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moreplovac

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Everything posted by moreplovac

  1. moreplovac
    Hi Robin, the one i had was looking very acceptable and i liked it but for some reason did not fit quite into the ship. I will most likely make the same shape but a bit smaller, not to small since i will not be able to hold it :-). I am thinking of getting a human figure (or at least something that will present a human) in the scale of the ship so at least i can visually see the fitment. You are right, the plan and scale mentioned in the box does not go along with actual ship dimensions. Something went sideways during kit building process in factory.. While doing a bit of a math, i was actually surprised that for a model 55cm long, and approximate 38m long in the real life would give the scale of 1/70. This would give me a scaled size of an ancient Greek basketball player (2m) of a 2.86cm.. It should be manageable..
  2. moreplovac
    Today i can work 1 hr longer; 2 am will magically become 1am so woohoo, extra hour for modeling.. Did a work on steering oars, a pair of oars made from 3mm kit stock wood. Cut the to the length, cut the groove for a paddle. The paddle that comes with the kit are made of 1mm plywood. First needed to clean up laser cut remains on the wood and then i decided to give them a quick bath in mahogany-color stain. After not more than a minute, i wiped out remains of the stain and got a nice color. Forgot to take picture, it will be seen on the oar.. Then i started to work on a handle for these oars. I made them out of two peaces of plank, leftover from the oarsman' sits making exercise. Glued two parts together, roughly put some shape markings and start working on it. End result is like this.. Dry fitting on the ship reveals that it is not quite to scale so need to shape it a bit. Challenge is to get it into right scale (or as close as possible) without assistance from the plan.. Shaped it a bit to much so now need to get a new one.. Tomorrow will continue on this task and continue building the ram, from the paper for now.
  3. moreplovac
    Completed a bit of a work yesterday. Noticed that i put two extra fake hatches where the main mast and other fittings needs to go so had to do some "open-deck surgery" and remove two of them. The bad part is those hatches were glued to the deck so a small drop of acetone was required to assist with removal. Two hatches removed and the damaged area sanded and cleaned. Small work done at the begging of the hatches' row to secure the place where one of the sail rope will be ending. First two hatches were modified to accommodate the new dimensions and position. Small fake handle was also removed and re-positioned on hatches. Tiny wood strips were applied on the edges of the opening.. Since i decided not to do anything with wales at this moment i started to work on design for a ram. This going to be interesting process since there is no quite good documentation about this mighty devices used to ram (smash) opponent's ship.. There are few pictures available on the internet and some other fellow builders were attacking this problem as well so i think, combining all efforts will result in a good end product. For now i started to build a ram from paper and tape.. That should be all for today; happy modeling for all.
  4. moreplovac
    Today i worked on fake doors and install them all except two first one, when looking from the bow... Also i made myself a small tool to help with plank twisting... I am not happy with twisting results and had two planks put back into the water for another twisting attempt. Must do a bit of a research on this site for ideas how to do proper twisting (with iron, or some other techniques).. Also, applied a tiny layer of Danish oil on the main deck. That part worked fine... More to come..
  5. moreplovac
    Last few days i was not quite eager to do any work in the shipyard. Actually i was not able to do any work since i left for a concert in Tacoma. Andre Rieu was performing in Tacoma Dome and it was awesome. If you have an opportunity to see his 3.5 hrs long show, by all means do so. On my way back i picked up a new table lamp with magnifier glass. It is very good and i think it might make my modeler's life much brighter. Today, i worked on the fake doors, giving them and nice, light coat of danish oil.. Few dust particles will be removed before installation. Then i did the same for all oars.. After that work filled with a good sirtaki and bouzouki music (well, we are building a Greek Ship, right) i did some sanding on the main deck, getting it ready for a danish oil coat.. I cannot help my self not to take any picture from the modeler's view thru the lenses of my new lamp: End of the shipyard shift.... This should be all for today... Thanks for following..
  6. moreplovac
    Today i completed all fake doors for friendly oarsman, numbered them all and marked positions on the main deck. After listening to two long-play albums, that's about it...
  7. moreplovac
    Hi Robin, excellent build, very informative log as well. Appreciate all your time you have put typing in and pasting pictures. I believe the next one is second Bireme kit, right Good luck with new build...
  8. moreplovac
    Worked a bit on the "fake" doors on the main deck. Very tinny strips of oak wood, i believe 1x1mm and very fragile.. Then i made a small "jig" to make a doors uniformed as much as possible: Four doors completed, few more to go.. Testing fittings, it will work well.. More to come...
