The Ship Model Forum

Hi Neal . . . :wave_1:
There is a long time you don't Post!
What "Rhodes colossus" became?
He was so fantastic!!! :thumbs_up_1:
Jean :smallsmile:

[quote="Devin"]Stunning work that takes modeling to an art form. Very impressive![/quote]

Thank you sir! Looking forward to getting back to this project. Stay tuned! :wave_1:

Stunning work that takes modeling to an art form. Very impressive!

That's great!
Thanks for these plans. I have a few I have acquired from various sources, but this is a great help. :thumbs_up_1:

Hi Callen,

finally found my old copy of 'The Athenian Trireme' by Morrisson and Coates. And in it I found this, thought you might be interested.

[attachment=0]trireme0002.jpg[/attachment]

[quote="callen"]
Funny, Jorit. I actually was intending to do the Pharos first, as I thought it would be much easier than the Colossus, but, on a whim I started a head, and decided to go with it. The Pharos is next on my list of 'Ancient Wonders' and will use many of the same ships. Great minds think alike! ...so they say. And crazy modelers think alike too perhaps. :big_grin:[/quote]

Great - looking forward to that! And indeed - crazy modelers we are... :big_grin: :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1:

Jorit

[quote="Sylvain Auger"]That's a very worthy project Callen :thumbs_up_1: Your build will allow us to truly visualize what the harbor may have looked like with the colossus standing guard. Your head carving is very very well done. I'm definitely hooked to this thread.

Cheers

Sylvain[/quote]

Thank you Sylvain! I hope you stick around. I am almost done with my big 'work project' (professional commitments..) and will shortly be returning to Trireme Land and Carrack Land en force! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: So there will be more soon. Hopefully a few surprises. :cool_2:

[quote="JWintjes"][quote="callen"]Also, it's a good scale for dioramas. :cool_2:[/quote]

It definitely is. :thumbs_up_1:

Actually, I have long harboured plans for building the Pharos in Alexandria in 1/700 (to the point of having put together a basic paper model) once I realized that in my all-time favourite scale, 1/72, it would be slightly, uhm, dominating the room... :big_grin: :big_grin:

Jorit[/quote]

Funny, Jorit. I actually was intending to do the Pharos first, as I thought it would be much easier than the Colossus, but, on a whim I started a head, and decided to go with it. The Pharos is next on my list of 'Ancient Wonders' and will use many of the same ships. Great minds think alike! ...so they say. And crazy modelers think alike too perhaps. :big_grin:

[quote="callen"]Also, it's a good scale for dioramas. :cool_2:[/quote]

It definitely is. :thumbs_up_1:

Actually, I have long harboured plans for building the Pharos in Alexandria in 1/700 (to the point of having put together a basic paper model) once I realized that in my all-time favourite scale, 1/72, it would be slightly, uhm, dominating the room... :big_grin: :big_grin:

Jorit

That's a very worthy project Callen :thumbs_up_1: Your build will allow us to truly visualize what the harbor may have looked like with the colossus standing guard. Your head carving is very very well done. I'm definitely hooked to this thread.

Cheers

Sylvain

[quote="ARH"]OH, my eyes are sore, looking at all that small work, nice fingers, :cool_2: :heh: a very good piece of work, :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:[/quote]

Thanks for stopping by Ron. :wave_1: Please don't send me any doctor bills! I can't afford it! :big_grin:

[quote="JWintjes"]Fantastic stuff, callen! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

Good to see the ancient world coming to its right here.

Jorit[/quote]

Thanks Jorit. Much appreciated. Admittedly this is probably not necessarily an ideal scale for such a subject. (I'm just itching to do a Trireme in 1/192nd!) but for the sake of the 'bigger picture' that 1/700th scale provides, I think it's a useful adjunct to the mainstream. Also, it's a good scale for dioramas. :cool_2:

Fantastic stuff, callen! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

Good to see the ancient world coming to its right here.

