Nikiforos

Warriors from Sparta! Did they capture this ship from the accursed Athenians? Or Korkyra (Corfu) -they kept a hefty independent fleet. Triremes and the like were very buoyant; they didn't sink as such, they sort of got waterlogged but remained on the surface. That's why you read of so many triereis being captured in battle. (Wonder what Shahanshah Xerxes' triereis looked like?). Enjoyed your build - bit late to the party. Best wishes. Edit: your painted eyes look superb, they have that artesan look.

Rant away! Horribly familiar... Can you honestly recall such a schizophrenic first build log? You've had to sit through it too I'll point out the flaws, finish the damn thing and proceed to make a proper bona fide build log of a very highly regarded kit, Daniel Dusek's pentekontor in 72nd. I have the .pdf plans already from his site - if it turns out half as good as Robin Lous' and others, well, that'll be progress! Anyway, this thing... the attachment has been my "actual plan/instructions" recently. Far more of a guide... Have a good day, Mark and .... as nobody else is reading this, can't say I can blame them

Mark, I'm going to go through each section of their "full color instructions" and point out the sloppy, as you rightly express, errors. Each page has a howler or two to enjoy. The PDF for the Bounty jollyboat San Bounty de NepoBountyjollyboat is freely available on their website (or was, they're having a facelift currently) so let's take a little guided tour together, starting with grinding down with a carpenters' bastard file a whole 1cm of hull. Fun times when there's noplan and instructions for the wrong model kit, to be sure. Basically, let's try to warn off maybe-customers from even considering buying this thing. Yes it is cheap. But beginners surely must start small. I'd like to wrap this up over the weekend -move on from a horrible first experience with boats. Sorry, Joao, but another time As for new horizons, there's some really outstanding pentekontor builds here; that Dusek kit looks like solid potential. Cheers.

Well.. I think it's an idea to try to resurrect this --if only to point out the horrendous flaws, the misrepresentation of the whole kit and the insane inadequacy of the instructions/noplans. Yea, the "so-bad-we-had-to-(badly) airbrush-out-the-whole-hull" instructions are a cut and paste presumably from AL's Bounty so-called jolly boat is fit for the bin as soon as you open the box. There are references to ply Sheets 1 through 4 (the actual sheets are A to D), there are references to parts that simply do not exist (bowsprit support etc.) --and most wonderfully of all --numbered prefab parts that are meant to plank the hull. There are none such, just the kits bundle of 1.5x5mm tilia. The mast is nearly >150% the length of the hull. Madness, I think. It's a mess, and a waste of money, cheap though it be. Certainly my beginner skills are average with wood, but this dog of a thing should never be tackled by a newbie to the hobby. The sails are nicely done, the wood is good quality, but the "full color documentation" is pure fiction. Vets could make a learned guess out of that box, but with lesser skills, you're wasting £40 or equivalent. May as well tear up banknotes. So. I'm going to do my best and make a sensible job from this grotesque product. It'll be my first and last AL too (though my dhow is working out good --but as mentioned previously noplans noplans again). More later -- with pics, oh my!, and thanks again for everyone's kind support so far.

Yves, the weeks spent playing a fully modded Silent Hunter III, complete with authentic US, British French and lesser, military, tunes soundtrack. You could calculate an interception using a child's protractor set and fire a couple off manually -from an initial reported distance of hundreds of km - to the poor men onboard the target. Incredible adrenaline. What an incredible sim that was, but it made you think about how absurd war really is. Good luck with this beast, Herr Kaleun. [Cue Andrews Sisters' Rum n Coca-Cola] Nika

Diário de Melo, Novembro 14, Anno 1755. "Fr. Viegas' correspondence indicated that Maria's body had been discovered close to that former homely little chapel of St. Eirene adjacent to the Offices of the Gazeta de Lisboa, which itself bore little damage. How like her to have illuminated -in her last hours upon God's wracked earth -such bright new souls with fair kindness and whose own road upon the journey of a good Christian education had but only begun. Alas! In St. Eirene's she yet lies, but I fear the hours between the Judgement and this very day -some thirteen days all told- have not been kind to that corporeal remainder upon her cold flagstone... I must charge myself and pray to the Lord that He gives me enough strength in our own time of need but I am sore afraid... Novembro 15 We sail from old Cueta early tomorrow. Fr. Viegas had gravely implored us sail so to arrive when there be such precious light as not to be mortally hindered by that sooty darkness spewed as from the sky above; the City is in darkness both day and night but mornings less so, it is said. God's judgement is terrible; let no man doubt His wrath unto a wayward people who grievously dabble in repellent heresies and ideas neither meant to be spoken of nor fit for thought for those who should - must - know their place amid God's Immortal Design. Meanwhile, I shall procure such provisions as I am able to contribute in such immediate times. Fresh water, dried biscuit, salt and a sample of various gifts for any medicus to apply to his dispensations. Maria's coffin I have built myself: Jacomo is a most wondrous carpenter but I need scarcely submit a reasoning as to our grim destination."

