Tonight we are going to head to the Civil War and talk about the cannons of Fubar IV. If you have been around here for a while, you have already seen the Update on his fabulous ACW Battle Forge. Tonight we are going to look at some of his great cannons.
When you see a scene like this, it is almost hard to believe that it is 1:6th just due to the scope of what you are seeing. These cannon are simply amazing.
It starts with pieces of wood, which are carefully crafted to the correct size and shape from precise drawings. Fubar has always been very skilled at woodworking. It is only logical that when he applied those skills towards building scale cannon that the result would be museum quality masterpieces.
The carriage is made up of four pieces of wood and this is what it looks like before any of the detail goes into it. Even at this point it is easy to see the accuracy of the parts.
Fubar turned each of his cannon barrels on the lathe. Over time he has made several different kinds of barrels, all of which are styled after Civil War cannons. This one pictured is one of my particular favorites.
A variety of materials were used to create the details on Fubar's cannons. Brass and styrene are the two most used materials. This working support made from brass is really sharp looking work.
Fubar's first cannon was left in it's natural wood, rather than being painted to show off the beauty of the wood. Here you see it before the wheels were added. All of the added details have been painted black and the cannon barrel itself brass.
Of course what scares most folks about a project like this are the wheels. After making his first cannon with wood rims, Fubar hit on the idea of making his wheel rims by cutting PCV pipe of the proper diameter into thin slices to make nice solid sturdy wheels. He then adds the hub and spokes from wood.
The result is a beautiful looking field piece that can also stand up to backyard use. This is that original cannon as it was finally completed. It's okay to drool. As a matter of fact, here are a couple more pictures to drool over.
I really love this natural wood finished field piece, it reminds me of the models I saw in the Smithsonian as a kid, but for shots in the field, he has a complete battery done in green. Add to that his limbers and Battle Forge and you have an amazing slice of Civil War artillery.
Well, that's all for tonight Campers, hope you enjoyed this "Blast from the Past". Until next time, have a good one!
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