Websit: http://users.bigpond.net.au/AmmoGrafix/Doc11.html
New Zealand Permanent Force Old Comrades' Association: http://riv.co.nz/rnza/hist/local/rml64.htm
The Palmerston Forts Website: http://www.palmerstonforts1.fsnet.co.uk/gun1.htm
Victoria's Guns, A Field Guide Bill Billiett, Spotswood Victoria, 1994.