Progress! I didn't like the reedy 3x1.5 floorboards, so ripped them out. Borrowed some tilia from the dhow (the external latrine) to replace them. Now, when you're rowing into a diaster zone, where all manner of flotsam is everywhere -- the dearly departed, charcoaled wood and twisted metal (don't forget the rats), your boat is going to look a bit dirty. A sludge wash of thinned oils, 60/40 umber lamp black was daubed liberally. A rag moistened in white spirit was scrubbed in leaving dark chunks and stains of I-don't-know-what in the hard to reach parts. I am learning the hard way that this is not plastic I'm working with so sanded off as much as was needed to give a rancid look. The wash also showed the places where old woodglue was an issue to deal with. A coat of clear varnish was next before a light stain of oak will be applied over the top, once nicely dried. Probably tomorrow. I'm sort of happy with it; but must tone it down above the waterline, which makes reasonable sense. I don't want it too filthy. The upper deck again rests upon framing. Here, Mioao de Joao has discovered the scent of his next meal. Best not ask. The real Miaow lurks in the background, out of chance. Nika Mark, if these images are killing bandwidth I can surely reduce their size. Thanks. Edit: that centre plank looks a little raised. The coffin goes there, then. Darn, no. I have to reduce its depth; lets set some standards.

Ha. Ecumenical meme of the year, Steven... it's i of course Interesting to see another Genovese flag, this time in a venetian context thread. They (Genoa) granted use of their flag to anyone and everylne who might pay -theories are out there it's the origin of the English "St George' ensign. Hmm... Anyway, schadenfreude. Fascinating subject matter, gorgeous images.

CaptainSteve -was looking at your completed boats yesterday; such mastery of your craft. You must be very proud. As for AL we should be aware that they don't just cater to the model shipwright but for children too with their range of doll's houses and acessories. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh since this boat is a bash-up into a portuguese 'what if'. And their botter does have plans -what a curious design. In this pic the passengers find it hilarious that the pilot nearly got decapitated. Bloodthirsty people... Thanks, Cap'n.

Mark, for sure. Next time you get the chance, take a look at their dhow (sanbuq, sambouk) 'Sultan'. Let's not bore everyone mentioning again there aren't any plans. However. For a start, no single source agrees with another about its scale. It is 85th scale on their.own website, amazon dot anywhere lists 34th scale. It is 60th on the box (you have a winner). The kit actually has an impressive amount of deck furniture. Two barrels especially tower over a person's head; (a six foot Zanzibar trader can be just over an inch tall at 1/60th scale) only a giant can see what is inside. Four greek amphorae minus handles (milliput/sculpey to the rescue) are similarly built for Zeus himself although quite nice to look at in their giant container and nicely turned. The rudder's tiller is gigantic - hold a beach-ball under your arm -that would be smaller than the diameter of this tiller (I could be wrong about it -there are no scale plans). There are a hardware store worth of buckets - giant buckets- aplenty enough for the Sultan of Oman's personal garrison in a siege. Perhaps the prototype crafter was told 34th scale rather than 50th? Even then...Anyway, for this kit its single bucket is a nice size. Their new Netherlands 'Botter', however, has (let me sit down a moment...) ...plans, and looks tightly in scale and could well be a second build here. Thanks, Mark, for your help. Niks

I know I'm very -very- late to the party but that main mast ensign is the.famous 'St.B.' isn't it. Remarkable in detail, maybe its available still for purchase sometime. Wishing you the best in 2019, sir. (Image by Jaume Ollé) Interesting to ask the designer of this model whether his current 'St Blasius' flag is too 'late'? He could perhaps confirm or deny that this second flag below (image by Željko Heimer) was more standard in the era specified, although variations must have been plenty. Thank you.

