*Hans*

Thanks Banyan and Hans! The lack of any surviving ancient Roman/Greek vessels is one of the reasons why I like building them-- it leaves a lot more from for personal preference and aesthetics than a well-documented ship like the Victory.

 

Hans, the pump mechanism was in this thread. You're probably right about it being a bilge pump, not an air pump, since the rowing compartment is designed with screens to  provide ventilation as well as protect the rowers from arrows and such. I suppose it might also have come in handy in dealing with smaller leaks when the hull sustained damage in battle.

I'm following your trireme build log with interest. Really looking forward to seeing all the oars at that scale!

170 pieces or so - all 4 x 4 mm to be sanded round and flat - man! what a joy!

It doesn't have to be difficult , and:

First - a dremel rotary tool (or any other brand of course) is very handy for these kind of jobs

Second - oak is tough and strong. I think if I would drop the hull there wouldn't be real damage to it. With the regular modelkit wood I'm not sure about this.

A rat tail file might be the better option if you're using walnut or basswood

As promised: pictures of making the holes for the oars:

First step is to mark the right spots and rough diameter. I used an old fashioned letter template for this:

Then simply drill the holes with a 3 mm drill (rather difficult to drill and make a photo - the drill is actually turning, but the flash makes it not visible):

With a round cutter widened the wholes until the approx diameter is reached:

Then with some sort of whetstone (don't know how else I should call this) in the right diameter done the last step:

Very nice! What tool(s) did you use for boring the holes? I'm pretty nervous about making the oar ports on my current build (when I get that far, that is), since I'm afraid I'll damage the hull in the process.

Sharpie, will post some pictures on how i did it. It is quite simple

VERY nice work Hans and I like the weathering of the oak you did.  I think you are right in not adding stain to it, perhaps a clear mat sealer to preserve the wood?

 

Cheers,

Piet,  I am not sure yet, will do some trials.

In fact this ship isn't that difficult. After making the substructure for the second row of seats I added the deck in between them. Quite simple with wooden stirrers again.

After this I started with aging the oak by treating it with ammoniac. This gives a dark shade over the wood. Not sure if I will stain it further - have to make some samples

Also made the first row of holes for the oars:

And I started with the frames for the third row of seats:

Here my new circular saw is quite handy

Looking great! I wish I had seen this a couple of years ago; the structure for mounting the seats is so much more sensible than what I came up with for my trireme.

I quite agree with this. While I do admire the skill that goes into constructing a model on which every piece of wood is perfectly smooth, I can't help but feel that this would be somewhat unrealistic for a ship constructed entirely with iron saws and hand axes. Not to say that the classical civilizations were incapable of producing a smooth piece of wood, it just seems unlikely that every plank on a 37-meter warship would have been planed perfectly flat.

To be honest - this is a bit of a handicap which turns out to be (at least in my opinion) an advantage. 

I am a bit of a sloppy builder - when I make some planks in say 4 x 4 mm in turns out that some of them are not exactly square, or the saw has ripped out some splinters or so. Never mind then I say to myself - in real this would have happened as well.

In the end my models turn out to be nice, with rough edges, but having a live and vivid character. Just like the real ones after many years of use.

(but this is also a long excuse for simply saying I'm not that  a skilled builder....  )

Would be nice Don!

I just have finished the structure for the second row of seats, after having removed all the bulkheads.

Sharpie, you're doing a really fine job over here, with all the research! I think this will become a quite accurate model - although there is no real ancient model to compare it with.

I saw a picture somewhere (don't know where it was - appearently not in this topic)  where you were talking about an airpump - but to my opinion this is just a waterpump.

You might have noticed I am busy on the Trireme at this moment. It is build in the usual kit-style, not plank on frame, not to the most accurate ancient methods like yours, and with a lot of my own input in it. What a luck I have no ancient vessel has remained....

New set of pictures:

Bow - including reinforcement is getting in shape more and more:

On the inside the structure for the second row of seats is mounted. For the small view you might have inside I have added some extra vertical planks. The original frames will be removed.

Hey Jan,  which Jan are you on the Dutch forum???

Yes, waiting for news from the Surabaya - as the Batavia is already quite long underway...

Planking of the hull is merely finished - and the ram on the bow is getting its shape.

When you make a mixture of oakdust and diluted white glue the oak will start to discolor to black a bit.

Fortunately this again will be covered by the further planking of the bow and the ram.

And a few pictures for Don, showing the inside so far:

Hi Hans, have not started mine yet but before week is out, have you got pictures of inside construction, and are you following Dusek instructions, Thanks again Don

Don,

I shall post some pictures within the next days.  And in overall I follow the Dusek instructions, but I will add a personal touch as well.

As said - oak is quite tough to use.

But I managed to close the hull, will have to do some more sanding, and add some extra planks on both sides.

This is the image I use as example for my build:

Looking at your pictures - and knowing the model a bit it is quite a tough one to plank!

Don Farr, please feel free to ask your questions any time you want.  

I think I also do have the Dusek kit - which is coded D004. But as you have read I have upscaled it to 1:35 - twice as big.

I didn't realize triremes were so big, I've always thought of them as being little vessels.

 

 

 

Lextin.

I have to make a big apologize to all the readers - because I made a big mistake in scale.

The Batavia on the picture is 1:72 - but the Trireme is 1:35 (the original kit is 1:72)  - ooopppsss 

This means the trireme is "only" about 35 meters or 100 feet..

Here some pictures for a better idea - the bireme and the trireme

Some people in Holland asked me to make a picture of the trireme compared to some other recognizable thing.

Both are scale 1 : 72 - about 55 meters long (180 feet)

This is a nice way of building a ship - quite something diffirent from bulkheads and planking.

Keep up the good work Kees!

Superb job Kees - schitterend!

Bending the oak strips 3 x 3 mm works quite well, but they have to be soaking wet. There is only one problem, it is quite difficult to twist them as well in the round areas.  Sanding the hull must do the trick in the end...

Hey Mauro, very nice ship you are building here!

I suppose you do have some plans for this ship, to make her.

Are these plans for sale via stores on the internet?

Marc,

I am about to try the combination of soaked oak and an electric bender - see if this will work. 

From a bunch of wooden stirrers I had bought I have made the deckplanking of the lowest deck, and some oak beams (glued 4 of them on each other).  These Beams are the base of the seats (made out of beech). Two small undeep holes plus some oak stain make the dowel-mounting of the seats:

For the planking a rather strong curving is neccesary. As I have planned to make the hull out of oak I first tried to bend some oak strips 6 x 2 mm over the "wrong" side, but even after two days in water this did not work.

After some adjustments on my circular saw I now can make oak strips 3 x 3 mm - will try out the next days if this will work.

4 x 4 mm was still a bit to thick.

Last picture (I think) on this topic:  the nameshield.

I had some brownished brass, my son has made a nice lay-out - printed it on decallpaper, onto the brass and there it is: