Jump to content
HOLIDAY DONATION DRIVE - SUPPORT MSW - DO YOUR PART TO KEEP THIS GREAT FORUM GOING! (Only 24 donations so far out of 49,000 members - C'mon guys!) ×
2025 NRG PHOTOGRAPHIC SHIP MODEL CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED ×
Ship Modeler's Handbook - Back in Stock ×

Ian_Grant

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,116

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Ian_Grant

  1. Ian_Grant
    Very cute puppy. It is hard on kids when a dog that's been around all their lives goes; we went through that too.
  2. Ian_Grant
    You're getting good at those decks Bill! Nice work.!
  3. Ian_Grant
    Texas train robbery souvenirs?
  4. Ian_Grant
    Thanks Glen; I just thought my log was a bit wordy when I look back. Will try to be more succinct from now on.
  5. Ian_Grant
    Yes, after a while I tended to put consecutive explicit IF statements, rather than IF....ELSE...ELSE...ELSE etc. It just got confusing to read, and hard to pick out which "}" applied to what section of code. Shout out here to the "Auto Format" tool in Arduino which indents "{" and "}" according to what it sees as the program flow. It can help show that you missed a "}" somewhere. Thanks for your humorous anecdote!
  6. Ian_Grant
    Welcome to those skipping straight here from the start instead of plowing through the prolonged history of the mechanism development. Finally getting started on actual hull development. Very little is actually known for certain about these ships, and of course there are no lines drawings extant. I'm using Michael Pitassi's book "Roman Warships" and building on his reconstructions. I also have on hand the lines for the "Olympias" which is a recently constructed full size trireme designed by a naval architect with archaeologist input. Unfortunately I already know my u/w hull needs to be much deeper than that of Olympias to support the weight so I cannot simply employ her lines. 😭 Galley Model Parameters: 1/32 Scale. Approx 54" LOA for a ship of about 145 ft. Approx 8" WL beam. 44 oars per side, in two remes of 22, staggered. Interscalmium 42" in accordance with Pitassi. (this is spacing between oars in a reme). Sea trials of Olympias quickly showed that her interscalmium of about 3 ft was too cramped for proper rowing. The archaeologist had used an ancient measure for which several values existed during ancient times and the consensus is the selected value was too small. Powered by a 5-cell NiMH battery producing 6V for the servos, and a 9V battery to power the Arduino Uno and RC Rcvr. Two oar servos per side, one for "Sweep" motion and one for "Lift" motion. Lift servos are standard size; Sweep servos are "Giant Scale" for continuous torque expected, and heat dissipation. Oars are approx 8" with loom 1.5". Oar angles when in water are 17 and 24 degrees for the lower/upper reme. Expected displacement approx 17 or 18 lbs. Because of this the u/w hull will not be "realistic", it will need to be bulked up to provide the displacement volume. I made a couple of mock-ups of the "giant" servos compared to standard-sized servos. I need these to make sure there is sufficient space at the bow to house them. Here is the Arduino "Uno" microcontroller board which runs the software to control the oars, with my servo interface board plugged into it; a standard servo; and the mock-ups. That's about it for now. I'm sure I will be a while drafting.
  7. Ian_Grant
    In order to draw the bow and stern lines, lacking any knowledge of or interest in mastering 3D CAD, I needed a set of ship's curves which are now rare and pricey. Member iMustBeCrazy kindly supplied to me a pdf file with 4 pages of images of a ship's curves set. I used it and our local library's "Imagine Space" laser engaver/cutter to produce my own curves using 1/8" thick acrylic. These cost me a grand total of $12 which the Imagine Space charges for a 12" x 24" sheet of 1/8" acrylic out of their closet. A steal!
  8. Ian_Grant
    Well, she did quickly sink - maybe when the wind gust hit they couldn't "let fly the sheets" because of this ...... 😄 Just being a smart alec........carry on!
  9. Ian_Grant
    Vasa II? Is that another imminent model, or a monograph, or even a reproduction?
  10. Ian_Grant
