Greek Warship Bireme by moreplovac - FINISHED - Amati - Scale 1/35

[moreplovac]

Today i finished up the ram by adding few pins to simulate a way to fix ram to the ship. Not sure what techniques was used back in days but i think they had some sort of iron pins for this purpose.

I painted the pin head black but during installation process some of the paint was removed. Not a big deal..

I also drilled a pilot hole for pins. Had to make particular attention to the top corner of ram since the pin will be visible after installation so i ended up cutting most of the pin and leaving only head with few extra mm in length.

And installed.

 

 

Then the Hoplite arrived.... Finally i received a box of Greek warriors (Hoplite) figures i planned to put on the ship. The reason for having them is to give a bit of a scale vision of ship size. The scale of warriors is not quite matching the scale of the ship but it is fairly close...

 

They have made in China, sold by company in Austria via Amazon and shipped to North America. I was actually surprised with the level of details these small dudes have. It will be interesting process to paint them in the colour of ancient world.

 

This friendly dude will definitely have a place on the ship; he is the leader and must be there..

 

Not sure how many warriors will be enjoying the mighty bireme but i am planning to have them 4 or 5. Will see..

 

 

They also need to have shields and spears so here they are. This part is not quite good but it is workable..

 

Then i decided to run a first layer of protective satin varnish on the hull. I used this product in the past with satisfactory results. Will need several layers of it.

 

 

This complete the work for today. Will continue with varnish and painting warriors.

 

Happy modelling.

[moreplovac]

Warriors are getting some paint...

 

They are very tinny for colouring, using lamp with magnifying glass to assist. I can also do some manicure in the same time..

 

Need to do few more layers of paint as the toys colour is dark grey and very hard to cover with either white or yellowish..
Was thinking to test different approach on few of them: to cover them all in white or skin colour, then to continue with other (red, gold, solver) or to cover them in flat black and then the same process. Will try it for sure.

 

Happy modelling.

 

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

Today i painted second coat on mighty warriors. Some touch ups and another layer of varnish on the ship.

This painting/varnishing process is not very exiting. You can run another coat of varnish which takes about 5 min and spend 10 minutes cleaning brush...

 

 

Oh well, more to come soon.

 

Happy modelling...

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

Today i spent a bit more time with painting friendly hoplites. Some touch-ups, painting the swords, one dude' hair that was sticking out of helmet (i nicknamed him a Hairy Harry), etc.

Hairy Harry is second from the left...

While i was waiting for a paint to dry out, i was thinking about spears that come with the box. They do not look quite good; most of them are twisted and usable to some extend. Noticed few toothpicks laying around and some 80-size sand paper, i started to shape what turned out to be really decent looking spear. Did some google-ing and find out a painting of hoplite with a spear that looks very realistic. 

 

Spear is longer then ones included in the box so i decided to give it a try and see if i can get a decent-looking spear to replace plastic one...

I did not use my mini lathe; rather just a sand paper and was able to make a spear that will work, i think much better on the warriors..

Like i dont have nothing else to do with this build, it is a go decision - i will make at least 6 new spears for my hoplites...

I believe spears will be about 45-50mm long (that is kind of my rough estimate and measurement taken from the above internet picture) with 1mm of thickness..

I am expecting to have several broken ones as my fingers might be to big for such a delicate work... Unless i break several of them in my attempt, i think i can get there in a few hours.

 

Happy modelling..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

Wrapping up this kit build slowly.

Today i finished installation of captain's seat, decorations, mast and started to work on ship stand. For now i will be using stand that comes with the kit; later will come up with something else, a bit more eye catchy..

I also spent some time thinking about oars positioning and how to make sure, once installed oars will not move in and out, up and down. For now made two measure template i will use to position oars inside of the ship. Not to high-tech template, coffee stick from Starbucks, cut to length..

 

Then, it was time for captain's seat, decoration (Lion's head) and other. 

For lion's head i also use a small peace of balsa to get some good grip since the decorative head has no that many flat area.

 

Seat and decoration installed.

 

Happy modelling..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

There is a time in building process when you need to attack rigging; regardless of its complexity it is always a fun process to go thru when you have tiny ropes and big fingers. So, here we are. The rigging for Greek birema starts with making eye splice for two ropes that hold the mast in vertical position..

These two ropes were completed and waiting for a next step.

Then i mounted compete sail to the mast..

 

 

Here is the process of making a "fake" rope ends...

Once completed it was mounted to the end of the rope and "casually' throw to the ship..

 

I did similar technique for other ropes... 

 

So here is end result..

 

Then the two ropes holding the mast...

