How to Make a Gardner 5 Barrel Machine Gun (for Ian)
Okay, if you want the water cooled Gardner then go look to the Maxim tutorial - I'm going to do the more visible
side-by-side 5 barrel version. First clip the heads off 5 pins (thanks again to the wife!) and glue them to newspaper.
Make sure you have the barrel lengths all the same before the glue sets. Make sure there is sufficient glue in between
the base of the pins to bind them together. Let dry.
Next I had some foam sheets laying around and cut them down to the proper size for the vertical magazine box and
the main body of the gun. I slipped a half of a clothing snap under the side of the gun with a dab of glue to hold it in
place. Then elevate
the barrels and place a narrow band of glue with the tip of a pin. Glue the body of the gun as
needed.
An extra gun carriage has a coffee stir section glued into place to make a level platform.
Extra blocks of foam are cut, joined, and then glued to card stock to replicate carriage ammo boxes.
Let everything dry over night.
Next day I only have to trim the card stock to make lids for the ammo boxes.
Then I glue the sides and bottoms of the ammo boxes to the carriage frame, and glue and prop up the gun onto the
top of the coffee stir collar. I use a brace to hold the barrels into the right position until they set firmly.
Once everything has set firmly you are ready to go! Some broken riflemen converted to artillery duty test the gun!
Not the most accurate or sophisticated setup but once black based and painted these gals should do nicely.
Thanks to Ian for the challenge!