Red Dragon by Vivian Galad - Artesania Latina - 1:60 - modified

[Vivian Galad]

Sam, I´ll keep that in mind - no sharp tools when drinking - no finger dance! As for my joints, I´ll make a new window frame all lapped jointed. That first one was more of an experience. Next I´ll do with more care. Treenails at this scale can be tricky.

[src]

Vivian,

Yes they can be tricky. When I made the door for my enterprise I half lapped and treenailed and the frame still moved a bit, once it was glued to the hull though it appeared to stabilize. Yours looks good though, maybe just a reinforcement on the back side?

And yes, no finger dance or what I call the owie-dance. 

Sam

[Vivian Galad]

Sam, I´ll give some thought on it.

 

Meanwhile, found this video in youtube:

 

Great information on it.

[Senior ole salt]

Fascinating video Vivian.Thanks for posting, a keeper for sure.

 

S.os

[Bindy]

What a great video thank you Vivian!  I learnt so much that is interesting but can also be applied to our models!

[Vivian Galad]

Jerome, I´ll search for it. It´s a good joinery, for sure - now I´ve got a new preoccupation - what type of joinery would be appliable on a 16th cent. chinese ship. I´ts interesting how the jesus ship remembers a longship, lol.

 

Thought so, SoS. Had to share.

 

Bindy, till now I thought the bulkead ship was just for modelling, or modern ships. To find it as an ancient technique puts some light on my work. Now I´ll think on removable planking on my deck to show one of these compartments - Another thing is the caulking, that I´ll consider to be the same collor of the wood, no need to blacken one side of the boards. I read about it´s composition in a thesis on the 10 chinese junks that traversed the pacific to the USA on late 19th cent. but had no idea about how it would look like.

[DSiemens]

I have heard that they may have gotten the idea from bamboo as it has divided sections in it.  Even if that isn't the case it's amazing technology and amazing that they have done it for so long.    

[Meredith]

Great video Vivian.

 

I see you have chosen another interesting subject for your new build. Very addictive this ship building eh?

Best of luck with it all - I will follow along

[Ulises Victoria]

Thank you for sharing, Viv. Great video.

[ziled68]

Hola Mija,

I've just seen the video you posted and it is a shame that the art of Chinese Junk building is slowly dying. Anxiously awaiting further progress on your current build.

[Vivian Galad]

Daniel, I saw other videos showing why - the first boats were bamboo rafts and since the bamboo have this bulkhead design, it was an easy association. Who knows? Anyways, the junk is the most successful ship design on world history and makes a fantastic subject to study and build.

 

Meredith, yeah! This is an addictive hobby. I have to be carefull not to forget my daily routine and go for the ship. Many thanks for passing by. =*

 

Ulisses, welcome!

 

Raymond, that´s the truth. It´s an ending art and we live in the exactly moment it´s dying. A pity. Hope videos and lots of research goes on to preserve a little the techniques and art of these ships. I´m on the 1st planking. Pics soon to come. ^^

[Vivian Galad]

Well, before my pictures, some info:

 

The enormous dimensions of the Chinese ships of the Medieval period are described in Chinese sources, and are confirmed by Western travelers to the East, such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Niccolò da Conti. According to Ibn Battuta, who visited China in 1347:

…We stopped in the port of Calicut, in which there were at the time thirteen Chinese vessels, and disembarked. On the China Sea traveling is done in Chinese ships only, so we shall describe their arrangements. The Chinese vessels are of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams. The large ships have anything from twelve down to three sails, which are made of bamboo rods plaited into mats. They are never lowered, but turned according to the direction of the wind; at anchor they are left floating in the wind.

A ship carries a complement of a thousand men, six hundred of whom are sailors and four hundred men-at-arms, including archers, men with shields and crossbows, who throw naphtha. Three smaller ones, the "half", the "third" and the "quarter", accompany each large vessel. These vessels are built in the towns of Zaytun (a.k.a Zaitun; today's Quanzhou; 刺桐) and Sin-Kalan. The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins, and saloons for merchants; a cabin has chambers and a lavatory, and can be locked by its occupants.

This is the manner after which they are made; two (parallel) walls of very thick wooden (planking) are raised and across the space between them are placed very thick planks (the bulkheads) secured longitudinally and transversely by means of large nails, each three ells in length. When these walls have thus been built the lower deck is fitted in and the ship is launched before the upper works are finished.

—Ibn Battuta^{[citation needed]}

It comes from Wikipedia, but some works I´ve read come to sustain what is said (mainly Phd thesis). That put, here comes my progress:

 

   

For these, some explanation. Here is my first modification - After the videos and thesis I´ve seen/read, I thought I could show the inside of a bulhead compartment. For that I opened a hole on the false keel - chinese junks have no keel, at least, not a western conception one. That means it´s build solely on the planking, itself, with no guiding midsection stand. After planking I´ll take the remaining false keel bits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The info above is to justify why I should open the upper hull/sterncastle. I still have to think if my junk will be a pirate one or one from Zheng He´s Armada. A bit more of research to know.

 

 

[CaptainSteve]

Vivian,

 

Thanks for the link about Ibn Battuta. As an arm-chair historian, I find it especially fascinating to learn of the real stories behind people and places of which I have only briefly heard before.

