Vivian Galad

Well, before my pictures, some info:
 
The enormous dimensions of the Chinese ships of the Medieval period are described in Chinese sources, and are confirmed by Western travelers to the East, such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Niccolò da Conti. According to Ibn Battuta, who visited China in 1347:
It comes from Wikipedia, but some works I´ve read come to sustain what is said (mainly Phd thesis). That put, here comes my progress:       For these, some explanation. Here is my first modification - After the videos and thesis I´ve seen/read, I thought I could show the inside of a bulhead compartment. For that I opened a hole on the false keel - chinese junks have no keel, at least, not a western conception one. That means it´s build solely on the planking, itself, with no guiding midsection stand. After planking I´ll take the remaining false keel bits.               The info above is to justify why I should open the upper hull/sterncastle. I still have to think if my junk will be a pirate one or one from Zheng He´s Armada. A bit more of research to know.    

Sam, I´ll give some thought on it.
 
Meanwhile, found this video in youtube:

 
Great information on it.

Sam, I´ll keep that in mind - no sharp tools when drinking - no finger dance! As for my joints, I´ll make a new window frame all lapped jointed. That first one was more of an experience. Next I´ll do with more care. Treenails at this scale can be tricky.

Mark, I´m already intending on buying the Cocca Hanseatica plans from Euromodels, let me just recover from the last buy (3 kits on a row were a bit expensive, since I paid a lot of taxes). Then, only the time can say what I´ll do! Darkside calling is too strong.
 
Doretolmin, lots of fun, lots of research. I´ll get there on the scratch.
 
Grant, I´ve been looking through a lot of immages from this type of vessel and discovered that there´s a lot of freedom on building them ships, since the junks are there for about 2.8k years. There are a lot of variants regarding riverine types and seagoing vessels and regions. As I put on scale, the window didn´t seem too large, yet, I´ll try not to hurry and be careful on instaling the windows. Doors I´ll keep the kit´s, cause I can just put some hinges and open them. Lots of work and fun on the next days. A question, though; can the modelist go for the beverages too?
 
Popeye, as said before, I´ll be very careful on scaling, but the cabin has to be seen, that´s for sure. A pin pusher sounds nice, I´ll be searchin for it. Ty for the tip! =*

Daniel, in truth, yes. I thought the metal fittings too small to be a good peering hole to my cabins (if I opened holes on them, for example), so it would be if I made the new window frame in the same scale. As the size I choose is still small, on a scale for 1:60, I have a window of about 1,2m x 0,8m. Not so bad. ^^
 
Max, still thinking what I´ll need to do for that, but I will! =D

Well, was just experimenting and did this:
 

 
That´s the first modification on the kit, since this brass windows won´t be glued to my ship. Also, as I wish to have cabins or something of the sort, windows need holes, so ppl can peer inside. Thinking about some led to throw light in there too.
 
It seems a good window frame or should I work a little harder on them?

Casey, it seems good, but for the shortage of parts. I counted it and there´s almost no spare so I´ll have to be careful. Already talked about the brass fittings that I´ll substitute by mine own. On overall, it´s a good kit and instructions seem to be easy, at least in spanish, but already noticed some strange translations to english, a little childish I would say. Wood is good, better than I got with the Caravel kit.

Hey Ollie, take a seat!!! She is a view, really. I have to confess I know little about chinese ships in general and, since I´m focused on medieval ships, my red dragon have to show that. Lots of study on my horizon. I´ll give a look on the sampan ^^
 
Jerome, let me see... got some port wine and sake, or some coignac, maybe? Beer, there´s always beer on my fridge.

Hi again and well, I coundn´t hold myself that much. 3 days after finishing my caravel I´m beginning a new project and hope you all enjoy it. Took me 3 months and some days to my last ship to be finally complete, and, today I started a new counter ^^ (not that I want to beat it).
 
So, first thing first, I´ll say my impressions on the kit. I bought it from an e-bay auction. The box is a little bit worn, with some small scratches on the fringes. Since the kit is from the 80´s, there´s that look in it:
 

 
Opening we can see a good care with pieces and wood, all arranged in a practical manner. My last experience was a bit disappointing regarding opening the box, cause the fittings and everything else were almost thrown in the box, with no preoccupation about the pieces´ overall look. AL, in other hand, do know how to sell it´s fish.
 