Jorit

OH, my eyes are sore, looking at all that small work, nice fingers, :cool_2: :heh: a very good piece of work, :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

[attachment=9]ColMay32.jpg[/attachment]Notice this glossy sheen? This is dried styrene glue. This will have to be carefully sanded away before we begin the planks so that a good bond can be created between the plank and the hull filler. Dried glue will prevent the proper cementing of the two surfaces. Another hard learned lesson.[attachment=8]ColMay33.jpg[/attachment]Shaping the first plank.[attachment=7]ColMay34.jpg[/attachment][attachment=6]ColMay36.jpg[/attachment]Starboard lower hull planking complete. Actually this is most of the planking for the hull, since the rest will be superstructure. The Trireme had a really interesting superstructure, almost reminiscent of a sort of ancient wooden aircraft carrier complete with a 'hangar' (rowing gallery) a flight deck (upper deck) and a really cool 'elevator' (open slot running down the middle where the main and foremasts could be raised or lowered. I will illustrate as I go. This semi-transparent structure was one of my main reasons for wanting to model this kind of a ship. :cool_2:[attachment=4]ColMay38.jpg[/attachment][attachment=3]ColMay40.jpg[/attachment]At this point I realized 2 things. First of all, the extreme stern which I had filled in with rod material would have to be open, necessitating the sanding off of all that material. In addition I was dealing with the complicated 'fish-tail' shape which deformed as I worked it, the hollow spaces beneath the planks becoming dimples in the hull shape... :heh: I also realized the bow was a bit too broad, so I started trimming one side and then the other... Yikes! Eyeballing the hull symmetry... no fun.[attachment=2]ColMay42.jpg[/attachment]here you can see the dimples, which look like perhaps a slight cutaway for a prop or a centerline rudder... great, except there weren't any... :heh:[attachment=1]ColMay43.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]ColMay46.jpg[/attachment] That's all for now... :wave_1:

[attachment=7]ColMay23.jpg[/attachment]Creating solid ends for the extreme bow and stern. I would later have cause to regret this... :heh:[attachment=6]ColMay24.jpg[/attachment][attachment=5]ColMay25.jpg[/attachment][attachment=4]ColMay27.jpg[/attachment]Note the gaps where the rods have been cut short of the outline of the hull, creating what will eventually be hollow spaces beneath the outer planking. This gave me problems later... :heh:[attachment=3]ColMay28.jpg[/attachment]Shaping the ram bow was fun! :cool_2:[attachment=2]ColMay29.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]ColMay30.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]ColMay31.jpg[/attachment]Comparison shot with Colossus.

[attachment=8]ColMay12.jpg[/attachment]Hmmm... Waterline? Or not? These were very shallow draft ships. If we created a full hull model we would have the option of modeling one out of the water. Also it would be a simple thing to hide the lower hull in the 'water' or to sand it off when the time comes... So, I decided to create a full hull Trireme. This would require a lower hull keel to guide the shape of the ship's bottom.[attachment=7]ColMay13.jpg[/attachment][attachment=6]ColMay14.jpg[/attachment][attachment=5]ColMay15.jpg[/attachment]Ready to be glued to the waterline plates...[attachment=4]ColMay16.jpg[/attachment][attachment=3]ColMay17.jpg[/attachment]Difficult to make out, but we now have a waterline plate with lower hull keel glued in place.[attachment=2]ColMay19.jpg[/attachment]Time to create bow and stern shapes... :cool_2:[attachment=1]ColMay20.jpg[/attachment]Roughing in rods to fill out the lower hull shape. I realized that the waterline plate would also need to be the base for the rowing galleries. Not much room to model in these very small ancient ships. This one measures slightly larger than the consensus 120ft, but she is a 'later era Trireme' so that's my excuse. :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1: :cool_2:[attachment=0]ColMay22.jpg[/attachment]Very difficult to photograph white smooth styrene.

