Vivian Galad

Fantastic work, Mark. And, if she´s a beast, you´r a great tamer :P

Hey, Edwin, thank you very much.
 
Popeye, rigging is right there, bending that corner. Mother of Invention came here couple of days ago, we had some green tea

Hola, Raymond!
 
   Thank u for your words. I love the stairs, too. Took some pictures from the ship and the hold.
 
Next four pics show the hold with and without the ship.

 

 

 

 
Next 3 pictures shows the ships ladder attached to the port davit amidships closely and a bird´s view from top mast.

 

 

Hey, Edwin, thank you very much.
 
Popeye, rigging is right there, bending that corner. Mother of Invention came here couple of days ago, we had some green tea

Hola, Raymond!
 
   Thank u for your words. I love the stairs, too. Took some pictures from the ship and the hold.
 
Next four pics show the hold with and without the ship.

 

 

 

 
Next 3 pictures shows the ships ladder attached to the port davit amidships closely and a bird´s view from top mast.

 

 

Hear ye! Hear ye! News from the realm!!
 
Vivian´s Chinese Junk got new fittings and it´s main mast - read all here!
 
So, as I said, main mast is installed. Some tackles for the rigging are there too - with some small modifications since AL instructions told me to do it differently. Let us go for the pictures.

 

 
Cannons are there too. I was a little skeptical about cannons at first (since I want a ship from about 1420 - 30). Research helped me to decide keeping them - The first guns found in junks wrecks are dated between 1400 - 1420. Laws from 1530+ dictated trade ships could carry 4 mounted guns and an assortment of small guns, for example. As chinese ships were victims of Wako pirates long before, my ship should carry guns for protection from pirate attacks.
 

 
Fixed my anchor, too. I would prefer a different anchor, to be sincere - AL gave me a 2 armed anchor but most of the chinese junk depictions shows 4 armed anchors. As I didn´t find any works regarding the 15th century chinese anchors, I´ll stay with what I´ve got.
 

 

 
And, last but not less important, my battery box for the lighting (part of the switch, too, since to light the cabin one just have to turn the box to one side)
 

 

 

 
[
 
Last picture shows where the box will be. Two copper stripes will be attached to the box botton. Two other stripes will be coming out from the hole fix - as I explained before, to turn on/off you only need to turn the box till it enchase with the copper stripes.
 

as for the hole in the deck........I marked off the area.   when I see something more conclusive,  it will dictate how large it is. 
     it certainly can't be any wider.......that I am sure of.  there will be some net reels located in front of it.
 

 

 
the outer fore deck/bulkhead beam was cemented into place.......knees were used here as well
 

 
did some fancy measuring to trace out the bulkhead wall
 

 
after some trimming and dry fits,  it was done.  above the bulwarks,  I did not go all the way to the edge.......there are curved inserts that have to go there,.
 

 
an overall shot.....
 

 
here it shows how the main deck platform juts out from under the bulkhead.   lower support tabs will be here
 

 
a shot of the open cavity
 

Hey, Edwin, thank you very much.
 
Popeye, rigging is right there, bending that corner. Mother of Invention came here couple of days ago, we had some green tea

Hola, Raymond!
 
   Thank u for your words. I love the stairs, too. Took some pictures from the ship and the hold.
 
Next four pics show the hold with and without the ship.

 

 

 

 
Next 3 pictures shows the ships ladder attached to the port davit amidships closely and a bird´s view from top mast.

 

 

Hey, Edwin, thank you very much.
 
Popeye, rigging is right there, bending that corner. Mother of Invention came here couple of days ago, we had some green tea

I haven't been posting any updates, because I thought I would wait until there was some noticeable progress. However I have added hundreds of bits, painted them black, and they all seem to disappear . So this is where we are, initial bow fitting complete, chain plates on and hammock stowage's in progress

Hello to you, The switch is a very clever idea,thanks .and your model is looking real good .well done.Edwin

looks great Vivian.........you must know the  'mother of invention'  very well    congratz on the masting......sweet!

