Well, ok it did fall but only because it was so hot it burned my hands and I dropped it. Landed on that same rock Jan Riser was using as a backdrop for the photos. We found some baling wire and wrapped it up temporarily while we were looking for nails. Looked good, I may do that when I'm building one next time.
I think I know the rifle you are talking about, while it is a really cool little rifle no it definitely isn't what inspired this one. Side by side you'd surely see they are not the same. There is a whole world of neat original Southern guns out there, iron mounted and otherwise, that are just as varied and worthy of study as any other American rifles. I pretty much live and breathe these things, can't get enough of them, study the $#*! out of them any time I get a chance, that's where most of the inspiration comes from. Even within the boundaries of what we consider "mountain rifles" there is a tremendous variety and loads of details and features that will make a new gun look "right".
What I try to do is learn all I possibly can about the originals and then attempt to put all that into motion. I take what I know about a group of rifles or style of rifle, think about what goes into them and use that as a starting point rather than just copying what I see. The "what you see" part has to come into play of course so you don't end up with a mutant, but it's a challenge for me to try and put together something new and fresh, but still have it make sense is regard to era / region / proper construction etc.
I really hope Art brings that along to Lexington too, I got pretty attached to that one myself.
