I'm planning on doing a pirate theme for Spooktacular this year (2009), and what's a pirate theme without a cannon. I looked around the Internet to get an idea of how to get started. I found this site and liked they way the cannon looked so I went with this concept.
For the barrel, I used a concrete forming tube that I picked up from Home Depot for about $6. The tube I used is 8 inches in diameter and 4 feet long. The bands around the barrel are 2 inch thick foam insulation. I cut them using my jig saw and fine-tuned them with a rasp and sandpaper. I also used a piece of foam in the one end of the barrel to make it look like the barrel was thicker than it really was.
To fill in gaps between the foam bands and the tube, I ended up using several different products. I started with spackling paste. However, I had concerns about its durability, so I then switched to wood filler. Some of the gaps I had were pretty big, though, and I was concerned that I'd use up all the wood filler I had and need more. Since I had a bunch of Celluclay left over from my experiment with the Bucky skull, I thought I'd try using that to fill in the large gaps. The problem with the Celluclay was that it was going to take a while to dry enough so that I could sand it, so I had to put the project on hold for a few days.
Now, the cosmetic work on the cannon itself is done. I still need to finish up adding LEDs to the barrel to simulate fire. I also need to build some kind of carriage for it.
Page last modified 07/29/2011