Bireme - Greek Warship, Amati, scale 1/35 [COMPLETED BUILD]

A bit of a work completed today. Was working on a main yard, actually the only one on this ship.
First created a small template to follow while doing ridging. Transferred markings on the yard and ..

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Yard in the new, i called it ridging helper table...

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You might noticed that i added two more clamping helpers, this time made out of clothespin. I find out that a spring clamp i intended to use has a strong grip that might be damaging some delicate wood parts in the future build so decided to replace them (actually to add) two more clothespin.. If the grip is not strong i can always add a rubber band around it..

One part completed..

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A bit of a closeup..

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Prep for seizing..

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Two completed, two more to go..

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All roping done..

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Testing on the mast...

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Now i need to do a bit of a research how to attach the sail. The kit plan is not quite helpful for this task...

Happy modeling to all..
 
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It is time to attack the sail. It has been a while since my last 'war' with a sail, few decades ago...
The plan was to simulate separate cloth pieces sawed together to form a big sail. Idea was to run sail material thru sawing machine, with setting for a small stitches so stitching will not not look out of the scale. At least that was an intent..

First, i transfer lines from the sail plan to the cloth with a HB pencil.

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Then i set a sawing machine to:

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I tested this setting with a cloth sample just to make sure i have it right (or to the satisfactory pattern).

Sawing is well underway and it looks very nice..


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Sawing is completed and looks very good to me.


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I was running sawing lines well above the sail size; then i will cut sail to the required dimensions.

Actually i forgot to wash the sail material before any work on it; it is a good practice to remove any factory added stiffeners that will keep the material wrinkle-free. It is OK, will do it later in the process.

After cutting the material to required dimensions, i decided to run a rope all over the sail. I was not sure how they've done it 480 B.C. but was thinking that in order to mount the sail and have sail does its job, the sail has to withstand some pressure and there should be some type of rope around it. On the other hand, i need to make few eyes so the sail can be attached to the ship...

Needed to follow some pattern when it comes to sawing the rope on sail edges so i made a small template and marked holes where sawing needle will go thru. Before that i did freeze the edges of the sail with a small drop of cyano glue gel.


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Wholes were marked and ready for hand-sawing process.. I did not want to use sawing machine just because it might look to uniform. Some deviation will be more accurate, i think..

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I placed the rope around the edge of the sail and used a tape to hold the rope to the edge of the sail. During the process i discovered better way - put a small amount of glue on the edge and press the rope on it. This would make sure that rope is right on the edge of the sail.. There might be some better way for doing this so i need to do a bit of a research on this forum.


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In the middle of the sawing process.


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One side (top) of the sail completed. Does not look bad at all...


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Attacking another sail side..


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The sawing process is done.


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Now it is time to wash the sail and prepare it for darkening process so it will look a bit more ancient-ish, i hope.
Have some green tea left overs and soaked the sail into it. Two hours later, sail is removed from tea and stretched to dry..

Final product looks like this:




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Looks very nice to me. Tomorrow will be mounted to the yard...

Happy modeling..
 

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It is time to work on sail and mount it to the yard. Was thinking since there is only one sail, it will be a walk in the park working on it but turns out not to be that way. Most likely the reason is that my skills are a bit rusty these days. But practice makes it perfect so lets start or what old Latins would say.. repetitio mater studiorum est.

Before i start, need to mention that kit plan does not provide much details how to mount the sail, what techniques to use to attach the sail, etc. Also, few threads on ship modeling forums showed different ways to attach the sail and including not that much detailed pictures from the process. Not having enough details about the whole process leave me with an opportunity to put a personal touch to the model. Which i did, so lets get it going....

Here is beginning of the process. Sail was mounted to the yard with assistance of few pieces of scoth tape to keep it stretched until i attach at least few lines of ropes. I did not spend much time getting historically correct rope size, instead i decided to go with the rope size i think was available 400+ years b.c. and what i had in the shipyard...




Below picture is during rigging process; i ended up running 5 loops of a rope around the yard and freeze it with a touch of cyanogel.





During the process i used scotch tape to help keeping the sail stretched and on the yard...



Then i had to make four "eyes" (need to spend some times learning the proper ship modeling terms, dough) that will be used to run the rope thru and it is used to assist in rolling up the sail. Good old nail helped with correct eye diameter. First i run four runs of rigging around the yard, then run the line thru the sail and around the nail, back thru the sail and again around the nail making a two-loops eye. Small amount of cyanogel to freeze the eye..



Finished



and with a test rope running thru..



