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

[Glen McGuire]

Lovin' the bling!!  Bling it on!!

[Ian_Grant]

I finally attached the steering platforms after adding most of the exterior trim. Now it's back to the library to laser etch some ply for the fore and stern decks; after adding them I can skin the inside of the fore and stern bulwarks and add the cap rails. I will probably need to add the rudder servo and links before the stern deck decreases access. Pics:

 

Clamping a piece of stern trim. I cheated by cutting the arc from a sheet instead of edge-bending.

The bow. The little panels below the (absent) cap rail will be blue with red framing. I left out a couple of forward panels for now; thinking of  somehow making or finding a decorative element for there. I drew a little signum in 3dCAD but not sure if it would print, or even if it's appropriate for a ship as opposed to an infantry formation. Maybe a cut-up 3D printed eagle on stempost, with wings extending back into these spaces???? Still pondering. The painted eyes will be in the space at stempost below the trim.

Outrigger trim. The little verticals defining sets of three ports were planned originally. The laser etcher could not do the outrigger tops in one long piece; I needed to add a plank to cover the seam so I placed the seam at one of the verticals and added more planks across the outrigger top to match the others. "Make a bug into a feature". Despite what I said earlier I safely cut the trim from wood on my Unisaw by making an auxiliary zero-clearance plate and fence.

Port steering platform. They could stand to be 1/4" narrower aesthetically but I figure I need the width to place the rudder shaft outboard enough for the exaggerated oversized rudder to clear the hull, and for the rudder horn to swing. The stern inboard half of the platform will have a shaped block reaching the cap rail level, containing a brass tube for the rudder shaft. This gives me about 2" of "sleeve bearing" for about 6-1/2" of rudder and shaft below the platform. Hoping it won't bind. The horn will be beneath the steering platform deck, concealed from the side by the steering platform's walls which extend below the deck.

The stern. There will be one more trim piece, starting at the steering platform at "half bulwark" height and again sweeping up to the cap rail at the sternpost.

I must say this part has been fun compared to endlessly tinkering with the oar mechanisms. Still don't know what kind of paint to use. Can't see myself masking and remasking to spray all those little panels, and wales etc. One hobby shop said use whatever paint I like so long as I apply a compatible UV clear-coat on top ......

Edited November 17, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Kevin-the-lubber]

That looks great, Ian, quite a project.

[Ian_Grant]

13 minutes ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

That looks great, Ian, quite a project.

Thanks Kevin. My goal is to sail (row?) her in the local RC boat club's February evening at a local pool. 🙃

 

Possibly of interest to you, my brother just bought a Creality resin printer, and washing machine, in a "Black Friday" sale (you may never have heard of it; it was an annual fall thing in the States which has spread to here). Just $120CDN for the printer! He says he has my crew in mind for it. 😊

Edited November 17, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Kevin-the-lubber]

That’s a fantastic price. I assume this is the Halot-Mage, which is also available as a great BF deal here at the moment. However, as my Elegoo Saturn is more or less the same size there’d be no sense in buying this, much as I’m tempted. If your brother is good with Blender or something similar you should end up with wonderful, unique figures to go with this unique build. Actually, I remember there’s an amazing app for making figures called Daz3D, in case it’s of interest.

[Ian_Grant]

53 minutes ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

That’s a fantastic price. I assume this is the Halot-Mage, which is also available as a great BF deal here at the moment. However, as my Elegoo Saturn is more or less the same size there’d be no sense in buying this, much as I’m tempted. If your brother is good with Blender or something similar you should end up with wonderful, unique figures to go with this unique build. Actually, I remember there’s an amazing app for making figures called Daz3D, in case it’s of interest.

Oopsie!  My bad - the printer was Halot1 Pro for $169CDN, it is the washer which was $120.

 

Andrew is an animator who worked on Star Wars, Pearl Harbour, The Hulk, and numerous other movies. Looking forward to his help with a crew!

[Glen McGuire]

5 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Maybe a cut-up 3D printed eagle on stempost, with wings extending back into these spaces????

I LOVE that idea, Ian!!

[Ian_Grant]

8 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

I LOVE that idea, Ian!!

Yeah, I think it would look good. There will be a small eagle atop the flagpole at the stern too. I was looking in Thingiverse for a suitable eagle. Downloaded a free one, but the .STL file was too big for TinkerCAD to open (limited to 25M file size). Will be looking again.

