Could someone point me in the right direction to find a source of 1:48 cannons from the Civil War years?
Thanks.
Norm
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I'd love to. Unfortunately, no really good alternative exists. Depending on your desire for fidelity, you can make do with various plastic toys and/or cast metal war-gamer versions or buy the cannons themselves from ship model vendors and scratch build carriages. I have done all three. You'll probably have to scratch limbers and caissons, too. Cannoneers are difficult to find in compatable scales, 40mm being too large and 30mm being too small 
Let me know what exactly you want to do--guns in a fort, a battery on the move on the ground, ordnance being carried on a train; do you want siege/garrison artillery, field guns, pack/mountain howitzers, cavalry guns, militia guns?--and I'll try to provide some more specific suggestions.
Steve Allen
Cpl (Gunner), Co M, 1st MO Lt Arty, Turner Brigade
(See my Avatar)
Steve,
I'm looking for any type of ordanance that could be transported by train. Thanks for your response.
Norm
Now if I could only afford a 1:1 train to go with my 1:1 cannon.
Original Ames 12pdr on Cannon Ltd Carriage
Regards,
CJ Meyers
1st NJ Battery D
Awesome, CJ! (Where's the Smiley for genuflection?) did you build the limber?
What other pieces are in your battery?
Have you found anything to use in 1/48?
CJ
Do you attend gattlin gun day at fort ross were the actually fire the civil war cannons every year?
Norm,
Here is an eBay link to a starting point:
With paint and added details, these can be made to work. You'll need to scratch build limbers and caissons, but the axles and wheels will work, even though they are only 12-spoke. They are too small to adequately represent 12 pounders (such as CJ's bea-u-ti-ful gun, but the cast war-gamer ones get awfully pricey awfully quick, and most of them are too large.
Here is another link:
This is the list of cannon castings that Blue Jacket Shipcrafters sell. The Parrots can be used for seige artillery, some of the "cannons, old-style" can make a starting point for Model 1841 6- and 12-pounders or James rifles.
Here is a link to plans and drawings from dixie Gun Works:
A general link for info and ideas:
Another:
And another:
A link to 40MM men and cannon:
Index of sources in 28mm:
Hope these help.
If you want to scratchbuild soem limbers and caissons, I can share some of my experience.
Originally Posted by Norm:
Steve,
I'm looking for ordanance being transported by train. Thanks for your response.
Norm
Norm
Check here
http://www.musketminiatures.com/
Click on catalog
then scroll down
22mm cannon
catalog no
Attachments
Images (1)
Don't mean to hijack this into a thread about cannons, but since you asked, here goes,
Most of the financing for the equipment in the pic was from my Grandfather's estate. I got Grandpop's train collection, and Dad used some of inheritance to get the Ames Napoleon tube back on a repro carriage. The reflection on the muzzle was from a car parked on the street. Limber was built by Steen. We also have two Gatlings, a Billinghurst Requa, an Agar, and a Williams. We've also got a Steen 1841 6pd tube waiting for a carriage. We're in South Jersey. I've been casually looking for 1:48 Civ War artillery myself with no sucess for a small reenactor scene on the layout.
Winter is train season for me. Cannon season starts sometime after April York.
Regards,
CJ Meyers
I used the cannons from I believe it was a K-line cannon car to a town square display. They looked pretty good.
Will see if I can find a pic.
These grace the lawn of my town square, they are about 8 ft back from the edge of the layout so they do the trick.
Our local train club has a modular layout; my two modules are a RR junction and a river crossing protected by a fort. Since the layout is really HO, I use On30 and 2-rail O (Rivarossi 4-4-0 and BTS and converted Lionel rolling stock) 5-foot gauge. [Irritates the HOers in the club to no end 
.]
.]Our home layout will have an interchangeable module: farm (for the 1910s-'30s, fort (for 1860s), and Christmas scene.
I have troops in several sizes along with the cannon and cavalry. I really like the idea of a re-enactment scene on a more modern layout!
Our spring drill is March 16-18, so it looks like train season will get interrupted rather early this year. We wanted to get it in before Shiloh (Oh, how I wish I could make the event! But our campus' commencement is that weekend).
Originally Posted by CJ Meyers:
Don't mean to hijack this into a thread about cannons, but since you asked, here goes,
Most of the financing for the equipment in the pic was from my Grandfather's estate. I got Grandpop's train collection, and Dad used some of inheritance to get the Ames Napoleon tube back on a repro carriage. The reflection on the muzzle was from a car parked on the street. Limber was built by Steen. We also have two Gatlings, a Billinghurst Requa, an Agar, and a Williams. We've also got a Steen 1841 6pd tube waiting for a carriage. We're in South Jersey. I've been casually looking for 1:48 Civ War artillery myself with no sucess for a small reenactor scene on the layout.
