Charter33

Another sunning piece of work. Love the detail and the atmosphere your work conveys. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms - keep up the good work.
 
Graham.

Thank you very much to all for your comments. continued with the construction of the hog-boat

Started work on the tackles for the gun carriages.
 
Eyelets have been bent....
 

 
.... twisted.......
 

 
.... and blackened (after chemically cleaning approximately 15 seconds  in Birchwoood Casey Brass Black)
 

 
Joining a rigging hook to a 2mm single block,
 

 
and a first attempt at bringing it all together .....
 

 
Cheers,
Graham.

Another sunning piece of work. Love the detail and the atmosphere your work conveys. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms - keep up the good work.
 
Graham.

Some more work with making missing parts, the dark metal bases of some of the vent stacks, and more new screw mounts.
 

 
New bases from bronze patina on brass, one on left is original.
 
new bases slipped under the glued up boat deck.
 
And today I removed the temporary building jig.
 

 
And a memory lane shot for encouragement to keep going.
 

 
I can feel the end of the tunnel coming.
 
Michael

Before finish the rider was a little leaned forward to look like an original in Vale´s painting.
Here is the final result:
 

Have a nice day  and enjoy the pics.
Best regards,
Doris

Started work on the tackles for the gun carriages.
 
Eyelets have been bent....
 

 
.... twisted.......
 

 
.... and blackened (after chemically cleaning approximately 15 seconds  in Birchwoood Casey Brass Black)
 

 
Joining a rigging hook to a 2mm single block,
 

 
and a first attempt at bringing it all together .....
 

 
Cheers,
Graham.

Started work on the tackles for the gun carriages.
 
Eyelets have been bent....
 

 
.... twisted.......
 

 
.... and blackened (after chemically cleaning approximately 15 seconds  in Birchwoood Casey Brass Black)
 

 
Joining a rigging hook to a 2mm single block,
 

 
and a first attempt at bringing it all together .....
 

 
Cheers,
Graham.

Another sunning piece of work. Love the detail and the atmosphere your work conveys. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms - keep up the good work.
 
Graham.

Another sunning piece of work. Love the detail and the atmosphere your work conveys. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms - keep up the good work.
 
Graham.

Haven't been painting for a while, but did this yesterday and today 'Dispatches' no particular ships.
Jim
watercolour 14" X 10"

1:72 Ragusian Galley 18thCentury
MarisStella
Available from MarisStella for €147 plus shipping

 
The Republic of Ragusa was a maritime republic centred on the city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa in Italian, German and Latin; Raguse in French) in Dalmatia (today in southernmost Croatia) that carried that name from 1358 until 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, before being conquered by Napoleon's French Empire and formally annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, out of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls. Its Latin motto was "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro", which means "Liberty is not well sold for all the gold".
 
The Dubrovnik galley was an integral part of Dubrovnik's war fleet, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, had only a few small warships (at most ten), operated solely because of frequent harassment and looting by pirates and cargo ships at that time. The Galleys were stationed in Dubrovnik and Mali Ston. Other Croatian coastal centres had this type of ship, along the eastern Adriatic coast: Kotor, Omis, Senj, and others. The Dubrovnik galley was driven by both wind and rowers (Galiot), who were both sailors and soldiers, as was appropriate, but there were also condemned criminals that rowed the State ships. Their main feature was their speed, and they were used for military, police and customs purposes, courier services, and for the transport of diplomats and senior civil servants. They were also used for the transportation of goods at the expense of the State.
 
The kit

MarisStella’s kit range is currently undergoing an upgrade, and most certainly in terms of their boxing. This one comes to me in its original incarnation, with a deep midnight blue thin card lid with all printing and imagery in gold ink. This does look quite stark but very attractive. I’m told that the new appearance will have finished model imagery on the box. MarisStella have said they will send over examples of the upgraded kits for us to look at on MSW, so we’ll get to see those changes first-hand in the next months. This release comes in a fairly weighty box, and lifting the lid off, we are first presented with a product leaflet, sheet of printed flags and a thick 122-page manual which is spiral-bound. All of these items sit on a cardboard tray which when lifted out, reveals the kit materials below. A large cardboard cover first needs to be lifted out to access the kit itself.



