San Giovanni Battista 1598 by luponero - Medicean galleon

[luponero]

It is a galleon of the Medici family of Florence from 1598, which was restored, by order of the Marquis Ferdinando I, to the English naval engineer Robert Dudley, as reported in the libraries and archives of Florence relating to the construction of some galleons in Livorno , with purely "war" characteristics usually armed with 16 guns, telling that the name St. John the Baptist has been assigned to at least four boats, to a galley (the first which should be the one that took part in the battle of Lepanto), a another galley built in 1589, the third a galleon built in 1598, and the fourth a large galleon with 64 guns of the English Dudley of 1607, probably the galleon of 1598 will be one of the galleons that Alessandro Risaliti (Commissioner of the Galere of the Order of S. Stefano) reports to Lorenzo Usimbardi (Secretary of State) with the aim of demolishing or selling them because they are no longer efficient, this provision will exclude the Livorno galleon and a large galleon under construction probably the San Giovanni Battista del Dudley, set up in 1607. From this information it is believed that the Livorno in service with the Order of S. Stefano is none other than the S. Giovanni Battista of 1598, renamed to "Livorno" to pass the name to the flagship under construction, obviously it was not just a change of name but a profound structural modification of the boat, improving its structural characteristics, will be one of the characteristics of the Dudley, the capacity to renovate existing boats by improving their hydrodynamic and propulsive characteristics, so this model is the San Giovanni Battista of 1598 prior to the renovation work, and built by "DeAgostini" which is called S. Giovanni Battista, in reality it is the "Livorno".

[luponero]

The model is in 1/60 scale, shown on six well-designed and well explained tables, made in the seventies by a Florentine designer: Matteucci, but "missing" some fundamental parts, the bridges that I will redesign using an old table "old fashioned" drawing, which I used when I was a student (many years ago)

first I made the keel and put it in order, drawing the above drawings of the 6mm plywood

 

later I cut them out and inserted them, without gluing them into the keel

 

 

to glue the drawings I use a removable spray glue, very practical, which allows to obtain a cleaner result

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

[luponero]

As I said earlier, the designer of the construction plans has forgotten to draw the various bridges, the lack / forgetfulness of the drawing of the bridges is not "a trivial matter", many times there are errors / anomalies in the realization of the construction plans and this is yet another example ... in practice excluding the central section of the main deck which is the only one drawn in plan, of the others you can only see the sections in the longitudinal plan ... so all of them will have to be redesigned.

I would also like to create a lighting system,  with LEDs for which at the "planning" level I have to modify different parts and areas created in the construction plans to "illuminate" the interiors, I started making changes from the transom in which there are windows, logically you will have to see the light from them, otherwise it makes no sense to create a lighting system
In the stern part it is rightly advised to make the fillings, which I did with the Swiss pine,

 

 

but how do i put leds with glued fillings? 

the only system is to manually mill now what I would have done much more "easily" if I had waited before gluing the piece ...

 

 

 

 

 

finally the internal compartments have been "emptied!"

 

 

other parts will have to be emptied and the path for the power cable, lights, battery container and switch set up, this is just the beginning

 

see you next time

black Wolf

 

[Ondras71]

Greetings. I like to see a building from my period here ..
Aren't you planning a keel, sternpost and Rudder made of wood? Ondras

[Baker]

A galleon made by Luponero.

I follow with great interest 👍

[luponero]

Thank you for the welcome appreciation,
Patrick, the SGB galleon looks a lot like the Golden Hind, especially in the model that Dudley sir Robert will build by restructuring what I am building,
Ondras, certainly going forward in the realization of the model I will build the other parts in self-construction always with wood from my trees,

after the "emptying" work I started to draw the "missing" bridges the ones that the designer did not report on the construction plan, to do this I "dusted off" my old drawing board, from when I went to school "almost an eternity ago "and I drew the decks of the ship,

Later I realized that other details were missing that had not been reported in the construction drawings, relating to the frames where the bridges are placed, my desire is to illuminate the interiors allowing the view both from the windows and from the doors, I will have to set up the interiors to make details visible

 

 

 

so in the frames where there are doors and windows I had to "open" them

 

 

even the windows on the sides of the ship will be "opened" allowing you to see the interior "illuminated"

 

 

 

I think I have complicated my work who knows "if the game is not worth the candle"  (Italian proverb which expresses one's reluctance to make a sacrifice that will not make a proportionate profit) 

however the modelers like complicated things, otherwise there is no satisfaction !!!

