Nave Egizia by rcmdrvr - FINISHED - Amati - 1:50

[rcmdrvr]

Eight or nine years ago I was fortunate enough to take a river cruise up the Nile and visit some of Egypt's great historical sites. I also had the opportunity to walk thru some great museums many of which contained models of the ships that plied the river in the ancient days.  A year of so after the trip I came across this Amati model of an ancient Egyptian ship.  The box claims that it is a replica of a ship, the image of which was chiseled into the stone of a tomb or temple.  I immediately purchased the model and the kit sat in my "stash" for severl years.  It has finally found its way to my workbench.

 

One of the interesting aspects of ancient shipbuilding, there were no drills to make holes for pegs or nails; so the ship was crafted by shaping the wood with crude iron tools and then using ropes of various sizes to lash the wooden pieces together.  While I will be using modern cutting tools and adhesives, one of my main objectives is make a model that at least appears to have been built by the same methods as the ancients.  There is another build log of this ship that I have reviewed and may refer to at times as I proceed with my build.

 

Before I even begin the construction I have a decision to make.  Much of the materials in the kit used to construct the hull are laser cut ply.  It is quite light in color and has the typical burnt edges.  I will try to sand most of the dark edges away (hopefully without distorting the part).  The problem is should I try to stain the  hull or just leave it natural.  If I decide to stain; it looks like I will have to do this relatively early in the build.  Definitely before I begin the rope lashing steps.  Second issue, should I decide to stain, what should I use.  I have no experience with staining.  Perhaps a search thru the forum will give me some insight.

 

Well that is my introduction.  I urge you to leave written comments; especially those that might help me through the build.  Well, thanks for reading.

[rcmdrvr]

Construction begins pretty much the same as many other ship models.  Building the frames.  One interesting point is the the main "keel" piece has a one section between two frames cut out while all the others are solid.  Reading of the plans indicates that this section of the inner hull will be open for viewing whereas the remaining sections will be covered by decking.  The fit for the parts making up the frame was so-so.  A little shimming and thick CA was required for assembly.  I use Lego blocks to help me keep the frames square.  The fore and aft of the main keel piece are drilled so that some of the ropes which hold the planking to the frame can be simulated.

[rcmdrvr]

As mentioned before, there will be an open space in the decking where the simulated interior can be viewed.  Construction of this interior begins with wrapping two slightly undersized frames with rope.  This process requires cutting groves in the botton of the frames so that the roped frames will not prevent the interior decking (installed later) to be positioned close to these frames.  After wrapping, the frames are glued to the main keel and a two posts are fashioned, installed and then wrapped.  This is the beginning of the process of simulating an ancient interior.

[rcmdrvr]

With the framing complete, planking is the next step.  Because of the relatively narrow shape of the hull; faring is not difficult.  I used a small sander made from a paint stir stick and self adhesive sandpaper (100 grit).  In a few minutes I was done.  All of the planks are laser cut in sheets of very thin ply wood.  They are easily removed and lightly sanded to reduce the char edge.  Planking begins with the bottom of the hull.  There are some sharp bends at the bow and stern.  I soaked the ply in water for a few moments and then bent the ply around a hot curling iron.  Worked well (you can see the bends in a previous post).  Planking the sides was relatively easy, except the laser cut pieces did not fit as well as I would have hoped.  Considerable bending and twisting was required to get the edges reasonably close.   I tried to remind myself that this is the model of an ancient boat and the actual pieces would not have fit very well.  The planking process left the bow and stern areas very rough.  I decided to add "doublers" to hide the crude edges and add strength for the lashing to come.

 

Once I completed the basic planking the instructions showed the addition of a doubler along the top plank of each side.  How to install this piece became a bit puzzling.  The instruction booklet mentions the piece but does not show its positioning.  A photo of the model on the box makes it appear to be on the outside whereas the technical drawings indicate it is inside.  I decided to affix it to the inside of the hull.  The last photo is of the completed hull.

 

I now have to decide wether or not to stain the hull.  I think it needs it.  The char lines are just too obvious.

Edited December 27, 2022 by rcmdrvr

[VTHokiEE]

Very interesting build; I’ve been long fascinated by ancient vessels. It looks like you’re moving along quite well. What do you think of the kit so far? Eventually I have a MarisStella monoreme to build but I’m curious about the quality of these other kits that you somewhat rarely see being built. I have acquired a few Egyptian vessel plans and books where I may consider a small scratch build of one someday.

 

Back to the kit though, you mentioned that all the planks are laser cut, correct? I can’t help but notice that the plank end (towards the middle) in the first picture doesn’t seem to align to the hole for it. Not a terrible gap to fill/fix but interesting to note.

