Scratch Building the Portuguese Carrack in 1/700th Scale

[callen]

Trumpeter 20mm AA gun about to be turned into a Portuguese cannon...

Attempting to drill out the muzzle...

Muzzles of the breech-loader cannons sticking out of their ports in the stern castle.

A lot of these broke and fell into the interior of the ship, where they are not irretrievable. They are missing from a lot of the later shots. I will replace them when I have finished everything else.

20mm 'cannons' mounted in the forecastle.

Created a 'railing' for the crows' nests using vertical ladder stock.

Wide shot with upper masts and yards mounted. These upper yards are made from simple brass rod without taper. Inconsistent with the lower yards, but I needed a difference in diameter between the two, and since this is an experimental build, I am also curious to see how noticeable the lack of taper will be. Notice the 4th mast ('bonaventure mizzen') does not have an upper mast. It will terminate in a crows' nest.

[callen]

Disaster! One bump and the mast is broken. Easily repairable though...

What would happen if we mount a bombard? (xtra large cannon.) This will have a very clearly discernable shape and muzzle.

more cannons coming in. Very laborious to make and mount. I didn't feel like I could safely exhale until they were glued in place on the deck.

The final suite of carriage guns was four culverins and one bombard mounted on the port beam. I felt the extra weight of the bombard would need to have two culverins on the far side to balance it. I also felt this sort of non-standard weapon suite was very characteristic of the period. I would later regret not having created a symmetrical armament layout though...

Drilling holes for the mounting of the 'knights' These are heavy posts which hold the 'halyards' the ropes which raise and lower the yard-arms. I have learned from my sources that the knights were often mounted below decks in this period, but at this stage in the build that was really not an option. The collapse of the mainmast was actually caused by the working of the pen vise as I drilled out these holes. Very tedious.

Mounting the knights. Not sure actually that I put these in the right positions around the mast.

Time to begin the anti-boarding net scaffolding.

[ARH]

Lots of lovely work,

[callen]

To tell you the truth, this was one of the main reasons I wanted to build a carrack. These amazing open-aired boarding net structures. I decided early on that I would not attempt to model the actual nets, as this would have obscured all the detail on the deck, including all of those gun carriages. One of my favorite things in ship modeling is when you have transparent 'see-through' structures, or, as a corollary, open ports that allow you to see into the ships interior. This is what makes aircraft carriers so fun to me, and modeling a carrack with these kind of structures is a similar appeal for me. Ideally one ought to be able to see right through them to the detail on the deck.

piece by piece...

one side done, one side bare...

The bombard mounted at the port beam, which I was so excited about in the previous step would not fit under the canopy frame, even when broken off of the carriage and re-glued at a lower angle. This necessitated a raised section of canopy over the bombard that gave the overall structure an uneven and slightly sloppy appearance...(actually not so noticeable in this shot) when I could easily have created a uniform structure had I chosen to... One more lesson learned. Next time do a uniform armament.

[callen]

The addition of the netting canopy gives the forecastle a very imposing appearance, positively 'gorgonic,' if that's a word. She doesn't look so picturesque and quaint as she once did. All of the guns and now the skeleton-like netting canopy has made her seem rather menacing to me, and a bit odd-looking too. One never sees an overhead view of a carrack in a painting, so it looks rather strange from some angles, though I am confident of the historicity of these kinds of canopy structures...
Another issue is seeing the detail beneath the canopy. It's very hard to make out the carriages beneath. All of that hard work at least partially obscured...

Now at last it was time to start rigging. I was immediately focused on installing the shrouds. But I realized before I could do that I would need to install the forestays for the masts. In particular the mainstay would need to be represented by an extremely massive looking rope. After some experimentation, I settled on this stuff...

as it would hopefully stretch and respond to heat contraction like sprue and nylon monofilament does. As it turned out, it worked.

Too thick? Maybe. I have seen some very massive mainmast stays, but couldn't decide if this was too thick or not. At any rate it will be mostly obscured by the mainsail when completed. It's an experiment.

I don't know when or where I picked up this stuff, but it's really amazing! I tried supergluing some of it together in double and quad strands to make the additional forestays as well as the battening for the bowsprit, and it behaved fairly well. It's nearly hair-thin (slightly thicker than monfilament) but it behaves better, and is amazingly strong. Don't know if it responds to heat treatment. I'm going to assume it doesn't. At any rate, I'm hoping I won't have to do much heat-shrinking on this rigging job.

battening for the bowsprit...

installed. This is a quad strand of the thread, shaped and cut to fit.

