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  #31  
Old 01-04-2021, 10:04 AM
RdK RdK is offline
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Cool ...Surprising visitor...

Hi there!

@Dough: Thanks! When will you start your HMS Victory?

@Mike: Thanks! It is nice to tell stories now that we have to live with many restrictions and hobbies getting limited, all too often to indoors. The story around the Galleon Neptune develops from some of the comments here and from how the model is getting along...So here's another chapter...
Also I managed to upload a short video about the idea of the flickering. At that time the model did not have the hull yet, but it shows what I meant with four different flickering lines... :

Neptune-LED-Candles-version1 on Vimeo

The problem now is that the LEDs I use are very small and not as bright as I'd hoped for. So while trying to get the sides done, I tested with some first templates (Pic.1) how it shines through the gun ports and you can barely see it. I then started to glue the aluminum foil onto the gun deck, which improves the visibility a bit, but I think I still have to add some foil to the main frame in the back of the decks, which will be a bit of annoying fiddling...

@Ab: Thanks! But if, then it should be me who is envious. You are the only one apart from me I know who uses this method to build hulls with only one layer of card and no filler! And compared to me you made already so many hulls and they all look so much better than mine! And I thank you for advertising this method on all the ship model forums! I hope people will try it out. Mike for instance, you could try it with your Neptune build.
Also, I kind of used a filler, the half-dried white glue (at least it was still useful for something...) to mainly correct for the mistake I did with the very moist wood-glue that caused the "ripple"-effect to appear. Lesson learned!



...Febrero anno domini 1669...

"Hmph! Why did he toss those Ordenanzas down the cliff when he still needs them..."
...murmured the young Antonio Gaztańeta, while climbing down the cliff to search for the book that Seńor Radék del Sól de la Santa Crúz de Brazíl threw so elegantly towards the turquis blue sea, only to realize moments later that the work is not done yet, thus sending the boy down to the beach. With a hangover so strong that even Dionysus could be proud of (for the boy was just getting 15 and was not used to drinking a lot of the sweet grape-juice), he carefully climbed down and after a while found the book washed back ashore, soaked with salty water through and through! While holding at a distance with two fingers and slowly lifting the wet, now useless book-shaped piece of rag, his eyes barely able to focus at the close object, he noticed something in the far distance on the horizon...

"Ay caramba! Un barco holandés!!" He uttered and run up quickly to tell the news to his master about the arrival of a dutch merchant ship (Pic. 2).
As it turned out, it was the arrival of a West Indies ship, for after Netherlands had to give up their possessions in Brazil and Olinda through the Treaty of The Hague in 1661, they yet continued their trade with Portugal. On board was an old friend of seńor Radék del Sól, a dutch naturalist of great fame in the Dutch Republic by the name Frans Janszoon Post (Pic. 3).

"I admire the beautiful shape of the hull of your ship, Radék. Indeed I am almost envious, may God forgive...Tell me, please some of the stories you went through, it has been a long time!"

"Hah! There is nothing to be envious of! But I accept your compliments. Let me tell you the secret to a good hull...It lies in applying, what a brilliant scholar by the name Issac Newton, from England - God forbid! -"

"God forbid!" ...replied the eagerly listening dutch friend, when Radék continued:

"..What he discovered in his 'Quaestiones quaedam philosophicae' about the mechanics and calculating the round shapes of bodies! May he one day hopefully publish this..this...infinitesimal calculus, for lack of a better word! It will revolutionize the way we all look at numbers!"