 

Also made a start at 3D CAD drawing for the scorpion artillery, before I realized I don't know how they got tilt and traverse with the bulwark in the way, without the machine getting rather too high up. Will have to think more about it.

[henrythestaffy]

Ian,

      If you are using windows there is a program built in called 3d builder. If you import the eagle file into it there is an option to simplify which will reduce the size in megabytes. It might be an option to consider.

 

regards

 

paul

[BANYAN]

Some great progress Ian, and glad to hear you are enjoying this part of the build.  I also like that idea for the eagle decoration; it would really set things off.  

 

Are your figures going to be articulated to allow movement with the oars?  (sorry may have missed this)

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Ian_Grant]

4 hours ago, BANYAN said:

 

Are your figures going to be articulated to allow movement with the oars?  (sorry may have missed this)

 

cheers

 

Pat

Sorry Pat, the crew figures will be "still lives" on-deck in various positions. The "oarsmen" are completely out of sight, and danger from projectiles, in the enclosed hull which is one of the reasons I decided to build this ship as opposed to, say, a viking ship. Articulated oarsmen are beyond my pay grade. 😉

[Ian_Grant]

5 hours ago, henrythestaffy said:

Ian,

      If you are using windows there is a program built in called 3d builder. If you import the eagle file into it there is an option to simplify which will reduce the size in megabytes. It might be an option to consider.

 

regards

 

paul

Paul, thanks for the tip! I imported the free eagle to 3d builder, unable to figure out "simplify" in ten minutes playing with the tool and viewing youtube. Will keep trying. Here's an image from 3d builder ..... this eagle, with dais deleted, would be fantastic atop the stern flagpole although I'm not sure how much the detail would hold up at my small printed size.....I saw some eagles with wings spread, now that I know about this tool I will see about getting one of them "simplified" and into TinkerCAD where hopefully I can cut it up for use at the bow. 🤞

 

Or ask my brother to do it. 😉

[Kevin-the-lubber]

When you’ve finished with your brother can I have him please. I still haven’t got my head around Blender and all that stuff, I remain strictly ‘engineer-grade’ and at some point will have to learn how to do figureheads etc. I’m sure he could tell you how to deal with that eagle but what I’ve done in the past was to download Meshmixer (it’s free) and use that to reduce the number of polygons etc. That said, you won’t need to cut it up for resin printing, you’d just need to do something for mounting on the ship.

 

 

[henrythestaffy]

Ian,

      I couldnt find that eagle on thingiverse. Do you have a link to it and I will see if I can make it a little smaller megabyte wise. Fusion 360 is also able to do it. I like your boat by the way. Last year I printed some rostra/rostrum and copper plated them. It was an experiment to see whether I could do it or not. I dont think I would bother again, the copper finish was a bit rough. The rostra turned out ok. I got the pictures from the Athlit study on academia. If you have a resin printer then the detail on the eagle will be ok even at a smaller size.

 

Regards

Paul

[Ian_Grant]

Thanks Paul. Apologies for wasting your time, but it wasn't from thingiverse after all; I was all over the web looking and I downloaded that eagle from myminifactory.

 

How many 3D model sites are there I wonder?

 

Here's a try at attaching the actual .stl file......Needs to be simplified down to 25M, don't know what it would like by then. Perhaps it would be simplest (for me) if I sent the file to my brother who presumably is familiar with better tools than TinkerCAD which is the extent of my 3D skills.

 

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-jupiter-as-an-eagle-from-the-ganymede-group-a44-278554

 

thorvaldsen-a44-a-eagle.stl

[Ian_Grant]

7 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

When you’ve finished with your brother can I have him please. I still haven’t got my head around Blender and all that stuff, I remain strictly ‘engineer-grade’ and at some point will have to learn how to do figureheads etc. I’m sure he could tell you how to deal with that eagle but what I’ve done in the past was to download Meshmixer (it’s free) and use that to reduce the number of polygons etc. That said, you won’t need to cut it up for resin printing, you’d just need to do something for mounting on the ship.

 

 

When I get to the point of needing a crew I'm hoping to visit him for a weekend for a tutorial on using blender to pose figures. I have bookmarked a 3D legionnaire figure who is "fully rigged" meaning he has "bones" which can be moved around to pose him, and his armour/clothing just sort of flows naturally as posed. Would beat amputations and re-gluing.