All forestays installed including the foremast forestay, which required additional wolding around the bowsprit. It's kind of a trick figuring out where and how the stays would theoretically be attached. I probably should have made them prior to creating the canopy... lesson # 34 in a continuing series.

[callen]

Beginning the mainmast shrouds. Using the crow's nest as a 'button' for the shrouds to pass through worked nicely. Don't know how historical this configuration is, but it could be easily hidden by a false floor if need by in later builds.

Shrouds coming into place. The black thread product is easier to use and stronger than nylon monofilament. It will also add some contrast to the thinner ratlines which will be made from nylon.

Mainmast shrouds completed. My goal for this week-end was to have all the shrouds completed and posted, perhaps with ratlines installed as well... One never gets as much accomplished as one hopes.

Family portrait... bringing out the Resin Carracks which are waiting patiently for their French brass. One can see how much more massive these ships will be when completed than the original Beja.

That's all for now.

[callen]

Really beautiful work!

Thank you Enrico! Glad you stopped by!

Lots of lovely work,

Thank you sir. I must say after checking out your build threads, particularly the latest one, it's all I can do to keep focused on these tiny ships... I have strong urge to start exploring bigger scales, and your amazing models only add to the temptation! Thanks for stopping by.

[ARH]

Really beautiful work!

Thank you Enrico! Glad you stopped by!

Lots of lovely work,

Thank you sir. I must say after checking out your build threads, particularly the latest one, it's all I can do to keep focused on these tiny ships... I have strong urge to start exploring bigger scales, and your amazing models only add to the temptation! Thanks for stopping by.

To me a model is a model no matter what size, love looking in on your miniture world, and marvel at what you acheive, looking forward to more.

[j.mahieux]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!!

[MichelB]

Absolutely amazing work. Makes me want to start at mine.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Stunning and innovative!

Inghenious--and tiny--but sharp!


Re: securing the gun carriages to the deck..

use a spot of matt varnish on the apex base of each wheel and place....

works for me!

JB

[Cadman]

One word WOW!

OK a few more, I love the tiny cannon! I see you still have good eyesight.

[moomoon]

Insane! But beautiful... still insane!

[Tom L.]

Man-o-man, is this looking sweet! Positively gorgonic!

Looming menace was part of the design philosophy for the carrack, after all.

A word of caution before you get too far along, are you sure about the square-rigged topsail on the mizzen mast?
I was under the impression they didn't appear until the 17th century, but could be wrong.

[callen]

To me a model is a model no matter what size, love looking in on your miniture world, and marvel at what you acheive, looking forward to more.

I got my eye on you too, Ron.

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!!

Jean! Amieties mon ami! Did you get my email? It bounced back when I sent it, so I asked Bruno to forward it to you. Hope you are well. BTW, love the Nautilus! I think you (or me, or both of us) ought to think about those Winans ships if your tastes trend to the Vernian. I know mine do.

Absolutely amazing work. Makes me want to start at mine.

Yes I have two lovely little Netherlander Minelayers that are tugging at my sleeve as well. But don't let me stop you...

Stunning and innovative!

Inghenious--and tiny--but sharp!


Re: securing the gun carriages to the deck..

use a spot of matt varnish on the apex base of each wheel and place....

works for me!

JB

Now that sounds like stories I've heard of people using paint to glue their PE to their build, which I've always thought was a cool idea, but have never been able to get to work for me. I'll give it a try one of these days, maybe on a day when my CA is really acting up. I haven't quite figured out what makes it 'work' and what makes it 'not work,' but some days it works like a charm, and some days it hardly works at all. Thanks for the tips Mr. Baumann. Always much appreciated.

One word WOW!

OK a few more, I love the tiny cannon! I see you still have good eyesight.

Thank you sir! Kind of glad actually that they are that sort of field carriage. The traditional English gun carriage would be much more difficult to scratch (I think) and much less interesting to look at.

Insane! But beautiful... still insane!

It takes all kinds, moomoon. Actually I'm quite confident that I'm perfectly sane. It's the rest of the world that's crazy. But don't tell Jerry. He's the big male nurse from ward 4 who always jabs me with that big hypo when I get out of my room...

Man-o-man, is this looking sweet! Positively gorgonic!

Ok, so it IS a word... 'gorgonic!' Or at least we've made it one.

Looming menace was part of the design philosophy for the carrack, after all.

Yes indeed. And this is the most petite of all my carracks. I can't wait to get the others done up!

A word of caution before you get too far along, are you sure about the square-rigged topsail on the mizzen mast?
I was under the impression they didn't appear until the 17th century, but could be wrong.

