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Author Topic: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"  (Read 1172 times)

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Offline Zulu

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Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« on: December 01, 2012, 04:20:52 AM »
Here is a cannon I just finished for a well known local restuarant.  It will soon be on display there.  It is modeled after the "Come And Take It" cannon on display in the Gonzales, Texas museum.
The barrel is full scale at 21 1/2" long.  Due to space constraints at the restuarant, it is mounted on a wooden block in the same fasion as the carriage in the museum.
It has no trunnions and an oversized cascabel.
The barrel is one of my wooden creations painted to look like old metal.
The cannon in the museum can be seen at this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8177037@N06/4983883773/
 
Zulu
 
Here is mine.







 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Offline boomerralph

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2012, 05:04:30 AM »
Nice job.  Looks great!!
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Offline NinjaToes

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2012, 05:06:49 AM »
WOW, that looks really deceiving to the eye  ;D Swear it was made of metal. Nice work Zulu  8)
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Offline Artilleryman

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2012, 05:56:53 AM »
Until I read the caption I thought it was metal.  Excellent work!
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Offline skratch

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2012, 06:05:48 AM »
That is an amazing paint job! Excellent work zulu !
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Offline KABAR2

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2012, 06:30:20 AM »
zulu,
You have become quite the artist as far as antique/aged/distressed finishes go,  unless someone
walks up and taps on it most will believe it is real metal.... Great job!
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2012, 07:06:36 AM »
The credit on the paint job goes to my lovely assistant. ;D
She did a great job!  The wood of the barrel is cedar.  The base is fir.  All the stain I tried on the fir soaked in and was too dark.  I ended up using brown shoe polish in paste form out of one of those little tins that it comes in.  I didn't soak in and gave me the color I was looking for.
I heated the metal straps red hot and hit them hundreds of times with a ballpien hammer to give them that beaten look. When I cleaned them up, they were too shiny so I brushed yellow mustard on them and let it dry.  Then just washed it off.  It gave the metal a nice dark patina with some light rust streaks in it.
I like it!  My customer hasn't seen it yet.
I'll deliver it next week to the restuarant.
Zulu
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Offline BoomLover

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2012, 07:56:59 AM »
 :) ...Your customer is really gonna love it! Great job!
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Offline dominick

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2012, 09:10:47 AM »
My gosh man I could have swore it was a steel barrel.  I think it will fool a lot of people in the restaurant too.
 
Awesome job!
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2012, 09:24:20 AM »
Wow!  A Kewpie Doll!
How cool is that? 8)
I will have to pass it on to Mrs. Zulu.  This one is hers.
Zulu
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Offline Ex 49'er

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2012, 10:21:33 AM »
Quote from: Zulu on December 01, 2012, 09:24:20 AM
Wow!  A Kewpie Doll!
How cool is that? 8)
I will have to pass it on to Mrs. Zulu.  This one is hers.
Zulu
Yer gonna have to get another display case to hold all your kewpies! Congrats.
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Offline The Jeff

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2012, 11:42:24 AM »
My thought process: What's so great about strapping a cast iron yard ornament to a block of wood? Wait, the barrel isn't cast iron??  :o :o


Excellent work as usual Zulu!
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Offline JeffG

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2012, 02:54:55 PM »
Wow. Excellent work! Congrats on the Kewpie also!  Amazing work Zulu!!
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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2012, 03:32:29 PM »
Quote from: Zulu on December 01, 2012, 07:06:36 AM
The credit on the paint job goes to my lovely assistant. ;D
She did a great job!  The wood of the barrel is cedar.  The base is fir.  All the stain I tried on the fir soaked in and was too dark.  I ended up using brown shoe polish in paste form out of one of those little tins that it comes in.  I didn't soak in and gave me the color I was looking for.
I heated the metal straps red hot and hit them hundreds of times with a ballpien hammer to give them that beaten look. When I cleaned them up, they were too shiny so I brushed yellow mustard on them and let it dry.  Then just washed it off.  It gave the metal a nice dark patina with some light rust streaks in it.
I like it!  My customer hasn't seen it yet.
I'll deliver it next week to the restuarant.
Zulu

Why don't they just "come and take it"? I'm sorry, but I'm powerless to stop. Your wife should get that doll, she excells at making wood appear like corroded metal (both bronze and iron).
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2012, 02:08:50 AM »
Thanks for all the comments.
There is a lot of controversy over the "Come and Take It" cannon.  Some believe that the Gonzales Museum gun is the real deal.  Others say it absolutely is not.  The museum thinks they have the real thing and that is what my model is based on.
If anyone has any interest, here are a couple of links to some articles about the piece.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qvg01

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/gonzalescannon.htm
 
Personally, I have a  hard time believing that the Mexican army would come after a barrel that was 21 1/2" long.  It could hardly have posed much of a threat. :P
Zulu
 
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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2012, 12:29:21 PM »
Zulu,
I believe that I'll have to count myself in with the crowd that says "it absolutely is not."
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RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline smokemjoe

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #16 on: December 03, 2012, 02:01:47 PM »
 You would make a good pattern maker.
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #17 on: December 03, 2012, 09:55:43 PM »
Personally, I have a  hard time believing that the Mexican army would come after a barrel that was 21 1/2" long.  It could hardly have posed much of a threat.

While I don't have an opinion regarding the provenance of the piece in question, I can see how the Mexican Army might try to sieze a piece like this because (a) it would be perceived as a low risk operation, (b) the enemy would think twice about having other such items if there were substantial risk of attack for possessing such, and (c) it is a government operation and decisions are not always based on logic.  Regarding item (a), organized military units have a tendency to hold non-organized opponents in low regard, often to learn later they were wrong.
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Offline Artilleryman

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #18 on: December 04, 2012, 07:01:19 AM »
I might add that the Mexicans may have thought it was bigger than it actually was.
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Offline FDC

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Re: Texas "Come and Take It Cannon"
« Reply #19 on: December 09, 2012, 01:16:36 PM »
Wow, Zulu, your wife's got some awesome mad talent there with the paints.  I am VERY impressed.
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