 

I continued the work with the bow fillings, again with swiss pine (it is a soft wood, without knots, used for the moldings of antique furniture and for sculpting)

 

 

 

see you next time

 

[luponero]

It won't be the last time I open the compartments ...

after gluing the bow fillings, the next step was the "tapering" to give a harmonious profile

 

 

The name S. Giovanni Battista has been assigned to at least four boats, to a galley (the first which should be the one that took part in the battle of Lepanto), another galley built in 1589, the third a galleon built in 1598, and the fourth a large galleon with 64 guns of the English Dudley of 1607, probably the galleon of 1598 will be one of the galleons that Alessandro Risaliti (Commissioner of the Galere of the Order of St. Stephen) reports to Lorenzo Usimbardi (Secretary of State) for the purpose to demolish or sell them because they are no longer efficient, the Livorno galleon and a large galleon under construction probably the San Giovanni Battista del Dudley, set up in 1607, will be excluded from this provision. From this information it is believed that the Livorno in service with the Order of S. Stefano is none other than the S. Giovanni Battista of 1598, renamed to "Livorno" to pass the name to the flagship under construction, obviously it was not just a matter of a change of name but of a profound structural modification of the boat, improving its structural characteristics, will be one of the characteristics of the Dudley, the ability to renovate existing boats by improving their hydrodynamic and propulsive characteristics, for which this model is the San Giovanni Battista of 1598 prior to the renovation works, to "understand" the model of DeAgostini which is called S. Giovanni Battista, is actually the "Livorno".
But what should not be overshadowed is the figure of Roberto Dudley himself both in the context of the city of Livorno and in its history, numerous British sources have in the past attributed to Robert Dudley (1574-1649), a complex figure of Catholic expatriate welcomed in Tuscany by Grand Duke Ferdinando I, a decisive role in the design of the maritime infrastructures of Livorno, in the reclamation of its territory, in the consolidation of commercial networks with England and even in the establishment of the free port, making it true in a certain sense " inventor "of the city, probably increasing to" excess "the role of Dudley in the context of the actual contribution of English to the development of the great port of the Medici, recent studies carried out by the University of Pisa have relocated precisely the figure of Dudley, who one contrasted historiography carried out by Livorno scholars tended to excessively downsize, if not ignore, the role of Dudley, recently carried out study deepens the figure and its role in the correct historical reality, specifying what was the effective contribution of English to the development of the great port of the Medici.

 

After the historical study, due to the model and its important restructuring, to which both the Medici and the city of Livorno have recognized his value and great ingenuity, giving him (the Medici) a villa in Castello, in Sesto Fiorentino, where he lived and died here on September 6, 1649, while in the walls of the Old Dock near the monument of the Four Moors, where Ferdinand I stands, a commemorative plaque recalls him.
Reading the story of this great character I start with images that represent him,

 

Sir Robert Dudley earl of warwick

 

plan of the port of Livorno drawn by Dudley

 

 

commemorative plaques placed in Livorno and Castello prov. Florence

 

I paste the link, relating to the study carried out by the University of Pisa on the Dudley, is in Italian but it is possible to put subtitles in any language

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBS2sAPM_7o

 

 

The work continued with the laying, without gluing of the bridge

 

 

 

see you next time

[luponero]

I thank friends for the "likes"
for the realization of the two models  I decided to dedicate two continuous weeks each, obviously the builds do not follow this logic, the photos were taken a few days ago compared to the present, this allows me to insert images almost continuously, obviously up to achievement of processing progress in "real" time
The galleon foresees that on the sides there are painted geometric motifs as well as an area adjacent to the two bridges, while between the two decks, the greater and the battery one, no color is reported, so the strips will be "natural", tagliamare is also part of this area so I decided to replace it by creating a new one in walnut (one of my favorite essences)

 

I used a 1 cm board, the one in the photo above, planing it to 6 mm, the width of the keel

 

 

the pieces are identical, only the wood is different, certainly the walnut one is much more beautiful,

the bow is also replaced

 

 

 

after removing the "plywood" one, I put the walnut one

 

 

 

the work on the bow is finished, the result is not bad

 

 

see you next time

[luponero]

After arranging the bridges, I came up with the idea of creating the lighting system, I reported on the longitudinal plane the schematic of the system with the leds, the resistors, the path of the conductors, and the interconnections with the primary conductors ending at the battery (two 1.5 v. stylus)

 

 

I will start to pass the electric wire (telephone braid) while I wait for the LEDs I bought online to arrive,

 

 

 

 

for the realization of the lighting system, it is necessary to open some frames,

and checking the operation of the leds before placing it,

 

on the red conductor I connect the anode on the white the cathode and the 56 ohm resistor,

a first view of the lighting that will be arranged later, the leds lights are the "flickering" ones that imitate the "candle" lighting

 

I also build the base support which has the tube on one side inside the conductors that end at the switch will pass

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

 

[Louie da fly]

Wonderful work, Lupo. Your piece on Robert Dudley made me curious whether he he was related to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Elizabeth I of England. I looked him up and it turns out he was Leicester's illegitimate son! There's a lot of fascinating information about him here: https://www.swaen.com/robert-dudley.php

 

Your walnut timber is very beautiful, and I'm impressed by your internal lighting for the ship.

 

 

 

[luponero]

You're right Steven, Dudley's life is very fascinating as the "characteristics" that represent it, illegitimacy was one of the situations that prompted Sir Robert to change country, his stay in Livorno was fundamental both for him and for the city, as its constructions both in the architectural and nautical fields, as well as the restructuring of this model, I am carrying out the version prior to the restructuring of the ship that will take the name of "Livorno" as the city that hosted it.

The preparation of the electrical system has caused some structural "changes" on the frames and various, I presume they are not finished yet. Unfortunately the mentality of taking only the "necessary" penalized me, that is, three flickering LEDs did not "light up", a couple for my fault another was defective, so I took back others, in practice the biggest expense is in shipping ... it was at the first let alone at the second ..
however I decided to work on the model support, usually it is a piece that I do at the end, at least with the planking finished, but this time I decided to anticipate the times, because to bring the braid of the electrical system to the switch I have to switch from the support trying to make it as invisible as possible (we'll see ...)
I have had a 1 cm thick mahogany board for a long time, it is not an essence that I use a lot, also because as a timber being very old it tends to chip in the cut and has lost its elasticity, so the use for the bases, I decided to make the one in the construction plans, which looks like a "fratina" (typical Tuscan dining table) with the typical joint on the tenon, once the wedge is removed it is disassembled, obviously it does not need to be glued, so I tried to make it by practicing a 4mm hole where there is the joint with the keel by inserting a copper tube into the hole in which the braid will pass that from the base (3cm) will then end at the switch always placed in the base outside the case (so I hope)

 

I have finally finished the structure of the i.e. at least I can start the planking which becomes a fundamental element because I want to work on the frames bringing them back to a shape similar to the rib (...) what to say this project is stressing me, the more I go ahead the more I notice the "shortcomings"
the part relating to the bridges is a drama not only did the designer forget to draw them, but in the relative part of the drum bridge with the joints with the frames, (with missing areas) full it creates many problems, so much so that the use of the truncated barrels for the guns screwed to black-painted plugs to make them less visible ("half-rods" with wooden plugs to screw them which I always consider very ugly and unsightly, especially in a galleon that has few cannons ... probably the fact that there we are also the construction plans relating to the "Livorno" will have determined for the version of the SGB prior to the restoration carried out by Dudley that I am carrying out, a condition of "carelessness and superficiality". Even the stay of the master is another element to "deepen" , in the plans it is reported as indicated in the drawing resting on the formwork (condition to say the least "anomalous" and not very compliant given the resultant of the load that should To put several kg of the resulting tension on the support point, it would be useful to see if even in the "Livorno" the forestay passes by leaning on the bulwark, in short, I am not very convinced of the "truthfulness" so it is not the max,
however we go ahead, the photo of the SGB with the phase and neutral connectors of i.e. (reminds me of the electrical system at home ...)

 

 

 

 

the stern frames and part of the keel in elevation will have to be removed, keeping the decks that can be opened to be able to mill, for this reason the planking will become a "holding" element a bit like in the triere, only that the sealing feature carried out by the tenon and mortise is made from the glue, distributed on the edge and from the few frames interested, let's hope well ...

 

After the "special effects" some "old style" manual work, the planking,
I made myself with the disc saw, a few walnut strips with a thickness of 1.5mm and a width of 6mm
, a "width" that I usually do not use, I like the 4 / 5mm strip more, however the curves of the SGB are not very pronounced and then it is the first planking, the first strip was put on the edge of the bridge following the curvature, for the calculation of the strips I used the greater ordinate dividing by the width of the strips, the measurement of the ordinate: the support side of the strips, the measurement of the greater ordinate is 12 cm, so dividing the same for the width of the strips (6 mm) obtaining the quantity of the necessary strips: there are 20 (obviously the width of the strip is conditioned by the purpose of obtaining a precise quantity), each ordinate was measured and divided by 20 to determine how much it should be the width of the strips, obviously at the stern and bow ends the frames are much shorter, consequently the considerably smaller width goes from 6 mm on the main beam to 3mm on the frames of the stern and the at the bow, with intermediate width measurements on the adjacent frames, obviously always maintaining the usual 20 strips, the first batten flush with the bridge

 

 

the workbench (for now it's pretty clean, it doesn't happen often!)

 

 

 

the tapering of the strip is made on the basis of the "determined" widths and to avoid misalignments on the edges of the strips and for its entire length both on the upper and lower edge I have made a tapering inclined of about 45 ° to ensure that the edge of the the lower strip fits together with the upper one, on all the strips laid, maintaining a precise alignment, without "overhangs" obviously the inclination is not "perfectly continuous" to support the step on the edge on the belt scraper giving it the inclination to " eye ", after making the tapering of the width ,,,
in addition to the edge I also passed the nails of the middle and index,
I will do this pose only with the first planking, the second I will do it by putting the edges together without discarding them,

 

 

I will also change the width of the strips to ensure that the edges of the strips of the first installation do not match with the latter, both to make the planking more robust and because it does not filter the light of the leds

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

 

 

 

[luponero]

Thanking you for the appreciations, I update the build with the processing phases, I continued in the realization of the planking by cutting a few strips

 

to easily fold the rib strips, I use an iron

 

taking care not to stretch the wires of the lighting system

 

the "red" staff is the drum bridge, a fundamental reference for the creation of gunports,

the high and variable height of the sides of the galleon requires the creation of strips with a different height, so I choose another "national" walnut board 

 

 

I make a few strips, until I reach the cutwater, in this part there is a small bridge on which an anti-slip plate is placed, I thought that in a couple of hours I would have made it, I thought ...
the "non-slip" slab should be metal resting on the deck and joists that are on the cut
to make the anti-slip plate I used a brass plate that I welded along the edge in the center, I cut out the central part of the 1 mm plywood with which I had made the base of the bridge

 

once the supports have been completed, the brass plate is fixed

 

 

checking that the leds still work!

