Chuck

Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia By Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2014 8-1/4” x 11-3/4”, softcover, vii + 180 pages Photographs, diagrams, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $70.00 ISBN: 9781782977063 Distributed in the United States by Casemate Academic, Havertown, Pennsylvania Many people forget (or never knew) that much of the eastern coastline of the Adriatic Sea was territory of the Republic of Venice until well into the eighteenth century. As a result, the waters off the coast of Croatia and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Montenegro and Albania are likely to be the final resting places of many Venetian ships, wrecked while trading within the Adriatic or voyaging from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. During the past twenty years, in particular, archaeologists have been searching these waters in the expectation of locating wrecks of Venetian ships. This book about the Sveti Pavao shipwreck is a preliminary report on six years of work on the site by members of a joint Croatian-Italian project that has been excavating and conserving objects from what is almost certainly a sixteenth-century Venetian merchant vessel, one of a number of such craft located in the same general area over the past thirty years. The wreck is quite deep (about 40 meters (130 feet) below the surface) and also quite concentrated. Because the team had very limited funding, it took a somewhat innovative approach to recording the site by making extensive use of photogrammetry. This both substantially cut the amount of time divers had to spend on the bottom recording data, since they could use photographs rather than manual measurements, and also opened up interesting possibilities for interpretation, because the imagery could be manipulated both to uncover information that might have been missed during a visual scan and to generate three-dimensional representations of the wreck and site. This particular preliminary report concentrates primarily on objects that have been recovered and undergone initial conservation. There is much cargo—mainly high-end luxurious metallic and ceramic vessels—coinage, and animal remains that may represent livestock transported as cargo or for consumption by crew and passengers. There is also an impressive array of mid-sixteenth–century ordnance, most of which are breech-loaders. It is interesting to note that the barrels of the breech-loaders are bronze, while the breech chambers are iron; an interesting detail for researchers. The remains of the hull are very limited. Nevertheless, photogrammetry and subsequent three-dimensional modeling proved very useful in interpreting the remains for archaeologists and, especially, for public display (since the team had decided to leave the hull elements in situ rather than raise them for conservation and display). This preliminary report provides a fascinating insight into elements of sixteenth-century Venetian trade and the ships that conducted it. We can only look forward to more information as research funding permits. . David Djanogli Chippenham, Wiltshire

I just wanted to let all of you folks know that as the conference approaches we have quite a few folks who will be attending. We may in fact have close to 175 attendees before it all begins. But as an aside I wanted to mention to those who have never attended one of these and havent signed up for this one, they can still make a day out of it and come visit. We have two very large rooms at the hotel. One room we call the vendor/model room is open to all. You dont have to be signed up to drop by and talk ship modelling with your fellow hobbyists. You can visit the many vendor tables and have a look at dozens of models on display. All brought in for display by those attending. The other large room is where we have our talks and table top demos. You must be signed up and pay for those. But if you are looking for something fun to do. Come out and spend the day at Mystic Seaport or the aquarium. We are right across the street from the aquarium. Then pop your head in to meet and talk to all of the ship modelers attending. Browse the vendor tables and say hello!!! I am sure you will see how much fun it is and maybe decide to sign up next year and attend!!!! You may even see how joining the NRG is going to be fun and meet a whole bunch of new friends.!!! The 2015 Conference will be in Mystic, Ct. on Thursday October 22 thru Saturday October 24. I would love to see you guys and will be at the Syren vendor table with my wife Patti and son Roman. Here is a list of the other vendors who will be at the show. Crown Timberyard - Milling services and wood for Ship Models Bluejacket -Ship model kits and supplies Byrnes Model Machines - Ship Model Power Tools Seawatch Books - Nautical history and Ship model books Seafever Books - Out of print Nautical history and Ship model books Ages of Sail - Ship model kits and supplies

Nice progress!!! You are getting a lot done. It looks just great.

Looks very good Dave. But you will know when its completely faired when all of the laser char is removed from the bulkhead edges. Just a little more to go...

Really nice shots of a great looking model!!!

Looking great Dave..... You might also want to consider hard maple. If you can mill it on your own it is readily available and very reasonably priced. It will be much easier to obtain a better finish that closely matched the boxwood using it. Even at Lowes or Home Depot.

Such a neat little project.!!!!

