Somebody's Gotta be in Charge; and Somebody's Gotta set OFF the Charge.

Private Waltrip mans our cannon, awaiting orders from Captain Earnhardt to give those Yankees a taste of Southern hospitality!

Here's a short video of the cannon and Private Waltrip in action.

Our private is a PVC frame, with a pneumatically controlled arm that will be holding the fuse to fire the cannon. He made his debut on Halloween evening 2007 (see picture on right ---> ).

Here's the basic frame before all the plumbing (hoses) were added. That's a pool "noodle" used to beef up his arm (and later used on the other limbs as well).

Next some close-ups of the articulated elbow. It took some experimenting to get a working setup. The Bimba cylinder used only has a 1" movement (which is all I needed to move the arm from a 90-degree position, to a slightly dropped position when Private Waltrip lights the cannon). The elbow is a simple hinge screwed into the PVC; the cylinder providing the motion is mounted behind the arm and held in place by two eye bolts that I found that just happened to be the right size to hold the cylinder in place. A plate mounted to the bottom of the Private's forearm extends behind the arm giving the cylinder something to push down on, thus raising or lowering his forearm.

Here are some pictures after all the hoses were added showing close-ups of the mechanism.

Here are a couple shots of the Private at attention as he's about to get a chest (thanks to a poncho of chicken-wire wrapped over him). Both arms are bulked out with pool noodles and one leg so far.

Next the wire torso got secured and wrapped around the top with duct tape to prevent any sharp wires from catching on things. We also dug up a mask to use for his head.

Private Waltrip then got fitted with a plywood plate "hip" (to hold his pants up).

With his frame finished, we test fitted his costume.

Next a hollow rod was cut to length to act as the cannon igniter, and a wire was run from the tip of the igniter up the Private's arm to his head then down his leg where the other wire and air tube exits. LEDs were fitted to the end of the igniter as well as into the Private's eyes.

Since the private needs to hold onto things, he needed some hands capable of posing and gripping. A section of 4x4 post with a hole routed in one side (just large enough to fit over the PVC pipe) and a set of holes drilled through with semi-rigid electrical wire inserted for the fingers was just the ticket. A glove fitted over the "hand" made a gruesome and pose-able hand. We also drilled a hole large enough to insert the end of the igniter pole partially into the 4x4 post; a drywall screw was then screwed through the post and into the pole to help hold it in place (it needed all the bracing it could get as it bounced up and down all evening!)

And here's the private all dressed and at attention...

We later updated his hands; he got a pair of work gloves more in line with his uniform. (You can see that in the video segment at the top of this page).

The private was equipped with a pneumatic cylinder to lower his arm and LEDs in both his eyes and in the igniter stick he's holding. All the controlling electronics though are hidden inside the cannon itself. For details on the electronics and how it was hooked up, check out the field cannon page.