  9. moreplovac
    Continuing with work on a main deck. Even dough plan does not say so, i wanted to add a bit of an "edge" planking just to finish up nicely the main deck. I was not able to locate any more appealing piece of wood in my shop so i used few extra planks from the ship pile. Started from the back... ... used miter cut tool, which turned out to be very useful and sharp tool (my thumb is a witness).. The next picture shows twisting and fitting of a planks; since wood was a bit to long in the water, the clamps left a small dents in the planks so i ended up cutting that part and using two new planks. Must be more careful, no spare parts anymore.. The ship plan shows that main deck planking goes all the way, up to the top of the ship; i did not like it and finished up deck planking like this: it needs a bit sanding but i kind of like clean lines... Then started to work on deck area where fake doors will be located. Not quite sure yet should i just fake it or spend extra time to cut the opening on the deck nicely, make 20+ doors, etc. We'll see. Plan says just to enhance the appearance of the doors with tiny strips of oak... From the rat's point of view.. Between those three strips of wood i need to either make it or fake it.. Also, at this time i needed to make a hole for a main (and only) mast.. Measured it, marked it and went for bench drill press, ship modeler's nightmare.. I must say it does look very scary, all your spent hours under the mercy of mighty bench press. I do have a smaller, modeler's kind of press but it is still unopened, in original shipping box. I think i should spend some time and recycle that shipping material.. All good, no casualties. Dry fitting... End result acceptable.. and from the oarsman perspective... Next is a decision time: "to cut or not to cut" the doors Enjoy your weekend everyone..
  10. moreplovac
    "Le jig" works very well; kind of give me some ideas for my work mounting the oars.
  11. moreplovac
    Hi Robin, very nice display case. It gave me some idea for my Bireme.. I like the way you managed the "craddles". Last time i was in Breda, i though i saw a Canadian Tire there... No wait, my bad. It was a Starbucks..
  12. moreplovac
    Today i completed all oars, sanded them and got them ready for a danish oil `massage`... Mental note to myself: need to start paying attention where my phone' camera is focusing or to pull out my SLR.. I needed to convince myself that several hrs of work on oars was actually worth it. I think i ended up getting a very decent oar if compared to oar on the plan. Still not sure how oarsman can get the mighty bireme to the speed of 9 knots (at least that was the speed of Olympians trireme) which supposed to be enough to successfully ram the enemy's ships, if they have used oar type from the plan. I think if oars were made in the shape copied from this plan, the bireme would most likely will be able to achieve few dents and dings on enemies' ship.. Also worked on covering all exposed frame parts with veneer and made them flush with the frames. I think it turned out to be a decent work... ..and the view of all frames covered with veneer. There are also a guide lines for fake doors i am planing to work on next time. Thanks for following...
  13. moreplovac
    Hi Michael, thanks for following along and for kind words.. Yes, i decided to make this build a bit more custom then what's on the plan. Partially because i am a bit rusty when it comes to model ship building skills and partially because i came across model pictures that are completely apart from ship plans. So, i decided to give my touch as well :-) The oars were first thing i noticed on the ship plan that are sticking out in negative connotation which made me think how to improve them by using kit supplied parts for oar polls and something else for paddles. And yes, now every time i get a coffee i grab few extras, for my supply collection..
  14. moreplovac
    New patient; good song on the ipad, a bit stronger grip and voala.. Broken oar but with a small drop of superglue all is back to normal.. As we can all see, today was all about sanding the oars and adding a small strip of veneer to cover laser cut burns on the frames... The one with a small label is the one that has a handle broken and will need special attention after all is done. Also it will require a special place inside of the ship so it is hidden from praying eyes that can see all imperfections. 2/3 of the oars completed; 10-15 more to go. Veneer applied to most of the frames. Few more to be applied. Kind of boring day (night) in shipyard but there are always jobs that have to be done. That is all for today. Happy building all...
  15. moreplovac
    Hmm, noticed that last picture should not be there but was unable to remove it from the blog...
  16. moreplovac
    I found myself in a mistake, not reading a plan correctly i planked two extra rows on both sides of main deck. After looking into completed planking i noticed that space where the oarsman will sit looks like a Tiger III tank' driver space, which was kind of weird, at least. So back to the shipyard and using acetone, i removed two extra planks from both ends. It required a bit of cleaning up after but end result was satisfactory. The size of the main deck is correct now and oarsman can enjoy the Mediterranean view and breeze of fresh sea wind.. I did not like the end results of the laser-cut frames. Contemplating what to do i decided to put a peace of veneer to cover that visible part of frames. On above picture you see the difference between covered and uncovered frames. I think it would look more finished with veneer then without. Before I also tried to sand the frames, but was not quite satisfied with results; i would still see the middle dark brown line which i think is part of a 4 mm plywood... Researching this ship model i came across some pictures of the finished model and noticed that there are some extra planking applied on the edge of the main deck (black arrow). Unfortunately the ship kit does not come with those so i need to do some work in my shop to find correct wood parts. Fun.. Today i started the main deck sanding (unfortunately forgot to protect the ship interior so will need to do some cleanup afterwards); also sanded up 4 oars and could not resist not to see how this will all fit together. Not picking the right position for oars (holes are not made yet) i put few oars in the ship just for fun.. Well at the end, it might turn out to be interesting model.. During main deck planking process i put few planks in the middle of the deck and used this "fancy" template to mark down position for a 5 planks, where i will be installing edge planks. Plan was to put the edge planks first and than fill out the rest of the space. Interesting experience i must say..