Lovely!!!

That looks just great....Terrific work!!!

Yes indeed...they are shown on the plans.

That looks great....nice photography as well. Chuck

Thanks John The beauty of lining off the deck is that it allows you to create a great plan of attack. If you connect all of your tick marks you will have a really good idea of how it will look. If it needs adjustment then just sand it off and start over. You can do all of this before you lay one deck plank. Imagine if you just wing it and have half the deck planked...you are sunk. Lining off the hull first helps you avoid this. I will do this at the stern next and then start cutting wood. Now if you were just going with straight planks nibbed into the waterway, would you need to line off the deck like this? Maybe not. But I think it is worth the extra work. And keep in mind you want have to cut into your waterway and risk a cutting error with a bad joint while nibbing. That takes a huge amount of time and careful chisel work. So its pretty much a wash as far as the amount of time and effort goes. The contemorary model of a cutter shown below also has tapered and scarfed deck planks vs. nibbing. You can see the tapering very clearly here. Chuck

Deck planking has started. Just a quick note about the two styles of deck planking. There were the times when deck planking was straight and nibbed into the waterway. Most are familiar with this style. I in fact drafted the plans for Cheerful this way. However, I believe that the earlier style was still in practice at this time and probably both were used. More like a transition period. In my opinion up to possibly 1820 or even later. This second style would be where tapered and hooked scarf joints were used. No nibbing into the waterway. I have decided to use the second style as the first is so common. You see it all the time. I find this more pleasing to look at as the planks are curved. Straight planks are to harsh in contrast with the curves all over the rest of the model. Folks can choose which method they prefer. I did use the scarfed method on the Confederacy but I simplified it with straight planks. In reality the planks would have tapered and curved a bit at the bow and stern. Like this below. Also note the curvature of the planking on this contemporary model. After gluing the six deck structures in position, I drew reference lines for where the deck beams would be located. This will become important later. Then I planked down the center with one strake (3/16" wide). I followed that with 2 on either side of that one. These were straight-non-tapered planks. Then I started lining off the deck much like I did for the hull planking. Although in hindsight, I should have probably tapered these 5 center planks as well. See the contemporary model image above. But they are already done, so I am moving on.... First I measured with a tick strip in 3/16" increments at the deck's widest point. The beam reference line on the forward side of the main hatch. This showed that I still have ten deck planks to put on each side. I used blue tape in thin strips to separate the deck into two belts both port and starboard. The inner belt on each side has 6 planks....the outer has four. I manipulated the tape until it curved nicely from bow to stern. Remember these are not straight deck planks. The curve is not very drastic. But it has to be taped out so you can visually check the symmetry port and starboard. Once I was happy with it, I traced the inside edge of the tape to define each belt. I removed one strip of tape in the photos below. Note the curve of the blue tape still on deck. Then, just like I did for the hull. I used my planking fan and tick strips to divide the deck up at each reference line for a deck beam. This will show me how much taper I will need in each deck plank. Its just a matter of measuring the total distance at each deck beam and transferring it to a tick strip. Then you take that tick strip to your planking fan and divide that space into six equal parts. Then you come back and transfer those ticks to your deck beam reference line. All of the planks in this inner belt will be cut flat on the ends with no scarf joints yet. I find that on most contemporary models there are only a few scarf joints.... as opposed to modern models where the builder uses way to many. I have always seen just two or three and on the rarest of occasions four hooked scarf joints against the waterway. Most people start way too early and end up with too many of them and it looks very busy. This is also true of just plain nibbing into the waterway. In addition, by curving and tapering the planks it actually reduces the need for that many of them. Thats it for now as I continue to use tick strips to define the width of the planks at each deck beam location. Then I will start cutting more wood.

I actually still have one....a Commodore 64 mint in box with plenty accessories. .....and games. Got it when I was 16 years old. Chuck

Yes at some point I will put together a list but probably not until I get that far along. I dont want to guess on how much rope to suggest. Chuck

That is very dark. But it is also coming along well.

Me too!!!

