Landrotten Highlander

Many thanks to everyone for the kind comments and likes.
 
Small update.
Production of the ropes and blocks.
 
Karl
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Addition .

Some other parts for the first deck.

Hi Alan. When I was building my frames up for Alfred/Montagu I made all the pieces of that frame a little over size because of the parts being off set. Am not sure if you have a mill but I milled the pieces that were needed to be reduced in thickness,  much as you show above, which  had spacer's some times underneith to help keep every thing level. Those spacer's were glue to one side or the other with rubber cement and once ever thing was milled they could be removed and the cement rubbed off.  I increased the size of my table by clamping a piece of temper glass to support the whole frame. Cast  timber's were made thicker and then milled down with the help of thicker spacer's.  You can see the cast timber in the last photo label number 5 at the top. 

Hi everyone, thank you Gary and thank you all for the support you always give me, it is very important for me to know that my work is appreciated by all of you.
More photos.
 
Ciao a tutti, grazie Gary e grazie a tutti per il sostegno che mi date sempre, per me conta moltissimo sapere che il mio lavoro è apprezzato da tutti voi.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

The awning for the poop has been painted for a long time, with an eagle motif. And now I've painted the substructure to match the rest of the ship, particularly the castles. The columns are wood painted to resemble porphyry, the purplish marble reserved for Imperial use.
 

 
And now to add the figures I've been saving up all this time.
 
The Emperor (Alexios I Komnenos, known to the vikings as Kirjalax - from Kyrie (lord) Alexios).
 

 

 
And now the awning, and the flute-player who gives the time to the oarsmen (far right of the picture, in blue):
 

 
And the Emperor's Varangian (Viking) bodyguards:
 

 
And two Imperial courtiers:
 

 
 Unfortunately, you can barely see the Emperor under the awning:
 
 
 

 
I just have to tidy up a couple of ropes and the ship is complete, after more than 5 years!
 
     
 
I still have to complete the stand, add a nameplate and make a case. But that's it. I'm already having withdrawal symptoms . . .
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for putting this thread on.
For thosee who decide to paint with brushes, here is a handy tip when using water-based paints (or paints that can be successfully thinned by water, such as the Valejo paints):  in orde to preserve your brush, use a shallow saucer or dish with a puddle of water in the middle.  Place your brushes on the edge of the saucer / dish with the hairs submerged in the water.  That way when you do apply paint the water will aidd in filling the spaces between the hairs with paint much quicker, and at the same time allow for the tip of the brush to remain in shape for much longer.
When finished, wash out your brushes with water, rubb the excess water off on a paper towel, then store the brushes HAIRS UP and let dry naturally.
This technique works well if you use your brushes regularly.  There is a tip on storing your brushes long term, but I need to double check before I post it here (do not want to mix up tips for oil paint with acrylics - both media are very different in nature and application, and both require different techniques to ensure longevity of your brushes).
 
Hope this helps

Hello and thank you all for the like, more photos.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

I've carved the second steersman
 
   
 
and finished the hands on the first one, and put both steersmen in place.
 

 

 
  
 

@Keith Black
Thanks for nice comment. Also many thanks for the LIKES.

Another small stage of the standing rigg of La Créole has been completed: the ratlines of the mizzen mast are finished.
The integration of the shrouded ladders and the signpost blocks is still missing.


In the meantime, a small detail needs to be clarified once again. The side davits for the "Petit Canoes" of the corvette were made of iron and were lifted with a topping lift. These were shorn by single blocks on the mizzen mast.
How these single blocks were attached to the eyes of the ring fitting on the mizzen mast still needs further clarification. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the original model of the relevant area, where one can see more details. In the documents available to me I could not find anything meaningful about this either.


In this respect a question to the experts here in the forum: How could the fixing of the single block/lead block and the continuation have looked like, e.g. as shown below?

 


I would be very pleased if I could get answers or hints and suggestions. - I would be very grateful if you could send me your comments.
See you soon ...
 

I am waiting for a professional photographer friend to come over and do some nice quality pictures, but he is struggling with the software of his Sony cameras or too scared to come to my place.... Go figure. In the meantime, here are a few low quality pictures I took of the finished model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I will try to add more pictures taken at night, as it is more dramatic.
 