[henrythestaffy]

Ian,

     I have reduced the eagle to 4.5mb with 3D builder and it looks ok especially if the print was small. You need to open the STL file with 3dbuilder and then on the left top toolbar hit the import model button. Once that is done the other buttons on the toolbar will become selectable. Click on the model to select it. Then select Edit on the toolbar and then simplify on the far left of the toolbar. You should then see a reduction slider on the toolbar with the number of faces on the model. I slide the slider along about half way and reduced the faces quite a bit. It would be a case of experimenting with how far you want to go. Once you have decided where you want the slider to be hit the reduce faces button and depending on the power of your computer a little time later it will produce a result. Once you have what you want hit the save button and you are right to go with Tinkercad.

 

regards

 

Paul

[Ian_Grant]

Paul, I did so and here is what was imported into TinkerCAD......HaHa!!

 

I'm guessing this massive model exceeded the z-axis limit in TinkerCAD. Will try scaling it in 3d builder then re-importing.

[Ian_Grant]

Success!  Scaled to 3/4" tall, pedestal removed (with a few lingering glitches in his tail feathers) in TinkerCAD.

 

Shall see if Andrew can clench his claws for me, to go around a cross-bar on the stern flagpole.

 

Many thanks to Paul!! 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Yet another post on 3D eagles. Found a likely-looking one for the bow, with wings spread. I measured in TinkerCAD and his wings are at too narrow an angle compared to the bows, so as an experiment I will try a PLA print at the library; if successful some surgery will be in order to see how he looks mounted. If nice, I can get a resin print later or possibly play around in TinkerCAD to amputate his wings and re-attach at a wider angle.

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Quite a bit to talk about.

 

I came to like the width of my steering platforms less and less; they stuck out like cauliflower ears whereas they should be about the same as the outrigger. Thinking about rudder installation, I realized I could make the steering platforms narrower if I let the rudder horns swivel through the hull skin when swivelling inwards (I had sized the platforms to let the horns traverse their full arc beneath them). Just means enlarging the slots in the hull through which the rudder linkages pass. So, I cut the platforms off the hull, reduced their width by 3/8", and re-mounted them. I formed two wood blocks shaped to fit against the hull at the back of the platforms, and drilled through them at an 18 degree angle for the brass rudder tubes. Formerly the steering platform front walls had two panels similar to the side walls, but the inner set was destroyed when I hacked off the 3/8" and rather than make new walls I just covered it with another layer of 1/16" ply yielding a blank wall as seen below. I'm now planning to put a relief lion's face on each of these walls. There are lots of free 3D lion face files available on the web.

 

The new, narrower steering platform.

The formed block holding the rudder tube 1/8" ID, angled at 18 degrees from vertical. Brass rudder tube and rudder shaft are yet to be trimmed to length. You can see the upper collar; the horns act as the lower collars.

Horn beneath the platform; 1/8" DIA brass rod rudder shaft; linkage disappearing into the hull. I'm thinking of making 3D printed flanges to clean up the linkage holes.

Here's a little video of the cardboard pretend rudders moving. They are 2" x 3" which pool testing showed would turn the hull. I'm planning to make the actual rudders by, altogether now, 3D-printing using transparent filament. I can then paint on scale rudder blades and the extra will be invisible when rowing near shore. Of course, the real rudders will include a tapering wide blade all the way up to the steering platforms, hiding the brass rod. Rudder servo is offset to one side to ease insertion of the NiMH battery pack through the aft access hatch.

 

 

I will soon be adding the fore and aft portions of the deck. To that end, I laser etched deck planks on a wide piece of 1/16" ply as seen below. This will be split in half to do both ends. Note the hole: That was my mistake as I started the laser but still had a previous file loaded (OOPSIE). Fortunately two corners will be trimmed off to form each of the two decks.

Now, more on 3D.  I bought a 3D OBJ file for a Roman legionnaire who is "fully rigged", meaning one can pose him as desired before printing. I am allowed to make as many men as I like since I paid for the file (Cyber Monday Sale!!). I can scale him as I like; I could even make crew of varying heights.

 

Here is a picture of what the model looks like. One can pose him right down to how the fingers are bent, apparently. Maybe even facial expressions (what can be seen behind his face protection).

 

Here he is imported to 3D Builder. I'll need to import him into Blender to use the posing functions; I just wanted to see him.

My brother emailed me about 3d "Roman Sailors" he found, which I also bought on Cyber Monday.

