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Greek Bireme by Robin Lous - FINISHED - Dusek - Scale 1:72 - First wooden ship build


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Thanks a lot gents!

 

As you can see, I still have to do the clewlines (the ones on the edge of the sail).

The brass eyes for them on the yard are already there, but I'm unsure about loops on the sail for them.

Didn't spot any on the Olkas photo's. I think I do just one loop in the middle, so the line won't wander off that much.

 

What shall I do? A furled sail or a deployed sail?

Historical....sail + oars are a no no. the Greek didn't use both together

I planned to do a furled sail, because of that, but with the added details a deployed sail can look nice. I don't know what to do now!  :(

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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With all the detail you are putting into the sail, having it deployed may be the way to go. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for us model ship builders to put in lots of details in places that will never be seen... :P

"A Smooth Sea NEVER made a Skilled Sailor"
- John George Hermanson 

-E.J.

 

Current Builds - Royal Louis - Mamoli

                    Royal Caroline - Panart

Completed - Wood - Le Soleil Royal - Sergal - Build Log & Gallery

                                           La Couronne - Corel - Build Log & Gallery

                                           Rattlesnake - Model Shipways, HMS Bounty - Constructo

                           Plastic - USS Constitution - Revel (twice), Cutty Sark.

Unfinished - Plastic - HMS Victory - Heller, Sea Witch.

Member : Nautical Research Guild

 

 

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I'm on the same page as E.J.. I guess it may come down to what details do you want to show off more, the sails or the deck and rigging. I hope this helps :D  :D

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I would go with the sail raised and tied as that way you can show off the ropes and gear better not to mention the ours  ;)

 

OC.

Current builds  


28mm  Battle of Waterloo   attack on La Haye Saint   Diorama.

1/700  HMS Hood   Flyhawk   with  PE, Resin  and Wood Decking.

 

 

 

Completed works.

 

Dragon 1/700 HMS Edinburgh type 42 batch 3 Destroyer plastic.

HMS Warspite Academy 1/350 plastic kit and wem parts.

HMS Trafalgar Airfix 1/350 submarine  plastic.

Black Pearl  1/72  Revell   with  pirate crew.

Revell  1/48  Mosquito  B IV

Eduard  1/48  Spitfire IX

ICM    1/48   Seafire Mk.III   Special Conversion

1/48  Kinetic  Sea Harrier  FRS1

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Good point Don and OC!

 

With the sail furled, the rigging, deck and general appearance of the ship will be more visible.

Together with the historical sail/oar "issue"....I guess I better stick to my plan.

 

EJ....I come from planet Plastic and I'm used to do stuff never to be seen again. 

Something the Admiral loves to point out. :blush:

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Good point Don and OC!

 

With the sail ruffled, the rigging, deck and general appearance of the ship will be more visible.

Together with the historical sail/oar "issue"....I guess I better stick to my plan.

 

EJ....I come from planet Plastic and I'm used to do stuff never to be seen again. 

Something the Admiral loves to point out. :blush:

Me too  i once built that Fab plastic sub with all the intside details, that after building and painting inside and out - was glued shut never to see the inside again.

 

OC.

Current builds  


28mm  Battle of Waterloo   attack on La Haye Saint   Diorama.

1/700  HMS Hood   Flyhawk   with  PE, Resin  and Wood Decking.

 

 

 

Completed works.

 

Dragon 1/700 HMS Edinburgh type 42 batch 3 Destroyer plastic.

HMS Warspite Academy 1/350 plastic kit and wem parts.

HMS Trafalgar Airfix 1/350 submarine  plastic.

Black Pearl  1/72  Revell   with  pirate crew.

Revell  1/48  Mosquito  B IV

Eduard  1/48  Spitfire IX

ICM    1/48   Seafire Mk.III   Special Conversion

1/48  Kinetic  Sea Harrier  FRS1

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It's been a while since I checked your build, and I can only say how impressed I am with what you've achieved.

 

I have to make shields as well for my dromon and so far I haven't found a satisfactory way to do it. Maybe I can emulate your method. Can you provide some more detail on how you went about it?

 

Steven 

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Hi Steven,

 

Sure...I used 0,15 mm thick brass sheet (Albion Alloys).

