It's an annual tradition. When October beacons, Don starts dragging out the tools and works on his 'addition' to this years halloweenscape. This year is going to be a bit of a repeat performance. Two years ago he made a cannon for his "pirates of the Caribbean' set. Since then the Foley's have moved to Florida, and the cannon didn't make the move. The folks that bought the house wanted it! Last year the Foley's were at sea and didn't do their own Halloween.

But that's fine, the cannon structure wasn't the best, so using that experience as a 'prototype' a new cannon is beginning to form. First on the computer, then in the garage. This cannon will be modeled after a real cannon, and will use a 3" PVC as the main structural element. Otherwise, Don was pleased with the feel and weight of the mortar/metal lath, so that again will form the exterior.

Why spend all the time on a silly project like this? Easy. It's better than watching TV, and a lot more fun!

Click HERE to see the new Black Bart The Pirate addition!
The cannon reference image (left) found with a Google search, the image was brought into Photoshop, the angle was corrected (above) and used as a template to create the working template (below). The next step will be to buy the PVC and enough wood to make the seven disks, which will serve as the 'ribwork' for the metal lath. The final carriage will be based on a ships carriage, not the land artillery shown at left.
It's October, time to get to work. On the first of October we stop by Home Depot and pick up a length of 3" PVC, a four-way split, a 3" to 1 1/2" reducer,a 1 1/2" to 1" adapter, a 2'x2' sheet of 1/2" plywood and a can of 'Great Stuff..'

Total cost, about $30. My last cannon was made entirely from 'found materials' around the yard. It also had some structural issues.This is considered an investment for the future!

Step one: Using the above plans, the PVC is cut on a miter saw and the pieces are glued (except the endcap, we need to slide the armature over the end). Total time: 20 minutes
Step two: Using a 'RotoZip' and a circle-cutting device, as well as a custom rig for cutting the 3" hole in the center, the seven plywood 'disks' are cut out quickly.

They're slid on the PVC base and laid flat on the concrete to make sure the 'angle' of the cannon is correct. Their positions are marked. The assembly is moved over a dropcloth and the can of Great Stuff goes to work. This stuff will stick to anything and give a reasonable amount of support. It is used to lock in the position of the disks on the PVC and it does it's job quickly and very well. Wear gloves. The armature to support the metal lath is complete.

Cost: Above. Total Time: 30 minutes (but, wear gloves!)
Step Three: A run to Home Depot to get a sheet of metal lath. This is the stuff you put on a wall before you stucko it. With the first cannon, it didn't come with the backing, so a lot of mortar ended up inside the cannon. The stuff at Home Depot came with a backing sheet, so leaving it on should work great. An electric staple gun was used to attach the lath to the armature.

Step Four: With a pair of metal snips, the lath is shaped into it's cannon form. The interior spaces will now be filled with 'Great Stuff' expanding foam, and exterior details will be carved in from the foam.

Cost: $8 for the lath. Total Time: 1 hour

Next Step: Finishing the exterior details
Step Five:GREAT STUFF!!! The cannon foundation is laid with the lath, but it's only a supportive structure. To get some fine detail the fore and aft sections are filled, and over-filled with Great Stuff. This will allow them to be carved and sanded down. Five holes are punctured through the moisture barrier of the lath to allow more Great Stuff to be pumped in. This will aid in the overall structural Integrity of the unit.

Cost: $6 for the can of Great Stuff. Total Time: 15 minutes
Step Six: Carve! The excess foam is hacked away with a knife and smoothed out with some 80 grit sandpapers. The end-caps are added. The cannon shape is complete. Ridge lines still need to be added, though.

Cost: $3 for the two end caps. Total Time: 20 minutes
Step Seven: Mortar! Three quarters of a bag of mortar mix is prepared, kind of dry, and then spread over half the cannon by hand. Before it sets too hard, a drywall joint compound screen is used to smooth over the rough edges. The next day the cannon is flipped and the other side is mortared. Just in time too, Hurricane Wilma barrels through the next day and puts us a day behind.

Cost: $6 for the bag of mortar. Total Time: 40 minutes
Step Eight: Paint! A little spackling (actually scene in the above photo too) to smooth off some edges on the PVC and to roughen up the 'too polished' surface of the pipe. .Then some latex enamel paint is used to paint the cannon. It is flipped, and then the other half painted. A little black spray paint left over from Black Bart is sprayed down the barrel to darken the PVC. With this, the cannon proper is done, time to move onto the 'display' carriage. This will be a prop for the Halloweenscape, but once the 'event' is over, will be disassembled and the cannon will become part of our landscaping amongst ferns and such.

Cost: $4 for the spackle, $10 for the paint, more than needed for both, but spares of both are good for many things. Total Time: 20 minutes
Step Nine: Build a carriage and mount the cannon. Using some old landscape timber from the yard, the carriage is constructed out of a 12 foot piece of 4x4. Based loosely around a ship's cannon carriage, the wood is angled and cut to stack four high. In a perfect world, wooden wheels would be mounted on the bottom so the cannon could roll back when fired, but this isn't a perfect world.

Cost: Nothing, all found materials

The cannon project is done, good thing too because Halloween is right around the corner. A fog machine will be mounted behind the cannon and fired by remote control.

Total cost of the cannon: $67, not bad for a prop that was designed to last for many years.

Halloween Night 2005!
The night was a blast, somewhere between 70 and 80 trick-or-treaters came through, most of them got pirate coins as well as a handfull of candy. The weather was great, the cannnon functioned perfect, Black Bart shouted orders all night and the dancing skeleton scared dozens.
Georgette the Pirate skeleton took the helm for the night.
The kicker for the night was getting the coveted "We Noticed" sign from the Cape Canaveral Beautification Board!
Black Bart manned the cannon, shouted out orders and did an occasional pirate jig.
George the skeleton hung out in the Pirate Graveyard for the night.