BANYAN

Thanks once more gentlemen for your encouraging praise!
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Toolkit for the gun
 
The operation of the gun required quite a few different tools for handling the projectiles and the powder-bags, as well as for cleaning and maintenance.
 
There were two different wipers, one for cleaning with soap-water and the other one for greasing the bore after use. This still was the era of black powder, which means that the bore had to be cleaned frequently.
Loading required a rammer to push the projectile and the powder-bags into the chamber of the gun. The rammer also served to unload the gun by pushing it through the muzzle. It had a depression in the front so that one would not push onto the fuse.
 
The large-scale instruction model in the (former) Orlogmuseet in Copenhagen came with many of the necessary tools. Their look tallies with the description of a textbook on the Imperial German naval artillery (Galster, 1885). The length of the shaft was given as the length of the barrel plus some extra for one or two men to be able to hold onto it, while it was fully inserted. If there were not enough space for such long implements, there were also versions in two parts with a brass connecting sleeve.

Wiper (top) and rammer (bottom)
 
The body of the implements was turned from some 2 mm steel rod, as I had this to hand. The shaft is a 0.8 mm piano wire. The latter appears to be quite hefty, but seems to tally with the photographs.

Wipers and rammer before painting
 
As the gun will be shown undergoing a drill, the wipers are not needed and will be shown in their protective canvas covers, stored in the racks on deckhouse as per photograph below.

Wipers in their protective canvas covers
 
The canvas covers were simulated with some Vallejo liquid putty. According to Galster (1885) the covers were supposed to be painted black, but the above photograph indicates that they were white, which is what I opted for.
The rammer body has two copper-bands to protect it, which were simulated with paint. The limited space in barbette seems to prevent the use of a full-length rammer, so I gave the end of the shaft a connecting sleeve simulated with paint.
 
Tampion
The photograph of the instruction model in Copenhagen also shows the expanding tampion that was constructed from two brass discs with some fibre material in between that was contained by a leather sleeve. An internal screw operated by a T-shaped handle squeezed the fibres between the disc and made them expand to lock into the muzzle.

Expanding tampion for the 30,5 cm gun
 
The tampion is probably going to be the very last machined part on this model. It was turned from a length of brass rod. The handle was first turned as a thin disk and then the excess material was milled away to leave the T-shaped handle standing. The greased leather sleeve has been simulated by some brown paint.

Turning the tampion
 

Milling the tampion handle
 
 
The painted wipers, rammer and tampion
 
Next on the list are the anchor-crane, the flagpole and flag and finally the gun-sights
 
To be continued ....

One of the benefits of working at 1/32" scale is of course the size.  I think its easier to handle the parts and keep things neat and tidy.  But in addition to that you can really get a lot of details in there.  Stuff I would never attempt to add on smaller scales.  Further, 1/32 and better yet 1/35 scale is a very popular modeling scale.  There are so many aftermarket parts and details available for builders at this scale.  This includes figures and accessories.  Like the small cups and pitcher.   Its all readily available on Etsy or Ebay.   Its also fun to just look.   I am waiting on a few other things I made add.  
 
The barrels are Syren barrels.   I am also getting some new ones in stock I think you guys will like.   It might be a while though.
 

The checker is still very tiny but that is laser cut by me including small very teensy checkers.  The stools are also laser cut in cedar and very differnt from the cushy chairs in the great cabin for the officers.
 

The cups and tea cups and teapot are all 3d prints from EBAY.  They were cheap and there are so many to choose from....you can add crates and boxes full of food and pots and pans and utensils. Its really just up to you and how much fun you might want to have with it.
 

The officer in the great cabin is from Vanguard.  It had a tall hat so I removed that and just shaped some hair in the traditional pony tail of the day.   I didnt want to really paint these items as I want them to all fade into the background.  I want to keep it all very suggestive and simple.   So rather than paint everything with realistic coloring with all the uniform colors and fanfare,  I am just finishing all this stuff as if it was wood color...and carved.   Its a minimalist approach so the ship itself takes center stage.  But it will all be covered and just barely visible when the decks are planked.  But still you might just get a glimpse and a happy surprise if you look hard enough.   I think it will be fun.
 
I do actually have a few more 1/32 and 1/35 scale odds and ends coming in the mail.    We shall see if they make the cut and I add them to the model.  I dont want to over do it.  For all you guys who would do the same...try and stick with 1/35 scale details.  They are plentiful and just a tad smaller and look better on the model.
 

