Trireme c. 480 BC by *Hans* - ancient Greek warship

[*Hans*]

After finishing my first scratch build - VOC Retourship Batavia - I will now start with something completely diffirent, a Greek Trireme.

 

Trireme means literally three oars - three rows of oars placed above each other.

 

For one of my sons, who is studying archeology and has a great interest in the ancient Greek culture I already made a Bireme - two oars.  This one is in scale 1:35.

 

 

The European modelbuilder Krick also has a Trireme in its program, so we decided to buy and built this one:

 

 

But this is in scale 1:72 and built it will be about 51 cm long. About the same as the Bireme.

 

So we decided to lay the kit aside and use the plans to upscale the thing to 1:35 scale - making it twice as big as the Bireme, but in the same scale.

This means a model of over 1 meter (3 ft) and making everything yourself - keel - bulkheads - planking etc.  

Therefore this topic in the scratch-build section.

 

First step to do was to upscale the plans, with my copier and some old fashioned carbonpaper:

 

 

 

After that the jig saw and after sawing and fitting the first result:

 

[mtaylor]

Oh... a chair open in the front row.  I got it!!!    That is going to be huge.  You are a braver man than I, Hans to set that on the railing.

[*Hans*]

Oh... a chair open in the front row.  I got it!!!    That is going to be huge.  You are a braver man than I, Hans to set that on the railing.

 

Oh well - I made it myself - and it's easy to start again from here....

 

And thank you for your help!

Edited October 30, 2014 by *Hans*

[WackoWolf]

I got the chair next to Mark. Will be waiting for more updates and Pictures.

[kees de mol]

Very Interesting build this one. Good to see the carbonpaper again, I was forgotten it.

[*Hans*]

This is quite another build as the Batavia is.

 

I bought me a nice small circular tablesaw to make my own planking. This ship will get a hull made out of oak...

 

I am curious how this wood will work.

[amateur]

So are we.

I was looking for a chair in the front row, but I see I'm already on the second row.

(as long as there is no popcorn machine in front of me )

 

Jan

[Piet]

Wait a minute now, all the front row seats are taken?  Hmm, I guess I'll move on back and sit next to Jan, hi Jan, how are you doing?  Long time no see.

 

Rather ambitious there Hans but a nice project.

 

Cheers,

[*Hans*]

From a bunch of wooden stirrers I had bought I have made the deckplanking of the lowest deck, and some oak beams (glued 4 of them on each other).  These Beams are the base of the seats (made out of beech). Two small undeep holes plus some oak stain make the dowel-mounting of the seats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the planking a rather strong curving is neccesary. As I have planned to make the hull out of oak I first tried to bend some oak strips 6 x 2 mm over the "wrong" side, but even after two days in water this did not work.

 

After some adjustments on my circular saw I now can make oak strips 3 x 3 mm - will try out the next days if this will work.

 

4 x 4 mm was still a bit to thick.

 

 

[mtaylor]

Oak would almost need heat involved to bend it.  Electric plank bender or curling iron.  That stuff is tough.

[*Hans*]

Marc,

 

I am about to try the combination of soaked oak and an electric bender - see if this will work. 

[*Hans*]

Bending the oak strips 3 x 3 mm works quite well, but they have to be soaking wet. There is only one problem, it is quite difficult to twist them as well in the round areas.  Sanding the hull must do the trick in the end...

 

 

 

 

[kees de mol]

It looks great. Looking forward to see the rest of the build of this extraordinary ship.

[*Hans*]

Some people in Holland asked me to make a picture of the trireme compared to some other recognizable thing.

 

Both are scale 1 : 72 - about 55 meters long (180 feet)

 

[qwerty2008]

I didn't realize triremes were so big, I've always thought of them as being little vessels.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[Piet]

Yep, that puts it in perspective alright hans.  Your wood bending worked out great.

 

Cheers,

[*Hans*]

I didn't realize triremes were so big, I've always thought of them as being little vessels.

 

 

 

Lextin.

 

I have to make a big apologize to all the readers - because I made a big mistake in scale.