This little boat presents little problems that although fixable, are infuriating. Those glossy catalogue sequences obfuscate more than they reveal. No plans of course. I'll be following this in parallel; best of luck to you! Edit: the Captain was Don Cosme Damián de Churruca y Elorza. He died during the battle of Trafalgar after showing enormous bravery. This kit is very close in design to the Bounty's boat, also by AL. Nika.

UPDATE: Since HMS Bounty 'bote auxiliar' is almost a twin to this kit, M. Clouseau has found that images of the former also have same anaemic floorboards, narrow and confined (here 3mm x 1.5mm, parts 14 through 17) but the instructions look 4mm x 1.5mm. Without scale plans nobody will likely ever know how it was with San Juan's boat, from AL. Be aware of it if you're thinking of building these models. Due to popular demand we found a strange, pious, cat lurking in the dockyard who stands at 5 feet 9 inches in his chainmail boots (=70 mm). He assumes Maria's coffin will be near to that. 7 cm. Any crewmen will be roughly the same size also, for the sake of this project. Anyway, more sawdust, less word count... He is called 'Miaoao de Joao'. Uh...

Mark -- the only source of infirmation given for the Captain's (Cosme Damián de Churruca y Elorza, source: ehm .. Wikipedia) boat of the San Juan Nepomuceno is in the sainted glossy booklet where between the front and back pages of a very badly airbrushed-down hull for the boat, it copies a passage directly from ...Wikipedia. "The S J N was a ship of proven worthiness" and a list of other similar ships built in Asturias. That's the extent of all documentation aside from a parts sheet callout. By the looks of things apart from a few details surely this is the same kit as the Bounty's 'jolly boat' by AL. Nothing at all mentioned about the auxiliary boat itself. There are six thwarts; in my ignorance that says up to twelve oarsmen (plus Senor Damian who did show tremendous bravery at Trafalgar). "To the memory of Brigadier of the Navy Don Cosme Damián de Churruca, gloriously dead on the ship of his command San Juan Nepomuceno in the combat of Trafalgar. 21 October in 1805" -testimony at Ferrol and Mutriku. (see painting). I have a good sense of spatial representation, Joao is twice the size of a typical 48th scale plastic ww2 pilot at 1/24th, close in bare feet to 1/25th. In this light, the floorboards spacing are just about sound but themselves are too narrow in dimension of 1.5 x 3mm. The instruction's floorboards look wider, in addition. Man ... AL make beautiful sails, but documentation is atrocious for the newcomer. Yes, I agree about a windlass and will borrow TigerSteve's excellent method in reproducing one. Thank you, Mark, for the helping hand. Painting by Eugenio Álvarez Dumont. Prado museum. And welcome back, CaptainSteve.

Those flooring planks are 3mm wide as supplied which when re-arranged tighter require an extra 112mm plank furthest away from the centreline on each side. 3mm seems a little narrow so they must go; there's extra tilia planks of 4mm left from AL's dhow, remarkably. Let's replace with those and add a simulation wash later. I shall examine similar floorboards here on the forum like Inspector Clouseau. The balustrade isn't going to matter, as a new one will be scratched to resemble the sharp-looking 'vertical' woodwork panel in the second image. Besides, I have to beg on knees to borrow a good camera from my wilful daughter. It isn't pretty to plead like that... Steven, I know if I asked you what did King Gustav of Sweden wear on his feet the morning of his 22nd birthday, you'd have documentary and illustrative evidence within 10 minutes, so here's another fun question --what about a windlass? Is that appropriate for european boats of 1755? Such isn't included in the box. This boat is turning into a part fantasy build for good or bad -- but dear Maria needs to get onboard somehow. Regardless, more work, less aimless conjecture is needed on my part. Thanks for the likes, it means a lot, gentlemen.