 

Have you done any test stains on some of the sheet scrap? Personally staining makes me nervous because I’m not certain that I could do it well. Have you considered an oil or even wipe on poly finish that some here prefer?

 

I’m looking forward to the rest of your build.

[rcmdrvr]

First of all, VTHokiEE, thank you for your comments.  I was disappointed in the fit of the planking.  I really had to wrestle to minimize the gaps between an upper and lower sheet.  I am hoping that the rope stitch, which comes later, will hide many of the gaps in the planking.  This is my first planking with laser cut parts.  I don't like it.  I would rather plank the more traditional way.

 

I did some testing on stains and settled a light oak stain by rust-to-leum I had purchased from the local hardware store.  I applied it with a cotton stick.  I will have some photos soon.

[rcmdrvr]

The next step in the build was to construct the inside of the hull that will be viewed when the model is complete.  This involved sliding some laser cut plywood pieces between the bound frames and the planks.  These pieces will form the simulated decking of the hull interior.  Next I fashioned the wood pieces that are used to simulate the wood and rope used to bind the decking.  It is half dowels all cut to the same length and then wrapped with thread to simulate the bindings.  These are then glued to the plywood decking.  I think the attached photos will give you an idea of the process.

[VTHokiEE]

Nice job! Looking good so far

[rcmdrvr]

Well, I went ahead and stained the hull using a rust-o-leum light oak polyurethane.  While not great, it does look better than the raw wood.  I also added the railings and a bow cap.  The railings were made from six laser cut pieces.  They fit fairly well.  The bow cap was fashioned from 3 mm square oak.  I cut out the notches for the rope using a dremel tool fitted with a grinding wheel.  The hull is now ready for the similuated rope weaving.

[VTHokiEE]

Nice job; I’m excited to see how the simulated weaving looks.

[rcmdrvr]

Well, the next step is the simulated rope weaving on the hull.   The process began with placing a strip of tape along the hull so that I could mark where the holes would be drilled.  There are two rows of holes, each row being offset by 1/2 the distance between the holes.  Then came the drilling process.  I used a hobby knife with a sharp blade to make a small starter hole at each marked location.  I then used a dremel rotary tool to drill the hole.  There were a bunch.  I next wove the bow and stern with two strands passing through the holes.  The instruction booklet did a good job illustrating how this should be done.  Next I wove the top and bottom rows along the length of the hull.  Again, it was two strands passed throught each of the holes.  This was also well illustrated in the booklet.  Finally a single, small diameter strand is woven between hull length threads.  I used two pins to raise the upper and lower ropes in order to be able to pass the lighter thread.  One tip in the process.  I dipped the end of each thread in thin CA and waited a few seconds for the ends to become very stiff.  This made it much easier to weave thru the holes.

[rcmdrvr]

Decking is next.  The kit provided a laser cut plywood deck that you plank with wooden strips.  Unfortunately the plywood deck was a bit small.  I held the plywood deck in place with a clamp so that I could cut the planking to cover the gap between the plywood deck and the sides of the ship.  This worked well.  After planking there is some hole drilling and adding rope loops before the deck is glued into place.  With the decking in place; I think the model is beginning to take shape.

 

[rcmdrvr]

The next step proved to be a bit difficult.  Egyptian ships did not have keels.  They stablized the hull by stretching a large rope in a arch between the bow and stern.  At the bow and stern they crafted "hard points" to attach this rope truss.  The hard points had to be quite strong so they used heavily wrapped rope as a strap to hold the hard point to the hull.  They would wrap the strap around the hard point structure and then loop under the hull.  My final photo will give you an idea of what I am trying to describe.  The plans called for making the strap by cutting out a copper strip from thin copper sheet and then wrapping this with rope.  I cut out the pattern from the plans and quickly discovered it was not long enought to wrap around the hull.  I lengthened the pattern but traced the new pattern on the copper sheet.  However, I just managed to destroy the sheet trying to cut out the copper strap.  I really have to improve my metal fashioning skills.

 

I instead tried to duplicate the straps I saw in photos, when I researched Egyptian ships on the internet, using rope.  I took two lengths of 1.3 mm rope and wrapped them with .7 mm rope to form a thicker straight rope for the strap.  I then wrapped these straight ropes around the dowl that would become the hard point and then around the hull.  Finally I attached the two straps together in the center to form the final single strap.  I hope my photos do a better job of showing what I fashioned than my descriptions.  During the wrapping process I would coat the wrapped portion of the straps with thinned wood glue and then dry it in a fruit dehydrator.  This worked great.  The wrappings stayed put but the strap remained flexible so I could work with it.  Anyhow, I think I was able to achieve an acceptable result.  The last two photos show first the bow and then the stern hard points for the truss rope; which will be installed later.

