Louie da fly

Thanks, Tony. Much appreciated. It was very much a labour of love, and much of the pleasure came from the research itself.
 
There are things I would change if I were to do it again - make it 2 metres longer, raise the "tail", the poop deck and the forecastle, and have the wales at the "tail" a different shape (they should have converged to a point - the way they are affected the planking layout adversely). 
 
There are still plenty of "educated guesses" in my version of the vessel, and many details could be interpreted differently. But generally very happy with it. 
 
I'm now working on restoring the model I made of Henry VIII's Henry Grace a Dieu (Great Harry) which I built when I was 17. Making good progress and pretty happy with it. Learning a lot as I go.
 
Steven

Interesting. The frames in mediaeval (and earlier) Mediterranean ships in general followed a
 
 . . pattern of alternating floor timbers and paired half-frames . . . Floor timbers span the bottom of the ship, with their extremities extending just to the turn of the bilge [on each side of the ship]; in contrast, half-frames span the width of the keel and extend up one side of the ship, through the turn of the bilge to, or just beyond, the first wale . . . At each frame station, floor timbers and half-frames are paired with futtocks placed adjacent to, but not fastened to, the floor timber or half-frame, with ends overlapping by the width of one or more planks.
 

 
This combined ease of manufacture and construction with the requisite strength.
 
Steven
 
  

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

Is that a challenge? (Note the extra gigantic match stick . . . 9 metres long )
 
 
 
   
 

 

 

 

 
He's 9.4mm (just under 0.4 inches) tall. That's 188 cm (6'2") in real life - Henry was very tall for the time. Looks better to the naked eye than he does in the photo (possibly because with the naked eye it's all blurry to me).
 
And I've done some sanding of the planks:
 
  
 
  
 
  
 

 
Starting to look much nicer, and most of those ugly inequalities in the planking that were preying on my mind are vanishing.
 
I do love that beautiful curve at the stern.
 
Steven
 

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.
 

Hi Stephen
 
I haven't been following for a few months - & it's a pleasure to see your finished model. It's ravishing. The use of marble for the base is beautiful & the case is clever & enlivens the entire effect. I've gained from following the build.
 
Mark

That looks good, Bolin. It looks like it should work. There's always a bit of "try it and see" with this kind of activity.
 
Steven

The Great Harry planking has been a real trial for me, but I must say I'm glad I decided to make it a learning process rather than try for perfection. I've made quite a lot of mistakes - the planking of the two sides isn't equal and as it's effectively POB (i.e. there were only a small number of "frames") I could only have the planking shift repeat every three rows, not the four I'd hoped for. And I kept losing track of the planking shifts - another lesson to learn, particularly when the arrangement was affected by drop planks. Still, unless you're really looking for the mistakes they're not obvious, and once I've sanded the planking I think it'll look pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note the lack of symmetry between the planking of the port and starboard sides. But who's going to notice except me? And in future models I'll take much more care to keep it even. Lots of excess messy glue but the sanding will take care of that.
 
And here's the planking of the port side finished:
 

 
Ever since I heard the Flanders and Swann song Have Some Madeira M'dear I've wanted to use the word antepenultimate (the posh way of saying "third last") in a sentence.
 
 
And I've finally got my chance.
 
Here is the antepenultimate plank in place . . . going. . .
 

 

 
Going . . .
 

 
Gone.
 

 

 
And now for the sanding . . .
 
Steven
 
 

- Actually, from the archaeology I've seen, planking usually was a case of "what can we get hold of ?"

- Actually, from the archaeology I've seen, planking usually was a case of "what can we get hold of ?"

This is so good. Having just hand-carved 48 mediaeval Byzantine oarsmen (nobody makes and sells these!) for my 1:50 scale dromon out of pear wood, I could have done with this technology. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy carving, but that was rather more than I'd been wanting to do . . .

- Actually, from the archaeology I've seen, planking usually was a case of "what can we get hold of ?"

I haven't been back to this for awhile. It's really looking good!

- Actually, from the archaeology I've seen, planking usually was a case of "what can we get hold of ?"

