chris watton
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Everything posted by chris watton
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A new version of the Amati Prince will be released one day... Just need Amati to cut my new designs.....
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Right, these have just taken ages to type in, as I can't cut and paste.... Latest pics of progress, all the deck stuff is dry fitted and needs more work before gluing in place....- 906 replies
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I don't see why not. Just email them. (I haven't got any, being almost 1000 miles away and in another country..)
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Thanks, guys Yes, the Vanguard kit could be modified for Bellona, they are both virtually identical in shape and size - the only real differences being superficial, and therefore easily changed. I thought all of the cast stern decoration for Vanguard, Bellerophon and Elephant were now changed to resin! @Fam - very interesting post, thank you ETA - just tried linking some pics of Roman galley, but still won't let me, and I haven't time to type in the whole address manually...
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I wouldn't mind doing a Roman merchant vessel in the future, as they seem to be a more conventional hull form.
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It is fun and quite rewarding, as you learn a lot more than normal. I think that every model you see from this era is based on 'guess work', but it is educated guess work by interpreting the sources used. Hell, no one really knows and debate still rages about what the Mary Rose really looked like at the time of her capsizing, and that's over a millennium and a half after the Roman Quinquireme - we even have to make educated guesses for some of the decoration used on ships from only 2 centuries ago! So for the Roman ship, I had to rely solely on experts' interpretation of the sources regarding the vessels' likely appearance, taking into account the era, the armament carried, length/breadth rations, rowers and oar configurations - and of course, we still have Roman art and iconography that show these vessels. I could of course just have copied the lines from other kits and 'beef up' the designs, but that's not really what I do - at least doing my own research, I am unlikely to copy (possible) mistakes made by others. I have always preferred to start completely from scratch using my own methods and am not at all interested in how other's do it - and I hope this shows with the stuff I do.
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I can't really say too much about this particular development at this stage, but I don't think it's going to replace the Greek warship - this new one is much later, about 4-450 years later and much larger. (180 oars in all) and designed for both long and short range warfare, with a plethora of PE decoration in keeping with its capital ship status. The existing 1:1 trireme plans weren't much use, to be honest, not after researching the differences, so I started completely from scratch, which is a first for me - having to make my own line drawings before even starting the designs.
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Just over a metre for the hull at 48th scale.
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Lots and lots of research, buying many (expensive) books on the subject and then essentially starting from scratch, based on the research I did. There are no line drawings for this type of vessel so I had to make up my own before even starting the designs. (based on dimensions/length to width ratios etc.). I did secure a full set of plans from the Trireme Trust, but to be honest, they were next to useless for the type of vessel I had in mind - a late Republic capital ship that perhaps Agrippa would recognise.
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Just for you - this is the pre-prototype:
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Cheers TBH, Most of my work has still been on Victory, with the Roman ship on evenings and weekends, to try and not slow anything down.
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Can't really say at this point, but I can say there's a lot of pre cut parts, eliminating any need to pull one's hair out...
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OK, just completed final designs for the Roman warship (cut files and PE files), which includes 4 x Ballista's and 1 x Onager - all now emailed and sent off to be made for me. I can now continue with Victory.
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Yes, plans and instructions, and sorting through the hundreds of construction pics. Designing and building the prototype is only half the job when developing a kit - as much time again, sometimes even more time, is spent trying to ensure that people can build the model by way of text, pictures and line drawings.
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Hi amfibius, I don't think I really started the prototype of Victory before the 'great crash', so all the photos I posted are on this thread. I am working on Victory (and Roman warship) right now, so I am not sure when Victory will be released yet. Cheers, Chris
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Fantastic model, and fantastic attention to detail. Threads like this are an inspiration to us all, I think. Well done!
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- ship of the line
- 80 guns
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Yep, definite quoting and linking issues with IE11, also can't post links to pictures from my Webshots account too! I can quote if I click 'quote' to open in another tab, but if I simply click 'quote', I get nothing! Oh, the weight for the Victory is pure speculation on my part, I know the actual model weighs about 8kg, so if that's doubled, that should be more or less the weight of the kit - I know that the Vanguard plans and instructions alone weighed more than a complete Lady nelson kit!
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Hiya! I am OK, thank you. Just been busy doing boring research and designing the Roman Quinquireme (not easy as most drawings available are speculation, and there are no lines, which I had to produce myself...). It is 48th scale, giving a length of just over a metre - 32nd scale would have been just too huge. I had the first prototype cut files arrive over Christmas, for the hull and am now building it up, making changes as I do. Also been plodding on with Victory stuff...
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No - I started the designs for that model in 2001, and it was to be 72nd from the off. At the time, I thought that 64th scale would have been too large for most - nothing whatsoever to do with the carriers. Also, the parts are split (keel split into two, like most of our new models), along with decks, so length of finished models bares no relation to box size. Vanguard is about 14kg, I imagine Victory to be around the 18kg mark. The extra decks in Victory probably equate to an extra 30mm thickness is materials in the box. There is lots more photo etching, but again, how thick is each sheet? (Although the 102 full length cannon barrels may add a kg....)
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I am not sure if AMATI will want to make other sizes, we have 2, 3.5, 5, 7 and 9mm already, I think.
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I don't think the quote/multi quote app is working properly today...
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Hi Lawrence, The length of the 32 pounder is just over 50mm.
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I won't start a new thread on this, as I am not sure who the kit will be for, so may be restricted in what I can give away. I don't think it'll have a corvus, the Romans tried these in the 1st Punic War - although quite successful, they were also successful in making the vessels very unstable and many ships were lost because of this. (from what I have read, at least..) As for ballista/scorpion/harpax/onager or two - it would be rude not to! Not sure about oar arrangement yet - still researching.... Regarding an ironclad - I personally like them and would love to develop one (I remember with fondness helping to develop and built the prototype of a 96th scale pre-dreadnaught almost 20 years ago now) - but I don't think it will ever happen. Even Warrior is often met with luke warm enthusiasm at best - and that's one of the prettier and well known transitional vessels. The rest are interesting, but ugly when compared to the vessels they usurped - the Victorian period just isn't that romantic when it comes to ships - most kit modellers aren't interested (although I know there will always be niche's within niche's), especially when compared to the earlier periods. In my own humble optional, of course..
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There may be some news regarding Bellona soon - in the meantime, I have to start work and research on a 32nd scale Roman war galley.... Roma Victor!
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Cheers I did in fact weigh the Victory when at Amati. We placed bets on its weight. I was convinced it weighed around 20kg, and so were some others. It actually weighed 8kg! I was very surprised. Vanguard did feel a lot lighter, though, so that must be perhaps 5-6kg. As for complexity, Victory is much more complex than Vanguard, but that doesn't translate as difficult. I guess if you have no plans/instructions for Vanguard, there's a good chance you could still build it, being a fairly conventional kit. For Victory, you will need to follow the instructions and drawings, as there are many parts that look similar, but are not. Revenge is quite easy to build, the easiest of the three, I think - but when I say 'easy', I really mean less time to build - there is nothing too difficult about any of them - not like the old days when you had to shape a lot of the parts yourself. I did ask about Cutty Sark - this will be a kit at some point, that's all I know.
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