Days past while the two friends discussed Radék's escape from Santa Lucía to Olinda, the raids of the Pirate Bartholomew Redd and Henry Morgan on the coasts, the loss of Radék's famous rum, while enjoying some classy dutch beer from the popular Amsterdam brewery De Hooiberg, established since 1592 and discussed the many wonders that Frans already saw during his first trip to Brazil, while it was still under Dutch control. He then went on to continue his tour to study and paint the beautiful sceneries of the former Nieuw-Holland, painting Olinda and even including the shipyard of Radék del Sól in one of his paintings! (pictures 4 & 5). History never acknowledged the second trip of Frans Post to Brazil and considered his later paintings of it as imaginations from the first trip and exaggerations in colors, for they themselves, maybe being envious - God forbid! - have never seen the beauty of the colorful tropics...
Attached Thumbnails
Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn047.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_dutch_west_india_at_olinda.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_frans_post.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_frans_post_view_of_the_ruins_of_olinda_brazil.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_frans_post_-_gezicht_op_olinda.jpg  

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On the Ocean: Koga Elbląska, Mayflower
On the Rollfield: Horten GO-229
In the Shipyard: Neptune, Een Hollandse Tweedekker
In the Garage: PANHARD AML20

Last edited by RdK; 01-04-2021 at 10:15 AM.
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  #32  
Old 01-04-2021, 11:51 AM
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Michael Mash Michael Mash is offline
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You are an excellent writer Senhor Radék del Sól, and, while sipping some of your famous Rum, I have enjoyed reading about your adventures.
Thank you for the painting showing us the location of your shipyard. I hope it is safe from the raids of Pirate Bartholomew Redd - -God Forbid!
Also . . . I viewed your short video of the Flickering LED Candles. Wonderful idea! Impressive project.

Saudaçőes,
Miguel De Nevado Norte

Last edited by Michael Mash; 01-04-2021 at 12:11 PM. Reason: Added comment.
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  #33  
Old 01-10-2021, 06:14 AM
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JCK JCK is offline
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That´s a big challange! But you can handle it!
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  #34  
Old 01-10-2021, 08:16 AM
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firdajan2 firdajan2 is offline
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You should write a book, Mr. Radék del Sól
I hope you´ll put one more layer of planking. It looks to be a quite big model.

Jan
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  #35  
Old 01-10-2021, 12:35 PM
bussolino bussolino is offline
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RdK hello.

congratulations on your construction.
with permission I go on board to better see the construction works.

I have always wanted to build a galleon of the "manila galleons" type.
but information is rare.

who knows maybe after the French vessel I will also look for a ship that strikes the imagination.

I wish you a good job and happy I launch ship at the right time.
salutoni marco
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  #36  
Old 01-20-2021, 11:54 AM
RdK RdK is offline
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Red face Timber Troubles...

Hi there!

@ JCK: Big challenge and I hope I can handle it. Just a matter of time and patience…

@ Miguel De Nevado Norte and Jan: No book writing for me. First I have to finish my ship model projects… And Jan: There will be no further planking, only the self adhesive foil. There is simply no need for another layer of planking, the hull is fair as it is now. The model will be some 50-60cm long. Despite the scale of 1:100…

@ bussolino: I glued the main deck on the frames so yes, it is now possible to go on deck… :D Welcome! And making a model without plans is really fun as you can dive very deep into the history of ship building, just ask Mike!
Strongly recommended!



I hoped to make this post about the planking of the ready hull, but I have encountered a few troubles on the way to the upper hull… Although I am keenly waiting for that part of the build (my favorite part), it has to wait still a bit.

One issue, due to my inexperience with a solder device, is that some of the contacts in the extension of my LED strip got loose and I had to open the gun deck, get access to the loose contact and re-solder it again (pic. 1).

Another problem is that there is still so much to do before I can glue all the decks in place and then the sides of the hull and I find myself constantly changing some of the already glued parts… One good example was the drilling of the gun ports for the chasers in the bow forecastle, as mentioned in the last post. Also I had to cut and trim the parts of the frames that are exactly where the gun ports will be. I had to use quite some strong pliers for that. The scalpel was too thin...So I take it a bit slower and try to think more before gluing pieces in place…

