Looking at cannons

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Nice, like the detail. I did not know about the cannon ball oven. Would the heating of the ball not change the size?

I do not think the cannon balls were that tight of a fit in the cannons. But your right heating up the cannon balls would make them expand.

 

[Uwek]

Every day something to learn......II found a very good explanation in wiki about hot shot / heated shot of a cannon or mortar

Take a look here :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heated_shot

The use of hot shot dates back centuries and only ceased when vessels armored with iron replaced wooden warships in the world's navies. It was a powerful weapon against wooden warships, where fire was always a hazard. Its use was mainly confined to shore batteries and forts, due to the need for a special furnace to heat the shot, and their use from a ship was in fact against Royal Navy regulations because they were so dangerous, although the American ship USS Constitution had a shot furnace installed for hot shot to be fired from her carronades. The French Romaine-class frigates originally also featured the device, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.

and

Great care had to be taken loading heated shot into a cannon to ensure that the red-hot shot did not prematurely ignite the cannon's charge of gunpowder.
A cartridge bag of gunpowder was loaded first. A double bag was used with heated shot to prevent leakage of grains of gunpowder as the bag was rammed down the cannon. Once the bag was in place, a wad of moistened clay or cloth was rammed down against the bag to shield it from the heated shot, which was loaded next. If the cannon was to be fired at a downward angle, another wet wad was rammed down against the ball to secure it against rolling out.

A common practice with heated shot was to fire it with a reduced charge of gunpowder; this would cause the shot to lodge in the wood of the target ship rather than penetrating it, and also cause greater splitting and splintering of the wood.

On this video you can get an impression how it worked and how effective this could be

Seems also, that it was once planned to use on board of the USS Constitution, look here:

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/2014/03/21/hot-sho/

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

We will now visit this fort,

something interesting is the etchings in the living quarters you can see etchings of ships on the wall



lets go inside and look at cannons

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

our first cannon is

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

We are just getting started with the collection lets look at more cannons



look close at the surface not quite that glass smooth surface you thought these were




looks like this one saw some pretty rough times but hey it is 300 years old not that bad for its age






moving on more guns and lots of people, quite difficult to get a clear shot with so many people around. They sit on the cannons, stand on them stand in front, behind and right in front of you. Notice the ring at the trunnion

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

cannons on a carriage that person is OK in the shot that's Ev my wife. Anyhow these guns were BIG
lets see some detail

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

oh my another big gun not the same as the last one no fancy details




a whole lot of these cannons

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

now lets take a look at a mortar



looking down inside that little well at the bottom is the powder chamber so I am told





a little more close details looks like there is a flat spot where the wooden wedge slides into.

 

[Uwek]

Such mortars had a range up to 4.000 meters with a maximum charge of 25 to 30 pounds of powder!
Installed on a ship, they had a fixed angle of 45° degree, the difference of range to hit something with the shell was adjusted by the quantity of powder, or moving the bomb ketch closer or far away from the target. Used at land they changed the angle and also the quantity of the charge of powder.
Many thanks for showing us these photos

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

and another mortar or are they howitzers?

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

lets take a trip to that lighthouse we saw from the fort I found they had a cannon or two. This first one had been given a coating of some sort. The color is not black more of a dark brown.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The house the lighthouse keeper lived in is a museum so I bet these is a cannon to look at




yup here it is, well it is not a cannon but surly in captivity notice the damage at the end, something must of been there.

 

[GaryM]

Nothing like seeing the real thing. That way you know how large they really are and the craftsmanship.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

so I chatting with a local diver and she said "hey want to see what we found"













cannons are not always black a lot of them are a gun metal gray.





the yellow thing is Ev's cell phone I know its size so I can determine the size of the cannon

ok ya what is the cannon?

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Nothing like seeing the real thing. That way you know how large they really are and the craftsmanship.

Happy modeling,
Gary Maple





it don't look that big until someone is standing next to it

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

while we are on the subject of big guns lets take a walk in the park



notice no rings on the cannon and look! no ball at the end





this one has a ball on the end and is smooth just small rings




cannons in general have this nice graceful bell shaped flare




so what are we looking at?

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

and another cannon

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

the end result of looking at cannons and all the different versions is to recreate scale reproductions.



I tried several ways to produce a finish on the cannons. Glossy paint looked to unrealistic and most paint produces a smooth surface. The cannons I looked at the surfaces are an orange peel like ultra fine sand.
Looking up close you can see the finish is dull and that gun metal dark gray. The finish is fine enough it does not plug up the finer detail of the cypher.

I have not tried to get that greenish patina on bronze cannons but it is something I will try.

the best approach I found to recreating cannons is to draw them as a 3D file the have a super high resolution master print made. Then once you have the master it is a matter of mold making and casting. turning a cannon limits what you can do , that is all the fancy dolphin handles, lion heads, scroll work and cyphers can be added and molded as part of the finished cannon.

these cannons are 3/8 inch = 1 foot scale and will fit the Blandford X section model