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Louie da fly

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Everything posted by Louie da fly

  1. Louie da fly
    A bit of an update. Still at the fiddly stage - I need to secure the frames so I can take the model out of the jig - at the moment they're held only at the keel. So I've been cutting and bending the clamps to take the deck beams. With clamps in place, the frames will be securely attached to the hull and connected to each other so they don't move. But first, the frames at bow and stern. These were mostly shaped by guesswork, and I was prepared to take them out again and re-think the shapes if needed. And I did on the last two at each end. This is a bamboo batten to see if the gunwale will work with the end frames. Clamps bent and the larboard one temporarily in place. Clamps bent to take the shape at bow and stern. The piece of wood wasn't quite long enough for the clamp to reach the whole length of the vessel. However, I'd forgotten I had to make breast hooks as well. And they will take the place of the clamps at both ends, so the clamps will be long enough after all. I also faired the inside of the end frames - it was easier than I'd expected, just using fairly fine sandpaper. But I forgot to take photos of them. (The frames for the rest of the hull really didn't need fairing on the inside because the curve was very gentle.) The breast hooks were made from a forked branch from a tree that died in the garden (an apricot, it was), so the grain followed the arms of the breast hook. There was quite a bit of trial and error getting them exactly the right shape to fit against the frames. But I must have done something wrong, because two of my first three attempts broke in half while I was working on them. I think I cut the fork at the wrong place. However, I finally made a couple that seem to be working ok. Here's the bow breast hook complete, and the stern one in progress. And I had to duplicate Woodrat's strategy in putting triangular section pieces between the floor timbers and the stem and stern posts to follow their curve, so I can drill through and fix them securely. Not sure if the photos really show it very well. They're pretty tiny. And finally, I've put in the filler blocks that create the slots for the mast steps. That's all for now. Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Beautiful! Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    I think we've all been there. She's looking really good, mate. Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    That wonderful sleek race-galleon shape is now becoming evident. Looking good. Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    Any progress is a step forward. She's looking good. Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    Green match-heads??? What kind of devilry is this? Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    Very nice precise work at such a tiny scale, Glen. Steven PS: For those of us who don't live in the US, could you use something else than a coin to give an idea of scale? (I use matchsticks, which I think are pretty much a standard size - at least the ones that you get in a normal matchbox - all over the world).
  8. Louie da fly
    A few days late for this one, but I only just discovered it.
  9. Louie da fly
    Progress has been a bit slow. I've glued the bamboo 'pins"' into place to join the frames securely to the keel, and it has admittedly made quite a difference. Here's an example, to give you some idea of their size (it's the little thing just under the end of the steel rule). I decided to bite the bullet and make the bow and stern frames based upon the templates I'd cut out. I'll put one set in at the bow or stern and see if they work, if they are the right shape to continue the line of the frames. Only one set, in case it's a total disaster. Here's the first of them being glued together. And in place (far right-hand end). Just held with a dab of glue till I figure out whether I've got it right, so I can remove them if needed. I've also glued the keelson in, using push pins to make it conform to the curve of the keel. It's held centrally by the side pieces of the mast steps - they are only dry fitted at the moment; I had to trim the knees supporting the sides of the mast steps so the openings lined up and the side pieces would fit in place. I think I still need to tweak them a bit more. More to come fairly soon, if all goes well. Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    A very wise decision (don't ask me how I know). There were quite a few of them IIRC. They were from Carthaginian ships sunk in a battle with a Roman fleet - see https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2021/09/03/two-bronze-warship-rams-discovered-at-the-battle-of-the-aegates-site/ Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    Welcome to serious ship modelling! I used to have as my motto "It's not a model ship unless you've bled on it". Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    I just call it a tail. It's probably got a correct name, but I've never been able to find out what it is. You've done a nice job of it, but I think the ends need to be slightly curved upwards (assuming that's practical at this scale and not just nit-picking). Looking forward to the ram. There's quite a bit of archaeology available on these - available on a google image search, plus here: Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    You might find that wool is too coarse for a sail at this scale, but it'll be interesting to see the results of your experiment. Steven
  14. Louie da fly
    Nice. The Oseberg is still the most beautiful of all the Viking ships discovered. Those carvings are amazing. At this scale they are basically impossible to duplicate perfectly, but (depending on your carving skills) the outlines provided on the kit can be improved upon quite a lot (it's called kit-bashing). Nice to have you aboard. I was an early mediaeval re-enactor for many years (11th century Anglo-Saxon, took part in the Hastings re-enactments of 2000 AD and 2006). And I visited Bristol in 2009 and saw Brunel's beautiful Great Britain and the reconstruction of Cabot's Matthew. Fond memories. BTW, I've put quite a bit of study into Viking ships, so if you have any questions, I may be able to help. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    That's a beautiful model. Something to be proud of. Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    You're doing beautiful work, mate. Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    That's a lot of progress in a very short time. Careful - carving is addictive! Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    Thanks, people. Glad you didn't see it close up. Too many dodgy details from being in a hurry. Yes, couta oats are very beautiful. There are quite a few down at Geelong, where we sometimes go for a drive from Ballarat (nearest bit of coast). They really stand out from the run-of-the-mill boats in the marina. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    That could do it. But at least you don't have to allow for a bunch of tiny rowers getting exhausted . . . Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    Well, only Buono so far. But thanks, people. I'm still thinking about my options for the framing at bow and stern . I might just pinch Woodrat's idea of using a temporary batten at gunwale level. Though his bow and stern are a lot blunter than mine so maybe I won't need to. Still thinking about it. Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    Not only models. A galley caught in rough weather was in real trouble - if they heeled over more than 10 degrees water would come in through the oarports, and the vessels were inherently very unstable (as discovered by the people on board the Olympias replica - people walking around on the top deck made it heel over dramatically), and any sort of rough sea meant the oars wouldn't bite. Regarding the available power, these things were incredibly lightly built, as they had to be moved by human muscle - 30 metre (90 foot) galleys uncovered in the silted-up harbour of Thedosius in Istanbul (Constantinople) had frames about 2 inches square and planks about an inch thick - more appropriate to a small rowing boat than a full-sized ship. Whether yours is underpowered is another question. I can't answer that one. But Olympias managed to get up to 9 knots at top speed. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Very nice! I used to do Viking period re-enactment, and those artefacts are pretty amazing. I know what all of them are for except the little cylindrical thing in your hand(though I suppose I could make a guess - for spices, salt, something like that). Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    While I was waiting for the rain to go away so I could get power to the shed to drill holes for pins to join the frames to the keel, I thought "Can't sit around forever, waitin - I'll carve one of the merchants who pinched St Mark's body and brought it to Venice, as shown in the mosaic." Here he is (the one on the left) his name is Buono. The other one is called Rustico. Perhaps those names are made up - "Good" and "Farmer" - it is, after all, an apocryphal legend. I'm very happy with the shading of the face. It looks more natural than any I've previously done. Frames dry fitted, to check that they go into the slots in the jig (quite a few of them didn't, so I had to widen the slots). And in the process of gluing them in place And all glued in. The pins are temporary - much too long - the keelson has to go directly over them. I intend to replace them with slivers of bamboo (I have a LOT of bamboo!) cut to length. I may have to drill the holes a bit deeper to make sure of the joint. I'm still working on getting the shape of the end frames correct. I don't want to make a bunch of them and then find I've wasted my time and effort. So the plan is to make a 3D "filler" of bits of plywood (the same thickness as the distance between the frames) laminated together, with paper between layers so I can pull it apart when I've got the shape right and use them as templates. Fortunately the bow and stern frames will be identical. Steven
  24. Louie da fly
    Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I come into the Men's Shed this morning and one of the guys says "Oh we sold your model of the Cerberus". It'd only been up for sale for about 3 days (in with the wooden cutting boards and bird houses etc), in the room where everybody's projects are up for sale. It's in a community building which used to be a high school and we work in the wood workshop with all those wonderful tools available to us. A guy came in with a bunch of schoolkids, saw the Cerberus up for $100 and bought it! Amazed. I'm still not going to make another of the Cerberus - too fiddly for the amount of effort I want to put in, and I'm really not proud of the quality of the model, but it shows there is a market out there for such things. But there are other projects that I am interested in, simpler to do, but just as likely to produce a sale. I'm not in it for the money, but it's nice to be able to get something back for the group, and in return for the effort. Maybe there's a new career out there for me (I'm on the pension, so the money really isn't important, but I'm allowed to make a fair bit from hobbies before it affects the pension, and a bit of pin-money would be nice). Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    As I mentioned before, you're doing very good work. Keep it up! Steven

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