 

The Batavia on the picture is 1:72 - but the Trireme is 1:35 (the original kit is 1:72)  - ooopppsss 

 

This means the trireme is "only" about 35 meters or 100 feet..

 

Here some pictures for a better idea - the bireme and the trireme

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2014 by *Hans*

[*Hans*]

Don Farr, please feel free to ask your questions any time you want.  

 

I think I also do have the Dusek kit - which is coded D004. But as you have read I have upscaled it to 1:35 - twice as big.

[*Hans*]

As said - oak is quite tough to use.

But I managed to close the hull, will have to do some more sanding, and add some extra planks on both sides.

 

 

 

This is the image I use as example for my build:

 

[*Hans*]

Hi Hans, have not started mine yet but before week is out, have you got pictures of inside construction, and are you following Dusek instructions, Thanks again Don

 

Don,

 

I shall post some pictures within the next days.  And in overall I follow the Dusek instructions, but I will add a personal touch as well.

[*Hans*]

Planking of the hull is merely finished - and the ram on the bow is getting its shape.

 

When you make a mixture of oakdust and diluted white glue the oak will start to discolor to black a bit.

 

Fortunately this again will be covered by the further planking of the bow and the ram.

 

 

And a few pictures for Don, showing the inside so far:

 

 

[Louie da fly]

Looking very good, Hans. I'm following progress with great interest.

 

Steven

[*Hans*]

New set of pictures:

 

Bow - including reinforcement is getting in shape more and more:

 

 

 

 

On the inside the structure for the second row of seats is mounted. For the small view you might have inside I have added some extra vertical planks. The original frames will be removed.

 

 

[mtaylor]

Beautiful work, Hans.  I like the looks of the wood having that hewn look on her.

[*Hans*]

Would be nice Don!

 

I just have finished the structure for the second row of seats, after having removed all the bulkheads.

 

 

[Sharpie]

Looking great! I wish I had seen this a couple of years ago; the structure for mounting the seats is so much more sensible than what I came up with for my trireme.

I like the looks of the wood having that hewn look on her.

I quite agree with this. While I do admire the skill that goes into constructing a model on which every piece of wood is perfectly smooth, I can't help but feel that this would be somewhat unrealistic for a ship constructed entirely with iron saws and hand axes. Not to say that the classical civilizations were incapable of producing a smooth piece of wood, it just seems unlikely that every plank on a 37-meter warship would have been planed perfectly flat.

[*Hans*]

Looking great! I wish I had seen this a couple of years ago; the structure for mounting the seats is so much more sensible than what I came up with for my trireme.

I quite agree with this. While I do admire the skill that goes into constructing a model on which every piece of wood is perfectly smooth, I can't help but feel that this would be somewhat unrealistic for a ship constructed entirely with iron saws and hand axes. Not to say that the classical civilizations were incapable of producing a smooth piece of wood, it just seems unlikely that every plank on a 37-meter warship would have been planed perfectly flat.

 

To be honest - this is a bit of a handicap which turns out to be (at least in my opinion) an advantage. 

 

I am a bit of a sloppy builder - when I make some planks in say 4 x 4 mm in turns out that some of them are not exactly square, or the saw has ripped out some splinters or so. Never mind then I say to myself - in real this would have happened as well.

 

In the end my models turn out to be nice, with rough edges, but having a live and vivid character. Just like the real ones after many years of use.

 

(but this is also a long excuse for simply saying I'm not that  a skilled builder....  )

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful build Hans,

 

Looks great

 

in scale 1:35 you are having plenty of space fir all the Fitting out Details. I`ll be watching out as it deveöps further on

 

Nils

[*Hans*]

In fact this ship isn't that difficult. After making the substructure for the second row of seats I added the deck in between them. Quite simple with wooden stirrers again.

 

After this I started with aging the oak by treating it with ammoniac. This gives a dark shade over the wood. Not sure if I will stain it further - have to make some samples

 

 

Also made the first row of holes for the oars:

 

 

And I started with the frames for the third row of seats:

 

 

 

Here my new circular saw is quite handy

Edited December 1, 2014 by *Hans*

[Louie da fly]

Lovely work, Hans. A very interesting build.