Venetian Polacre by Cristiano - FINISHED - XVIII century

[Cristiano]

More than 20 years ago I built from scratch a venetian xebec, from purchased plans.

The plans are available but are not made by the usual ships manufacturers.

They were made accordingly to original drawings coming from a Venetian archive.

In the photos can be seen some of the plans and the model that I made.

The model is rather big (around 90 cm long).

I always been puzzled by the strange shape of such xebec (a bit fat, hull not common on xebec).

 

Now finally I have found the original ancient drawings that originated such plans!

They are published in the book "Venetian Ships - Navi Veneziane" by Gilberto Penzo, Lint editor.

 

I discovered that the ship was a polacre, and the absence of sail plan probably generated some misunderstanding on the author of the plans thay I purchased.

The original drawings were a bit different and the typical polacre hull is more evident.

 

After that I decided to study a deep conversion of the model, in order to let it be more similar to the original one.

in the photos:

-one of the purchased plans, made in 1947 (first two photos).

-the original drawings (second two photos)

-the present model.

Well, I am not a true expert, but the final result will be less historically false than the present one, so in anycase will be a success for me!

Any critics to the project (even destructive critics!) and suggestions are always appreciated!

 

[Cristiano]

THE SAIL PLAN

After evaluating the historical period and other similar projects, I decided that the sail plan can be rather similar to the one made by Amati Venetian Polacre.

Other plans exist of other polacres of other countries, and the sail size are all more or less the same.

below can be seen some of the sail plans and rigging that I made with a CAD program.

I superimposed the orignal hull drawing.

The rigging is a rather complex part.

In the photos only few of the rigging that I made is showed.

Luckily, in the mid XVIII century the sail rigging was rather standardised, so I must not make too much odd hypotesis.

Note: I mirrored the top view of the hull, and evenly corrected, the drawing is still not correct.

So it means that the original drawing was probably focused on the hull drawing and only lighty on the bridges details.

 

[Cristiano]

THE WOLFS HEADS

A strange type of decoration is present in the bow of this polacre.

more or less is the same both in the purchased plans and in the original drawings:

a set of wolfs heads were present, in various points of the bow.

in the photo can be seen:

-the wolfs in the purchased plans;

-the wolfs that I made 20 years agos;

-the wolfs as in the original drawing (marked in red).

Surely the wolf heads that I made will be completely re-sculpted.

but there is one more head in the bow which is not present in the purchased plans (definetly a wolf pack!!! )

 

 

 

[Cristiano]

THE STERN

A study was needed in order to prepare the stern modifications.

There was an error on the way the stern is made, so a deep modification is needed.

in the photo can be find:

-the purchased plans stern drawing;

-the built stern;

I mirrored the original drawing stern, cleaned the image and made light common decorations, which I find on other venetian ships sterns of the same period.

in the photo can be seen the result.

 

 

 

[Cristiano]

THE WINDOWS ANOMALY

When I built the model a lot of time ago I was puzzled by the strange position of the windows placed above the gunports.

their position reached some height that was technically useless for a practical use.

now finally with the original drawings I have discovered that the windows were in such a position that makes perfectly sense.

The overall lenght of the ship's hull is the same of the author of the purchased plans (well is a calculated aproximate lenght, since the original drawing doesn't have any numbers at all), but now everything fits well.

in the photo can be seen:

-photo of the purchased plan, where the misplaced windows can be seen;

-Autocad modification of the original drawing, with the two decks exalted in red colour and with a man positioned.

It can be clearly see that now the windows works really as windows!

 

Since I made the model accordingly to the purchased plans, many modifications will be needed, when I will start to scrap the model.

 

[Louie da fly]

A very worthwhle project, Cristiano! I wish you every success with it.

