Louie da fly

That's looking very good, Patrick. Beautiful work. Steven

I think you're right, Patrick. The Pilot's cabin seems to be fairly close to the ship's side, and if the staircase is behind it, it makes sense there'd be another one near the other side of the ship. I think there would have been an enclosed walkway - between the aft wall of the Pilot's cabin and another, parallel, sloping wall some distance behind it, which is also the rear wall of the forecastle. And the stairs would be between these two walls. But there'd have to be enough room between the aft wall of the Pilot's cabin and the aft wall of the forecastle to allow for people to walk past the opening in the deck for the staircase - so perhaps the forecastle would have extended about 2 metres behind the back wall of the pilot's cabin? The staircase seems to be somewhat inboard, and that would make sense - there appears to be a walkway between the pilot's cabin and the side of the ship, which would serve the side-gunners. And this would perhaps be mirrored in the forecastle. By this time ships may or may not have had the 'great arch' any more - you can't tell because the boarding netting and its gangway are hiding that part of the ship, but above that just a relatively small arched opening for access from the gangway that supports the netting, as you've shown. And you'd walk through the arch and into the walkway behind the Pilot's cabin. And the rest of that enclosed space between those two walls would allow room for the gunners of the rear-facing guns (which the Anthony Roll shows at the ends of the forecastle rear wall), as well as of the men serving the sideward facing guns, who would work in the fore-and-aft walkway. That's my thoughts on the matter. Steven

Patrick, I think I've found the stairs! I believe that the aft wall of the pilot's cabin is at an angle of 70 degrees and the stairs follow it - that in the red circle we see the Pilot's cabin, and that its aft wall is indeed inclined at 70 degrees, and the stairs can be seen on the other side of that wall, with the treads running from side to side, up the aft side of that wall. And if that's the case the forecastle would be directly above the Pilot's cabin, and extending both forward of it, and aft far enough to allow room for the stairwell. And furthermore, I think it's likely that the rear wall of the forecastle would also be at 70 degrees, and would perhaps be only far enough aft of the aft wall of the Pilot's cabin to allow space for the stairwell. Here's the Anthony Roll picture of the Mary Rose, and the aft wall of the forecastle certainly seems to be leaning forward. And it seems to me there'd be room each side of the stairwell for the (light) guns facing aft toward the waist of the ship to defend against boarders. Best wishes, Steven

Looking good, Doug. Perhaps you're using the wrong type of gun for the forecastle. I'm PMing you a paper on the range of contemporary guns in use, by Max Guerout, who was in charge of the excavation of the Lomellina. The rest of it looks really good. I'll have to look at my documentation for the distance between decks on the Lomellina, though you should also be able to get info those distances on the remaining structure of the Mary Rose, which would be more appropriate to your build.

Getting close to completion. Rigging is always a hassle (though at least it's a little less complex on a lateener). You've done a nice job. Steven

Putting on the safety railing and the mesh below it. I cut the mesh a little wide so it would overlap the upper and lower edges a bit and leave me a little wriggle room - once the upper and lower edges were attached I could trim it to fit exactly. Upper edge panel added aft of the paddlewheels. On the real thing there is a rail behind this panel, made of steel pipe. But I didn't bother to put that on - it would have been invisible anyway. Forward of the wheels doesn't have this panel, just the rail. My trusty plastic mini-pegs put to work again! The panel is made of very thin wooden sheet which bends easily around a relatively tight radius. The sheet wood was only long enough to do one side, so I had to cut two strips and join them at the stern with a vertical mini-scarph joint. And the top rail - made of a thin bamboo rod from a bamboo blind (think of a kitchen bamboo skewer - very similar, but longer), sliced in half so there was a flat face against the mesh. I didn't take photos of the beginning and intermediate steps with this one. And the lower edge added to sandwich the mesh between it and the deck at the bottom. Due to the configuration of the deck, I couldn't use pegs, so I used dressmaking pins instead. Very useful at times, and better than push-pins because they make a much smaller hole. The scarph joint. I didn't want to put pins too near the edges of the bottom strip in case they made it split, so I held the ends down with a bit of masking tape over the top. And once that was added, I put on the paddle wheels. I kept that till very late in the build because they're fragile and I didn't want to break them while I was working on other things. To push the top surface of the wheel assembly up against the bottom of the deck, I slid a couple of bits of wooden sheet in between the wheel and the table, acting as a sort of clamp. That being done, I finally got onto the wavy top border for the awning. I got a bit of old bedsheet (grey unfortunately, I didn't have white) and impregnated it with white acrylic paint, to change the colour but more important to stiffen the fabric so I could cut the wavy border into it later. Then I measured the pattern of the wave and hand-drew it onto the fabric. Very time-consuming. And here it is about half-way through the cutting. Seems to be working ok, but also very time-consuming and rather hard on the fingers. Steven

I soak mine then bend them around the barrel of a cheap electric soldering iron held in a vise. Steven

That is amazingly cool. You've really taken the carving thing and run with it! And those spikes are actually quite within the possibilities for a Viking ship. Note the holes on this weather vane, one of quite a number that have been found: They have been variously interpreted as being for pendants, tassels etc but if you look at some Viking cloak-pins that appear to be representations of one of these weather-vanes, whatever is supported by these holes seems to be more like spikes, going out radially: So I think you've got a very good case for your spikes. Nice work, mate. Steven

That's not just good carving for a beginner, that's good carving, period. You've done a beautiful job with it. And unlike some dragon-heads I've seen, he really looks like he belongs on a Viking ship. Oh, and the rest of the ship is good, too. 😁 Steven

I do have aluminium sheet and I have considered it, but I think it would be harder to work than painted fabric. I'll experiment to see how it all goes. Steven

Looking good, Doug. Generally, the cardboard replica seems to be good. Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty would be proud of you - for those not acquainted with the original lantern-slide type wireless Goon Show (see 8:50 and onward for the cardboard replica) A couple of observations which you are at liberty to ignore if you wish - it's your model after all. First, perhaps the forecastle is a tiny bit high. Is there a deck on the top of that structure or is that the height of the bulwark/railing, with the deck somewhat lower? If the second, not so much of an issue, but you might still just have a bit of a look at it and see if you're happy with it. Next, are the triangles at the front of the forecastle going to join at the apices (plural of apex) as you have on the cardboard replica? I would have thought there should be a flat plane and/or perhaps a curved surface, across the forecastle at each point, comme ça - That seems to be what is shown in contemporary pics, though admittedly they are a little hard to interpret. I think your placement of the shrouds looks good, and yes, they never recovered the masts, so you can only go with the best available guesswork information. I'd agree the maintop should be somewhat higher than the foretop, in line with the whole mast being bigger and taller. And those guns look very good. Coming along nicely. Steven

So many ropes! Steven

Thanks everybody for the likes and comments. Firdajan, yes archery was still an important part of the armament of the Mary Rose - in fact I've seen some of the bows in the museum where she's held - along with all kinds of other interesting artefacts including a beautiful parrel truck and a complete fighting top. Back then they were still thinking more in terms of hand-to-hand combat than gunfire, which is why the Mary Rose had such a tall forecastle and aftercastle - to make boarding difficult for the enemy. Tony, thanks. Yes, I'd had no idea that there was this period where they were very wary about installing gunports - I thought artillery went straight from gunwale-mounted to long ranks of gunports. But it's very understandable when you consider the problems that had to be overcome before they could become an integral and usual part of a ship's armament. Mikki, I'm glad you liked it. I do enjoy sharing these discoveries with my fellow enthusiasts. Steven

Yes, I'm still trying to work out the best way to do it. Scissors don't come with that profile, unfortunately (though they do for half the scale, so long as it's paper you want to cut). I'm thinking mainly of fabric impregnated with paint, and cutting carefully with a craft knife or similar. Or perhaps silkspan . . . As it's by a lake, I have to think about the effect of moisture. Steven

