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woodrat

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  1. woodrat
    I have looked at my pics of dromon and dromon-like vessels from contemporary iconography and have the following comments: Not all show a spur. ? is spur removable? The spur is horizontal or slightly up-angled The spur extends slightly beyond the tip of the bow. Sorry, Steven, I think your spur is much too ithyphallic. A stout rope or chain extends from stem to spur. can be beached stern first or stem first. But probably mostly stern first. A forecastle (xylokastron) is not always shown. The siphon for greek fire (katakorax) may have been a removable feature There were variants e.g. the chelandion (possibly a horse transport). Much Bigger. The galea was smaller and faster with only one rowing deck. Anchors not shown (but several would be shipped). The Muslims had similar dromon like vessels with differing names: dermin for dromon and shalandi for chelandion This gives a lot of latitude for choice. Nonetheless this is a fascinating topic which has been poorly addressed by the shipmodeller in the past with many fanciful reconstructions but this model promises to be as close as you can get with present knowledge. Well done Steven. Dick
  2. woodrat
    Thanks for the comments, chaps. I have completed every fifth frame and temporarily pinned to the board. They will next be faired and ribbands applied. I will make the intervening frames once the ribbands are in place It may be several weeks before I can get back to this as I am overseas. 😎 A jig for drilling the keel A jig for drilling the floor See ya later Dick
  3. woodrat
    If you hit anything solid with the spur as it is, it would buckle the stem of the dromon like a paper cup. There must be some internal or external strengthening. Maybe, as you say, the upward slope of the spur suggests that it was meant to sweep away the bank of oars of your opponent. Looking great, by the way. Dick
  4. woodrat
    Just a thought. With a laterally orientated block in the the "calcet", when tacking or wearing, the yard would be placed on the other side of the mast which would surely jam the halyard?See Landstrom "The Ship" for the method of tacking a mediaeval lateener. Dick
  5. woodrat
    These pics show the making of a frame The width of the floor timber is the only variable. the foothooks and top timbers are the same for all frames
  6. woodrat
    I'm sure prof. Pryor wont mind me posting this illustration from his 1984 paper on mediaeval lateen rig. As I read it there is a double sheave through the "calcet" which is laterally directed. I think it would be correct to have either single or double halyard downhaul blocks. Dick
  7. woodrat
    I have been through the Michael of Rhodes manuscript and it is of marginal help. It does show (for an early 15th C galley) that the halyard downhaul uses large double blocks. Also it recommends that the galley have halyards 8 times the length of the yard which supports the use of double blocks in the downhaul. As for whether the halyard (amantus) goes through a single or double sheave in the calcet (the block of wood attached to the masthead), Michael is silent. However Professor Pryor, in his 1984 study of mediaeval lateen rig, does illustrate laterally orientated double sheaves in the calcet. Whether this was the case for byzantine warships? Only the Black Sea will tell us. Dick
  8. woodrat
    Steven, what angle is the foremast from the vertical? Dick
  9. woodrat
    I based the framing plan on the excavated wreck of Contarina 1 which is the best documented wreck found so far from the period. However the frame shape is based on Libro di Navigar. The narrowing of floors is based exactly on the Mezza Lune technique I think they were trying to get a compromise between the lithe, light coast-hugging lines of the galley and a more heavily built stout sea-crossing barky, but still capable of giving a pirate galley a run for its money. Dick
  10. woodrat
    here be shown the master-frame which is not as you would think at the midpoint of the keel but slightly forward of this. As a consequence, there are a few more frames aft than forward.
  11. woodrat
    The building board sans stern and stempost supports.
  12. woodrat
    Thanks, Roger and Cog. I chose to use this jig because, to use a ruled stick or sesto at this scale, would lead to inaccuracy. This jig amounts to doing a similar method as the mediaeval shipwrights in the Arsenale of Venice would have used. Dick
  13. woodrat
    Too true: The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy I will use the narrowing calculated by mezza lune to determine length of floor for each position and build the frame using the jig. I will assemble on the building board and use ribbands to help with fairing. Like all great cunning plans, it will grow in the telling. Dick
  14. woodrat
    All will be made clear. For I have a cunning plan which cannot fail . I'm off to make the building board.
  15. woodrat
    The ruler measures the size of the flat portion of the floor. This is the only variable. All else is constant. This, the sesto method, is a different process from later centuries but is the likely process used in galleys and round ships in the Mediterranean for several centuries prior to the 15th centuries and is still used by venetian boatbuilders to this day. (Gilberto Penzo, Mauro Bondioli. quem videtis.) Dick PS I put the second photo in twice, mea culpa
  16. woodrat
    This is a jig for making the frames. The floors can be narrowed progressively as they did in the original shipyards but they used marked sticks called sesti. Hopefully this will expedite the making of frames Dick
  17. woodrat
    My plan is to produce a fully framed model at 1/32 scale using the framing scheme that found in the Contarina 1 wreck. Here is my framing plan: Dick
  18. woodrat
    This can only be done if the sail is inboard of the shrouds. In mediterranean vessels of the mediaeval period, which I suspect includes the dromon, the sail was outboard of the shrouds (Landstrom and Pryor) Dick
  19. woodrat
    The mezza lune technique was used as a geometric method of calculating narrowing of floors, also in many cases rising of floors and even the cutting of curved sails. A semicircle is drawn with a radius equivalent to the total amount of narrowing between master-frame (the frame in the centre of the keel) and tail-frame (last molded frame on each end of the keel) the number of frames between master and tail is decided e.g. let us say 6 (inclusive of tail, master-frame is 0) The 90 degree arc is divided into 6 X 15 deg segments Where the segments cross the circumference transverse lines are drawn These divide the radius into a geometric progression This progression is marked on a stick called a sesto and is used by the shipwright to draw out the floors with appropriate narrowing I hope this is vaguely comprehensible. But this seems to be what they did. Dick
  20. woodrat
    the master frame modified again.. Note the flat floor amidships which is exactly 1/2 max. breadth
  21. woodrat
    Thanks for the likes but feel free to dislike. Here is the plan for breadth and floor lines. Narrowing of floors based on the mezza lune geometric technique Mezza lune Cheers Dick
  22. woodrat
    The new master frame modified according to the instructions of the Libro di Navigar. My previous depth of hold was incorrect. Interestingly the master frame now matches that of Contarini 1. Dick
  23. woodrat
    More information has come to hand thanks to the kind assistance of prof. Mauro Bondiolo. This is a 14th century manuscript, the Libro di Navigar, which has only recently come to light. This substantiates the basic premise of my reconstruction but means a slight modification of the geometric method for constructing the master frame. However the main dimensions of my hull are consistent with the Contarina 1 hull. I will use the mezza lune technique for calculating narrowing of the hull between master and tail frames. Cheers Dick
  24. woodrat
    the halyard, at the end of the day, should pull the yard away from the mast so it runs smoothly as it raises and lowers. I believe there should be a line which pulls the yard against the mast once it is in the correct position and is released for tacking or changes on yard position. I show the arrangement on my carrack. Athough the dromon does not have parrels, the principle is the same. Keep up the good work. Dick
  25. woodrat
    The plan lines cleaned up Dick

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