dcicero

Thank you so much for that reference from the University of Chicago!
 
The university is easy to get to from where I live.  (It's near the Museum of Science and Industry too, where you can see the U-505.  I never miss an opportunity to do that.)  I'll see if I can get it through inter-library loan.  My local library is great about getting books like that and, if there are plans for the boats, that might be all I need.
 
And getting the kit to use the parts are templates is also a good idea.  The kit is at 1:20 scale, which makes a model about 30 inches long.  That's a big model.  I think I would prefer one at something like 1:48, so plans are the way to go and templates would be useful too because they could be scaled and reproduced.
 
Thanks to everyone for responding!  I did a presentation at my local ship model club last week about these boats, their use and the Danubian Limes they protected.   I've attached a copy for anyone interested.
 
 
 
Dan
Roman Boats on the Danube.pdf

Quick update on what has kind of turned into a project.  (I was just interested in this before, but now things are moving along.)
 
First, Interlibrary Loan was able to get me a copy of the Roland Bockius book.  Wow.  Just ... wow.  Thanks for that recommendation!  It is incredibly detailed (and in German, which means I can't read it) and it includes seven sheets of plans.  I took those over to my local copy shop and made myself a set of plans.  (By the way, I know the University of Chicago -- which is very close to me -- has a copy, but the copy I got was from Emory University, which is in Atlanta, GA, quite a long way from me.  Hard to understand how these things work, but just glad it did.)
 
And, second, I heard back from EGEA about the model.  The price is 96.99 Euros (the kit plus shipping from Germany to the US) which is $104 today, not unreasonable at all.  Since they don't seem to take any kind of electronic transfer like Zelle or PayPal or Venmo, I'll have to find some other way to do it, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Quick update on what has kind of turned into a project.  (I was just interested in this before, but now things are moving along.)
 
First, Interlibrary Loan was able to get me a copy of the Roland Bockius book.  Wow.  Just ... wow.  Thanks for that recommendation!  It is incredibly detailed (and in German, which means I can't read it) and it includes seven sheets of plans.  I took those over to my local copy shop and made myself a set of plans.  (By the way, I know the University of Chicago -- which is very close to me -- has a copy, but the copy I got was from Emory University, which is in Atlanta, GA, quite a long way from me.  Hard to understand how these things work, but just glad it did.)
 
And, second, I heard back from EGEA about the model.  The price is 96.99 Euros (the kit plus shipping from Germany to the US) which is $104 today, not unreasonable at all.  Since they don't seem to take any kind of electronic transfer like Zelle or PayPal or Venmo, I'll have to find some other way to do it, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Quick update on what has kind of turned into a project.  (I was just interested in this before, but now things are moving along.)
 
First, Interlibrary Loan was able to get me a copy of the Roland Bockius book.  Wow.  Just ... wow.  Thanks for that recommendation!  It is incredibly detailed (and in German, which means I can't read it) and it includes seven sheets of plans.  I took those over to my local copy shop and made myself a set of plans.  (By the way, I know the University of Chicago -- which is very close to me -- has a copy, but the copy I got was from Emory University, which is in Atlanta, GA, quite a long way from me.  Hard to understand how these things work, but just glad it did.)
 
And, second, I heard back from EGEA about the model.  The price is 96.99 Euros (the kit plus shipping from Germany to the US) which is $104 today, not unreasonable at all.  Since they don't seem to take any kind of electronic transfer like Zelle or PayPal or Venmo, I'll have to find some other way to do it, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Quick update on what has kind of turned into a project.  (I was just interested in this before, but now things are moving along.)
 
First, Interlibrary Loan was able to get me a copy of the Roland Bockius book.  Wow.  Just ... wow.  Thanks for that recommendation!  It is incredibly detailed (and in German, which means I can't read it) and it includes seven sheets of plans.  I took those over to my local copy shop and made myself a set of plans.  (By the way, I know the University of Chicago -- which is very close to me -- has a copy, but the copy I got was from Emory University, which is in Atlanta, GA, quite a long way from me.  Hard to understand how these things work, but just glad it did.)
 