Thank you, Roger. When I first built her I had the lines at the stern completely wrong - the bilge was almost down to keel level. in fact it wasn't until I was making the new frames for the rebuild that I realised that with a flat stern the bottom of the hull shouldn't go all the way down - it should end near the waterline so the water could flow past it and reach the rudder. And that was one of the main things I had to change with the rebuild. One of the big advantages (apart from increased accuracy)  is the much more beautiful underwater lines at the stern.
 
    
 
Looking back on it I myself am amazed at what I was able to achieve at that age. I'd previously done two pretty basic solid hull waterline models (a brig and a frigate), I'd made two fair-sized plastic models of the Victory (Revell and Airfix) and I'd built a (probably very inaccurate) balsa model of an excursion ferry called the Zephyr that plied across to Rottnest Island from Perth in Western Australia where I lived. (I think it must have been POB - I don't remember).
 

 
Some of the things on the Great Harry model - to be honest I have no idea how I did them back then. But I agree - despite having to replace/rebuild much more than I'd expected, I believe she was definitely worth restoring. Because of the difference in wood colours, it's pretty obvious which bits are original and which are new - but though I didn't like it to start with I now think that's a good thing. 
 
Steven

The Great Harry planking has been a real trial for me, but I must say I'm glad I decided to make it a learning process rather than try for perfection. I've made quite a lot of mistakes - the planking of the two sides isn't equal and as it's effectively POB (i.e. there were only a small number of "frames") I could only have the planking shift repeat every three rows, not the four I'd hoped for. And I kept losing track of the planking shifts - another lesson to learn, particularly when the arrangement was affected by drop planks. Still, unless you're really looking for the mistakes they're not obvious, and once I've sanded the planking I think it'll look pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note the lack of symmetry between the planking of the port and starboard sides. But who's going to notice except me? And in future models I'll take much more care to keep it even. Lots of excess messy glue but the sanding will take care of that.
 
And here's the planking of the port side finished:
 

 
Ever since I heard the Flanders and Swann song Have Some Madeira M'dear I've wanted to use the word antepenultimate (the posh way of saying "third last") in a sentence.
 
 
And I've finally got my chance.
 
Here is the antepenultimate plank in place . . . going. . .
 

 

 
Going . . .
 

 
Gone.
 

 

 
And now for the sanding . . .
 
Steven
 
 

That looks good, Bolin. It looks like it should work. There's always a bit of "try it and see" with this kind of activity.
 
Steven

I haven't been back to this for awhile. It's really looking good!

I haven't been back to this for awhile. It's really looking good!

I haven't been back to this for awhile. It's really looking good!

Thank you, Roger. When I first built her I had the lines at the stern completely wrong - the bilge was almost down to keel level. in fact it wasn't until I was making the new frames for the rebuild that I realised that with a flat stern the bottom of the hull shouldn't go all the way down - it should end near the waterline so the water could flow past it and reach the rudder. And that was one of the main things I had to change with the rebuild. One of the big advantages (apart from increased accuracy)  is the much more beautiful underwater lines at the stern.
 
    
 
Looking back on it I myself am amazed at what I was able to achieve at that age. I'd previously done two pretty basic solid hull waterline models (a brig and a frigate), I'd made two fair-sized plastic models of the Victory (Revell and Airfix) and I'd built a (probably very inaccurate) balsa model of an excursion ferry called the Zephyr that plied across to Rottnest Island from Perth in Western Australia where I lived. (I think it must have been POB - I don't remember).
 

 
Some of the things on the Great Harry model - to be honest I have no idea how I did them back then. But I agree - despite having to replace/rebuild much more than I'd expected, I believe she was definitely worth restoring. Because of the difference in wood colours, it's pretty obvious which bits are original and which are new - but though I didn't like it to start with I now think that's a good thing. 
 
Steven

The Great Harry planking has been a real trial for me, but I must say I'm glad I decided to make it a learning process rather than try for perfection. I've made quite a lot of mistakes - the planking of the two sides isn't equal and as it's effectively POB (i.e. there were only a small number of "frames") I could only have the planking shift repeat every three rows, not the four I'd hoped for. And I kept losing track of the planking shifts - another lesson to learn, particularly when the arrangement was affected by drop planks. Still, unless you're really looking for the mistakes they're not obvious, and once I've sanded the planking I think it'll look pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note the lack of symmetry between the planking of the port and starboard sides. But who's going to notice except me? And in future models I'll take much more care to keep it even. Lots of excess messy glue but the sanding will take care of that.
 
