18th century flintlock pistol SBS in 1/32nd scale

[Ray]

I’m offering this SBS in hope that it will benefit some others, but also in anticipation of feedback from some of the possible readers that may be willing to share their techniques by way of improvement on my own. Although the scale I chose for this project is 1/32 these techniques are not limited to any specific scale and may indeed be useful in any of the larger commonly used, i.e., 1/35 and up. I doubt there is much application for these techniques in any scale smaller than 1/35, but at the same time anticipates some intrepid modeler proving the assumption wrong by making something truly remarkable in a much smaller size. All of these techniques do, gladly, also apply well to the making of scale long arms, i.e., muskets and rifles, as well as handguns, (see photo below of my earlier Pennsylvania Long Rifle). If at anytime should this project of mine become too burdensome or boring for you, members of the Planet, feel free to let me know so I don’t over do my welcome here. As always your comments and criticisms are welcome, especially those that might help me improve the technique or application of technique. The next installment follows, shortly.

Ray

 

[Ray]

second installment

That said, now is probably the time to press on at present some of the project. Starting with reference material, you’ll need to obtain at least one good side view (add ional views are very desirable and often necessary for accomplishment of our ends), of the subject to be modeled, for which you have at least one large dimension to hand, i.e., barrel length, stock length, etc. (for long guns it is reasonable to assume a length of pull, that is distance from rear of butt stock to front of trigger, being 13-14”, this is the most common, for most rifles). Once you have what you feel to be an adequate amount of reference material, in photo’s, or line drawings, as well as dimensional information, (all of this information is pretty readily available on the web), the next step is to figure out what scale the picture or drawing was reproduced in. To do this simply measure with a standard rule (I habitually use millimeters for this), one of the items on the picture for which you have a prototype dimension. For me, on this project, I used the barrel length (10.5”) so measured the barrel (see photo below), coming up with an actual measurement of 130mm. Dividing your actual measurement, by the prototype dimension will render the scale of the drawing or photograph you are using. For example I divided my actual measurement of 130 by 10.5, (the unit of measure is of no actual consequence for this calculation), which resulted in a scale of , 12.38mm = 1”. Whatever your discovered scale, write it down on your reference material so as not to forget it, you’ll need this measurement often for this project though I’m not likely to refer to its use very frequently. Next installment follows within 24 hours.

Ray

 

[Ray]

Moving on, the next step in the process is to reduce on a copy machine the original illustration of the profile to actual scale size. Make two copies when you do this, you’ll need them both. With copies to hand, carefully cut out from one of the copies one scale profile, and cement to a piece of plastic sheet or strip of appropriate thickness. For my project, knowing that 11/2 – 2” is a common thickness (I don’t have specific information on this topic for this prototype), for both long gun and firelock pistol stocks, I chose a strip of Evergreen styrene .060 x .188”, the second dimension being adequate to accommodate the height of my scale reduction. For cementing flood the paper picture with any of the better liquid plastic cements which will melt enough of the plastics surface to allow a bond between it and the paper. A photo of the paper cemented to my plastic strip is shown below.

Ray

 

[Ray]

Once the bond between paper and plastic is sufficiently cured for the paper to not de-laminate, start whittling and carving away the excess plastic surrounding the scale picture. If you prefer it is possible to cut the plastic form out with a piercing saw, though I prefer carving with a knife. The photograph below shows the task in process with small bits of the plastic carved from the main structure strewn around. Note that as you’ll need a sort of a handle for grasping the part in the next couple of steps that you don’t completely remove your part from the main piece of plastic, and there is no need to carve right up to the very edge of the picture. In fact it is probably desirable at this stage that you leave a small excess of material surrounding your part to insure future accuracy and ease of finish. The excess material around the part will now be removed by carefully sanding, filing, or scraping with a sharp hobby knife, whichever method(s) you are most comfortable with, for myself I use a combination of scraping and filing. If on completion you find that you’ve removed too much material on any portion of the part you are making, don’t despair as you can build this back up in the following series of steps with epoxy putty.

The next photo shows the part filed to final outline, with some tools of the trade.

The next installment is soon to follow.

Ray

 

[Ray]

Before going any further it is now important to remove the remains of the reduced illustration from the side of your scale stock. For easy and safe removal it is perhaps best to carefully sand the part with some very fine sandpaper on a flat surface. On the other hand if you’re feeling confident that you won’t go too far and obliterate your earlier work, you can easily pare away the paper from the plastic with a very sharp hobby knife.