Inside, several bundles of timber and dowel sit on top of two laser-cut sheets of plywood for the main bulkhead and keel construction, two sheets of laser-cut walnut, several fittings packets, another very thin sheet of laser-cut ply, one fret of photo-etch brass parts, pre-sewn sails, and a packet of rigging cord. Apart from the main sheets of ply and the timber bundles, all other elements within this kit are packed into clear sleeves that are either stapled closed or heat-sealed. My sample arrived with everything in good order.

This POB model is designed very traditionally and is constructed around a 3-part false keel and a set of 15 bulkheads. The ply used for this is 4mm thick, and like all other parts on the main two constructional ply sheets, everything is very cleanly laser-cut, with an absolute minimum of scorching.




 
One thing I noticed on all of the ply sheets is the laser-engraving and marking of where other components will fit to. I quite like this approach as it helps to ensure correct and precise construction throughout. That engraving has also been put to good use on the display stand elements that can be seen on these two sheets. These are also supplied in English, Italian and Croatian text, and contain a little engraved scroll work. You may opt for something a little glitzier with your build, but then again you may be perfectly happy with the parts that MarisStella provide here.

In between the various bulkheads, some 8mm² lengths of lime have been included that can be cut to length and wedged in to keep everything straight. I believe some of the other kits have lengths of dowel which slot continuously through the bulkheads. I would’ve liked to have seen similar here, but at least the timber is included. It is also suggested that this material be cut up and used to create the bow and stern filler blocks, although you might like to use balsa for this purpose.


Two sheets of walnut are supplied, one of which (the narrower and thicker sheet) contains the keel components. Although you will need to cut the rabbet into these, the positions for this are engraved onto the parts and the manual clearly shows how this is done. 



The other walnut sheet is lighter in colour and thinner than the previous, containing parts for the gun carriages, rail cap strips, cabin bulkhead, and transom, channels etc. Again, and where appropriate, more engraving is present for constructional accuracy. All walnut sheet timber is of high quality with good grain that shouldn’t split etc.

A very thin sheet of birch ply is included for the head rails, transom and cabin door detail etc. 




All strip stock in this kit is also of the same standard, with numerous bundles of timbers of different sizes and types, including European Walnut for the hull planking. There is some natural variation in the colour of the walnut planks, so I would look at possibly grouping them, so wood of the same tone is used the same for both sides. This model also has a single-planked hull, unlike the double-planked that we so commonly see these days. However, the deck is double-planked, and the planks sit directly atop of the bulkheads, with no thin ply deck to lay first. The second layer of deck planking is supplied as beech strips.

Various lengths and diameters of dowel are included, and all supplied in walnut. These are tightly grained and have excellent natural colour. 

This is one model that really would benefit from having sails fitted, just to highlight the elegance of the shape. A feature of MarisStella kits is that the sail material is pre-sewn. By this, I mean that the shapes are lightly printed to a piece of pre-aged sheet and the inner stitched lines are present. All you need to do is to cut out the sails and sew the outer edges. Sail colour is akin to natural linen and looks good to use without any further ageing trickery.

Two anchor packs are included. These contain a metal anchor that is painted black, a separate walnut stock, and some brass bandings that would look nice if they were also blackened. 

Another pack contains 3-eye rigging blocks, single blocks, eyelets, belaying pins, and parrel beads. There is some colour variation in the block colour and all look to be made from walnut.

One length of 1mm brass wire is included in one fittings pack, as are two 4mm cannon for the bow. These are finished with an antique patina and may benefit from being blackened in some way. I would use Gunze Dark Iron paint which is then burnished to an iron finish. 


A reasonably thick sheet of photo-etch parts is also included, containing head rail decoration, transom decoration, rudder straps etc. Quality is again excellent, with reasonably thin tags to remove the parts from their positions. Tag positions are the only clean-up that will be required with these parts.

A single packet is included that contains four spools of natural finish rigging cord in 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1mm diameters. One length of 1.25mm is included separately, as is a 1mm length of black rope.

Every vessel of course needs a flag and both this and a pennant are supplied here, laser-printed in colour onto paper. You’ll need to furl these realistically and they could’ve done with been thinner, possibly from tissue paper, but will still look very attractive when flown.
 
