Gatling Battery Gun (update7/12)

Hy,
Found some time and started Gatling’s Battery gun as found here. Getting along rather well I think. I do have a big problem, I don’t know how to connect the carriage with the actual gun, the blueprints do not reveal this and all pictures on the internet show other, pivoting models. (red arrows mark the problem) (and I know the central axis is still missing but thats not what I mean)

C&C welcome

Cheers

you beat me too it. looking good so far.

My only criticism is that the wheels need to smoother and more… like wheels. Other than that, Great job! :slight_smile:

Made them smoother by set smooth and raising the bias. more like wheels, care to explain?

new pics comming verry soon.

cheers

So here are the updates,

I “invented” the part between the carriage and the gun, any good?

C&C appreciated

cheers

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Looks nice, but I thought a battery gun was just a simple term for an electro-magnetic copper propelled gun. Most Sci-Fis call it a rail-gun or gauss. (At least I think it’s gauss.)

Now a days it might be, but the 1865 pattent calls it a battery gun and I’m no expert…

cheers

well done. the wheel rim doesnt look very circular. Assuming its subD…probably its affected by the edgeloops of the spokes. try seperating the spokes from the wheels. the part you invented looks credible:)

Hi,

it’s an interesting subject and a very nice model! Some random thoughts:

  • American civil war museums should have a lot of reference material.
  • The missing frame part you made looks credible, but you’ll need a connecting piece in front as well, making it a closed frame.
  • There seem to be a lot of metal reinforcements on the carriage and on the rim, those riveted steel straps. They should look nice on your model as well.
  • Don’t forget the actual gun barrels, they are mandatory for the typical gatling look. :yes:Thx for sharing and keep up the good work!
    Regards
1 Like

Excellent model thus far. Your modeling technique seems to be very solid, although without wires I cannot make a full evaluation of that aspect. The details on the model are well done and appear to be accurate. Some detail points which I believe will help strengthen your model:

  1. You may wish to add the iron band around the outer contact surface of the wheels.
  2. You may wish to add the gun barrels to the front of the cooling sleeve.
  3. You may wish to add the feeding system to the left side of the gun.

In regard to the question(s) about the gun it’s self:

  1. The frame or “Gun Carriage” is basically a number of boards configured so that they form a Y shape when they are interlocked with the axle. See the below image for clarification. Note that the underside of the gun carriage’s towing “tong” is not solid / closed.

http://stupidbeaver.com/wp-content/images/FWWgatling.jpg
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/biographies/MainBiographies/G/Gatling/gat1865.jpg

  1. For clarification as to the nature and use of this gun: The term “Battery” is used exclusively to describe a number of items in a series, regardless if it refers to cannons, artillery or a number of electrolytic cells. Artillery “Batteries” are groups of artillery pieces, positioned in such a way as to offer maximum efficiency for defense and offense.

  2. Initially I did not understand why the Gating Battery Gun did not have a pintle mount carriage. Upon further research, I discovered that this particular model of the Gating Gun was produced for a multitude of caliber’s. Being that this model was generally chambered for a .50 inch to 1.50 + inch bullet, durability issues indicate that guns of 1 inch or larger be mounted directly to the gun carriage. (The .50 inch was commonly mounted on a pintle carriage which allowed the gun to traverse and elevate with out the repositioning of the carriage.)

Thanks for the comments,

I added the metal wheel rim (already in the mesh just didn’t colour it)
I added the 6 barrels :ba: (I think there is a rendering mistake in the bottom 2 barrels cuzz I can’t find to mesh fault). I think there should be a part holding the barrels in place, I’ll do that next time. And I don’t think they are very well located.
I added the part to control the angle of the gun, it was real fun to model
And I made a quick wire render.

The wheel spokes where already a separate part, the wheel mesh was just screwed up dunno how I did that but I redid it.

And I almost understand the mesh smooth/auto smooth/bias combination.

C&C still welcome

Cheers

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I added the ammunition loader (“feeding system”), loosely based on pictures like the ones posted above. Changes will be made if asked…

I was wondering what that thing was on the right side of the barrel on the loader bit, it also shows up on the blueprint but I can’t make out what it is.

C&C welcome

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I’m not entirely sure as to which part of the gun is “The Thing” however, I do believe that the small access hatch on the right side of the feeding system is used to adjusted the gun’s rate of fire. The object positioned forward of the feeding system, on the right side of the barrel shroud is some sort of keyed tab. Most likely, this tab and key is used to keep the barrel shroud in place. I would imagine that unlocking this key would allow the barrel shroud to be disassembled for maintenance.

According to the captions for this image, part C is a knob which has been placed near the access hatch. This knob is used to control the “Click” or cycle rate of the barrels, which in connection with the crank, controls the gun’s rate of fire.

http://www.mspong.org/cyclopedia/images/gatling_gun.jpg

Additionally, you may find this diagram helpful.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/designs_for_democracy/symbols_and_substance/images/gatling_gun_patent_drawing.jpg

Thanks for your reply, I wrote to the National Archives requesting a higher resolution of the barrel patent.

And I don’t think that the c/knob part is on the blueprints I’m using (later addition probably). The part I was referring will be the keyed tab, sounds usefull. I’ll model it this evening.

Thanks again

cheers

Hy,

As said I made the keyed tab a couple of days ago, but didn’t render nor post it.
So two updates; keyed tab and grass and soil.

Am rather verry pleased with the soil, it has had a displacement modifier, a subsurf modifier, has a bump map and a texture (made more or less tilable myself). And most of all it has a rediculous high amount of vertexes, that is around 280.000…

I’ll ad more grass (another lenght and width) another time and more detail on the model ofcourse to.

little question, is it possible to randomize the length of the grass?

Thanks for looking,

C&C more then welcome

Cheers

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Wow, truly that is a well detailed model. I especially like the cotter pin in the hinge pin. Hopefully the national archives will provide you with the necessary informational materials. As for the grass, I believe that if you add some “Random” generation to the mesh, under the particles tab, your grass will be generated at different angles and heights. Good luck with the project.

hehe,

thanks for staying tuned Pink Mesh and yea the pin :RocknRoll:

A couple of things,

I redid the back of the carriage (made it smoother/rounder). I love the new snap.
Added 2 hooks on the back and added a “system” where you can insert a pole to move the gun I think. The set smooth option didn’t work this time on the pole thing, I had to subdivide it which I don’t like.
And I added 25000 more grass particles, not very happy with the result.

C&C still more then welcome

cheers

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And some more,

redit the “tabbed key” looks more like it should I think now, and added some armour to the carriage.

Anny idea what part v is on the blueprints (about halfway up the heat sleave on top) and the little part about 2/3 up the sleave underneath the sleave.

C&C welcome…

cheers

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i think it looks really cool nice modeling also nice closeups with occlusion. maybe even nicer with HDR background for highlights,color, and specularity even reflections.nice in any case.