When, once the illustration is gone from the side of your miniature stock clamp the thing, top up, firmly in a smooth jawed bench vice, as shown in the photograph below. As precisely as possible measure to the center of the stock where the barrel will lie making two marks along this length. With the stock measured and marked accordingly, for the barrel, carefully, using a straight edge, scribe a line down the center of the stock with the pointed back of a sharp hobby knife. This scribed line doesn’t need to be very deep or wide only precisely located

Ray

 

[Ray]

Now discover the prototype diameter of your subjects barrel, converting to scale, (mine is 1”, which was common for the type and period, which is of course 1/32” in scale), and choose a material for use as the barrel. I chose brass rod by preference as it will help stiffen up the whole creation once glued into place later. (As a useful aside it is well to know that for tapered barrels, most common on more modern weapons, a length of stretched sprue works nicely, rendering the prototype taper without much trouble at all). Sometimes you will have to approximate this dimension when no exact sized wire or rod is available for the application. In all events it is important to choose a diameter for which you have a correspondingly sized drill bit, #67 bit for my 1/32” diameter barrel. With this bit in hand set aside the barrel material and sand or hone the blunt end of the drill bit flat and shiny. If sanded truly flat the edges of the drills blunt end will now be sharp enough to use as a scraper in the next step. This doesn’t damage the drill bit at all but this is a good use for all those broken bits that seem to accumulate on the bench over time. It may also be well before starting on the next step to have a drill bit somewhat smaller in diameter than the barrel prepared to start with. The photo below shows the prepared drill held in a pin vice with a piece of wet and dry sandpaper on a block in the background (sorry about the clarity of the pic but the shiny end of the bit is visible).

Ray

 

[Ray]

Using a straight edge held parallel, though not against the line you earlier scribed into your stock with the hobby knife, carefully push the sharpened blunt end of one of your drill bits, held in a pin vice, the length of the scribe and straight edge. The photo below, though lacking a straight edge for additional clarity, more clearly illustrates what we are trying to achieve here than I could easily put into words. You’ll probably be surprised and pleased at the ease with which material is removed with this simple tool, creating a nice channel for the barrel to eventually lie in. It is of the greatest importance however, to frequently pause in the inletting process (this is what grooving the stock is called in the real full size world), to check the depth and straightness of the groove by laying in a piece of barrel material. Most small arms barrels, you’ll probably find, lay with about half their thickness in the stock, and so that is what we are after here. Note also that this technique works exceptionally well for creating finger grooves in the stocks of later pattern weapons.

Ray

 

[Ray]

Once you’re satisfied that your stock has been inletted enough to accommodate the barrel at an appropriate depth cement in a length of barrel material at least twice the length of the finished item into the stock. (see photo) This extra length of barrel will provide a useful handle for holding the model in your fingers, or better a pin vice. With the barrel securely attached to the stock it is now time to once again, sand, file or scrape at the stock to create its final geometry on all faces and edges. As earlier, if you find you’ve removed too much material at this stage don’t worry this can also be replaced/repaired with the addition of epoxy putty in the following steps.

Ray

 

[Ray]

For the most part the rest of this SBS relies on sculpting on the final details. Though there is nothing new or really innovative about the techniques I use here I’ll go ahead and offer some few photographs and words of caution or advice as we progress. As with most sculpts it is, perhaps, best to approach the subject by delineating between the different layers or levels of detail to be made. That is to sculpt the lowest portions (the stuff that lies closest to the main form) first adding layers as each is finished. The photo below is an example of this process, showing that I have sculpted onto the stock the raised potion of wood that I was not able to carve onto the plastic. I’ve also replaced some of the material that I removed earlier on the grip area of the stock as it turns out I got carried away and took away too much. You’ll probably also note that I’ve started work on the grip cap and added a wire ram rod.

Ray

 

[Ray]

In theses photo I’ve sculpted on both sides of the lock plates, the ram rod tubes and the barrel tang as well as having worked a bit more on the grip cap. Some of you will have by now noticed the odd colors of putty being used to sculpt these details. Believe it or not all of the putty used so far is Magic-Sculpt, to get the differing colors I simply followed some advice I found somewhere on the Planet (sorry I can’t remember who contributed it, though it was a comment made in one of Gary D’s SBS’s) and added a small amount of colored plastelene (modeling clay) to the mix when making up a batch of putty. This clay additions doesn’t have any adverse effect on the magic sculpt and helps with the sculpting process by giving some contrast between the various items and layers sculpted, (hopefully it helps clarify the process in photographs as well).

