So, all of this narration about my efforts with the Sun Ship and the Phoenician Galley is to a purpose. At this point in the story, I felt very much that I was out of the weeds with both builds, but I had also (very belatedly) realized there might be an easier way to do some of the things I'd done. As it happened I got sick two weeks ago, and stuck at home, unable to work but not feeling really terrible I started to think about the possibility of a third galley that might incorporate some of these easier techniques that were bubbling in my head.
Part of me said: ARE YOU NUTS! DON'T START ANOTHER ONE! FINISH WHAT YOU HAVE!
But, well, I was too sick and it was too cold to go outside and prime the first two ships, so I gave in to the temptation to start another build.
Boy am I glad I did. Everything came together with this one.
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This is what I want to share with you, gents. All of my struggles and wrangling with tiny bits of plastic eventually led to an easier, better way to do things. In particular, I wanted to find a way to minimize having to measure and cut. I hate having to measure and cut. It slows everything down. What you see in this first shot is a basic rod with some strips rough-cut and glued on top.
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Adding strips. These will be the benches for the galley. I decided I wanted to build the Argo of Jason and the Argonauts fame. Many publications will tell you that the Argo was a 'Pentaconter,' that is, an early type of Greek Galley that used 50 rowers. This is one of those wonderful suppositions by the sort of historian that knows nothing whatever about ships. They reason, since a Pentaconter is rowed by 50 men, and the Argonautika lists a crew of 50 men, the Argo must have had a fifty-man crew, with one oar for each member.
The problem with this is that if everyone is at the oars, there is no one to man the tillers, no one at the bow, no one in command, and since all the rowers sit backwards, no one at all to even see where the ship is going. Ludicrous!
So, assuming the Argo had a crew of 50, it could _not_ have had 50 oars, but must have had substantially less than that. I decided my Argo would have 44 oars, that leaves 6 men left over to man the steering oars, the sails, and command. Seemed reasonable to me.
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Next step, two bits of plastic strip double-sided taped together and shaped. This forms the waterline plate. This is still an essential part of the model for me. Even though I planned from the beginning to build a full-hull ship, a waterline plate simplifies construction for me, as you will see.
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Note the curved rods inserted under the benches matching the lines of the waterline plate.
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And then you simply trim them to shape. Up to this point I haven't measured _anything_.
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Note the size of the model, 1 & 3/8ths inches, which gives us a length of about 80 ft. Just about right.
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