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

[Glen McGuire]

Yours is, without a doubt, the coolest boat on the water!  Not even close!!

[mtaylor]

I was thinking the same thing as Glen. It's so different from the rest of the pack and stands out like a Ferrari in a parking lot full of VW's.

[Ian_Grant]

3 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Yours is, without a doubt, the coolest boat on the water!  Not even close!!

 

2 hours ago, mtaylor said:

I was thinking the same thing as Glen. It's so different from the rest of the pack and stands out like a Ferrari in a parking lot full of VW's.

Thanks guys, but in this case the "Ferrari" is far far slower than the "VW's".  But it is cool to see the oars rowing.....😉

[Ian_Grant]

Put the lathe back under the bench; wonder if I'll ever use it again? Before doing that I vacuumed out under there in the process discovering objects such as a long-lost hammer. So I decided to empty and vacuum the shelf under the bench and found more stuff, including a box with my wife's late grandfather's carving tools and some bandsawn blanks of his for horses etc (he was a farmer who loved his workhorses), and this little jewel which I believe was the grade 11 machine shop project. I recall hardening the jaws and polishing before assembly. Fond memories!

 

I will take grandpa's box to the cottage this summer and while away some down time trying to produce a creditable horse, in his memory.

 

 

[rookie]

Your galley is the coolest boat you have built, I have to say.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Ian, you continue to amaze with this build!  I was just talking it up to my club, last night, so you may soon have a few new on-lookers.

 

The bulwark sweep, previously, did not jump out at me as problematic, but after modification I can see what an improvement in practicality and aesthetics you have made.  Well done!

[Ian_Grant]

11 hours ago, rookie said:

Your galley is the coolest boat you have built, I have to say.

 

Thanks 'Rookie", I could only have done it at this stage of life, with time (and money) available and career experience. 😊

 

2 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Ian, you continue to amaze with this build!  I was just talking it up to my club, last night, so you may soon have a few new on-lookers.

 

The bulwark sweep, previously, did not jump out at me as problematic, but after modification I can see what an improvement in practicality and aesthetics you have made.  Well done!

Marc, I'm honoured to receive praise from you given the incredible model you are making of the SR! Thank you.

[Ian_Grant]

Working on the gold and yellow decorative painting at the bow. She's really coming to life! Painting touch-ups at edges of the yellow trim will be ongoing I am sure. Rather like the stern balusters on the Heller Victory. 😏

 

Her personality changed when I painted the black at bow and on the cap rails....entire u/w hull will be black.

Now trying to figure out how to draw her eyes in "Paint".

 

 

Edited March 24 by Ian_Grant

[BANYAN]

Ian would not a self-made decal work to maintain the uniformity of the eyes.  The decals, once applied, can be sealed with a spray-on or brushed varnish /clear coat for protection.  I have had success printing my own decals for small toys etc that I make for the grandkids.  The decal paper is relatively cheap and readily available online.  I printed mine using a laser jet printer, but I think there are decal papers for other types of printers also.   That said, hand painted adds a sense of realism.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Ian_Grant]

1 hour ago, BANYAN said:

Ian would not a self-made decal work to maintain the uniformity of the eyes.  The decals, once applied, can be sealed with a spray-on or brushed varnish /clear coat for protection.  I have had success printing my own decals for small toys etc that I make for the grandkids.  The decal paper is relatively cheap and readily available online.  I printed mine using a laser jet printer, but I think there are decal papers for other types of printers also.   That said, hand painted adds a sense of realism.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Thanks Pat, trust me I will not be painting them by hand! I was thinking decal or label paper if I could buy small quantity of sheets.

"Paint" is weird to learn. Probably just me.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

7 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

"Paint" is weird to learn. Probably just me.

I’ve found Inkscape is easier for getting what I wanted and it’s free. None of the graphics packages seem very easy though.

[BANYAN]

23 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

I was thinking decal or label paper if I could buy small quantity of sheets.

Hi Ian, I cannot recall where now, but I managed to buy just a few sheets from an online supplier.  If I find some time, I will dive into my records to see if I can find the supplier - but I am not hopeful.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited March 26 by BANYAN

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Over here you can buy decal paper by the sheet off eBay. But wouldn’t you want/need the setting liquids? In passing, my own recent foray into water slide decals hasn’t been particularly successful, they wrinkle and the ink rubs off, and I’ve parked it for a rainy day.

 

I may be misunderstanding the exercise but couldn’t you make card or paper stencils instead? You can cut those using the laser for precision. Two or three masks (layers) with positioning points etc.

Edited March 26 by Kevin-the-lubber

[Ian_Grant]

Plodding along on deck fittings. Here is the latest overall view:

3D printed vent gratings and spar cradles. The mainyard lies on the cradles.