 

the profile is finished,

 

for now everything is ok!

see you next time

black Wolf

 

[luponero]

In the meantime the switch for the leds arrived, the work continues with the polishing of the strips, I have to do this because I want to put the guns on the battery deck, the project involves the use of "truncated" barrels fixed on the special blocks of wood, a condition that I do not like, I prefer to make complete guns, allowing you to see the interiors from the open gun doors, to do this I will have to "remove" the internal frames, making future processing very difficult !!!

 

 

 

the "national" walnut is one of my favorite essences, I also had pear and apple trees both well seasoned, but once again the walnut won, as you can see the colors are very marked and in my opinion give a very "velvety look" "to the model, for now it has not been treated with any oil or paint, but even now the natural color appears to be very pleasant.

This is the drawing relating to the detail of the bow where you can see the "grating" of the bridge and the part of the small bridge where the designer has brought back the part made with the "anti-slip" plate on other galleons of the period many times a "
floorboard "in wood, but in this case perhaps the sheet metal allows to obtain a very reduced thickness which in the context appears more pleasant

 

 

Finished this particular continuous with the realization of the first planking going up from the keel towards the upper decks trying to structurally reinforce the model to cut and mill the frames, allowing the vision of the interiors from the doors and hatches of the guns, for which I made a dozen strips decreasing the width according to the height of the frames and the profile of the sides which have a very accentuated curvature, due to the considerable height of the formwork, but as soon as the bridge of the cutting is finished,

 

 

 

 

I tried to reinsert the small pieces of the 0,8mm birch plywood that would be the continuity of the battery deck or the upper deck of the housing that I had removed for the construction of the planking

 

 

 

 

and I realized, after having been part of the first planking, that the room for maneuver is "very small", and this will make it more complicated to set up the interiors and mill the frames to try to transform them into ribs without causing damage, especially to the LEDs .. .   the "easy" routes do not give the satisfaction as the "difficult" ones, let's hope so!

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

 

 

[J11]

Nice progress on her.

[luponero]

 

I thank friends for their kind appreciation,
as I said before starting over and finishing the planking I want to finish the details present in the battery deck, on the deck there are 14 guns, in the project the developer recommends the use of "truncated" barrels, a solution that I don't like, so I'll have to start with the construction of the guns and the opening of the gunsports, which follow the "curvature" of the bridge, in Italian they are called lozenge gunsport, that is the lower and upper horizontal side (the thresholds) of the sandbank were parallel to the deck plane while the uprights (vertical sides) were parallel to the ribs so that the shape of the hatch was "rhomboidal" called lozenge, in other situations always, always maintaining the "parallelism" with the bridge, those squares were used for ease of construction, however it was avoiding the "ladder" construction for obvious aesthetic reasons, especially in galleons or vessels with many guns, the SGB has 16 guns, two of which at the stern, so the sand "lozenge" does not affect much different thing I presume, in ships with a larger artillery equipment,
pasting of explanatory images (hoping that the translation is understandable)

I insert some drawings relating to the diamond-shaped sanding blocks which show the position of the sanding blocks with respect to the curvature of the bridge

 

but to work on the bridge setting it up with the details, I have to open the frames, the most complex part, working with the cutter near the wires of the lighting system is not easy, just "touch" a wire and the lighting risks not working

With adhesive tape I protect the openings from the dust produced during processing

 

with the milling I start to widen / open the frames

 

after practicing the openings I check that the leds still work

 

has become a "paranoia !!!" 

 

I prepare a template that will be used to make the openings on the side of the ship, windows, gunsports 

 

 

 

the red line made under the gunsports, serves to verify the one shown on the side that follows the curvature of the bridge, to open them in the right position

 

 

I carry over with adhesive tape the precise position of the gunsport openings and of the holes for water drainage (limber holes)

Openings that I will carry out, when I am, sure that I have finished all the work on the bridge

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

[luponero]

But before the openings on the sides and the final realization of the planking I decide to make the various accessories that were on the battery deck, I can only do it now, later I will have to "seal" the command deck and this will limit access to the parts under.

