Holy Ghost 1227 by Ferrus Manus - FINISHED - Revell - 1/50 - PLASTIC - English Nef

[Ferrus Manus]

Okay, as much as i love the date "1197", i will change it. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Also, in my opinion, the guy climbing up the backstay in the Winchelsea image is just bad seamanship. Why not unfurl the yard while it's resting on the deck? Also, why put unnecessary strain on the rigging by climbing it? Why, also, make the lives of the people hauling on the windlass harder by, presumably, sitting on the yard? And if you fall? Well, now your ship has one less man to operate it, and your mates have to find a new crew member. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I cut some more parts from card: the extended stem and stern posts, and the stanchions for one of the ladders. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Alright, guys. This is the finalized paint job for the hull. 

Yes, there still are a couple more details. 

[Ferrus Manus]

The rudder that they gave me in the kit looks a bit sad. Let's change that! 

First order of business was to drill two holes in the rudder: the smaller one at the bottom is for the uphaul, and the larger one in the middle is to replace the plastic attachment with something more accurate. Now, these rudders were not, actually, attached with regular rope. The rope would, upon getting wet, weaken and stretch. So, they used withies (a flexible piece of green wood). However, i do not have a withy. However, tarred rope would not have the issues regular hemp would upon contact with water. So, that is what i did. 

Also, the tiller was looking pretty half-assed. So, i drilled a hole and made a new one. 

Here is the finished rudder:

Now, the sharp-eyed folks will notice the aft raised portion of the deck lying in the background. Notice the three holes in it. These are in lieu of an actual frame to connect the rudder rope to. Even better, i can manually adjust it using tweezers! 

I was disappointed in the fact that i had to install it now instead of being able to save it for the very end. However, the fact that we have now replaced all the plastic attachment points with rope, means that we can abuse the crap out of it for the rest of the build and nothing will snap.

I just need to make some kind of a wedge out of card. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

Alrighty. This is the deck:

I wanted to install a lot of the deck details before i glued the deck in. I added 22 eyebolts in 3 sizes, as well as 5 cleats. 

I will probably wait on the receiving block for the halyard until the deck is in. The only other significant piece of deck furniture is the capstan, which i have a plan for. 

What's with all those small eyebolts in the front? Glad you asked. Those are the rings used to lift up the removable planks, which, in the Middle Ages, are what you use in order to gain access to the below deck area. There are a grand total of 8 removable planks, and two eyes per plank. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I did this one just for you, Steven.

The lovely girl in the background of the first picture is the Queen Elizabeth. (English Man O' War)

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Do you have a copy of Zu Mondfeld’s Historic Ship Models?

 

If so, there is a great jig detailed in there for making ladders.

 

I have used it in the past with great success.

 

I have also duplicated the Amati method of making ladders in my current build.  
 

It has worked quite well for me.

 

Both have some setup, but both are conducive towards making ladders that are evenly spaced and properly squared up.

[Ferrus Manus]

I have actually never made a ladder before, but i can do it without a jig. I don't think i'll ruin it. (famous last words) 

[Louie da fly]

Basically the equivalent vessels - at least in the Atlantic - were nefs but without castles, at least as far as the pictorial evidence shows. As I mentioned above, the first I've seen with castles were c. 1225, and they only had a single castle, at the stern.

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

the first Mediterranean ship, or the first ship at all? 

[Ferrus Manus]

Alright. I was going to make two square openings in the castles for the ladders, but that is going to be an issue, and here's why. The forecastle is two small for a hole. A hole (say, 2x2 feet) would considerably reduce the amount of standing space there is on a castle. And on the sterncastle, the hole would mean that the ladder goes right through the arc of the tiller swing. 

[Louie da fly]

 

On 9/1/2023 at 10:10 AM, Ferrus Manus said:

in my opinion, the guy climbing up the backstay in the Winchelsea image is just bad seamanship. Why not unfurl the yard while it's resting on the deck? Also, why put unnecessary strain on the rigging by climbing it? Why, also, make the lives of the people hauling on the windlass harder by, presumably, sitting on the yard? And if you fall? Well, now your ship has one less man to operate it, and your mates have to find a new crew member. 

All good questions, but this is what is shown on these seals, not just the Winchelsea one but others as well. And regarding climbing the rigging, there's this (Crewmen on 20th century dhows)

 

  

 

 

12 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

However, i do not have a withy.

Woodrat made one from a bit of creeper out of his garden, in his "Elusive hulc" build. See post #125 at 

but you've come up with a good workable alternative.

 

Nice paintwork, by the way.

 

5 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

the first Mediterranean ship, or the first ship at all? 

The first Atlantic ship, as the nef is part of the Atlantic tradition. There are Mediterranean ships shown with castles at each end on the leaning tower of Pisa (probably from the late 12th century) and in the Annals of Genoa (last decade of the 12th), but these are lateeners, not part of the nef tradition in my view. In fact, for the Med we can go right back to about the 10th century, when dromons are described as having central wooden castles (xylokastra), or even earlier, to Roman times, when warships had a central castle.