 
Chuck
 
 

Incredible detail at that scale, and well painted I may add.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Incredible detail at that scale, and well painted I may add.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Well these pieces are done 

I've been fiddling with making 'raw' deck beams for the past couple of visits to the museum. The model will need to come home shortly to have some finish applied to the inside of the hull, but in the meantime, I can make the beams ready to start chopping some of them up where deck structures will intrude so that things can progress after the model comes home.
 
This is how she looks at the moment with the beams so far made temporarily fitted in place.
 
John
 

Put the lathe back under the bench; wonder if I'll ever use it again? Before doing that I vacuumed out under there in the process discovering objects such as a long-lost hammer. So I decided to empty and vacuum the shelf under the bench and found more stuff, including a box with my wife's late grandfather's carving tools and some bandsawn blanks of his for horses etc (he was a farmer who loved his workhorses), and this little jewel which I believe was the grade 11 machine shop project. I recall hardening the jaws and polishing before assembly. Fond memories!
 
I will take grandpa's box to the cottage this summer and while away some down time trying to produce a creditable horse, in his memory.

 

 

Hi folks, does anyone know if Donna has returned to the business yet?  I have tried contacting her several times (two different email addresses) but have not heard anything back.  Grieving can take a while to come to grips with, and I fully understand if she has decided not to return yet - simply asking.  I do not wish to pester her with emails until she is comfortable.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Can't beat the Jim Byrnes disc sander for accuracy IMHO.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Hi folks, does anyone know if Donna has returned to the business yet?  I have tried contacting her several times (two different email addresses) but have not heard anything back.  Grieving can take a while to come to grips with, and I fully understand if she has decided not to return yet - simply asking.  I do not wish to pester her with emails until she is comfortable.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Hi folks, does anyone know if Donna has returned to the business yet?  I have tried contacting her several times (two different email addresses) but have not heard anything back.  Grieving can take a while to come to grips with, and I fully understand if she has decided not to return yet - simply asking.  I do not wish to pester her with emails until she is comfortable.
 
cheers
 
Pat

When I got the fit out stuff Simon sent a couple of 1/72 pieces 

I am managing to sand most of the planked surfaces down to reasonably fresh wood, but there are some areas I wont be able to get at (eg. Internal hull planking between stifeners) and other areas that are made of such slender wood that to sand them risks damaging them (e.g. internal stanchions and rowers outfit). In order to see how much difference this would make to the varnished apearance I made up the test pieces (below) from some panking panels I made about 5 years ago to try out different trenails/ hole dimensions.
 
1. The one on the left was sanded down to "fresh" wood (350 grit followed by 600 grit) then cleaned with white spirit and coated with 5 coats of Ronseal, Ultra Tough Mattcoat Clear Varnish (polyurethene) - 1st coat thinned 50% with white spirit.
 
2. The one on the right was not sanded at all. Simply cleaned with white spirit and varnished.
 
I was surprized at how little difference there was between the 5 year old and fresh surfaces (there are some pencil marks on the right hand panel which make it look a bit worse...). Im hoping that the difference wont be that noticable, particularly as it will be on different pieces of wood and there is natural variation accross the wood used anyway...
 

The picture below is of a model I varnished (again , matt polyurethane varnish) 35 years ago (!) The hull planking is ash and is has darkened slilghtly over the years to quite a pleasing colour. Hopefully this aging effect will help to iron out any differences in wood preparation on my trireme.

 

Thanks, people! I'm pretty happy with these, and I feel I'm getting better with carving hands, which have always been my biggest problem.
 
Knocklouder, Gobsmacked is the way you say it. It's a verb - so you'd say "I'm gobsmacked". I think it comes from the slang term "gob" (which means mouth, at least in the UK and Oz) - so it means you feel like you've been smacked in the mouth. More of a British term than an Aussie one, but I use it myself because it's so descriptive. (By the way, in Oz a gobbie is a slimy expectoration - though perhaps that's a bit too much information).
 
Steven

And they're done (except for thinning the legs a bit, and a bit of sanding and painting). I think the stance is wide enough. If not, too bad. I've spent so much time and effort getting them the way I want them, particularly the grip on the tiller, that this will have to do.
 
Roughed out:
   
And finished.
   

Separated, and hair carved:



And trimmed. I pride myself that my figures should be able to stand upright all by themselves, and usually I manage it. And two other crewmen I'd also carved (not sure if I posted them at the time) working on the rigging.
 



I need to cut a little bit away at the base of the helmsmen's feet. At the moment they look like they're from the 70's with platform shoes.
 
And then that's all the carving done.
 