Ray

 

[Ray]

In this next step I’ll start sculpting on the hammer, frizzen, and flash pan. It is entirely reasonable, if you like, to add small bits of wire to the main part to start forming the hammer and lock plate and serve as a kind of simple armature for sculpting putty to. This addition of a wire armature for the hammer and frizzen, though I’ve never utilized it before now, is illustrated in the photo below. The hammer armature is a simple ‘Z’ shape bent from appropriately thin copper wire, and the frizzen is form from a piece of the same wire that has been flattened in a pair of pliers jaws. Both bits of wire were, tediously, positioned and glued onto the main form with ‘instant glue’.

Ray

 

[Ray]

This next photo shows the trigger and trigger guard as formed from a piece of copper wire flattened as above, then bent to shape. These fiddly little pieces will be glued in place on the main form, but with the trigger having a hole drilled to receive it first. After gluing in place putty will be applied to the basic form of the trigger guard to thicken and shape it, the trigger is however, complete as shown.

Ray

 

[Ray]

Here are a couple of photos of the pistol after sculpting the putty onto the wire forms added in the previous sections. At least two layers of putty were necessary to finish these forms. The hammer and frizzen on my sample pistol are in their final form a bit heavier than might optimally be desired because I intend making a mold from the thing and casting copies for future use. Otherwise it is quite possible to sculpt these small details much finer than is the case with my example. All that remains to do is to cut and file the barrel to length and put it into a figures hand, unless like me you want to put it into a mold first.

I’ll apologize now for the unusual length of this SBS only saying in my defense that I find it difficult to explain anything in shorter form. If there is any interest or regard for this kind of thing, please let me know and I’ll see if I can’t come up with something new to add, perhaps something shorter and a bit less complicated. If you took the time to read through the above, thank you, and if you have or are going to reply to any of it, (good, bad or indifferent) thanks especially for that. With regards to you all;

Ray

 

[Roy]

Hi Ray...that's a really useful and thorough SBS. I think we all have different ways of making weapons and it's great to see your techniques described so well. The way you explain every step is very well written too and I don't think there is any reason to worry about being so extensive in your explanations. If the pictures were larger, that would be great, but we don't all have cameras that are immediatly suitable for such tiny pieces, I have similar troubles getting down this small and ending up with a large and clear image.
Congratulation on a very precise and informative thread that's a very welcome addition to the Planet..bravo.

All the best...Roy.

 

[Ray]

Roy,
Thanks for the response and kind words. I'm hoping through this process to get my self out of the vacuum of lone modeling that I've been in most of forever, and learn some of those other methods you mention. I have to apologize for the quality of my Photo's, the camera is probably good enough to take better pictures than these, but I unfortunately am not capable of making it do so.

It's encouraging to know that at least one person took the time to wade through my long winded SBS. I can hear some members already cursing that you've given me this encouragement which might then lead to another such thing originating from my end.

Anyway, thanks again for the response it is greatly appreciated and I hope, hopefully not in vain, for more, perhaps with somebody offering their alternative methods.

Ray

 

[Jeff]

I think it is always nice to see how someone makes things like this. I have said this before but a lot of us come here to learn, and to get better at what we do. So I for one like to see this type of thing on the board. If a member is bored by it he can skip it. The counter on your post will tell you if people are looking at it. You will know people like it by what they post. I for one liked it, and would like to see more.

Best
Jeff

 

[Christos]

Thanks for sharing Ray!
Very helpful indeed!
Christos

 

[MikkoH]

Hello Ray!

Very good Sbs! And very helpful to me! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Mikko

 

[Ray]

Jeff,
Thanks for the words of encouragement, they're really appreciated. With some luck, and limited interruptions, I should have something else to offer in a few days or perhaps a week. One of the things that most encouraged me to do this thing in the beginning is that I enjoy, and find this kind of post to be the most useful to me. I also maintain hopes that some reader will chime in with some advice of their own that will help me to improve. I can't believe that my technique is the best or only way to make these things. In fact another method that I've used in the past is to make model weapons in brass instead of plastic. Brass works well but the process is a lot slower and more demanding, machining the barrel groove in a stock or filing the barrel flat to fit over the stock is really a tedious pain.

Chistos,
Thank you, I'd like to think that some of this might actually be useful to someone out there.

Mikkoh,
Thanks to you as well, its always a pleasure when ones work is appreciated.


Best Regards,

Ray

 

[outrunthedogs]

Hi Ray
Thank you for taking the time to do this SBS, it is very well done! I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Len