MPC Shooting Cannon

No grouping of Little Green Army men is complete without a cannon. MPC essentially made two versions for their playsets both utilizing the same barrel and breach casting. Their spoked wheel version was normally reserved for American Civil War and Western playsets, while the heavy tired version was reserved for the modern military sets. But not always. I have an MPC set from, I believe, the early '80s which shows the spiked wheel cannon in a mix of modern military on the box top photo and the spoked wheel cannon is included in the set. Light blue, dark blue, metallic blue, and olive drab are known colors for the piece but there may be more out there I'm not familiar with. On the hobby forums there was some discussion as to what type of ammo came with these. Some guys recalled ball shot, while I remembered shells. Turns out both are correct. Over the years we had all forgotten that both types of shot were included on the same sprue as shown in the photo. The cannon was a breech loader and the breech could be locked in the open position. By lifting up a tad on the rear of the breech, the shells were fired through the use of a spring under neath the mechanism which connected the breech to a bar assembly which sits just below the breech (last photo). The cannon measures 6" 15.24cm) L x 3 1/2" (8.89cm) W x 1 7/8" (4.76cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Breech closed

Breech locked in open position

The spring which connects the breech and bar assembly