The main mast "tabernacle". The separable upper black part will be glued to the mast, and lashed to it in the concave portion. The white pin at the bottom is to allow me to lift off the little block behind the mast, thus allowing me to slide the foot of the mast aft so I can collapse it. All the rigging will collapse with it, and it will all attach to the main removable deck section except the fore and backstays which will need to be unhooked at the stem/stern.

Tabernacle taken apart. The white pin will be painted black. Mast will be stained then varnished as will the yard.

Fitting on foredeck for the "artemon" (what we'd call a bowsprit). Again, the part which will be lashed to the artemon is glued to it. Removing the white pin releases it so the artemon can be pulled in and down. Will need to make sure the bracket holding it at the stempost has some wiggle room to allow for this.

Boarding bridge is now painted. I see some white touch-up is needed. I have no info as to how it was manhandled over the side through the gaps in the bulwark or held in place there; will need to devise some reasonable scheme using cleats etc. Bridge will be glued to fore hatch and be its "handle". I copied this design from Flavio Terenzi's model but it seems to me that the lower portion of the sides should be solid to protect the marines' legs as they formed shield walls to cross over in the face of enemy archery; shields would have reached from heads to about knees. Might modify it.

Printed fantail decoration, badly painted. I need to figure out how to get black paint in between the converging fingers without gumming them up. I should have printed it in four pieces, one per finger, then painted, then glued together. Hindsight is 20/20.

Artillery: here is a printed ballista in resin, courtesy my brother. Beautiful detail but sadly too small (I had spec'd the length but it was hard to picture) so he has printed four more copies in larger scale for me. Not received yet.

Still to come are captain's stern shelter, anchors, rigging, some sort of material for gathered sails, stern flag standard. And crew.

 

We're going away on a little trip again.

 

Thanks for following.....

 

Edited April 13 by Ian_Grant

[Kevin-the-lubber]

4 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

I need to figure out how to get black paint in between the converging fingers

Tuppence from me: yes, print the fingers separately and, while you’re at it, think about splitting the fingers into two parts, the outer frame and inner insert. It’s not much work, design-wise, and you’ll get lovely sharp paint lines.

[Ian_Grant]

10 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Tuppence from me: yes, print the fingers separately and, while you’re at it, think about splitting the fingers into two parts, the outer frame and inner insert. It’s not much work, design-wise, and you’ll get lovely sharp paint lines.

Kevin, sounds like a good idea but the "frame" would be awfully delicate. Unfortunately when drawing it in TinkerCAD I gave no thought to possibly splitting it so it's a real dog's breakfast of elongated tube sections and "holes", and a patchwork of filler pieces. I'm reluctant to revisit it but may have to if I can't get a decent paint job on it.

 

If you're interested here's the CAD file, at the risk of exposing my clumsy drafting:

 

Galley Fantail(1).zip

[Mirabell61]

amazing work Ian,

well done !

 

Nils

[BANYAN]

That is some 'plodding along' Ian, looks great.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Kevin-the-lubber]

15 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

the "frame" would be awfully delicate

I've had a look at the file, nothing wrong with what you've done there. Though as often seemed to be the case with my own TinkerCad objects, the software says the components are not manifold (there are holes/gaps in the mesh, but the slicer is probably fixing these on the fly).

 

A multi-part will print fine in resin but I think you'd struggle with the library printer. The frames would be about 0.5mm thick but if the finger cross section was like the sketch i.e. create a mortice and tenon, there would be enough heft in the frame for it to not be that delicate. It's ages since I used TinkerCad and I can't remember how much scope there is for dimension-driven design. 

 

                   

 

[Glen McGuire]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:43 PM, Ian_Grant said:

I need to figure out how to get black paint in between the converging fingers without gumming them up. I should have printed it in four pieces, one per finger, then painted,

Is this the gumming that you are talking about and want to remove it (see pic below)?  If so, the only thing I can think of (rather than reprinting as you describe) would be to try and "floss" the converging gaps between the fingers.  Maybe try some super thin fly tying thread and carefully work it back and forth into the gap.

 

[Ian_Grant]

3 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

I've had a look at the file, nothing wrong with what you've done there. Though as often seemed to be the case with my own TinkerCad objects, the software says the components are not manifold (there are holes/gaps in the mesh, but the slicer is probably fixing these on the fly).

 

A multi-part will print fine in resin but I think you'd struggle with the library printer. The frames would be about 0.5mm thick but if the finger cross section was like the sketch i.e. create a mortice and tenon, there would be enough heft in the frame for it to not be that delicate. It's ages since I used TinkerCad and I can't remember how much scope there is for dimension-driven design.