And here's the planking of the port side finished:
 

 
Ever since I heard the Flanders and Swann song Have Some Madeira M'dear I've wanted to use the word antepenultimate (the posh way of saying "third last") in a sentence.
 
 
And I've finally got my chance.
 
Here is the antepenultimate plank in place . . . going. . .
 

 

 
Going . . .
 

 
Gone.
 

 

 
And now for the sanding . . .
 
Steven
 
 

Thank you, Roger. When I first built her I had the lines at the stern completely wrong - the bilge was almost down to keel level. in fact it wasn't until I was making the new frames for the rebuild that I realised that with a flat stern the bottom of the hull shouldn't go all the way down - it should end near the waterline so the water could flow past it and reach the rudder. And that was one of the main things I had to change with the rebuild. One of the big advantages (apart from increased accuracy)  is the much more beautiful underwater lines at the stern.
 
    
 
Looking back on it I myself am amazed at what I was able to achieve at that age. I'd previously done two pretty basic solid hull waterline models (a brig and a frigate), I'd made two fair-sized plastic models of the Victory (Revell and Airfix) and I'd built a (probably very inaccurate) balsa model of an excursion ferry called the Zephyr that plied across to Rottnest Island from Perth in Western Australia where I lived. (I think it must have been POB - I don't remember).
 

 
Some of the things on the Great Harry model - to be honest I have no idea how I did them back then. But I agree - despite having to replace/rebuild much more than I'd expected, I believe she was definitely worth restoring. Because of the difference in wood colours, it's pretty obvious which bits are original and which are new - but though I didn't like it to start with I now think that's a good thing. 
 
Steven

The Great Harry planking has been a real trial for me, but I must say I'm glad I decided to make it a learning process rather than try for perfection. I've made quite a lot of mistakes - the planking of the two sides isn't equal and as it's effectively POB (i.e. there were only a small number of "frames") I could only have the planking shift repeat every three rows, not the four I'd hoped for. And I kept losing track of the planking shifts - another lesson to learn, particularly when the arrangement was affected by drop planks. Still, unless you're really looking for the mistakes they're not obvious, and once I've sanded the planking I think it'll look pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note the lack of symmetry between the planking of the port and starboard sides. But who's going to notice except me? And in future models I'll take much more care to keep it even. Lots of excess messy glue but the sanding will take care of that.
 
And here's the planking of the port side finished:
 

 
Ever since I heard the Flanders and Swann song Have Some Madeira M'dear I've wanted to use the word antepenultimate (the posh way of saying "third last") in a sentence.
 
 
And I've finally got my chance.
 
Here is the antepenultimate plank in place . . . going. . .
 

 

 
Going . . .
 

 
Gone.
 

 

 
And now for the sanding . . .
 
Steven
 
 

Thank you, Roger. When I first built her I had the lines at the stern completely wrong - the bilge was almost down to keel level. in fact it wasn't until I was making the new frames for the rebuild that I realised that with a flat stern the bottom of the hull shouldn't go all the way down - it should end near the waterline so the water could flow past it and reach the rudder. And that was one of the main things I had to change with the rebuild. One of the big advantages (apart from increased accuracy)  is the much more beautiful underwater lines at the stern.
 
    
 
Looking back on it I myself am amazed at what I was able to achieve at that age. I'd previously done two pretty basic solid hull waterline models (a brig and a frigate), I'd made two fair-sized plastic models of the Victory (Revell and Airfix) and I'd built a (probably very inaccurate) balsa model of an excursion ferry called the Zephyr that plied across to Rottnest Island from Perth in Western Australia where I lived. (I think it must have been POB - I don't remember).
 

 
Some of the things on the Great Harry model - to be honest I have no idea how I did them back then. But I agree - despite having to replace/rebuild much more than I'd expected, I believe she was definitely worth restoring. Because of the difference in wood colours, it's pretty obvious which bits are original and which are new - but though I didn't like it to start with I now think that's a good thing. 
 
Steven