HMS Triton Frigate Cross Section Build Log - Part 5

Brass Brackets were made for the gangway.  The brass was silver soldered and blackened as per the earlier blog on blackening brass

 Rope was made from flax thread and the guns, brackets and gun tackles were installed.

 Here is a close-up of one of the guns with its various rope-work.

 Here is the completed gangway with stairs

HMS Triton Frigate Cross Section Build Log - Part 3

 This is what the hull looked like once all of the lower deck flooring was in place.

 Next I turned supports for the upper deck.  I did this by making a dead center for the drill press and bored a small hole in the bottom of the piece to be turned.  This hole accepted the small brad on the dead center to stabilize the bottom of the piece.

 Files were used to shape the supports.

 Holly was used as the decking.  Small strips of black construction paper were used to simulate the caulking used to make the joints water proof.

 Small holes were bored to simulate the treenails that would have been used to secure the deck to the flooring.  I planked half of the deck so that you can see the exposed frame work on half of the hull.

 The supports that we turned earlier were installed with the beams for the top level of decking.

How to Blacken Brass

I set up my materials in my spray booth which doubles as a "chemistry hood." 

 The brass was first run through a Hydrochloric Acid bath to clean off the oxidation.

 Next the brass was washed with clean water.

 
Then into the Acetone bath to remove any organics.

 
When removed from the acetone the brass gleamed like new even though this cannon was turned quite some time ago.

 Next "Blacken It" that was diluted 1:1 with water was used. The little flakes are tiny pieces that fall off of the brass and grow like crystals over the course of hours. The bath worked as well for these last pieces as it did for the first in spite of the flakes.

 The Blacken It was washed off with water and a final acetone bath was used to remove any residual water. The pieces were buffed with a paper towel. Here is what the assortment of blackened pieces looked like when finished.

Here is a close up of the cannon. The handle of the quoin was glued on so I'll paint it later. It shows a good "before and after" effect for the cannon.