cog

Minor update. I'm moving forward on the sail construction, gluing up the individual strips into four separate panels.
 
Before gluing any of these together, I painted a section of a couple of the strips. These are markings used on the sails of these northern port transports to identify who they belong to. I'm not sure how my sails will look with the markings and may change my mind as to where the markings appear on the sail. But, so far, I'm expecting them to appear as two short rectangles centered high on the sail, separated by two blank strips. 
 
I still have time to change the plan as I can rearrange the existing glued up sections a little. I'm going to see if I can take another look at some examples of these markings and make the final call today.
 
In the meantime, you can see how this is progressing...
 

 

 
Again, each panel will be made up of six strips, so I'm basically half-way done making the panels. I will also have to decide soon if I will add fake ties of some kind. If I do, it will be a very slow going process. 
 
So far, Aleene's Tacky Glue has proven to create a very strong bond.
 
Clare

While researching sails, I ran across a great website by a ship modeler in Germany. He scratch built a model of the replica ship Naniwa maru, which is a higakikaisen replica. The website entry is from back in 2012. It looks to me like his model was built at a scale of about 1/50, so it's a nice size.
 
Aw with other builders taking on a scratch build of one of these ships with only limited information, I found his model pretty amazing.
 
http://www.googlehupf.at/shipwright/?page_id=276
 

I've been working on the shrouds and the tackle for them. Woodrat was kind enough to send me drawings of the upper fastening of shrouds on various mediaeval Mediterranean lateeners, and I've based mine on these and other contemporary representations.
 
            
 
I used a clothes peg to hold the calcet upright so I could glue the shrouds at right angles to the sheave (i.e. on the sides of the mast)
 
        
 
It was a bit more difficult on the foremast because I'd already glued it in place, so I had to deal with it standing up instead of lying on the bench. And then I wrapped wooldings around mast and shrouds as in the contemporary representations above.
 
 
 
The next thing was to work on the tackle for the lower ends of the shrouds. Deadeyes were an Atlantic invention, and they didn't come into use in the Mediterranean until the 16th century. Instead, shrouds were held to the hull, and tension adjusted, by pairs of blocks - the lower block single-sheaved and the upper block double-sheaved. Single-sheaved blocks have been found on Byzantine wrecks, but I haven't come across any equivalent finds of double-sheaved blocks. However, triple sheaved blocks have been found, so I extrapolated/interpolated between the singles and triples to create what I believe a Byzantine double-sheaved block would have been like.
 
Threading these things is very fiddly, and they often act like fencing wire - they have a mind of their own and fly off in all directions right in the middle of the process, and get twisted so you thread through in the wrong direction and have to do it all again. So I adapted a method I've seen in setting up deadeyes, which get the tackles the same length and reduces the problem with twisting.
 
       
 
 
     
 

  
Rather than strops, the main rope is secured by passing through a hole in the block. I've then glued the rope in an eyelet to approximate the look of an eye-splice, which I believe is most likely how they were attached. The rope for the double-sheaved block is short and ends in a toggle. This will pass through an eye-splice in the main shroud, acting as a quick-release mechanism (this technique is still used on Mediterranean lateeners, though I haven't seen it used on shrouds). The free end of the rope from the single-sheaved block will pass through a ringbolt attached to the side of the hull and be tied off. This leaves the tackle between the blocks, which is used to adjust tension. The free end will  be belayed to a cleat near the ringbolt.
 
When I started organising all this I realised I'd made a mistake. There are in fact three different single-sheaved cleats that I've made copies of. The ones in the shroud tackle have a small through-hole at the end (see photo immediately above) to which the tackle between the blocks is belayed. Unfortunately, I used these ones for the tacks and vangs on the yards, when I should have used the other ones I'd made (which were identical except for the little hole in the end). So I had to undo all that work and swap the blocks around. Annoying, but it had to be done.
 
As I removed a pair of blocks I replaced it with the correct pair and then moved to the next pair. That way I didn't get things mixed up (very easy to do). I used a clothes peg to keep the yard upright, so the blocks would be hanging vertically from the ends of the yard.
 
      
 
And when the blocks had all been removed I was able to re-use them on the shrouds, which is where they were supposed to have been all the time.
 
More to come in due course.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Older than dirt ????😉😉😉  🤔🤔🤔    

Now a size comparison, KGV, Dreadnought, Yamato and Strasbourg. Pulling her out of the cupboard I forget how big Yamato was. 

One of those miscalculations trying to get ahead not sticking to the sequence ...
How old do you think I am ???

Good luck tomorrow, Alan. I keep my fingers crossed you will have that eagle eye back

Wouldn't say those need replacements ... lovely result RGL. You still get better, didn't expect you could improve on yerself mate!

Wouldn't say those need replacements ... lovely result RGL. You still get better, didn't expect you could improve on yerself mate!

Hello, 
I've seen many of these "which brand is better" strings, never thought I might have something to add. 
With that said,
 
Over this past winter I was in the same position. Wanted to invest in something good, but yielding as I am a total rookie at this.  
I made the leap and bought a Harder & Steenbeck. Little bit of an investment, but once you get a feel for it, learn it, it really is a fine brush.
I comes with a fine and extra fine needle and two different sized paint cups.
 
As for the compressor, it's from Model Expo. Not high end, but surprisingly works really well and I can adjust the pressure.
No troubles at all. Plus, they are known for customer service, and if things break down I trust them more than the big conglomerates.
 

 
My 2 cents!      
 
Tom E 
 
 
 
 

Wouldn't say those need replacements ... lovely result RGL. You still get better, didn't expect you could improve on yerself mate!

Just missing the line and sinker

Ok I’m nearly done, I’m awaiting the replacements for the 3 rear guns. 
IMG_3991.MOV
IMG_3990.MOV
IMG_3995.MOV

Just missing the line and sinker

Gotcha, Lou

One of those miscalculations trying to get ahead not sticking to the sequence ...
How old do you think I am ???

Nice improvement Louie. Saw you were wearing the propper atire to pull on the hose. Wouldn't repositioning the columns in front of the benches give the rowers more rowing space. Pushing forward on the or requires more space for the or than pulling it backwards. Pulling your hands will not pass over your pelvis ... just reminiscing about my days as a roman galley slave

Just missing the line and sinker

Hmm. Gives new meaning to the expression 'knights errant'.  Looking very good now.

Well really I should have been wearing more appropriate attire - I have all the Byzantine costume, but haven't worn it for yonks as i don't do re-enactment any more.
 
I did think about repositioning the columns in relation to the benches but the problem is that the benches are uneven distances apart (a mistake I made much earlier in the build). I decided the most important thing was to get the columns spaced evenly - following the uneven spacing of the benches would just look wrong, particularly as I've put arches between the columns. So no matter what I did some of the columns wouldn't be in front of the benches. It's a compromise, but in the circumstances I think it's the best one available.
 
Oh, and the Romans didn't have galley slaves - that's Hollywood. Galley slaves didn't become a "thing" until the Renaissance.

Gotcha, Lou

Decals

Nice improvement Louie. Saw you were wearing the propper atire to pull on the hose. Wouldn't repositioning the columns in front of the benches give the rowers more rowing space. Pushing forward on the or requires more space for the or than pulling it backwards. Pulling your hands will not pass over your pelvis ... just reminiscing about my days as a roman galley slave

Thanks for the likes and comments. One thing that is definitely true - the castles are a lot stronger than before. And I do think doing this has made the whole thing look better. I can still tidy up the benches a bit by inserting a little bit of wood to close up any minor gaps between the bench and the column. And I think this is less noticeable than leaving it as it was.