One half scale Mountain Howitzer Second Model Prarie Carriage

[Zulu]

Someone finally talked me into building a field carriage. I have shied away from them because of the extreme amount of metal work involved. Let's just say they convinced me. This is a one half scale Civil War Mountain Howitzer Second Model Prarie Carriage. I used drawings from Antique Ordnance Publishers. At my customers request, I deviated a little from the drawings on a few things. He has a 1/2 scale brass barrel that he made. He purchased the 18" wheels and sent them to me. I used a 1" axle for them.  The wheels are not dished. Zulu

[boomerralph]

Looks Great!!

[Max Caliber]

Very nice, Zulu. Well done metal work. Looks very clean and neat.

[Zulu]

Very nice, Zulu. Well done metal work. Looks very clean and neat.

Max,
You are my inspiration.  There is no comparison to your field carriage.
Zulu

[GUNNUT in Iowa]

Zulu, I would like to say.
 
LOOKS GREAT!

[NinjaToes]

Man that is nice. Drooling here. I would love to have one built by you.

Can you PM how much to have one made. I bought a 1841 6pdr in GB bore from Ed Hart. Would this carriage be the right size for a barrel 21" in length, 4" at the breech.

JP

[Zulu]

Man that is nice. Drooling here. I would love to have one built by you.

Can you PM how much to have one made. I bought a 1841 6pdr in GB bore from Ed Hart. Would this carriage be the right size for a barrel 21" in length, 4" at the breech.

JP

NinjaToes,
This carriage was built for a 17" long barrel.
I will consider another carriage and PM you.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.
Zulu

[GGaskill]

It looks very nice and well done but the wide tread of the wheels makes them look like freight wagon wheels to me.  Much more apparent than the lack of dish.

[Zulu]

It looks very nice and well done but the wide tread of the wheels makes them look like freight wagon wheels to me.  Much more apparent than the lack of dish.

For a half scale carriage the wheels should have been much thinner.  I had to compensate on the trail a little wider and a little taller so the wheels wouldn't dominate the whole thing.
Zulu

[The Jeff]

It looks very nice and well done but the wide tread of the wheels makes them look like freight wagon wheels to me.  Much more apparent than the lack of dish.

The width was the first thing I noticed.


Very nice job as usual Zulu!

[winniewino]

Zulu,
 
Looks awesome.  I've been looking at fieldpieces.  We need to talk.

[buzz36]

Zulu add me down for the WOW i jelly and what a fine job
 

[Frank46]

Zulu, big question. Does the axel shaft go all the way through the large square cross member and then attached to the wheels?. Never seen a carriage up close to figure that one out. Frank

[Zulu]

Zulu, big question. Does the axel shaft go all the way through the large square cross member and then attached to the wheels?. Never seen a carriage up close to figure that one out. Frank

Frank,
Yes it does.  It is centered in the axle housing.
Zulu

 

[intoodeep]

Zulu,

 It looks real good!

 I do have one question. When drilling down through the cheeks for the hardware, how did you keep the bit from drifting? There are a couple of strange angles on those and that makes it a bit challenging for the exit hole to be where you want it on the bottom.

[Zulu]

Zulu,

 It looks real good!

 I do have one question. When drilling down through the cheeks for the hardware, how did you keep the bit from drifting? There are a couple of strange angles on those and that makes it a bit challenging for the exit hole to be where you want it on the bottom.

When drilling the cheeks, the exit hole will NEVER be where you want it to be if you drill it through in one pass.  It will always drift in my experience.
I mark where I want to start and then mark where I want to end.  I connect the two marks with a pencil line. I line up my drill bit with the pencil line which usually is slanted.   I then drill a little more than half way from one side, flip the work, realign the drill bit with the pencil line, and drill from the other side till the holes meet in the middle.  Time consuming but it works very well for me.
Zulu

[Frank46]

Zulu, thanks for the answer with pics. Never saw a cannon carriage up close. Course did see some 10" disappearing rifles when in the Phillipines some 40 years ago. Pics were posted here sometime back. Frank

[kaboom]

Very nice work.  Thanks for the pics. 
I like the way you did the attach points for the accesories.
Thanks for the pics.  If you have any duing the build process would love to see those too.
Thanks for sharing.
 

[Zulu]

Very nice work.  Thanks for the pics. 
I like the way you did the attach points for the accesories.
Thanks for the pics.  If you have any duing the build process would love to see those too.
Thanks for sharing.

kaboom,
I don't have many pictures of the build.  Here are a few.
Zulu

 
 





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Cannoneer]

Zulu,
Did you have the barrel when you made the carriage?

[Zulu]

Zulu,
Did you have the barrel when you made the carriage?

Cannoneer,
No, I did not have the barrel.  I rarely have the barrel for a carriage I make.  I have had very good luck making carriages so far without the barrel in my possession.  It does depend on the measurements given to me by my customer.  It might really surprise you how many people can't read a tape measure accurately.  Or even know that diameter does not mean circumference.
In this case, I had a friend make a faux trunnion bar to the exact diameter as the trunnion diameter  measurement  that my customer gave me.  You can see it in these two pictures.  It worked very well.
Zulu


 
 

[Cannoneer]

Thanks Zulu. Have you ever asked a customer to provide an exact scale cardboard silhouette of their barrel? 

[Zulu]

Thanks Zulu. Have you ever asked a customer to provide an exact scale cardboard silhouette of their barrel?

Cannoneer,
No I haven't.  I have made some myself to be sure everything is to scale.  It is much better to have the barrel.  It is also expensive to ship two ways.
Zulu

[Cannoneer]

Are you going to ask the person for some pics of the whole show when he gets the carriage?

[Zulu]

Are you going to ask the person for some pics of the whole show when he gets the carriage?

Yes, I will.  And I'll post them.
Here is his barrel.
Zulu


 
 

[GGaskill]

Do you know if he has any firing plans?

[Zulu]

Do you know if he has any firing plans?

I'm sure he does.
My concern, that I have expressed to him, is that while his barrel is about one half scale, his trunnions are about 29% scale in diameter.  Also, when I asked him how he attached the trunnions, he told me that he hammered them in
I told him that it was obviously the weakest link in his chain.
I suspect he will do what ever he wants to do.
Zulu.

[GGaskill]

Sounds like the type who learns by trial and error.

[Cannoneer]

Zulu,
Thanks for posting pics of the barrel. I'd have to say that that barrel more closely resembles a 24-pdr field howitzer Model of 1841 (sans handles), than it does a U.S. mountain howitzer, nevertheless, I think it's going to look fine when coupled with the carriage that you made. 

[MKlein]

Looks Awesome! I like how you can see the wood grain through the paint. What type wood and what brand paint are you using?