Gluing Painted Surfaces

I'd paint the deck and cannons separately, then use small drops of superglue on each cannon carriage wheel to attach them to the deck.  Touch up shiny spots where the superglue has dried with dullcote applied with a detail brush.

The hard way would be to drill holes in the base or wheels of each cannon and then drill matching holes in the deck . Use a piece of wire glued into the holes in the cannon and leave about 1/16th of an inch sticking out. Glue that into the holes in the deck and those cannon will NEVER move again.

Works on " pesky" cats too !

if have a cannon assembled, put down masking tape or painters tape down were the cannons are going to be then trace out the outline of the cannon's wheels. once traced out, cut out the rest of the tape except for the 4 tabs of tape were the wheels will eventually sit. paint the deck(s) then pull off the tabs of tape so can be ready to have the cannon wheels glued to those bare spots on the deck(s).

with superglue, if there is an obvious overflow you might be able to clean it up with debonder on a q-tip. this won't work if the area is painted.

I run the carriages over a sheet of sandpaper held to a flat block.  That sands the paint off the tip of the wheels.  Then I drill small holes in the deck, like littletimmy.  For that scale I do not need the wire support.  I don't drill the holes very deep, just making a V-shaped impression to get through the paint.  Make a little template from a piece of cardboard to make drilling easy.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try.