robdurant

David's looks remarkably similar to the one onboard HMS Victory in Portsmouth. Perhaps this was the source?

Very nice work, David.

Rob

Looks like a great start. Hope you don't mind if I follow along.

If you use a quality around 85-90 you shouldn't have any issues at that resolution of 1200x1600 pixels, and the image should be good quality and not showing any noticeable compression artefacts.

4 hours ago, BobG said:

That's a beautiful looking ship also!

Thank you Bob. A simple build, but a very enjoyable one.

Right, an update is long overdue. Not a huge amount to show on Stefano, as I'm working to finish off the Greek Bireme I'm building for my wife... 

I've finished putting the eyelets onto the masts. 

There's still some detailing to be done, but they're getting there.

In Greek-Bireme-land, things are moving ahead, too... I'm making oars now... one by one, by one, by one.... 

More soon, hopefully.

Happy building to you all.

Rob

Hi Valeriy, 

I echo all of the high praise being given for this superb model. 

I wondered whether you used some form of stamp to create those cross-shaped pieces for the flywheels? Or are they cut out by hand... regardless, the accuracy and consistency of your work is quite astounding.

All the very best wishes for you.

Rob

Looks like you're well set for an enjoyable build. Hope you don't mind my following along.

When you add pictures to your post, so they show in the attachments box just below the text, but then you don't insert them into the text, they are automatically added at the end of the post instead... you can remove then if you want by editing the post, hovering over that attachment in the box under the post text and clicking the black x on the top right corner of the attachment you wish to remove.

You've done a beautiful job with this model. The varnish has brought out the wood really nicely. Looking forward to seeing all 4 masts stepped... she'll be even more impressive.

Here's a photo I took in Victory which gives some idea...  for some reason I didn't take any wider angle pictures in there...

6 hours ago, gak1965 said:

Background movie in the first pic is, of course, The Hunt for Red October. One of several proper choices, I think you will all agree, for ship modeling. 

Hear hear

Excellent description and a very clever method. Thank you David.

Rob

On 8/20/2022 at 12:01 PM, dunnock said:

 

I have made a simple dipping trough out of one of those individual jam pots and a cut-down thread spool weighted with a bolt. It needs more refinement but works well enough for short lengths.

 

Apologies, as I may be the only one who is terribly slow on the uptake.

Would you mind describing how you use this dipping trough? Specifically whether you wrap the rope round the bobbin and lower it in as a batch, or whether you use the bobbin to hold down the rope as it is pulled through from one side to the other? I face exactly the same task of colouring standing rigging, so I'm very grateful to you for describing your experiments. I'm also thrilled to hear that you've made the breakthrough with the colron wood dye. Those wouldings look great

Thanks in advance

Rob

Hi all,

Thanks for all the likes. A very brief post today. I haven't stalled completely, but holidays have caused the shipyard to slow to a crawl. I've now planked three of the ship's boats with the thin walnut, and covered two of those with paper "planking" to create a clinker effect.

In addition, I've made a start on a Dusek Bireme, as a much more portable holiday project that I can take away with me (she's 39 centimetres from bow to stern). There are excellent build logs on that kit already on the forum, so I'm planning on just enjoying that one as a build, rather than posting a log, unless anyone particularly wants me to put up some pictures. Here is one of progress so far, however. I've got a link to the pictures I'm taking of the build in my signature (or click here "ἈΘΗΝΑ (Athena) (6th Century B.C.) Greek Bireme").

A new post, because this progress is completely unrelated to the posts above. I've been working on making sails with modelspann... I've made a frame to allow the tissue to be prepared from wood with card corners to strengthen in...

And I've been working on the ship's boats again, finishing off the planking of 71.1 the largest boat, hollowing it out, and adding clinkering using paper on the outside.

The next step with these will be to detail them (the part on the left above will form the floor of the boat, but before that goes in I need to add ribs. I'm pleased with how it's going so far. 

Right - sorry for so many updates... I'll try and keep up a bit better in future.

Finally, I made up the rail that forms the attachment point for the gaff sail on the mizzen mast. This is made from brass photo etch eyes and brass rod, and marked the positions onto balsa which was used to hold the parts while they were soldered. By transferring the positions onto masking tape, they could then be moved onto the mizzen mast to ensure the holes were drilled in the right positions.

The rail was sprayed black before fitting.

I have turned the yards for the main mast, and here is a photo of the main yard taped in position... Having turned this yard, and left it in place as shown, I went out for lunch, came back and it had completely disappeared. Eventually, I realised it had rolled down the back of my boat building table behind a row of cabinets... 45 minutes later, I'd finally retrieved it... to my great relief.

Thanks for the likes. 

Having worked on the dolphin striker, I added the sheaves, eyelets and bands around the bowsprit and the main topmast, and painted the white sections.

The sheaves that mount to the sides of the bowsprit are made from photoetch, and I found this a challenge again. Holes are etched in to allow the structure to be mounted to the bowsprit, but the gap between the holes was so thin that I found it impossible to bend the photo-etch without it bending where the holes were. Instead, I made my own band to go round the sheave.