Hear ye! Hear ye! News from the realm!!
 
Vivian´s Chinese Junk got new fittings and it´s main mast - read all here!
 
So, as I said, main mast is installed. Some tackles for the rigging are there too - with some small modifications since AL instructions told me to do it differently. Let us go for the pictures.

 

 
Cannons are there too. I was a little skeptical about cannons at first (since I want a ship from about 1420 - 30). Research helped me to decide keeping them - The first guns found in junks wrecks are dated between 1400 - 1420. Laws from 1530+ dictated trade ships could carry 4 mounted guns and an assortment of small guns, for example. As chinese ships were victims of Wako pirates long before, my ship should carry guns for protection from pirate attacks.
 

 
Fixed my anchor, too. I would prefer a different anchor, to be sincere - AL gave me a 2 armed anchor but most of the chinese junk depictions shows 4 armed anchors. As I didn´t find any works regarding the 15th century chinese anchors, I´ll stay with what I´ve got.
 

 

 
And, last but not less important, my battery box for the lighting (part of the switch, too, since to light the cabin one just have to turn the box to one side)
 

 

 

 
[
 
Last picture shows where the box will be. Two copper stripes will be attached to the box botton. Two other stripes will be coming out from the hole fix - as I explained before, to turn on/off you only need to turn the box till it enchase with the copper stripes.
 

Hey, hey, hey. Time for new pictures, some words and advices for the young at heart.
 
    I took a pause from my ship since I was waiting for the Blacken It to arrive. As it arrived, I resumed my work. For using it the Blacken It Trials topic, by E&T was used. I did follow all the steps only replacing the muriatic acid by vinegar. I was about taking lots of pictures from the process, but, that is really unecessary since the Trials´ topic shows how it works so fine it would be a waste of time. But I do took a picture from a mistake I made...
 

 
That´s how I put the metal pieces on the solution. I tried to shake the solution from time to time, but my results weren´t that great - lot´s of parts were stained - instead of a flat darkened surface, I got a stripe stained one for most of the metal parts. Even if I liked that way it wasn´t my goal they look so. Next time I´ll dump lesser metal parts on blacken it solution for a consistent result.
 
Well, then I started on my ship´s hole, as it'll need some attention before rigging. I worked on taking out the planking around it so when I fix all the eletronics it´ll be easy to glue new planks over it. Now I´m waiting for some copper foil I bought to finish that part.
 

 
After that I coated a second layer of varnish on the hull and a first one over the rails and castle. That was a called step from the ship´s instructions some pages before, but I decided to postpone it while I was still using sharp tools around.
 

 
It was time for the rudder, then. I´m still thinking if I´ll set some brass stripes to it. Some old pictures shows rudders with no iron on them. Seems an obscure subject to build the rudder. So far, I followed the kit´s instructions.
 

 

 
After the rudder I fixed all the metal fittings missing before. Cannons aren´t there yet cause I´ll paint them black - I tried blacken it on them, but didn´t like the results. The following pictures are from the fittings instalation and the ship´s general look so far.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Next steps will be the lighting fix finish and rigging beginnings.

Jack, I´m like 85% now ! Might I grab your idea? Think that would be the best to do, to leave only the led inside I mean. A second one would bring too much light into my cabin. Regarding tools, I´m buying as I need them, but it seems it´s just the beginning, lol.
 
And then, yes, I built models for my designs. That was something I loved to do and am really sorry almost all pictures for them are gone - in 2010 I lost almost a life on stored data (among other too much important things) and saved only one. It shows two models - on first plan a two stored home 1:50 model at it´s first stages. On second plan u can see another 1:50 model of a medieval tavern for a medieval town I was building at the time. It´s a pitty I don´t have any more pictures from it since the town had about 15 houses beyond the tavern and the beginning of a castle. The tavern and 3 houses were furnitured.
 