To shape the bowl I drilled a 1 cm hole in a scrap piece of 2mm thick plywood.

Lay an oversized piece of brass sheet on it and pressed the bowl with a round tipped hammer.

I didn't hammer...just pushed and turned it around until I had a nice bowl in the sheet.

Pushed the edge next to the bowl flat...think I used therear end of an Xacto handle for that...not sure.

Cut out the shield with scissors and filed the edge until I was happy with the result.

A trident decal, painted the edge black, gloss varnish.

 

Since the brass sheet is very thin, it's easy to shape.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Or...your build is 1:50 scale, that's very close to 28mm wargaming scale.

Take a look at this...

 

http://www.victrixlimited.com/collections/greek-ancients/products/greek-unarmoured-hoplites-and-archers

 

Robin :)

bireme build123.jpg

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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My opinion for what it is worth is to go with the furled sail idea. The occupants might only just have decided to 'ship' the oars.

Current build : Fokker Dr 1

 

Completed non-boat build 1/16 Model expo Sopwith Camel - in shore leave.

Previous boat builds:

Yacht Mary

Artesania Latina Red Dragon (Modified)

Non-boat build 1/24 scale Dennis bus by OcCre - in shore leave.

Mare Nostrum (modified)  Amati Oseberg (modified)  Chaperon sternwheel steamer 1884   Constructo Lady Smith kit/scratch build   

OcCre Santisima Trinidad Cross Section 

Constructo Robert E Lee Paddle Steamer  Constructo Louise, steam powered river boat   OcCre Bounty with cutaway hull 

Corel Scotland Baltic Ketch (not on MSW) OcCre Spirit of Mississippi paddle steamer (not on MSW)

In the Gallery:
 Mare Nostrum   Oesberg  Constructo Lady Smith   Constructo Robert E Lee   Constructo Louise   OcCre Bounty   OcCre Spirit of Mississippi

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A bit quiet on the bireme front at the moment. 

December is a busy month for me. Not much shipyard time...and when I have time, I'm often too tired to do anything.

For a while I thought I was able to finish this build before the end of the year, but I'm afraid it will take me about 2 more months.

 

I more or less finished the yard, sail and most lines involved (6 more will go on...4 of them after I fixed it to the mast).

 

With the sail loosely pulled up. It works! :)

 

I'll tighten the sail to the yard a bit more and fix the tight bundle with sail coloured sewing thread. That won't be visible.

Even when tightened to the max, the sail bundle will be somewhat too bulky, but not too bad I think.

 

More... semi-soon I hope!

 

Robin :)

 

 

 

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Thanks Carl...and...yes...I read and thought about that, but I wasn't sure about what to do with the sail, so I kept the full size.

I was also curious about the the curtain system, so I made it 100% functional.

 

I'll reduce the size of the bundle more, but it will still be oversized.....for future builds I'll use half size or tissue paper.

 

Edit:

 

I just checked what's possible with what I have now...on the photo shown the thickness of the bundle is 1 cm (loosely pulled up).

When I pull it tight and press the sail together to the max it will be about 5 mm thick (35 cm converted to real size).

I think that's acceptable, specially since the sail wasn't tied to the yard...just pulled up by the bunt and clewlines.

 

I plan to tighten the centre part of the sail (8 buntlines) and let the edge (the clewlines) sag a bit. (pulled down by the sheet lines (Dutch: "schoot"). 

 

Note: the 8 buntlines will go to the large pin rail on the rear deck. The 2 clewlines and the sheet will go to the pin rail on the railing on the rear deck. Lines from the tip of the yard will also go there. With 1 stay going aft...15(!) lines altogether. This will result in the typical ancient Greek "harp look" rigging.

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I finally found some time and...more important...energy to do at least something.

 

Finished the yard :rolleyes: (hey! it's something!)

5 of the lines will go down alongside the mast. The rest will go to the several pin rails on the rear deck.

The 2 sheet lines and the 2 lines from the tips of the yard can wait.

 

I'll now "do" the mast. Not too much work...6 stays and 5 blocks fixed to the top of the mast...plus 6 blocks on the end of the stays.

 

Maybe the mast and yard can go on before Christmas? That will be nice.  :)

 

More semi-soon again!

