Building Scale Model Cannons Over a 50-Year Period
Guillermo Rivera, model cannon builder from Costa Rica.
Introduction
Model builder Guillermo Rivera is from San José, Costa Rica. His brother, Jose lives in California, and contacted us regarding Guillermo’s lifelong work building miniature cannons. We took a look at the photos, and decided that visitors would certainly enjoy seeing his work. The following is a short biography accompanied by photos of Guillermo’s many model cannons. The biography is brief, but the models speak for themselves. Though built with relatively simple tools, they make for an impressive display alongside Guillermo’s collection of full-size and miniature pistols.
Biography
Guillermo Rivera is a retired civil engineer. In retirement, he finally has the time to fully pursue his hobby; however, his entire collection of cannons was built over the course of many years. In fact, Guillermo started building miniature cannons when he was only 14 years old.
He was building these miniatures while still working full time on his career, which necessarily limited the amount of time he could devote to them. Not to mention the upbringing of his four children. The collection now includes about 15 cannons and other miniatures, all produced over a period of more than 50 years.
Guillermo’s 1/20 scale brass cannon on small wheels, modeled after the type used on naval ships.
A Civil War cannon with limber, modeled at 1/20 scale.
Guillermo’s late father had an office equipment repair shop in Costa Rica, and had a big influence teaching craftsmanship skills to both Guillermo and his brother, Jose. Helping their father in the shop taught them the basics of machine and hand tool use, along with the importance of attention to detail.
Guillermo’s home shop now includes a Sherline lathe, a bench drill press, bench grinder, and other handheld electric tools. Of course, he also has many standard hand tools for working with both wood and metal. At this point, craftsmanship is a hobby and not a business, so Guillermo is able to build what he wants on his own schedule.
This Chinese falconet cannon has a dragon head at the end of the barrel. A tape measure provides scale reference.
A display of some of Guillermo Rivera’s miniature cannons.
Guillermo’s cannon collection consists of scaled down copies of the original full-size pieces, exhibited in monuments and museums. During visits to many countries in the Americas and Europe, Guillermo has taken detailed photos from which he works to build his models. He works in a scale of 1:20, so the average size of a model is about 6-inches long, 3-inches high, and 3 to 4-inches wide. However, the size depends on the shape and type of carriage.
One of Guillermo’s cannons is based on the four field pieces surrounding the Jackson Memorial in Washington, D.C. That model was made around the late 1960’s. Two others are models of cannons displayed at “El Morro,” the old Spanish fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Another is part of a battery displayed at the Alhambra Gardens in Granada, Spain. Others were modeled from photos from magazines, and publications from around the world.
This miniature cannon was modeled after one found at El Morro fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the background is a photo of the original cannon that Guillermo modeled this miniature after.
A 1/20 scale mortar from El Morro fortress.
Now, Guillermo’s model cannons were made with basically the same materials as the full-size originals. That means brass for the barrel and accessories, and hard tropical woods for the carriages. All the models are functional, and can be fired using black powder to propel lead pellets in different calibers.
Guillermo Rivera at work in his home shop.
View more photos of Guillermo’s miniature cannons.