 

Anxiously awaiting the results of your usual studious approach and research into someone like Zheng He !!

(Would you ever consider building his flagship ??)

[Vivian Galad]

Hey, Captain, glad to be useful! ^^ And yes, Zheng He flagship is in my list for future scratchbuild. Already amassing information on it. Ty for the visit. =*

[maggsl_01]

Hi Captain...

 

this what I like so much with this Hobby: to lean back, watch the ship grow and get infoimations, stories and all that of the time the ship was made in. So I learned a lot about Henry Hudson and his explorations and about the time he lived in when I startet - and still when I build the Half Moon.

 

Ist not a one-Focus-Hobby but a Chance to learn a lot about history and the time where at least also our roots are.

 

Best wishes

 

Cheerio

 

Max

[Vivian Galad]

So, have been on my Red Dragon and here are the results:

 

First planking of the hull finished. Used the nails from the kit and decided to keep them.

 

internal view

 

After that, sanded, sanded, sanded and got a smooth sensation on sliding my hands across the hull.

 

Decided to put a movable deck on the bottom of the compartment I´ll show. Everything shall be painted dark red down there.

 

 

Began hull´s second layer planking. Did not like the wood shine, but after a little sanding, it goes away. Hope the varnishing don´t bring it back.

 

As planking the hull is a slow process, began to work on my false deck, opening a hole before planking. After that, lined the bulkheads on the false deck and began to plank. The hole is there for the compartment view.

 

 

And that´s it for now. Practicing patience while the glue dries!! =D

 

 

[Ulises Victoria]

Nice update Viv! Your planking looks very well done, both hull and decks.

Keep on it!

[popeye the sailor]

very nicely done Vivian!   I'm one of those guys that pull the brads out to use another day.........but hey..........it's all good     you can buy flat lacquer.......gives a nice hard finish without the shine.   I use a semi gloss......over time the shine begins to dull down.   your doing some really good work.......keep going.....your doing great! 

[mtaylor]

Nice planking.  Keep up the good work.  And yes, patience is a virtue in this hobby.

[gjdale]

Nice job on the planking Vivian.

[Vivian Galad]

Ulises, thanks for coming. Second layer planking goes slowly and well!! ^^

 

I know, Popeye and will keep your tip for next ones (it´s good to have those tiny nails around). I kept them as I found the planking would be more secured to the bulkheads that way. On a second thought, the wood provided by the AL is not that good. Ty!

 

Mark, thanks. Patiance is good to keep us safe, and the hobby can teach us something on that.

 

Thank you Grant!

[DesertWolf]

Hi Vivian

 

There is something about these Chinese ships that makes you want to build one as soon as you see it for the first time.  Very neat work so far.  I just know this will be a masterpiece when completed!

[src]

Vivian,

You dont play around, that is some fast building, and nice work-womanship also!

In addition to what Popeye said about clear lacquer you should also be able to rub a too shiny finish down with 0000 steel wool, that will knock the shine back. You can also create that "You gotta touch it" glow with a bit of wax afterwards.

Sam 

[CaptainSteve]

Hey, Captain, glad to be useful! ^^ And yes, Zheng He flagship is in my list for future scratchbuild. Already amassing information on it. Ty for the visit. =*

 

Can I reserve my seat for that build now ??

[Vivian Galad]

Wolf,

 

   When I saw it, I knew I had to build it. Thanks for the compliment ^^

 

Sam,

 

    That´s some good tips I´ll gladly try. I can´t keep away from my ships for too long. Almost everyday I go for some building. Addictive hobby. Ty!

 

Capt´

 

    Sure! As soon as I got to Zheng He´s flagship, I´ll reserve some space on the first line for you! =D

[DSiemens]

Wow quick progress.  Looking very clean and precise.  Nicely done.  

[CurtisW]

Just looked in on your build, VERY NICE work. I will be following intently as I plan on building the same ship in the near future.

[Vivian Galad]

Ty, ty, ty everyone, for the suport, compliments and likes!!

 

Daniel, I´m trying to be a little more patient with this build than with the caravel. But I do see some small imprecisions to keep in mind for the next build. ^^

 

Curtis, take a chair, some beverages... Thanks for passing by and I´m waiting for your log on yours Red Dragon. =D

[Vivian Galad]

Some updates!

 

Finished planking my deck. Took hours and hours searching for immages or some hint on if a junk would have treenails or not. After hundreds of pictures and a lot of reading, could not find anything on the subject - but, the planks have to be nailed to the bulkheads, so, I made them holes.

 

 

 

On a different aproach, decided to stain the deck to look a little worn. After seeing some models depicting more close to reality junks, it took a good look!! =D

 

 

 

Then, I got full on hull. Days waiting for the drying, then, when finished, I put one hand of an opaque varnish. Since the shine bothers me a little, waiting for it to weakens a bit before laying hands on my junk again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I´m planning how to fix the deck, since there must be a hole in it to the bulkead compartment. I´ll change some other things on deck, too, since the AL junk seems too "clean" on deck. Well, that´s all, folks!

[DSiemens]

All of the sudden she's planked.  Nice work.  I agree with the aged look.  Something about Caravels and Junks they just look better with age.