Palmer’s Armoury specialises in the manufacture of model cannon replicas to scale.

For most of us, a hobby is what we do outside work. Not so for Palmer’s Armoury, a Port Elizabeth-based manufacturer and supplier of top-quality scale model cannon replicas in sterling silver, bronze, brass, stainless steel and zinc.

It’s not unusual for a hobbyist to morph into an inventor. The natural tendency for tinkering, which defines most hobbyists, can lead to the development of new products. Once in a while, someone comes along and develops a better process to make components used in the hobby. And in a few cases, the hobbyist becomes so fascinated with the process that the component becomes secondary to quality engineering and production. And thus, a business is born.

The hobby and passion became a business after Zane Palmer had spent years mastering the manufacture of the model cannon replicas to scale based on actual cannons used in the Boer and Napoleonic wars. Palmer’s Armoury have taken on larger commissions every now and again. One example is the bronze barrel that in its finished state weighs in at 89kgs and the carriage at 36kgs

The hobby and passion became a business after Zane Palmer had spent years mastering the manufacture of the model cannon replicas to scale based on actual cannons used in the Boer and Napoleonic wars. The cannons are highly detailed down to the finest element such as the cartouche. The cartouche is a wooden box that is used to carry ammunition as well as to store ammunition on the battlefield while being transported to the gun from the ammunition wagon.

Palmer’s love with historical cannons and the subsequent manufacture of the fine-art pieces began when he was six-years-old. His father, who owned an engineering business involved in fitting and turning, introduced Palmer and his brother to cannons. The passion grew from there.

He started casting lead figures while in primary school, which he melted in a steel ladle in a fire. In the late 1990s he cast model welding robots in bronze for a client and was taught himself via reading, trial and error and later via the university of YouTube.

Palmer sourced drawings of the Long Cecil from Kimberley Engineering Works and couldn’t resist creating the model

“This chapter of my life began when I met this photographer at a braai I was also attending. He said that he had a two pounder cannon at his poolside and because he was moving to Spain, he wanted to sell it. I subsequently purchased it from him and later sold it. Regretting the sale, I decided to make my own one pounder in bronze.”

“Palmer’s Armoury was established in 2000 and operates from our home in Port Elizabeth. Our Workshop is now about 50m² and in addition to the conventional lathe which has digital read out, there is a CNC router, a milling machine, a drilling machine, a radial arm saw, a circular saw, a band saw, planer, jointer, casting equipment and a jeweller’s hand piece to mention the bigger pieces.”

“Anyone deciding to do something similar to what I am doing, but of course not cannons, the first thing to do is to get a good drawing to work from. You can then make your patterns and components and whatever else you need, accurately. Luckily I had received a CAD drawing of the two pounder gun that I had just sold from the person to whom I had sold it to. So the pattern was made to a one pounder scale as the cannon balls used for firing could be bought from the local metalsmith shop, who was selling them to people making gates and decorative metalwork.”

Long Cecil was instrumental in the successful defence of the world’s richest diamond mines during the four-month siege of Kimberley by the Boers during the Anglo Boer War. Commissioned by Cecil John Rhodes and designed by mine owners De Beers’ Chief Engineer, George Labram, the gun took just 29 days to be manufactured in the De Beers workshops (26 December – 23 January 1900). By this time the ammunition had also been made. As proof of origin, each shell had De Beers and a diamond shape cast into the base, while some even had With Compts CJR (Rhodes initials) stamped on the body

“Most in the foundry industry would know that for larger size castings you make a mould that is made from silica sand mixed with sodium silicate and hardened with carbon dioxide gas. The mould box is made in two halves (the drag and the cope). In the beginning I would just use angle iron and line it with wood. The trick with casting a cannon is that the barrel must be cast in a vertical position with the ingate at the muzzle. When molten metal gets cold it contracts and must be replaced with hot molten metal or shrinkage defects will occur in the casting. Areas with small volume will freeze before the bigger volumes so a sprue is provided in this area to supply the molten metal. This is the area above the muzzle on the casting. Being a vertical casting, it is also good as the weight of the metal pushing down will help to reduce shrinkage and cavities forming. If the gun is cast in a horizontal position then the muzzle and the trunnions will freeze before the breech volume and the supply of molten metal will stop and cavities will form. In other words, it would be a disaster.”

“You could say this was the case of the first cannon I attempted to have made – a disaster. This was when I decided to make all my own castings and components. As my end product was not very big, but intricate and needed precision engineering, I would not require large foundry or machining related equipment. The processes are the same but on a much smaller scale.”

