5-32 Deck Gun - US Navy

thingiverse

This is a model of a 5-32 deck gun based on a Gearing Class Destroyer's design. It's not functional, but it does rotate 360 degrees and its cannons can pivot up and down by adjusting the side slot in the drive shaft with a coin or screwdriver. The model doesn't fire projectiles. The kit comes in several pieces that need to be assembled using glue. There's an exploded drawing included in the set of PDFs, but it can be tricky to put together and line up the cannons correctly. Since the models were built 1:1 scale, you'll want to scale the STL files equally to match your printer. Check the size of each file when you first open them to see how they import. You might find that the initial scale fits your printer just fine. If you do need to scale it up or down, every piece will have to be resized uniformly. The gun house has a breakaway part on its lower back side, which is a light grey in the PDF. I struggled with removing support material from this area and making it look nice. The support piece is roughly one printer layer below the main structure, so you can remove it using a thin screwdriver. It should come off easily. The base also has a breakaway part, which helps with post-printing cleanup since support material can be difficult to remove. I uploaded different variations for you to choose from. The pieces with "legs" sticking out are designed for a larger base or raft to ensure good adhesion to the built plate. I printed mine in PLA without a heated built plate and couldn't get it to stick down, so I added these "raft legs" to the print design. During printing, you can tape the outrigger pieces to the built plate using Kapton tape to keep them from peeling up. After printing, you should be able to pry off any excess support material and achieve a relatively smooth surface. The Rotary Stop needs to be placed in the front center of the gun house as a final step. Make sure it's centered before gluing it into place. You'll need to do some light sanding to get the mechanisms working smoothly, but you can take your finishing to whatever level you prefer.