Louie da fly

To do that you'll have to find out the "period" of the light - what sequence of "lit" and "occluded", so seafarers know that its Flamborough, not some other lighthouse . . . Steven

Sorry to hear that, mate, but you're doing the right thing by your mate and his wife. I'll be interested to find out how those irons turn out. Steven

Inside the long shed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cRspPEw3sY Cleaving a log - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3LvvoSzsjw Making the Garboard strake - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB62jxhazqo Fixing the garboard strake -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNDsE4DlE0 Using a finishing axe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYV-sZFUnE By the way, you can see two of these finishing axes (and one "woodaxe" - far left), plus another, short-handled axe, an awl and a bow-drill in this panel from the Bayeux Tapestry - Steven

Pat, I've just been reading a book called The Last Confederate Ship at Sea by Paul Williams (McFarland and Company, Inc, Jefferson, North Carolina 2015, though the author seems to be Australian) about the exploits of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, a commerce raider in the American Civil War which in 1865 captured several northern ships (including whalers) burnt some and "ransomed" others, and was the last active Confederate warship in the war - in fact she kept on with her activities for several months unaware that the war had ended (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Shenandoah ) There was a scandal attached to her - it appears that the Shenandoah's captain carried on an affair with the wife of the captain of the last ship she captured before she docked in Melbourne, in what was then the British colony of Victoria (Australia) for repairs (her propeller mounting was badly damaged, and she was drawn up out of the water onto a "patent slip" to allow the propeller to be got at). (There's a local connection for me - the good citizens of Ballarat threw a "Buccaneer's Ball" in Craig's hotel (the top hotel in town, which later had Mark Twain as a guest) for the Shenandoah's officers.) There was also controversy over her status as a Confederate naval vessel (the U.S. consul claimed she was a pirate) and attempts to recruit crew in Melbourne, in violation of Britain's neutrality, and the captain refused to allow the police to search the ship for recruits reported to be hidden on board. Anyhow, after all that preamble, the police inspectors at Melbourne and Williamstown (where she was on the slip) were instructed to "proceed with the whole of the police force at your disposal to the patent slip and prevent, at all costs, the launch of said ship." And the book goes on - "The Elder gun raft, with her 68-pounder was moved into position near the slip entrance. Her Majesty's Colonial Sloop Victoria a twin-screw vessel of 580 tons, with three guns, was instructed to raise steam and stand off shore. This vessel was not naval, but was classified as an armed dispatch vessel, manned by the water police. She had already been in one hostile situation with an American ship, the General Nowell, which had departed with writs for debts nailed to her mast. The Victoria steamed in pursuit, fired a shot across her bows, and escorted her back to Hobson's Bay. I'm assuming this must be the same HMCSS Victoria as you are building, though it seems the description differs from the model - particularly the number of guns (and the whole bit about the water police seems a little strange). Anyway, I thought you might like this extra bit of information (assuming it is the same Victoria). Steven

Hi Robert, and welcome to MSW from sunny Ballarat, Australia. Your HO rail model layout - what period does it portray? (from an ex-rail modeller from way back). HO (1:87) is a good scale to work in for ship modelling as well, and of course if you're into human figures there are plenty available. And of course sailing ships are certainly contemporary with a lot of the rail period. Steven

Reider, Richard Braithwaite (above) is also building an Olympias model and is currently working on the action of the oarsmen - see By the way, have you looked at the oar action in the video of the Olympias's sea trials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcsrNrRkQis ? Steven

As I understand it, many of the battleships in the Russian fleet at Tsushima were french-built. Maybe you could try one of them? Or, of course . . . you could go to the Dark Side and scratch-build . . . Steven

One of my favourite quotes of all time - brilliantly done by Kenneth Williams in his campest voice. Steven

Ah, coming along nicely. Steven

Beautiful work, Pat. I'm gobsmacked by how tiny this stuff is. Steven

I saw a ram in Piraeus (the port of Athens) in 2000, and while looking for it online I stumbled upon this list of extant rams - https://shiplib.org/index.php/rams-2/ Steven

I can understand that. I only carved 48 oarsmen (plus 16 others - grand total of 64) but I got very tired of carving the oarsmen in particular. It's possible you could 3D print your figures - but I have no expertise at all in this field. Maybe others could help. You'd need separate figures for thranites, zygites and thalamians as they hold the oars differently. If you look at the Youtube video of Olympias' sea trials you see how they do that - but even on a given level, different oarsmen hold the oars differently - some forehand, others backhand. Very interesting. Steven

The problem (as I'm sure Richard is fully aware) is that there were several values for the Ancient Greek "cubit", and the designers used the wrong one - which they only found out in practice. Had they used a larger value for the cubit the problem probably wouldn't have arisen, and in fact the literature on the Olympias suggests this as one of (many) issues to be taken into account if an Olympias II were ever to be built. I had originally intended to make a similar little man to test out the rowing set-up for my dromon but never worked out the problems involved in building it. Very impressed, Richard, that you've done so. Steven

I'm going to have to chase up on the anchors, which were also found in considerable numbers according to the report - I hope the info is available. Steven

See also https://modelshipworld.com/topic/29685-ancient-galley-rams-discovered-photos/#comment-847542

Henrythestaffy, don't worry about it, mate. They'd be so small that there'd be no way the holes would be big enough to put the thread through. Steven

Nice clean work, mate, and some nice solutions to potential problems. She's looking good. Steven

Having finished my Winchelsea nef, I'm back to a single model - restoring/repairing the Great Harry I built when I was 17, over 50 years ago. I've committed myself to finish that before I start on my next model, though I have spent much of the time working on two models at the same time, moving from one to the other as I lose interest/get overwhelmed/hit problems. Honestly, there's not all that much sophisticated equipment needed for a scratch build. I've finished two scratch built models (and working on a third) with a very basic set of tools. It would be nice to have a bench saw and a scroll saw, and I do plan to get them in due course, but I can survive without them for the time being (though I have had to get someone else to saw wood into sheets for me). Steven

He's very scathing about the French pre-Dreadnoughts, but I love 'em. So quirky and weird. Steven

I just looked up the Condorcet on-line - I love those French pre-Dreadnoughts. Somebody on Youtube described them as "When Hotels Go to War". Steven

Nice save. Steven

Surprising. I often find that naughty words magically fix the problem. Or perhaps it's the threat to throw the rotten thing against the nearest wall . . .? Steven

The Airfix Lancaster has come a long way since I built mine when I was a kid . . . Steven

Nice. For those overseas, Furphy was the brand name of water carts. They were used by Australian troops used them in World War I, and just like the "scuttlebutt", gatherings around the Furphy were the way rumours spread among the troops. So in Australian parlance, a furphy became the name for an unfounded rumour. It's not all that common nowadays, but I still use it. Steven