Jump to content
New Publication - Ship Modeler's Handbook - They're back in stock! Thank you for your patience. ×

Louie da fly

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    7,969

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Louie da fly

  1. Louie da fly
    Nice to hear. I only just got interested in that part of things. Interestingly, the Cerberus must have flown the current flag of the State of Victoria - at least until Federation in 1901 - as it was gazetted within a couple of years of the ship arriving here. Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Well, the jigs worked - sort of. It then comes down to "how accurately can I centre this tiny drill in this almost as tiny floor timber?" So, we'll see how it all goes. Unfortunately, the handle of the drill press (you know, the three-armed thing with knobs on that you rotate to get the drill to descend) knocked the stempost off the keel as it came down. DAMN! Fortunately, no actual breakage, just have to glue it back together again But it means I've got those pinholes drilled to pin together the frames and keel, except for the ones on the stempost (obviously!) and the sternpost, where I couldn't drill vertically into a curving timber without the drill bit bending to follow the curve. After a couple of attempts I gave up. No photos unfortunately. Didn't think of it. Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    Thanks, but I won't celebrate till I've made sure they actually work - otherwise I'mm being a bit previous. I certainly hope so Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    No real need, but thanks. There's plenty on-line, even down to diagrams of the lines. I'll be oversimplifying this one, too, and I haven't even decided yet whether it'll be a full hull or just a waterline model (a lot easier, but not as attractive). Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    While researching flags for the Cerberus, I came across this article which outlines two flags used for Victoria's navy prior to 1870, and probably flown on the HMCSS Victoria. Thought you might be interested. https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/provenance-journal/provenance-2012/crown-and-kangaroo-victorian-flags Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    Well, the experiment is complete. I wanted to know if I could mass-produce a simplified version of the Cerberus as a fund-raiser for the local Men's Shed. Simple answer - no. It appeared fairly uncomplicated at first glance, but as I progressed through the build I came up against a dilemma - either I had to oversimplify it to the degree that it would not look interesting enough to be saleable, or I had to add all the details that made it look interesting and make it uneconomical as a project. Add to that the fact that I was always faced with the choice between doing it fast enough to be worthwhile (= fairly careless) and my own pride in my work. As it turned out, it was neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring - not precisely enough built to satisfy me, and too fiddly and slow to mass-produce. It's ok, I suppose, but I can't see myself doing it again. If I'd wanted to do a proper model of the Cerberus I'd need to put a lot more time and effort into getting it right, just to be satisfied with it. I'd want it to be a model I was proud of, and I'm really not prepared to do that at the moment, if ever. I have too many other projects I'd like to get into. So as an experiment it was a success - I did want to find out whether or not it was suitable for its original purpose, and the answer is no. As a model I'm less than satisfied with it. I'll still put it up for sale - somebody will probably love it, but I won't put a terribly high price on it - it's not well enough made and finished to justify it. My next experiment will be making a couta boat (originally for catching barracuda in the years up to the 1920s and 30s when they were superseded by motorboats), a particular favourite in the State of Victoria, where a lot of them have been preserved and are used for racing. Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    I've been working on jigs of various types to enable me to do the framing and keep it straight and square. There's been a bit of experimentation involved, some of which I cancelled because I'd found a better way, others because I hadn't thought far enough ahead and had to undo things because they got in the way of other things. First, emulating Woodrat's 14th century round ship build, I made a cut-out template of the hull shape with slots for the ends of the frames, superimposed over a base to take the keel and the bottoms of the frames. Aren't photocopiers wonderful! Those scrawled figures are the overall widths of the frames, worked out by the mezza luna method (thanks, Woodrat!) And here's how I intended to support the keel - version 1. The thin masonite strips ('packers' as used in the building trade) have nice vertical sides and are thin enough to let the keel stick out above them a little. The truncated triangles at the ends are right-angled, to keep the stem and sternposts exactly vertical. And a piece to slide along the keel (it has cut-outs at the bottom to fit over the keel and the masonite packers) to ensure the frames are vertical and at right angles to the keel. A jig to keep the frames vertical while I drill holes for pins to hold them to the keel (they'll be both pinned and glued). This is different from Woodrat's method, as I'll (hopefully - see below) be using a drill press to make sure the drill bit is vertical. I used bits of scrap wood but they have