 
 

To analyse Zheng He´s treasure ships you first need to understand the type of ship. Although too controversial, Zheng He´s fleet had ships 3 to 4 times the first ocean going european ships and tonnage about 800 tons for the treasure ships.
 
After reading the monograph 'Misunderstood Junks: Western View of Chinese Maritime Technology' by Hans K. Van Tilburg I got through a lot of referencies and the best (monograph author´s appointment) for junks description is that of Joseph Needham´s Science and Civilisation in China, Vol 4, part 3 over Nautical Technology. I still have to find this book, but we can read some parts of it on google books - one special part regards a figure that shows the rudder for a treasure ship reconstructed after a rudder post found in 1962 in Nanking.
 

 


 
Disregarding the Ming period texts, Zheng He´s ships were still marvelous in comparison to the Portuguese Caravels on the early 15th century.

Hear ye! Hear ye! News from the realm!!
 
Vivian´s Chinese Junk got new fittings and it´s main mast - read all here!
 
So, as I said, main mast is installed. Some tackles for the rigging are there too - with some small modifications since AL instructions told me to do it differently. Let us go for the pictures.

 

 
Cannons are there too. I was a little skeptical about cannons at first (since I want a ship from about 1420 - 30). Research helped me to decide keeping them - The first guns found in junks wrecks are dated between 1400 - 1420. Laws from 1530+ dictated trade ships could carry 4 mounted guns and an assortment of small guns, for example. As chinese ships were victims of Wako pirates long before, my ship should carry guns for protection from pirate attacks.
 

 
Fixed my anchor, too. I would prefer a different anchor, to be sincere - AL gave me a 2 armed anchor but most of the chinese junk depictions shows 4 armed anchors. As I didn´t find any works regarding the 15th century chinese anchors, I´ll stay with what I´ve got.
 

 

 
And, last but not less important, my battery box for the lighting (part of the switch, too, since to light the cabin one just have to turn the box to one side)
 

 

 

 
[
 
Last picture shows where the box will be. Two copper stripes will be attached to the box botton. Two other stripes will be coming out from the hole fix - as I explained before, to turn on/off you only need to turn the box till it enchase with the copper stripes.
 

I want to thank you all, guys! I´m feeling clever reading your words ^_^ !!
 
And, Sjors, I´ve got the popcorn. Yours are always the best!

Hola Mija,
I was just going over your latest progress and Bravo to you. I especially like the ships ladder attached to the port davit amidships. Would it be possible to take a few shots of the ships hold from different angles? I hope to see more of your build.
Tu Amigo,
Raymond

Some updates!
 
Finished planking my deck. Took hours and hours searching for immages or some hint on if a junk would have treenails or not. After hundreds of pictures and a lot of reading, could not find anything on the subject - but, the planks have to be nailed to the bulkheads, so, I made them holes.
 

 

 
On a different aproach, decided to stain the deck to look a little worn. After seeing some models depicting more close to reality junks, it took a good look!! =D
 

 

 
Then, I got full on hull. Days waiting for the drying, then, when finished, I put one hand of an opaque varnish. Since the shine bothers me a little, waiting for it to weakens a bit before laying hands on my junk again.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now I´m planning how to fix the deck, since there must be a hole in it to the bulkead compartment. I´ll change some other things on deck, too, since the AL junk seems too "clean" on deck. Well, that´s all, folks!

Some tests with the rudder attachement.
 

 

 

The ship has come to a nice milestone so I decided to take some studio shots for this update.
 

 
This is what the set looks like.  I pulled out the big Spiderlite soft boxes for the shoot.
 

Hi Vivian,
 
The shields really made a difference.  And the time spent looking for the center ornament really paid off.  The oars are next but after that will come the dreaded sail.  My daughter has promised to teach me to sew but I am not holding my breath until she does.  As always thanks for the encouragement and kind words.