On my recent battlefields adventure, I went to a really cool museum called the "Sea War" museum in Jutland. They cover the battle of Jutland, but also Naval battles in the North Sea dating back... a long way.
In the museum was this beautiful little brass model of a WW1 German Sea Mine that had been a presentation gift to some German Admiral who commanded mine-laying ships in the war. It was a beautiful little bit of craftsmanship. And I wanted to own it in the worst way! Apparently, however, the Danes, as socialist as they are, do not let one open up the case and help one's-self to souvenirs. Especially not Navy ones.
So, I took a couple of photos and decided when I got back to the workshops at Schloss Nitrocellulose, I would make my own! I ordered a pair of brass spheres from India (eBay, of course) and this weekend, made not one but two little models of sea mines.
The British one was incredibly difficult, as it involved splitting the sphere and putting in a copper band, then soldering the whole thing back together. The rest of the little bits were just lathe work and drilling and tapping for 10ba and 14ba nuts, studs and bolts. The studs and nuts are real...
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This is the original from the museum in Jutland
Here is my pair. The British one with the copper belt is on the left. The German Spherical mine on the right. Watch is there for scale.
Both complete with all their parts, but one is ready for final polishing (the German one) and the British one on the left still needs to have the excess solder filed off and all the joints cleaned up.
These are all copper, brass, bronze and German Silver. No plastic. All soldered. No adhesive at all.
No reason for making them except that I loved the little one in the museum and thought I would see if I could match the workmanship of whoever made the original. I actually learned some new soldering and fluxing and fixturing techniques on these. Once polished and put on wood bases, they will be lovely little trinkets.
Cheers,
Sirhr