[Doreltomin]

Hello Cristiano,

 

That's indeed a very interesting project. Now, if incidentally you have the book "Vele Italiane" by Sergio Bellabarba and Edoardo Guerreri it will help you a lot to "navigate" into the rather complex and murky waters of the Mediterranean rigs and crafts. Then, you can go to pages 178-181 where the "Pollaca" (the Polish, or polacre) is briefly presented. Although the presentation is rather short and focuses on more recent ships,  at page 180 you can see a 1660's  etching by Jean Jouve. I Have found the same for you on the net here:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Polacre_of_Jean_Jouve_2.jpg

 

A similar one can be seen here:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Polacre_of_Jean_Jouve_1.jpg

 

These are French polacres but the rig is fairly similar to these belonging to other nations. As you see, the typical polacre rig comprises two lateens to the fore and the aft AND a square rig to the main. The typical feature of the polacre is the "pollacone" (or in plain English the "pole mast"): the main is made in a single piece, not in three pieces as a normal mast. I believe the original name can have something with the big trees (from which the masts were made) being imported from Poland.

 

As for the small "windows" which puzzle you I believe are in fact gun ports. The ship may have had some galleries just above the main guns both to the fore and aft superstructures. These galleries do not cover the whole gundeck, just the guns, so that the gun crew can operate the gun normally from the deck, yet another crew can operate the smaller gun on the gallery. These were smaller guns with a simplified sleigh carriage without wheels, absorbing the recoil through friction with the deck. If the friction was too much, a bit of grease was applied! These gun galleries were common to 17th century ships but since they were not very easy to work with this was a discontinued solution into the big warships of the 18th to 18th centuries, when full developed decks were always preferred instead. Hope this helps!

Edited July 9, 2014 by Doreltomin

[Cristiano]

Thank you Doreltomin,

it is a pleasure to discuss with you about this "niche" type of ship and appreciate your comments.

Regarding the suggested drawings, I already knew them and where very helpful for the rigging evaluation.

The first three post were effectively the result of two months of duty...mainly on rigging, and many photos and drawings have been checked...

 

I have the "Vele Italiane della costa occidentale", and I checked it too.

The sail arrangement that I chose was more or less as in the attached drawing.

 

Regarding the gunports:

Many of the available commercial plans and ancient drawings show polacres with two full decks and a quarter deck, and I REALLY WANTED that the original drawings show something similar ( more fascinating and beautiful ).

I passed a lot of hours checking the possibilities and "exploring" each square mm of the drawing search for hints, but there is no way to fit two complete decks on such ship.

This ship is definetly too small and the size of the people is like the red ones in the previous posts.

In addition as you can see in the below image, there is present only one true line that defines a possible deck border (see the blue arrows), so I finished on agreeing with the average size of the author of the purchased drawings, that means around 35 metres of lenght of the hull alone.

In addition, the height of the quarter deck is not enough to justify an additional intermediate deck.

This venetian polacre should be considered as a small ship for patrol or escort duties, and not an armed ship for commercial duties like the ones of the French drawings, so the absence of the space needed for commercial goods reduces the overall size.

[Cristiano]

THE CANNONS

Since the present xebec is a rather big model and has planted its roots in my sitting room, I want to remove it from there for starting the modifications only after some key elements have already been made.

Well, just because I have not much space for it elsewhere!

So I decided to prepare first two type of components that will take a bit longer to be made:

-The 16 cannons;

-The 7 wolf heads.

Preparing the above components will take at least a month...

I started with the cannons.

at the moment 4 have been completed and 3 more are almost ready.

that leaves 9 cannons more.

I think it will take around 10-11 days more.

The 7 wolf heads will be a more complex argument, since I will need to sculpt them.

in the attached photos: the cannons already made and a photo where an old cannon is compared with a new one.

Definetly an improvement! (well, is not so complex to make something better than this little monster! )

[Cristiano]

COLOURS AND MORE HYSTORICAL EVIDENCES (Finally!!)

 

My research around this type of Venetian polacre bring me to:

town of Kotor, of Montenegro Repulic.

It is an ancient and nice coastal town, once belonged to the Venetian Republic.

Inside Kotor exist a small maritime museum, see the link:

 

http://www.museummaritimum.com/eng/eng.htm

 

that museum contains various object of the Venetian Hystory and among all, two very important paintings:

first photo: the venetian ship "BEATA VERGINE", capt. Ilija Radimir, dated 1793

second photo: the venetian ship "SACRA FAMIGLIA", dated around 1780

There were various Venetian ships commanded by Montenegro Captains.

