Louie da fly

You and me both. Though I suppose the Great Harry is really one of those. But at 1:200 scale it's pretty small!

If you compare it with the illustrations, it seems to me the ships in the pictures were beamier than the model. Granted that the transom on the model is taller than on the Catalan line drawing above, the picture still seems to have a wider stern than both the museum model and that of the Santa Maria, and I think this would follow right through for the full length of the hull. Regarding the details, there are of course any number of individual variations between different carracks, and it's very much a judgment call as to which you follow. I'd be following Iberian ships as exemplars as much as possible. However, even Catalonia, despite now being part of Spain, was (a) a separate kingdom at the time and (b) is on the northern Mediterranean coast, not the southern and Atlantic coast. And the Zumaia pictures though from the Atlantic side, are from the very north of Spain, almost into France, whereas the fleet left from Seville, in the far south.. I've just been re-looking at the contemporary pictorial record and a few things have occurred to me. First, though the Zumaia pictures celebrate a victory of 1475, that is not necessarily the date the picture was done - it might have been quite a bit later. Second, there is evidence that bigger ships than I'd been thinking of were in use earlier than I'd been aware of: This is from the view of Lisbon of 1500-1510 that @rybakov put up a link for on the previous page of this thread And this is variously dated 1475 (unlikely), or more probably between 1510 and 1514. It is from the Portuguese painting "S. Joao em Patmos" (St John in Patmos) by the master of Lourinha. If these dates are correct, then some of my statements about the Victoria may be wrong and she may have been bigger and more advanced than I'd thought. Which means the reconstructed ship in Patagonia could be very close to how she actually was (except for the flat stern). Unfortunately, these realisations are probably making your job more difficult rather than less (sorry!) The more I learn the more I realise I don't know . . . However, against this we need to set the fact that when they set out from Seville the Victoria's crew was numbered at 45 with a burthen of 85 tons and the flagship, the Trinidad, had a crew of 62 and a burthen of 110 tons (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan's_circumnavigation ). This would give a fair idea of the size of the ship and indirectly of the complexity of its form. In comparison, the figures for the Duyfken (which is tiny! So tiny they launched her by hoisting her into the water in a yacht cradle - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIWE4ot672E - and check out the fishing boats nearby!) are: So Victoria was by no means a big ship. If my maths is correct, the comparative figures would be for a ship of 85 tons - Length: 62 feet, Beam: 18.66 feet Draft: 7.6 feet So probably not one of the "super-carracks" shown above. Back to the Catalan line drawing above after all, I think.

That's fascinating stuff, Binho. One thing that the link makes clear is that many, if not most weathervanes originally had short metal "streamers" coming out from them - there are still holes showing where they used to be. The "miniatures" show them as they must have been - The other thing is that the ones that had their decoration just engraved rather than "pierced" through the metal plate probably had different decorative motifs on the different sides.

Jonathan, that Museo Naval model has a lot going for it, and a lot of things I like, such as the clinker planking at the sides of the aftercastle. However there are a few points I don't agree with - not major, but I think they ought to be noted. As in this Catalonian picture from 1468 the planking at the break of the forecastle should follow the curve of the forecastle rather than be a flat plane (No. 1) and the hull planking immediately below the forecastle should also be curved (No. 2). And it might just be me, but it seems to me that the model is rather too narrow. Also most of the contemporary illustrations (where you can see it) show the forecastle coming to a sharp point rather than cut off as in the model. And this is the case with the Mataro ship model above, as well. This is Catalan, from 1494. In my opinion this picture is probably about as close as you can get to what Victoria really looked like, As I understand it you want plans already drawn rather than having to draft them for yourself (which is totally understandable - a whole extra level of difficulty there!) and they just don't exist to the level of accuracy you need if you want to do a nao as close to the historical Victoria as humanly possible. You might still be best getting a round-sterned Santa Maria kit (the Dusek kit has a round stern but no forecastle, but the hull seems a little narrow) and bashing it to follow the pictorial evidence. I hope this helps. Steven

Welcome to MSW, Randy! Having already done some ship modelling in the past you're starting from a better place than some new people. And it's like riding a bike - you never really forget how to do it; you just wobble a bit when you first get back into the saddle. Yes, certainly start a build log. There's a lot of experienced people in the group who you can turn to for advice and help as you embark on this journey. Don't be too concerned if you make mistakes - it's a learning process and your modelling improves every time you do another build. And have fun with it - that's why we do this stuff!

