Fridericiana Alexandrina Navis, 1st century Roman Danube River boat

[dcicero]

This might be a long shot, but has anyone bought this model of the Fridericiana Alexandrina Navis, a reconstructed 1st century Roman boat used on the Danube River?  The Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg built and sailed this boat in 2016 and they now sell a kit of it:

 

Kit - Roman boat of the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (fau-shop.de)

 

I'd prefer to just get the plans and any other documentation that comes with the kit as the kit materials appear to be plywood and I wouldn't build a model from that.

 

Just thought I would check here to see if anyone's got any experience with this.  The subject is very interesting!

 

 

Dan

 

[Cristiano]

Interesting, but the price is very low.

I wonder what you get for that price.

The professional kit producers for that price give you only barely a very beginner kit...

In anycase, in another page they write that ropes and sail are absent in the kit.

 

[bricklayer]

Hi Dan,

that`s what I found on this subject:

https://www.fau.de/2016/12/news/rudern-wie-die-roemer-fau-baut-roemisches-boot-in-originalgroesse/#collapse_0

There`re plans for a reconstruction on that site, but unfortunately it`s in two planes only. Top view and longitudinal section.

Neither cross sections nor side view.. You may send an inquiry to University of Erlangen-Nuremberg to obtain the full set of drawings.

It`s their intellectual property, so I don`t know if they`ll share it. Just try and hope for the best.

 

Michael

[dcicero]

Thanks!

 

I sent an email off to Herr Doktor Dreyer and he answered me.  They only sell the kit, not the plans.  He didn't give me any details.  I suspect you're right and the kit is very basic.  I might still order one to see what shows up.  I'd really rather have a good set of plans because I would never build such a model from plywood.

 

 

Dan

[bricklayer]

Dan,

 

I searched for publications by Roland Bockius. He`s the author of the reconstructions of the two roman river patrol boats, whose wrecks were found at Oberstimm in Bavaria.

That`s what I found:

 

https://www.amazon.de/römerzeitlichen-Schiffsfunde-Monographien-Römisch-Germanischen-Zentralmuseums/dp/3884670689/ref=sr_1_12?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.k6BzCbN41DKFxfRzj5Hz5HcoC8R2009PxNMEvWyxV9-irNnNKPwE8ME6-5niUsuhMnCzFy4ClbnCumZUKfjr03hH5GVgsQzq-YNDzIYKBVQE1aChPAJGale0Qn6eT5R7Iq3fQzP4dk1Wz1CUEO4eRK4iLfrfSPgACsiT1UqbsY9BgOCrgLPGo0B03WRw-B_R.84mV01TvMHxskQkfsw_GH_sjzdusJQvFZZbOgYWzAXU&dib_tag=se&qid=1709759060&refinements=p_27:Ronald+Bockius&s=books&sr=1-12&language=de_DE&currency=EUR

 

The book is currently unavailable. Perhaps out of print. I saw that book on sites that sell used books, too. Not available, either. They mention folded sheets (probably plans).

I don`t have a clue how to get that particular book 

 

Michael

 

 

Edited March 7 by bricklayer

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 3/5/2024 at 6:02 AM, dcicero said:

The subject is very interesting!

It is indeed.

 

Dan, here's a few more clues:

 

https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/roemerschiff-victoria/

https://roemerschiffe.de/victoria/

 

 

Looking at the last shot I see the midships moulds look to be arcs and the other moulds use the same arc rotated.

 

Taking the above and adding it to This:

Gives:

Certainly not 100% right but perhaps 90%? It doesn't include the bow or stern either.

 

[Jaager]

On 3/6/2024 at 9:26 PM, dcicero said:

I might still order one to see what shows up.  I'd really rather have a good set of plans because I would never build such a model from plywood.

What with the epidemic of greed which defines the current era,  there is a high probability that any plans would rival the kit in how much is the cost.

If you have the materials and facilities to fabricate the model from its plans, the parts of the kit itself can be used as 3D plans for to fabricate a total replacement model using appropriate species of wood.

 

Just a suggestion.

