What happened with your cannons? Have you two tried covering your barrels with something easier to paint? I just use vinyl tubing to protect them from incoming rounds. It still doesn't hold paint very well but at least it prevents damage.
I'm torn on the tubing thing. I don't want barrels dinged up, but I dont like the idea of making such a fat barrel that the tubing creates. It makes an already out of scale looking barrel look ridiculous. I know its a game and not a scale modeling competition, but its personal preference here.
There has to be a way to put a sacrificial shell around the barrel that doesnt add another 1/4" to the diameter of the barrel. Atleast, I'd like to think that.
In all the years that I have done this hobby I have never had my barrels dinged. I had my ammo coil dinged once but that was because I didnt have armor. I have never had anything on my barrels.
Suffren had clean, no ding barrels last year. They remained ding free through that year, this year theyve collected a few visible nicks and atleast one ding, though not bad enough to impede the exiting rounds.
The brass tube isn't that expensive. Just build a bunch of spares and trade out when they get dinged.
I agree that brass isn't all that expensive (unlike stainless steel) but fear of losing a gun is my motivation to cosmetically blemish my boat with vinyl barrel condoms. I sure wish there was a better way.
I like the idea of just bring spare barrels. I like the ships looking as real as they can be and the real things didnt have barrels condoms