Yves

RNVR Minesweepers HMS Killiecrankie and HMS Montrose passing the May Island at the entrance to the Firth of Forth. late 1950's W/C 16” X 11”

Good morning and thank you all for the like. More photos.
grazie wefalck.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

And on to the lashings for the side rudders. The diagrams of lashings in the TAMU paper I mentioned on the previous page weren't much help, so I worked up something of my own. Remembering back to my days as a Sea Scout at the age of 14 I remembered a lashing we'd used. But first I had to re-teach myself how to do a clove hitch, something I hadn't tried for 57 years, and even back then I'm not sure I really mastered it. Took me two or three goes with the instructions in front of me, then maybe half a dozen tries without. And I think now I can do a clove hitch from here on in - something I think is going to be very useful in future models involving ratlines(!). The clove hitch starts the lashing:
 

 
Then round and round:
 
      
 
       
 
  
 
This is a sort of universal joint made from rope. It allows the rudder shaft to pivot  left and right for steering under the influence of the tiller, just as in a stern rudder. And it can also swing upwards around the beam so the rudder lifts out of the water - either when only one rudder is in use, or to enable the dromon to be pulled up onto the beach stern-first.
 
Then for the lower lashing - this one is made of lighter rope. According to the TAMU paper on the previous page of this log, if the rudder hits a submerged obstruction, instead of the rudder shaft being shattered the rope will break allowing the rudder to swing up out of the way. Before beaching the ship this lower lashing is untied.  
 
       
 
 
      
 
That's all for now . . .


 

Good evening everyone
Day 40 correction of transom, main deck and lower deck support beams
 
well i sorted the wrong bits out, and now everything is the same height (lol it may all be wrong, but the same wrong all over)

 
 
the main deck support is now right, i fully removed it to enable removal of cant 57, this allowed me to redo the lower deck support 

 
the 1/4 deck still needs to be adjusted but its ideal for keeping the after frames lined up
 
at present i am playing about with the 1/2 decks, but at the same time sorting the (limber boards) either side of the keel inside the hold

Thank you very much Boxbuilds and Louie!!
 
I continue to produce parts that will be painted..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And I'm already training dry with an airbrush..
 

The SHIP IS FINISHED!!!!
 
The yards are done....:
 



The diorama is on its way
 

Good morning and thank you all for the like, more photos.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Thank you guys🙂.
I continue with rudder´s well and lockers.

Those guys were a lot tougher than we are today - no footropes, just shimmy up the yard - no problem! (I'm scared of heights anyway, so I'd be no use whatsoever.)
 
Here's another picture of the same thing, by the Portuguese painter João José Vaz (1859 - 1931)
 

I've made and installed the tillers for the side rudders (steering oars) and put the rudders in place.
 

 
          
 
I discovered I'd slightly miscalculated the position and angle of the holes for the brass pins mentioned above. The tillers were too high and instead of facing directly across the ship they were angled a little aft. So I drilled new holes in the rudder shafts - fortunately the old holes are hidden by the shafts themselves when the rudders are in place.
 
I have yet to add the rope lashings that supposedly hold the rudders in place, finish the steersman I've already made (he's just standing there loose fitted at the moment), and carve another steersman for the other rudder.
 
I've been tidying up the free ends of the rigging (the bosun will be pleased) - adding coils to the ends of the loose ropes, particularly for the after yard where the tacks and vangs aren't yet ready to be pulled tight (and shortening the ropes - so the coils take the place of the bit I've cut off). That way they're not all over the decks.
 

 
I'm still thinking about the free end of the halyard tackle the crewmen are pulling on to haul up the yard. By rights, there should be a lot of it - if you take into account all the rope that runs between the blocks of the tackle. But I'm thinking of cheating and just cutting it shorter - otherwise it's just going to mess up the deck.
 
And I forgot earlier to post the fact that I've added ladders to access the side castles. I had to put them at the after end of the castles so they didn't get in the way of the oarsmen getting to their benches - they can just get in through the side of the castle, (except the  man right in line with the ladder, who can get to his own bench by climbing over the back of it).
 

Thanks, Wolf. That's very flattering (blush) 
 
Okay, I bit the bullet and installed the anchors and cables without involving the windlass - they're catted and fished, and the cables vanish under the forecastle as though they're coiled there.
 
       
 
        
 
      
 
I'm not sure if I should cut the free end of the anchor cable a little shorter. It looks like it might be a little long.
 
And I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and which I wasn't willing to do until I was near the end in case I broke it while working on other things - I've finally added the chain that supports the ramming spur at the bow.
 
I attached the chain to one of the eyebolts I'd prepared earlier.
 
   
 

 
Then made an "iron" (actually thin aluminium from a catfood container) strap to go around the spur. And drilled a hole in the front face of the forecastle, inserted the eyebolt and added a dab of CA glue to keep it in place.
 
           
 
I cut the chain to length and added another ringbolt on the other end. Then put the strap on the spur and glued it on with CA, and drilled a hole in the top for the second ringbolt.
 
 
       
 
And inserted the ringbolt and glued it in place.
 
   
 
 
   
 
VOILA!
 
And I've started making the tillers, using the "poor man's lathe"
 

 
That's all till next time.
 

Thanks, Banyan, I think I will just let the wood seak for itself. I have an aversion to stains and paint except under special circumstances.
 
Here is the hull with gunwales fitted and pinned with dowels. The centre plank is jarrah and different to the other planks on the gunwale. I ran out of wood. But it does show up the sigmoid horizontal scarf.
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers
Dick

While I'm thinking about the anchors, I'm also working on the side-rudders (steering oars if you prefer) .
 
I'd originally intended to attach the rudders to the lower through-beam on each side, but I realised it wouldn't be able to pivot upwards if I did, so I used the upper beam instead. So I had to cut a hole in the planking on top of the support structure,  for the rope that fixes the rudder to the beam.
 

 
The rope allows the rudder to pivot around its vertical axis (for steering), and with a bit of luck it will also allow it to swing upwards out of the way when only one rudder is in use. The kind of lashing or whatever that was used is (of course) unknown, so I'm going with the theoretical one from the TAMU paper "The Development of the Rudder, 100-1600 A.D.: A Technological Tale"  by Lawrence V. Mott ( https://nautarch.tamu.edu/academic/alum.htm) to see if it works.
 
I drilled a hole in each rudder and inserted a brass pin.
 

 
and a corresponding hole in the upper beam on each side of the ship
 

 
Here are the rudders dry fitted
 
 
        
 
 
There is only one Byzantine picture that shows a tiller on a side rudder:
 

 
I'm probably going to copy that for my own. To get the tillers at the right height I put the steersman in place next to one rudder and marked where the hole for the tiller would have to be.
 
        
 

 
Note that I haven't yet finished the steersman's arms - I'm holding off till the tillers are in place. I wasn't sure if I wanted one tiller to be swung up out of the way, but I think it'll look better with them both in operation. Which means I have to carve another steersman. 

It's encouraging to see so many of you knowledgeable people joining to see my project. You are very welcome!
 
Yes this ship is rather odd in many aspects. There are not many longships found from this period, and that was one of the reasons that a reconstruction was made.
 
The archeological find consisted of a large part of the starboard side, from the keel to the railing. From the port side very little is preserved. Only pieces of the stem and stern where found, which makes the reconstruction of these parts more uncertain. In particular it has been discussed if the stem was straight och bent. From marks in the stern it could be concluded that there had been a stern rudder, but no pieces of it was found. The reconstruction has used other sources to construct one.
 
From the find it was concluded that there where 8 pairs of oars, and that the ship was rigged. The dimensions of the reconstruction is length 22.5 m, beam 3.4 m and draft about 0.5 m depending on load.
 
Regarding the original use of the ship, no clear answer has been found. She is clearly no cargo ship, there is not enough room for any relevant amount of cargo. She is not a dedicated rowing ship, the number of oarsmen are relatively few compared to the overall length of the ship. There is a rather big decked area in the fore and aft where no rowers sit. Many years of practical use of the reconstruction has shown that the ship is not particularly good in hard weather, so it is unlikely that it would be used outside the Stockholm archipelago and the Mälaren lake.
 
The most likely guess seem to be that the ship was built and used as transport ship for some important person, or on some official capacity such as watch ship.