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Louie da fly

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  1. Louie da fly
    Thanks for that, mate. That captain's observatory - I would never have thought of that. But I think I'll still be oversimplifying the funnel assembly. It all just starts getting too much otherwise. Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Colour schemes, specifically the colour of the unpainted timbers. Matthew Baker, England, late 16th century. The capture of Damietta, Dutch, c. 1629 Detail of the painting Expedition to the Third Islands 1583. Spanish - Royal Monastery of El Escorial. Work of Granello, Tavarón, Castello and Cambiasso. galleon from a pilot's manual. Guillaume Brouscon, Le Conquet, France 1548 From a portolan by le Testu, French 1555 c. 1630 Tyresö, Stockholm Sweden Quite a range, particularly the le Testu pics. Whether these can be relied upon is of course anybody's guess - the artist may have just wanted to make the picture pretty, the colours may have faded etc etc. I'd say Baker's pic is likely to be pretty reliable; he shows two shades of brown - the upper could be the natural colour of oak, the lower might have been treated in some way, but who knows? I don't know if this helps or just further confuses the issue. Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    Latest activity. I've made most of the fiddly bits to go on the upper deck to give the vessel a bit of character (I have to admit, she's a bit on the bland side). But before that, I cut some thin brass tube to make the guns and inserted them in the turrets. Just black paint for colour, the muzzles are barely visible, so no need to get into the whole blackening thing. Then made all the fiddly bits and dry fitted them (actually just plonked them on the top). Wheelhouse on the far left, then companionway, funnel with base, some kind of oval thing (I dunno what it its), gigantic vent, and another companion. As I mentioned, I'm keeping this all very simple. And here are the davits, made out of galvanised tie-wire from the shed. And first coat of paint. There's another vent to make, and I think that'll be the lot. I'm not prepared to make the boats - too complicated to attach them to the davits, and there are photos of her without them, so I feel justified. Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    The date is only an estimate, and yes, it does seem a little strange that it should be painted so long after the event. Make sure the shields are thin enough. A common mistake is to make them too thick. They were usually only 10-15 millimetres thick at the edges, a little thinner in the centre. You have to be able to carry the thing without your arm getting tired! Oh and ideally they should have a slight convex curve in the vertical direction. Hey, if I can do it at 1:200 . . . (mind you. I did make them too thick - tissue paper shields don't stand up well to wear and tear). And the Shakespeare (mis)quote - GROAN. Worthy of Dennis Norden and Frank Muir at their best. Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    I've made all the floor timbers that incorporate the knees to take the mast steps. Twelve in all (plus one for luck!) Here's a typical one. To get the distance between the knees correct, I made a jig (made of the keelson plus a piece either side that will eventually form the sides of a mast step, plus a top spacer to duplicate the blocks fore and aft of the mast itself), and shaved away till the jig fitted in the gap. And I shamelessly copied Woodrat's jig for assembling the frames. Master frame: The first three frames. Of course I'm labelling each one so I don't get them mixed up. The tolerances are pretty tight to fit within the jig, and there was a certain amount of swearing when, despite all my care, one of the frames got glued to the jig. (I got it out eventually, but not a lot of fun). More to come soon. Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    And don't feel you have to rush into carving the pearwood. Wait till you feel you're good enough on scrap to embark on the better stuff. You should see my first carvings! (Or better still, maybe you shouldn't - too horrible). Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    I see what you mean. But some could be converted I think - for example, you could remove the crossbows from the crossbowmen and they'd just be "men". The monks and the ladies I'm afraid don't seem to be right for the ship. But keep in mind also that what sailors wore at the time was very practical and therefore not all that different from modern dress, so modern figures could be used much of the time. Whereas here is the kind of thing worn by the "better sort" Both pictures from the painting "The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover for the Field of the Cloth of Gold" held in Hampton Court Palace, painted about 1545. Steven
  8. Louie da fly
    Either way, I'd suggest you try doing it on a piece of scrap before you attempt carving your valuable and scarce pear-wood. I use a simple craft-knife and a scalpel, both with No. 11 blades. I tried using a dremel clone, but wasn't too happy with it - a little too dramatic and exciting for my tastes - so I went back to the scalpel. Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    Yes, obviously the way the kit tells you to do it is much easier for a beginner to take on, so in some ways there's some sense in telling people to do it that way. Dropping a newbie in the deep end of spiling planks could be enough to make him/her decide it's all too difficult and give up in disgust. Though judging by your work so far I doubt that would apply to you Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    Thanks Craig, Wefalck and Banyan. It's good to get this information. Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    I'm pretty sure I've previously found figures out there at that scale - though it might have been at 1:72, the other favourite modelling scale. Google search might be of use here. I'm afraid I can't remember what words I put into the search last time. That's true, and according to Brad Loewen's paper on the subject, the Basques in the 15th century actually trained trees to grow into the shapes they wanted. Anyhow, I'm enjoying following the build. Looking forward to the next instalment. Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Hi Isaiah, I find it's a fine line between pointing out areas needing improvement and blunting someone's enthusiasm, something I'm very loath to do. I've seen savage critiques on other forums which just seem to be for point-scoring rather than helping someone improve, and I want very much to avoid that. The problem is that a ship's hull, particularly below the water-line, is a very complex 3-dimensional shape - narrower at the bow and stern and wider amidships (plus curving in the other dimension as the hull is rounded). Because of this, planks are usually tapered towards bow and stern (this process is called spiling), as in the picture below (I think this is one of Chuck's) Kits usually provide you with parallel-sided planks, which just can't follow that shape properly. This is obviously easier (= cheaper) for them than to provide spiled planks. And sometimes it's necessary to "drop" planks as the curves get tighter, so there are fewer planks side by side, at the bow in particular. There are clever ways to do this, which are outlined in the planking tutorials. If you look carefully at the picture above, you can see that the plank at the bottom (nearest the black part) comes to an end before it reaches the bow, and the next plank widens to make up for this, so there is one plank where there had been two. The other thing is that planks never come to a sharp point - it would be too hard to nail the ends in place on the frames. So where the plank is "dropped" in the picture above, there's a slight angle at the end of the plank, but not a sharp point. As I mentioned above, I'd highly recommend you check out the planking tutorials - they're a real eye opener. I don't regard myself as an expert in planking by any means, still just blundering along trying to get my head around it all. But I'm getting better. No, I think what you've done and what you're doing are very good indeed. Keep learning, keep asking questions. You'll improve as you go along, but to be honest I'm quite amazed that this is a first build. Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    Isaiah, I was just looking at your planking. You've done a beautiful job of it, and getting that tight curve at the stern is particularly impressive. However, (and I really hate to tell you this, considering what a great job you're doing) in the interests of your future models I feel you should know that the kit manufacturer's planking instructions don't duplicate the way ship planking was done in the real world. They are designed more for ease of construction (and their own convenience) than for historical accuracy. Your planking is excellent, particularly the second layer, and followed the instructions really well, but unfortunately those instructions are misleading. I'm not saying to change anything on this model - it's excellent just as it is. But before you start your next one I'd recommend strongly that you look at the planking tutorials at https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/. Historically accurate planking is more difficult and takes more work, but I believe it's worth the extra time and effort. This is just a heads-up for future reference, not a criticism of your work. Steven
  14. Louie da fly
    That's a beautiful bit of bodging, Johnny. You're a braver man than I, sir. And better at figuring out 3D puzzles as well. I find it hurts my brain. A rough job, and sometimes an ad hoc job done on the spot without drawing up plans (at least here in Oz, and I think also in the UK) is referred to as "bodgy", or a "bodge job". The word goes back to at least the 16th century (how appropriate) when a bodger was someone who assembled new garments by pulling apart other, second or third-hand garments. But back in the 1960's teenage gangs in Oz were referred to as bodgies (the boys) and widgies (the girls). I have no idea if there was a connection with the other meaning of the word. Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    I think we are talking about two different things. I mean the one about halfway between the pergola and the funnel.
  16. Louie da fly
    Thanks, mate. Do my beady old eyes deceive me or is the mast coming up through the huge vent? There appears to be a vent just forward of the steersman's pergola in the second picture, and the big vent forward appears in the last photo (and the garden shed appears to have been mostly demolished to make room for it), but not in the third. I think I'll probably work with the second photo as my version of choice, but I don't know about doing that mast coming up through the front turret with the weird ball thing on top. I want to have enough fiddly details (particularly on the upper deck) so she doesn't look too boring, but I'm not prepared to put in too much, as it's not likely to be appreciated. There are two cubical "deckhouses " at the top of the two sets of steps, which should be easy enough to make. I'm still trying to nut out how to do the railings and the davits without either doing a ton of work or having them look crappy. Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    That's for sure. Does she have a wheelhouse at the fore end of the upper deck (as shown on at least one set of plans) or doesn't she? How many vents (I don't know the correct term - those big vertical tubes with a "hockey-stick" bend at the top coming up out of the deck and leading down to the interior) does she have in front of the funnel, and how many aft of it? I think there are two fore and two aft, but it's very hard to work out from the plans and the photos. In the meantime I've made a bit more at the Men's shed - I'm trying to make the whole thing using scrap timber so it's all profit except for the time I invest in it, but they don't have any dowel, so for the skylights on the fore and after decks I've had to bodge some up. I saw a similar skylight on Brunel's Great Britain in Bristol when I went to visit the UK back in 2009. Very cool. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    So, the keel is now complete. Due to its complex shape the stempost had to be built up, using scarph joints to join the individual elements. And here it is all assembled and glued together. Starboard side: Port side: And starboard side with the paper sanded off. Next step is to assemble the frames. I have yet to determine the shape of the frames which attach to the stem and sternposts, as the hull rises and narrows at bow and stern. That'll take a little while to work out. Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    I'm very pleased to hear it. Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    It's looking really good so far - nothing to complain about - quite the contrary. But I was wondering what you had planned for the forecastle. As you're probably aware, I have a bit of a "thing" about the forecastle. Earlier models, such as the one at the Mary Rose Museum and the available kits have a forecastle reminiscent of a galleon, but more recent opinion is that the shape was much closer to that shown in the Anthony Roll and in many "great carracks" of the time, such as the vessels pictured in the painting of the Santa Catarina do Monto Sinai and the Venetian ivory from the tomb of Alessandro Contarini of 1553 (below) Not trying to twist your arm, you understand . . . Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    Why am I not already following this? How did I miss it? Wonderful work, mate. Really wonderful. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Thanks very much for this information, mate, and the thorough research involved in obtaining it. Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    (Beowulf - Because Chaucer is Too Easy)
  24. Louie da fly
    Warrnambool's a beautiful town. I've been there several times. The Maritime Museum's well worth seeing. Great that you have a lathe. That will help a lot. Oh, and here's a bit of Shakespeare to inspire you as you work. Only a few archaic words might be a problem, but I think it's possible to get the sense of it very well. The language has changed so little since Shakespeare's time that it is counted as Modern English. Chaucer is Middle English and Beowulf is Old English. Waes Thu hael! Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    Well, congratulations to you too! Good to see younger people in the hobby as well as us old f*rts. Ferrus, nice work on the rigging. I had to wait till now to get into it in that kind of detail. The first time I'd been prepared to nut out the full rigging on a square-rigger was about 2 years ago, towards the end of my Great Harry restoration. So you're well ahead of where I was at this age. Steven

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