The San Marco mosaic ship c. 1150 by Louie da fly - FINISHED - 1:75

[woodrat]

Sliding anchors go way back. This one (Which I copied for Yenikapi 12) was found on the Yassi Ada wreck from the seventh century. But Permanent stock would be fine too.

Dick

[Ferrus Manus]

Would the stock have been made from wood or iron?

[Louie da fly]

Working on the bolt ropes and robands. (Took me 4 tries before I could cancel spell-correct. Roland's, ribands, you name it . . .)

 

Mizzen complete and sail curved to indicate the wind. Seems to have worked. 

And now to do the same for the middle and fore mast sails.

Steven

Edited June 9 by Louie da fly

[Ian_Grant]

Steven, looks great! Fine work with the thread. This has reminded me that many yards were depicted as two-piece in ancient ships. For my galley I just tapered a dowel down to form the yard. Should I make it two-piece too? It would be an interesting detail. I'm surprised at how little overlap there is between the two sections, though.

Edited June 9 by Ian_Grant

[Louie da fly]

Thanks everyone for the likes.

 

Ian; again I think you'd have to look at contemporary pics to work out whether to make your yard in two pieces.

 

The first consideration would be - how long was the yard? Lateen yards, because they are on a diagonal, are longer than square yards. Could your galley's yard be made from a single tree? Were trees available tall and thin enough?

 

The second consideration - did contemporary artists accurately depict the yard, or just portray it as a single piece because they were (a) lazy or (b) ignorant?

 

Here are some contemporary pics of Roman ships under sail. I'm afraid you'll have to draw your own conclusions.

                          

Villa of the Augustinian era. Palazzo Massimo Museo Nazionale Romano                    Mosaic in Qasr, Libya c. 540 C.E.

Yard indeterminate                                                                                                           Single yard

 

Roman mosaic of Odysseus, 2nd century CE, displayed at the Bardo Museum in Tunisia. - single yard.

Fragment of the mosaic showing the Roman galley, 2nd century CE. Single yard. And note the nice awning.

  

Two Ancient Roman mosaics from the Villa del Casale, Sicily. Single yard.

 

Third question - lot of the time they are shown under oars with the mast lowered- do you even need to show her under sail? 

 

Steven

Edited June 10 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

Oh, and regarding the overlap in the yard - I agonised over that for quite a while. Though there are certainly some examples with greater overlap, I based it on the majority of contemporary illustrations and several modern photos.

Steven

[Ian_Grant]

Thank you Steven. No, she won't be under sail but I do want to have the mast and artemon up, with the sails furled ie what we'd call buntlines all hauled, as if they are rowing and hoping for a fair wind soon. I think their sails went up like Roman blinds, nestled within the loops of the buntlines; at least, that's what I intend to do.

[Louie da fly]

Well, it's taken a while, and I only have two photos to show for it, but I've finally put on all the robands so all three lateens are now attached to their yards and have been given a bit of 'belly' to show the effect of the wind.

Steven

[Louie da fly]

Working on making rope coils for the shroud blocks - a technique I pinched from Ulises Victoria of MSW (thanks, mate!). They're pretty small and fiddly, but I think they'll do the job.

And now something I've been avoiding for months - just too chicken to start because I dreaded stuffing it up - the halyard/trozza (truss) assembly that holds the lateen yard at the correct height and ties it to the mast so it doesn't flop around. Yes, I'd previously done it on the dromon build, but (a) I'm not sure I got it right back then and (b) it's so fiddly. 

The thing is, on lateeners (now and back then) they seem to divide the rig up into modules connected by toggles, rather than make a whole assembly in one piece. This is very much more convenient when sailing in the real world, but rather more complicated when making a model.

 

So here it goes, step by step: First, the tye around the yard itself ;

A little loose in the loop, so I glued it together a bit tighter

I'd started out with a doubled halyard, as the sheaves in the calcet at the top of the mast were always shown double, but apparently it's a single halyard that goes through the block and back down. So I got clever and faked a continuous loop of halyard through the block at the top of the assembly, by running the two ropes through the block from opposite sides,gluing and then cutting them short, so they looked like a single rope looped through the block.

And then the really fiddly bit - making the truss and running it around the mast, wrapped around the tye and back down to its downhaul. Took me about a dozen attempts before I got it right.Sorry about the hairy rope, but it's not visible to the naked eye.

And then the block attaching the truss to its downhaul via a toggle:

And attached to the loop from the truss (VERY fiddly getting the toggle through the loop!)

And all in place (I still have to figure out how to belay the lower end).

 

Just have to do it two more times for the other two masts, and I'm right . . . 

 

Steven

Edited August 10 by Louie da fly

[ChiefClanker]

It is looking great, Steve!

