Cannon builder helper ...
Added 2018-12-10 15:31:37 +0000 UTCWhen I was building my first batch of cannons I was aligning the barrel any way I wanted. Some I made horizontal and some I had pointing up a little. Now when I had the sloop hull done I realized a little problem: some cannons just didn't fit!
The upward pointing ones became too high for the bulwark due to the reinforced deck parts. Luckily I had enough that would fit so I didn't have to build new ones, but I thought I need a tool to help me (and you) when building new cannons.
This is why I made this little helper file. So what you do is to measure the height of the ships hull side and the opening with a strip of paper as shown.
Next you build the helper section and mark how high the floor/deck should be to get the same heights. The deck is usually mounted on stronger paper/cardboard, so that accounts for the height that you need to add here.
Next you glue a couple of layers of paper (I use some leftover paper) until you reach the desired height and put that into the helper.
Now when you build your cannons you can make sure the cannons will fit by one or more of the following ...
- glue the barrel horizontal
- glue the wheels at the right height
- print the parts sleightly reduced (when you want to simulate different cannon sizes)
As you can see, mine are at the limit :-) For the larger ships I will make a set of smaller cannons for the upper decks as this was the case. For stability the lower decks had the larger cannons. Makes sense, but the supply chain of cannon balls must have been tricky :-)
With that out of the way, I can continue finishing the sailing rig parts!
Until next time, have fun and keep building,
Chris