 

5 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

Alright. I was going to make two square openings in the castles for the ladders, but that is going to be an issue, and here's why. The forecastle is two small for a hole. A hole (say, 2x2 feet) would considerably reduce the amount of standing space there is on a castle. And on the sterncastle, the hole would mean that the ladder goes right through the arc of the tiller swing. 

Looking forward to seeing how you solve this one. I was aware of the standing-space problem on my own nef. Though I had a hole for the ladder in each of the castles, I put it at the extreme inboard edge. Nonetheless it had a crossbeam at the outer edge of the opening that you'd have to duck your head to avoid (this was for structural strength). 

 

9 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

The only other significant piece of deck furniture is the capstan,

I'm not sure they existed at this time. I've seen one on the Bremen cog, but that's dated 1380 or so, but windlasses are a pretty definite thing.

 

Coming along nicely. I look forward to the next instalment.

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

A lot of the castles of Landstrom's nefs seem to show the ladders leaning up against the front of the castle- no hole. Thank you for the Dhow image. The withy Woodrat got was in 1:32 scale, this is 1:50- quite a bit smaller. Stick around! Major update in less than an hour. 

 

PS I meant to say windlass!! 

[Ferrus Manus]

The things i have gotten done are as follows: The rudder, the uprights for the castles, the transversal crossbeams for the sterncastle, the dry-fitting of the mast, and the installation of the proto-bowsprits.

These are the beitasses, or sail stretchers, from the original kit. They were used by Vikings as a way to open a sail up for the wind. Landstrom depicts them as taking on a second use over the centuries, as a form of proto-bowsprit for receiving the bowlines. 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

By the way, we're long past the point of being able to haul it across the room in a fit of anger and have everything be mostly fine. That literal ship has figuratively sailed. 

[Louie da fly]

Coming together nicely.

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

Ok Steven, like you probably assumed, this is a small testbed. This is the point at which i begin to develop the techniques that will be used on the Senora Fielden. 

 

[Ferrus Manus]

One more question: have they ever recovered bilge pumps from a cog? If so, what did they look like? 

[Louie da fly]

There's a bilge pump found on the Newport ship (2nd half 15th century) - see https://www.newportship.org/archaeology-conservation/artifacts

 

And it works like this: 

[Ferrus Manus]

Thank you. I know about the pumps on carracks and later ships, i just don't have a solid date on when they first appeared. I am aware of the pumps you put on your Winchelsea Nef, i just don't have a solid date for the introduction of pumps.

[Ferrus Manus]

i just finished a major part of the ship. This is the sterncastle platform (my very first scratchbuilt deck), the receiving block for the halyard, and the capstan, which has yet to be glued to the deck. Not pictured are the transversal beams for the forecastle. 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Louie da fly]

Coming along nicely. Good to see you coming over to the Dark Side (scratch building) if only a little so far.

 

Pumps go all the way back to Roman Times (they even had chain pumps, but they seem to have been lost in Western Europe at least, judging by a comment from a western commentator about them in (I think) the 15th century.) There's evidence suggesting there was a chain pump on the 11th century Serce Limani wreck, lost off the southern coast of modern Turkey, which was then part of the Byzantine Empire, but it's a bit equivocal. However, based on that I put chain pumps on my dromon.

 

There are papers on all this. I can send a couple to you if you're interested.

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

You're a sick man, Steven! The Dark Side has called to me patiently and persistently, so much so that i decided to start my own huge, major scratch project (out of timber!!)

Edited September 4, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

Alright, second castle is done. The planking of the castles, with some intelligence and planning, were surprisingly easy, and both only took one attempt.

[Louie da fly]

That's a nice bit of work, mate. Keep it up. I'm looking forward t seeing what you do with the sides of the castles.

 

Yes, come to The Dark Side - you know you want to . . . . 

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

The sides of the castles, as in under the deck or above it? 

[Louie da fly]

Above it - as far as I've seen the castles were open underneath. In fact quite a few of the contemporary portrayals (though not all, by any means) show the helmsman working underneath the aftercastle.

 

Though the supports for the castles were sometimes quite decorative, most were very simple - just uprights -and I don't see there's any need to get complicated with them (unless of course you want to). 

 

Steven

[Ferrus Manus]

Okay Steven, i have a theory on that. These were the most simple and ordinary merchantmen of the High Middle Ages. I genuinely believe that, regarding the ornate Gothic castles, either the artists/coin minters took considerable amounts of artistic license, or it was a running joke. As for the castles, i will be alternating 1x1 cm and 1x2 cm strips of cardboard running vertically as the walls of the castles, making it look a little bit like actual castle parapets. These will be painted off-white cream and a sort of cream/sea green, in alternation. 

[Ferrus Manus]

The castles are done, minus the ladders and any potential other stuff i decide to put there. At this point, basically everything above the actual top of the hull itself is made out of card.