All four "eyes" completed. Had to test the fitting on the mast...





Then i ended up making blocks, actually only two blocks needed on the ship. Tiny, 3mm blocks are very hard to keep on the bench during seizing process..




Blocks attached to the yard..



After attaching two blocks on yard and running four lines of rope thru "eyes", here is a final sail/yard product..



Next i will need to complete the mighty ram... Had some challenges with soldering, copper, etc but will cover this process in the next post.

Happy modeling..
 
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And I almost forgot to tell you,no need to compress your images befor uploading the program does it for you,unless your images larger than 12 mb,but test it yourself,thanks.
 
It is all about copper, soldering, flame, burned fingers, sanding, cutting, etc. so lets start...

Based on a template from a cardboard i made some posts ago, i cut the copper sheets to the approximate size. Wanted to leave some extras in case i had to modify it. I wanted to go with a ram that looks like one in Israel museum (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...eli_National_Maritime_Museum-_Naval_ram-2.jpg ). Unfortunately this one was made for a ship that it is not the same shaped as my model so i needed to adopt it a bit. Was doing a bit of online research and came across multiple different versions of this mighty war weapon. This always leave some room for builder' personal touch...

First picture shows top and bottom part of a ram. In order to trace a correct shape a bit more easily i put a layer of tape on the copper sheet, trace the form and cut with scissors for metal. The gauge of copper is thin enough so there was no problem cutting it.




Removed the tape and started soldering process. Must admit that i had some challenges finding correct soldering wire, proper heat temperature and some tools to hold everything together. Copper does transfer the heat very quickly so make sure you are wearing some protection on your hands..




In the past i did a bit of plumbing soldering around my house but this task requires way more precise tools.. The other side..





First test on the ship..



Then it was time to attack side panels. Cut side panels, shape them in the correct form and start soldering. Must admit that this was very challenging task as by heating the copper for side panels, the heat transferred to the whole copper plate and "un-solder" previously soldered parts.



In the process, one side installed.







Both sides soldered and first test on the model..







The top piece of a ram installed. This piece connects both side panels. Had plenty of extra copper and cut the excess with scissors. That is why the top piece looks very sharp and screams for a good sanding....







After spending some quality time with different sending belts and Dremel sanding bits, here is end result. No sharp edges.







Now i wanted to put some ornaments on it, to make it a bit more original-like but was not quire successful and was ending up soldering an 'infinity symbol' made out of a electric wire. Also i put a small strip of electric tape on the edges; i replaced it with a duck tape as duck tape is a bit ticker than electric tape. I wanted to simulate the edge that is visible on the original ram.







So that's it. The soldering is done and ram fits very nicely on the model..


I was contemplating what to do next: leaving it like this or do some weathering to give it a bit of patina look.

Was not quite happy with all colors (copper, solder, sanding) shown on it and decided to go with weathering. I sprayed a small layer of black paint on it and now ram is drying waiting to weathering process.


This will be interesting process, hopefully the end result will be satisfactory. I can always build another ram if weathering process ends up being disaster.


Anyhow, more to come soon..



Happy modeling
 
Very interesting process process, especially challenging for a „wood“-worker.....thanks for sharing the details with the number of photos, which makes it very clear what you did. I am looking forward to see your attempts with the weathering.
 
It is weathering time... which brings me back to my airplane modeling days.

After coating it with a flat black paint i started to make it a bit more oldish-alike.





Used a dry-brushing techniques which is nothing more than drying out the brush almost to the point that there is no color on it, and running it in back-front motions randomly on the model, in this case ram. Very simple and effective.



This is color i used for a first layer; it is Testors mat military brown. I must say something about these colors. About 10 years ago was the time when i did my last model; it was a German Kubelwagen. I left all my modeling tools and paints in the drawer for future use. After moving into new house and doing some renos, i was hoping that i can still use these paints even dough there were all disintegrated, leaving thinner and paint color in separate levels. After several good shakes ("shaken not stirred") which 007 would like, all paints went back to life. I can easily start using them for plastic models with no issues. Must say very impressive...



Next step was to use Tamiya's Earth Yellow to lighting up the edges...



Other side...



Then it was time for Testors again, this time it was dark brown color.





I also added, some by accident some on purpose, very tiny sanding particles to bring up effect of parts that are under heavy rusting and starts to breaking off the ram. Accidentally - i sanded some other model parts forgetting to move freshly dry-brushed ram away which caused some particles to end up on the ram, sticking on it for good.. On purpose, i spayed those particles in some areas.









