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Louie da fly

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  1. Louie da fly
    A very good question, Druxey. Somehow the technology for reef points got lost or forgotten. Like chain pumps, which the Romans had (and perhaps the Byzantines), but which got forgotten/lost until the 16th century. And it's interesting, because it seems to me that reefing is a far more efficient method of adjusting sail area than bonnets. Yes, though these in themselves are theoretical reconstructions, I find Landström's stuff to be very believable - his vessels always look seaworthy, unlike many other reconstructions I've seen of various ships over the years (some in museums!). Steven
  2. Louie da fly
    Henry, if you're able to use a guitar pick as a model, would it also be possible to put the holes in?(the hardest part for me!) Steven
  3. Louie da fly
    Thank you very much, Christian and Chuck. All these reconstructions are very similar (as one would expect, given that they are based on the same originals). The differences are relatively minor, within the expected variation - no more than the differences between various of the originals. Zimmerman's reconstruction looks most like the ships on the seals of Hythe and Haverford West Hythe Haverford West (though the Hythe seal doesn't show a bowsprit) - apart from the missing fighting top it also looks like the ship on the seal of Sandwich. Fircks reconstruction seems to be based on the Winchelsea ship (see the horizontal line behind the middle of the the steering oar, not shown on any other seal) but the superstructure is simplified. The trapezoidal shape of the castles seen from above in both reconstructions is pretty much how I intend to make mine. Zimmerman's model (though not the plans) shows oarports, though I can't see anything in any of the contemporary illustrations to support that. There are "bumps" on the Winchelsea ship which are higher than the main through-beams. They also appear on the San Sebastian seal. Are these beams for a foredeck and poop? Chuck, there's certainly quite a bit of difference in the level of the through-beams between various seals. The Winchelsea one seems to give a good height for the deck and the bulwark is a decent height above that. It's up to you how you interpret these beam heights. Certainly, without a time machine no-one can tell you that you're wrong! Druxey, surprising as it seems, reef points appear to have been invented as early as the 13th century as shown in the seal of Hastings Seal of Dover - 13th ventury Mural in the Skamstrup church in Denmark - probably early 14th century. And they were still in use in the early 15th century: 1405-09 Belles Heures de Jean de France St Nicholas saving the ship in the storm And somewhere between then and the 16th century they seem to have vanished to be replaced by bonnets, only coming back into use in the 17th. Who knew? Steven
  4. Louie da fly
    That's only 230 km away as the crow flies. You're right - just down the road! Steven
  5. Louie da fly
    That'd be great, mate. With your use of the word arvo, I assume you're in Oz? Steven
  6. Louie da fly
    Thanks, mate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with triangular deadeyes. That's what they had in the 16th century. But I appreciate the offer. Steven
  7. Louie da fly
    Nice one, Chuck. I look forward to following the build. Steven
  8. Louie da fly
    Doing a test piece to see if I can make deadeyes small enough for the foretopmast shrouds. I found card just wasn't structurally capable of dealing with this size, even when impregnated with glue, so I've moved to plastic - the lid of a container of "Nature's Cuppa" - a coffee replacement drink with no caffeine (don't get me wrong; I still drink coffee, but only now and then as a treat.) Here's one of the deadeyes: Or in metric: and the two deadeyes with lanyards: and if you speak metric . . . and in my fingers (note Landström's The Ship as the background): I think I've pretty much hit the limit for small deadeyes, at least with the technology available to me. Fairly labour-intensive, too Steven
  9. Louie da fly
    Just checking the plug against the midships template. And marking out the line of the gunwale. Steven
  10. Louie da fly
    Soitinly! Steven
  11. Louie da fly
    Yes, this is only the second time I've carved a hull this way, but it seems to work well. Damn! I miscounted! I learnt German for two years in high school - all gone - too long ago. And I never got any good at it, anyway. Why, thank you - I think . . . Have you ever eaten emu? Tastes like petrol! Steven
  12. Louie da fly
    Thanks very much, Ian. Very interesting. Steven
  13. Louie da fly
    Does that mean I have to carve 7 crew members, including one half-way up the mast?