And in addition, while looking at some pictures of the Neptune I noticed that, because it is just a prop (theatrical property), the forecastle is only half a man-size tall and there are stairs going down “half-a-deck” into the forecastle (pic. 2), which then in turn displaces the guns inside in such a way that they have to look quite into the sky, in order to fit outside the round gun-ports (pic. 3), which in turn should be aligned with the other gun ports of the main deck (all the upper most round gun ports of the ship). (Puh.. quite a long sentence, I hope you get what I mean… )
So I decided to raise it a bit, while still mimic the real ship design of the entrances as close as possible, while making the whole structure taller. I had to re-think and change the design of the two entrances to the forecastle, leaving it with only one step down, next to the stairs that lead to the lower deck as you can see with my little shipwright standing in or near the entrance. (pics. 4 to 6). After that I could finally glue the main deck in place. This is important so I can work on the hull sides and see where the deck starts and the inner parts of the sides become visible.

Another issue is the fitting before/underneath the quarter deck. The ship has a steering wheel (pic. 7), which is quite early for this period (1670CE), but not entirely impossible, more on that in a later post. The point is that I won’t be able to fit it there once the quarter deck is glued in place.
There are also stairs behind the mizzen mast leading up to the quarter deck, which I have to make, as well as the walls of the side structure and other things.

Also, since I have no plans and the whole ship so far is not exactly symmetric , I need to check each gun port in its relative position to the lower gun decks and where the gun carriages will be placed there. For that I had to construct a sample gun (pic. 8), which I took from my plans for the model of the galleon ‘Nuestra Seńora de la Concepción y de las Ánimas’ (1687–1705) (pic. 9). More on the cannon itself in a later post.

I then “dry-fitted” each carriage position with the gun and marked the differences in height of certain gun carriages (pics. 10, 11). Some are 5.5mm high, others are 6.5mm and one even 7mm high on the starboard side. I made the carriages from a 2mm card with a 1mm bottom, colored brown with a paint marker and glued in place (pics. 12, 13). The cut-out gun ports from the side hull-modules (made from 1mm frozen pizza box) are saved for later, when I will make the gun port lids (pic.14).

So for now I am working on small deck fittings, stairs and the walls so I can glue all decks in place and continue the work on the side modules.

So much for now!

-RdK



…Febrero Anno Domini 1669…

The progress of the Neptune turned out to be of a challenge for Radék de la Sol del Santa Crúz de Brazil… Some challenges were the almost unbearably high temperatures during this time of the year, but Radék del Sol knew that the rainy season is yet to come! So he needed to speed up the cutting down of the required mahogany timbers…

…Upon arriving at the forest he noticed a strange sound as if bells were ringing from a church.

“That cannot be, it is not Sunday, yet..” he thought and soon discovered that the workers had trouble with cutting down the trees, as the sabicu tree, which was required for the frames was “a very rigid wood that demanded great effort to work”. It became later known as the sapucaia from the Lecythidaceae nut-tree family with beautiful flowers (pic. 15) and a funny named nut fruit, called ‘Monkey Pot’.
Mr. Miller Shawn wrote later in his work about “Fruitless Trees: Portuguese Conservation and Brazil's Colonial Timber.” (2000, Stanford University Press, Stanford) that it 'was used by Portuguese shipwrights in Brazil for keels, frames, and other large timbers and was so hard that axes were known to ring like bells during felling, if they did not break outright'.

“Master Seńor Radék del Sol, we are soon run out of axes, and iron is not easy to get by in the Indies…” complained the lumberman master.

“Then I order you to concentrate on the ‘capá and maría mahogany’ trees instead, which I prefer for the ongoing planking work.” Replied Radék del Sol del Santa Crúz.

