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Louie da fly

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  1. Louie da fly
    Mark, it's important to remember when this statue was carved. Knowledge of Roman artefacts was very limited and mainly confined to antiquarians. Bellona's equipment would almost certainly be more influenced by Renaissance and Rococo "pseudo-Roman" than by actual Roman examples. No pilum, no Roman gladius. The spear, I'd suggest, would be very much like the one in your last picture. As someone who's used a shield in (re-enactment) combat, I'd recommend she hold it higher, to cover the chest. On the other hand, the guy who carved her wouldn't have had the benefit of that kind of experience, and I'd think he'd be more interested in an artistic-looking composition than belligerent (there's that root-word again!) practicality. I'd say where the figurehead on the 1760 ship model can't help, the Straub statue would be a good model to follow as it's very closely contemporary with the ship itself. Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    I should have known it would be Cog . . . Here are Sydney's heads! You can see why Captain Cook completely missed Sydney harbour - the land behind the entrance makes it look like a minor indentation in a continuous coastline. Here's a closer shot of the heads. And a ferry crossing the heads to get to Manly on the other side -or perhaps coming from Manly . . . Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    I think this is appropriate - Rose Bay is a waterside suburb on Sydney Harbour. Lots of commuters travel to Sydney on the ferry - turning left (to port) ends up at Circular Quay right by the City centre (just under the harbour bridge, next to the Opera House). Turning right (starboard) takes you through the heads and out to sea . . . Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    My wife says it looks like they're on the bus, going to work. Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    Just an update on the progress of carving the oarsmen. Three missing on the port side* - they're the guys without a bottom half, currently being glued together. Twenty-one carved for the port side, of which two still need to be sanded smooth. On the starboard side eight carved to shape and 16 still only rough sawn. I knew ship modelling was supposed to develop patience, but sheesh! * Which reminds me of the passenger on a steamer in the Mediterranean travelling east, who asked where the bathroom was, and the steward said "Port side" - to which he replied "I can't wait that long!" Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    Hi Bear and Chidokan, as far as I'm aware very little of the cordage from the Mary Rose has survived - certainly there's very little mention of it in any source I've been able to find. I know some of the boarding netting still exists, but apart from that, nada. IF the attached photos show actual surviving carriages for the bronze guns of the Mary Rose, as I think they do (and these are two different guns with what appear to be identical carriages), there are certainly possible attachment points for the tackle. But I think how it was arranged is mostly a matter of educated guesswork - and there's nobody around who could tell you your reconstruction was wrong (not any more, anyway; they went down with the ship). By the way, those large cart-wheels on the built-up gun look like a land-based gun was dragooned into serving on board ship. Those wheels seem much more suitable for horse-drawn artillery. Or maybe , as the Lomellina wrecked in southern France in 1516 certainly was, she was carrying the gun as cargo. Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    Looking really good, Chris. It's amazing how tubby cogs were. Bjorn Landström's reconstruction in his book The Ship (published way before any archaeological discoveries, and based almost entirely on side views from town seals) shows a much sleeker vessel. Nowadays there's so much more information available. A model cog made "back in the day" would look completely wrong nowadays (though rather more attractive). Steven PS: I just looked up Wütender Hund in Google Translate - it means "angry dog". Good name.
  8. Louie da fly
    Well, rather appropriate, since dromon does mean "runner" (as you're obviously already aware)! Though in mediaeval Greek it would probably be pronounced something like Neekee . . . Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    Just an extra bit regarding the three "unexplained" holes. One comment during last June's discussion above (can't find it at the moment) suggested that those holes would be easily pulled out (broken) if any decent load was imposed on them. However, if my maths is correct, there are seven lines in the tackle, so each line takes one seventh of the load pulling on the halyard. So each line attached to the triple hole takes one third of that one seventh = one twenty-first of the total load. So, though the load on the halyard would be pretty large, that on each hole would be reasonably small. Which is why I put the holes at the bottom of the block as part of the tackle, rather than at the top, where they'd each take 1/3 of the total load on the halyard. Here's a rather clearer photo showing the attachment to the triple hole (I haven't trimmed off the loose end yet - it needs to be cut short). Druxey, that shoe block is very interesting. At the moment I've no idea how it would be used, but combinations of blocks and their tackles aren't my strong point - I have to sit down and laboriously draw them out to have any chance of understanding them - and at the moment I don't really need to find a use for it. By the way, you might notice an inscription on the block. It's NIKA - Greek for "Victory". Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    Don't do it, Pat! Well, not for a galley, anyway. It takes a special kind of insanity to build a model of a galley - ask anyone who's done it . . . Thanks everybody for the likes and encouragement (greatly needed at the moment - 7 figures carved for the starboard side, leaving 17 sawn roughly to shape who need carving, plus another 3 that are only there from the waist up, who need some "bottom". And then I have to smooth them off, make their arms, paint them . . . ). So in my spare time [bitter laugh] I've been working on the knights for the halyards. Here's the first one dry fitted. As you can see it follows the rake of the mast. And now that I've been thinking about the halyard and how it will all work, I think I've figured out the modus operandi of the triple sheaved block with the unexplained three extra holes (see posts 829 and 833-836 and discussion, from June 14-15 2019 This diagram shows (I hope) how it all works. That's the knight at the bottom, the red line on the far left is the downhaul, and the connection to the halyard itself goes through the transverse hole at the top. By the way, from my observations of lateeners still in operation, the line to the halyard will be connected with a quick-release toggle, which is found over and over in Byzantine maritime archaeology. Here are the knight and the block together showing their approximate respective positions: And here is the block with those three holes supporting the first line down to the knight (I've moved the other lines off to the side for clarity). And here they are together. I have yet to make the second pair, for the after mast but I think that's going to work. Finally, back in June 2019 I promised pics of a block with sheaves at right angles to each other and never came good with them. So here they are (2 pics of the same block): Source: Istanbul: 8000 Years Brought to Daylight; Marmaray, Metro, Sultanahmet excavations, and Stories from the Hidden Harbour - shipwrecks of Yenikapi, both published by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    Beautiful precise work, Dick. Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Beautiful work, Ekis. I especially like your wooden bretèches at the top of the wall. Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    Nice work, Kris. It's a pleasure following this build. Steven
  14. Louie da fly
    You've made a nice start, Tom. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    I know where you're coming from, David. It seems you always have to be thinking ten steps ahead if you want to avoid painting yourself into a corner. And we don't actually know the colour scheme of the real Batavia. What they have on the full-size reconstruction is based on educated guesswork. But what you're doing looks very good indeed. I assume the stern decoration you referred to was the coat of arms of Amsterdam? Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    Good to see you back, Jo. I've been enjoying following your build. Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    Got it, Druxey. Thanks. Though somehow I doubt I'll be able to get the planking as good as in the photo. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    That's what I'd thought. I looked it up in my trusty on-line Old to Modern English dictionary. It has an auxiliary (positive) meaning of "warrior" - but that's someone who does harm, after all. And it would be pronounced something like "shatha". Oh, and sorry for getting your name wrong. I must have been having a senior moment. Now, back to your regular programming. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    Oh, now I get it. Drop planks! I knew about them but just didn't make the connection. I thought Druxey meant to drop the thread by the thickness of a plank or two. Thanks, Mark. Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    This will be an interesting build. Cogs dominated the shipping lanes in the 14th century, and northern european cogs had a dramatic effect on Mediterranean ship design and probably led to the evolution of the carrack. Several cog wrecks have been found, some in amazingly good condition, so the information on them is more reliable than for most mediaeval ships. Right up my alley. Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    Beautiful work, Hellmuht. Soapstone (also known as steatite) is wonderful stuff. To my knowledge both the Vikings and the Byzantines used it for carving things. The Byzantine ikons are beautiful - the level of detail soapstone allows is amazing! This is an 11th century AD ikon of St George made of steatite, from Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos. The ikon itself (without the frame) is 15 x 9 cm (6" x 4"). You've done a beautiful job with your anchor. Did you manage that the first time without breaking anything? That's pretty delicate work, judging by that penny piece for comparison - unless of course you've got a gigantic penny! Steven PS: Your name above - is that Old English for a warrior?
  22. Louie da fly
    Thanks, Druxey. I'll try that. If I drop a plank or two forrard, does that mean I should move all the threads down at the bow, and perhaps move the end of the lowest thread aft by another frame, or maybe just drop the top thread enough for (say) two strakes, and the middle one by one strake, to make it all fairly even? Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    Thanks, Pat. I tried a thin sliver of bamboo as a batten and it seems to work quite well. Here's the new layout of the thread. I realised that to get a smooth line I had to add a "reverse curve" to the bottom of the aftermost few frames/bulkheads - which is what they do in the real world. When I first built the model I didn't think of these, and because I was doing my own dodgy planking, with multiple "strakes" carved into each (wide) plank, it wasn't an issue at the time. I kept that mindset when I was fixing the model up, and only now has it come back to bite me. I also checked the ebook Tudor Warship Mary Rose by Douglas McElvogue and of course it had the same "reverse curve" on many of the after frames, which confirmed that I had to do it. So, here they are under construction: And here they are trimmed to shape, with the threads in place on the port side (disregard the starboard threads - I haven't got to them yet). Looking at the photos, there are a couple of places that need a tiny bit of tweaking, but overall I'm fairly happy with it. Any comments, corrections, advice welcome. Steven
  24. Louie da fly
    Magnificent work, Hellmuht. Very impressive - the glass buoys, the net and the grapnel all amazingly well done. And the vessel herself - what a beautiful build! Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    Beautiful work, Sceatha. A lovely job. Steven

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