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Louie da fly

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  1. Louie da fly
    Interesting - the garboard strake on the Lomellina, built between 1503 and 1516 (the Great Harry was built in 1512-14) was carved out of a tree trunk. Here's a cross-section: Apparently the garboards of the Cattewater wreck and the Red Bay wreck have similar characteristics. However, Lomellina was a Genoese ship, and the Cattewater and Red Bay wrecks were Iberian (Portuguese and Basque). The garboard strake of the Mary Rose, effectively a sister ship to the Great Harry, is much more "normal" (number 11 on the diagram below), so I think that's the path I'll follow. Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Good grief! I'm gobsmacked at the level of detail and precision. You are a true artist, sir. Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    So there's no hard and fast rule - doing it the way I described above is at least as good as any other. Now I feel ready to go ahead. Thanks for your help, people. Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    Elvis on a grain of rice . . . that way lies madness! Pat, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the tip. Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    Nah, just a giant clothes peg . . . Thanks everybody for the likes. It's good to get the feedback. Taking a short break from setting up for planking (no, I'm not chickening out! ) Those who are familiar with the Mary Rose will remember that the archaeological team found her "figurehead" - aTudor rose - which is also shown on the picture of her on the Anthony Roll. You can see it at the top right of the forecastle, just to the right of the flags. The Great Harry is shown on the Anthony Roll with a crown on a staff at the end of the bowsprit, as is appropriate for a ship named after the king. It also has a dragon head as was common on carracks at the time. Landström shows both on his reconstruction in The Ship. So I made both - you'd think I'd get sick of carving . . . actually this model originally had them - I'd carved them when I first made her, but they got lost somewhere along the way. One day I'm going to find the box I put all that stuff in - probably not till I've re-done it all, however. Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    Working on the underwater hull so I can start planking. Because I was not only reconstructing the ship but changing the hull shape, there was a fair bit of trial and error involved. I used battens to get the curves as close as I could I've had to build up some of the frames (you can see open space between the frame and the top batten in the photo below). I cut strips of sheet balsa to make the additions, bending them to follow the curve, gluing them in place then trimming them to shape. I haven't been too careful with the glue because it'll all be hidden by the planking. and I had to shave others Almost ready to start planking. Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    Beautiful job on the oven, Patrick. Very realistic! Steven
  8. Louie da fly
    Unbelievable. I had no idea the model was so small. That just makes your achievement even more amazing. Such a sad fate, though for such a proud ship. To sail right across the world to be so ignominiously defeated; and the whole of that fleet was either destroyed in the battle, or later at Port Arthur, or captured. Was that the beginning of the end of Tsarist Russia as a world power? Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    Well, I'm almost ready to start planking below the waterline on the Great Harry. I've only ever done one previous pair of garboard strakes, and they weren't all that successful. I've read the tutorials and looked at various builds but I just can't figure out - I know the garboard strake is different widths at different points along its run; but is it the same as the widths of the adjoining planks, (the only difference being that the garboard has one edge that is straight)? For example, if there are (say) 15 strakes between the keel and the other reference point you're measuring to, is the width of the garboard at any given frame 1/15th of the distance measured along that frame ? This has always been a puzzle to me , and I don't want to start planking before I'm sure I know what I'm doing. Thanks, Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    What an amazing build! I'm always interested in weathering on models, but you've taken it to the nth degree! Superb! Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    Beautiful work, Dick. A wonderful build and it's been a pleasure to follow it. Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Or possibly Parkinson's . . . Damn! I'm derailing my own thread again! Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    Yes, not too bad, Pat. I've been chasing down those white marks (which are only obvious in a photograph - almost invisible to the naked eye). Thanks everybody for the likes, by the way. Steven
  14. Louie da fly
