Hi all
As most of you are aware, I have been searching an old USAAF base for the past 2 years or so. With over 32 visits to the site, I had amassed a rather large collection of stuff, including around 150 .50cal spent cartridge cases. They were in various states of decay from near perfect to falling to bits as soon as you look at them.
You may also be aware that I visited an old air gunnery school a few weeks back and returned with a bucket full of spent .50calibre bullets.
I decided to create a display piece and restore them back to what they looked like when they left the factory.
So....
Here we go.....
Firstly this is what the cartridges looked like.
And this is what the bullets looked like.
Ok so this is what I did.
All done with a dremmel multi tool wotsit.
1. Using a fine grade sandpaper flap wheel, I removed the top layer of dirt and a very fine layer of metal to get under the 'oxidisation'. (You need to wear a dust mask when you do this as the amount of dust produced is amazing !)
2. I then used a very fine grade emery paper 'disc' and removed the scouring left by the flap wheel.
3. I then used a polishing paste and a buff wheel using a relatively low speed. This tends to make the metal get rather warm so you have to move quickly.
4. I then used a buffing cloth 'disc'.
5. Last step was a good rub down with Brasso wadding. If there were still serious scuff marks, I repeated steps 3, 4 and 5.
6. Because this method reduces the diameter of the bullets very slightly, they then had to be glued in place otherwise they just fall to the base of the cartridge. I used evostick 'seriously strong glue'.
7. Using enamel paint, I coloured the tips using another relic bullet as a guide to show where the paint went down to.
8. Left to dry.
And the results......
What do you think ?
From slightly above.....
All in all these five took me around 5 hours to do. Well worth it. :) :)
They are, from left to right, Standard Ball round (plain tip), Incendiary (light blue), Armour piercing incendiary (aluminium), Armour piercing (black), tracer (red).
All I need now is some genuine WW2 .50cal links to complete the display.
Anyone got any spare they are willing to part with ? I'll pay of course. Please PM me if you have.
Many thanks
Steve T