Yes, the library printer could barely print it at all. Mortice and tenon is a good idea but I think a more complex CAD program would be needed. I have two days before we go away - I am trying to improve on the paint job. So far it looks promising.

[shipmodel]

Hi Ian - 

 

Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.

 

As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.

 

Dan

[Ian_Grant]

26 minutes ago, shipmodel said:

Hi Ian - 

 

Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.

 

As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.

 

Dan

Thanks Dan!  I'm exceptionally lucky to have the library's 3D machines (and the laser cutters!) freely available to me within a 1/2 hour walk. Apparently they are soon to upgrade to newer and better models 😊. Have you tried TinkerCAD? It's much simpler to learn than other CAD tools although obviously more limited too. For rectangular things like ladders and gratings it is super easy to draw what you want. The fantail fingers are about as complicated as I'd like to get in TinkerCAD.

 

Yes, you are right about the order of painting. I have now painted the black between the fingers which I should have done first. Now touching up the white then will redo the black edge trim.

 

I looked up your "albums" here on MSW. Wow! They're beautiful models. I especially like the "Maine" and the Viking knarr.

 

Thanks for commenting,

Ian

Edited April 13 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

A good while since I posted. We were away a couple of weeks hiking in various canyon national parks at the corner where Utah/Nevada/Arizona all meet. Great trip which we hugely enjoyed given terrain which was like nothing we'd ever seen.

 

Here are a couple of shots taken at Bryce Canyon. There are various trails which go down and wander among the hoodoos, each of which ends with a climb back up to the rim! One day there was snow, 0 deg C, so the family opted out but I had a great hike; muddy at first but tee-shirt warm at the bottom.

 

And here is a fun photo taken at the trading post near Bryce Canyon. We will hang it next to a similar western-themed sepia shot taken when the kids were four and eight.

Now back to the ship.  I finally painted the bottom and the main wales black, actually "Dark Secret" from Home Depot which I would liken to Humbrol "Tank Grey". It was a relief to finally see the seams between the various small pieces of plywood skin disappear. The oars and mechanisms have been removed to allow mods. I want to make the lower oar blades the same increased size as those of the upper oars; shorten the upper oars by 1/2 inch; elongate the mounting holes of the upper oar beams to allow adjustment relative to the lower oars.

I had a brief panic about NiMH batteries. Way back at the start of this project, I looked around and saw NiMH 5-cell "packs" at 6V and thought, ok, we're good to go with 6V analog servos. But recently I read that a 5-cell NiMH pack charges to something over 7V but soon drops to 6V when loaded. Consulting with the Hitec technical support line yielded the info that it's OK; the analog servos will be fine.

 

Now I've been looking for a suitable battery pack and charger. I put my ammeter at the battery when rowing in water and was surprised to see it only draws about 3/4A whereas I'd been expecting maybe 2 or 3 amps. I have my eye on a pack and charger but haven't ordered yet.

 

I also have the bigger resin-printed ballistas from my brother. He is now tasked with printing the rudders for this thing in transparent resin, which I really need quite soon in order to progress further.

 

 

Edited June 6 by Ian_Grant

[Thukydides]

Looking good. Good to see you back at it. 

[Glen McGuire]

Great vacation pics, Ian!  I need to go there and see if I can snag some of those bottles!!

[Ian_Grant]

Progress slowed down due to some paying jobs done for neighbours, and I finally got around to opening our pool today.

 

Port and starboard mechanisms reassembled; lift servos moved closer to amidships so they won't collide with the fore and aft companionway ladders. Also changed the upper oar bar mounting holes to vertical slots to permit adjustment of the upper oars relative to the lower sets.

Completed detail painting of the fantail decoration.

And I received my NiMH battery pack (5 cell, 6V, 3800mAh; far smaller than lantern batteries), and a slow charger (600mA) so charges will take overnight but that's ok with me. It's less stress on the cells.

 

With the pool now open I can try the boat again. I want to drop the waterline a smidgen, to mid-wale which was the original plan. This will give the oars a little more clearance from catching crabs. I fear I may have to drill out some of the fixed lead ballast in the bow......fingers crossed the drill doesn't "catch" and go through the bottom. 🫢 I have yet to make the oar modifications too. Also started to think about how to make the commander's "cubby" at the stern a convincing "canvas" shelter.

 

This has dragged on too long; need to finish it for summer.

Edited June 5 by Ian_Grant

[BANYAN]

Those fantail decorations came up a treat Ian, nice bright opaque colour; very nicely done.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

Agree with Pat.  That fantail looks fantastic!!

[Louie da fly]

On 6/5/2024 at 11:09 AM, Ian_Grant said:

Also started to think about how to make the commander's "cubby" at the stern a convincing "canvas" shelter.

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 - 

and the following page, as well as 

 

She's looking very good.

 

Steven