Welcome to MSW, Mike. I remember when I was a kid learning that Grimsby was a fishing port. And learning later that its name was a Viking one - comes from "Grim" one of Odin's nicknames. I second Mark's advice to start a build log. It's a great way to get help and advice and encouragement. The instructions are here: And you can probably use the search bar at the top right of the page to see if anybody else has done a Caldercraft Bounty. (Actually, I just did, out of interest - there's quite a few of them, including at least two finished models. They should be helpful in doing your own build: https://modelshipworld.com/search/?q=Caldercraft Bounty&quick=1 Don't worry if you make mistakes - we all do that; the more experienced members just make more interesting ones . A lot of very friendly, helpful people here, so ask questions! LOTS of questions! That's what the forum's here for. And have fun.

The setting is worthy of the model!

Beautiful work, Clare. Just as well your tiller was such a snug fit! And it's a shame they don't warn you in advance - DO NOT INSTALL TILLER YET!!! - you might have had to unglue it with all the associated chances of breaking something.

Your approach, making two holes instead of a slot is better than the method they recommend in the instructions. Yours will look much more realistic.

Probably. Apart from anything else they were used for fishing, and the Mary Rose (about 150 years later, admittedly) had boarding nettings.

Funny I never noticed that scene in the movie. I'll have to have another look at it.

Maybe some of the experienced people on the forum can help with that. Not me, though - I'm all thumbs.

Usually called rubbing strakes - or fenders. Very nice work. That's a good looking model, very crisply made.

Hmmm, 1190's? Seems a little early for a cog, but what the hey, one or two centuries in a historical movie's not too bad. The Vikings (set in the 860's AD) had quite a nice nef, more appropriate to around 1290, in one of the early scenes.

I'm glad you were able to get to know him. And that you were able to give him those books. I'm sure he would have enjoyed them.

Damn! Didn't think of that! Maybe I should have left it there . . .

I hope you're going to tie them down - otherwise they'll come loose and roll her over . .

No, but it did make me think of the famous Science Fiction movie - "Help me, help me . . ."

And now, after 5 years and seven months to the day since I first began planning the model . . . the final steps. I've assembled the case with a background of the Harbour of Theodosios in Constantinople, where the Byzantine galleys were found from which I got so much information in building the model. The buildings in the background are part of the Boukoleon Palace complex, the Emperor's main residence. And here are the remains of the very same buildings, in today's Istanbul. I had a bit of trouble getting the frame to fit tightly and square - one of the screw-holes had to be re-drilled. And while I had the ship on the stand and inside the case, and everything glued in place, just about to screw everything together, a fly got inside! Had to pull the perspex off and get rid of the fly. Grrr! All ready to go, just getting things adjusted so I could start screwing together, and the fly got back inside! Fortunately sanity prevailed, in the form of my lovely wife who said "You hold the case, I'll get rid of the fly." Just as well - I had visions of disaster at the last moment with me throwing the whole kit and kaboodle across the room. But now, here it is in all its glory.

Nice work with the cargo. It looks very realistic.

I never cease to be amazed at the quality and realism achieveable using card. That really looks fantastic!

Roger, I'd (re-)read The Commodore not all that long ago and from it I had the impression that it was a long time (long enough for the French to besiege the town and almost capture it) between Hornblower's "incident" with the Countess and his coming down with typhus. All I did was get the book out again and work out that his time with her was the end of May and he got typhus as winter was starting. I'm glad your books went to such a good cause, and I echo your hope that he enjoyed the stories.

Very interesting explanation, Christian. I didn't know about the cringle suspension, but it makes sense - as does angling the knight to follow the inclination of the mast (which I also did on my own model). I agree about the need for 4 sheaves on a large yard or antenna. I only used three on my own, as blocks like this had been found in Byzantine shipwreck remains.

Brilliant work, Schrader! What a wonderful setting for the ship!

I didn't like the Hornblower TV series. I felt they took too many liberties with Forester's stories.