And so the work in the shipyard could continue slowly but steady with the lower hull and the gun ports (pic. 16). But meanwhile Radék de la Sol del Santa Crúz de Brazil started to plan a short trip to the Habana astilleros, as he received a letter from another famous shipwright in the Americas, named Miguél De Nevado Norte regarding new iron works and constructions of very heavy cannons…

..."
Attached Thumbnails
Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn049.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_castillo_outside.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_castillo_inside.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn051.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn052.jpg  

Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn053.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn050.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn054.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn055.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn056.jpg  

Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn057.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn058.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn059.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn060.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_sapucaia_tree_flower.jpg  

Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_construction.jpg  
__________________
On the Ocean: Koga Elbląska, Mayflower
On the Rollfield: Horten GO-229
In the Shipyard: Neptune, Een Hollandse Tweedekker
In the Garage: PANHARD AML20

Last edited by RdK; 01-20-2021 at 12:50 PM. Reason: correcting spelling mistakes
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  #37  
Old 01-20-2021, 02:20 PM
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Michael Mash Michael Mash is offline
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Bueno Senhor Radék del Sól del Santa Crúz de Brazil,
I read with great alarm the difficulties you encountered with your new “Flickering Lights” technology. God help us. But your skills are legendary, so the delay is temporary, no doubt.

Also . . . . It is comforting to myself, and others as well, that you take much care in the location of the various pieces of heavy armament. Your adventures would be indeed most hazardous without them. The axes ringing like bells in the forest are a good sign: God willing . . . your ship’s frame and timbers will be sound and strong against the forces of the sea.

Por supuesto! We anticipate your arrival to discuss the new iron works and constructions of very heavy cannons. Our metalúrgico . . . Senhor Dominic De La Armas De Hierro, is occupied with work for his new metal formulas. And you will be happy to know there is an ample supply of your famous Rum along with dancers and entertainers for the occasion. God Speed.

Fortunately the huracán season is finished . . . so you need not fear those hazards. Your voyage should proceed without incident as long as you navigate away from the reef north and east of Habana astilleros. If you are caught there . . . . even frames made with wood from the sabicu tree will not be enough to save your ship and crew. God Forbid!

Siempre tu viejo aliado,
Miguél De Nevado Norte
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  #38  
Old 02-21-2021, 10:20 AM
RdK RdK is offline
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Question Steering into the unknown...

Hi everyone!

With a bit less time at hand, the progress on my version of the Neptune slowed down a bit. Nevertheless here is some update.

After constructing the walls from some 1mm pizza-card and the self-adhesive foil, painted with black and burned umber oil paints (pic. 1 & 2) I finished the two-wheeled steering wheel and glued it in place on the main deck (pic. 2 & 3).

Now, the steering wheel did not appear in official documents until 1703, and such two-wheeled ones like on the Neptune replica for the movie not before 1740. The invention of the steering wheel is also not credited to the Spanish, but the British Royal navy. Some say it was rather the invention of local common dock hands and artisans and not the Navy itself. If 1703 is the first date that reports the implementation of an early version of the steering wheel, some historians argue that it was around already for a while and it just took some time for it to become popular. If it was some time…in my build of a ship from 1670, “some time” is not too far off…with a lot of imagination.
The early versions were mounted behind the mizzen mast, obstructing the view of the helmsman, and it was often necessary to have two sailors operate the wheel in bigger vessels. In 1740 the two-wheel steering was introduced for larger vessels. Also the early version had an issue of uneven slag in the ropes towards the tiller, causing the ship to drift one way or the other, because the steering could not be centered adequately. Sometimes I think I have a similar problem in my car… This was solved by a ship engineer by the name Pollard, who used a method of “sweeps and rowles”, tested under a certain Captain Bentnick in 1771. This system became standard in 1775.

Back to the build, I then made some stairs from the quarter-deck to the main deck (pic. 4) and some from the main deck to the gun-deck, which will be later part of a small deck house, which also holds the steering instruments in a so called binnacle in front of the steering wheel. Picture 5 shows the decks and walls ready in place. I wonder if it was necessary to put effort into the walls underneath the quarter-deck, because they are barely visible. But it is good to stay consistent and also it was a good exercise...