[Louie da fly]

By the way - note that in the drawing the parrel (the rope that holds the yard to the mast) has trucks (those balls that rotate to allow the yard to run more easily up and down the mast), but I didn't add them, as this ship is from about 1150 AD and parrel trucks don't appear in contemporary pictures till the early 1400's.

 

Steven

Edited August 11 by Louie da fly

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Steven

 

I agree, it is looking very good.

 

An aside inspired by your post: I was admiring how clever rigging of the Drizza & Trozza lines are, in that drawing. There is a contemporary parallel, the high-end sailing world is moving back to a greater use of ropes in rigging: rope shackles instead of solid shackles, rope & eyelets instead of blocks, rope standing rigging instead of wire....using details similar to some of the techniques in this drawing.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks everybody for the likes.

 

That's very interesting, Mark. What, our ancestors weren't all brutish ignorant barbarians?

 

And a little progress - the mizzen lateen in place and tentatively belayed.

Note that following Landström's book The Ship I've got the leeward shrouds loosened to allow the sail free play. I'm thinking about how to give them nice catenary curves.

 

Steven

 

[Louie da fly]

Working on the lateens.

 

Discovered I hadn't allowed for enough belaying points, so I had to add some eyebolts at the sides to take the standing ends of tacks and vangs/braces, and on the masts for the trusses. And belay the leading ends to the bitts.

 

I haven't permanently belayed anything yet - first I have to make sure all the forces balance so the ropes are all taut where they need to be.

 

Note that the point of balance for the foresail (and the central sail, if it comes to that) doesn't result in the sail hanging in the conventional "angled yard" configuration. That will be handled by judicious use of the controlling ropes - vangs/braces, tacks and sheets. But interestingly (as I discovered to my surprise) having the yard horizontal is totally ok for a lateener - quite a common configuration when running before the wind.

There are currently some unwanted wrinkles in the  sails. This is my first attempt at using silkspan and I'm learning as I go. I'm hoping that if I damp the sails down and let them dry again with a bit of help in shaping, the wrinkles will vanish, or at least lessen. My lovely and beloved wife, on the other hand, thinks they add to the verisimiltude of the model  (it is, after all, supposed to be a somewhat shabby merchant ship, a mediaeval equivalent to a tramp steamer), so I'm a bit torn as to whether I should fix it at all.

 

By the way, please excuse the messy table - that's just the way I work (and I'm certainly not going to tidy up just for a work-in-progress photo).

 

Steven

Edited August 18 by Louie da fly

[PvG Aussie]

2 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

verisimiltude

There's that wonderful word again. Most appropriate for modellers. I'm very impressed with your technical terminology when describing what you are doing or plan to do.

Looking good Steven.

Peter   

[Ian_Grant]

Another beautiful model!  Congrats Steven!

[Louie da fly]

Thanks for all the likes and the nice comments. 

 

I'm now rather regretting a decision I made early on in the design. Though the foremast is taller and heavier than the 'centre' mast, as is common with mediaeval Mediterranean lateeners, I made the yards and sails for the two masts the same size. And now the foresail looks a bit too small and too high above the hull. But I'm not prepared at this late stage to re-make the yard and sail all over again. Instead I'll be hoisting it somewhat lower than the centre yard - that looks ok and I'll treat it as a learning experience for the next mediaeval lateener (I do intend to make at least one more some time in the future).

 

Steven

[BANYAN]

That's looking terrific Steven, a very nicely finished model (which has been well researched).

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

Still working on the rigging. The mizzen is all but complete - just have to add rope coils to the free ends where they're tied off. The fore and 'centre' masts have their rigging under way - halyards and trusses in place, preliminary work done on tacks, vangs/braces and sheets, to get all the yards and sails oriented the same way. Once I'm happy with it all, I'll tie them off, glue them in place and add the coils. Looking back on it, the shrouds for the mizzen should probably have been fixed to the hull itself rather than the rail of the aftercastle, as they're probably a bit too frail to take the forces involved. But I'm too far committed now to pull it all apart and start again. So I'll leave it as it is, and I won't tell if you don't .

I've added the pole-arms on the aftercastle which seem to show up on most of the mosaics.

 

But to keep me from carelessly breaking them off, I've put up a temporary barrier across the back of the aftercastle.

And I've been working on the anchors. Carved out of walnut - I probably should have used a finer-grained timber, but I think they look pretty good.

 

 

 

Not sure if I'm going to stop at two anchors or make more. With the blacksmithing technology of the time, it was impossible to make them very big and heavy, so most ships had quite a few anchors. On the other hand, the extra ones were probably kept below decks when not in use.

 

Steven

Edited August 26 by Louie da fly

[PvG Aussie]

Steven, everything looks so great and there are so many positive things to comment on, e.g. the rigging, the protective barrier, the coils and the anchors. I particularly like the golden peg on the quarterdeck. Do you use this one for your special builds? 😜 

Cheers, Peter

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, Peter.