    Oh Glen, if you've never seen Blackadder, especially the Regency and WW I series, you have missed out. Look them up on Youtube! You'll never forget Lord Byron, the mad king, the coffee house, Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, the actors and "Macbeth", Blackadder's Jacobite Scottish relative (a particular highlight for me given my family name), then life expectancy in the RFC, meeting von Richtofen, Captain Darling, Lord Flashheart, .......... now I need to watch some episodes over again.
  11. Ian_Grant
    Impressive work with the i-beams and brass! But tell me (maybe I missed this earlier in your log?) why did they pile the lifeboats up like this? And how would they sway them out if needed? Thanks.
  12. Ian_Grant
    Glen, you're a glutton for punishment, but as always this will be memorable to watch I'm sure.
  13. Ian_Grant
    Yes, I forgot that's all on the upper parts. Carry on ....
  14. Ian_Grant
    Bill, do you want to add some small evergreen strips on the inside of the gunwales at the railings, to add some molding detail where Heller just made the molds flat? Best done before you glue the hull halves. Or at least fill and sand those ejector markings which will be visible.
  15. Ian_Grant
    Could Mrs. AON be pranking you? 😀
  16. Ian_Grant
    Kevin, Rob Wiederrich's beautiful "Great Republic" scratch build is a great resource for clipper rigging, with many good photos. He has detailed rigging photos. I recall his chain sheets in particular because he formed his sheet blocks on the centre bands from brass. I tried it for "Preussen" but at 1/150 I could not do it. 😭
  17. Ian_Grant
    Curious about your plan to waterproof deck access hatches for the RC equipment.
  18. Ian_Grant
    Hi Kevin, That's Revell's rendition of the cheek block for the sheet line to the sail above. The fairleads on the lower yard are for the chain sheets to the lower topsail; on the lower topsail yard they're for chain sheets to the upper topsail. Sheets run from the sail's clew corner, through the cheek block, through the fairleads, and finally through the sheet block at the centre band and down to deck.
  19. Ian_Grant
    It has dawned on me (God my aging mind is getting slow!) that I can save some weight on the slides. I only need them to move 3/4" each side of "neutral"; I'm not pulling out a deep drawer so I could cut off a lot of their ends. For instance here is a close-up of a 12" slide: The actual BB carriage is only about 3.5" long, and if I move the metal slide 3/4" (say) the carriage only moves 3/8" in that direction since it is moving relative to both sides of the slide. I could in theory just cut the metal parts off 3/8" beyond the carriage ends with the slide centred, and drill new mounting holes i.e. I'd be left with "mini-slides" 4.25" long thus losing almost 2/3 of the weight! Like having my cake and eating it too.... I won't cut it that fine but losing a little more than 1/2 the weight of metal is easy to do. I'm going to the library tomorrow to take their one-on-one certification course to use their laser cutting/engraving machines. Just need to figure out InkScape to draw the ship's ribs 😬
  20. Ian_Grant
    I was wondering that too. 😄
  21. Ian_Grant
    Bill, when you do start the cannons be aware that they're a little strange as supplied. The trucks (wheels) are too close together and the trunnions are too far forward on the barrels. Assemble the carriages with the trucks closer to the corners, and if you're up to it cut off the trunnions and drill new holes through the barrels using a jig on your drill press. Dafi had good before and after shots of some cannons he modified.
  22. Ian_Grant
    "Old Ironsides" indeed. 👍
  23. Ian_Grant
    Nice. And I see a winch drum there too. Hitec?
  24. Ian_Grant
    "diagonal knees" I haven't heard of up to now. Is that something special to "Constitution"?
  25. Ian_Grant
    Scott, Wire for the standing rigging would be typically a little under 1.5"DIA for lower and topmast stays, about 1.0"DIA for topgallant stays, a little less for royal stays. Lower shrouds and topmast backstays same as lower stays for fore and main, same as topgallant stays for mizzen. Topgallant backstays on each mast same as its topgallant stay. Royal backstays on each mast same as its royal stay. So the scale thread sizes would be 0.375mm, 0.25mm, and 0.2mm. Typical commercially available sizes are 0.1, 0.25, and 0.5mm unless you go somewhere like Syren Model Ship Company who have much larger variety. I got these typical numbers from "Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" by Harold Underhill. Well worth picking up a copy.

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...