Here is what they look like; not readily poseable (brother says he can do it manually, but ouch!), and I have no use for the rowers, but they only cost me four bucks and again I can print as many as I like, even if only to cut up to pose.

What's more exciting for me is that while on the site, I noticed they also had ballista files!! I had made a start at drawing these in TinkerCAD but due to my lack of CAD skill I was forced to draw the later period metal type which is simpler. Have a look at what they offer; the older wood type with twisted sinew torsion springs and all! Resin printed, these should look amazing on deck.

 

Picture of CAD ballistas;

Picture of a resin-printed ballista; I will need to scale it to suit. Painting should bring out the details. Speaking of painting, I'll need to acquire some figure-painting skills to do my crew justice. Need to learn about washes especially.

I installed the upper trim pieces at the stern (port side incomplete). I couldn't edge bend the wood right at the sternpost (I'm not into steaming) so I cut the last section from a small sheet. Not perfect but this trim will be covered by some previously-shown Etsy bling.

 

Hopefully I will have the rudders at the next update. Snag is that the library is nearly out of transparent filament and I don't know if what they have is enough for me. They won't order new until they run out apparently.

 

Till next time! Thanks for following, and Happy Modelling!

Edited November 30, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[72Nova]

Ian I'm still trying to wrap my head around this entire project, first rate craftsmanship/ engineering at all phases👍.

Michael D.

[BANYAN]

Those figures and the ballista will really set the upper deck off Ian; looking forward to see them in situ eventually.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Ian_Grant]

1 hour ago, 72Nova said:

Ian I'm still trying to wrap my head around this entire project, first rate craftsmanship/ engineering at all phases👍.

Michael D.

Thank you Michael! Yes it has encompassed a broad range of challenges, starting with me writing software. 😏 Looking forward to painting the crew.

 

35 minutes ago, BANYAN said:

Those figures and the ballista will really set the upper deck off Ian; looking forward to see them in situ eventually.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Thanks Pat!  Not too much longer to wait, I hope.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Ian, this is a fascinating way of incorporating various tech. That’s a really good idea re’ transparent filament for the rudder. Out of curiosity, how much does the library charge you to print or etch something?

 

[Ian_Grant]

5 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Ian, this is a fascinating way of incorporating various tech. That’s a really good idea re’ transparent filament for the rudder. Out of curiosity, how much does the library charge you to print or etch something?

 

They just charge for the plastic you use, by weight according to what the maker software calculates will be needed. For example, the ram cost me $1.60, speaking of which I printed it again with some changes and also in four pieces so the decorative elements came out perfectly.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Wow, that’s one great library. I think I need to relocate to Canada! I often find it’s better to split parts, especially in filament as I dislike the ‘scars’ from supports. These are more easily mitigated in resin. Regarding the galley itself, thumbs up on the modified steering platforms. Just a thought - I have absolutely no knowledge of what they would have looked like but might they have been a bit rounded, kind of chariot-ish? The eagle will look very good and should be fairly easy to bash.

[Ian_Grant]

Yes it's quite a deal; they're not out to make money on it even though there are tens of thousands of dollars worth of machines to maintain. They also can supply MDF sheets out of their closet in various thicknesses at ridiculously low prices, wholesale I suppose. Good question about the steering platform shape....the books I have show them square but possibly no one really knows for certain.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

On 11/30/2023 at 4:47 PM, Ian_Grant said:

Yes it's quite a deal; they're not out to make money on it even though there are tens of thousands of dollars worth of machines to maintain. They also can supply MDF sheets out of their closet in various thicknesses at ridiculously low prices, wholesale I suppose. Good question about the steering platform shape....the books I have show them square but possibly no one really knows for certain.

Thought I should expand on this. Their closet has sheet MDF, plywood, paper card, and lexan, all at very low prices. If you bring your own material, there is no charge for using either of the laser cutters. As I said there is a very low charge for plastic filament you consume in the 3D printers but no additional charges.

 

The three printers are Makerbot Replicator+ marketed for educational institutions. They are really no muss, no fuss. There's no fiddling trying to get the base perfectly level; when your print is done you unplug the plastic baseplate (they are covered in masking tape to prevent the hot print from melting to them) and flex them to release your print. I've never seen them have a problem during printing. Ten year old kids are there using them sometimes, downloading dragons or whatever from Thingiverse.

 

Lots of fun!

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Someone in your library or local government is enlightened, what a great way to get kids (of all ages!) into the library.