I start with the construction of the cannons, these are 16 cannons that Sir Dudly with the renovations of 1600 will increase to 64, they are medieval cannons of the 1500 for which made in a more coarser way than the cannons of the 1700, for their construction I used the lathe and rummy like wood

 

 

to make the rods that are 36mm long I had to make some mini gouges

 

 

after finishing them I painted them with black water-based enamel

 

 

I started preparing the carriages (I also made falconets, but they don't satisfy me very much ...)

 

 

for the realization of the trolleys I used the "cherry"

 

 

 

 

as I said for their realization I rely on the English cannons of the 1700s, trying to make them more "coarse" in the processing of the cannon barrel, the melting technique of 1500 was different from the one that will be used later

 

while the construction of the trunks, I presume that it has not had any obvious changes, I carry a drawing of a 1750 carriage and the shooting wedge with the indications of the "lift" for the shooting,

 

the shooting wedge

 

 

over the two maneuvers,
I°_  horizontal direction shift

II° _  in elevation

 

see you next time

 

luponero

 

[luponero]

Grazie per il vostro gradito apprezzamento,
il lavoro prosegue nella realizzazione dei particolari delle pistole

 

le fasi di montaggio dei particolari

 

 

 

 

 

piano piano l'artiglieria è costruita
ci sono ancora alcuni dettagli che realizzerò in seguito

il regolatore del colpo

 

 

la brunitura dell'ottone e l'invecchiamento della carrozza

 

and the second base coat

 

the sixteen guns are almost ready

 

 

see you next time

black Wolf

 

[luponero]

Once the guns were finished, I continued with the realization of the details present on the battery deck, another detail is the lever rudder that is maneuvered by the helmsman in the appropriate housing, which is a raised floor above the battery deck, the rudder is formed by two rods joined by two metal pieces at the end that stopped at the rudder rod allowed it to be maneuvered, I made the rudder and rods, later I will have to make the mechanism (the joint) that allows you to "distribute" the maneuvers to the rudder being locked on the base where the helmsman is.

 

 

 

 

To place the rods and create the "visible" details from the openings of the cannon hatches, I have to continue to enlarge and mill the internal parts very close to the lighting system, risking to do considerable damage

 

 

I started to prepare the strips to make the bridge, (I will make boards of 6m with a width of 30 cm, reported in 1/60 scale, or strips of 10 cmx5mm wide,) for the essence I decided to use some elm, these are boards that I made 6/7 years ago so well seasoned, I cut a piece and I opened them with a band saw, (seasoned elm is hard as steel)

 

the next step will be to plan them to a thickness of 5mm and with the foot with the aluminum guide make the strips 5mm wide with a thickness of 0.8mm

 

 

while on the opening I carry the "beams" with some strips that I only need to support the part made to close and delimit the openings where I will make the grating delimiting them with the jaws

 

I begin to put the strips on by putting weights on them to keep them adherent to the plywood

 

 

this is the result, now I can start laying the deck battens

 

 

 

the next detail will be the realization of the grating, for now I conclude by wishing everyone a Happy 2021 that is better than 2020 !!!

 

 

 

 

[luponero]

I thank my friends for their welcome appreciation,

 

I continued laying the strips on the deck,

 

always widening the openings on the bridge, always checking the operation of the leds

 

 

 

leaving to finish the gunwale, which I will build when I have removed the frames

preparing the openings for the grating

 

 

 

 

see you next time

[Louie da fly]

That whipstaff assembly for the rudder/tiller looks really good. And the planking on the deck, as well. 

 

Do you use an automatic translator? Sometimes your posts say "deck" and sometimes "bridge". I suspect they are the same word in Italian. But only "deck" is correct here, because the bridge is a completely different part of a ship; it's the structure at the top of a modern vessel where the captain works.

 

I am very impressed by your lighting - electronics are a mystery to me, but I can appreciate the excellence of the work of others.

 

Steven

[juansystem05]

this was very interesting, What happened?