What a long weekend. I bought 'Ship modelling from Stem to Stern' by Mr. Milton Roth. ISBN 0-8306-2844-4 (paperback). There are a lot of detailed sections, including a callout of the parts of a generic working utility boat. Truthfully, it's a dated work, pre-interweb, aimed squarely at the U.S. modeller despite worldwide distribution and sadly there is page after page of personal conceit which makes it quite hard to read - but for sure for a newb like me there's an overall positive value in the book. Adding in the floorboards using the depth of a piece of ply sliding along each plank's edge to get a nice equal spacing. Some of the walnut strips are warped but re-positional as you can observe. They're just pinned for now, to get that spacing all the way out (111mm lengths). The decking frame is sitting atop, unglued for the moment. My question is: are the floorboards too widely spaced? They could be, in this scale a couple of portuguese toes could fit between them. I shaped a 'paddle' style ice-cream stick to make the edge of the cross's plinth on top of Joao's new covered compartment at the bow that he made himself : ) Why? It should be a fairly waterproof place for posessions and tools. Poor Maria cannot accidentally slide over toward that direction now as it acts as a low bollard. The bowsprit can now fit in there if it is so inclined (today's geometry pun). Next up, is a sludge wash of 70pc pure lamp black and 30pc burnt umber oils - acrylics shall never darken my door again (today's artist's pun) - over the floor and compartment top. It already received one wash. Then wipe away with a lint-free cloth or 'clauth' as they say hereabout. No pic but If we look at part 18, the 'balustrada', in no way will it sit horizontally at the top of frame part number 3. There's a gigantic gap so it sits in mid-air... Did I mis-judge something? Difficult to say as of course there are NO SCALE PLANS, AL. Consider yourselves the target of some hot and spicy verbal graffiti. In Portuguese. Other fluffs 'accomplished' includes Joao's leather seat fashioned with Milliput (terracota flavour -- a fine 2 part epoxy material readily available in Britain and Europe) - I'll add the affixing straps and refine much much later using poly/cotton thread. Milliput is perfect too for my Lebanese sanbuq's amphorae that have their handles entirely missing. Pic to follow. Here also is a picture of some fancy woodwork I really like; horizontal and vertically aranged with a liberal sprinkling of knots. It inspired Joao to make that compartment. It seems that our Portuguese friends are fond of adorning their water vessels with all manner of beautiful artistic embellishments and colours although it's the 18th Century. Let's keep it in mind... It's all starting to fall into place with the help of good people here. Thank you all. This log needs more action and less fluff, yea I know. Onward!

That's great, Dowmer. The more the merrier, as today what is becoming my bete noir -AL's lack of scale plans for a similar project is giving me an aneurysm. Much appreciated.

Sir, I am part of the perfect target audience for your log having taken on this hobby only in January of this year but used to dioramas and so forth. You seem to be an intelligent man, so will doubtlessly know the term 'preferred learning style' from basic teacher training and similar professional studies. You have obviously taken great care in choosing your subject matter along with accompanying imagery. It represents a very thorough exploration of your ways to approach problem-solving, which is really what modelling is all about -from opening the box or choosing materials for scratchbuilding to the final model which represents a level of completeness -a finality- satisfactory to yourself. Your section on preparation and tools was excellent for this newbie -your stated audience- and I thank you most sincerely. However... your later posts appear didactic and occasionally combatative. Some of the images conjure up Escher and his woodcuts; some sequences are so over-engineered that it is a barrier to my own preferred learning style as a newcomer to model 'water vehicles'. Others will disagree, of course because they learn in their own manner or fashion. I mean no offence whatsoever, but being inclusive of others' alternate methodology -incorporating other contributions into a collegiate style- should appear to offer less of a treatise and more of an aid to learning, studying. I really think that will help you enormously in the journey towards completion of your project. In this, I merely suggest. Thank you for putting the time in for this build log; I hope to see your next installment. N.

Sorry to interrupt (again) Steven, but on June 21st last year you posted a image of what looks to be a Genovese vessel with a mitred bishop aboard. From where did you find this? It is of great interest. Keep up the exemplary work of your Roman dromon.

The Dark side. Now you see this truck here... In olden not so nostalgic times in faraway places, they pulled down Peter the Great statues and erected, among other ikons, tributes to the GAZ. Everything yiu can think of that had four (or 6 or 10) wheels, this glorious revolutionary soviet re-envisioning of the Ford made do for all. Look at the rear wooden end. I couldn't make the wheels or tyres but yea, its boxy, so a toe in the waters of the Dark side. Oh the weeks lost... Do you hear Mark's titanium sword of righteousness being swung? Back to the boat. Going to make some nicer sketches, make a 25th scale Portucaler figure -- airfix make available 1/24th scale things --and come back with a proper progression. The issue of the interior looking very bare remains but there are plenty of excellent working references here that should inspire. Thanks again Mark and Steven. Nika! Edit: I have chosen my style of wooden cross: the Order of Jesus' Knights variant pictured below. Another image is thought to be that of the Order's naval Jack of the day (Bandé variant). Quite a migraine inducer! (pic by António Martins).

