THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK... PART 2

To pick up where we left off from Part 1, We had the list of supplies. You can build it how ever you want., but this is what worked for me to get a larger cannon, without going too nuts...

To start, I cut a 1.5 inch hole in the bottom for the power cord to have an exit point. I then measured out the placement for the holes for the PVC stanchion. That was attached using two cardboard sleeves from wire ribbon roles (IIRC). The cardboard to cardboard connection was made using wood glue. Then I smeared epoxy on the inside of the sleeves in a thin layer, sliding the PVC tube in. It was a tight, secure fit. At this point I added the skull and crossed swords to have a little decoration on the top of the barrel. The hole for the ignition point was next. Around the hole I used a small and large rubber washer to give it some definition.

Then I covered the tube, inside and out, with spray Flex Seal. Once dry, it got two coats of metallic hammered black, the dry wall paper I used to make reinforcing straps was barely showing at this point so I have to come up with a new plan...

At this point, I was not happy with the metallic black look of the gun, so I tried antique brass. That wasn't right either. More on that later. Bu this point last weekend, the foam discs arrived and I was able to build the "breech" of the cannon. I attached them using Styrofoam glue, followed by a coat of Testor's Foam sealer and primer. The breach is designed to be pulled off to access the fog machine inside the tube, so I cut 2 of the discs to match the inner diameter of the tube, using a couple of layers of black duct tape to secure the foam and make for a tight fit. 

Next up was the muzzle. I used the 2 9inch rings as the base, gluing them together, and sealing them like the breech. Once glued tot he tube, I used weather striping foam to build the bell shape of the muzzle, and then covered the whole thing in black tape to give a common surface for painting. after attaching an 8 inch "oops" ring for recessed lighting onto the front. I tried painting with bronze spray paint. Again, too gold. But before I settled on what to do with the paint, I added a 6 inch cutting ring to the muzzle to strengthen the foam and give the opening better definition. I sealed the gaps with rope caulk I had laying around. 

After spreading some spackle paste on the tube and sanding it down to give it more of a "cast" look, I settled on painting the whole thing hammered metallic brown. that was the look I wanted. 

Time to start the gun carriage. For this I raided a friends scrap wood pile (Thanks RF!) and came away with enough wood to build the carriage. How you do this is entirely up to you. I threw it together this weekend into a shape, that while rough, at least resembles what a ships carriage would have looked like for a smaller gun like this. Yes, the would is warped and torn and rotting. It's been sitting in a pirate's graveyard, why would it look perfect. At this point I attached the bronze rings, ropes, etc,, cut the stanchion mount points and the holes for the wheels. i'll let the pictures do the talking now:

So that wraps up the building phase for the cannon. The Carriage will stay outside for the next 3 months to weather naturally, and I will get roofing tar to cover the screws, and other "modern" elements. Next up with be weathering the barrel to get that oxidized bronze look, sealing it all with water-based poly to give it one more layer of water protection, and then testing the fog machine, led lights and water proof speaker to get it all in sync, That will be part 3...