The Guns of Constellation

There was one more gun to make for the Lane, a 30pdr Parrott rifle on a pivot carriage, and I started thinking, Constellation carried a 30# Parrot on a pivot also....

That gave me the idea to make one each of all the guns the Constellation was armed with from her launch in 1855 to today. I'd print them at the same scale, 1:36, and make some sort mounting that could be displayed with the model when I took her to events and shows.

That would amount to 10 types of gun; 8" shell-gun, 32# gun, 10" shell-gun pivot, 20# Parrott pivot, 30# Parrott pivot, IX Dahlgren Marsilly, 100# Parrott pivot, XI Dahlgren iron pivot.
The list would also include an 1812ish 24 pounder, and a 32# Carronade from when they dressed her up as a frigate in 1914 and again in Baltimore.

Of that list of Constellation's guns, I had the IX Dalhgren made, and was starting on the 30# Parrot.

With one more gun to make for the Lane, the 30# Parrott, I was also asked about providing gun models for a 1:72 scale model of the side-wheel frigate Susquehanna, which sonsisted of:
* 12 IX Dahlgrens on Marsilly carriages
* 2 150# Parrott rifles on pivots
* 2 24# howitzers
* 1 12# howitzer

so I needed some Parrotts; the 30#, a 20# and a 100# for my list, and a 150# for Susquehanna. I needed to find the specs for Parrott rifles. It took some digging, but I found measured drawings for the 20# and 30# tubes, and the person modeling the Susquehanna passed me some data for the larger gun, with vital information like the size of the trunnions.

With accurate data for the tubes, I could develope the carriages to the right proportions with photographs. Examining photos, like these of the 100# Parrott on the gunboat Mendota and the only ship-board image I could find of a 150# Parrott, I found the carriages were very similar for both guns.

Once I had accurate data for the tubes, decent photos of the carriage, and using the slide for the XI inch Dahlgren, as it appears they did, getting the 100# and 150# Parrotts done went pretty smoothly.