Looking at cannons

Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)

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this topic is a photo reference on cannons and what they look like both in the wild and in museums. The photos are raw unedited and not cropped so you may see stuff in the back round. for those of you wanting to turn or cast your own guns or create models of just guns you may find details among the photo collection to be of some use. In some photos you will see reference for size like a note book. I know the size of the reference so I can measure the size of the guns in the photo.

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G'day didit
Great photos mate.
It that handsome dude in the photo is you by any chance?
Havagoodone mate
 
lets go back out in the wild which are cannons left outside exposed to rain, snow and all the elements. cannons in captivity are those that have been restored, cleaned up and put into a building for display.

So if a cannon if left out doors this is what it looks like

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when you see me sitting by a cannon I am not eating a picnic lunch I am taking field notes and measurements. I have been asked at times in museums to please step back from the display or what are you doing? I will make up a story about being an historian working for some historical group or society and I was recording measurements of the artifact. Most of the time I get the OK continue, after all what can you possibly do to a 900 pound cannon.

my field notes are then used to create 3d models

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back in the days of film photography you would end up spending a lot of money on film and development. today it is cheap and easy to take a 1,000 pictures on a 16 gig card. I hate it when I get home and miss a detail or think RATS! how was that mounted. so I photograph every tiny detail.

the flag you see in the pictures is not there because I am a flag waving American it was the only thing I had to use as a reference measurement. I know the size of the flag so I can measure the cannon. Ev and I were driving down the freeway at 70 MPH and she was driving and I was looking out the window when I thought I saw a mortar in a park along the freeway. I yelled to EV get off at the next exit I thought I saw a mortar. sure enough I didDSCN4447.JPGDSCN4449.JPGDSCN4451.JPGDSCN4452.JPGDSCN4453.JPGDSCN4454.JPGDSCN4455.JPGDSCN4456.JPGough and here it is

so far you were looking at British guns now lets take a look at a French cannon and mortar, they had a tendency to embellish their guns. Notice the different color of the gunsDSCN4457.JPGDSCN4446.JPGDSCN4447.JPGDSCN4449.JPGDSCN4451.JPGDSCN4452.JPGDSCN4453.JPGDSCN4454.JPGDSCN4455.JPGDSCN4456.JPGDSCN4457.JPG
 
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and now a look at American 32 and 24 pound long guns, Americans were not all the interested in "pretty" guns just raw fire power. These are still out in the wild so notice the color. The notebook is 8 1/2 x 11 and it is used as a measurement reference. notice one cannon has a breech ring at the back and the other one does not. I don't know why some do and some don't.

In the wild exposed to weather the surface is rough and not that nice smooth black finish.

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and now for something different


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lets take a peek inside

at one end you see these racks

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and the other end

is it a pizza oven?

well it is an oven of sorts what it is an oven cannon balls were rolled into at one end and heated up and rolled out the other end the hot balls were shot out of the cannon at wooden ships. red hot balls rolling around on deck was no fun for the crew.

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what this is or when it was made or for what I do not know. most of the time there will be a plaque telling you want you are looking at. I saw this across the street, so I went over to snap a shot or two while Ev is yelling "I am hungry, are we going to eat?" ya ya its a mortar got to go shoot it be right back.

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you don't realize the sheer size of these cannons until you are up close and personal. They are huge and the weight can be 2,000 pounds. You could not even lift a swivel gun off the ground.

next we will look at some Spanish guns, like the French they liked to make them look pretty

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a Spanish gun crew firing a 6 pounder and what are they shooting at?

across the bay a few miles away you can see a light house, these guns had quite a range. Getting hit up close really causes damage,.

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Many thanks for the details on your photos.....very interesting.
Especially happy about the French mortar, two of them in scale 1:48 i will install on my La Salamandre.......once
 
thanks for the kind comments
living on the shores of the Great Lakes it seems every town and city will have a cannon or 2 in the square.
the coast guard station in Cleveland has some carronades in their front yard. Living only 20 miles south of the shore I will go take a few pictures of them.
 
Nice, like the detail. I did not know about the cannon ball oven. Would the heating of the ball not change the size?
 
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