“I arrived at the foundry in time to see the pour. The cannon mould was slightly elevated, as is required, and the metal was poured. All the processes were followed and I was happy. But when the casting was delivered to me, I could see that it had been repaired with metal from the cast, used as a filler and TIG welded. No defect could be seen until after the first firing of the gun. It passed a proof firing but later started to leak at the trunnion. Further inspection found shrinkage defects inside the trunnion into which I could fit my thumb. The vent area was also showing aspects that had been TIG welded to cover or repair shrinkage defects and changed colour.”

“That is when I decided to do all my own casting and manufacturing – the end of a defective cannon and masterpiece.”

A gilded barrel. Mercuric gilding is a process that has been around for hundreds of years. It involves the dissolving of pure gold or silver in liquid mercury to form an amalgam. The object to be gilded is coated with the amalgam until it is a nice uniform silver colour. Heat is then applied until the mercury has evaporated leaving behind a pure gold coating

In finding a solution to his manufacturing problems, Palmer was at a slight disadvantage. He had little to no prior on-the-floor manufacturing experience. But that ultimately turned out to be a great advantage. He had no preconceived notions about what could or couldn’t be done.

“With the help of suppliers and Google, as well as common sense, I have put together a small foundry where we melt, pour and fettle and a small machine shop where we can turn and drill the smaller components. We make our own silicone moulds and use the lost wax process for all those small and intricate components that are required.”

“I have recently designed and manufactured our own 3kg gas fired furnace, which has replaced the 1.3kg electro-melt furnace that we were working with. The unique feature, as we call it, about this furnace is that we use a hair dryer to blow the air and gas into the furnace. This solution was resolved through trial and error. At first we used a vacuum cleaner but that was too aggressive and then our pipe was too short. In the end we are very happy with what we have created. We even manufactured our own base out of refractory for the crucible to stand on in the furnace.”

“We have all the other equipment such as lifting tongs, pouring ladle, plunger for de-oxidation and de-gassing, protective clothing, a spare gas bottle, air blower to mix with your gas, de-oxidation rings and de-gassing tubes and of course the suitable mould boxes. We use the lost wax process because of the accuracy that is required.”

“All the moulds are made by myself. We now have a 3D machine which prints the component and then we make the silicone rubber mould. We use two bespoke CAD programmes to design the component before exporting it to the 3D machine which we imported in 2016 and is jewellery quality printing standard.”

Another scale model Palmer’s Armoury makes is the 7 Pounder Rifle Muzzle Loading Cannon, which is also known as the Kaffrarian Gun, and was mainly manufactured for the British to use against the Zulus. It was designed for use in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in an area known as Kaffraria. This is the region from East London stretching 200km inland as far as Queenstown. It was here that the British came into contact with the Xhosa nation who were being driven South by the Zulu’s who ruled Natal (today known as KwaZulu-Natal) with an iron fist

“Each replica cannon that we make is an accurate rendition of the original and we believe that all our cannons cannot be beaten anywhere in the world today for accuracy.”

“To give you an example I mention the 12 Pounder Gribeauval cannons that we manufacture that were used by Emperor Napoleon the 1st throughout his Napoleonic wars as the mainstay of all his campaigns. This gun was designed as part of the Gribeauval artillery system in or around 1793-1794 under the Inspector of Artillery Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval.”

“Prior to making the patterns of the model I travelled to Paris, France to see an original gun and received permission from the curator of the Hotel des Invalides to do a complete walk around to photograph and video one of the few surviving original guns. Measurements were taken and the patterns were made using the photographs together with a copy of the set of original drawings that I was able to source. Every nail, bolt and nut on the original are accurately reproduced on the model to a scale of 1/8.”

The 12 Pounder Gribeauval cannons were used by Emperor Napoleon the 1st throughout his Napoleonic wars as the mainstay of all his campaigns. This gun was designed as part of the Gribeauval artillery system in or around 1793-1794 under the Inspector of Artillery Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. This scale model cannon contains 1 487 individual silver pieces each vacuum cast, cleaned by hand and highly polished to a mirror finish. The total weight of sterling silver is 1 223 grams

“This scale model cannon contains 1 487 individual silver pieces each vacuum cast, cleaned by hand and highly polished to a mirror finish. The total weight of sterling silver is 1 223 grams.”

“There are 207 individual wooden pieces made from African Black Wood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon) or the wood of your choice.”

“The barrel is machined from bronze and is capable of firing using a correctly measured amount of black powder. This isn’t advisable however as it will significantly reduce the value of your investment and we, therefore, don’t supply it as a firing model.”

