Rodolfo Bigoni
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Everything posted by Rodolfo Bigoni
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Welcome everybody! The construction of masting immediately presents the first problem, which is the size of the blocks. I think there is a disproportion (first photo) between the rack and the block of the halyard: In commerce I have not found blocks with the particular shape in medieval ships and so I decided to build it with pieces of wood, slices of wood rod and pin heads: The four pins serve as spacers between pulleys and edges during gluing: A through hole at the top, a countersink for the openings, a light scraping and a walnut impregnating paint complete the work: The head of the pin will be painted in matt black, of course. Final dimensions are 11x7x5 mm, (last photo). Of course this implies having to build from scratch all the blocks that I will need... Good job to everybody! Rodolfo
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Congratulations! I think that restoring a sailing ship is more difficult than building it from scratch. You are doing a great job! Rodolfo
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Thanks Louie and welcome you all! The anchors according to AMATI should have four square metal rings to keep the sections that make up the stock together: After covering the stock with walnut veneer, I preferred ligatures with ropes. At the anchor ring I preferred to tie a knot that I found on Luciano Santoro's manual "Il modellista navale" Ed. HOEPLI: Next we will try to guess the path of the anchor's ropes, since it's difficult to understand examining contemporary documents. Have a nice weekend! Rodolfo.
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Thanks, Louie! Building the rack, instructions indicate a height of 74 mm: ; It's clearly a mistake, because a man 1m and 70 cm high in 1/60 scale is about 28 mm. I thought a printing error and then 74 was a 24. It also indicates two 2.7 mm slots; but in this way you DO NOT get the perception that the rope passes through the sheaves: Considering that the sheaves are generally not much smaller in diameter than the width of the case (here 8 mm) I preferred to make two slots of about 8 mm in length with holes above and below and an excavation to simulate the sheaves: The rack is associated with a cleat. Being the gluing area very small, it may be feared that it will not withstand stress. For this reason I made two small holes on the rack and on the cleat and I inserted two pieces of brass before gluing: For the mast hound I did the same work as for the rack, with the hollows and the fake sheaves inside: Here, too, the illustrations in the manual do not give the perception of ropes running over sheaves: Finally, the pole with its bracket (in this case a bracket for the mast, as I will not use any on this model): See you soon! Rodolfo
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Hi Patrick, I've always slept like a hibernating bear! 🙂 Before continuing with the superstructures, it's better to secure the load; indeed, it is already late because now it has become difficult to get the ropes through the rings. With hindsight, I recommend fixing the barrels before covering the upper deck. I preferred a certain asymmetry, as if the operations were not finished yet. See you soon! Rodolfo
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Hi Backer, I have examined the arrangement of the nails and, fortunately, it seems to me that there are no problems. If I had to modify it, maybe I could have damaged it and then rebuilt it. Examining the object sideways, you will see that the rows of nails are not above the side walls: They are shifted inwards; they are assumed to be planted on a support located underneath that holds the boards of the flaps together. I also remembered that the nails on the hinges were reproduced using drops of Vinavil, as I didn't have any so thin. Now, with my conscience in place, I can sleep peacefully and go back to work at my Coca. Rodolfo
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Thanks to all of you for your comments and remarks always welcome! @ Backer: You're absolutely right! I hadn't thought about it: I saw this beautiful model: and then I copied it without thinking. After all, I'm just a railway modeler...and my commissioners (my family, which doesn't distinguish Bismarck from Titanic) just want a nice ornament, they have no idea of the historical fidelity. Nevertheless, since the piece is not yet in position, I think I will modify it in order to make it more plausible. I am sure that if I don't do it now, in the future I will be in pain... Rodolfo
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Thanks, Chuck. in my opinion, reading instructions and looking at the figures, it seems that the holes are just simple holes: The two major ones have been made for the passage of the anchors ropes and the others (maybe) for ventilation: But the Nao of Matarò has no hole on the roof of the deckhouse. Moreover, the hole with a diameter of 10 mm clearly seems to me a mistake: it would be too big, as shown in the photos with a 10 mm drill bit: They seem to me having a diameter about 4 or 5 mm. Rodolfo
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Thanks Louie, now it's time for the main deckhouse. I made it at the beginning of the building. AMATI suggests a simple object, very similar to the Coca of Matarò: But I'm not sure about the holes in the roof. In Pinterest I saw a very nice ship and i tried to copy it: Next works: rack with cleat, mast hound, pole and bracket. See you later! Rodolfo
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Bye, it's very strange: in my screenshot I can see the photos. Immediately I'll put them on again. The model proposed by the supplier: Having it a trapezoidal plan, I filed the corners of the supports to create the seats for the strips: An alternative could be gluing triangular wedges on which to lay their ends. Obviously, the remaining work is equal to the one already used for the rails: Long time ago, I added some reinforcement beams on the bottom side, otherwise the structure seemed too fragile: Here are some pictures of the completed and painted structure: Now, a light passage of sandpaper and the work can be considered completed. See you later next post! Rodolfo
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Hello, everyone, finally the little stern castle has been finished. Long time ago, I added some reinforcement beams on the bottom side, otherwise the structure seemed too fragile: Here are some pictures of the completed and painted structure: Good work to everyone and see you next post. Rodolfo
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Greetings to all! I continued with the construction of the stern castle. The model proposed by the supplier is quite simple: Having it a trapezoidal plan, I filed the corners of the supports to create the seats for the strips: An alternative could be gluing triangular wedges on which to lay their ends. Obviously, the remaining work is equal to the one already used for the rails: See you later! Rodolfo
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Well done, Amos: I like the idea to use a strip formed to line the indented edge of the upper deck. Rodolfo