 

This spot for a rope was very tight but managed to get it thru..

Then the part on bow..

 

That was all work done today. The ship has few more ropes to be installed..

 

So this is how birema looks so far.

 

And at some point friendly hoplites decided to jump on board too..

 

Happy modelling ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2018 by moreplovac

[moreplovac]

Not that complicated ship rigging is done.

 

To make a rope a bit more straight to get the impression that rope is tight, i used white glue to stiff the rope a bit..

Then i start cutting warriors of the base so it can be replaced with a wooden base. Did not like base colour and the fact that is sticks out to much. So instead of painting it i decided to replace it. Out of some spare lumber i cut 8 new bases and sand them to shape.

After that i started to work on spears i planned to replace. Here is first prototype, need to scale down the front end of it, looks a bit to big. Have few pictures from the net so i will scale it to size that fit better..

And the whole ship looks like this, oars are still to mount...

And for some reason just cannot get those guys of the ship...

 

Happy modelling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

Today i worked a bit on hoplites' spears; cut and sand them into correct diameter, "sharpened" spears' heads and paint heads in silver. 

 

I found out that doing this from toothpick is better that making them from some other scrap wood part; toothpicks appears to be fairly strong when sanded into less than 1mm diameter. No cracks or broken spear.

I cut spear head in approximate size using razor blade and then sand it to correct shape.

Then a tiny layer of silver was applied to simulate steel head; some weathering will be applied later. 

I applied a small layer of varnish on hoplites' new, wooden stands.

 

Once heads are dried i will paint shafts in some wood-looking colour to simulate ash or other wood types used in making this weapon.

 

 

 

 

I also need to mount all 48 oars and few other ship parts; this will most likely be done sometimes this week.

 

Happy modelling.

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

The hoplites finally got their weapons, still missing shields. That is next on to-do list.

 

It is oars time. Oars supposed to be sticking out differently depending if the oarsman sits closer or further from the ship edge. Used very "sophisticated" template, marked length A on 20 and mark B on other 20 oars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Started to mount 40 oars. I had to come up with some sort of template so oars can be on, approximately same level. 

 

Happy modelling..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moreplovac]

So, that would be it for this build. It is done, finished.

 

The only one thing left, which i think is the most important is to build a cover to protect it from dust, fingers, 'let me see how it feels on touch', 'oh Henry, looks at those cute little warriors', etc... For now build sits in my dinning room, waiting for better place and cover.

 

Final thoughts: is there anything i would do differently or what would my project manager at work prefer to say.. "lesson learned", meaning i scr.w it up, how to make sure it will not happen again.

 

The planking material is very good but to be precise and history correct, i would be very surprised to have ancient Greeks making planks in the length of the ship. For next time i would definitely make it more realistic and have planks in correct length, using some of techniques tested on this forum.

 

The shape of the hull is very nice and to make it more desirable i would be doing double-planking, shape the hull with some putty if needed and start second planking. 

 

Forgot to varnish the inside of the ship during build process when it was very easy to reach. Ended up twisting the brush to reach some of hard reachable spots, particularly where oarsman should be sitting. 

 

Kit plan does not cover all details, particularly of keel ornament position. Turned out it has to go all the way to the main deck, where captain's enjoying the view but i was under impression it has to stop just shortly passing those two dolphin fins. Suggestion to kit manufacturer - spend a bit more time to make plan more detailed. Not that is a big deal but it would be worth effort.

 

There are some small items i already covered in the log so no repetition necessary.

 

I am still working on hoplites, painting the shields and marking them. Was not too happy with my first attempt so will be completing it today or tomorrow. Once Greeks are on board will snap few more pictures but for now, here are final pictures of the build.

 

 

 

[Fernando E]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this build. Great work and the detail , painting and the finish is superb.

 

Cheers.........Fernando  

[moreplovac]

7 hours ago, Fernando E said:

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this build. Great work and the detail , painting and the finish is superb.

 

Cheers.........Fernando  

Thanks Fernando E, much appreciated.

 

[md1400cs]

Just catching up -Super nice project congratulations indeed.

[moreplovac]

9 hours ago, md1400cs said:

Just catching up -Super nice project congratulations indeed.

Thanks Michael, much appreciated.

 

 

[moreplovac]

Have not done much these days; still looking for a display case as a permanent destination for Birema.

Wondering f you guys have any suggestion about glass thickens for display case? I would need to have, with app measurements:

24"x13"x5mm = for sides; 14"x13x5mm = for other sides and for top 24x14"x5mm

 

Do yo think thickness of 5mm is too much? Can i get a thinner glass like 3mm? I will have a wooden frame to hold all together.