nice vertical edges. The upper template held above the lower with long bolts. The sliding jig had to be cut down shorter to pass between the upper and lower templates. A lot of mucking around in this procedure - on the first bolts I bought the thread didn't go all the way along the shank - something I hadn't noticed when I bought them. So I had to go and get new ones that did. But there weren't enough nuts with the bolts - I'll have to go and get some more to screw the tops of the bolts down on top of the upper template. I also found the triangles I'd made to keep the stem and sternposts vertical GOT IN THE WAY, so I removed them and discovered that the bolts were doing the job very nicely, so they weren't needed after all. Now I have to wait for the rain to go away. My shed has a drill press but no power (can't fit it in the budget at the moment) so I have to string a power cord from the house to the shed if I want to use power tools. And electricity and water aren't a very good combination. In between times, I've pencil-marked the locations of the wales and the deck beams on each frame, as well as the location of the proposed holes for the pins to hold them to the keel. I've also pencil-marked the locations of the frames on the keel itself, so I can do the corresponding holes for the pins. There's quite a bit of drilling to be done before I can move on to the next step, but it's nice feeling I'm making progress, however slow. Steven
  8. Louie da fly
    Well, you're getting there despite the trials and tribulations (what doesn't kill us makes us strong). Fortunately wood is a forgiving medium, and if all else fails, you can remove the faulty piece and make it again, as you've done here. And now it's really starting to take shape and look like an actual ship. Keep up the good work. Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    One of his servants was the Groom of the Stool (look it up!). Apparently a very desirable appointment as it meant you had the King's ear (well, something of the King's, anyway). Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    Very nice work, mate! That's brilliant! Now why didn't I think of that? Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    That all sounds very good. You've thought through the interior in regard to positioning the lunettes, which I never did when I was 17, and had to bodge the openings when they interfered with the big thick balsa frames. Ah, if I'd known then what I know now . . . for a start I wouldn't have built in 1:200!! I still have my doubts about the curving face of the forecastle, but that's a matter of interpretation anyway, and is pretty minor issue compared to the great job you're doing overall. And also "channels" (= chain wales). The guns look very good - very appropriate to the time and place. Any chance of a photo of the "beast figurehead"? Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Black stones are ok for Armenia, but for Syracuse, limestone is right.
  13. Louie da fly
    Glad to hear it. It can be very disappointing after doing all that work making the mast to discover that the damn' thing has ended up crooked.
  14. Louie da fly
    Latest configuration. Here are all the bits so far - the superstructure bits and pieces have been glued to the upper deck, the gundeck is glued into place, along with the pivots for the turrets and the cabin(?) structure onto the gundeck. Also the skylights and smaller cylindrical things glued in place. The pyramidal "glazing" of the skylights turned out to be easier than I'd expected - in a junk shop (you know, they sell cheap knock-off tools, flower pots, potato chips, you name it) I found some craft stuff - letters of the alphabet intended to be sewn or stuck onto kids' clothes or pencil cases or whatever, made up of a whole lot of small plastic "diamonds". Ideal. Just cut two off and glue them in place on top of the skylight assembly. The davits have been painted and are ready to put in place except for trimming them all to the correct length. And all the above dry fitted. Positioning everything correctly once I'd removed the photocopied deck plans that had been glued to the decks could have been difficult, but fortunately there are masts immediately fore and aft of the gundeck structure, and the smaller vent goes right down through the upper deck and into the hull itself, giving me reliable reference points. Pulled apart again, and working on the railings. I'm using brass "sequin pins" (tiny little things) for the uprights, and for the rails I'm using wire from a set of tiny LED fairy lights left over from Christmas. Very fine, very soft. I'm just hoping it'll all stay together - some of the posts have rejected the CA I used to glue the rails to the posts. We'll see how it goes. If successful, I'll trim the posts to length when the glue's been dry for a while. Oh, and I've added the upward extensions (bulwarks?) at the bow and stern for the hawseholes. Still more to do, but getting fairly close to completion. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    Looks like a bit of trial and error with scrap wood should enable you to work out the right shapes for your castle sides, but I think you're on the right track. Your swivel gun mounting sounds good (subject to experimentation, of course). Here's a modern diagram of a swivel mount, and the real thing in the next pic, Regarding that "Holbein" painting - I don't know how his name got attached to all these pictures of the Great Harry (oh, alright, Great Henry) - it's possible that someone thought "paintings - Henry VIII's time - must be Holbein". As far as I know there's no evidence of any sort that he did any painting of the Great Henry, except later speculative labelling. Here's another pic supposedly of the same ship, also ascribed to Holbein, even though its' obviously from considerably later (maybe as late as 1620). And that engraving above, as far as I'm concerned it's pretty obviously just taken directly from the "Embarkation" painting, with a few Victorian era alterations and additions. Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    What kind of glue are you using? If it's PVA (white) glue it can be softened with isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) commercially known as rubbing alcohol. In the last resort it can even be used to undo PVA glue joints, but it sounds like you just need to swivel it a little, which isopropanol will enable you to do (if you're careful). I've read somewhere that CA (superglue) can be dissolved with acetone, but I haven't tried it except with nail polish remover which didn't work (it has about 60% acetone IIRC). Might be worth a try. Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    The shape of the hull is coming together nicely now. Looking good. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    One thing with the oar action is that some RC models I've seen have the oars rise right up in the air on the return-stroke, which can look unrealistic. The one below isn't too bad: But compare it with the action on the Olympias, where the oars are barely out of the water on the return stroke. Just thought I'd mention it. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    I'm sure you're right, but I think I'll give that a miss. I get confused enough already without adding to it. And here are all the frames that rest on the keel - all numbered, knightyo! This is how they'd be without numbering - 25 of them. And here they are in size sequence. Top row, from left master frame and two of every size steadily going towards bow and stern, continued in the second row. The frames at bow and stern still need to be made, but first they have to be designed. I've worked up some tentative shapes using my trusty t-square and setsquare and roughing the frames out in what I hope is a correct sequence of shapes (bottom left of the sheet, and cut-outs sitting on the T-square). I'll make up bulkheads in scrap to these shapes and see if they work. The last time I tried it (with the Great Harry, as the first iteration was completely wrong, so I'm not brimming with confidence at the moment. I've now retired my framing jig, but just putting it into storage, for I have a cunning plan for the future (which cannot possibly fail). Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    The reason I asked is that I came across a report of a (trireme?) galley built for (I think) Napoleon III) in the middle of the 19th century which had widely differing oar-lengths and they had terrible trouble because of the pendulum effect - different lengths of pendulum have different natural swing rates (thank you Galileo) and the different banks of oars would therefore get out of sync with each other and cause mayhem.* But I should think if they weren't too different it shouldn't be a problem. A guy I'm occasionally in contact with who sails a Viking ship replica told me that they don't worry too much about oar lengths (given that you'd think the ones at the ends would have to be longer due to the taper of the ship) - they seemed to be able to mix and match different lengths without causing any difficulty in rowing. Prof Pryor's (theoretical) reconstruction had different oar-lengths for the different banks, but of course it was never built so the effect was never tried out. But as I understand it, the Olympias had them the same length for all three banks, I think due to the Napoleon III factor. But it meant the angle from the horizontal of the top bank of oars was fairly extreme. Fascinating subject. Steven * He also had a gigantic trebuchet (catapult) built, apparently seriously intending to use it for siege warfare (remember, this is the mid 19th century). Its first shot went straight up and came straight down, demolishing the trebuchet.
  21. Louie da fly
    Yes, it's ok to do fantasy models, but in this case I think something a little more historically accurate is appropriate. Take all the time you want to think it through. It's not a race. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Fascinating, Dick. With each new detail she becomes more and more interesting. Are all the oars the same size? (i.e. are those in the lower bank the same length as those in the upper?) Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    Interesting - this seems to have persisted until at least the 11th century C.E. as a means of attacking fortifications from the sea - these pictures are of (i) a battering ram supported by two ships and (ii) assault bridge supported by two ships - from an 11th century military treatise by Heron of Byzantium. Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana MS Vat Gr 1605 (the second picture is from folio 40r. I didn't check what folio the other was from.) Rather than being built as catamarans, I think it's more likely they lashed two single-hulled vessels together. But you don't have to build two hulls if you don't want to - it's your model, you're the skipper. Steven PS: Nobody seems to know what those gigantic heads on the ships are, or what they're for.
  24. Louie da fly
    Fascinating. Beautiful work. Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    Are you allowing extra width for spiling the planks? Steven

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...