 
Unboxing the fittings box I found a beaultifull set of small wooden and metal parts. Loved the distribution and care. Didn´t like the brass fittings for doors and windows, or even the lanterns - decided those will be made by me.
 

 
The wood planks with pre-cut parts are easy to cut. It´s not laser cut, since in 1989 it wasn´t that common, lol. There´s a fine selection for woods, all woods. I detached the first parts to take the false keel and mount the structure.
 

 
For this build I just designed a holder - Big change for better, for my last ship was builded almost in my lap, or on the kit´s base, which devastated my hull, as I saw sometime after the mistake. So, false keel on holder ready to receive framing.
 

 
After cutting and sanding the frames, got numbers to them so I could follow the instructions - and make no mistakes.
 

 
So, I took care to align all frames with the false keel, since some of them needed some fixing to go smooth with the keel. After that I glued them and the girders, as follows
 

 

 

 

 
I got the impression that it was a little bit crooked and drawn a line to compare, but was just an impression. Began first planking but need to buy a small hammer, so, all paused till I buy one.
 
Other consideration - after studying the plans I found it easy to give the ship some cabins. With a little modification on the castle I can put some nice furniture inside the ship and, following Doris inspiration, will let the windows and doors show the inside (after scratching my own windows and doors, of course).
 
Well, that´s it!

Thanks, Louie! I sleep looking to my ships. I'll get back to her as soon as I find the wood l need to close all cabins and such. This modifying thing of mine requires some extra wood 😬

Thanks Popeye! Good to see you here! I'll be rigging them sails in no time! (Well, soon, I Hope). 

Thanks, Louie! I sleep looking to my ships. I'll get back to her as soon as I find the wood l need to close all cabins and such. This modifying thing of mine requires some extra wood 😬

Congratulations and welcome back! Red Dragon is looking very good.
 
When you finish, will you be getting back to the Cocca? It would be nice to see that one finished, too.
 
Steven

Daniel,
 
Many apologies, I forgot to post the picture of the measuring device on the board with the drawing. Here it is:
 
Mark

Thank you, Michael, John, and Elia for your encouragement. It really helps keep me motivated.
 
Greg, I looked for a photo of how I made the grating sanding jig, but can't seem to find it. I'll keep looking. Yes, there is sandpaper underneath, but only exactly to the edge of the grate. There are little runners on each side that bottom out on the lower part of the jig once the right depth is reached. I made the profile of the sanding surface by gluing the profile on the end of some maple, which I then ran across the routing table with a piloting bit. It shaped the entire surface of the maple block with the right profile.
 
In image #17 in the background you can see the calculations I made for each grating, where I attempted to calculate the exact size of the parts for each grating so it would be a perfect fit within the coaming. But I more recently put the other gratings in place on the deck, and something isn't lining up yet. I may have to do those over. It wouldn't be the first time for me that very careful calculation nonetheless got it wrong...
 
I have attached an image of the Bellona model looking through the quarterdeck onto the upper deck, which shows a couple of gratings that were imperfectly fitted to the coamings. Maybe they took those from an earlier model and made do, or maybe that is how they really worked. Most of the rest seem to fit better.
 
Harvey, I am not sure which jig you would like to see. I have attached some photos of the bridge for measuring, and how I used it for transferring heights inboard and outboard from my drawing. I took the idea of the track and the bridge directly from Ed.
 
The little blocks in the blue track I used for help in cutting beams so that the center of the made-up beams always aligned with the center of the hull, using the proportional dividers. But right now, I can't remember why I needed the blocks when I could just use the dividers. I'll remind myself when I start making the beams for the upper deck.
 
If you let me know which jig you are interested in, I would be very happy to make a sketch!
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 

almost up to date...

and beams and riding bitts

Hi everyone,
 
Here are old, not very good photos of early construction, Hahn style. Cutting it off the base and flipping it over after years upside down was a thrill and also very scary.
 
Mark

And now starts the long climb to re-earning my Lieutenant Commander rank.....;-)
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
And here are the drawings I created from the Admiralty draughts of HMS Dragon, The Bellona's sister ship (the NMM could not find the Bellona drawings when I ordered these back in the 1990s; I don't know if they ever turned up).
 
