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Dave Published on 02 October 2009
Parent Category: Halloween
My Pirate Cannon Halloween Prop
Update: I've made a few changes to some of the materials I used for a new and improved version for 2013. See the newer version here.
What pirate in the right mind would go out without some major firepower. What better way to flex your muscle then a couple cannons.
So, here is how I made some pirate cannons out of a cardboard sono tube, small section of cardboard tube, foam pipe insulation, styrofoam and a styrofoam ball, a plastic bowl, glue, and some paint.
I took an 8" Diameter x 4' section of sono tube and cutting it in half.
Draw a line down the middle as a reference.
Measure 3" from either side and make a mark. This is where you will cut a wedge out to give your barrel a tapered look.
Roll your tube back together and tape with duct tape.
The plastic bowl is 8" so I glued that into the larger end of the sono tube. I cut a flat section off the small styrofoam ball and glued that onto the bowl.
I added the foam pipe insulation in a few sections to make some rings as well as add the small cardboard tube pieces as a hub.
Now some painting.
Here I coated the entire cannon with drylok paint to help protect and even out all the different materials.
I added a hammered black paint to give it even more texture and also to help protect the cardboard. I don't recommend you use this paint due to its expense and cleanup requirements. I used it because it was leftover from another project. You can see I took some extra styrofoam balls and made them look like cannon balls.
I added some washes of browns, reds and greys to make it look old and rusted.
I was in a hurry and didn't put the cardbaord ends over the hubs. (thats why you can see inside the sono tube in these pics).
Now it's time to make the wooden base.
I cut the basic shape out for both sides and carved the wood grain like I did for my faux wooden signs. I also added the cardboard pieces to the hubs (silver with blue painters tape).
You can see the other pieces that make up the base section.
The completed project.
Here it is all painted up, a few accent pieces added and there you go, some small pirate cannons.
I did go back and paint more black inside the barrel so you didn't notice the yellow cardboard much.