 

Robin :)

bireme build125.jpg

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Thanks Messis...I can't thank you enough for the photo's you send me. They help me tremendously!

It's not only nice for my build, but to know the purpose of all lines and blocks made me understand the rigging of ancient Greek ships.

 

Without your photo's it would look like..."ok, it looks a bit like something greek"...but not even close to the real thing.

 

Thanks a lot! 

 

Robin

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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What on earth is 'crattmanship' ? Must be something to do with boats I suppose!!

Current build : Fokker Dr 1

 

Completed non-boat build 1/16 Model expo Sopwith Camel - in shore leave.

Previous boat builds:

Yacht Mary

Artesania Latina Red Dragon (Modified)

Non-boat build 1/24 scale Dennis bus by OcCre - in shore leave.

Mare Nostrum (modified)  Amati Oseberg (modified)  Chaperon sternwheel steamer 1884   Constructo Lady Smith kit/scratch build   

OcCre Santisima Trinidad Cross Section 

Constructo Robert E Lee Paddle Steamer  Constructo Louise, steam powered river boat   OcCre Bounty with cutaway hull 

Corel Scotland Baltic Ketch (not on MSW) OcCre Spirit of Mississippi paddle steamer (not on MSW)

In the Gallery:
 Mare Nostrum   Oesberg  Constructo Lady Smith   Constructo Robert E Lee   Constructo Louise   OcCre Bounty   OcCre Spirit of Mississippi

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Merry Christmas to you all!

 

The kind people here make my build even more enjoyable! I'm not even sure I could manage to do it without you guys.

Not even asked for much advise, but the encouraging words are very helpful.

 

I'm so looking forward to continue and finish the bireme. 

Extreme december business now.....think 450+ customers per day who need advise and gifts wrapped. It's insane!

The shipyard will go full swing again soon...right now I'm glad I survived the day!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Robin

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm back on the shipyard!

 

Things slowed down early december and I've done nothing at all the last 2 weeks, but now it's January and I have the time, peace of mind and energy needed to work on my build again.

 

Where was I? Ah! yep....the mast!

 

Here I go again!....more soon!

 

Robin :)

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Mast done.

 

Nothing spectacular and the only reason I post this is because it's a "I'm back on track" photo.

 

So I placed the mast with the 6 stays attached to it (1 goes forward, 1 goes to the rear and 2 to each side).

I now must do the blocks. One on each stay and the same amount of blocks attached to the ship to tention the stays.

 

I'm still struggling with the proper nautical word for them. In the Dutch language...and nautical terminology... these blocks are called "jufferblokken"...dead eyes in the English language. The Dutch language makes no difference between one or three eyes. They serve the purpose of a dead eye block...just 550 BC...with one eye. It's what the ancient Greek used. English nautical terminology call one eyed blocks...heart blocks.

I just don't know how to call them here.  :(

 

Pfff....anyway....the first update in almost 3 weeks.

 

Now...12 blocks (give them a name...I don't know) to do to attach the stays to the ship.

 

With some luck....monday.

 

More soon.

 

Robin :)

bireme build126.jpg

bireme build126b.jpg

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Call them what you want it's your log! :D

 

I do like to try to use the proper word for a part both for my education and that of who ever is reading my post. That being said, I still don;t always do that. Often times I am trying to explain something that either I or my readers do not fully understand and therefore common wording must be used. I run into that a lot on facebook when I am sharing with my friends and family. If I use wording like abaft, gunwale, bulwark, even port and starboard they can easily get lost. At that time I have to decide how much typing I want to do. Do I explain every term or do I just simplify? Simplify usually wins.  :P 

 

Anyway, welcome back to your build! As you said, it may not be much but it is another step forward and a little closer to finishing.

"A Smooth Sea NEVER made a Skilled Sailor"
- John George Hermanson 

-E.J.

 

Current Builds - Royal Louis - Mamoli

                    Royal Caroline - Panart

Completed - Wood - Le Soleil Royal - Sergal - Build Log & Gallery

                                           La Couronne - Corel - Build Log & Gallery

                                           Rattlesnake - Model Shipways, HMS Bounty - Constructo

                           Plastic - USS Constitution - Revel (twice), Cutty Sark.

Unfinished - Plastic - HMS Victory - Heller, Sea Witch.

