As I've made a model of the big gun from The Pride And The Passion, and had a pair of spare felloe-rings (wheel rims) left over, I had decided to make a model of Forester's "cannon", from the description in his novel The Gun. The scale is about 1:17, which was dictated by the 3-1/2 inch available wheel-size divided by 5 for a 5-foot wheel diameter specified by the author. Actual length of the tube is 9.1 inches (artillery is measured from breech to muzzle, not the overall length).
I used poplar, as I've plenty of small pieces on hand, and the felloe-rings are of the same wood. The block was bored-out 3/8" and lined with a hobby-shop tube, very similar to pen-turning setup, then turned between centers; an 11/32 telescoping tube is inserted to bring the bore down to an approximate scale size of 5/16 (.3125 actual vs .303 theoretical). Above left is the rough-down, where I noticed the proportion is too long for a cannon; calculation of Forester's dimension of "13 foot barrel" divided by the bore for an 18-pounder gives a ratio of 30, and identifies the gun as a "culverin", a long-barreled gun of the first class in the Spanish artillery classification. The finished profile is after correcting to culverin styling, and trunnions of Chinese red-oak added.
The cascabel is the region behind the breech, here turned as a separate piece mounted on a dowel-plug.
A little Rust-Oleum Dark Bronze enamel.
This completes the turning, except for a pair of wheel hubs; making a carriage is next, followed by building a Spanish cart, which the author portrays the guerrilleros appropriating for adapting to a limber for hauling the gun.
The basic design for the barrel is from Artillery Through The Ages, from the section on THE EARLY SMOOTHBORE CANNON.
I used poplar, as I've plenty of small pieces on hand, and the felloe-rings are of the same wood. The block was bored-out 3/8" and lined with a hobby-shop tube, very similar to pen-turning setup, then turned between centers; an 11/32 telescoping tube is inserted to bring the bore down to an approximate scale size of 5/16 (.3125 actual vs .303 theoretical). Above left is the rough-down, where I noticed the proportion is too long for a cannon; calculation of Forester's dimension of "13 foot barrel" divided by the bore for an 18-pounder gives a ratio of 30, and identifies the gun as a "culverin", a long-barreled gun of the first class in the Spanish artillery classification. The finished profile is after correcting to culverin styling, and trunnions of Chinese red-oak added.
The cascabel is the region behind the breech, here turned as a separate piece mounted on a dowel-plug.
A little Rust-Oleum Dark Bronze enamel.
This completes the turning, except for a pair of wheel hubs; making a carriage is next, followed by building a Spanish cart, which the author portrays the guerrilleros appropriating for adapting to a limber for hauling the gun.
The basic design for the barrel is from Artillery Through The Ages, from the section on THE EARLY SMOOTHBORE CANNON.
