Louie da fly

I've been working on the stand for the ship in between times. Here are some progress pics. Roughly sawn to shape and holes drilled for the openwork, which I've made a start on. The timber is pearwood, from the neighbour's tree. Once it's shaped I'll cut two layers about 4 or 5mm thick to make the ends of the stand. Smoothed off the outside shape somewhat, and roughed out a bit of pearwood to make the joining strip from. It will fit in a horizontal slot at the bottom to join the two parts of the stand. When I'm planking sometimes the heads of the pushpins are too big to fit in the space available, so I've been trimming them down with a Stanley knife. Unfortunately they aren't all that strong and when you try to adjust the position of one, or take it out with a pair of pliers . . . It's great fun trying to lever half a push pin out of the plug with a knife blade, without destroying the planking adjoining it. Steven

Thanks Banyan and Druxey. It means a lot coming from people like you. If I can emulate the quality of your work I'll consider myself a true ship modeller. Steven

As the hero of The Castle said "Yeah, but you've done something to it . . ." That's worthy of going into the Pool Room along with the jousting sticks . . . Steven

Greg, you never fail to amaze me with the quality of your work. Lesser mortals like me can only gasp in awe. Steven

That's a nice looking model, André. And very nicely executed. Steven

Selamat datang, Jonk. I've always admired traditional Indonesian ships and boats. They are very elegant. Steven

Thanks, Russ. And thanks everybody for the likes. I just realised today why I've been having so much trouble, having to cut exaggeratedly curved planks for the bow and stern which get wider and wider as they approach the ends. It all comes down to making the garboard strake far too short due to inexperience. I misinterpreted a tutorial and now have to live with the result. It's far too late to fix it now - if I tried removing the planks I'd destroy the frames because they're so frail. So I'm putting it down to experience and I'll do better on the next model I make. I've found my planking technique has improved as I've gone along, however. I've been working on the starboard side planking. Here's some progress pics. On the last photo above you can see the effect of getting the garboard strake wrong - the gap between the top plank and the wale should be pretty much the same all the way along the hull, but it's become far too wide at bow and stern. I won't make that mistake again. I've got the underwater hull completely planked now, and I'm about to start on the sides. Looking forward to finishing and taking her off the plug at last! The planks are a little wonky - caused by really thin planks over frames not perfectly in line because I'd cut grooves in the plug for them. Another mistake that won't be made a second time. If ship modelling is all about learning from your mistakes, I've certainly learnt a lot! Still, nil desperandum - I'm having a lot of fun with it and the faults (that are so obvious to me at the moment) won't detract from the final model. And with experience I'm becoming a better modeller. Steven

I've put this in my favourites as an example of difficult planking done well. Well? - - - Magnificently! Steven

How big are those lubber holes, Dick? Are they big enough for someone to squeeze through? They look rather small - but doubtless you've already worked that all out. Steven

Hi Götz, Woodrat got here before me, but I was going to recommend you look at his build anyway. But I didn't know he was going to work on the top next! I haven't seen your top against your ship to compare sizes, but tops were very big at this time. I think ratlines would be appropriate for a Hanseatic ship - most northern vessels from this period seem to have had them. Steven

As usual, beautiful work, Dick. A pleasure to watch. Steven

Looking good. I like your planking! Steven

Yes, that's a very nice looking set of lines, Russ. A very attractive shape. (I wish I was as good at planking as you are). Steven

Goetzi, I wouldn't want to impose standards or expectations on you. Ship modelling is fun, not some kind of competition. I added the links and pictures in the hope that you might find them useful, and because I love the ships of this period. I don't think enough people make models from this time (except of course the Santa Maria!) and I love to see someone embark on building one. And I've already learnt quite a bit from yours. Your work so far looks very good - crisp and precise. I look forward to following your build.

I agree, Christian, and I think the forecastle could perhaps be re-thought. The one on the Lisa seems a bit too "boxy" for the period. As far as the stern goes, I don't know if flat sterns were in use as early as 1500, but the Navicula Penitentie (printed in Augsburg) shows them by 1511. Both this ship and the Mary Rose of 1510 are basically carracks but with a caravel's stern. And the name Kraweel appears to come from caravel. Steven

Hi Götz, My German isn't good enough to read this site without help, but Google translate is pretty good - you can usually work out what it's supposed to say! Thanks for this information. I'd heard of the Hanse ports, but not of a kraweel. Yes, the Lomellina is contemporary and the Mary Rose is only a few decades different, but neither of them are Hanse ships, and it's pretty certain that there were major differences in building techniques and design between Hanse and other shipbuilders. I found these on the Net. They appear to be from about the right time frame The second is from Hamburg and the first has architecture reminiscent of Du"rer's pictures of German buildings (though they could equally be Dutch or Scandinavian). The ships in both have round sterns, unlike yours, but certainly by 1510 when the Mary Rose was laid down, flat sterns were in use. There vis also the flat-sterned ship on the front cover of Johann Geiler von Kayserberg’s Navicula Penitentie of 1511 here, and also you could do an image search on "ship of fools" for quite a few German examples of ships from the turn of the 16th century - some quite similar to your own, others with at least details that might be of use to you. 1494 1494? 1494 The picture by Ambrosius Holbein on the cover page of Thomas More's Utopia printed in 1516 has an interesting ship, though I don't believe the bows of ships of the time sloped backwards the way it's shown in the picture. Good luck with the build. If I can be of any help, please let me know. But we need photos of your build! Steven

I just had another look at the Lomellina report and it says the capstan was for raising the mainyard rather than the anchor, though I suppose there's no good reason it couldn't have been used for both. Steven

The Lomellina, a Genoese carrack which sank in 1516 had a capstan just aft of the foremast - see http://archeonavale.org/lomellina/an/l_102a.html its keel is 34.18 metres (112 feet) long with a 2.25 metre stempost (the sternpost is missing) - see http://archeonavale.org/lomellina/an/l_9a.html - compared with Mary Rose's 32 metres (I don't know if this was length of keel or overall length). The home page of the excavation is at http://archeonavale.org/lomellina/index.html The Red Bay wreck of 1565, though later (and a galleon, not a carrack), also had a capstan, between the main and mizzen masts (see http://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/media/uploads/trabalhosdearqueologia/18/22.pdf ), though it's debatable whether this was for the anchor. The Complaynte of Scotland of 1548 refers to the anchor being raised by a capstan. I hope this is of help. Steven

Impetuous, yes. But it's a while since anybody's called me a youth . . . Steven

This cunning plan is so cunning it's as cunning as a very cunning thing . . . . Steven

Impatience, mostly. After all the preamble and preparation, I really wanted to see what she'd look like. If I'd done it in tandem it would have taken twice as long to find out. As she was done on a plug there was no danger of an imbalance of forces from the planks on one side causing her to warp before the others were put on. Of course, I could have just taken the photos of one side and pretended I'd done both . . . Steven

Very interesting Goetzi! This is a period and type of ship I'm very interested in. It is a little later than Woodrat's carrack or Nave Tonda, which you can also see in the scratch built forum. Though Venetian ships had many differences from those of the north, there were also great similarities. The main difference from carracks I can see from a brief glance is that yours is flat sterned, while those of carracks were round. The flat stern was just coming in about this time, and went on to be the dominant form for two centuries. I'd recommend you have a look through Woodrat's excellent build log - he's done a huge amount of research into ships of this period and you may pick up some valuable information. Some time ago I put up some links about vessels of this period at and and which I hope you you might find useful. Not only the shape of the ship itself, but very valuable images of artefacts etc. Looking forward to following your build! Steven

Thanks everybody for the likes. Much appreciated. Thanks for the compliments, Gerhard and Martin. I like the shape too. It's nice to be making such an elegant ship. Martin, you live in Gisborne! We're practically neighbours! Latest - I've now completed the second last plank on the port side. As mentioned before I had to miss the top one because of the screws in the way. I'll come back to it later. I've put in the drop planks now, and it's looking pretty good. A bit of filling needed, unfortunately, but not too much (it looks a lot worse in the photos than in real life). I've temporarily packed out the planking at the tail so it lines up as well as possible with the curved gunwale. I'm hoping I don't have to do too much adjustment at this spot. I might have to add another layer of planking to get a smooth line - I won't know till I put in the top plank. I've not yet used a third of the plank sheeting Woodrat sent me, which is a relief. I was wasting a few at the beginning and I was worried I'd run out before I finished. But it looks like it should be ok. I've started planking the starboard side. I felt I had to at least make a start on that, otherwise I'd be tempted to rest on my laurels. And I've worked up a design for the stand for the ship to rest on. This is half of it - it's mirrored at the right hand side (where you can see the slot for the keel). There will be two of these transverse to the hull, about 1/3 of the way in from each end, and sitting on a base running along the length of the ship. I'll be carving it in 3 dimensions in pear wood. The design itself is based on one found on an 11th century openwork Byzantine hanging lamp, so it's appropriate to the time and culture.

I'm onto the second last row of planks for the larboard side. I can't put in the top plank because the screws holding the ship to the plug are in the way. So once I've completed this run of planks I'll start planking the starboard side. I've learnt a fair bit while doing this and I hope the second side will be better. Planking the tail. Because of the extreme curve I've had to put in a couple of drop planks. I've sanded the planks down so they look more like the carvel construction they're supposed to be. Still got a way to go, and it looks like I may need to do some filling, and/or I might have to wait till I take the ship off the plug before I complete the smoothing off. Still, fairly happy with the way it's turning out. It's good to finally have something that actually looks like a ship! And I can't get over what an elegant shape she is. Steven

Thanks everybody for all the 'likes' More planking - at last she starts to take shape as a ship rather than just a framework! Not totally satisfied with my planking - I realise I still have a lot to learn about it, but the only way to do so is to practice practice practice - and I think for a first time it's not too bad. The gaps I've left between planks are pretty small and can be filled with wood dust and glue. But those scarph joints are a real trial! Closing up the gap between the first and second wale (counting from the keel). Two strakes between the wales - one in place, the other has the forwardmost plank glued in, and the other two planks shaped but not yet in place. As I mentioned before, I'll need to sand the hull smooth - it's supposed to be carvel built, not clinker! (the overlaps between planks are a result of my inexperience and my use of push pins to hold the planks in place). I'm learning as I go. You can see places where I've tried a little preliminary sanding and I think it will end up ok. And here she is with the gap closed up. Note the scarph joints. The dark pencilled-in semi-circles are where the oarports will be. I have to be very careful about placement; I've only got half the frames in place at the moment - the rest will follow after I've finished the planking - and the width of the oarport is the same as the gap between frames - there's only just enough room to fit the oarports in. I had hoped not to have to use stealers or drop planks, but with the shape of the rear 'tail" and the position of the wales I didn't have much choice and had to add drop planks. Note, the Viking longships didn't need them - they had planks following the curve of the ship's ends - but they didn't have wales to complicate the issue. It is known that dromons did have wales to strengthen them, and early during the design process I had to work out their position and shape, and now I'm living with the consequences. I've had to make the best of it, but I think it still doesn't look half bad. Two designs for the drop planks at the "tail", one with four main planks between the wales, one with three. As it turned out I'm not following either exactly - I'm doing a variation on the second one. Steven