overdale

"Technically, we would not have these big waves on a river"

 



 

 

 

The painting is indeed of a river port Yves, but I am not intending to show the ship on the river as my amphora was found in the sea. I merely took the details of the ship from the painting. These were also seagoing/coastal vessels as shown in Steven's photo taken from a Roman sarcophagus. As you can see, the waves there contain dolphins and are considerably larger than even those on my model.  

 

Dan.

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.
 

Yes, it will be square rigged.

A lot of contemporary images show a tiled roof, in fact,  more than a wooden one, so I went with the flow, but of course, it's anyone's guess. I'lll see how it looks when it's painted. I can always change it.
 
Dan.

"Technically, we would not have these big waves on a river"

 



 

 

 

The painting is indeed of a river port Yves, but I am not intending to show the ship on the river as my amphora was found in the sea. I merely took the details of the ship from the painting. These were also seagoing/coastal vessels as shown in Steven's photo taken from a Roman sarcophagus. As you can see, the waves there contain dolphins and are considerably larger than even those on my model.  

 

Dan.

"Technically, we would not have these big waves on a river"

 



 

 

 

The painting is indeed of a river port Yves, but I am not intending to show the ship on the river as my amphora was found in the sea. I merely took the details of the ship from the painting. These were also seagoing/coastal vessels as shown in Steven's photo taken from a Roman sarcophagus. As you can see, the waves there contain dolphins and are considerably larger than even those on my model.  

 

Dan.

A lot of contemporary images show a tiled roof, in fact,  more than a wooden one, so I went with the flow, but of course, it's anyone's guess. I'lll see how it looks when it's painted. I can always change it.
 
Dan.

Wow, thanks Steven,  that's amazing.. My estimate was just a guess.
 
Maybe I should go out and buy a lottery ticket while I'm on such a lucky streak 
 
Dan 

On to the water base.  A simple masonite box was made with the wave pattern cut into all four sides. 
 

 
The box was filled with urethane foam.. Then carved to follow the wave lines.
 

 

 
A hole cut out for the hull.
 

 
The waves were covered in spackle and smoothed. They will eventually be covered in glass fiber.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The rudder oar posts were added and the tile roof test fitted.
 

I had made a start a year or two back but was sidetracked by other work as usual.
 
 
 

 
I built the deck house first to get an idea of the rest of deck layout.
 
 

 
 
 
 

"Technically, we would not have these big waves on a river"

 



 

 

 

The painting is indeed of a river port Yves, but I am not intending to show the ship on the river as my amphora was found in the sea. I merely took the details of the ship from the painting. These were also seagoing/coastal vessels as shown in Steven's photo taken from a Roman sarcophagus. As you can see, the waves there contain dolphins and are considerably larger than even those on my model.  

 

Dan.

Added the rudder boards and started undercoat paint.
 

On to the water base.  A simple masonite box was made with the wave pattern cut into all four sides. 
 

 
The box was filled with urethane foam.. Then carved to follow the wave lines.
 

 

 
A hole cut out for the hull.
 

 
The waves were covered in spackle and smoothed. They will eventually be covered in glass fiber.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The rudder oar posts were added and the tile roof test fitted.
 

I had made a start a year or two back but was sidetracked by other work as usual.
 
 
 

 
I built the deck house first to get an idea of the rest of deck layout.
 
 

 
 
 
 

I have been the proud possessor of a large chunk of an ancient Roman Amphora. The storage jars the Romans used to transport everything from wine to fish sauce and olive oil to the four corners of their vast empire. It came to me quite a few  years ago at the very dawn of ebay when it really was just an online flea market and not the commercial juggernaut it is today.
 
A guy in Ohio was clearing out his garage and put it on line along with a lot of other 'junk'. I bought it for the princely sum of 25 bucks, not knowing if it was genuine or not but I just liked it. I asked him where he got it and he told me he was a retired mailman and a little old french lady on his route had left a box of junk out for the garbage collection and the amphora piece was inside. He asked her if he could have it for his fish tank and she told him to take it. She also told him that it was found by her brother in the 50's. He was a diver in the French navy and found the amphora on the mediterranean sea bed during an exercise and took it for a souvenir for her. The mailman took it home, dropped it into his fish tank where it promptly killed his entire collection of marine fish!  He had it lying in his garage ever since.
 
I have a collection of genuine shipwreck artifacts and I thought that it would still look good even if it was a fake.
 
The package arrived and judging by the extensive marine growth encrusting it, I was fairly sure it was real. To be certain, I took it to a museum marine archaeologist client I had worked with in the past and after consulting a catalog of amphora types and styles, he certified it was 2nd century Roman.
 
When I am not working on other people's projects, I build model ships to display with an artifact from the wreck of that ship and the amphora was next on my list.
 

 

 
You scan see from the photos where the line of sea growth stops where a section was buried in the sand.
 
Here is a photo of one in situ. Apparently it is a 'Gallic' pattern from Gaul, modern day France which would fit with the circumstances of it's history.
 

 
There are not too many things known about the thousands of Roman merchant vessels plying the coasts of the empire. Their lines and content went largely unrecorded except for what can be supposed from their remains.  My research brought me to a set of drawings made by an Italian amateur marine archaeological society and a couple of other sources which gave me enough for an attempt at a small coastal vessel by not building from one source, but taking information from all the sources and combining it.
 

 

 
I think this is the most likely impression and based most of my model on it.
 

Nice work Mike.

I really like the small working boats and this one is lovely.  I hope you plan on a lesson on how you make your great diorama water.
 
Bob

Nice.
 
Steven

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.
 

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.
 

Added the rudder boards and started undercoat paint.
 

On to the water base.  A simple masonite box was made with the wave pattern cut into all four sides. 
 

 
The box was filled with urethane foam.. Then carved to follow the wave lines.
 

 

 
A hole cut out for the hull.
 

 
The waves were covered in spackle and smoothed. They will eventually be covered in glass fiber.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The rudder oar posts were added and the tile roof test fitted.
 

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.
 

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.
 

As an alternative to the tiled roof, I added a curved wooden roof that would have been covered in tar to waterproof it like below the waterline. Also added the hatch covers.The whole thing will of course be weathered so the colors won't be so strong when finished.
 Dan.