On the other token i am still wrapping up shields for mighty hoplites...

 

 

 

[Fernando E]

Hi, for what  it's worth I have used perspex and as  there is no risk in cracking or breaking of glass. If you are having a wooden frame to hold it all in place I would be happy with 3mm.

 

Cheers............Fernando

[moreplovac]

Today i completed shields for my Greek hoplites; there is some room for touchups thanks for photo.. But they are ready to take place on bireme. 

 

 

Also, i ordered some glass to start building display case. Need to preserve properly those long hours in build.

 

Happy modeling.

 

[Nikiforos]

Warriors from Sparta! Did they capture this ship from the accursed Athenians? Or Korkyra (Corfu) -they kept a hefty independent fleet.

Triremes and the like were very buoyant; they didn't sink as such, they sort of got waterlogged but remained on the surface. That's why you read of so many triereis being captured in battle. (Wonder what Shahanshah Xerxes' triereis looked like?).

 

Enjoyed your build - bit late to the party.

Best wishes.

 

Edit: your painted eyes look superb, they have that artesan look.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Nikiforos

[moreplovac]

13 hours ago, Nikiforos said:

Warriors from Sparta! Did they capture this ship from the accursed Athenians? Or Korkyra (Corfu) -they kept a hefty independent fleet.

Triremes and the like were very buoyant; they didn't sink as such, they sort of got waterlogged but remained on the surface. That's why you read of so many triereis being captured in battle. (Wonder what Shahanshah Xerxes' triereis looked like?).

 

Enjoyed your build - bit late to the party.

Best wishes.

 

Edit: your painted eyes look superb, they have that artesan look.

Hi Nikiforos, thanks for your comment.

Unfortunately there was no way for me to find correct soldiers for my ship so i ended up with a bit of a mess between warriors and ship origins but hopefully not too far apart. These little dudes are very hard to find anywhere on the net; if you know better place to get correct warriors for the ship pls let me know.... I will replace them gladly...

The rest of them are making me a company on my current build - Sultana...  Definitely a not historically correct match 🙂...

 

Thanks for following,

 

Cheers,

 

[Nikiforos]

Spartan troops certainly were capable of snagging enemy ships during the Pelepponese war, and they would have gladly taken the prize. I'm no expert on classical Greece, more into Roman Greece of <5th Century AD, when Athens, Korkyra, Korinth and Sparte were almost old pagan embarrassments, to be brushed aside in history classes for the young "Byzantine" scholars. This is a Greece where Christian semantics pervaded all walks of life, whoever you were; Roman law and Roman heritage trumped all, right after religious doctrine.

 

But your Spartan troops carry the Lambda on their shields (for Lakedaemonia --their 'country') during that vicious war against their Athenian league foes. Your troops look fine; maybe just change one shield or two to other designs? Even then...

 

No, actually, they look fine -typical Spartan soldiers on a captured ship (or even a friendly hired mercenary vessel --a very common occurence). Spartan power was land power, as per the movies/films.

 

Best wishes.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Nikiforos

[moreplovac]

22 hours ago, Nikiforos said:

Spartan troops certainly were capable of snagging enemy ships during the Pelepponese war, and they would have gladly taken the prize. I'm no expert on classical Greece, more into Roman Greece of <5th Century AD, when Athens, Korkyra, Korinth and Sparte were almost old pagan embarrassments, to be brushed aside in history classes for the young "Byzantine" scholars. This is a Greece where Christian semantics pervaded all walks of life, whoever you were; Roman law and Roman heritage trumped all, right after religious doctrine.

 

But your Spartan troops carry the Lambda on their shields (for Lakedaemonia --their 'country') during that vicious war against their Athenian league foes. Your troops look fine; maybe just change one shield or two to other designs? Even then...

 

No, actually, they look fine -typical Spartan soldiers on a captured ship (or even a friendly hired mercenary vessel --a very common occurence). Spartan power was land power, as per the movies/films.

 

Best wishes.

Much appreciated all your comments; keep them coming. That is very interesting part of world history, most of the time not covered correctly, depending on history writer...

 

Do you mind sharing some resource info about shield designs? I still have several uncompleted figures i can paint in different design that overall makes sense. And still have some space on the vessel for them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by moreplovac

[Tector]

I'm glad I caught this. It's always a treat to see model galleys under construction.

[Nikiforos]

There was a PC game released a few years ago where the modders released graphical enhancements for Rome: Total War 2. 

Here is one modder's greek hoplite (hop-leet-ay) shield design set, and if I discover his name, he'll get the credit for such  

As it is, it's in the public domain.