Hello everyone! :wave_1:

I thought I would do some progress on this thread. For one thing, if I don't get some pics of an actual ship on here soon I'm afraid they'll kick it off the forum... There are going to be actual ships modeled!!! :big_grin:

So, to start things off, I thought I'd have a go at the lower legs of the Colossus. However, looking at it after a two month hiatus it feels really 'cold'... i.e. I don't remember clearly how I did everything and am not sure about getting back into it. :heh:[attachment=9]ColMay1.jpg[/attachment]In this slightly over-exposed shot one can nevertheless see the measurement in scale 1/700th scale feet. He is already at 140ft, and is not yet to full height. This means that if the Archaologists' assessments of the Colossus' height is correct (107ft) I may have a colossus close to twice the height he should be by the time he is done.... :Mad_6:
Or to put that another way, I may have the option to model it in 1/350th Scale instead... :twitch: :wacko: Which is not a bad idea considering it would make everything easier and more impressive when it comes time to scratch the actual ships. The only problem is that the Colossus itself will not be as imposing. In addition to that, I will have to use 350th scale figures, and flat ones at that, which will not be as pleasing to the eye as the very small 700th scale figures... A difficult quandry.

I realized I would need to start thinking seriously whether I am going to persist with 1/700th scale or try for 350th. After mulling this over for some time, and also a little wary of trying to make a lower leg, I thought I'd warm into the project by creating a ship. I decided to proceed as planned with 700th Scale, and, as a first try, decided to model a Greek Trireme... That seemed appropriate, although, as I later learned the Trireme was no longer the prime naval weapon at the time of the Colossus, though still very much in use... So, here, for your consideration the (possibly first) Greek Trireme in 1/700th Scale... :thumbs_up_1:[attachment=8]ColMay2.jpg[/attachment]We begin with two strips of styrene cut to an identical length and taped together using double sided tape.[attachment=7]ColMay3.jpg[/attachment][attachment=6]ColMay4.jpg[/attachment][attachment=5]ColMay5.jpg[/attachment]Measuring... much too long, but that was intended... always easier to shorten things than to lengthen them... :big_grin:[attachment=4]ColMay6.jpg[/attachment]Tapering to a fine point for the bronze ram at the bow.[attachment=3]ColMay8.jpg[/attachment]We have trimmed and shaped to the correct length. Now opening the 'sandwich' of the two identical halves of the waterline plate...[attachment=2]ColMay9.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]ColMay10.jpg[/attachment]The tape has served its purpose and can now be removed.[attachment=0]ColMay11.jpg[/attachment]

LOL!!! :big_grin:
Thank's Martin! :thumbs_up_1:

Holy crap - impressive doesn't quite cover it. Out-F**king-standing is all I can say!

Very impressive! :thumbs_up_1:

More pics...[attachment=4]Colossusfeb-mar10.jpg[/attachment][attachment=3]Colossusfeb-mar11.jpg[/attachment][attachment=2]Colossusfeb-mar12.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Colossusfeb-mar14.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]Colossusfeb-mar15.jpg[/attachment]Beginning to try out paper-towel pieces for his garment... not sure what to call it.
This is a 'huge learning curve' as the saying goes. Two of my friends who are graphic artists (a sculptor/painter and a sketcher/painter) informed me about the 'head rule' of proportions... As we examined my work on this figure they both agreed that I had made the torso too long. After thinking for some time about how I might be able to correct this problem, I finally realized the best way would be to complete the figure and then saw it in half, since the act of sawing itself would remove a small amount of material, and each piece could be sanded to adjust as well. In addition, sawing the completed figure into parts would also facilitate casting for my collaborator/friends who are helping me with my various projects. (Bruno Gire and Jean Mahieux.) Although it seems drastic, miliput works really well in joining styrene pieces, so I am hoping that the process will go well.

That is all I have for now. I have spent the bulk of my time with carracks of late, when I have had a chance to model. Thank you all for your kind comments and as always, suggestions and advice are welcome. With the completion of the carrack masters I will have more time to devote to the colossus, so I should be able to post more progress soon.
Cheers!
:wave_1: