Roger Pellett

As co-founder of the Trireme Trust USA, leader of Olympias' repair and modification team for her sea trials, and a friend of John Coates (note the spelling) I can say your work is extraordinary. Thank you so much for this. Keep us posted!
 
Lots of info and photos here: https://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/library/archives/trireme-trust
 
Respectfully,
--Paul Lipke

I managed to get a bit of time yesterday and today and got out the colours. About five coats of yellow on the tunic and I am not sure if its too much. I'm feeling my way with the glaze technique. Not too terrible so far. The first coat on the red parts of the turban and some black details.
I'm still learning how to use the wet palette so this is all a bit learning experience.
The paints are Vallejo Model paints and the BBs really make a difference to mixing them. The face and hands are using Mig Ammo flesh tones which I think are very nice. He may be a bit dark but I will see how he looks with the beard filled in. 
I'm a bit leery of the clamps after the earlier problem so I think I will glue him to a temporary base of some sort for the remainder of the work



Thanks for looking in and all teh helpful comments and suggestions
Alan
 
 

I'll toss in my 2 cents on this... consider the NRG's Half Hull Model.  It's rather inexpensive and will give you a solid foundation for future models.   

If you are going to buy plans get the best.  David MacGregor was a serious student of sailing ships.  You can rely on his work.  His Thermopylae drawings are reproduced in one of his several books.  His lines drawing beautifully captures the ship’s shape.
 
Almost 15£ Spent on Conwall’s drawing just allows you to reproduce the Sergal kit model with whatever limitations it has.
 
Roger

I just stumbled on to this; an interesting project that I’m looking forward to seeing nicely done.
 
The US Navy had some specialized and interesting small boats outfitted to service their fleet of flying boats while still in the water.  If you look in their 1955/1954? Boat Book you will find drawings of these craft.  One could make a great companion to your model. A copy of their Boat Can be found on the Navy’s history site.  Or Google Navy Aircraft Refueling Boat
 
Roger
 
 

John, Roger, Ian, Veszett and Druxey thank you for commenting.
 
Just a brief update:- 
 
I got to the 3rd row of planks before the planks began to run out at the stern. This necessitated a wedge being inserted. Just visible between the second and third planks in the next photo.

I did however continue with parallel planks.
 
In the boiler room area I needed to start aligning the plank edges using stainless steel clothes pegs where alignment proved to be unsatisfactory.

Having included the wedge between the 2nd and 3rd planks the 4th plank went on as a parallel plank without a further wedge.


I am now on layer 7 and probably near the end of parallel planking. At maximum beam I am going to have to start adding more width (which in practice means narrowing the planks at stem and stern).

I am checking the symmetry of the planks (with callipers) on an ongoing basis. The green lines also help me judge the symmetry. As yet everything is looking good. 
 
 

Piping has a certain logic.  High point vents, low point drains, bypasses around some eqipment and valves, and loops to absorb expansion and contraction in long runs.  There are industry standards for fittings like elbows, tees, flanges, etc.  Long Radius ells are formed to a radius of 1.5 nominal pipe diameters, eg a 4in nominal sized elbow is formed on a 6in radius although the outside diameter of the fitting and pipe that it welds to is 4.5in.  Metric pipe sizes while specified in metric dimensions usually correspond to American pipe sizes.  Pipe bends are usually specified in nominal pipe diameters too;  3 dia, 5dia, etc.  Unlike fittings, which are purchased from a manufacturer, bends would be made at the shipyard or by specialized pipe fabricators (where I worked for most of my career).
 
Roger
 
 

The inner planking of the bulwarks ....

The picture posted below hangs in my living room and was painted, supposedly in Venice, in about 1898 by the relative of a family friend.  He gave it to my parents in 1932 as a wedding present.
 
I thought that I would post it here to see if you could identify the type of watercraft.  It might be what you are building.
Roger

Our local Solid Waste Disposal Site, aka “The Dump” has a large section where visitors can take away items thrown away by others.  The stuff is free.  They have one entire building full of furniture.   Next time I go there I’ll have to see if I can find any mahogany.  It’s probably all veneer but Duluth does have a large number of old very large homes, once residences to wealthy families, so maybe I’ll strike gold.
 
Roger

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

Thank you for the intervention, I hope to make you have fun with my sailing ship ..

Thanks Maurino.  I’m enjoying watching you build this model.
 
Roger

I was invited to take the almost-complete 1:50 model along to the meeting of the Golden City Paddle Steamer Museum Society (the group of volunteers who own and run the Golden City) so they could have a look at it.
 
They were all very chuffed with it, thought it was brilliant, loved the idea of selling 1:50 models to visitors as a fundraiser. And wanted to know if the big (1:25) model would be ready to display in time for the "season" (they only run the full-sized one on the lake from October to April due to Australia being upside down and having winter in June.) I wasn't able to give a definite undertaking because of uncertainties in what problems might arise in building the big one, but just between you and me I think it's quite possible.
 
They even have a big glass display case (museum-sized) which they recently acquired and in which they plan to display it.
 
All rather positive. Now I actually have to deliver the goods!
 
Steven

Some different advice:
 
Assuming that you have access to a basic collection of hand tools and know how to use them, your first model should be the one that you really want to build; kit or scratch it really doesn’t matter.  Plodding thru a beginner kit that does not interest you will not increase your interest in the hobby.  It is my opinion that .most ship modeling projects are abandoned when the builder loses interest not because they are too difficult.
 
I likewise, do not see plastic modeling as an entry to building wooden models.  Plastic modeling appears to have reached a level of sophistication where it can stand on its own as a separate modeling experience.  While I don’t personally build plastic models, I enjoy scanning the threads posted for both ship and aircraft plastic models.  Much of the work is incredible.
 
Another entry point would be the series of kits developed and sold directly by the Nautical Research Guild.  So far they offer three modeling kits:  A planking model, A capstan model, and coming soon a rigging model.  These are short term projects that would give the novice builder a taste for ship modeling without a making a major time or cost commitment.
 
Roger

I just stumbled on to this; an interesting project that I’m looking forward to seeing nicely done.
 
The US Navy had some specialized and interesting small boats outfitted to service their fleet of flying boats while still in the water.  If you look in their 1955/1954? Boat Book you will find drawings of these craft.  One could make a great companion to your model. A copy of their Boat Can be found on the Navy’s history site.  Or Google Navy Aircraft Refueling Boat
 
Roger
 
 

Our local Solid Waste Disposal Site, aka “The Dump” has a large section where visitors can take away items thrown away by others.  The stuff is free.  They have one entire building full of furniture.   Next time I go there I’ll have to see if I can find any mahogany.  It’s probably all veneer but Duluth does have a large number of old very large homes, once residences to wealthy families, so maybe I’ll strike gold.
 
Roger

A very brief update. Visually doesn't look much different, but I've put in the inner bulwark, which is cut from 1/64 inch wood. I wound up kinda not following the directions. It's supposed to be made as 4 pieces; 2 that are about 20 inches long and 1 inch wide (bow to about 5 inches from the stern, and 2 that are about 2 by 8 inches. I wound up using the carrier sheet for the middle bulwark to cut the long pieces, and made the stern section from 4 smaller segments, which I found to be easier, and still made a perfectly fine looking inner bulwark. Some sanding, a little putty and we have the ship as below:
 

 
The instructions say that the bulwarks shold be 7/16 inch tall until about 5 inches from the stem, where thy rise to about 1/2 inch. If you form the bulwarks using the templated materials it too tall at the stern and way too tall at the stem. I wound up cutting almost 1/8 of an inch off the stem and about 1/16 off the stern to make it the correct size.
 
I dry fitted the upper bulwark for the forecastle, and it appears that the curve is slightly off. I am going to cut the upper bulwark piece off just past the foremost deck beam, and fit a similar sized piece of wood to cover the last 1/2 or so. This does mean though, that the precut forecastle deck will not be congruent with upper bulwark (it will be a bit too small at the bow. Depending on some imponderables at this point (for example, how much material gets removed for the opening for the boswprit) I will either buy a piece of scribed decking or just cut a piece to fill the gap from the carrier. I doubt it will be very visible, the question will be how much will it will annoy me.
 
I have also dry fitted the stem pieces. I may put the stem and the external keel in place before it is nominally called for in the instructions. 
 
Otherwise, next steps are to sand, prime, and sand, and then to cut out the gun and sally ports, and to cut out the slots where the channels will be inserted when the main rail is put in place, and the main deck. 
 
As always, thanks for looking in and the encouragement.
 
Regards,
George
 
 

Hi photo Victory .
 

I have cut and glued the outer section of the covering boards around the stanchions, leaving the stern to be considered further. I left the boards wide on the outside face to aid stability, but now they are glued I can sand them off flush with the sheer planking.  I need to lightly fair the inner face before I run a 2mm x 2mm strip around the inside to complete the look.  On these vessels many of them had the planking joggled into other planks rather than the covering board so that makes this part of the job fairly simple. When i have finished this stage, and worked out how the stern should be made, I will paint the hull and covering boards before adding deck planks that will remain unpainted. 

Thanks Maurino.  I’m enjoying watching you build this model.
 
Roger

Taig is sturdier than Sherline and has the great advantage of having a rack feed. Having to twiddle a fine-pitch leadscrew gets old very quickly. I do not see this mentioned much but it having owned small lathes with a fixed leadscrew  I can say it is not a system that lends itself to ease of use. DRO on a lathe is not so much of a boon as it is on a mill but if needed a simple DRO can be made to fit the Taig.
 
Although looking a bit goofy and Heath Robinson, the Taig is an extremely well designed lathe with great rigidity and cheap enough to buy plenty of tooling with the money saved.

Some different advice:
 
Assuming that you have access to a basic collection of hand tools and know how to use them, your first model should be the one that you really want to build; kit or scratch it really doesn’t matter.  Plodding thru a beginner kit that does not interest you will not increase your interest in the hobby.  It is my opinion that .most ship modeling projects are abandoned when the builder loses interest not because they are too difficult.
 
I likewise, do not see plastic modeling as an entry to building wooden models.  Plastic modeling appears to have reached a level of sophistication where it can stand on its own as a separate modeling experience.  While I don’t personally build plastic models, I enjoy scanning the threads posted for both ship and aircraft plastic models.  Much of the work is incredible.
 
Another entry point would be the series of kits developed and sold directly by the Nautical Research Guild.  So far they offer three modeling kits:  A planking model, A capstan model, and coming soon a rigging model.  These are short term projects that would give the novice builder a taste for ship modeling without a making a major time or cost commitment.
 
Roger

Some different advice:
 
Assuming that you have access to a basic collection of hand tools and know how to use them, your first model should be the one that you really want to build; kit or scratch it really doesn’t matter.  Plodding thru a beginner kit that does not interest you will not increase your interest in the hobby.  It is my opinion that .most ship modeling projects are abandoned when the builder loses interest not because they are too difficult.
 
I likewise, do not see plastic modeling as an entry to building wooden models.  Plastic modeling appears to have reached a level of sophistication where it can stand on its own as a separate modeling experience.  While I don’t personally build plastic models, I enjoy scanning the threads posted for both ship and aircraft plastic models.  Much of the work is incredible.
 
Another entry point would be the series of kits developed and sold directly by the Nautical Research Guild.  So far they offer three modeling kits:  A planking model, A capstan model, and coming soon a rigging model.  These are short term projects that would give the novice builder a taste for ship modeling without a making a major time or cost commitment.
 
Roger