 

Bear in mind, if you stick with Spartan, their "L" Lambda design was in effect only when Lakedaemonia (Sparta country) was at war. Other times, the owner carried any design.

 

If you'd like I can give you a wall of text of resources to books and images for the Peleponnesian War or circa 500BC -ish. It's all good stuff. 

 

Best wishes, friend.

 

Edit: I can possibly see some Iranian (Eran) style designs in the image. Numbers 3, 12 and 19 might look better placed on a persian client state soldier's shield maybe? It really is hard to be sure, but these look 'suspect'

Edit edit: The last, 20, could be for the Goddess Demeter. The beehive is also to be found to represent a certain Later Roman Empire's noble family, but here I think for Demeter. 14 and 15 for Poseidon. (Nothing for Artemis, the old Matron-God of Byzantion )

 

Number 2 looks too modern; it's probably meant for Sicily (the trinacria).

Here, have a medusa  Also in the public domain.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Nikiforos

[moreplovac]

2 hours ago, Nikiforos said:

There was a PC game released a few years ago where the modders released graphical enhancements for Rome: Total War 2. 

Here is one modder's greek hoplite (hop-leet-ay) shield design set, and if I discover his name, he'll get the credit for such  

As it is, it's in the public domain.

 

Bear in mind, if you stick with Spartan, their "L" Lambda design was in effect only when Lakedaemonia (Sparta country) was at war. Other times, the owner carried any design.

 

If you'd like I can give you a wall of text of resources to books and images for the Peleponnesian War or circa 500BC -ish. It's all good stuff. 

 

Best wishes, friend.

 

Edit: I can possibly see some Iranian (Eran) style designs in the image. Numbers 3, 12 and 19 might look better placed on a persian client state soldier's shield maybe? It really is hard to be sure, but these look 'suspect'

Edit edit: The last, 20, could be for the Goddess Demeter. The beehive is also to be found to represent a certain Later Roman Empire's noble family, but here I think for Demeter. 14 and 15 for Poseidon. (Nothing for Artemis, the old Matron-God of Byzantion )

 

Number 2 looks too modern; it's probably meant for Sicily (the trinacria).

Here, have a medusa  Also in the public domain.

 

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

If this will not cause you too much of a trouble, i would definitely not mind getting a hand of your wall of resources. And will very much appreciate it..

 

I might just stick with Lambda design as all these above are be a bit too hard to reproduce unless i find a way to resize it and print on correct paper. But i will definitely save it for future references.

 

Thanks again..

 

 

 

[Nikiforos]

I'll post a list of really good resources later today, including some classical works. But we could start with wikipedia:

 

"The Persians (Ancient Greek: Πέρσαι, Persai...) is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus."

 

The author was 'there'. It's not light reading, but you wouldn't expect it. Buy or borrow this one -nowhere else imho captures the spirit of the times so extraordinarily.

 

More later.

 

Nika

 

Edit: I think you can buy paper/card hoplite shields in small scale for wargaming. 54mm scale is possible, not sure. Search for 'hoplite shield design'.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Nikiforos

[Nikiforos]

Non-fiction:

 

A history of Greece -- J. Bury and R. Meiggs. 

THE definitive history. Ends with the death of Alexander the Great, so not a complete history, obviously. This is a very hefty tome that might become a lifelong friend. I have the 4th Edition.

The Athenian Trireme by J. Coates and J. Morrison. 
How to build and row a trireme --in the 1990s. Very thoroughly researched and a real page-turner. It covers what woods (pine or fir?), hemps, pitch and other materials were used in the original construction, resolving how many banks of oarsmen fit in such a narrow lightly built warship and a thousand details in-between in making a real trireme to corroborate or refute decades or centuries of supposition and presumption.

 

Building the Trireme by F. Welsh is its companion book written by one of the financiers of the reconstruction, iirc. A more back-seat appriach but interesting to compare them both, in matters of fine detail.

 

Another pairing is The Peloponnesian War by D. Kagan and Lords of the Sea -How Trireme Battles Changed the World by J. Hale. 
The authors are/were University colleagues iirc and there are excellent maps illustrated by a shared third-party artist. The former's factual tone is complemented by specific narratives in the latter.

 

History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C. by R. Sealey. This is an academic examination, very dry but fascinating all the same.

 

Fiction:

 

When you're done with that lot, but in the mood for some fiction, Gary Corby writes 'Whodunnits' based around Perikles' Athens. Heroes Nicolai and Diotima chase down villains, search for hidden clues and unmask murderers in Delos, Ionia, Thebes and Persian Asia. There are seven books in the series; Mr Corby diesn't shy from writing about the less happy facts of life in those days, but on the whole, it's light reading with easy humour. I own 4 of the hardcovers and will complete the set very soon.