Instructions
This 121-page spiral-bound A4 manual also has a clear plastic cover to protect it. Each of the constructional stages are illustrated by generally uncluttered CAD line drawings that are annotated in English, Italian and Croatian. Some drawing details are a little small, such as the eyelet positions, footplates etc. so maybe magnify those a little. A very comprehensive section on making the sails is also included. Illustrated construction takes place over 83 pages, and this is then followed by the building instruction text and list of parts.






 
Plan
A large single sheet plan is included that contains pretty much every dimension/measurement you'll need and the line drawing quality is excellent. To prevent any piracy, I have only included a portion of that plan here, with no bulkhead shapes.

 
Conclusion
A very nice kit of a very unusual subject. I’ve seen so many model ships of antiquity, but this is one that seems to bridge the gap by being of a generally ancient style, whilst being an 18thCentury vessel. MarisStella’s design is nice and easy to follow and is coupled with high quality materials and drawings. In all, an excellent package that will provide many hours of pleasure for a very reasonable price. As this is single-planked, I would recommend this to intermediate modellers.
 
My sincere thanks to MarisStella for sending this kit out for review on Model Ship World. To purchase directly, click the link at the top of the page, or head over to your local MarisStella stockist.
 
 

Hello dear friends, 
thank you all for your kind words and support and also your help, I do appreciate it a lot. That is a great pleasure for me. Thank you also for your "likes".
You are right and thank you for advice. I have already looked at various pics of real ships, that often helps me with better decision. 
I used the pics of Sheldon model mainly for an inspiration, how to create the bow - timbers, rails etc. The shape of bow on RK model is made according the Vale´s painting.
 
That's great, Patrick,  thank you very much for sharing, this help me a lot. Super!
 
**********************************
 
I have started making the most demanding statue at the bow. First I create the horse - it is made in stages and each part is then heated in the oven. The rider, harness and a pair of smaller statues behind the horse will be created separately.
 
Here is the beginning:
 

 
Best regards,
Doris

Still working on the cannons.
 
After removing the wheels from the sheets I put some super glue on some of the wheel edges as some of them were easily splintered. Inserted them in a toothpick and sanded them together.  Marked the wheel bolts and varnished them.


 
 
I decided to solder the trunnions to the cannons. Since I intend to blacken the cannons I thought that any solder on the outside might give me problems when blackening so I used the following method.
Grinded a small notch in the middle of the trunnion

 
Filled it with solder, let it cool

 
Inserted the trunnion in the cannon and heated the cannon with a gas soldering gun to melt the solder inside.

 
 
Then I came to the trunnion brackets.  To shape them by hand one by one was very difficult to keep them uniform and time consuming, so I thought of a jig.  I found a piece of small metal angle and fitted two pieces next to each other in a piece of hard wood as shown, leaving a groove between them just a bit more then the diameter of the 1.5mm brass wire to be used for the trunnions.  Took a piece of a dowel and at one end I made a small groove and glue in it a piece of the 1.5mm wire, leaving half of its diameter protruding out. 

 
 
Cut the trunnion bracket from the brass sheet, trim it and place it across the groove.  

 
 
Place the dowel with the brass rod facing down on the bracket along the groove and just give it a slight tape with a small hammer. The brackets are very thin and soft so a small tap is enough.

 

 
 
 

 
 
This is the result.  Quite neat and quite easy.

 
Hopefully I will soon be putting the cannons, carriages, brackets, eyelets all together.
 
Robert
 
 
 

.... there's no such thing as 'stupid questions' ...... Good luck!
 
Graham

.... there's no such thing as 'stupid questions' ...... Good luck!
 
Graham

Hi,
 
Wefalck - I fully agree with you. As with many things in life I believe that often the journey is as important as the destination, and when the outcome is helped by making tools to complete the task, even better, it's all part of the enjoyment. Mill Hill Supplies are the company I was talking about - need to start saving ....
 
Mark - I had read your first reply just as you had intended it to be read. I could see where you were coming from, so please, there is absolutely no need to go stand in the corner.
 
