1/2 Scale Colt Army Revolver

[gbritnell]

Gentlemen,
I know it's not a model engine but I thought some of the members might like to see what I'm up to currently. I had taken a set of drawings that were published on Youtube and corrected and scaled them down to 1/2 of the full sized piece. It's all steel construction using 1144 steel. The handle is Walnut wood. I had documentation of the build but my computer unceremoniously had a malware bug and I lost the files so I can only present what I have so far. My plan was to make it to shoot .22 caliber shorts, 1/2 of the original .44 size, but I don't think I can get enough strength from the main spring to compress the rim on the cartridge. Rifled barrels can be purchased quite reasonably so I was going to buy one and cut it down and thread it to fit this frame. Time will tell.
Currently I'm getting things ready for the upcoming NAMES show so the progress will slow up a little.
gbritnell

 

[maury]

George, I think that is a fantastic project. I'm kind of into those old timey guns too. I picked up a Ruger Single 6 from a model engine buddy of mine. Looking forward to seeing you at NAMES.

maury

[mklotz]

Another fantastic gun model, George.  It's a masterpiece and a real credit to your skills. 

I still remember following your build of the Mannlicher...

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/25662-Latest-project-1-3-Mannlicher-rifle?highlight=mannlicher

with my chin on the floor the whole time.

[90LX_Notch]

Exquisite George.  That is a beautiful model.

-Bob

[Don1966]

George your still my hero buddy, just awesome skills. You know .......I.........like........


Don

[Roger B]

Looks good to me  A one stroke engine with disposable piston 

[Tennessee Whiskey]

OMG George, that's beautiful. With exception of the case colored finish, looks just like the one in top of my tool box. You might be surprised on the spring pressure. I knew a fellow ( not mentioning names) that made a couple of "pen pistols" one time and best I, er he, can remember, used ballpoint pen springs. With a sharp pin, doesn't take much.

Eric

[vcutajar]

That's beautiful George.  Just out of curiosity, what are you using as a main spring?

Vince

[b.lindsey]

Amazing, beautiful, and if I didn't know better as magical as always George.  Have a great trip to NAMES.

Bill

[jeff l]

Great job as always George , hope to see you at NAMES .Jeff

[Kim]

As has been said, that is just amazing George!

Guess it won't be very dangerous though, since nobody could fit their finger in there to pull the trigger!   

Kim

[gbritnell]

Thanks everyone for commenting. Vince, I have an assortment of flat spring steel strips in varying widths and thicknesses given to me years ago. I use the appropriate thickness and grind the width as needed. For this application I used my hand grinder and an abrasive wheel to get the needed width. I could buy some spring steel and machine it but this is so small I don't know how I'd hold it.
gbritnell

[steamer]

Beautiful revolver George!   A friend of mine regularly goes to Russia, and he knows a guy who makes miniatures like that.    Showed me a picture of a Tommy gun, with a drum magazine, and a violin case to match!   About 1/3 scale.   

Dave

[gbritnell]

Hi Dave,
I know a fellow in the Miniature Arms Society. I have a few of the magazines and some of the work in there is phenomenal. I have talked to a few of the fellows that display at the model engineering shows and most of their tooling is made specifically for building miniature model arms. In a lot of cases pantographs are used to reduce the parts. I'm not that dedicated to building small weapons to go that far. I need tools to do the broad range of miniatures that I build.
I just finished the ejector tube and slide. The tube is mounted to the barrel with a 1-72 screw.  The depth of the tapped hole is .055, just enough to get a few threads in there so it doesn't break into the bore. Now I have to find some .047 diameter rod or straight wire to make the ejection rod. If all else fails I could turn it an 1/8th of an inch at a time. (2.00 long)
gbritnell

[90LX_Notch]

George-

A .047 gage pin should fit the bill.  I believe they are two inches long.

A 3/64 drill blank is another possibility.

I'm not a welder so I don't know if they make rods this small.  That could be another possibilty.

-Bob

[steamer]

The Drill blank would be my first choice...500,000 psi yield, nice and round and harder than woodpecker lips....

Just sayin

Dave

[J.L.]

Hello George,

This is an amazing model. I have sent you a PM regarding a non-firing replica of this 1873 Single Action made many years ago in Japan.

Are you going to make a walnut partitioned presentation case for this revolver?

Cheers...John

[gbritnell]

Thanks John,
I don't know if I'll make a case for it right away, maybe in the future.
I solved my .047 diameter rod problem. I have a home-made collet holder for ER 11 collets. I made it as a set-tru style so I could cut valve heads concentric to the stems. Using a piece of .093 drill rod I cut about .32 at a time down to about .048 and then filed and polished it to size. I kept advancing the stock until I had the required 2 inches. Overall the finished shaft didn't vary by more than .0005. I was certainly surprised by the concentricity of the collet even when the shaft was out at the full length.
First is a picture of the shaft and then a short video clip showing the lathe spinning with the shaft extended to 2 inches.
gbritnell
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvTCVblNc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvTCVblNc</a>

[Doc]

George you totally amaze me to say the least WOW just awesome!! Very nice!

[gbritnell]

I made the trigger and the cylinder lock. I then made up a fixture plate with studs to match the though hole sizes in the parts. These three parts were mounted on the plate and filed for proper operation.
The different positions can be seen, half cock with just the trigger, full cock, with the lock bolt mounted and shown in it's position with the hammer and trigger in several positions.
gbritnell

[Don1966]

George that"s awesome......

Don

[Dave Otto]

Amazing work George.


Dave

[Flyboy Jim]

Thanks for posting this build George. I have a Ruger Bearcat 22 pistol from the early 70's, which is a bit scaled down from normal size.

Jim

[gbritnell]

Gentlemen,
The pistol is finished except for fine polishing prior to blueing. I used it as a model along with a printout of how I stepped off the shapes at the seminar I gave at NAMES. I gave some thought to someone operating the mechanism but wasn't overly concerned until the seminar was over and I found that someone had apparently put the pistol on half-cock and then tried to pull the trigger. The half-cock position locks the trigger into a notch in the hammer so when the trigger was pulled in this position the .015 tab was broken off. It only took a couple of hours to make a new one when I got home so it wasn't a big deal.
gbritnell
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4qt5BmZAhY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4qt5BmZAhY</a>

[b.lindsey]

I certainly is beautiful George, and will make a fine addition to your miniature arms collection as well!! Thanks for sharing the build and pictures.

Bill

[90LX_Notch]

Absolutely beautiful George.

-Bob

[kvom]

It only took a couple of hours to make a new one when I got home so it wasn't a big deal.

George has a gentler idea of 'no big deal' then I would.   

[Don1966]

Absolutely stunning George and your are the best. After bluing I would like to see photos also.


Don