Sir, thank you for your kind words and sound advice. We have a green light again... Here's the raison d'etre behind at least some of the background to Joao de Melo. I beg your indulgence but mention this just once -and only once- in this community. In 2013 I was diagnosed with stage IV renal cell carcinoma. I had no idea that I was carrying a 2kg tumour - we called him Be'elzebub-- that had destroyed the left kidney, spleen, two lymph nodes and the very tip of the pancreas. Later it would take a bite of lung. No pain, nothing. Just a tiredness. "Between two and seven years" exclaimed my first surgeon. A prognosis. My family has born the brunt of emotional tsunamis fir six years.This week, I was rated up from 'terminal' to such: 'Living with cancer' as I suspect mathematically there are others like this, here. Now, Joao is I think Portuguese for 'Josef'; my eldest son's middle name. He hasn't lost me yet but in natural (and of course wartime) disasters such as Lisboa, Armenia and Bandar Aceh, there are thousands of unheard stories of individual sacrifice and against the odds ...Nika ... that word carries that much weight ... victory in the face of calamity and anguishes. Let Joao's tale be told heard, as allegory. I know we'll all grow to admire and love him. This is a remarkable community; already I have exchanged ideas with some wonderful people, the community Guidelines are well-thought-out and respectful, fair to all. And everyone loathes pirates : ( Thank you once again, Sir. Over to you, Joao...

Thanks Steven, for the helping hand. Sometimes artistic projects can get carried away without being anchored in real world limitations. You're obviously right about seaworthiness. Thank you for the coffin pic --its more in keeping with the times, isn't it. And my gosh isn't this a terribly morbid subject matter. Having reservations... and so far it is not for "newcomers to the hobby". My goodness... A regroup is necessary perhaps. Attached is the french dhow plan. As you can see it's close to AL's dhow 'Sultan'. Its a poor quality image but it is something at least. I bought the San Juan and Sultan from amazon and asked if there were plans at the time. AL replied directly " No, but isn't our instructions fantastic?" Yes, its nice (the colour coding and parts list is very clear) but bitmapped and unclear in the small detail shots-- there is no substitute for scale plans. Everyone wouldn't mind paying a few extra coins for a good plan, surely. As ever, an admirer of your work, Steven. N

Well, I made a bit of progress since Penzance disappeared. No plans in this kit. Again. That's two of two without scale plans so far. Both AL. I shall need all your help with details barely discernable from bitmapped image sequences. Its all a bit irritating, these lack of drawings, honestly, although the sanbuq 'master plan' can be found in french as 'Caboteur nomme Sambouck. Mer Rouge - Cote d'Arabie' on the interwebs. This one, I do not know. There's a clear error in the glossy instruction book. Parts 4 and 11 are labelled for each other. Nails supplied are small and more importantly, flat-headed. AL's sanbuq dhow has nails with almost mushroom type heads like those of a KV-1 tank. 500+ of them; big domed Super Mario affairs which makes life more difficult than it needs to be. Looking at the boat after the top sheet of ply has gone in - it looks very threadbare, deep inside. Perhaps there should be various stringers and so forth, but I can barely tell a difference between a Nautilus submarine and a roman galley. Help! I used a locally produced sanding sealer after scrubbing the frame with wet and dry (cellulose based sealer) and I present one picture today with one central floorboard glued solid for reference. The dark planking strips is the base of the plinth for Maria's handmade Cross, it abuts the first fore thwart directly. See pencil sketch. I borrowed AL's famous fish-eyed camera for this pic. I assure you all is straight and level! So says my tiny spirit level made from top-quality plastic. Also: Heads up. I don't use acrylic paints unless as a base barrier layer. The only colour here will be with artist oils and just maybe chalk-o-pastels.

Artesania Latina's official website sometimes carries .pdf instructions. I think this one has a parts sheet callout available too. Search for this boat there and look under the 'instructions' tab. Alas no plans. Again.