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G'day all...
A while back, while I was building my little sloop 'Flame', I found myself
lacking in guns. With only 12 cannon in my arsenal, I set about designing my
own.
The 9-pounders of old, http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=111984
proved fairly successful, so even after 'Flame' had a bad run-in with a
French 74, I kept them around. Since then, Richie Dulin has multiplied the
number of designs available for use by small squadrons, so I chose to go
that road again.
As I enter another spur of Naval building, I've had to build more...
bigger... better!
Here they are, first a short 12-pounder:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216809
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216810
Generally out-classed by the 18-pounders of the 1780s and on, these guns
still formed the main armament of many frigates, and the upper deck
aramaments of some ships of the line.
And a 32-pounder Carronade:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216807
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216808
Notorious for their power at short range and among the most common
Carronades, these supplanted 6-pounders and 9-pounders as the Quarterdeck
araments for most ships by 1800, and starting with 'Cruizer' in the 1790s,
began to be the exclusive armaments for small vessels.
I'm particularly fond of the Carronade. Despite the "darkening of the bronze
guns caused by much gunsmoke and years of use" -- in other words, despite
being brown -- I think the shape of them is approximated rather well, and
the slide mountings work out decently enough too.
Sorry for the dark pics, but I'll have better ones as soon as they (and
their brothers and sisters) are mounted.
So for all you poor colonial sailors out there, worry not about the big
18-pounder Lego guns! Cast your own!
Kenneth Tam
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In lugnet.pirates, Kenneth Tam writes:
> G'day all...
>
> A while back, while I was building my little sloop 'Flame', I found myself
> lacking in guns. With only 12 cannon in my arsenal, I set about designing my
> own.
>
> The 9-pounders of old, http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=111984
> proved fairly successful, so even after 'Flame' had a bad run-in with a
> French 74, I kept them around. Since then, Richie Dulin has multiplied the
> number of designs available for use by small squadrons, so I chose to go
> that road again.
>
> As I enter another spur of Naval building, I've had to build more...
> bigger... better!
>
> Here they are, first a short 12-pounder:
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216809
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216810
It looks very effective. Most of my small designs use a 1x1x1 brick with
five studs (though some cheat and use a technic 1x1x1 with hole instead),
which are in pretty short supply in my collection... so using the 2x2x2/3
camera/laser brick with studs on the side is particularly helpful to me at
the moment!
The new brig needs some deck guns, and the nice chrome (9 pounders?) are
reserved for the frigate... so it looks like she'll get some of these.
> Generally out-classed by the 18-pounders of the 1780s and on, these guns
> still formed the main armament of many frigates, and the upper deck
> aramaments of some ships of the line.
>
> And a 32-pounder Carronade:
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216807
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216808
>
> Notorious for their power at short range and among the most common
> Carronades, these supplanted 6-pounders and 9-pounders as the Quarterdeck
> araments for most ships by 1800, and starting with 'Cruizer' in the 1790s,
> began to be the exclusive armaments for small vessels.
>
> I'm particularly fond of the Carronade. Despite the "darkening of the bronze
> guns caused by much gunsmoke and years of use" -- in other words, despite
> being brown -- I think the shape of them is approximated rather well, and
> the slide mountings work out decently enough too.
The UCS X wing has eight barrels in grey.... unfortunately not dark grey....
as an alternative. And the 8880 supercar (and at least one techic
helicopter) has the palm tree segment (that is what you've used as the
barrel lining, isn't it?) in grey as well.
I do like the slide (which I completely ignored on my on carronade's).
My other thought on carronades, now I have two ships that need them, was to
use the technic cannon (http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/32074) (but without
the projectile).
> Sorry for the dark pics, but I'll have better ones as soon as they (and
> their brothers and sisters) are mounted.
>
> So for all you poor colonial sailors out there, worry not about the big
> 18-pounder Lego guns! Cast your own!
Aye Aye!
Cheers
Richie Dulin
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In lugnet.pirates, Richie Dulin writes:
> The UCS X wing has eight barrels in grey.... unfortunately not dark grey....
> as an alternative. And the 8880 supercar (and at least one techic
> helicopter) has the palm tree segment (that is what you've used as the
> barrel lining, isn't it?) in grey as well.
And one of the shuttles has black barrels. Optionally, there are light blue
ones in Ice Ramp Racers...
Frank
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> It looks very effective. Most of my small designs use a 1x1x1 brick with
> five studs (though some cheat and use a technic 1x1x1 with hole instead),
> which are in pretty short supply in my collection... so using the 2x2x2/3
> camera/laser brick with studs on the side is particularly helpful to me at
> the moment!
Good good!