Mr Pucko - that was exactly the biggest issue I had. I did find a 'free' site where you could set parameters and print off a paper copy to stick onto a piece of wood and then cut out, and another where to use the 'free' download  turned out to be not so free at all. I looked at meccano gears, and even considered drawing up the gears using the skills I learned (and subsequently forgot) for geometrically constructing involute spur gears as an 'A' level Technical Drawing student back in the early 1970's - but life is too short. I eventually resorted to machining the centres out of Lego gears and fitting an acrylic hub complete with a square hole suitable for 5/32nd brass tube. This, with a little fettling of the corners, was pushed into 6mm dia brass tube, selected as it fitted the Tamiya R/C car miniature ball races. CA glue secured the various bits together. There is definitely a market out there for suitable gears. It should also be possible to get the same sort of results with some form of pulley and belt drive. Do you have access to a small metal turning lathe? If you can get hold of Lego gears (found mine on the popular on-line auction site) I might be able to knock out some 'hubs' ...
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Hi,
 
Wefalck - I fully agree with you. As with many things in life I believe that often the journey is as important as the destination, and when the outcome is helped by making tools to complete the task, even better, it's all part of the enjoyment. Mill Hill Supplies are the company I was talking about - need to start saving ....
 
Mark - I had read your first reply just as you had intended it to be read. I could see where you were coming from, so please, there is absolutely no need to go stand in the corner.
 
Mr Pucko - that was exactly the biggest issue I had. I did find a 'free' site where you could set parameters and print off a paper copy to stick onto a piece of wood and then cut out, and another where to use the 'free' download  turned out to be not so free at all. I looked at meccano gears, and even considered drawing up the gears using the skills I learned (and subsequently forgot) for geometrically constructing involute spur gears as an 'A' level Technical Drawing student back in the early 1970's - but life is too short. I eventually resorted to machining the centres out of Lego gears and fitting an acrylic hub complete with a square hole suitable for 5/32nd brass tube. This, with a little fettling of the corners, was pushed into 6mm dia brass tube, selected as it fitted the Tamiya R/C car miniature ball races. CA glue secured the various bits together. There is definitely a market out there for suitable gears. It should also be possible to get the same sort of results with some form of pulley and belt drive. Do you have access to a small metal turning lathe? If you can get hold of Lego gears (found mine on the popular on-line auction site) I might be able to knock out some 'hubs' ...
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Hi,
 
Wefalck - I fully agree with you. As with many things in life I believe that often the journey is as important as the destination, and when the outcome is helped by making tools to complete the task, even better, it's all part of the enjoyment. Mill Hill Supplies are the company I was talking about - need to start saving ....
 
Mark - I had read your first reply just as you had intended it to be read. I could see where you were coming from, so please, there is absolutely no need to go stand in the corner.
 
Mr Pucko - that was exactly the biggest issue I had. I did find a 'free' site where you could set parameters and print off a paper copy to stick onto a piece of wood and then cut out, and another where to use the 'free' download  turned out to be not so free at all. I looked at meccano gears, and even considered drawing up the gears using the skills I learned (and subsequently forgot) for geometrically constructing involute spur gears as an 'A' level Technical Drawing student back in the early 1970's - but life is too short. I eventually resorted to machining the centres out of Lego gears and fitting an acrylic hub complete with a square hole suitable for 5/32nd brass tube. This, with a little fettling of the corners, was pushed into 6mm dia brass tube, selected as it fitted the Tamiya R/C car miniature ball races. CA glue secured the various bits together. There is definitely a market out there for suitable gears. It should also be possible to get the same sort of results with some form of pulley and belt drive. Do you have access to a small metal turning lathe? If you can get hold of Lego gears (found mine on the popular on-line auction site) I might be able to knock out some 'hubs' ...
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Thanks for that, Chuck - your comments are much appreciated.
Graham.

Hi,
Last October a thread started by Derek (Worldway) in this section of the forum gave me the final nudge to get started on making my own ropewalk. 
I have previously built a serving machine and decided to try and use similar construction techniques such as using acrylic for the main structure and modified Lego gears for the mechanism.
Here are some pictures of this earlier project:
 

 

 

 


 
The Ropewalk:
 
Clear acrylic components were built up to make wheels and pulleys. Small holes around the rims aid alignment using the brass pins recovered from the first planking on my HMS Victory - I knew there would be a reason to keep them!

 
The Lego gears had their centers machined out and replaced by acrylic hubs. These have a square hole in the center through which 5/32" square brass tube is pushed. This tube, after a little filing, slides firmly into 6mm O/D brass tube axles which in turn fit into the ball races press fitted into the various support plates.
 