And, second, I heard back from EGEA about the model.  The price is 96.99 Euros (the kit plus shipping from Germany to the US) which is $104 today, not unreasonable at all.  Since they don't seem to take any kind of electronic transfer like Zelle or PayPal or Venmo, I'll have to find some other way to do it, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Had to cut the Britannia fitting because it was too small, cut out the snake and mounted it on a piece of wood
added the gold by dipping a q tip in gold and rolling most of it off on
a paper towel before rolling it across the surface
Window frames in white seem to make it stand out better

A beautiful ship with an honorable history. I just finished reading "First Victory" by Mike Carlton. I hadn't realised how effective a raider she'd been - a single ship disrupting Allied trade and troop movements, and tying up the resources of a whole fleet trying to find her. And Sydney only happened to be in the right place because she was escorting a convoy - otherwise Emden could have kept going for a considerably longer time. And she gave a very good account of herself despite being heavily outgunned by Sydney. 
 
You've made a beautiful model of her, Boris, worthy of such a beautiful ship.
 
Steven 

Hello,
 
Started this project august 2014 (did not keep a build log on this forum, only on a German forum and partly on a Dutch forum.)
bought it as a kit from M.Z Modellbau in Germany
the kit came with a GFK hull and a lot of resin parts, to make a RC model,
Decided to build her as a static display model. used only the bare hull and added a lot of details to it
Remade almost all the resin parts 90% of it (structures)
So it became a nice collection of evergreen, brass, print board and silver wire.
After almost 5 years and researching almost all parts, (used a lot of the work of Mr Huff and collected pictures of the Emden and her sister ship the Dresden) before constructing them.
I finished her for almost 95%, still a lot of details to go.
 
below a few pictures for the impression
 

Another update: rigging is almost done. All that can be attached to the masts off model is finished. Remains „only“ to do the lower attachment points on deck. How to attach the signal lines on the foremast to the bridge without tearing everything apart is still a mystery to me though…🤪. Looks a bit wild now but once straigthened out it should be ok,..i hope.
cheers sascha

Putting it all back together:
Som images showing how the main units go back together after varnishing.
The main deck unit is placed inside the main hull unit and bolted together using a couple of brass screwdrives I made for the purpose (some of the bolts are quite fiddly to get at now all the seats are in place... The photo shows one of these screwdrivers accessing one of the difficult to get at bolts securing the base stringer.

 
I made a couple of "Link Seats" to connect the thranite seats at the aft end of the main deck unit to the ones fixed under the quarterdeck:

 
Then its a case of securing all 12 Canopy Units:

 
The assembly with all main units in place:

 
There are a number of other loose outfit fittings, like ladders to go in:

Complete assembly takes me about 1 hour at this stage. Hopefully I wont need to take it appart again for some time...

Dan,
that`s a beautiful presentation. I like the arrangement of images and text. 
And I like your choice of colours of the background that images and text are embedded in.
If you manage to find a complete and reliable set of plans then your scale build will become a proper one.
You already found many sources that will guide you along the build.
 
Michael
 

Thank you so much for that reference from the University of Chicago!
 
The university is easy to get to from where I live.  (It's near the Museum of Science and Industry too, where you can see the U-505.  I never miss an opportunity to do that.)  I'll see if I can get it through inter-library loan.  My local library is great about getting books like that and, if there are plans for the boats, that might be all I need.
 
And getting the kit to use the parts are templates is also a good idea.  The kit is at 1:20 scale, which makes a model about 30 inches long.  That's a big model.  I think I would prefer one at something like 1:48, so plans are the way to go and templates would be useful too because they could be scaled and reproduced.
 
Thanks to everyone for responding!  I did a presentation at my local ship model club last week about these boats, their use and the Danubian Limes they protected.   I've attached a copy for anyone interested.
 
 
 
Dan
Roman Boats on the Danube.pdf

Thank you so much for that reference from the University of Chicago!
 
The university is easy to get to from where I live.  (It's near the Museum of Science and Industry too, where you can see the U-505.  I never miss an opportunity to do that.)  I'll see if I can get it through inter-library loan.  My local library is great about getting books like that and, if there are plans for the boats, that might be all I need.
 
And getting the kit to use the parts are templates is also a good idea.  The kit is at 1:20 scale, which makes a model about 30 inches long.  That's a big model.  I think I would prefer one at something like 1:48, so plans are the way to go and templates would be useful too because they could be scaled and reproduced.
 
Thanks to everyone for responding!  I did a presentation at my local ship model club last week about these boats, their use and the Danubian Limes they protected.   I've attached a copy for anyone interested.
 
 
 
Dan
Roman Boats on the Danube.pdf

I'd agree with Jaager. If the kit doesn't cost too much, buy it and use the pieces as a template to build a proper model from decent timber.
 
Steven

What with the epidemic of greed which defines the current era,  there is a high probability that any plans would rival the kit in how much is the cost.
If you have the materials and facilities to fabricate the model from its plans, the parts of the kit itself can be used as 3D plans for to fabricate a total replacement model using appropriate species of wood.
 