  14. Louie da fly
    That would be very good, Christian. I'd like to see what Zimmerman's conclusions were, (and how they compare to my own). In the meantime, here is some more progress on the plug: I'm pretty happy that I've got both sides the same (at least as much the same as I'm able to do!) Next I need to put in the groove to take the keel and the stem and sternposts. And here's Landström's take on the Winchelsea and Sandwich ships. He does do very seaworthy-looking reconstructions, unlike some I've seen. It looks like he has the idea of removeable panels of planking for access to the hold. And you can see his idea of the "bowsprit", which he is calling a beitass as in Viking ships, though with rather a different application. Should I be adding a boat? I think that just because the Winchelsea seal doesn't show it doesn't mean the ship was without one . . . Steven
  15. Louie da fly
    Yes, as closely as possible. I chose the Winchelsea nef because the castles are so beautifully decorated compared with other examples. Note where the deck level is (as estimated from the ends of the through-beams shown on the city seal) and the little man standing on the deck. This would give the ship a fairly good amount of depth for the hold. Correct. But the Winchelsea seal doesn't show one, though most seals do (as can be seen on 4 out of the 5 other seals in my first post). Now I have to decide whether the seal-maker just forgot to put it in, or whether the ship actually didn't have one. I've just been through my pics and of the nefs with one or more castles shown, (I haven't included in the list pictures of nef-type ships that don't have castles). The following have bowsprits: The seals of Poole, San Sebastian, Sandwich, Dover, Yarmouth, Melcombe Regis, Faversham, and Haversham West. Two illustrations from the Bodley Bestiary, two illustrations from BL Egerton MS 3028, plus another manuscript illustration of a sea battle which has what might be interpreted as a bowsprit. [Nope: looking back again, it's a spear held by someone on the opposing ship, stabbing someone on this ship]. A small number of representations show a green leafy branch at the end of the bowsprit or on the top of the stem and/or sternpost. Without bowsprits: The seals of Hythe, Hastings, New Shoreham, Dunwich, and of course Winchelsea, plus five illustrations from BL Egerton MS 3028 (though in some the bowsprit may be obscured rather than missing). It appears that the bowsprit may have been a development that was fairly new and not used by all vessels. Landström interprets them as light booms to take the bowlines, and his reconstruction shows one on each side of the stempost. I'm not sure I agree about there being two - there is no firm evidence to back this up, and it could simply be a single spar running alongside the stempost, rather like the offset bowsprit in early carracks. Anyway, after looking at the evidence above, I think rather than cobble several nefs together I'll stay faithful to the Winchelsea one. Which means no fighting top on the mast, either. The crossbeams on Hedeby/Haithabu 3 could be used as a sort of deckbeam to support removable panels of decking, to allow access to belowdecks for cargo storage. That's perhaps the way I'll approach things. If not, I'll make them proper deckbeams, but with one removeable deck panel for the hatch. Steven
  16. Louie da fly
    Yep, I already did that part way through the process, but it brought in its own problems - the glue "blobs" against the contact (well, actually I used sticky tape, but the effect is the same). Steven
  17. Louie da fly
    Yes, I found that out after I'd posted. And if I recall correctly, Haithabu 3 (which is what I'm mainly working from) was found in the 1970's. Yes, but assuming the model above is built from those drawings, based on my own investigations I already disagree with two details - the triangular castles (where the shape of the castles can be determined in contemporary pictures they are never shown triangular - that shape didn't come into use until the rise of the carrack in the 15th century) - and the through-beams above deck (I agree with Druxey about them being an obstacle course if they're done that way - I believe they are in fact deck-beams). As I can't read the German to check what Zimmerman based his conclusions on, I find going back to the original evidence (contemporary representations, plus whatever archaeological evidence exists) works well for me. Steven
  18. Louie da fly
    One of my favourite words, ever since I saw a quote containing it in a book Steven
  19. Louie da fly
    Finally got the foretopsail yard fixed and sewn to the sail. And I've now done the lateen sails as well. Here's the complete suit of sails, with yards attached. And I've finished gluing ratlines to the lower larboard foremast shrouds. Paper from the guide stuck to the shrouds before I put the sticky tape onto it, and glue blobs that stuck between the back of the shrouds and the sticky tape, that had to be removed. I picked the paper off with tweezers. For the blobs of glue I've used water, rubbing alcohol etc. Not a perfect result and I think I'll be revisiting these shrouds to clean them up further. And I'll need to re-think the whole process for the next sets of shrouds and ratlines. Steven
  20. Louie da fly
    Marked the wooden strips that make up the second half of the plug, so they match the first half: Then I noticed that the strips were somewhat the wrong shape - the ends should either slope inwards as they go lower on the hull (towards the ends of the ship), or at midships they should be vertical - otherwise the ship will have a tumble-home - effectively it would be wider than the extreme breadth as taken from the drawings I was working from. So I re-shaped them somewhat, and have also cut the outlines of the second half's strips to match them. Next step is to fully shape the second half. Steven
  21. Louie da fly
    Ah, yes. I know this one. I have admired it for quite a while. Mine will look very similar, but some of the details will be different - closer to the details on the city seal. For example there will be no bowsprit, the castles will be "tapered rectangles" rather than triangles, and some of the detail of the castles and their supports will be different. The hull shape and the mast and sail will be very similar. Steven
  22. Louie da fly
    Looking very good, mate. Real progress! Steven
  23. Louie da fly
    Beautiful work, mate! Steven
  24. Louie da fly
    Thanks, AnobiumPunctatum. Chapman has already alerted me to this book. However, the fact that it's in German (which I can't read) and it was written in 1984, before the knarr finds, means that it would probably only be of incidental interest. However, I'd be interested in seeing the shape Zimmerman proposed for his reconstruction. I have Landström's book, and I'm taking a lot of his ideas on board. Steven
  25. Louie da fly
    I've just been doing some research to find out how thick I should be making the planking on the nef, based on the knarr finds which are the only near equivalents to a nef for which archaeological evidence exists. The planking on the knarr Skuldelev 1 was 1" (25mm) thick on the bottom, but on the sides it was as much as 2.5" (62.5mm), much thicker than the planking on the Gokstad (long) ship, which was 25mm (1") at its thickest, tapering down to even less. So if this (admittedly rather small) sample is to be believed, the knarr was much more strongly built than the longship, sacrificing seaworthiness for strength, as befits a cargo vessel which carries a load of 15 tons. On the other hand, it has been calculated the ship I'm basing my model on, Haithabu 3, could have carried 60 tons, so it was probably even more strongly built. At 1:75 scale, that means the bottom planking will be 0.3 mm thick, while the sides should be 0.83mm - but I'll probably make it somewhat thicker because the ship I'm building carries four times the load of the knarr from which I got my figures. Worth knowing. Steven

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