 
The track is in sections each about a meter long, which slot together.
I decided to try and use one motor to drive the end that twists the individual strands and a second one to twist these strands together.

 

 
The control box provides separate on/off switches, variable speed control and finally a switch to reverse the direction of rotation.
 

The motors were initially powered by batteries but I have now replaced these with a 6 volt power supply.
 
The 'Top' which guides the strands is mounted on an acrylic truck. This is fitted with the three stand top in the photo but there is also a four stand top.
 

 

 
These four strand gear plates are easily fitted in place of the three strand gear drive.
 

 
In use the strand twisting end is fixed to the track but the other end that twists these together to produce the final rope is free to slide along the track as the twisting process reduces the length of the rope. I'm still getting to grips with the best way to operate this device and need to experiment more with types of yarn, motor speeds etc. Early attempts are encouraging however..........
 

 
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yes Mark, and Domanoff's machines are superb, almost works of art. Having worked through the process of designing and making my modest examples I fully appreciate the  time and effort that he has had to put into developing them. He has my total respect, as does Chuck and his Syren products. Foremost in my mind when putting together my own devices was the essential requirement that in no way could they be regarded as 'rip-offs' of other makers products. I'm right behind Chuck's fight against piracy. I know first hand what it's like to have this happen. A 'colleague' purchased a pair of the steam shaped hardwood salad tongs I used to sell at the school's Christmas market and promptly sent them to her brother on the other side of the world so he could copy them. A different scale compared to what is going on now, but still irritating!
Other sponsors products are also available 'over this side of the pond'. I have found a UK based supplier of Sherline milling machines. I have one of these on my bucket list for the fateful day when I have to retire and will lose access to the equipment and workshops that have been an essential part of my working life for over 40 years.
 
Graham.

Yes Mark, and Domanoff's machines are superb, almost works of art. Having worked through the process of designing and making my modest examples I fully appreciate the  time and effort that he has had to put into developing them. He has my total respect, as does Chuck and his Syren products. Foremost in my mind when putting together my own devices was the essential requirement that in no way could they be regarded as 'rip-offs' of other makers products. I'm right behind Chuck's fight against piracy. I know first hand what it's like to have this happen. A 'colleague' purchased a pair of the steam shaped hardwood salad tongs I used to sell at the school's Christmas market and promptly sent them to her brother on the other side of the world so he could copy them. A different scale compared to what is going on now, but still irritating!
Other sponsors products are also available 'over this side of the pond'. I have found a UK based supplier of Sherline milling machines. I have one of these on my bucket list for the fateful day when I have to retire and will lose access to the equipment and workshops that have been an essential part of my working life for over 40 years.
 
Graham.

Yes Mark, and Domanoff's machines are superb, almost works of art. Having worked through the process of designing and making my modest examples I fully appreciate the  time and effort that he has had to put into developing them. He has my total respect, as does Chuck and his Syren products. Foremost in my mind when putting together my own devices was the essential requirement that in no way could they be regarded as 'rip-offs' of other makers products. I'm right behind Chuck's fight against piracy. I know first hand what it's like to have this happen. A 'colleague' purchased a pair of the steam shaped hardwood salad tongs I used to sell at the school's Christmas market and promptly sent them to her brother on the other side of the world so he could copy them. A different scale compared to what is going on now, but still irritating!
Other sponsors products are also available 'over this side of the pond'. I have found a UK based supplier of Sherline milling machines. I have one of these on my bucket list for the fateful day when I have to retire and will lose access to the equipment and workshops that have been an essential part of my working life for over 40 years.
 
Graham.

Hi,
Feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of likes and comments - thank you all.
John - the 2 meter length was chosen simply as it meant it would fit on the dining room table - just!. To be honest I have yet to try it at its full length but hope to soon.
Bill - there's nothing like making something like this to fully understand how it works. I made a few mistakes, some real howlers, along the way! There are some truly amazing commercial ropewalks available, but I love a challenge and found myself with a bit of time on my hands.
My current aim is to use my version to produce the material for the breech ropes for the gun carriages on my Victory. The instructions say to use .5mm rope but this seems a bit small when I look at images of the real thing. I'm increasing the size of some of the eyelets and trying to use rope of around 1mm, at least that's the plan......
Cheers,
Graham.