Two of the most famous captains of Montenegro were the brothers  Jozo and Marko Ivanovic, which commanded a small Venetian fleet against the turks.

Their fleet included ships like the ones of the two paintings.

There fought the turkish pirates in the Greece coasts around 1751-1756.

third photo: the battle between the Ivanovic Venetian fleets and the Turks in 1751 near Patrasso (Greece).

It can be see the type of colours of the Venetian ships.

Even if in black and whyte, my original plans matches with the colour of the BEATA VERGINE.

It can be seen the black triangle just below the first gunport.

fourth photo:

I modified the colour of my polacre accordingly to the "BEATA VERGINE".

I modified the latin sail of the mizen mast, since now I think is more compliance to the original in such shape (as it was in the purchased plans, too).

Everything start to fit adeguately....

[Cristiano]

The various key points of the ship details are proceeding...

the first photo represent the wolf heads for the two catheads (the ears are raised)

the other photos represent the two couple of wolf heads for each side of the bow.

I changed again the sail plan.

Now I definetly ended my tormented thought.

I changed the lain sail of the foremast, since now I believe that the previous one (which was loosely taken from the Amati plans) doesn't match with any painting or drawing that I saw on my research.

Now its shape match with many drawings that I saw.

At first I was worried not to overlap the main mast sails with the foremast one, in order to permit each sail to receive full wind, but the truth is that the latin sails in such type of ship were used also as in the attached drawing, so my first thought was partially wrong (and the Amati sail plan a little, too).

 

So below there is also the definitive sail plan of my Venetian Polacre (And I will strongly stick to it, now!)

The sail overall available area is raised a little, but the shape is changed greatly and now it leaves less "uncovered zones" between the main mast and foremast.

No more replacement are permitted, since I am already sewing the sails...

In the meanwhile I am proceeding with the cannons, which now represent the most BOOOOOOOOORING part of this section of the ship building: 10 cannons done, 1 almost done, 5 still to make completely.....what a pain!!

 

 

[Cristiano]

Another update...

The cannons are almost all done, 14 out of 16...

It is a real boring part of the project.

Now I am slowing shifting to the sail section of my project.

Since I now defined the sail plan, I started the sewing part.

The sails will be completely unfurled, as on my previous models.

I don't like the bright white of the cotton, so I added some colour to them, again as on my previous models.

I decided for a light pale yellow, which gives an "old" aura to the ship.

The best results are obtained using the decoupage acrylic colors, which have a big pigments size content in it and the colouring process on the cotton is more easy.

In order to have a more homogenous colour, i soaked them in a small bowl, where the "bath" has been prepared.

In the photo can be seen the result before and after.

Since it is "bath time" , I coloured the rope that will be used for the sail hem.

In the photo can be seen before and after.

 

I dipped it in coffee (an Italian coffee, so a concentrated one!! )

Now finishing the sails is the next step.

This too will be boring, since the hems of the sails using the rope above mentioned must be sewed manually.

Has a level of pain can be compared to the 16 cannons making...

In addition, I will start to attach the blocks to the cannons.

Each cannon has three blocks, so 48 blocks are awaiting me (another boring part! ).

As said before the sequence of duties was so strange just because I still don't want to move the ship from the sitting room before these details are ready.

 

 

[MarisStella.hr]

hello Cristiano... interesting .... this is a very nice project...

[Cristiano]

Another update:

I completed the sails, finally.

In the second photo can be seen the complete sails as it should be arranged in the three masts.

As it can be seen, I changed again the sail plan!

Definetly a tormented mind!

But the truth is that more I study the paintings and books and more informations I get, so that the reason of such changes.

now the mizzen latin sail is different and is more similar to the foremast latin sail, and to the paintings find of these kind of ships.

I think in anycase that there are some big differences between the Venetian polacres and the French or Spanish ones.

When I check the drawings or painting the sails shapes appears different.

I finished the 16 cannons too, as it can be seen in the photo.

