Louie da fly

Me too! Otherwise it's just one more Viking ship . . . Steven

Some more progress. Putting in the mast partners. The mast is recycled from my dromon model and will need to be altered. As nobody's ever found a mediaeval European mast , I really wasn't sure how the halyard worked, but I did find a photo of a Viking ship replica that used a sheave in the mast, so here I am making a sheave for the halyard. Here's the mast before . . . Here's the mast after. More to be done to make it right for the nef. Planking of the foredeck. Steven

Very interesting conclusions, Dick. Worth making the model just for that, perhaps. I like the idea of the Nydam ship. Looking forward to it. Steven

Thanks for all the likes. Christian, I'm basing the spacing of the frames on the Skuldelev 1 knorr, which was also clinker built. (Otherwise I could have saved myself a lot of work and trouble - I only decided to add the extra frames after I saw the photo below). It seems to me that every second frame only goes down as far as the turn of the bilge. I don't know if I will be doing this. Steven

Thanks for the reply, Tony. I can fully understand the time constraints. I only really got serious progress on my modelling once I'd retired. Pearl luggers are fascinating vessels (though strictly the West Australian ones should be called schooners or ketches, as they were gaff rigged). Unless it's been removed, there's an old lugger at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. I'm looking forward to seeing what you decide to build once you get the time. In the meantime, here's the latest progress on the nef. Deck beams for the after deck. Side beams for the hold opening Adding intermediate frames between the existing ones. Firstly the bits that show above deck level. I will probably add intermediate floor timbers as well, at least in the hold, as I intend to have the hold partly exposed (a couple of removable deck planks removed) to show some cargo. Not sure if I'll carry the intermediate floor timbers all the way through the hull, as most of them will be hidden by the decks. Steven

A very nice bit of experimental reconstruction, Dick. I'm still not sure whether I believe the hulc really was like this, but I think it was worth it to find out how practical it might have been, and you've certainly done that. Oh, and made a very attractive model, to boot. Steven

Thanks, Tony and Pat. And thanks everybody for the likes. Pat, I wouldn't be too worried about the speed with quality like yours. And the time you take to do the research to get it right. Amazing that such a (relatively) recent ship as Victoria, built in the days of photography and printed manuals should be so hard to get correct information on. But she was a bit of a trailblazer, and not enough people were taking photos or writing stuff down. Tony, I've seen your very informed comments on other people's builds, but haven't seen your own log. Am I missing something? Anyhow, I do seem to be on a bit of a roll, which is nice. Earlier, particularly during the planking, it seemed as if I wasn't getting anywhere fast. So this makes a nice change. I've added intermediate frames in line with the mast step, to make a pozzie for the knees. Eventually there will be intermediate frames between every pair of frames you see here. And here are all the knees in position. The only problem is that I was planning to have some of the removable planks above the hold removed, so some of the cargo would be visible, but the mast step assembly is so pretty I really don't want to cover it up as in the Ijsselcog's archaeological report (referenced above) "In the area around the mast step the remains of a removable or false ceiling was found. It consisted of longitudinal timbers, placed on the first and second ceiling strakes and covered with loose planks and dunnage (Fig. 16). Salix twigs, branches, and straw were abundant across the whole width of the false ceiling. This construction would have kept the cargo dry by separating it from accumulating bilge-water and, at the same time, covering the open space between the floortimbers. The false ceiling and the remains of what were probably shifting-boards in the rear of the ship are indicators for the internal layout of cargo space. It is plausible that the cog was able to carry a load of casks amidships for which a dry, horizontal, upper cargo deck was reserved. The shifting-boards in the rear could have contained sacks of merchandise, such as grain." and the reconstruction drawing in my post #173. I'll have to think about it a bit and decide which way I want to go. [Edit - But looking again at that drawing, are they perhaps showing that the layer of planking, branches etc isn't over the mast step assembly - at least not over the knees I took so much trouble about? Hard to be sure, but it would help a lot if that were so.[/Edit] Starting on the frames for the pointy bit at the stern. And here's where the wood with the forked grain from an earlier post comes in handy. Now I need to make and put in the breast hook and the beam clamps and deck beams for the after deck. Coming along . . . To be honest it's been very hard resisting the temptation to make the castles, but I found out the hard way with my dromon that it's a bad idea to make something before you know the space it has to fit in and the other things it has to fit around. All in good time. Steven

