I ordered the gun i was told to get from bde which had a 3.5" magazine. The ship im workin on came with one gun that measures out to be 3" in diameter and its a tight fit but it works. It also sits alot lower than the other cannon does so im not sure i can make it work. Anyone wanna trade me a gun that will fit my Graf Spee for this brand new gun from BDE? Or can someone tell me what i can do to make this work? It appears BDE doesnt even make a gun that is the same size as the one that was already installed. Im told the one thats installed is an older BDE Terminator.
Vicious, it is possible (although difficult) to fit a standard BDE 3.5" triple into a pocket battleship. I've seen it done before in a Swampy fiberglass pocket battleship with no depth added. It just involves building a really low-profile mount, cutting off anything that gets in the way, and getting really creative on certain things. Do not despair, try a test-fit in the hull and take a picture. We'll figure out what to do from there. Right now I've gotta go to class, so I'll write up more when I get back.
Ive test fitted it and to fit it in the hull where i need it to go i will need to shave down my water channeling just a smidge so it sits in the very bottom of the hull. Ill also have to shorten the barrel length on the magazine as low as i can get as well as shorten the barrel length to make the barrels not sit up so high. But even then it is a SUPER tight fit. Although the magazine is only half an inch bigger than the other one that makes a huge difference when working with a ship this small. Id love to just be able to trade someone that may have a need for it if possible. Ill take another picture when i can i suppose. But im almost certain last time i test fitted it in the middle of the hull to see how tall it was the top of the magazine was at the top of the hull. It may have something to do with the gear for rotation under the magazine making it so much taller. But im really not sure.
Heres some pictures of the cannon in the hull sitting flush with the bottom. Notice how tall it is? There is also one picture of the cannon that fits that came with the hull when i bought it.
Here's the cannon that I know was installed in a pocket battleship: http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/Image136.jpg It's a BDE cannon just like yours. Note how the screws holding it together have been ground down flush with the nuts across the top to clear the deck, and how the barrels have been cut down into the bend to get it down to height. That cannon came in just under 50% of correct scale height, as measured from the deck, to meet WWCC regulations. On the other hand, that pocket battleship didn't have water channeling to deal with. Your best bet to get the new cannon in is to take out some of the water channel. If you've got the equipment and extra helpers, bolt the boat squarely to a board, grab it in a vice, and mill out an opening in the water channel so the cannon fits. If not, it's dremel time.
Should i only try cutting the barrels with a pipe cutter or can i use a dremel? Im asking this because im not quite sure how to get the barrels out of the magazine to cut them and i dont want to take the cannon apart and make a mess. Can i do this if i smooth out the burr's or is this a deffinate no? Thanks for the picture, that helps alot but man thats gotta be a tight fit!! If there are anymore picture of the gun in or out of the ship can you post a link to them as well? thank you
If the risers are press fit into the magazine... taking them out will make them loose once reinstalled. Pipe cutters with the risers don't really work, because it can't go round and round Use the dremel, then file out any burrs on the lip of the riser with a teensy file. With the flared ring gone from the riser, I've found that using the dremel to score the riser like little ladder steps to be enough to hold the flex tube on. It's gotta have some rough surface added, otherwise firing the cannon works off the barrel set. I used 4 gouges in a ring pattern, and stacked these gouges for a good distance along the riser. The goal is to give a surface for a cable tie, or cable clamp to smash the hose into and have something to grab on. Mike Horne
