Browning machine guns and turrets

The boat being modeled has the standard two turrets mounting twin Browning 50 caliber machine guns and a 20 mm Oerlikon auto cannon on the after deck.  For this model, all the guns are constructed with optical fiber in the barrels to simulate gun flashes when firing.  The fiber will be illuminated with LED lights controlled with Arduino modules/sketches.

The gun barrels for the Brownings were made up from 1/16″ brass tubing for the barrels and polystyrene tubing for the cooling sleeves.  The holes in the cooling sleeve were drilled by hand using a jig made up from a 1/4″ hex nut on threaded rod as a jig/guide to spacing the holes around the tubing.  The brass tubing for the barrels will hold 1 mm optical fibre for the gun flashes.

This snapshot shows the guns near completion with the gun cradle and turret mount in the background.  The ammunition cans and belt guides are also in place.  Details were made up from polystyrene sheet plastic, brass wire, and brass sheet stock.

The guns ready to be mounted in cradles and the optical fibre installed.  The two “gunners” are ready to man their stations.

20 mm Oerlikon auto cannon

This gun will be installed on the after deck, behind the engine access hatch. See part 2 for more information.