Goodness gracious! I think you might be right! After I read your post I took the trouble to actually look at some carrack depictions and models. There are some funky tiny yards in the Anthony Roll for both the Mary Rose and the HGAD, which I see modelers have interpreted as tiny upper lateens...if you can believe that. But they don't seem to be proper square sails. Yep, it's coming down. Thanks for the tip, Tom!

[Tom L.]

Goodness gracious! I think you might be right! After I read your post I took the trouble to actually look at some carrack depictions and models. There are some funky tiny yards in the Anthony Roll for both the Mary Rose and the HGAD, which I see modelers have interpreted as tiny upper lateens...if you can believe that. But they don't seem to be proper square sails. Yep, it's coming down. Thanks for the tip, Tom!

In his book The Ship, Bjorn Landstrom was of the opinion that those lateen-rigged top and topgallant sails in the Anthony Roll and elsewhere were probably for dress occasions only, if not outright fabrications of the artists.

[callen]

In his book The Ship, Bjorn Landstrom was of the opinion that those lateen-rigged top and topgallant sails in the Anthony Roll and elsewhere were probably for dress occasions only, if not outright fabrications of the artists.

Well I realized the Anthony Roll was not going to be the best document for rigging and sail configuration when I noticed the spritsail was not even attached to the bowsprit! I don't have the book in question, but I'll keep an eye out for it. It wouldn't surprise me if he's right.

[Tom L.]

In his book The Ship, Bjorn Landstrom was of the opinion that those lateen-rigged top and topgallant sails in the Anthony Roll and elsewhere were probably for dress occasions only, if not outright fabrications of the artists.

Well I realized the Anthony Roll was not going to be the best document for rigging and sail configuration when I noticed the spritsail was not even attached to the bowsprit! I don't have the book in question, but I'll keep an eye out for it. It wouldn't surprise me if he's right.

A lot of period representations show the spritsail and it's yard stowed away like that. I think that with the *stated* early use of those sails being primarily an aid for tacking and/or steering, stowing them away to the side when not in use makes sense. The anonymous painting purporting to show the Santa Caterina do Monte Sinai shows them stowed, too.

I have my own theory on the possible configuration of early spritails, for which I've found precisely one piece of supporting evidence, and not a great one at that....

[callen]

A lot of period representations show the spritsail and it's yard stowed away like that. I think that with the *stated* early use of those sails being primarily an aid for tacking and/or steering, stowing them away to the side when not in use makes sense. The anonymous painting purporting to show the Santa Caterina do Monte Sinai shows them stowed, too.

I have my own theory on the possible configuration of early spritails, for which I've found precisely one piece of supporting evidence, and not a great one at that....

I have understood that as well, that the spritsail was a steering aid. I also have little doubt that carracks needed all the steering aid they could get. I didn't know they could be stowed, though, that is good information. If you have a theory about spritsails, by all means share it with us!

BTW for those of you who don't know, our friend Tom Lindsay here is the originator of the 700th scale Carrack. Everyone please check out his build here:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=46094&start=20

I believe he has some new updates. I am going to check it out.

[callen]

Ok. Got a little bit of progress on the Carrack, nothing major, but following ARH's advice I thought I'd go ahead and post these ten pics.

Creating shroud lines for the foremast. My first approach was to glue one end to the chain plate, thread the line through the crow's nest and then glue it to the chain plate on the far side, keeping the line taut as the glue set. I had thought the lines would foul easily in the already installed railings, but as it turns out I have not had any issues with that.

Three shrouds in place. All's well.

For the last shroud I decided to thread the line through the crows' nest first and then glue each side. This is a better way to do it.

We are now into the rigging of the Ratlines... I thought that since this is a new technique, and, well, frankly, one never knows how it's going to go, I'd try the foremast first, since (a) I have not glued the shrouds in place at the apex in the crow's nest, and (b) if I totally screw things up it will be easier to re do four shrouds than the seven on the main mast.

Well let me say this: Gluing these ratlines in one at a time in this ad-hoc manner is none too fun. Uniform spacing is an issue as is trimming the leftover ends. It is possible to glue one end flush, but the other end always needs trimming. I could cut them to length but then they become very difficult to manipulate. I will be forced to finish the foremast this way, and the main mast shrouds as well, but I may experiment with some sort of jig for the mizzen and bonaventure masts.

The completed ratlines for starboard foremast shrouds. Now that it is complete the spacing issues are not so noticeable, also, the trimmed ends, although ragged, are at least uniformly ragged...

It doesn't look terrible, but there's probably a better way...

It's all a learning process.