But finished is not the correct word, since they lacks still all their blocks (another boring section awaiting me! )

But I think that now I can take the model and start to remove the "material" from it, since the modifications must be obviously made on a naked model.

 

[Cristiano]

I started the demolishing process!

Is rather easy to destroy something.

After a deep evaluation, I think that the modifications to be made are many, so many that it is almost like building 60% of a new ship...

In the photo can be seen the ship after the removal of almost everything.

In another photo I superimposed the drawing and the ship.

Obviously they not match perfectly, since the "purchased drawings" were different and the model was made accordingly to them.

The main problem is that the stern is actually more long that the one in the "original drawings"

A deep cut is needed...

In another photo are showed the main modifications in the shape to be done.

The author of the book were the "original drawings" are showed, Gilberto Penzo, warned that some of the drawings contains mistakes or errors related to scaling.

Probably the level of accuracy depended by the type of ship, their size, the date of the drawings and other factors.

Minor vessels, like that one, are not ships of critical importance so the level of accuracy was probably low.

Well, just to say that I found a mistake in the drawings that I need to correct.

One of the gunport is too much near to the wall of the stern cabin, so the last cannons cannot be rigged properly.

I need to move back the wall a little (other modifications to be made).

So I removed the wall, too.

The duty at the moment will include:

-cut a part of the stern (shorten the ship in order to preserve the original shape);

-remake completely the stern;

-remake completely the bow;

-remake all the decks and cabin wall;

-new masts and rigging;

-reshape the gunports.

In addition to the already work done, which was rebuilding 16 cannons, sewing completely new sails and wolfs decorations.

It remain very few of the old ship...

Luckily the largest part of the external hull will be painted, so my invasive modifications will be largerly covered.

All this mess after three-four months of duty will result in a more beautiful ship than the previous one.

Now the updates will be less frequent, since I will be absent for summer holidays...

 

[mtaylor]

I hated to see all that de-construction so I can't hit "like" but I want to in order to acknowledge your courage.  If you're not happy with it, no amount of praise from us will change that.  You're doing what you feel is right.  

 

Have a good summer holiday and see you when you get back.

[Cristiano]

I know that my approach can appear a bit "heretic".

Basically I don't like fake ships models, or models of ships that never existed.

So I was disappointed when I discovered that the original drawings of this model where so much different from the ones I used for building the model.

That because the drawings I used were modified without an apparent reason.

 

In addition, after 20 years this model is far from my present level of historical knowledge and craftmanship, so I decided to "evolve" it, instead of get rid of it (the second option is rather complicated, since the model was made at a basic level).

 

Well, from my point of view evolving it can be considered a love gesture to this model...

 

[mtaylor]

Cristiano,

 

Some of us are more "heretic' than others..    I just have to look to myself for proof of that.

 

Evolving is probably better than trashing and starting over. 

[Cristiano]

Thank you Mark, sometimes the "heretic" walk is a lonely walk...

 

Not for faint of heart : I cut the "exceeding part" of the stern and placed a filler.

This is a crude image, I know...

 

Now the side windows will match more easily the shape in the drawing.

The filler will be reshaped and then I will add a thin layer of balsa wood as a guide shape for the complete stern.

But since this is a rather delicate part of the duty, it will be made after summer holidays.

Now I studied the windows position which, as can be seen on the photo modified with Photoshop, are now in a completely wrong position.

 

One key point of a military ship, either for patrol or war, is that everything has its own purpose, strictly practical.

 

So after evaluating the "original drawings" is clear that all these windows were placed as an aid for the cannons crew.

That was not clear in the "purchased drawings", since the scale of the ship in the purchased drawings was completely wrong and the result was that the windows were placed too high.

My final though is that I will close the existent windows and cut four new windows.

Again, with all these modifications, the ship must be painted, since it is rather difficoult to hide the patches on unpainted wood.

The windows named 5 and 6 are in a rather good position and will just reshaped.

The pink gunport will be represented closed and I will add its own related window (4).

The position of windows 4 must be evaluated carefully, since will be near to the "moved" wall cabin.

Another error in the "purchased drawings": the entrance of the tiller in the hull .