Its not a bootlegged kit per say because there is no kit of that ship. This is the only one. But what you have there is a Chinese kit where they ripped off Ancre. They even used the Ancre plans. You can see it on the box. I remember talking with those folks at Ancre and they did not give the rights to any of these Chinese companies to use their plans. They are not even sure of the quality of the kit or if its accurately made to follow the plans the stole. Its a shame. Ancre is NOT getting any compensation for their hard work or research either. Consider this....it would be like Model shipways or Bluejacket just ordering a set of plans from Ancre and decided "screw them" lets use these to make a kit without asking for their permission. Its no different than if another kit company decided to buy a set of plans for Cheerful and just start making kits.....without asking or paying and compensation. Its certainly a NO-GO for ModelShipWorld. We wouldnt allow a build log of this kit. Chuck

I am re posting this from another topic so its easy for folks to find should they need it. Its very difficult to measure rope using any method. That technique of wrapping it around a dowel is not very good either. There is too much variation depending on how tightly you wrap it. It would flatten out the rope and distort it. It is also hard to get a consistent space next to each revolution around the dowel. One may be closer than another. It may be squishing the wrap next to it etc. If you did it ten times or asked two different people to measure the same rope that way you would never get the same measurement. It may be close but you would be surprised. Thankfully You would also be surprised how sophisticated our software has become. I use Corel Draw and Illustrator all of the time. When you draw a line in either program its thickness is measured in points. Lucky for us there are many conversion tables and apps that will convert points to inches.....or metric. Whichever you prefer. If you know that a line you need is .018" and you want to see what that exact thickness or diameter in our case is....then do the conversion. .018" is equal to 1.296 points. If you create a line in any of those programs and make it 1.296 points thick.....its pretty darn accurate. You will know what a .018 size rope should be.... Here is a chart I have on my site for folks that need a more visual way to see what these sizes actually look like. http://www.syrenship...pesizechart.pdf Its pretty darn on the money and I have one close by at all times when I make my rope. Its leaps and bounds the more accurate way with technology to measure rope accurately. Also set your printer for the highest quality print job........ Maybe when I get some time I will create a new chart which contains even more size variations. Maybe every .005" or something. Here is a good inches to points conversion calculator. Its the one I use. http://www.thecalcul...s-to-inches.php Chuck

Its very difficult to measure rope using any method. That technique of wrapping it around a dowel is not very good either. There is too much variation depending on how tightly you wrap it. It would flatten out the rope and distort it. It is also hard to get a consistent space next to each revolution around the dowel. One may be closer than another. It may be squishing the wrap next to it etc. If you did it ten times or asked two different people to measure the same rope that way you would never get the same measurement. You would be surprised how sophisticated our software has become. I use Corel Draw and Illustrator all of the time. When you draw a line in either program its thickness is measured in points. Lucky for us there are many conversion tables and apps that will convert points to inches.....or metric. Whichever you prefer. If you know that a line you need is .018" and you want to see what that exact thickness or diameter in our case is....then do the conversion. 018" is equal to 1.296 points. If you create a line in any of those programs and make it 1.296 points thick.....its pretty darn accurate. You will know what a .018 size rope should be.... Here is a chart I have on my site for folks that need a more visual way to see what these sizes actually look like. http://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/resources/ropesizechart.pdf Its pretty darn on the money and I have one close by at all times when I make my rope. Its leaps and bound the more accurate way with technology to measure rope accurately. Also set your printer for the highest quality print job........ Maybe when I get some time I will create a new chart which contains even more size variations. Maybe every .005" or something. Here is a good inches to points conversion calculator. Its the one I use. http://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/length/points-to-inches.php I will also make this a stand alone topic so its easier for folks to find when they search for the topic. Chuck

Don't forget to bring the model to our next club meeting. I want to have a good look at it. I will will be bringing mine. We can compare notes. Since you seem to be moving right along at a rapid pace, I also completed the next chapter and its available for download. I should have another available shortly as well. http://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/revenue-cutter-cheerful-1806.php Its really looking great. The guys are going to flip over that planking job you are doing.

Jeff is working on updating the plans and monograph. As soon as its complete I will post an an update along with the adjusted plans on the website. There really isnt much to say about it. The scarfs just need to be turned so they are now fully visible on the top and bottom of the keel rather than the sides. Stay tuned for the actual update. Chuck

That looks really fantastic...well done. I love the color of that rigging.!!!!

Very well done!!!b That looks great.... Its so nice I want to trade models Mike Chuck

That looks very good. Well done!!