But take more care than I did to make sure the two sides of the plug are exactly the same. Though the differences are slight on mine, when I got to making the frames the lack of symmetry became rather obvious - at least to me - particularly towards the ends. Steven

Ah, that's nice! Steven

More framing - and the last through beam and beam clamps made. Got the final through-beam in place and the beam clamps glued in. Steven

(See my recent post regarding the mast step for the nef I'm currently building. First result pretty bad - second one, totally ok) Steven

Beautiful ships. I'll be following this one. Steven

Me too Steven

Nice to see the de Lorean - must have attained 88 m.p.h. to have got there. Sailing ships were still in fairly common use before (and even during) the second world war, so it should all work nicely. Steven

I've been working on the mast step. Here's my first attempt. The longitudinal groove is for the keel to fit into. And the crosswise slots are for the frames. Note that some of them are wider than others, due to inaccurate transferring of frame locations from the ship to the mast step, and one in particular I seem to have just got completely wrong. Shaping and putting in the socket for the mast tenon. And in place. Not terribly bad, but really it just wasn't good enough. Somehow I got the whole thing wrong so the socket for the mast was way off centre. I may have got the whole thing turned backwards, so the fore end was aft - that's the only explanation I can think of. And looking back at the cog's mast step which I was using for a model, I realised that the mast step body wasn't supposed to go all the way down to the planking - it was just to be supported on the frames, with fairly shallow grooves cut in the underneath (see the reconstruction drawing in my previous post). Where I'd gone wrong was not to print the diagram off, and just rely on memory. Bad idea. So, here's version 2. Much better. Moving right along, I've made the next through-beam and glued it in place. Next I have to make all the rest of the frames and put them in place, then add the beam clamp and the crossbeams to mirror the ones at the other end. Coming along. Steven

More framing. And for those of you who may be interested in how I'm making the frames to insert in the planking, here's an example of a partly made pair of floor timbers, showing how I carve the "blank" to fit in place. The I'll cut along the pencil line to finish shaping the frames. I'm getting into researching the mast step and the windlass. The windlass will be based on those of the Bremen cog and the Ijsselcog, and that of the Kalmar ship from the mid-13th century (referenced in an earlier post), which is very similar. It'll have to be shorter than those of the cogs - unlike them, there just isn't room for one that long in a ship with pointy ends like the nef. I'll be basing the mast step on that of the Ijsselcog, as being closest in time to the nef. Here it is (pictures from the Ijsselcog archaeological report referenced above) And here's mine just getting started. Right side up And upside down - the slots are for the frames. As I originally built the frames with a crossbeam near the bottom as in knarrs, I'm having to cut several of them off to accommodate the mast step which is different from those of Viking ships. I've still got a bit of tidying up to do to make it all smick and merge the cut-off bits into the shape of the frames. One last thing. I'd been lamenting that I didn't have any wood with a forked grain (as you get at a branch), suitable for the frames of the bow and stern and the breast hooks. I realised I was wrong. The yellow(ish) ones are from an apricot tree in the garden which went to meet its maker. Still needs time to season. The three at top right are old seasoned walnut from the guy next door's dead tree which he let me have the timber from. Nice to have this. Steven

Just thought I'd post this picture of the model with dry fitted masts, while I waffle on and summon up the courage to get onto the upper shrouds with the tiny deadeyes. I realised I hadn't taken any photos from the bow, so here they are. PS: I WILL get onto the shrouds, I promise . . . Steven

