dummy cannons by william butler

[willz]

some ships have full decks thoughout only to be covered up by the black wall of dummy cannons,

here is a tutorial on how to rid the ugly dummies

 

all we well use is the timber thats used for the dummy cannon beam, this tutorial is for the deag or AL HMS Victory so all using this method will have to adapt accordingly

 

first we half round the top of our material and drill a 2 mm hole (the 2 mm being the size of the dummy cannon pin (in my case)

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

care is needed when drilling the hole, take your time and keep it straight and true. then try in the dummy cannon to see if all`s OK

[willz]

next with a full cannon mark out where to cut your piece and round the back down, the next four pics illustrate this. this is enough detail for the barrel in a model with no lighting

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

for those lighting up the model you can always add more detail, in the next pic i shaped the rear and cut in a thimble, no real need for a thimble but got a bit giddy.  Also ran my triangular file down the side to shape the barrel

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

onto the carriages. with a clean piece of cannon beam (no radius) i ran a pencil down the sides and over the top using the old finger and pencil routine.   then with the piece in a vice cut the front with the saw tilted upwards following the line. when the front was cut turn the piece around in the vice and cut the back letting the razor saw follow the cut in the other side

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

next look at the cuts in both sides of the piece, one is usually more central than the other, if so the one more central will be the top of our carriage. the next pic shows the de ag part works hms victory carriage i used for the template, your will be from whatever ship your building.

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

before we cut the pieces off the beam we will shape the carriages, the first pic shows just one cut dow the steppy shape of the carriage with a razor saw, this is all thats needed with a model with no lights but again its simple to carry on and add more detail. second pic.  when happy with shape cut them both off the piece leaving you with two identical halves

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

on with the base, still using the dummy cannon beam i used the de ag carriage base as a template, notice i didn`t go right to the rear of the base, this saves on material and with its bulk wouldn`t look right at the rear

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

then with the base and sides flush at the front i glued them together and left to dry, with the extra thick base this is easy to do

 

gave the barrel a dry fit and tried in the dummy, decided to run my triangular file round the barrel as to make it look like rings then painted

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

after looking at the finished cannon decided it needed wheels, got some 5 mm dowel and set to work on the lathe

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

no need for this extravagance you can just slice them off with a razor saw at the thickness needed, then just glue to sides flush with the bottom, you dont want the wheels lifting the carriage off the floor, finally you can drill a hole in the base for a secret steel or brass dowel to decure the carriage in place

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

the cannon in the turorial is pointing out leve, you can raise the barrel by cutting the base at a different angle

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[willz]

is this the end of the black wall dummy cannons

[willz]

dont forget to remove the dummy end of the cannon when fitted in the ship, then when all the model is completely finished, glue the dummy end back on

Edited December 19, 2014 by williamDB

[ianmajor]

William,

 

Superb idea. Nice work.

[willz]

thank you Ian,  here`s a few pics of the original 32 pounder for my scratch build

[willz]

this cannon is made of ebony, nothing new in that, but i think the split cannon is a first, as you can see in the photo you cant see the cut, its hidden behind the cannon ring.   cheers

[ianmajor]

William,

 

Once again - very nice.  I have not managed to pluck up the courage to make my own cannon barrels - yet.

 

An interesting point of comparison. I note that you use a three jaw chuck to grasp the dowel without apparently denting the wood. Whenever I did that I always got indentations in the wood. My own answer was to use a collet instead - or to turn up a collar with a longitudinal slit to hold the dowel.

[willz]

William,

 

Once again - very nice.  I have not managed to pluck up the courage to make my own cannon barrels - yet.

 

An interesting point of comparison. I note that you use a three jaw chuck to grasp the dowel without apparently denting the wood. Whenever I did that I always got indentations in the wood. My own answer was to use a collet instead - or to turn up a collar with a longitudinal slit to hold the dowel.

Ian,  its true the jaws do dent wood, so everything is oversize to start with, so the fininshed product has had the marks turned out of them.  cheers William