Roman Quadrireme Galley by Ian_Grant - 1/32 Scale - RADIO

[Ian_Grant]

2 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Do you have a picture of how you want it to look? You might like to have a look at how I did the one on my dromon.

 

She's looking very good.

 

Steven

Thanks Steven! Yours looks great but it's far beyond my artistic ability.

 

Not sure how I want it to look. Or what they had if anything. In Pitassi's book some of the larger ships have what looks like a permanent structure, like the quinquireme in this video ( see time 0:46). I think a quadrireme would require something lighter due to reduced size and number of oarsmen. Pitassi indeed shows nothing in the quadrireme drawing but has an arched tent-like item in other drawings.

 

 

Something more like what is shown in the ships here. Most have a "tent" of some sort with, thankfully, one plain colour or at the most stripes. That's a relief.

 

https://naval-encyclopedia.com/antique-ships/roman-ships

 

A snag is that I was planning to attach the cubby to the rear hatch to serve as a handle (similar to the boarding bridge and the forward hatch) so it can't actually be soft. Maybe a "soft-top" arch with hidden wood in the lower sides for my big clumsy hands to grip?

 

 

Edited June 7 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Those not into RC can ignore this post. 😉

 

A little good news......I noticed at the RC club's indoor pool meetings this winter that if six or seven other boats were in use, my old FM 75 MHz two-channel set picked up some noise from them and the servos occasionally twitched. I have a 2.4 GHz 6-channel transmitter too, with "DSM" printed on it, which I bought with an airplane years ago but I wasn't sure if it was an old obsolete DSM1 unit or a newer DSM2 unit. I took it to Great Hobbies today along with a battery and a servo to experiment. It did actually bind to a modern DSM2/DSMX Receiver so it must be a DSM2 Transmitter. I bought a nice new 6-channel Receiver so now I too have an interference-free 2.4 GHz link. Nice!

 

Six channels are not needed for the galley, but my square-rigged RC ship will definitely need more than two as on my old FM set.

[Louie da fly]

I've just been looking for contemporary representations of these awnings - they're a bit few and far between - most are modern interpretations. But Trajan's column has this:

and these

And these frescoes are from Pompeii:

 

Not quadriremes admittedly, but certainly war galleys. And though other forms of awning are perhaps not unknown, these arched ones seem very common. 

 

I agree that if you want to use the awning as a "handle" you need something fairly robust. I suppose it depends how robust you want it. I've had success with the technique I showed above, but it probably isn't strong enough for your purposes. Perhaps turn a hollow cylinder on a lathe and then cut it lengthwise to act as the arched part. Or use a hollow metal or plastic cylinder the same way. Adding the vertical sides so the top doesn't pull away from them as you lift might be a problem. But certainly, something solid with a fake fabric top looks to be the way to go. And perhaps a bentwood fake framework (as shown on the pictures above) as well. Again, I've had success bending wood in quite tight arcs - see post #217 at 

Hope this helps,

 

Steven

 

 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Steven, thank you!  Those Pompeii frescoes are in Pitassi's book but somehow the b/w reproduction is nowhere near as clear as that. I see they really did use red and blue! 😊

 

That "Naval Encyclopedia" similarly shows some very tall awnings reaching the fantail but I don't think I want one like that; too much windage and I want to leave open the possibility of a flickering LED lantern dangling from it. I did drill a hole and glue in a copper eye before attaching it to the stern.

 

We're thinking of booking a trip to Italy which definitely will include time at Pompeii/Herculaneum.

[Louie da fly]

Glad you liked the Pompeii pics.

 

Naturally, go with the awning you want to have. You don't have to make it hard on yourself. I'm interested in seeing how you solve the problem of making it, but I'm sure you'll succeed.

 

Italy is an amazing place, chockablock with history. I've only been to Torino (Turin) and Rome, but even with just those two I was blown away. But make sure you include Venice in your itinerary, and spend time in San Marco (Saint Mark's) basilica. Apart from anything else, the mosaics are out of this world! (My wife's been there - I am so jealous!)

 

Steven

 

PS: I'd love a good picture of this mosaic, but unfortunately they don't allow photography.

 

[Ian_Grant]

Off topic but to continue about Italy; we spent some time in Venice and Florence on our 8 week (!) Europe-wandering honeymoon before departing for Corfu. Venice was good (we still remember the tour at the Doge's Palace, walking up to our ankles in water in St Mark's square,  and the ornate bed in our room) but I liked Florence better, apart from all the scooters zooming around. My wife chuckled at the reverent look on my face when I saw Galileo's tomb. 🙂 We didn't get to spend any time in Rome but next time we will go there and again to Florence, and obviously around Amalfi & Naples to hike Vesuvius and see Pompeii. Plus some time relaxing in Northern Italy.

Edited June 8 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Here's what I've been working on........

 

Drew two patterns of shield motifs in CAD and 3D printed ten of each. Painted them up and attached to bulwarks.

Drew some cleats and cut them out from 1/8" plywood using the laser cutter.

Here are the cleat boards which will be inside the bulwarks to anchor the mast shrouds.

Haven't yet painted the cleats.

Lashing and halyard cleat at the mast foot. Recall that the part of the tabernacle lashed to the mast comes off with it.

Cleats at base of artemon for yard inhaul/outhaul.

While I had a laser cutter booking, I cut out two rudder blanks from 1/4" clear cast acrylic sheet.

The etched stripes are where I need to cut a notch for the brass rudder posts.

Idea is to paint a scale rudder blade and leave the oversized portions clear.

Started work on the commander's shelter. It will be the handle for the rear hatch, bolted to it.

Hoping that stretching fabric over it will show the "tentpole" arches.

One more pole to add, in its slots. It crossed my mind to 3D print the end arches and slotted sides, but then I

gave my head a shake; "How lazy am I getting?".  🙄 It would have taken a good while to print, too.

Long weekend at the cottage a week tomorrow. I plan to debut it to all the inlaws and some friends, most of whom don't know I've been building it. It just never came up, HaHa......I'm the only one interested in building models or in RC.......Hope to have some rigging done, definitely the rudders, and of course use the new battery pack.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:42 PM by Ian_Grant

[Glen McGuire]

Top notch work, Ian!

[BANYAN]

She's coming on splendidly Ian, looking great!  Some very neat lashing there, bodes well for your rigging to which I am ;looking forward to seeing.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rookie]

Looking great!

have fun at the cottage 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Routered a slot in each rudder blank for the square brass rudder post. This is a square tube into which a round rod is soldered; this rod passes through a brass tube at the steering platforms. Here is one left and one right rudder, with two little cover plates to be glued on. I roughed up the acrylic to give the glue some hook.

Painted-on "scale" rudders; they will be mounted with the cover plates on the inboard faces. I used "JB Weld" epoxy for the first time. Wow it really grabs stuff but it's a rather ugly dark grey when dry, not a worry here due to painting. I polished the acrylic cut edges down to 600 grit wet. We just pretend that the clear areas are not there. 🙂

Rudders mounted. By the way I clear-coated the hull paint in exterior UV satin finish. I could not find exterior in matt. I am thinking of applying an interior matt over that, above the waterline, and hoping that it will stick.

A short video of the rudder action.

 

 

Size comparison of the NiMH pack with the lantern battery. No contest.

Then re-assemble the mechanisms. The sliding bases:

The oar beams:

After adding the oars I need to do a ballast test in the pool before taking her to the cottage tomorrow. It's supposed to rain all day Saturday so I will have more time to tweak it. Didn't have time to do much rigging, sadly. I will take the laptop too in case any software changes are needed. Video from on lake to follow............🤙👍