“The ancient technique of fire gilding, using 24 carat gold, gives a long-lasting pure gold appearance to replicate the fact that the Gribeauval was a bronze cannon and all the iron work of the original gun is made in polished sterling silver.”

“The barrel is hand engraved with Napoleon’s crest and the ammunition box decorated with the French fleur-de-lis.”

“1 696 handmade pieces are required to make this gun and limber. The base is made from ebony and has a sterling silver name plate with the model number of the limited edition of 50.”

“Some other interesting dimensional facts is the overall length is 860mm, the overall height is 176mm, the carriage width is 250mm, the carriage height is 176mm, the barrel diameter is 41mm, the barrel length is 270mm, the barrel bore is 12.5mm and the total weight of the cannon is 8.8kg.”

“We take great care in the research, manufacturing and historical vestiges of our cannons.”

Another view of Long Cecil

“Another example is the Long Cecil cannon. While studying in 1988 I met my future wife, who was originally from Kimberley. This resulted in regular trips to the City of Diamonds. While following my second passion, I made time for this first and sourced drawings of Long Cecil from Kimberley Engineering Works and couldn’t resist creating the model.”

Historical Information
“Long Cecil was instrumental in the successful defence of the world’s richest diamond mines during the four-month siege of Kimberley by the Boers during the Anglo Boer War. Soon after the Boers laid siege of Kimberley, the British within the town realised that they needed a gun that could outrange and reply more effectively to the Boer artillery than the garrison’s little mountain guns.”

“Commissioned by Cecil John Rhodes and designed by mine owners De Beers’ Chief Engineer, George Labram, the gun took just 29 days to be manufactured in the De Beers workshops (26 December – 23 January 1900). By this time the ammunition had also been made. As proof of origin, each shell had De Beers and a diamond shape cast into the base, while some even had With Compts CJR (Rhodes initials) stamped on the body.”

“All the moulds are made by myself. We now have a 3D machine which prints the component and then we make the silicone rubber mould. We use two bespoke CAD programmes to design the component before exporting it to the 3D machine which we imported in 2016 and is jewellery quality printing standard. Each replica cannon that we make is an accurate rendition of the original and we believe that all our cannons cannot be beaten anywhere in the world today for accuracy.”

“The gun’s first round was fired by a woman – Mrs Pickering, wife of the Secretary to the De Beers Company – after the senior Gunner, Lt-Col Chamier, refused to on the grounds that as a member of the Royal Regiment he was not permitted to fire guns not officially approved by the War Office.”

“During its 28 days in service Long Cecil fired 260 rounds in action, doing more firing whilst in service than any other gun in Kimberley throughout the entire siege. The gun did not see action in the war again. It was however taken to Cape Town twice during the War – once as part of an exhibition during the visit of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, and the second time to serve as the gun carriage in Rhodes’ funeral procession in March 1902. Thereafter the gun was returned to Kimberley to be placed on the Honoured Dead Siege memorial where it still stands today.”

About the model
“Manufactured in stainless steel and brass, this is a very special piece of South African history. If you are ever fortunate enough to visit Kimberley, do pop into the Kimberley Club to view one of my models proudly on display in the pub. Alternatively one may be found in the Military Museum at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town.”

“Another one we make is the 7 Pounder Rifle Muzzle Loading Cannon, which is also known as the Kaffrarian Gun, and was mainly manufactured for the British to use against the Zulus. It was designed for use in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in an area known as Kaffraria. This is the region from East London stretching 200km inland as far as Queenstown. It was here that the British came into contact with the Xhosa nation who were being driven South by the Zulu’s who ruled Natal (today known as KwaZulu-Natal) with an iron fist.”

Palmer has put together a small foundry where they melt, pour and fettle and a small machine shop where they can turn and drill the smaller components. The company makes its own silicone moulds and use the lost wax process for all those small and intricate components that are required

“In total we manufacture six different scale model cannons. We have taken on larger commissions every now and again. One example is the bronze barrel that in its finished state weighs in at 89kgs and the carriage at 36kgs, but not often.”

“There have been many different problems we have encountered along the way but we have always come up with a solution. When dealing with molten metal with temperatures around 1 200 degrees Celsius you are going to have challenges.”

“The main outcome is that we have always had fun and as we say: Proof of the pudding is in the firing and we are confident that every cannon that we manufacture will do that. But we don’t recommend firing. Rather enjoy the beauty of the art and craftmanship.”

For further details contact Palmer’s Armoury on TEL: 041 367 3087/083 261 6513 or visit www.palmersarmoury.co.za