> The new brig needs some deck guns, and the nice chrome (9 pounders?) are
> reserved for the frigate... so it looks like she'll get some of these.
Looking at you pics, the length of the chrome guns in studs seems about 6 --
so they're either short 9-pounders or long 6-pounders. British Frigates
tended to go for either, depending on the Captain.
> The UCS X wing has eight barrels in grey.... unfortunately not dark grey....
> as an alternative. And the 8880 supercar (and at least one techic
> helicopter) has the palm tree segment (that is what you've used as the
> barrel lining, isn't it?) in grey as well.
Precisely right about the lining! I don't have either set, I'm afraid, but
at least these get rid of all the pesky barrels I have lying around.
> I do like the slide (which I completely ignored on my on carronade's).
It's hand on two levels: first, it is acurate, second, it saves me gun
carriage wheels (which are in desperately short supply!). I'm toying with
the idea of pivot-mounting about a dozen of 12-pounders because my wheel
supplies have dried up entirely.
> My other thought on carronades, now I have two ships that need them, was to
> use the technic cannon (http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/32074) (but without
> the projectile).
Interesting. I haven't seen any of these myself, but it seems feasible
enough, if you can figure out a mounting... heck, that could be a mortar!
Well, it seems we have a series arms race on our hands here...
; )
Kenneth Tam
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In lugnet.pirates, Kenneth Tam writes:
> G'day all...
>
> A while back, while I was building my little sloop 'Flame', I found myself
> lacking in guns. With only 12 cannon in my arsenal, I set about designing my
> own.
>
> The 9-pounders of old, http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=111984
> proved fairly successful, so even after 'Flame' had a bad run-in with a
> French 74, I kept them around. Since then, Richie Dulin has multiplied the
> number of designs available for use by small squadrons, so I chose to go
> that road again.
I like that cannon... I'll try building one!
>
> As I enter another spur of Naval building, I've had to build more...
> bigger... better!
>
> Here they are, first a short 12-pounder:
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216809
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216810
Great Idea of using those camera bricks!
>
> Generally out-classed by the 18-pounders of the 1780s and on, these guns
> still formed the main armament of many frigates, and the upper deck
> aramaments of some ships of the line.
>
> And a 32-pounder Carronade:
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216807
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=216808
>
> Notorious for their power at short range and among the most common
> Carronades, these supplanted 6-pounders and 9-pounders as the Quarterdeck
> araments for most ships by 1800, and starting with 'Cruizer' in the 1790s,
> began to be the exclusive armaments for small vessels.
I've alway's liked carronades, and I really like how realistic that
carronade is, but its a bit big for my ship! :(
(it'll be done soon, I promise!)
> I'm particularly fond of the Carronade. Despite the "darkening of the bronze
> guns caused by much gunsmoke and years of use" -- in other words, despite
> being brown -- I think the shape of them is approximated rather well, and
> the slide mountings work out decently enough too.
>
> Sorry for the dark pics, but I'll have better ones as soon as they (and
> their brothers and sisters) are mounted.
>
> So for all you poor colonial sailors out there, worry not about the big
> 18-pounder Lego guns! Cast your own!
What makes you think that Lego cannons are 18-pounders? I think their more
around 24.
>
> Kenneth Tam
Great cannons!
-JHK
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> I like that cannon... I'll try building one!
Woohoo! A franchise! : )
> I've alway's liked carronades, and I really like how realistic that
> carronade is, but its a bit big for my ship! :(
> (it'll be done soon, I promise!)
Good old Carronades! You could probably squeeze a *couple* in! : )
> What makes you think that Lego cannons are 18-pounders? I think their more
> around 24.
Well, I actually puzzled over this for hours. In stud-feet, Lego cannon are
about 6 or 7 feet long, making them only as long as short 12s. But their
bore is a foot!
Eventually, I settled on 18-pounder simply as a compromise: they're only
just as long as my 12s, but their more is 12-inch... really, they could
probably be anything 18 and up!
> Great cannons!
Thanks... now I just need ships to put them in...
Kenneth Tan
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In lugnet.pirates, Kenneth Tam writes:
> > I do like the slide (which I completely ignored on my on carronade's).
>
> It's hand on two levels: first, it is acurate, second, it saves me gun
> carriage wheels (which are in desperately short supply!). I'm toying with
> the idea of pivot-mounting about a dozen of 12-pounders because my wheel
> supplies have dried up entirely.
Yes, I found my supply of small wheels (which I'd previously thought of as
being large and annoying) suddenly dried up when I started carriage mounting
a lot of my guns.
My small cannon designs us 1x1 round plates as wheels, mounted directly to
the SNOT carriages (2 2x2 L plates), and although they don't function as
wheels, they do look the part.
