Around the World in 80 Days (2009); Michael Schweikardt design (above).  Loading in: how much can you cram into a small theatre?  We were going to find out!  Of course us shop monkeys got to leave when the show was done -- stage management got the dubious honor of stuffing pieces into every possible off-stage nook and cranny to allow pathways for the actors while we moved on to something else.

     SO "that cannon."  Included in Michael's design was a scaled sketch of a canon in profile, as well as a research photo.  No offense, Michael, but that research photo looked to depict a cannon barrel that had been fished out of the St. Lawrence Seaway and stuck on a carriage constructed in a garage by the husband of a Daughter of the American Revolution.  It just didn't show that much.  

     The rest of the design package included a number of units (like those seen above) that were free-standing and mobile, and the TD asked if I could take a few days to make the cannon with what-ever I could find around the shop.  He knew I was good with scroungy projects like that, and I wasn't really busy just yet since the carps hadn't got anything completed for painting. 

     So, yeah, why not?

     I tried looking up 18th Century cannon images on-line, but the IT guy had recently put in a parental safeguard on the company's server, so I got "heuristic analysis = violence" or something like that -- I couldn't look up pictures of a cannon?!   Nope!  So I went home and turned pages in some books I have in my eclectic library.  Much better results.

     I took the scaled sketch for size, and added the details I'd discovered.

     What else are you gonna' start with?  When the shop has PVC tubing standing in the corner, you start with that, right? (above) I grabbed the PVC, some construction foam, begged some cording from the costume shop, and raided props and the tool room for what-ever else I might need.

     Self-portrait with cannon under construction (above).  Layering up foam and adding more PVC, I shaved the pieces to fit so that the shape would be correct, and then added that "cannon detail" with fabric and the cording (below).  The gun technology at the time used the best of the metallurgy available in the era, with design and construction based on what was known from past successes and failures.  All the myriad humps and bumps were there for a reason, besides any details that might have been added for aesthetic effect.  That needed to be recreated not in bronze or iron but with something cheap and light, and could be applied with some consistency in round.

     At the muzzle of the barrel (above), I fabricated a stack of plywood rings in descending sizes then added a smaller bore piece of PVC to allow for visual depth -- nothing says "fake!" like too much space inside a barrel.  When I had got all the details that I believed I needed to make a convincing profile, I coated the whole thing in stippled-on contact cement.  The latex in non-flammable cement sticks to just about anything, covers all those disparate textures, and takes paint.

     That knob-like device at the breech of the barrel?  That's called the cascable.  Don't know why, but it's probably got something to do with the manufacturing process.  I used a door knob (below).

     With the barrel done, minus color, I turned my attention to the carriage.  This was also a case of "nice to have some contemporary art" to refer to for the profile of the thing.  They're particular, those gun carriages.  Naturally, I had plywood to cut from, and so layered it up for thickness (below).

     The wheel attachment perplexed me for a few minutes before I thought "how were they attached for reals?" and then did likewise.  I fabricated keeper pins from scrap steel, which could drop through the axles, as can be seen above, just beyond the wheels.  It did the job, and looked right, more or less.  Probably should have had something in between for bushings, but it's only a prop, not going on a man-o'-war.

     Once assembled, I added the rope keepers around the carriage, and the line used to pull the thing (above).  That steel pipe through the barrel serves for trunnions, and was cut back and plugged (wasn't it?  Maybe?  Maybe not -- I don't remember).  Though it only barely shows here, included above the breech is a steel thimble around a touch hole to replicate where priming powder would have been placed prior to firing.  'cause I'm that kind of guy.  Below is the piece sitting off-stage during rehearsal.

     The last I knew, it was still in stock.

     Photos: R. Jake Wood

     Deep Dives: A Christmas Carol