Louie da fly

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

I thought afterwards that maybe I could have got the euphroes 3D printed - but then again maybe not - possibly still too small to be practicable. Steven

But you do have wonderful buildings such as the High Court and (new) Parliament House. Steven

Well, not perfect, but not too bad, either. Here are the crowsfeet for the mizzen topmast stays, connected to the main backstays. In progress: I had to push the larboard backstay out from the hull before it would meet the crowsfeet so I could glue them onto it. And, complete. Euphroes would have been more elegant, but not really possible at this scale. There's a sort of "blob" made of the collected cotton threads which looks sort of like a euphroe, and that'll have to do. I'm pretty happy with the result. And here are the larboard shrouds and "chains" with deadeyes attached. Steven

I think that should be gold rush. Don't you just love the way spellcheck "corrects" what you've written! Took me awhile to work out what you'd meant. Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Sovereign Hill is very good value, particularly as your ticket entitles you to two days exploring the site (just as well, it really takes two days to fully do it justice), though I suppose you only got the one day there. We live close enough to hear the muskets going off each day. Dd you get to see Ballarat's main road, Sturt Street? Wonderful Victorian era (and later) architecture. And the lake? Steven

I've seen quite a few model galleys with working oars, but very few of them have an action which ties in with what is observable from the Olympias sea trials video (link on the first page of this thread). From the accuracy of your build so far, I'm hoping yours will be more like the real thing. Steven

Don't get us started, mate. You don't realise your danger - Waltzing Matilda, The Man From Snowy River, Clancy of the Overflow, Click Go the Shears . . . . Steven

Beautiful place, Canberra. I've been there quite a few times. Hey, if you're in Melbourne over Easter, maybe you should come up to see Ballarat (only about an hour's drive away). Beautiful, historic city. Well worth the visit. Steven

Welcome to MSW, KJ! Where in Oz are you? Steven

Here's an example of using Lego to make things square - - but I have to say if you want something rather more stable, make something like Kikatinalong's jig - - by no means the only possible configuration, but it might give you some ideas. Steven

Agreed. But making a euphroe at this size is also very difficult.

I've now moved onto the mizzen mast (that's the main mizzen -the one directly aft of the main mast - not the bonaventure mizzen - the one at the stern). At the scale I'm working at, and with my 17 year old self looking over my shoulder, I'm not using the traditional method of adding the shrouds - just too difficult. Instead, I start by gluing the shroud or "chains" in a triangular loop around the deadeye. As follows: Shrouds and "chains" with deadeyes attached. The next step was to fix the chain deadeyes to the channel. However, I realised that this was the method I'd used before which didn't work all that well, because I had to push the deadeye around to get the lanyard through the holes, and it usually was too much for the glue and the deadeye would come off. So I tried another way. What I did instead is set up the two deadeyes with the lanyard joining them before I added it to the hull. Shroud and "chain" deadeyes connected with lanyard. All done for one side. And adding the deadeyes: The idea is to glue the tops of the shrouds individually to the mast just below the top, but first I have to work on the stays - I should have done them before I started on the shrouds. Lower mizzen stay - deadeyes: These deadeyes are made of card impregnated with PVA (white) glue, and are about as small as I can make them by hand using natural materials. According to Landström's reconstruction drawing, the upper stays are belayed to the main backstay each side with crowsfeet, not to the mainmast. I checked with R.C. Anderson's "The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail topmast 1600-1720" - the best book I've been able to find for anything even vaguely like the Great Harry's period (even if it's at least 55 years too late) and he agrees. Unfortunately, the pictures of the Great Harry in the Anthony Roll and the painting of the Embarkation at Dover are of no help, and Great Harry seems to be just about the only example of a ship of this time that has a mizzen topmast at all, and no other representations show how this stay works. So either I cheat (tempting!) or I try making the crowsfeet. My first attempt at the upper mizzen stay with crowsfeet: A bit messy Hmmm, not looking all that good - can't keep all the ropes tensioned at the same time URK! So, I developed a cunning plan. I made a jig to make the crowsfeet separately, using styrene foam, a bit of balsa and dressmakers' pins: Not bad, but you can see at the sharp end the threads don't converge evenly. New version, which I hope will work properly. We'll see . . . Steven

Yours is somewhat smaller scale than mine, which is 1:75, but there shouldn't be too much problem making framing close to the real proportions at your scale. And you'll find that despite the lightness of the framing, your hull will be very strong and sturdy. (well, ok, don't drop it on the floor and tread on it or run over it with a truck, but ueah, I think you'll be surprised how strong the structure ends up.) There are several builds on MSW that have worthwhile jigs for squaring your build. I did a search using "lego jig" but didn't find any examples, but I do like Kikatinalong's jig (and he was a total newbie who just came up with a brilliant jig). Steven

Hi Todd, and welcome to MSW. I'd recommend you start a build log for your model. It's a great opportunity for help and advice from the friendly and helpful members here. And also do a search (top right of this page) for your model, to see what other people who've built the same model did and how they overcame the problems you may come across in your own build. Steven