Slightly crooked nose is witnessing many fights this ram went through...



Anyhow, for me this part went very well; i really like the end results. Was also thinking that i might be able to provide the same effect (or very close) if i used a template ram i made from a cardboard and perform dry-brushing weathering.. But this copper one was really fun, i enjoyed process of making it, to the point that i might even make just a ram itself, based on the picture from Israel museum...



Will see.





Happy modeling..
 
And I have to state, that this piece is looking great and the weathering is very realistic......
 
It is time to mount this part. Just by working with this small scale model i can imagine how difficult must have been back in days to build, transport, mount, hold, raise and fix it to the ship. If i have a time machine this history time slot will definitely be a must to visit. Being close to 2 m tall i think i would be sticking out from the crowd for sure :)..



So, with assistance of epoxy glue, which i freely applied to inside of the ram and after a bit of sanding of location where ram will be mounted, i fix the ram to the ship. Used few clamps to hold it it place and i left it overnight for glue to cure..











And in the morning this was my first task; to go to the shipyard and check it out..



And here it is, mounted and ready for some RAMing actions...







On this picture it does not look that mighty, more like some smiling guy that has lost all his teeth.. :)

But i would still be very concerned seeing it approaching from the horizon..









But it absolutely gives more realistic view then the original "ram" shown on below picture.

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Happy modeling...
 
Today i was working on wale and tried to laterally bend it. It is a tough job but managed to get is up to required curve. Left wale planks in the water for some time and drop it into bending helper...





Was not quite perfect but was able to make it acceptable. At the end on these wales i will be mounting some other pieces..



Started from the ram, i used few nails to assist with holding it in place. Few drops on cyano gel and continue with work..









One wale installed..



And a view from front...



Both wales installed. Then i cleaned up the model from dust, sanding particles and applied a light coat of danish oil, covering wales as well..





So that is all for today. I dont have that many tasks left on this building so i am hoping to complete it by the end of January, unless i win lottery....



Happy modeling..
 
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Not much to report today. Was working on mounting that goldish-like ornaments. It turns out to be a bit of a pain. The ornament is fairly stiff and hard to twist to correct shape.

I tried to glue it with cyano gell glue but it was not successfully. Then i used epoxy glue. It is in process of curing at this moment.

It appears to me that ornament is slightly wider than ship keel so on the end it might stick out for about 1mm total on both side of the keel, at bow. I will see once it is all done.



For now i installed ornament on bow and stern.



Since i used epoxy glue it will take some good number of hours for glue to cure so no more work in shipyard today.











Happy modeling..
 
Today i continued applying side borders/ornaments and other decorations.

The border ornaments (or bubbly peaces of brass) are surprising well made. Not quite sure that original ship has this type of decorations although it might have some type of decoration. Anyhow, the bubbly brass decoration are surprisingly well made and tough. Are about 0.8mm tick and robust and i would say a bit on hard side when it comes to shape them to fit on the hull. I was able to drill small holes for pins (0.4mm) and even counter-bore the hole so the head of pins sits fairly flush.

There is also a flat strip, very good quality with embossed design on the face. It runs on the keel..



I started by marking every sixth bubble at the back so i can drill a hole. Brass is very slippery and no way to hold the drill/bits properly on the top of the bubble.









Drilling holes..



Drilling holes...



Then i put in nails, the hole for a nail is a bit smaller than the nail, so tapping with hammer is required to push the nail into brass bubble.

Here you can see that this brass ornament was accepting counter-bore very well..



Decoration going on the ship..















One side completed..







I have completed the other side of the ship as well.. All looked tight and well done.

And i discovered that i did not mark the holes that will match position of ship frames so majority of the pins went thru the ship hull, right to the space where oarsmen will be sitting. That was really bad on my part.

Then i also discovered that flat strip decoration was not holding on the keel; i was either not mixing well epoxy glue or removed holding clamps before glue was completely cured or Martians were coming to the Earth.



According to Amati' plan i supposed to use pins to fix the flat strip to the keel. I am not quite happy with that solution so i will try to fix the problem by using another type of glue, since i am sure that Martians are not coming. At the same time i removed all pins that were penetrated the hull and start gluing the bubbly decoration to the wales. I will need to put pins back into drilled holes but will cut them very short making sure they are not penetrating the ship hull.







Will see tomorrow how this works. Hopefully glue will hold tight and will be no need for pins. Worst case scenario i can use pins for flat strip; also will need to make several more holes on bubbly-like decoration to match the ship frames and again use pins.



Time will tell..



Happy modeling.
 
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