Last year I sold a few of my concrete 1841 six pounders to the Texas Renaissance Festival. They went on board a pirate ship.
The same folks contacted me a few months ago. They had a PVC pipe contraption that you could hook an air hose to and shoot tennis balls. It was about 16" long. The tennis balls were a simple pressure fit in the mouth of this unit.
They asked me is I could figure a way to mount it in a cannon and make it look real.
Of coarse I could!
Carronades with trunnions! Or gunades if you prefer.
They turned out pretty cool.
This is a full scale 12 pounder barrel. There is one very similar to it mounted on a stone pedestal at the Alamo.
I just finished these.
These guns are fired by pulling on the lanyard you see wrapped around the cascabel. That opens a valve in the barrel that releases the air.
There is an air line coming out underneath the barrel that you hook compressed air to with a regulator.
I haven't seen these work yet but my customer says the PVC unit works.
I just made it look good.
Here is how it was done.
Zulu
Glue up. lathe work. Making lots and lots of sawdust!!