  17. moreplovac
    A bit of a planking for the end of the day... Most likely i will not trust these clothespin to hold my clothing but they are quite useful for holding the planks... Main deck planking is coming along.. The blue mess on the top is part of my protective gloves that got glued with little help of gorilla gel glue. Cleaning up of it is next phase.. Thanks for following.
  18. moreplovac
    Completed assembly of all oars, next is to sand them and put a coat of danish oil or something... Here they are, waiting for a next phase.. To get away from making oars, i lay down few planks for a main deck. The planks were kept in water for few last days. Not on purpose dough; i just forgot about them which ended up being a good thing since they were twistable like chew gum... That's it for now; fortunately day is not over yet so apart from putting a drywall primer on hallway walls, there is not much house work on the plate. Time permitting i will be back in ship shop shortly (hah, ship-shop)..
  19. moreplovac
    Thanks Robin. I am also very happy with oars; was just wondering for my future build which could potentially be the same one you are working on. I noticed your oar work and they make perfect sense for that ship.
  20. moreplovac
    I have installed a time-tracking application on my iphone, curious to see how much time i spent on this project. I have not used it all the time so i would increase the total time for about 30%. So far, 52hrs + 30% = 67.6 hrs..
  21. moreplovac
    Hi Robin, you are right, i also think Amati's Greek Bireme 480 B.C. is a little bit out of the historical facts. Not sure why. When i was starting to work on oars, i noticed that if i follow the shape of an oar suggested in the plan, the oars will look a bit unrealistic for anyone. And if you have spent some time on any seacoast, especially at the Greek coast, there is really no historical (and practical) evidence that oars from plan's shape existed anywhere. I am guessing my next Greek type build will be from the same source as yours. On the oar topic, are you maybe able to share that oar plan you have in your post with a bit higher resolution?
  22. moreplovac
    Hi Heinrich, thanks for following and very useful comment. I will try to get more info about exhibition in Berlin German Technical Museum, not sure if they have more details available on their web site. Worst case scenario i will ask one of my work colleagues to spend some quality time in museus and provide me with some more details, pictures... Thanks for sharing your ideas for a ram. I was also contemplating how to get it done and one of the options was exactly what you have suggested. The second one was in the line with Robin's exceptional work. Work on ram will be done in maybe month or two, depending on time available from my day-to-day work. I must admit that when i work on ship model i simply disconnect myself from the real world. This gives me a bit of buster energy to deal with Internet security in my daily tasks....
  23. moreplovac
    Today i was working on oars, putting them all together.. Cutting the grove for a paddle is a bit of a challenge for fat fingers dude like me, but managed to have it done somehow.. Paddle installed.. A little bit of a squeeze with tweezers to make sure the bond is tight.. In the process... and end result for today: Now, oars have to be shaped a bit, sanded and cover with danish oil or similar. Thanks for following..
  24. moreplovac
    Thanks Robin. Is there any secret handshake i should know? I hope there is no some weird brotherhood initiation...
  25. moreplovac
    Today it is oar's day. All about oars. Completed rest of the oar blades, i think 8 of them so total of 44. Then i attacked the oar pols; cut them all and get them ready for handle shaping. Here is the process i used to shape the handle. After cutting them all, i used Proxxon DB-250 mini lathe to shape the handle. Pole length is marked and positioned in the lathe.. In order to shape all handles to the same diameter, i come up with a small tool; two coffee sticks with a 150 sanding paper glued to two sides; i put a small leftover plank which is perfectly sized to 1mm. It will act as a guard to prevent handles to get to tiny and eventually break during the process. The other sides of the sticks were glued together, forming some kind of sanding tweezers.. All sending setup... Turning the lathe at the speed 4, managed to shape about 20 oar pols for about 40 minutes. Not that bad.. The end result for today looks like this. And yes. This picture was taken before finishing up all 20 pols.. If time permits, will continue tomorrow.. Happy modeling all.

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