When I built a nano Cannon about two and a half years ago I wanted my new 10-Inch Rodman, 1:54 scale seacoast gun to look good with an appropriate sized vent. We had 1.4mm fuse and a little cross-match 1mm in dia. so I thought a .045" dia. vent would be about right. These fuses, despite being really small, close to .040" still didn't fit and the cross-match was very fragile so you could not force it into the vent. Powder trains with FFFg didn't work reliably either. What to do? I was sweeping up a bunch of white oak shavings from the jointer just thinking about that tiny vent. Viola! Broom straws! Coated with BP, very fine BP. Would they work. Yup, they did. After many glues and granulations of BP, we came up with a HOT BROOM STRAW that worked. Pics below show method of manufacture.
Tracy & Mike
The small .045" dia. vent 10" Rodman nano cannon with a .182" BB sized bore.
Glue and straw experimental matls. Spray adhesive and .025" to .030" dia. straws worked best. Other glues did not work very well at all.
I converted an old bandaid box and a basswood block into a fuse holder. I cut the straws into 3" lengths which can be cut to any length wanted. Taped ends make doing a batch easier.
Two coats on each side works best. One coat is a little sparse for coverage. Can held at 10"from straws.
FFFFg granulation works best. A small amount of 1,2 or 3 F powder can be converted to FFFFg with a small brass roller. 1/4 oz. at a time is safe to do while wearing heavy gloves and glasses. Dip and flip and dip again.
They will look better than this if you use FFFFg BP. This is FFFg BP. A little thin. Usually works,but not 100%.