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Thank Louie, the illustration is taken from a Catalan treaty of maritime law, printed in Barcelona in 1502: "Libre de Consolat dels fets maritims". Bye
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I thank you all for the kind comments that help me to continue the work. Now the quarterdeck rail has been ended and painted: See you soon with the little stern castle. Rodolfo
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Hi Louie, thanks for the explanation; I learned something new to teach my daughter...🙂 As far as the quarterdeck rail is concerned, the AMATI's illustrations propose three simple straight strips leaning against nine small columns: The nao of Matarò had more columns and also denotes a certain stylistic refinement. I tried to find a compromise by bending the strips and shaping them together with the columns. First of all the strips are temporarily fixed with very little glue: and between them you place the columns; then with a pencil we can mark the positions where to file and shape the supports: The columns are placed in position and glued only at the base ! Now you can mark the points where you want to shape the strips: The three frontal laths are shaped: The same work has to be done on the back, but only with two strips, because the central one is absent on the Nao of Matarò: At this point the strips are glued to the columns taking care of their alignment. With the next post we'll finish the quarterdeck rail. See you soon! Rodolfo
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Thanks Louie; you're right, it's an Italian common saying. I knew "I've shot myself in the foot", but I ignored completely the second... Hi Backer, I totally agree with you. Rodolfo
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Dear friends, thank you all very much for your kind comments and encouragement to continue. Hi Bruce, the hull strips are made of lime wood and walnut, treated with fine sandpaper and painted with impregnating Oak (for lime) and National Walnut (Italian) for those in walnut. As you all certainly know, the rails of the Nao of Matarò' are not just straight boards, as described in the Building Instructions: For my laziness I simply followed instructions, but in the end I couldn't resist and I made some changes that seem to add something to the model. The photos were taken at the end of the file work, before finishing with fine sandpaper and paint: I'm aware that I've given myself the hoe on the feet, because I will have to do the same for the rails of the bow castle and the central one... Good work to everyone, Rodolfo
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Good morning to everybody, Another problem is the nails are longer than the thickness of the keel and rudder, so they either have to be cut in about half, or they must be inserted alternately (one hole yes and one no) or we have to create sloping holes or hopefully offset by themselves by hammering. I used the first two solutions. Once the hinges are inserted on the rudder, we take the position of the nails on the keel and make the first narrow holes. It seemed more comfortable to me to gluing tiller on the rudder before fixing the hinges to the keel: After fixing the hinges to the keel, the excess holes are masked with a drop of Vinavil: For painting I used black opaque solvent enamel, given with a very thin brush. At the end, despite all the problems, I'm quite satisfied about the whole result: See you next post and good work to everyone! Rodolfo.
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Sorry, I've forgotten to delete remaining pictures and now I don't know how to do...
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Hallo everybody! As I wrote, rudder hinges were a big problem for me. Seeing the plan and instructions, they seem to have certain dimensions: Actually the ones I found in the box are: - shorter, - perhaps narrower, - the holes are more distant, - the diameter of holes smaller than the diameter of tacks. From the photos you can clearly see the original holes in the hinges have a larger distance, which prevents the fastening of the tacks closer to the keel: Moreover the length, as you can see for the first hinge, does not reach the rudder edge, as it would seem from AMATI documentation: At this point I had to drill some intermediate holes to the existing ones and then enlarge them: Pivots and their locations have been glued with cyanoacrylate; but after I had completed this work, I've thought it would have been better to fix them with tinning: Next post the photos about fixing of the rudder to the keel. See you later! Rodolfo
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Dear friends, thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement. Hi Louie, I had some doubts about the three external reinforcements of the sides, because I saw they usually were longer. But at the end I thought the aesthetic result would have been worse (maybe). I must say the historical and constructive work you are doing on the Byzantine Dromon is truly extraordinary. Hi Clark, welcome! I saw your post and I must say you've made a great start! Keep going! Many thanks, Chuck! Very interesting your works, also historically. By my side, I hope to continue so. One month ago I finished the rudder. I limited myself to follow the instructions of the "AMATI": Unfortunately the rudder hinges have created many problems for me, which I will describe in the next post. See you soon! Rodolfo
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Thank you, dear friends, for your positive comments about the model! Next step will be the three reinforcements on the sides. Instructions suggest to cut strips 5x5 mm, 55 mm in length, and to drill a 1.2 mm hole in the upper end for fixing the shrouds: I never saw such a disposition of the rigging and then i cut only 45 mm in length without drilling the holes. I worked the strips in series: Attention: the strips can exfoliate: I carried out a test without glue and a squareness control: After that, glue and painting: The next step will be the rudder. See you soon! Rodolfo
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Thanks, Steven. Being my first work, I try to do a bit better than instructions say, but I also know there are a lot of things out of my knowledge and therefore I've to study much more... The last step has been planking main deck bulwark edges using walnut strips 4x1 mm, like illustrated in the AMATI's instructions: It has been a difficult work, and I had to build some tools using abrasive paper and wood silhouettes: Perhaps, using shapes cut out of veneer instead of strips, it would have come a better job ... Now we've to build the external reinforcements (fenders) for the hull... See you soon... Rodolfo
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Many thanks, Patrick! The work is proceeding slowly; I didn't like the davit as described in the instructions: Really it could be straight or curved upwards (like the Matarò model): (pictures are in "Le navi di Colombo" - Heinrich Winter - Ed. MURSIA) and then I decided to make it curvilinear: After that, the rail above stern board had to be built and instruction shows only three supports. Because the model of Matarò has five, I did so: Now I've to plank the main deck bulwark edges, a slow and tedious work ... See you soon! Rodolfo
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