The xerox copies showed that the original 250 year old drawings were quite distorted and therefore not able to be built from. Also I did not know how I would ever fit a 1/4" scale model of a 74 in my house. So I drew these at 3/16", or 1:64. The Admiralty drawings were very schematic, and so I had to develop all of the details from other standard sources.
 
Mark
 
 

Hi everyone,
 
To get started again, I will post again the photos I took of the original Bellona model at Chatham last year, with permission from the National Maritime Museum. This model is contemporary with the original design of 1760. The Bellona was rebuilt in the 1780s with some significant changes in port locations, refitted rail on the poop, etc. I prefer the look of the original, and so these photos of the original model are my roadmap through the project.
 
It will take me a while to summarize my own build starting with my re-drafted drawings at 3/16" scale, but I am committed to the task!
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 
 

Hi everyone,
 
I have been working my way through a number of issues fixing the cannon moulds. Following druxey's and Michael's good advice, I have cast plaster sleeves for three of the four masters. I used Hydrostone dental plaster, which worked very differently from plaster of paris. It is a much smoother finish, but it was exceptionally liquid following the recommended mix on the package, of 2:1 plaster to water. I found a manufacturer sheet online which suggested 3:1 plaster to water. I tried this for the second pours and it was better, but still very liquid. The watery mix began to attack the foamcore mould boxes. They are still moist and cold after sitting a day. I will wait until they are bone dry before trying. If I did this again, which I hope I will not have to do, I might try as much as 4:1.
 


But for the 9" long gun, which was not having registration issues as much as the others, I tried drilling for registration pins through the plywood and rubber sandwich on a drill press in two corners. This seemed to work quite well. 
 

And just for fun, I tried pouring with and without first dusting talcum powder into the mould. You can see the fundamental value of the powder (talcum pour on the left, no talcum on the right.) The one on the right goes back into the melting pot.
 

 
Mark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks gentlemen.  Druxey, a base is in the works.  I hope to have the materials in a few weeks.  As for a case...  
 

Gentlemen, I appreciate all of your observations.  Although she still looks a little clunky compared with the masters on this site like Doris, it is the best I can do.  I promise you that I am a much better surgeon than a sculptress.  I have lowered the figurehead, making sure the bowsprit clears the top of her head.  I have also re-positioned her so that she looks to the horizon.  I started painting with a coat of acrylic gray primer.  The clay soaks up the paint and this helped seal it.  The rest of the painting was done with various acrylic paints.  The apple and the buttons on her skirt are gold leaf.  





At this point all that remains is cleaning the ship, touching up the black paint on the wale and installing a base.  I do not plan on masting and rigging her.

I have started work on the dreaded figurehead.  I decided to make her out of clay rather than attempt carving.  I felt sorry for the wood that I would butcher.  Thank you to Chuck for his clay sculpting lesson and thank you to David Antscherl for carving a figurehead of Atalanta for Chuck.  The photos he took and posted on MSW were a godsend.  Here is the link to those photos.  
 
This is a copy of one of Chuck's photos of Atalanta.  She is holding a golden apple in her right hand.  The first thing I did was make a wire armature.  This provided more strength to the arms and legs.  I mounted the armature over a mock-up of the stem.
 




 
The first layer of clay was applied.  I was not too careful with this as it was simply a base to build upon.  I used white Sculpey clay with a few drops of softener added.  After every significant addition I baked the clay per the instructions to harden that section.  I think the biggest piece of advise that I can give is be careful with your proportions.  Stand in front of a mirror.  Your wrists hit the femoral head.  Measure a female hand for the correct length (mine is 6").    How long is your torso in relation to your legs, etc.  The breasts are not cones, as you can see in the picture above.   

 
I decided to add the clothing and hair after I had the proportions correct, leaving the details of the hands, feet and face for last.
 




 
After the other details were completed I test-fit the figurehead to the actual stem.  I discovered that I had forgotten to incorporate the taper of the stem on my mock-up and had to add extra clay to the medial thighs.  Obviously there is still some finesse work remaining.  I have a question for the members.  Should I paint it white to minimize losing detail or in natural colors (white robe, dark brown hair, tanned skin).  The apple will be gold, either way.