Since is clear from the original drawings that the head of the rudder enters directly into the above counter, I dig the hole for it.

It will be another problem to close the old holes...

I really don't understand why these differences are present, since the original drawing was very clear.

Why change it in the purchased drawings?

 

Now definetly I will stop the "shipyard" for a couple of weeks...

 

[Cristiano]

The shipyard has opened again...

Due to the modifications that I started to made to the hull, I needed to cover completely the parts that will not be painted, since the old wood is with a different colour.

So I covered completely the internal bulwark with walnut strips of small thickness.

The external part of the ship will result almost completely painted and that operation is not needed.

This additional layer is useful since now represent the internal frame of the gun ports (see other photos).

I covered the misplaced old windows and now I can start to create new ones in the correct positions.

The next days will be used for the following:

-complete the internal frames of the gun ports;

-open the new windows;

-redraw the stern.

The last point is needed since I checked the original drawing and I discovered that is "distorced".

In fact the stern drawing doesn't consider the slope of the stern wall and so its height is not enough to match the overall stern.

 

So again I must stop and think...

In the photo of the drawing of the stern can be seen blue arrows.

They indicate what appears two small windows placed in the stern, near the rudder.

I saw them in another Venetian xebec, too.

At the moment I don't know if I will place them or not.

When I enlarged the painting of the "Beata Vergine", I saw writen on its stern the term "TARTANA".

Now that term is related to a fishing boat with latin sails, but probably three centuries ago was used for defining such type of ships.

Definetly the road of that scratch building is not paved...

 

[mtaylor]

Cristiano,

 

Those appear to be ventilation ports though sometimes they were used during repairs or reprovisioning to loading wood, spars, etc.   The other possibility is that they were stern chase ports if they're an appropriate height  for any guns on that deck.  If no guns on that deck, then ignore the chase port idea.

[Cristiano]

Thank you Mark,

are surely ventilation ports/small loading ports.

This is a small ship and the cannons are placed only in the same deck/level where is located the cabin with the windows, so the ventilation ports results under that one.

In the attached drawing there is a detail of an ancient colour drawing of a venetian xebec.

On it can be clearly see the above discussed ports placed under the windows.

more progress:

-I made the windows for the gunners (no photo to show).

-I made again the drawing of the stern (a neverending story ).

The one showed is the stretched version, with bigger height in order to match the sloped stern wall (hope the english terms are good).

the light green window is the fake one, since it contain partially the rudder.

The stern of the "Beata Vergine" has the Virgin Mary painting instead of a fake window.

I attach another painting, of unkwon origin, which show clearly the type of hull of the ship that I am building.

The type of sails and rigging are different, but the hull shape is the same.

Is interesting to note how the stern shape of the ships in the painting matches the one that I am building.

 

[Cristiano]

Small update,

now I am starting  the stern (without hurry)

In one photo can be seen the gunners windows, placed above the gunports.

For the stern, I cut the shape on a thin layer of balsa.

This will be the main frame and will be glued to the main body.

When it will be in place I will glue to it the wood strips to cover it.

For the decorations, I prepared the pieces of wood that will hold them.

these pieces will be added to the main frame only later.

In the photos can be seen the balsa main frame and the pieces that will hold the decorations.

 

 

 

 

[Cristiano]

Another small update.

now the building is going rather slow.

I am making the stern but I am still studying on how to proceed.

The truth is that since I have only one drawing available of the ship, everything must be elaborated and the brain work is the largest part of the overall work on this "shipyard".

In the photo can be seen the balsa frame glued to the back of the ship and covered with thin walnut strips.

The exceeding walnut strips will be cut to match the balsa frame only when I will be glued in place the decorations (which are still to be done).

In the meanwhile I am placing the planking of the deck.

As can be seen in the photos,now some of the ship's horrible wounds start to be covered!   

My purpose is to paint the external part of the hull following the colours of the tartana "Beata Vergine" (which are the colours of the Venetian ships of small size) and leave the internal part of the hull completely unpainted.

I have discovered another painting of Venetian tartana.

This time is "La Forza", commanded by Capt. Cristofaro Popovich.