Just a suggestion.
 
 

It is indeed.
 
Dan, here's a few more clues:
 
https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/roemerschiff-victoria/
https://roemerschiffe.de/victoria/
 



 

Looking at the last shot I see the midships moulds look to be arcs and the other moulds use the same arc rotated.
 
Taking the above and adding it to This:

Gives:


Certainly not 100% right but perhaps 90%? It doesn't include the bow or stern either.
 

Thanks!
 
I sent an email off to Herr Doktor Dreyer and he answered me.  They only sell the kit, not the plans.  He didn't give me any details.  I suspect you're right and the kit is very basic.  I might still order one to see what shows up.  I'd really rather have a good set of plans because I would never build such a model from plywood.
 
 
Dan

This might be a long shot, but has anyone bought this model of the Fridericiana Alexandrina Navis, a reconstructed 1st century Roman boat used on the Danube River?  The Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg built and sailed this boat in 2016 and they now sell a kit of it:
 
Kit - Roman boat of the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (fau-shop.de)
 
I'd prefer to just get the plans and any other documentation that comes with the kit as the kit materials appear to be plywood and I wouldn't build a model from that.
 
Just thought I would check here to see if anyone's got any experience with this.  The subject is very interesting!
 
 
Dan
 

This might be a long shot, but has anyone bought this model of the Fridericiana Alexandrina Navis, a reconstructed 1st century Roman boat used on the Danube River?  The Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg built and sailed this boat in 2016 and they now sell a kit of it:
 
Kit - Roman boat of the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (fau-shop.de)
 
I'd prefer to just get the plans and any other documentation that comes with the kit as the kit materials appear to be plywood and I wouldn't build a model from that.
 
Just thought I would check here to see if anyone's got any experience with this.  The subject is very interesting!
 
 
Dan
 

Your build continues to astound and provides an interesting log to follow.
 
Thanks
 
Pat

Olympias has very little in the way of amenities for its crew...However they did fit some stowage racks for gear underneath the canopy. The extent is roughly shown in the midship section drawing (John Coates Plan no.8) but no details or scantlings are given. My interpretation is taken from scaled measurements from images on line and stills from videos (the stick men shown in the sketch are traced from John Coates drawing and are rather taller than my Athenian marines - I guess he was checking clearances for the taller 1980's oarsmen...):

 
And a view of the first canopy section fitted with a stowage rack removed from the model:

 

Goodmorning, evening, afternoon ! 
 
Someone from Reddit actually suggested me to join this website and I am BLOWN away by the amount of members and dedicated ship builders! I am very new to the hobby, and I can’t tell you how much I love and enjoy these projects. Seeing so many people in this hobby makes me so excited to share projects with and read! I really need a helping hand. Or five. 😅
 
I am a digital artist, but I found this ancient USS Constitution model kit by Revel in the basement. It was my dads, so I wanted to give it a try. 
 
I’m taking a brief break from rigging until I learn more tricks to do it because they don’t tell you much with these instructions, but I’ll share with you what I accomplished! (Yeah one of the sails is upside-down, they cut it wrong in the kit so I have to come up with a solution.)
 

 
Currently working on the OCCRE Polaris build, I have another OCCRE beginner project to experiment tips and tricks given by experienced members, and then when I’m confident enough—— The OCCRE Terror. One of my favorite historical ships. 
 
I am so in love with learning wood working, I have never done anything that requires any skill before 🤣
 



The OCCRE company is my hero.
 
I’d like to get to know and befriend some model builders, so PLEASE don’t be afraid to chat! 
 
I’m interested in seeing your builds and projects, and any tips or advice you have to offer!!
 
Hope you all have a lovely day, can’t wait to get involved here!!! Thank you! 
 

Eric, Those windows look great. 👍 

Yes, it was from the Artesania Latina kit, but pretty heavily modified.
 
Hull construction followed the kit closely, but fitting, masting and rigging was almost all scratch built.  The rigging diagrams provided were pretty awful, so I made heavy use of Rigging Period Fore-And-Aft Craft by Lennarth Petersson to get the rig correct.  The diagrams for fitting out the masts and spars were qusetionable too.  I learned by experience to go with more reliable documentation -- like Petersson's book -- to save a lot of time, frustration and effort.
 
 
 
Dan

I'm watching your build with great interest, Fraser.
 
Earlier this year, I finished my Scottish Maid and it's nice to see another one coming along.
 
 
 
Dan