 

 

[Louie da fly]

I'd agree with Jaager. If the kit doesn't cost too much, buy it and use the pieces as a template to build a proper model from decent timber.

 

Steven

Edited March 8 by Louie da fly

[grsjax]

On 3/7/2024 at 12:06 PM, bricklayer said:

The book is currently unavailable

It is available from various used book sellers but isn't cheap.  About $170.

[bricklayer]

There`s a copy of that book at the University Of Chicago library:

https://catalog.lib.uchicago.edu/vufind/Record/4862288

Doesn`t seem to be far from Don`s place of residence.

Edited March 10 by bricklayer

[dcicero]

Thank you so much for that reference from the University of Chicago!

 

The university is easy to get to from where I live.  (It's near the Museum of Science and Industry too, where you can see the U-505.  I never miss an opportunity to do that.)  I'll see if I can get it through inter-library loan.  My local library is great about getting books like that and, if there are plans for the boats, that might be all I need.

 

And getting the kit to use the parts are templates is also a good idea.  The kit is at 1:20 scale, which makes a model about 30 inches long.  That's a big model.  I think I would prefer one at something like 1:48, so plans are the way to go and templates would be useful too because they could be scaled and reproduced.

 

Thanks to everyone for responding!  I did a presentation at my local ship model club last week about these boats, their use and the Danubian Limes they protected.   I've attached a copy for anyone interested.

 

 

 

Dan

Roman Boats on the Danube.pdf

[bricklayer]

Dan,

that`s a beautiful presentation. I like the arrangement of images and text. 

And I like your choice of colours of the background that images and text are embedded in.

If you manage to find a complete and reliable set of plans then your scale build will become a proper one.

You already found many sources that will guide you along the build.

 

Michael

 

[dcicero]

Quick update on what has kind of turned into a project.  (I was just interested in this before, but now things are moving along.)

 

First, Interlibrary Loan was able to get me a copy of the Roland Bockius book.  Wow.  Just ... wow.  Thanks for that recommendation!  It is incredibly detailed (and in German, which means I can't read it) and it includes seven sheets of plans.  I took those over to my local copy shop and made myself a set of plans.  (By the way, I know the University of Chicago -- which is very close to me -- has a copy, but the copy I got was from Emory University, which is in Atlanta, GA, quite a long way from me.  Hard to understand how these things work, but just glad it did.)

 

And, second, I heard back from EGEA about the model.  The price is 96.99 Euros (the kit plus shipping from Germany to the US) which is $104 today, not unreasonable at all.  Since they don't seem to take any kind of electronic transfer like Zelle or PayPal or Venmo, I'll have to find some other way to do it, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

[bricklayer]

Dan,

 

I recently used Google translator to translate russian paper prints to german.

I scanned page by page with a fladbed-scanner, saved the files as images (i think it was *.png).

Then I uploaded the image files into Google translator  and chose german as target language.

The translator detects text components of the images and translates them into chosen language.

Some sequences are translated smoothly, others are rugged.

There`s probably better online translators than the Google one.

Scanning pages or sheets is the most tedious work prior to translation.

Just try and find out yourself if it`s worth the effort.

 

Good to hear that your project advances.

 

Michael

 

 

 

[bricklayer]

The drawback of image files vs ASCII is the sometimes poor detection of characters.

For instance "1B" translates into "18"

[dcicero]

On 4/28/2024 at 6:32 AM, bricklayer said:

"I recently used Google translator to translate russian paper prints to german."

A friend of mine at work did a similar thing.  She just used her phone to take an image of a page and then Google Translate would translate it into English.  It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

 

I had to return the book quite a while ago, but I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to request it again and do this.

 

I very much would like to develop some plans for this model.  And I would like to read the rest of the book.  It's going to be, as you say, a lot of work, but the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.  If I don't start, I'll never finish.

 

I have two other projects in the queue right now.  I'm building the NRG's Masting and Rigging kit -- which is great, but definitely not a "weekend build" -- and then I have a ship-in-a-bottle I'd like to finish off.  I started it, but put it aside for the Masting and Rigging project.  I don't know if I have the time to do two projects at once right now.

 

 

Dan