The ship is existed surely in 1797, since parteciped to a battle in Tripoli that year.

The painting is dated 1804.

Those type of paintings are rather accurates since where commissioned by the family that owned the ship.

The Popovich family commissioned a painting for each ship that owned.

The Library of the City of Trieste own several paintings of the Popovich's ships, since the Popovich was an Italian family of Dalmatian origins.

This too is classified as a tartana.

The shape is rather similar to the others, but with less decorations (it is the end of the century and the decorations on the ship were less) and the latin sail of the foremast has been sobstituted by squared sails.

But the foremast remains typical of the polacre and I think it can hold a latin sail without too much work.

It seems definetly that in the past the Tartana reached sizes that overcome the modern definition given by it.

So it appears to be an overlap between the old definition of tartana and modern definition of polacre/polacca.

I don't know which were in the past the definition criteria.

I know that the tartana and the polacca were clearly different for the old Venetians.

In the "Dispacci da Costantinopoli 1757-1762" by Francesco Foscari (which acted as an ambassador of Venice in the Ottoman Empire during this period), the author spoke either of polacres and tartane.

always in the same book, e spoke about an ottoman tartana with 32 cannons (so it must be rather big!).

the book can be read free in google books, and that helps a lot, since it is easy to find those terms in an electronic book.

 

The book can be find here:

http://books.google.it/books?id=14KULwgjspAC&pg=PR7&lpg=PR7&dq=dispacci+di+costantinopoli+1757&source=bl&ots=nIX1D5X5mg&sig=36AWTjFyXsTKfyI2TnYFT8pWBSc&hl=it&sa=X&ei=YdYIVIW2AYH9ygP5uYKAAg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=dispacci%20di%20costantinopoli%201757&f=false

 

[Cristiano]

Now the ship start to have a more decent aspect.

the biggest wounds have been "cured".

The transom of the stern has been completely covered.

I decided to make the decorations only at the end of the stern rebuilding, in order to minimize the possibility to damage them.

They will be applied in the grey part of the transom.

The windows of the transom are not yet made.

In the meanwhile the side windows of the stern are proceeding, too.

As can see from comparision with the drawing, all the decoration are not still made.

I am proceeding on the building in various sections of the ship, as it can be seen:

-The planking of the deck is proceeding (but I have not yet divided the single planks);

-The border of the bulwark is partially done (but it will be fitted with decorations with are not yet made);

-I cut the bow, because their angle and lenght was wrong.

A new one has already been saw, but I will glue to the ship only when the stern decoration are made.

 

My way of proceeding appears a bit confusing, since I started many sections of rebuilding at the same time, but in that way the boredom has been completely eliminated!

 

[Cristiano]

I loosed a piece of mind sanity around the windows of the transom...

I was dubious if make them tilted toward the center of the transom or perfectly vertical.

I don't understand where is the limit between the real ship and the drawing false perspective.

Finally I chosed to make them vertical.

I have another drawing of another tartana/polacre, made in the same period of time and the windows are nearly vertical.

In addition that tartana was smaller in size, so since mine is slighty bigger I suppose that the windows are theoretically almost vertical.

The drawing of the other two tartane sailing show a stern with six windows perfectly vertical, so I decided to proceed in that way.

Hystorical note:

After others evaluations I find that the model that I am making can be technically a Tartana of the bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska), a Montenegro coastal region.

the second drawings in fact says in Italian "Tartana dita polacha ad uso dei Bochesi" which mean "Tartana, also sayd polacre, used by the Boka Kotorska population".

This two were two examples of the tartane that commonly sails under Venetian flag and that make patrol duties against ottoman pirates in the Adriatic sea and Greek sea (the part of Greek sea where the Venetian islands were located).

in the photo can be see:

-the transom with the windows just made (there still a lot to do!!! );

-the main deck, just completed (but still not with the planks divided);

-the stern of the other tartana/polacre;

-a detail of the stern of the previous painting of the two tartane.

this painting is interesting because the tartane have an Austrian flag, so it is made probably in the period of time after the Venezia falling under the Austrian control (1798).

So in these days I will be focused on working on the stern.

