Scale: 1/76

Set includes 6 cannons (no carriages).  A set of 6 carriages is available separately.

Recommended for:
Model Shipways 1/76 scale U.S.S. Constitution 1797
and more!
 
These models represent the American-made Cecil Iron Works Model 1808 "British type" 9 foot, 6 inch-long 24-pounder cannons that are likely to have been carried by the early US Navy's famous frigates USS Constitution, USS United States, and USS President. 
 
Recent scholarship indicates that the 24-pounders carried by Constitution during the War of 1812 were all 9'-6" American-made guns cast in 1808 by the Cecil Iron Works in Maryland.  Because Constitution's original 8 feet long Furnace Hope-produced 1794-pattern 24-pounder guns lacked range and accuracy, they were replaced in 1808 by 9'-6" long guns cast by Cecil Iron Works.  Some historians assert that the new Cecil Iron Works 1808-pattern cannons were close copies of the very successful British Blomefield 1790-pattern cannons. 

These Cecil Iron Works-made 24-pounder Blomefield copies were the largest weapons typically fit to heavy frigates.  Constitution carried as many as 30 of these guns, all on the gun deck, each firing a 24-pound shot.

Although there were minor variations among real cannons, these models' scaled dimensions and details match dimensions from tables published in "British Smooth-bore Artillery: a Technological Study to Support Identification, Acquisition, Restoration, Reproduction, and Interpretation of Artillery at National Historic Parks in Canada" by David McConnell.  Their details were matched to those of surviving cannon.
 
American ships of the time are known to have carried a mix of 24-pounders. According to noted naval historian Howard I. Chapelle, British-type and even British-made guns were often employed on American ships because, "There was in addition the old trouble of getting the proper guns manufactured. The 24-pounders of the Federal Navy were not the same in model, weight and dimension in all of the ships carrying them. Some of the guns were on the British model, some were fortification cannon, and some were made on what was intended to be the standard model." American-made guns were often copies of British-made guns. Mr. Chapelle explains, "The long guns and carronades followed the British pattern rather closely but had less windage and fired a slightly heavier shot."*

For modelers who prefer to use British-made guns on their model, Blomefield 1790-pattern 24-pounders with King George monograms can be made available upon request.

© Model Monkey LLC.  This 3D-printed item may not be copied or recast.
 
* The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development by Howard I. Chapelle, pg.132.