Perhaps you could use http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/2436 or similar to
SNOT mount some 1x1 rounds as wheels on the larger guns?
>
> > My other thought on carronades, now I have two ships that need them, was to
> > use the technic cannon (http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/32074) (but without
> > the projectile).
>
> Interesting. I haven't seen any of these myself, but it seems feasible
> enough, if you can figure out a mounting...
There's enough techic holes in it to be fairly easy (though I haven't tried
it yet).
> heck, that could be a mortar!
;-)
> Well, it seems we have a series arms race on our hands here...
Cheers
Richie Dulin
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> Perhaps you could use http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/2436 or similar to
> SNOT mount some 1x1 rounds as wheels on the larger guns?
Brilliant! I've got plenty of those... I'll probably fix them onto the guns
that are hidden under the forecastle and the quarterdeck -- the difference
will barely be noticable...
Thanks!
Kenneth Tam
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In lugnet.pirates, Kenneth Tam writes:
> > I like that cannon... I'll try building one!
>
> Woohoo! A franchise! : )
>
> > I've alway's liked carronades, and I really like how realistic that
> > carronade is, but its a bit big for my ship! :(
> > (it'll be done soon, I promise!)
>
> Good old Carronades! You could probably squeeze a *couple* in! : )
Oh I have- 2 on the Forcastle. But their pitifully simple! :)
>
> > What makes you think that Lego cannons are 18-pounders? I think their more
> > around 24.
>
> Well, I actually puzzled over this for hours. In stud-feet, Lego cannon are
> about 6 or 7 feet long, making them only as long as short 12s. But their
> bore is a foot!
Using Dave Eaton's conversion tool, assuming that a the average person is
5.9 feet, a cannon is 7.87 minifig feet, rounded to 8.
(http://www.suave.net/~dave/cgi/scale.cgi is the conversion tool)
How does this measure up? Anybody got any cannon length resources?
-JHK
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There's a calculator for these things? Oh my, I've been working under the 1
stud = 1 foot system (based on the principle that each fig foot is one stud,
and so one 'imperial' foot).
I'm working from 'The Line Of Battle' (Conway's History of the Ship), Brian
Lavery's excellent 'Nelson's Navy', and Bernard Ireland's 'Naval Warfare in
the Age of Sail' for my measurements on gun size...
So, an 8 foot long gun comes up as...
- One of Congreve's 'Cannonade' 24-pounders, c 1812
- A French 8-pounder
- A Short 9-pounder
- A Long 6-pounder
Acording to Ireland, a 12-pounder would be 8.5 feet and 18-pounder would
come out at 9 feet. His tables show a 24-pounder to be at least 9 -- as a
long gun, at least.
So aside from the Carronade-Cannon hybrids designed in the second decade of
the 19th century, it seems there weren't many big-calibre guns at 8 feet.
However, Lego Cannon still seem big enough to count as heavy guns... and
since they're little plastic tubes, not weighty iron guns... put it this
way, I think we all have licence to use them as we want.
18s, 24s, 36s -- oh my!
Uh-oh, I think Nelson's ghost is coming to beat me...
; )
Kenneth Tam
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In lugnet.pirates, Richie Dulin writes:
> In lugnet.pirates, Kenneth Tam writes:
>
> > > I do like the slide (which I completely ignored on my on carronade's).
> >
> > It's hand on two levels: first, it is acurate, second, it saves me gun
> > carriage wheels (which are in desperately short supply!). I'm toying with
> > the idea of pivot-mounting about a dozen of 12-pounders because my wheel
> > supplies have dried up entirely.
>
> Yes, I found my supply of small wheels (which I'd previously thought of as
> being large and annoying) suddenly dried up when I started carriage mounting
> a lot of my guns.
Yeah, me too- and I have only Armada Flagship, Red beard runner, and the
hull and sails of the BSB. No wheels here, exept the ones scraped up from
town sets.
>
> My small cannon designs us 1x1 round plates as wheels, mounted directly to
> the SNOT carriages (2 2x2 L plates), and although they don't function as
> wheels, they do look the part.
>
> Perhaps you could use http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/2436 or similar to
> SNOT mount some 1x1 rounds as wheels on the larger guns?
Indeed! You can use larger 2X2 round plates mounted on the 1X2 plate with
one stud to make bigger wheels:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tboy/Pirate/cannons/dsc01028.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tboy/Pirate/cannons/dsc01032.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tboy/Pirate/cannons/dsc01033.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tboy/Pirate/cannons/dsc01034.jpg
here's my cannon folder: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=22173
> > Well, it seems we have a series arms race on our hands here...
Hehehe, we do!
>
> Cheers
>
> Richie Dulin
-JHK
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