Well, I'm very chuffed. In response to a request from me for a bit more information and a clear photo of an 'arquebus' (precursor of the musket) found on the Lomellina, Max Guérout sent me a thoroughly researched and incredibly comprehensive paper he'd written, covering not only the guns found on the wreck, but every type of gun in common use at the time, with photos, technical drawings, construction analyses, you name it. 108 pages long. But all in French. Fortunately, Google Translate has come a long way since I first started using it, and despite the occasional howler of a translation, that plus my own schoolboy french was very useful in getting the full sense of the paper. Wonderful. One thing I found fascinating was the fact that as gunports had only just come into use -before this all guns were supported on the gunwales (which is why they have that name) - they were so new that the problems hadn't yet been worked out (keeping water out was an issue, muzzles only barely stuck out past the front of the carriage - they were actually within the hull itself when the gun went off - so there was a considerable danger of fire, there were structural issues with putting holes in the side of the ship, as well as supporting the weight of ever bigger and heavier guns). So they weren't very trusting of this new development and initially ships were pierced with very few gunports - possibly only one or two per side, as in the pictures below, with other guns (even big ones) being still on the upper deck and fired over the gunwale. The French ship Loyse (Louise) - c. 1486-1508 From the manuscript of Rochechouart c. 1502. Among the finds on the Lomellina were a number of large wheels, much larger than those of the usual carriage found on shipboard guns of this time (though note the Mary Rose had them too) - about the size you'd expect for field guns. Except that some of these didn't have iron tyres, or even the rusted remnants of them (which are usually very obvious because they make a huge swollen mass). No good for wheels that had to stand up to travelling along the dreadful roads of the time (or, worse still, off-road). Which indicates they were intended to be used, not on land, but on board ship, as shown in the picture. There's a good chance that despite a dozen gun barrels having been found in the wreck, the gunport and portlid found on the Lomellina were the only ones on that side of the ship, and the other guns were on the upper deck. Loving this. Steven

That's the problem with the breech-box method. And pretty hard on the gun itself having all those combustion gases escaping between the barrel and the breech-box. That video was fantastic to watch. I've put it in my favourites. Steven

But when you come to Ballarat, be sure to let me know you're coming and I'll show you around. Steven

Nice work, Mikki. Coming along well. Steven

It's a very nice trip around the lake, nice views and just an enjoyable time. But just a heads-up - only on Sundays (it's run purely by volunteers), and subject to weather conditions (the lake can get a bit scary in high winds). Here's their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/goldencitypaddlesteamer But I'm afraid they don't necessarily keep it updated as much as they should, so perhaps phone them beforehand to check if she's running that day. Steven

Nice work, mate. Looking good. Steven

Patrick, in Australian terminology, you're a dead-set legend! Perhaps this is not the time to repeat the joke about the Scottish soldiers and the wire brush? Steven

'Good beginning is half won'. Or - 'If you're given two hours to cut down a tree, spend the first hour and a half sharpening your axe.' Steven

I've (finally) completed the buttock lines, and have amended the body sections to align with them. I'm hoping that will all work when it comes to making them. Last time I did it by eye (with the Great Harry it was completely wrong. We'll see if this works better. Steven

I've finished painting the awning. Still have to put the wavy fringe along the edge - not sure how I'm going to do that - paper? Card? Thin aluminium sheet? And here are the paddlewheels, as promised. I used my usual technique to make them - wet the wood and 'roll' it around a (cheap and nasty) soldering iron. Note that I've only made a segment of each, because the rest of the wheel is supposed to be hidden by the housing attached to the hull. Lining up pairs of "wheels" with each other so they would all be nice and square. Didn't really work all that well . . . And trimming them to remove excess. Adding the paddles. Putting the two halves together. It took quite a while to get these acceptable - the tolerances are very strict, the construction is quite frail, and warps and mutates when you look at it, and it was hard to get everything square, particularly the paddles. I eventually put an extra panel at the bottom of each assembly (top, really, as they'll be turned up the other way) to give them rigidity and keep them square. Not perfect, but adequate. And removed the side pieces which had kept everything together up till then. And painted. And here are the registration numbers on the bow, done with a fine watercolour paintbrush. A little wavery, but overall not too shabby considering the difficulties. Steven

That's coming together well, Doug. Good work on the placement of the guns, the formation of the forecastle. For the full forecastle are you going to make a preliminary cardboard replica (as per the highly esteemed wireless-type Goon Show) to see how it looks before you cut wood? Steven