    Blast! Oh well, on to YK-12 Version II. At 1:16 or larger that will involve a whole new set of interesting problems to overcome. How big will it be at that scale? I have to say I really look forward to seeing this one progressing - lots of interesting issues in reconstructing a Byzantine ship as originally built. A break to work on Gros Ventre while you collect your thoughts and get a new look on things would probably be good, as well. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    Well, a lot handier than the previous arrangements . Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    I've been agonising over the calcets at the top of the masts, which take the halyard. I'd followed a diagram which showed the calcet as having two sheaves, but try as I might, I couldn't get it to work properly. Any arrangement I was able to come up with was always awkward and overcomplicated. I thought this violates Occam's Razor - the principle that the simplest solution to a problem is usually the best. After looking at many contemporary pictures and also modern photos of lateeners (many of them dhows) I discovered that almost without exception (where it was shown) they certainly had blocks with multiple sheaves, but at the lower end of the halyard. My thanks to Woodrat for his help and advice, which confirmed me in my decision to change the calcets to single-sheaves (which of course meant I had to make new ones!) Also, based on archaeological finds (admittedly from several hundred years later), I changed the connection between the calcet and the mast, from a socket and tenon to a long scarph (known in French as a sifflet or whistle joint - probably because it resembles the angled cut at the top of a tin whistle). I've attached the calcets to the masts with brass pins cut short and filed down. In due course I'll paint them black to resemble iron. And I discovered two more Byzantine single-sheaved blocks! I already had one single-sheaved block from archaeology, but these ones were in considerably better condition and were about double the length. From a 7th-8th century wreck, but so similar to later ones that I'll be using this design in the dromon. The two blocks are identical in design, with a slight difference in length. Here's my reproduction at 1:50 scale of the larger one - yet another opportunity to use my gigantic oversized matchstick. It seems to be a standard feature of Byzantine (and mediaeval Mediterranean) blocks that they didn't have strops around the block to connect them to the rigging, but a hole through the block. Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    And cleaned the forecastle: I used isopropanol and cotton buds (Q tips), and occasionally a scalpel to remove built-up glue when it was too thick. The deck isn't perfectly clean, but it's a lot better than it was. I had to remove the bitts, but it's just as well - it was smothered in old glue. I'll put it back later. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    I almost missed this! Another really interesting build. I'll pull up a chair if I may. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    Mark, I can probably insert wooden pins in the bottoms of the uprights and make holes in the deck to key them into. I'm getting pretty good at that. I've been tidying up the mainyard. It was covered with old bits of cotton from previous incarnation. Also it had been broken and though I was able to put the pieces together the yard was missing a small part so it was thinner at the join than it should have been. I took a leaf out my dromon build and sanded down a remnant of the old timber and mixed it with white glue to make filler. With it I was able to make up the thickness of the mainyard. I had to do two lots of filler to get it up to full thickness. Here it is sanded to shape. And here it is in full, with the surplus cotton removed. Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    Those are some nice tips on tying blocks, mate. I've bookmarked this page for future reference. A good set of techniques for a very fiddly job. Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    No worries. That's just down the road to an Australian . . . Welcome to MSW. As Mark said, start a build log so we can all enjoy your build - and help answer questions, solve problems etc. You're among friends. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Welcome, David. Sounds like you've built up a good store of experience which will stand you in good stead. The 1:80 model won't have as much detail (which should be a plus) but will help you find your way around the Endeavour, so when the Big One come along you'll be on fairly familiar ground (albeit rather more comprehensive). Start your build log, and also do a search on other logs for the Endeavour - it's a very popular ship to model, so you ought to be able to pick up a lot of tips from them. Oh, and do read the tutorials on planking; they'll make your job a lot easier. Endeavour has a very bluff bow, and it's apparently a bit of a job to get the planking right. Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    Welcome, Ernie! Copper's all very well, but if you go to the early 16th century Dark Side, you can use lead sheathing! As far as rigging goes, you will pick it up as you go. And if you can't figure something out, just ask one of the friendly Forum members - someone's bound to know. (Oh and deadeyes are so-called because they vaguely resemble a skull - the French call them sheep heads). Have a good look at previous Speedy build logs - you'll probably find many of your questions/problems in your own build have already been encountered and solved by one of our members. Steven
  24. Louie da fly
    Where are you based, Gordon? As you can see I'm in Ballarat, but here are a lot of Aussie members - you might even have one near you! Your idea for the Golden Hind is interesting, to say the least . . . . But nobody's going to rain on your parade and hey, maybe we'll learn something from your experimentation. Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    I hope I'm not intruding on this thread, but I found a couple of articles in "Ships and Ship Models" magazine from September 1935 which in hindsight are very interesting: A mention of the launching of the destroyer HMS Glowworm, which later covered itself in glory against the heavy cruiser Hipper. And another which I found very interesting - I wonder what happened to all those bells, and where they are now? Steven

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