I started to work a bit on the railings and support beams for the quarter deck (pic. 6) and I finished the front of the forecastle with the ornaments around the two chaser-gun ports. This was my first try-out with the model-clay for this build, baked at 130 degree Celsius and then painted with a golden marker and altered with black, turpentine-diluted oil paint (pic. 7).

Right now I am working on the side walls (pic. 8), which I am making from two card pieces, held together by the inside walls of the main deck. But more on the sides with their own problems in the next post.

So much for now…

Ahoy!
Radek



…Marzo Anno Domini 1669…

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Mash View Post
. . . even frames made with wood from the sabicu tree will not be enough to save your ship and crew. God Forbid!

Siempre tu viejo aliado,
Miguél De Nevado Norte

…just as Radék de la Sol de la Santa Cruz de Brazíl finished reading Miguél’s letter on board of his favourite means of transport, the English built Flor de Mayo under the neutral Portuguese flag, he was interrupted by a fearsome shout:

Pirates!!” --

…On board came a big, bearded man with an English red coat and a beautifully ornamented hat (which gave Radék some ideas about the gun ports for the Neptune…). After taking off the hat and having no resistance from the poor merchant-man crew, he boldly stated with a somewhat crazy look in his eyes (pic. 9 & 10):

…Yo Ho Ho! I am Captain Thomas Bartholomew Redd, and in accordance with the letter of Marquise from Sir Thomas Modyfort Baronet, Governor of His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica, Commander-in-chief of all His Majesty’s land and naval forces within this named Island and all the claimed surrounding islands in this part of the world, this ship belongs henceforth to the English crown of his Majesty and will join our privateer fleet under the honorable and merciful Admiral Henry Morgan!
Ye can either join our crew or walk the plank and become Shark Bait!
...Savvy?”

Despite the protest of some of the neutral Portuguese, the Flor de Mayo was now part of Sir Henry Morgan’s fleet. Radék de la Sol had to disguise as a carpenter of the ship and was moved to another vessel, where he was tasked with repairing the steering mechanism. To Radék’s surprise the steering was not a whip stuff, but the tiller was attached to a steering wheel behind the mizzen mast at the helms through a construction of pulleys and ropes. Radék heard from the locals about such a steering system on their small river boats, allowing them to better manoeuvre on the curvy rivers of the rain forest, but he never saw one in real. So by repairing it he studied it carefully and immediately started to think as to how to introduce that mechanism to his ship. It should be larger, however and use two wheels for better control... and maybe a more sophisticated way of guiding the rope with the help of some “sweeps and rowles” so as not to allow the rope to have uneven slack and tightness as it stretches over time, which would make the steering again imprecise and difficult. However, he would not reveal this idea to the pirates, and in fact, it was not re-discovered until 100 years later by a certain Mr. Pollard…

..But before Radék del Sol could implement such an ingenious solution to his Neptune, first he needed to escape the pirate’s journey, which, how he overheard, would take them first to the Gulf of Venezuela

...tbc...

Attached Thumbnails
Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn063.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn064.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn065.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn066.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn067.jpg  

Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn068.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn069.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn070.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_thoma_bartholomew_redd.jpg   Spanish pirate galleon "Neptune" 1:100 (scratch build)-sgn_boarding_of_the_flora_del_mayo.jpg  

__________________
On the Ocean: Koga Elbląska, Mayflower
On the Rollfield: Horten GO-229
In the Shipyard: Neptune, Een Hollandse Tweedekker
In the Garage: PANHARD AML20
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  #39  
Old 02-21-2021, 11:14 AM
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abhovi abhovi is offline
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Looking at your pictures it strikes me that we seem to consume the same brand of Excellent pizzas. Which one is your favorite? I like the Picanto best...
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  #40  
Old 02-21-2021, 04:16 PM
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Michael Mash Michael Mash is offline
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Hello Radek:
The gold decorations are a good idea.
Of course, Doris uses them extensively with wonderful results.
Mike

Last edited by Michael Mash; 02-21-2021 at 04:35 PM.
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