Vivian Galad

Well, some more pictures - have been working on cabin to finally go back to other parts of the ship.
 

 

 

 

 
Hope u like it. ^^

Some new pics from my cabin. Got two days working on my furniture - now I´ll make the floor. ^^
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

As I can´t let a little accident put me down, got to my ship today, again. Well, not the ship properly, but it´s furniture. As the cabin will be shown, needed some reliable furniture to go within. As there is little immages and texts regarding medieval ships´ furniture in China, had to go through the common furniture for homes and monasteries.
After some immages and reading, found that chinese beds on ancient times, and medieval included, were seen not only as a place to sleep, but to lay on, sit, like a chair or a couch.
 
Some examples:
 

 

 

 
So, after these references, I did mine chinese bed. As almost all beds presented were canopied ones, mine is too. The difference is I made it simpler - beds on ships can´t have all those traceries and perilous elements to hit your head on. Still, the canopied bed can be a good place to hold you on a stormy sea, at least I think.
 

 

 

 
The fabric used for the bed is silk. I won´t make it a pirate junk - think it´ll be more like an ambassador´s ship. I´ll make a chest, a chair and a desk, for instance - but I´m very open to suggestions ^^
 
 

Some more pics for you.
 
After that movie about the construction of a traditional junk, gave some thought about how should look my compartment - so, after some testing, got a chinese red for the paint, over a hand of yellow. The result as follows
 

 
After that I fixed the deck. Well, I fixed and took it out after the glue dryied cause on a closer look, it was assymmetric. Seems the weight made it slide over the glue on the fore.
 

 

 
Then I got to my cabin. Since the AL ship is not so big as those described by medieval travelers, got just one cabin. Compartments should be load only if the ship was a merchant one - and part of them were used by the crew for sleeping most of the time. As I intend to have an explorer ship, or a pirate one, no need to have cabins for this or that person besides the one in charge.
 

 

 

 

 

 
As u can see, my doors shall be completely different from the kit. After some measurements I saw that scale wasn´t right, since people would have to be 1.2m hight to avoid knocking their heads on the ceiling. Doors were too small too - so, I augmented all of it to be something more close to reality - now my doors stand about 1.8m and about 2.2 for the ceiling.
 
Got my first accident on cutting wood, today. No big time, but got two nails on my left forefinger, as the scalpel cut it´s way through...

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!

So, have been on my Red Dragon and here are the results:
 
First planking of the hull finished. Used the nails from the kit and decided to keep them.

 
internal view

 
After that, sanded, sanded, sanded and got a smooth sensation on sliding my hands across the hull.

 
Decided to put a movable deck on the bottom of the compartment I´ll show. Everything shall be painted dark red down there.

 

 
Began hull´s second layer planking. Did not like the wood shine, but after a little sanding, it goes away. Hope the varnishing don´t bring it back.

 
As planking the hull is a slow process, began to work on my false deck, opening a hole before planking. After that, lined the bulkheads on the false deck and began to plank. The hole is there for the compartment view.

 

 
And that´s it for now. Practicing patience while the glue dries!! =D
 
 

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.

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?

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!

Well, as people asked, here are some pictures from my marriage. In the first one me and my wife with my dad, and the second one at the celebration: cake time!
 


And some pictures on my progression. I searched for better sail pictures before sewing mine and found the gains on sewing them in stripes weren't that big. Don't know If I could do better, but think they are fine. I have some papers on junk sails rigging and will try to use them when the time comes - hope next weekend. 

I am back! Some months passed, things in Brazil got strange, I've married, moved yet again but could get back to my sails! I'll show you some of my progress:
 

This is the main mast's Sail. I've got all three already sewd and soon will rigg them in place. It's great to see them taking shape!

And here are some pictures. First one to see how It would be like. Test the blocks and such, since I intended to let the sails a bit functional. 
 
I researched through some papers I found and the rigging seems to be too close to the kit's instructions, so I decided to go along with them.

 
Second one with the sail on it's place. Ropes are still loose till I find a way to set them as I want - won't use the instructions for that.
 

 
Third one details the ropes that pin the sail to the mast. That part was a little bit challenging as the thread was already sewed to the sail.

 
Next post I'll show the sail in place, just waiting for the other 2 to be rigged.

And here are some pictures. First one to see how It would be like. Test the blocks and such, since I intended to let the sails a bit functional. 
 
I researched through some papers I found and the rigging seems to be too close to the kit's instructions, so I decided to go along with them.

 
Second one with the sail on it's place. Ropes are still loose till I find a way to set them as I want - won't use the instructions for that.
 

 
Third one details the ropes that pin the sail to the mast. That part was a little bit challenging as the thread was already sewed to the sail.

 
Next post I'll show the sail in place, just waiting for the other 2 to be rigged.

And here are some pictures. First one to see how It would be like. Test the blocks and such, since I intended to let the sails a bit functional. 
 
I researched through some papers I found and the rigging seems to be too close to the kit's instructions, so I decided to go along with them.

 
Second one with the sail on it's place. Ropes are still loose till I find a way to set them as I want - won't use the instructions for that.
 

 
Third one details the ropes that pin the sail to the mast. That part was a little bit challenging as the thread was already sewed to the sail.

 
Next post I'll show the sail in place, just waiting for the other 2 to be rigged.

My many thanks, Dee Dee! You helped me a lot and I will always be thankful for your gift. I've already rigged the main mast's sail. 😄

Wow! Looking sooo great! That's a work to be Proud of. Gratz, Michael.

And here are some pictures. First one to see how It would be like. Test the blocks and such, since I intended to let the sails a bit functional. 
 
I researched through some papers I found and the rigging seems to be too close to the kit's instructions, so I decided to go along with them.

 
Second one with the sail on it's place. Ropes are still loose till I find a way to set them as I want - won't use the instructions for that.
 

 
Third one details the ropes that pin the sail to the mast. That part was a little bit challenging as the thread was already sewed to the sail.

 
Next post I'll show the sail in place, just waiting for the other 2 to be rigged.

We Will, Popeye! Life is short, after all. 😉😉
 
Thought I would post the rigging till last weekend, but couldn't. Got to DM my 23 years AD&D tablet and time flew. 
 
 

For sure! Thank you very much!

My many thanks, Dee Dee! You helped me a lot and I will always be thankful for your gift. I've already rigged the main mast's sail. 😄

And here are some pictures. First one to see how It would be like. Test the blocks and such, since I intended to let the sails a bit functional. 
 
I researched through some papers I found and the rigging seems to be too close to the kit's instructions, so I decided to go along with them.

 
Second one with the sail on it's place. Ropes are still loose till I find a way to set them as I want - won't use the instructions for that.
 

 
Third one details the ropes that pin the sail to the mast. That part was a little bit challenging as the thread was already sewed to the sail.

 
Next post I'll show the sail in place, just waiting for the other 2 to be rigged.

For sure! Thank you very much!

We Will, Popeye! Life is short, after all. 😉😉
 
Thought I would post the rigging till last weekend, but couldn't. Got to DM my 23 years AD&D tablet and time flew. 
 
 

My many thanks, Dee Dee! You helped me a lot and I will always be thankful for your gift. I've already rigged the main mast's sail. 😄