Winter is train season for me. Cannon season starts sometime after April York.
Regards,
CJ Meyers
Guys,
I have a couple of SMR flatcars that are in need of a cargo. I thought of a couple of Napoleons or Parrotts. Maybe I'll have to reconsider and do crates. I just want to do it correctly considering the quality of the flatcars and the engine..
Norm
The hardest part is the wheels. The carriage isn't hard to scratch. The tubes you can get from Blue Jacket. But the wheels--if you want to be really correct, need to be 14 spoke. However, if you don't tell anybody that . . . .
OR: get a pair of 1/32 scale (54mm) Parrots and call them 20- or 30-pounders!
Norm,
B.T.S. sells a 13" mortar in their "War Between the States" series of kits. Here is a direct link.
Also, K-Line used to sell flatcars with cannons on them that didn't look bad (don't know how historically accurate they were). I see these cars at shows all the time, usually for $15-$20. With a little paint, they could be made to look more realistic.
Andy
Originally Posted by CJ Meyers:
Don't mean to hijack this into a thread about cannons, but since you asked, here goes,
Most of the financing for the equipment in the pic was from my Grandfather's estate. I got Grandpop's train collection, and Dad used some of inheritance to get the Ames Napoleon tube back on a repro carriage. The reflection on the muzzle was from a car parked on the street. Limber was built by Steen. We also have two Gatlings, a Billinghurst Requa, an Agar, and a Williams. We've also got a Steen 1841 6pd tube waiting for a carriage. We're in South Jersey. I've been casually looking for 1:48 Civ War artillery myself with no sucess for a small reenactor scene on the layout.
Winter is train season for me. Cannon season starts sometime after April York.
Regards,
CJ Meyers
THAT LOOKS LIKE ***F*U*N*** 
Try these links:
Gen. McClellan's Report:
A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES:
The Photographic History of The Civil War In Ten Volumes - Volume Five - Forts and Artillery:
I know this is off base a little but I wanted to share it with you guys.
I live about 5 Miles from General Jubal Early's home place. He had a law practice after the war here in Franklin County Virginia.I went to church with his grandson Tom and Mr.Tom as we called him was a heck of a fiddle player . I play the banjo and I spent hours at the Early mansion which other than running water and electricity was pretty much the way Jubal left it, playing music with Tom.
I was a youngster back then and you don't think about time ticking away but me being a Civil War buff I wish I'd taken the time to bring a tape recorder. Tom passed away at the age of 96 and his grandson ran the house as a bed and breakfast for a time.
The house is built out of a lot of American chestnut and the slave quarters,cook house and smoke house are right out back.
The basement was made out of bricks .These were "Cold bricks" they measure 4 feet x 4 feet x 10 feet tall and are held together by these huge iron staples driven in holes in the brick.
It was hard to get Tom to talk about his grandad he said he could be very gruff about some things but timid as a lamb about others.
As Tom's close personal friend I was allowed a peek one time into an old shipping trunk with Jubal's uniform, hat and sword.
Tom was a very religious man and tought Sunday school at our church when he was younger. I ask him one time as to why he wasn't more open about his famous grandfather. He said "It aint right to own other people ,that and war are agin the bible and although I'm proud my grandaddy is in all the history books ,I sure do wish it was for different reasons"
I miss that old man.
Sorry didn't mean to get off the topic but thought you may like to hear that story.
David
Thanks for sharing, David; the story is great!
A course of instruction in ordnance and gunnery 1862 ed.
By James Gilchrist Benton, United States Military Academy:
Re: Lee's RR gun. Lots of controversy about that gun. What is and isn't myth isn't real easy to tell apart. There is a yahoo list for ACW trains in all scales for those interested.
The most common field piece was the 12-pound Napoleon gun-howitzer, smooth bore, at least as the war progressed. The Federal Army did use more rifled guns than the Confederate, but the variety on both sides was nothing short of bewildering.
SMR looked into manufacturing correct, fully-finished brass 1:48 Civil War artillery, caissons, limbers, wagons and other equipment to the point of producing prototypes.
However, I determined that the final retail cost would be too high for the market. So I didn't produce them.
I also wrote an article which was published last February in "Civil War Times" on Lee's car. While doing research for a possible product, I discovered that photos existed of the car but had been mis-identified.
Dave
It seems to me if you had some 1/2 inch brass rod and a mini lathe the barrels wouldn't be hard to turn. It would take time to build the whole thing but if you wanted them bad enough it's doable .
David
I believe someone else posted before but K Line made O scale cannons for several of their flats. They made two styles, the battlefield cannons and the chubby Mortar style cannons. Hope this helps. FYI I see them on fleabay every once in awhile.