Member : Nautical Research Guild

 

 

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hiya EJ!

 

Yeah....the difficulty is...we (the Dutch) have the odd habit to feel superior, because we used to bully half the world with our infamous VOC.

We find it hard to realise we're no longer on top of the food chain, so we keep pretending...against all odds and reality.

 

Aren't we cute?  :rolleyes:

 

About Facebook....search for my name. Friends and family are my wooden ship adventure cheerleaders. 

When I tried to explain....it's not a good idea to slam a bottle of champagne against the bow when finished...they simply claim the bottle to drink! (clever gits!) It's tough to be Dutch! ....specially since we have to deal with the Dutch each and every day ourselves!

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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I'm back on the shipyard!

 

Things slowed down early december and I've done nothing at all the last 2 weeks, but now it's January and I have the time, peace of mind and energy needed to work on my build again.

 

Where was I? Ah! yep....the mast!

 

Here I go again!....more soon!

 

Robin :)

Keep going you can do it - we will all join you for a slipway lauching party :) :) :)

 

 

OC.

Current builds  


28mm  Battle of Waterloo   attack on La Haye Saint   Diorama.

1/700  HMS Hood   Flyhawk   with  PE, Resin  and Wood Decking.

 

 

 

Completed works.

 

Dragon 1/700 HMS Edinburgh type 42 batch 3 Destroyer plastic.

HMS Warspite Academy 1/350 plastic kit and wem parts.

HMS Trafalgar Airfix 1/350 submarine  plastic.

Black Pearl  1/72  Revell   with  pirate crew.

Revell  1/48  Mosquito  B IV

Eduard  1/48  Spitfire IX

ICM    1/48   Seafire Mk.III   Special Conversion

1/48  Kinetic  Sea Harrier  FRS1

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Disaster struck!

 

Remember these?

 

The 23 blocks I made (I need 17 of them)....They're gone  :(

 

Today I was ready to attach the blocks to the stays and to the receiving end...on the deck and to the sides of the ship.

 

I made my coffee...cleared my (messy) workbench and was ready to do the job.

The small plastic cup (until last week) with them in front of me...on the cutting mat....with tools, glue and whatever.

 

Only difference...the cup was empty. No blocks....gone!

 

"Darling? you have an idea what happened here?"

"Those grape seeds? I threw them away if you don't mind"

"Oh...please...say that's not true"

"What?"

"My blocks!"

"Your what?"

"Took me days to make them!"

"They looked like grape seeds"

"Never mind  :( "

 

Sigh!

bireme build094.jpg

Edited by Robin Lous

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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Oh no!!!! Reasons why I am glad my Admiral stays out of my shipyard. We each have our own spaces that we do not mess with the stuff in there. At least this time you know how to make them so it is just the time required to build and not to design. 

 

As horrible as that is, the story did make me laugh a little. Forgive me though as I do feel your pain.

"A Smooth Sea NEVER made a Skilled Sailor"
- John George Hermanson 

-E.J.

 

Current Builds - Royal Louis - Mamoli

                    Royal Caroline - Panart

Completed - Wood - Le Soleil Royal - Sergal - Build Log & Gallery

                                           La Couronne - Corel - Build Log & Gallery

                                           Rattlesnake - Model Shipways, HMS Bounty - Constructo

                           Plastic - USS Constitution - Revel (twice), Cutty Sark.

Unfinished - Plastic - HMS Victory - Heller, Sea Witch.

Member : Nautical Research Guild

 

 

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Yeah...it's completely my own fault (so glad I put the finished oars in a box...in a drawer...a "me only" drawer), but we had an argument over it.

 

"but...I thought!?!?!"

"you can think anywhere...but please don't think in my room....just don't!...it's my little place"

"but...but  :( "

"ok...get your coat...we go to a restaurant"

"yay!"

"from now on...grape seeds are BLOCKS...at least in MY room!

"aye aye sir!"

 

It really was my own fault...my desk IS a mess! ( but it's my mess!)

 

I now ordered ready made blocks (with more "stuff" of course!)  B)

WIP: No ships atm...sorry!🙄

Completed: Greek bireme - Dusek - scale 1:72

 Louie da fly: "I think it requires a special kind of insanity to choose a galley to build a model of."

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