Steven
 
 
 

The fourth evolution of my build cradle... The upper works are very light which makes inverting the model interesting. Ive adapted my cradle so it supports the model inverted on two beams which pass from port to starboard beside the upper thole pins. This way the weight is taken on the lower outrigger which is supported by numerous brackts and so should be strong enough to take any forces I subject it to while sanding and varnishing the hull.

OLYMPIAS DRAWINGS AND TRIREME TRUST ARCHIVE
 
I have recently been in email corespondence with the archivist at Wolfson college who is responsible for managing this archive (Jude Brimmer).
 
The point of contact she has given me is https://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/library/archives/trireme-trust , which includes both links to the catalogue and their contact form.
 
She has permission to provide is a PDF ‘research pack’ of a selection of the drawings which the estate has chosen as being particularly suitable for modelmakers. (GA2 and Plan nos 7, 8, 10 and 11). she has  been authorised to provide this free of charge, on completion of a Copyright Declaration Form stating it will be used for research/private study purposes only.
 

Wonderful work Eberhard; a stunning micro-model.  I have enjoyed following this build tremendously.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Eberhard, I think a lot of this can be deduced from the various issues of the 'rules' from Trinity house.
 
cheers
 
Pat

My daughter was very complimentary about my latest model.  But she said I had to put something on the table.  It looked too bare and boring.   So not wanting to disappoint my lovely daughter I added some laser cut books.   Yes that is a very very tiny Seawatch book about Speedwell Volume 1 I believe.   Great reading while at sail on those quiet evenings!!
 
The cupola really isnt that shiny....its just the very bright overhead light and the photo camera lights.  It is actually much darker and subdued.  I think.  LOL.
 
 
The books are just 1/4" tall so very very very tiny.  Cleaned up after laser cutting and ready for a printed cover scaled down....But here you see them in the raw state.   These are right off the laser cutter and just sanded to remove the char.  The close ups are brutal but they look really good at regular viewing.  About the size of your fingernail.
 

That's not me, that's Liteflight. I accept no responsibility for him . . . 
 
The wide stance is well on the way . . .
 


Here's close-ups on their faces.


Steven

Some more pics:
 

 

 


 


 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 

Sort of interesting news story.  Wreck was found in 1993 but archeologists are now taking a closer look.
 
50-gun frigate HMS Tyger
 
Now, get this quote from the article:
 
Really.

Folks, there may be a bit of a mix of terminology being used here?  If not, apologies in advance. As most of you know I am researching the rigging for HMCSS Victoria (1855) which may help shed some light on the question.
 
Victoria's Specification, and her Rigging Warrant, both mention wire rope vertical jackstays (separate to the shrouds).  As far as I can establish, the vertical jackstays (also sometimes referred to as horses I think) were (in Victoria at least) used to lace the leech of the storm sails.  In Victoria, the fore, main and mizen (driver) fore-and-aft sails used traversing hoops.  I have read that the jackstays were also used in some ships to lace the leech of all fore-and-aft sails rather than using hoops.
 
From what I have found so far (and I would still welcome further info about the subject) is that these were either rope (early versions), wire rope or even iron rod (later ships).  I have not established how they were secured on their upper and lower ends.  In Victoria, I think these were only rigged when the storm sails were bent on.  As such the vertical jackstays did not have footropes.  While Paul is referring to the shrouds, vertical jackstays may also have been used in Flying Fish which may be the cause for the mix of terminology - @paul ron do your rigging/belaying plans also refer to vertical jackstays?
 
cheers
 
Pat

Folks, there may be a bit of a mix of terminology being used here?  If not, apologies in advance. As most of you know I am researching the rigging for HMCSS Victoria (1855) which may help shed some light on the question.
 
Victoria's Specification, and her Rigging Warrant, both mention wire rope vertical jackstays (separate to the shrouds).  As far as I can establish, the vertical jackstays (also sometimes referred to as horses I think) were (in Victoria at least) used to lace the leech of the storm sails.  In Victoria, the fore, main and mizen (driver) fore-and-aft sails used traversing hoops.  I have read that the jackstays were also used in some ships to lace the leech of all fore-and-aft sails rather than using hoops.
 
From what I have found so far (and I would still welcome further info about the subject) is that these were either rope (early versions), wire rope or even iron rod (later ships).  I have not established how they were secured on their upper and lower ends.  In Victoria, I think these were only rigged when the storm sails were bent on.  As such the vertical jackstays did not have footropes.  While Paul is referring to the shrouds, vertical jackstays may also have been used in Flying Fish which may be the cause for the mix of terminology - @paul ron do your rigging/belaying plans also refer to vertical jackstays?
 
cheers
 
Pat