21 Aug 2008, 12:33 am
One of my old favorite movies is Stanley Kramer's "The Pride And The Passion"; mainly because, I'm a cannon fan. I recently decided to make a model of "The Cannon" (1/12-scale, aka "dollhouse scale) I spent many hours reviewing the DVD, making sketches, doing drawings in AutoCAD, scrounging for hardware, etc. The rules were basically, use up the scrap wood and reduce the size of that pile, and all hardware had to be standard, easily located locally.
The result, after many weeks of working on the project:
Barbie (1/6-scale) belongs to my granddaughter, Clara; I wanted to put some "human" interest in this photo. I've put up a Passion Cannon web page on the topic, and there are a few more photos in my North Carolina Woodworker Photo Album. The woodworking site has more of the construction pix.
If you're not familiar with the movie, it's an adaptation of C.S. Forester's The Gun, and stars Cary Grant, Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra. They haul a huge "cannon" (8 foot wheels, 18 foot barrel, 24 feet long overall) 1000Km to Avila, evading the French. An unusual adventure spectacle, in that the Hollywood Stars are effectively "co-stars" with the big movie prop.
I've never tried to make wagon wheels before; this was a first time, plunge in and "git 'er done" project.
Hope you like it.
Regards, John
