Carronades
Carronades were shipboard guns much like any cannon, except they were short barreled. Their purpose was to be the "shotgun" of cannons.
Their bore was larger than most guns so they fired a larger shot.
As with shotguns, a carronade's aim need not be accurate. It could be loaded with grapeshot, shells, or solid shot as needed.
Below left you see a gun crew and our HTF Carronade Kit on an informal carriage.
The kit includes these accessories; eyebolts, raising screw (not shown), and more. However, we do not yet offer plastic gun carriages.
All we can offer at this time, if needed, is our somewhat rough (but actual wood) carriage.
These carriages are in very limited supply.
Above right are shown two carronades and some sailor figures. Note our gun barrels can be tilted up and down.
You will also see a pin at the front of the carriage (another accessory) that would pin the gun carriage to the deck and allow for horizontal turning.
The flintlock at the top rear of the gun is a separate accessory, not molded in. Another accessory is the tilt screw.
Some modelers don't need these last two accessories since a plain touch hole and a lifting block were used instead.
Lastly, each Carronade Barrel Kit comes with two "eyebolts" as you see on the lefthand carriage.
The HTF Carronade Kit; Barrel, carriage- and deck-pins, carriage connector (box), flintlock, tilt screw, and 2 eyebolts.
The entire Carronade Kit costs $5.
Currently, the plastic is black soft plastic. Not stiff.
For making your own carriage out of wood, etc., the connector box has 4 3/32" pins in a squareish pattern.
The deck pin is 1/8" diameter. The lifting screw is 3/32". The eyebolts are 1/16". Extra eyebolts are available at 50 cents each.
Bombs and Rockets
All items shown are soft plastic.
Above are "traditional" bombs and.................................Congreve Rockets ("carcass" or incendiary type)
Shown with a BMC mortar and BMC box
The large Carcass type rockets were used mostly by ships, such as during the attack on Ft. McHenry from which we get the lyric phrase "rocket's red glare".
Above are "ear lift" type bombs (shown with BMC mortar - not included) and the common shell-type Congreve Rockets (with a Playmobil crate - not included)
The rockets are shown with 1/16" brass rods as guide sticks. These are not included. The rockets normally do not have holes for such, but HTF will
provide the holes in any rockets ordered - for an extra 15 cents per rocket.
The bombs were fired mostly from ships, such as during the attack on Ft. McHenry from which we get the lyric phrase "bombs bursting in air".
Prices are: Bombs 50 cents, large Rockets 40c, small rockets 25c.
Rigging Blocks and Belay Pins
You see the sailor at far right holding two HTF Rigging Blocks (thread not included).
The figure second from the right is holding an HTF Belaying Pin. We have two sizes and this is the larger.
If you make a fiferail and fill it with these, the larger ones take a 1/16 hole.
Deadeyes
Sorry we do not have a photo. This was a new product that was run just before we changed locations.
We'll get a photo up soon.
A Deadeye is like a large, black biscuit with holes in it. You see them on the sides of ships as part of the Standing Rigging.
They normally have two or three holes in the face and a groove along the circumfrence to allow a rope to be looped around it and seized.
They are normally rigged in pairs, with rope looping thru all of the face holes.
Actual Deadeyes are wooden and coated with tar. Ours are, of course, soft plastic and come in the large 3-hole type and the smaller 2-hole type.
Our Deadeyes are 1/32 scale.
Backpacks
Above you see two different colors of the US Infantry backpack; tan and blue.
The old type are still available and can be ordered if desired.
You can see in the photo; the older type (second from left) is the brighter blue (a British pack done in light blue)
These new packs are specifically US type and also fit better than the old pack.
These are available in pale blue, tan, and brown.