Regarding the ship type: Well, it becomed now obvious that this model is "hystorically" a tartana and "technically" a polacre....

In the meanwhile I am evaluating the anchors argument...

It is clear in the original drawing that the only capstan present is the vertical one placed behin the main mast.

It is clear too, that the hawser holes in the bow are placed above deck.

It is clear too, that the hatchway just behind the foremast will receive the anchor cable.

what it is not clear is if are present or not THE RIDING BITTS (apparently not).

the last photo show the mirrored half main deck, which represent the original drawing.

Can the cables of the anchors of a 35 metres ship go directly in the hatchway?

This is another doubt that shall be solved...

 

[Cristiano]

Another small update

I completed the main deck, with the planks division and related nailing.

I used a sequence 1:3, which I though is reasonable for a 35 metres ship.

I forgot to leave untouched the central main plank, but it is too late to change...

The planks between the gratings and the main mast has been leaved untouched, since I considered them not part of the sequence.

It will be added the nails in a more later stage.

The ship gratings are just layed and not glued.

Since now the details must be suited for "human utilization", I made a simple man example as a reference.

Before making the planking of the stern deck, I need to make the wall with a door that give access to the cabins.

So the door position and height must be made accordingly to the presence of the cannon just near, and the presence of the mizzen mast, again near of the wall.

I will use a thin layer of balsa as a main frame for holding the planks of the wall.

At the moment I "solved" the problem of the riding bitts, as shown in the drawing, but I am not completely convinced.

In the drawing can be seen the anchor's cable around the pink bitt and then into the manhole.

[Cristiano]

I started the transom decorations...

I completed the right side of the transom, which can be seen in the photos.

the decoration are of common type, plants and leafs, typical of this period.

I didn't wanted to make anything more complex, since the ship is a common type one, not higher than a third rate, accordingly to venetian papers.

Since I have an "heretic approach", sometimes I use alternative materials for the decorations.

These are made with green paste (two parts epoxy components, yellow and blue).

Technically it is the kneadatite, but commercially it has many names.

Since in order to be modelled it must be keep lubricated with some water, I previously painted with grey primer the wooden parts that will be in contact with it, otherwise the modelling become a bit a nightmare.

If the wood is not previously treated, the water detach continuously the paste from wood and the modelling cannot be made properly.

 

Modelling with paste is really relaxing, but now the real task is to made the right side hydentical to the left side!

And this will be a more complex problem...

In the meanwhile, I am deciding if open or not the last of the gunners windows...

The last gunport will be intentionally left closed.

its related window will be in a wrong position, too near to the cannon, due to an error in the original drawing, which placed the wall of the cabin's door too much near to the last external cannon.

The cannon cannot be "serviced" properly if I follow the original drawings.

So I moved back this wall.

that generated now that this window will be a bit misplaced.

It's a chain reaction...

That window can be only inside the cabin, so sooner I must decide what to do (create it or not?).

But the first thing to do now it is to complete the transom decoration.

[Cristiano]

Another update

I am proceeding with the transom decorations.

this week-end I should finish them.

I am not completely satified, but since I will not partecipate to any exposition, it will fit my purposes...

In addition, I made the gunners windows in the cabin, as for the original drawings.

Since I decided that the last gunport will be closed, so will be that window.

So I placed a panel to cover it from inside, which can be one of the possible ways for closing such type of windows.

 

[Cristiano]

I completed the transom decoration!

 

But I have not yet completed the stern decorations...

I always considered the building of a ships a sequence of key points to be reached or steps to be accomplished.

A key point is from my point of view a part of the model, that needs to be completed well, otherwise the entire model can be ruined.

The transom decorations are a key point of this model to be made.

Are not hydentical as I hoped, but for my sitting room will be good enough...

Now many steps will be more easy.

I decided that the door of the cabin will be partially open.

So I dig an hole in the internal ship frame, then I painted the internal part of black.

As it can be seen after positioning the wooden wall, the door access is perfectly "pitch black"...

The wooden wall is just posed but not glued, since I will add steps on both sides (to give access to the upper deck) and the door, of course!