 

Overall I'm happy with the build. There are a few things which on reflection I wish I'd done otherwise, but all ship modelling is a learning process, and I'm happy that my skills and knowledge are steadily improving with each build I do.

 

The golden peg was a real find for me. I chanced across a packet of them in a junk shop in Ararat (about an hour's drive west of Ballarat) and snapped them up immediately. The problem with using clothespegs (and even miniature ones) as clamps is that they're made out of wood. So wood glue sticks them to the model if you're not careful. These pegs are plastic, so the problem doesn't arise. But I do have to scrape the gold paint off the bearing surfaces so it doesn't transfer to the model.

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

And I've added the owners - Rustico is pointing something out, and Buono is saying "I hear what you're saying, but . . . "

Steven

[Mark Pearse]

"but you said fleece"

"stop whinging, it's gold, ain't it?"

[Ian_Grant]

Steven, your carved figures are getting very good; I was admiring the hair/beards on Rustico and Buono.

 

Lovely model!

[Louie da fly]

Thanks everyone for the likes and comments - Ian, much obliged (blush).

 

More progress. Starting to run out of tan thread for the tackle, so I dyed some more white thread (soaking it overnight in a mix of green, light brown and dark tan fabric dyes. Works well).

As the shrouds on the lee side are loosened off, I needed to give them a nice catenary curve, showing the effect of gravity on a long rope. Not all that easy, because it's not a long rope, it's a short piece of heavy thread, and retains its 'bounce' against gravity.

 

So first I tilted the model to get gravity happening, then used a watercolour paintbrush with a mix of water and PVA (white) glue to soak the shrouds - per advice from a MSW member in n earlier post. This made them hang in a natural-looking curve. Once dry they kept the curve.

Next the lanyards for the blocks had to be given a catenary curve as well. Same problem, same solution. Tilted the model sideways, soaked the thread in a water/glue solution and used a tiny clamp (a gold plastic clothes-peg - the one on the left in the photo) to hold the sides of the lanyard to the block so it wouldn't bow out unnaturally, and used another peg (the right-hand one) as a weight to force the lanyard to take a catenary curve. It's just the right amount of weight and did the job nicely.

And here it is from the other side - you can just see the jaws of the golden peg around the right-hand block, just below the foot of the sail.

This is the first time I've tried using dilute glue to force a catenary curve on ropes. I was very happy with the result.

Edited August 31 by Louie da fly

[BANYAN]

Nicely done Steven, looks good.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

And I changed my mind about the sheets. Originally I'd had them just tied directly to the clew of each sail,with a sheet going off to each side. I decided that threw away mechanical advantage and that there should be a couple of blocks at each clew. But how to attach them? After a lot of thought I went back to the traditional Mediterranean method - a toggle through a loop. So I made two blocks for each sail, each with a loop at the end,

and passed the two loops through the cringle at the clew with a toggle to hold them in place. The pictures show all - in the last one (for the mizzen) the toggle hasn't yet been cut to length

And I've been adjusting the balance of forces acting on the yards, to get the sails in the configuration I want (for example, the fore end of the central yard was too low, so I had to cut off one of the tacks which I'd already cut to length, and replace it with another longer one so there was enough rope free so the fore end could be pulled up higher by pulling down on the brace/vang at the upper end of the yard (not sure that this explains it very well, but I know what I mean).

 

So here she is in her current manifestation. A bit more fiddle needed - tying off ropes and adding the truss for the fore-yard, things like that. And I'd like maybe to have another go at smoothing out the sails - they're a bit too wrinkled for my liking.

Then to finish off the anchors, add the steering oars, re-position one of the crew - and I do believe that will mean I've finished! (unless I've forgotten something!)

 

Steven

 

Edited September 2 by Louie da fly

[BANYAN]

20 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

(unless I've forgotten something!)

A big pat on the back for yourself Steven; looks great!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

I've been fiddling with the sail of the 'mast of the middle' to get it to 'belly' correctly. The silkspan is impregnated with acrylic paint, so by laying the ship over, wetting the sail, judiciously adding weights, and letting it dry it should retain the shape I've given it.

I've only done it to the middle sail so far, and you can see the result here. Not perfect, but not too shabby, either.

and then I've been working to get the right configuration of the sheet, which should be a straight line because of the pressure of the wind, but is difficult to do because there isn't any wind. I finally worked out that if I belayed the sheet at one end and then pulled it tight at the block, I could fake the wind pressure by impregnating the sheet with CA and letting it dry. Seems to have worked so far.

 

 

Steven 

   

[druxey]

Have you tried a gentle air current using a fan?