Poetry:

 

The famous Odyssey by Homer. Read it and impress your mates when you can quote from it by heart. A peerless work. 
The Iliad by the same poet isn't that far behind either.

 

Pc games:

 

Rome Total War 2 has an add-on involving the Peloponnese war with armies navies, seasons and city management. Runs on averagely powerful windows and apple machines, not linux or BSD iirc.

Zeus and Poseidon: City-builder strategy game that got my son firmly into greek mythology. Its a 100+ hour romp across Greece with missions and many classic fables to enjoy from Jason to Perseus. An older game, released in 1999 and costs pennies nowadays.

 

Phew! That's a nice starter for ten, please do enjoy if you are able to have a look at them.

 

Nika.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Nikiforos
Extra resources

[Nikiforos]

https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/greeks

 

Might be useful as there are shield decals on sale. But the scale is off?

 

Best wishes.

[moreplovac]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:15 PM, Nikiforos said:

Non-fiction:

 

A history of Greece -- J. Bury and R. Meiggs. 

THE definitive history. Ends with the death of Alexander the Great, so not a complete history, obviously. This is a very hefty tome that might become a lifelong friend. I have the 4th Edition.

The Athenian Trireme by J. Coates and J. Morrison. 
How to build and row a trireme --in the 1990s. Very thoroughly researched and a real page-turner. It covers what woods (pine or fir?), hemps, pitch and other materials were used in the original construction, resolving how many banks of oarsmen fit in such a narrow lightly built warship and a thousand details in-between in making a real trireme to corroborate or refute decades or centuries of supposition and presumption.

 

Building the Trireme by F. Welsh is its companion book written by one of the financiers of the reconstruction, iirc. A more back-seat appriach but interesting to compare them both, in matters of fine detail.

 

Another pairing is The Peloponnesian War by D. Kagan and Lords of the Sea -How Trireme Battles Changed the World by J. Hale. 
The authors are/were University colleagues iirc and there are excellent maps illustrated by a shared third-party artist. The former's factual tone is complemented by specific narratives in the latter.

 

History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C. by R. Sealey. This is an academic examination, very dry but fascinating all the same.

 

Fiction:

 

When you're done with that lot, but in the mood for some fiction, Gary Corby writes 'Whodunnits' based around Perikles' Athens. Heroes Nicolai and Diotima chase down villains, search for hidden clues and unmask murderers in Delos, Ionia, Thebes and Persian Asia. There are seven books in the series; Mr Corby diesn't shy from writing about the less happy facts of life in those days, but on the whole, it's light reading with easy humour. I own 4 of the hardcovers and will complete the set very soon.

Poetry:

 

The famous Odyssey by Homer. Read it and impress your mates when you can quote from it by heart. A peerless work. 
The Iliad by the same poet isn't that far behind either.

 

Pc games:

 

Rome Total War 2 has an add-on involving the Peloponnese war with armies navies, seasons and city management. Runs on averagely powerful windows and apple machines, not linux or BSD iirc.

Zeus and Poseidon: City-builder strategy game that got my son firmly into greek mythology. Its a 100+ hour romp across Greece with missions and many classic fables to enjoy from Jason to Perseus. An older game, released in 1999 and costs pennies nowadays.

 

Phew! That's a nice starter for ten, please do enjoy if you are able to have a look at them.

 

Nika.

I' am just saying THANK YOU, THANK YOU A LOT.

 

I will definitely start with a first book " The Persians" and will continue with "A history of Greece" and will follow the reading path these two books will make for me.. I am all set for long winter 🙂

 

Now i remember while in highschool, the mandatory reading was Odyssey and Iliad. Now just need to find those books and to refresh my memory.

 

Time permitting will also make another Greek ship and these two books about trireme will be on my shelves, for sure..

 

Again, i much appreciate your time and effort you have put in this reading suggestions.

 

I based all my figures on this design i located on the net:

 

 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

On 6/15/2019 at 5:37 AM, Nikiforos said:

https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/greeks

 

Might be useful as there are shield decals on sale. But the scale is off?

 

Best wishes.

The ones at Warlord are 28mm or 1/56 scale.

 

I forgot to mention that I have a set of these.  The quality of the decals are very good.

Edited June 16, 2019 by GrandpaPhil

[moreplovac]

6 hours ago, Nikiforos said:

https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/greeks

 

Might be useful as there are shield decals on sale. But the scale is off?

 

Best wishes.

Thanks, i will check it out.

 

Appreciated.