Here is the photoetch part...

And here's how it looked after I'd tried to bend it (those who are more au-fait with photo-etch may well see what I'd done wrong here?)

And the part I eventually made from copper...

And here is the finished bowsprit (with the dolphin striker fitted but only half completed)

And the topmast to topgtmast transition now detailed...

Definitely time for an update... I've got somewhat behind in the updates so it might be a couple of posts.

First off was the bowsprit detailing, and in particular the dolphin-striker.

This was shaped from 2mm brass wire, tapered at either end, and then bent into a hook shape at the top.

Once shaped, fittings needed to be soldered on. Four hooks, two on either side of the striker, act as guides for the various rigging lines that pass by the striker. Then chains attach towards the bottom end of the striker. There is a beautiful, fine piece of photo etch that is supposed to sit on the front of the striker as an attachment point. I tried to use this, but I was clearly too clumsy as it crumbled in my hands before I had the chance to try and fit it to the striker. I struggle to imagine it would have held up to having the chains attached, and almost certainly wouldn't have stood up to my rigging process. Instead, I fashioned a simple strap using copper offcuts from the hull tiling fret) that formed two anchor points, one in front and one behind the striker.

It looks appropriate delicate, but is actually quite sturdy, so I feel much more confident this will do the job. More progress has been made, but I'll post another update after dinner

Happy building

Rob

59 minutes ago, gak1965 said:

do you know why Maris Stella chose 1:63 rather than 1:64

I don't. That would be a question for @MarisStella.hr . I have noticed that in various places on the plans there are detailed sections shown in 1:21, which obviously works better at 1:63 than 1:64, but yes, it doesn't work quite as well for imperial as 1:64 / 1' = 3/16". Thankfully I'm of the generation that was taught both metric and imperial at school in the UK, so neither phase me too much.

1 hour ago, rwiederrich said:

in my scale I use rope not much bigger then sewing thread

Thanks Rob, That makes perfect sense. I am enjoying watching your Glory of the Seas come together no end.

Quite a shift from Wyoming, but equally fascinating. Thanks for sharing your development steps

And amazing to think that (if I'm right) Oregon was launched 10-20 years before Wyoming....

1 hour ago, rwiederrich said:

Rope making....?  That's one trail I'll never go down.  I want to finish my model before I completely fossilize.   I have other models to build before that inevitable day.

 

It's pretty quick once you get going... 5 minutes for a 14ft length of rope... and a whole lot cheaper than buying it I just need to master dyeing the darker rope for the standing rigging. 

Below is a shop bought rope on the left and my rope on the right... I couldn't go back

Lovely clean work, George.

What a great way of strengthening the spreaders... it would be disheartening to see them bend or break half way through rigging, and this gives a great safeguard.

3 hours ago, gak1965 said:

Looking great! Rigging ho!

Thanks @gak1965. I enjoy the rigging, so it's nice to be getting closer to that stage. There'll be a lot of rope making ahead!

Thank you @rwiederrich. Yes, I have to do a walk into the kitchen to turn the boat these days... Ethalion is still sat at the other end of the bench, so not enough room to slide Stefano round the corner to see the other side these days... 

While the weather is so exceptionally fine, it seemed like a good moment to take some photos of the whole... Bearing in mind that so much of it is only placed in place at the moment, Stefano's not looking too shabby

At some point, I shall try and get some reasonable photos of Ethalion and Stefano side by side - that really would be a fascinating comparison, but Ethalion is protected behind dust covers at the moment, so it will have to wait.

Hi all, 

Thanks, as always, for the likes  

I finally worked out how I wanted to do the doors for the superstructures and the companions, so those are done. They're made out of two layers of styrene with tabs left on to attach them to the cabin walls.

Caldercraft nails were used for the door knobs...

Before I could put the doors into the fore cabin, it needed a floor, which was made of 0.5x10mm walnut...

Then doors were added to the main companionway.

Next, I turned my attention back to the masts, and simulated the sheaves in the maintop mast.

I added the iron banding round the main mast cap, and the eyelets. I added the fid using brass wire (cleverly the location of this is laser-etched into the fore and aft beams of the cross trees. And then the whole was given a couple of coats of paint.

Finally, I turned the jib-boom, and added the block and seat. I've added a short length of brass wire into back of the jib boom that goes into the block at the back to add strength. I know I'm going to knock it at some point, and I want to give it a good chance of withstanding my clumsiness as and when that happens. The seat that sits between the bowsprit and jib boom needs sanding, but it was quite fragile, so I wanted to glue it in place on the bowsprit before sanding it to add strength.

That's it for today

Happy building

Rob

Hi all,

Thank you for all the likes, and for your kind words @rwiederrich. 

I have completed turning the masts, topmasts, and topgallant masts now, and begun detailing them. The cross trees have been made up for the fore and main masts, and so the top gallant masts are now stepped (albeit this is all dry fitted at the moment.) The mast bands are added using black card.

I've also started to turn spars with the mizzen gaff and boom.

That's it for now