Aha! I knew it was the Victory just by looking at the escutcheon figurehead, before I saw the title (maybe because I've previously built two plastic Victory models). Beautiful painting. Wish I was that good . . . (sigh). Steven

Beautiful work, Patrick. And thanks for the step-by-step photos of the bonnet connection. I'm planning to do bonnets myself on a future build, and this will be a valuable resource to me. Steven

More framing. Here's where she was at the end of the last post. Framing for the foredeck done and now adding beam clamps. And glue dried - slightly wonky beam clamp because it's recycled from what was going to be a frame. And adding the deck beams for the foredeck, level with the through-beam nearest the bow. And about here I realised I was going to hit problems - I'm getting short of walnut sheet that's the right thickness. Plenty of stuff suitable for planking, but not for framing. So I got out some European plane wood that was left over from the dromon build. Not exactly the same look, but in places where it's not going to be visible it's ok - and anyway, the difference isn't all that obvious. The middle of the three frames in the photo below is plane wood - the others are walnut. I'll be using plane wood for such things as deck beams and floor timbers where they are hidden by decks. I'll try to keep all the upper futtocks in walnut because they're visible at the top ends. Adding the breast hook. All the deck beams added for the bow half. Note that two beams seem to be missing, but that's where the hold is - it will have a catwalk each side and removeable floorboards above the hold, each spanning over the gap between the deckbeams. And a nice view from the stern. Steven

Hi Blair, and welcome to MSW. Judging by the jalopy it looks like your layout is just the right time for the Chaperone - she was in use until she was burnt in 1922, so she sounds like just the vessel for your railroad. A river steamer is on my own wish-list, but as an Aussie I'd be doing an Australian one (they're quite different from the American ones). But it's very much on the back burner - I've got so many models I want to make, I doubt I'll get all of them done this lifetime. Yes, start a build log. You'll find it very worthwhile - the members here are very friendly and helpful. Good to have you aboard. Steven

Yes, I realised overnight that I'd been thinking in terms of my own builds, where the deck furniture is much smaller, due to smaller vessels at a smaller scale. Steven

Marcus - surely that windlass is 11 mm, not 110 mm? Though in my own case I did use walnut, because I had a piece that was already round, from a mast that hadn't worked for me, usually when I make anything like that I use pear wood - something hard with a fine grain - the finer the better. Mine was simpler than yours - but the principle is the same - sharp tools (I use a No. 11 craft knife and replace the blades often), and don't hurry. And if it goes wrong, do it again till you get it right. I've had to do that any number of times with stuff I've been carving. And I don't wear gloves at all (I do occasionally cut myself, so I'm not necessarily recommending it, but I find it gives me better "feel" for the piece). But yes, I'd recommend you put the thing in a vise to carve it. It stabilizes the work (and reduces the chance of getting your hands cut). Steven

I'd agree with you, Mark, though there are certain things they all seem to have, such as those beautiful stem and sternposts, which I haven't seen in any other type of vessel, including Viking ships which are otherwise very similar. Some have "bowsprits", others don't, some have a single "castle" (always at the stern), others have two, some masts have a "top", others don't. And many pictures show some kind of leafy branch at one or both ends - no idea why. Another interesting thing is how the town seals have so many features in common - such as guys up on the yard unfurling the sail. Steven

And more frames, and the second through-beam is in place. Note the new frames don't have the lower crossbeams. And I occasionally get to cut the floor timbers with the grain following the line of the frames. And here we get to see the amount of room there is in the hold of you omit those lower crossbeams. Cutting the holes for the through-beams for the forecastle. And making beam clamps for the deck beams. Beam clamps bent to follow the ship's hull. And glued in place. Forecastle through-beam in place - and deck beam below it. Next job is to add the beam clamps for the forecastle and rest of the deck-beams at this end. And then repeat everything at the other end. Steven