[Louie da fly]

I don't really feel qualified to make any suggestions on this - I know too little about this kind of ship, despite being very interested in ships ancient and mediaeval. From what I've seen in your log so far, you're not only following the instructions well, but your ship looks good. Your work is neat and precise, and the ropework in particular raises it above the run of the mill model.

[amateur]

Like Louis writes: not my type of ship/my period. Difficult to leave ‘suggestions’, especially while the model looks rather well built.

Just a question: I’m a bit lost on scale and size (both the original vessel and the model).   Am I far off in guessing 30 centimeter model of a ship around 9 meters?

 

Jan

[rcmdrvr]

Amateur:  Had play around with the math since I think in inches and feet.  The model is about 1 foot in length.  At a scale of 1:50 I estimate the full scale ship would have been about 50 feet in length; which I believe is close to 15 meters.

[rcmdrvr]

Well, on to the "Command Deck".  This is my name for the decking that was fashioned on top of the hull and then surrounded on three sides by railing.  On the model you must first make a foundation.  This consists of doweling which is then lashed to the sides of the hull.   The actual deck is fashioned from a triangular piece of thin ply that is "planked" and then "framed".  I also stained this decking with light oak but was not very happy with the results.  It is darker and more red that I would have liked.  Oh well.

The railings were a bit tedious but I like the result.  The lower piece of the railings had to be notched for the lashing.  I used a dremel rotary tool clamped to my bench to accomplish this.  To assist in lashing, I dipped the end of each "rope" in thin CA and let it dry to form a one inch length that was stiff like a needle and could be used to guide the rope.

[rcmdrvr]

Last night I was able to construct the main mast.  The mast is very different than we find on most sailing ships.  It is a very elongated triangle with cross pieces to support the rigging.  I fashioned the mast over the plans.  The cross pieces require some care drilling of holes (I used a dremel drill stand that worked quite well).  It seems the main masts on these ships were retractable to a "saddle" which will be constructed near the stern.  Because the mast is retractable, the rope wrapping in the interior of the hull was a bit complicated.

[Knocklouder]

That is some really great rope work, with details like that  your ship will be great, I will watch with anticipation          

 

 Bob M.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Knocklouder
always typos

[VTHokiEE]

Wow, catching up a little this morning and your ship is coming along really nicely. I think the rope work looks great - my only suggestion would be to consider replacing the rope that you start with (it can make a big difference). Syren sells some great stuff (or a rope walk to make your own). 

 

PS - I commiserate with you regarding the brass strips ad I can't cut thin brass to save my life.

Edited January 16, 2023 by VTHokiEE

[rcmdrvr]

Thanks for the rope advice.  This model is one of the first times I have had to do extensive rope rigging, wrapping, etc.  I have learned that I have a lot to learn about this art.  For example, I am not sure about how to tie off ends, etc.  Next time I will look into purchasing rope.  This little model would have cost a fortune.  There must be eight spools of rope included in the kit.  I have been using yards of the stuff.

[Louie da fly]

Looking very good, mate. I wouldn't want to take on all that rope work.

 

Steven

[amateur]

Surprised at how heavy that mast is. Those sailors wanted to be sure

 

Jan

[rcmdrvr]

Been away from the workbench for awhile.  Took an RV trip to eastern Arizona but got back about a week ago.  The first little project was to build the "saddle" that main mast would rest on if lowered.

 

[rcmdrvr]

It appears that the builders of these Egyptian ships would stretch a rope from the front to the rear of the ship and then put the rope under tension by twisting.  I assume this would offset the opposite forces placed on the keelless hull as the ship was loaded.  The following photos show my construction of this tension line; including the fore and aft mounting and the "tensioner".

 

[rcmdrvr]

The next step was the counter-balance structure.  It would appear that the designers used large boulders slug in nets over spaces in the hull to act as counter-balance to the weight of the main mast when it was raised or lowered.  I made my boulders by balling up some tin foil and then painting it grey.  I then made some very simple nets with the ropes and hung from the poles over the space in the hull previously constructed.  I am not sure how these counter-balances worked since most of the rigging of these structures appear to be below decks and not visible.

 

[rcmdrvr]

Final steps in the build were to mount the sail and install the oars and steering oars.

 

[rcmdrvr]

The model is finished.  Here are a few photos of the completed model:

 

[ccoyle]

Looks great! Congratulations!