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Western Cannons (other cannons are available)

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GrahamB:
Western cannons differ from other Playmobil cannons in having a pair of carriage wheels and they fire bullet-shaped shells (except for the non-firing versions).

I was finding it hard to decide which of two types of yellow shell came with which cannon, so I did some research. It became clear that there are actually four types of cannon and three types of shell (including the ‘brass’ coloured shells in three Color sets).

The four types of Western cannon:



details...

1.   Firing smooth yellow shells, storage for 3 shells on the cannon itself, yellow ungrooved ramrod, smooth cannon barrel, brown wheels.


2.   Firing smooth brass-coloured shells, storage on cannon for 3 shells, white ungrooved ramrod, smooth cannon barrel, smaller wheels. Color sets. Here are two examples (the rammer, shells and barrel are the same parts on both pictures)



3.   Firing smooth yellow shells, shell carrier holds 5 shells, silver-grey ungrooved ramrod, smooth cannon barrel, light brown wheels. Clips hold the cannon barrel to the base.



4.   Firing grooved yellow shells, shell carrier for 5 shells, silver-grey ramrod with 2 grooves, cannon barrel has 2 internal flanges, wheels brown with black rims. Clips to hold the cannon barrel to the base.



Shell-carriers of types 3 and 4 compared:


Three shell types
Smooth, yellow, found with cannon types 1 and 3:
Smooth, brass, found with cannon type 2:             
Grooved, yellow, found with cannon type 4:           

PlaymoDB gives part number 30023640 for smooth, yellow shells in sets 3419, 3729, 3784 and part number 30031370 for grooved yellow shells in sets 3057,3812,4072,7257,7268,7317,7619,7683. No part number known for brass shells from Color sets.

GrahamB:
The 16 sets (including 3 Color sets) which contain a Western cannon are listed below. Three sets are thought to have been US exclusives. Deciding what each set contains is not always easy and sometimes pictures used online are from the wrong set, or there is no certainty the picture shows the original set contents.



Sets 3812 seems to have two versions, one (illustrated on the back of the set box) containing a type 3 cannon (smooth shells) and the other (judging by sets seen on ebay.com)  containing a type 4 cannon (grooved shells). 7317 also has two versions, judging by the illustrations in DS catalogues from 1991-7 (type 3) and 1997-8 (type 4). Set 3057 may have existed in two versions, but it seems likely, given its year of release (1998) that the type 4 cannon is more likely in this set.

P.S. 'Datenbank-Setinhalt' refers to a topic on www.klickywelt.de which shows pictures of set contents of many early sets. You need to register with the website to view the topic, but its well worth it!

playmofire:
Thank you, Graham, for another masterly summary of an interesting Playmobil item.

Klickteryx:
I never realised that the color canon barrels were bronze. The pirate canon barrel in the color range was also bronze. I wonder why they didn't make that bronze colour an option for the regular sets?
Thanks for the information.

hauden_lukas:
Nice overview! Thanks for sharing!

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