Chapman Pl. XLVI N°1 Pleasure Galley "Athéna"

[Iterum]

Hello all together, the baroque follows me even when unable to build...

The "pleasure galley" drawn by Chapman in his ARCHITECTURA NAVALIS is an outstanding example of luxuriously shipbuilding in the high baroque era.


Scaled from my drawing book up to 1/64 I got some 560mm of length for the hull. I mirrowed the drawing and cut them out glued them together. So I figured out the breadth of the line drawing doesn't fit to the waterline's - more than a plank's thickness. But later to this again.


The hull does start with the charging femal warrior with shield and spear appearing to be Athene - the godness of war in the Greek gods family - due to this I voted the French writing to name the pleasure galley.


The next part is the "engine room" showing the ore/row blocks an iron or bronze fork to fix the ore in as an pivot keep aside from the hull as an outrigger the transfre the point of pivoting the oar outside the hull.


The third pard shows the personal accommodation of the owner. With cravings and oilpaintings outside.


zthe aft part shows the beautiful shape tiller giving the ship a very light appearance. Also four of the eight oilpaintings are simply drawn in here - so these can be reconstructed.

The transom showed above viewed us an idea of the luxury of the design and the sun set shown there bings our mind immediately to think on King Louis XIV. of France "The sun king". The size of the galley and the immense cost of such a ship isn't able to be efforted by a simple lord or a duke. So the kings crown a top the transom shows clearly the royal ownership. But was it French?


The front view gives some idea of the elegance this pleasure vessels was gliding through the waters silently pushed by the oremen's power on a warm day in the may of the mit XVIII century.


Here the cut off behind the back giving some idea of the technical equipment aboard.


the opposite cut through is through the cabinet and shows the inner oilpaintings and the stairs.


The cental cut though gives the couch to us in all its elegance and also stairs ans Fürther paintings.

I do think most interesting part of naval engeneering is the compleetly bent keel. - an interesting feature I never imagined to meet at such a huge vessel. (I do think about a 3D scetch in plastic to see what the galley will look like if I work her out in plastic on scratch.Not a project recently been build but a longer lasting dream.)


Questions

There are some in corrections to be mentionend:

In the Bulkwalk of the ore's men department is a shenanigans in the decor:


Chapman corrected the drawing by leaving a small curlicue away between two big ones. That has to be fixed.

But bigger are the following: enlarging my books side by 177,7% I was able to come to a 1/64 scale be measuring the E(nglish) gauge with 47,6mm for 10 feet. So I think I'll have the same right as any free man to get a copy of a ship in a working kind of enlargement, haven't I?

But as the pancake in the frying pan runs crasy sometimes, the cutouts of the lines plan and the topview of the waterlinnes doesn't fit. (First I thought I may had cut out the right frame but named it in a defered way. But then I figured out the top view of the galley and the lines plan doesn't fit into each other. And hat the great chance to restart again.)

So I double checked by building a underlight table an astonishingly



either transom as dimensions did exactly


nor the side of the hull did fit between artist and construction drawings. Both from the same hand of Af Chapman in 1/8inch scale or 1/48 drawn on the very same plate. So we need to know this due to the following trouble we invoke by starting any idea of building this fantastic pice of naval architecture.

Also the index by Chapman says the pleasure galley had had 28 ores but there are 15 rowlocks being shown in the side view - giving us a number of 30 ores at all. So there are a plenty of Open questions still "available"...

So there are some issues with the plan but by enlarging the lines plan for your bulkheads and widen then carefully this can be fixed - hopefully.

 

[Iterum]

Hello friends, after the bursting pipe flooding my cellar, I dd
recovering the

ATHÉNA set of plans unharmed in her cardboard box and do want to restart her due to this wonder (as plans and books for thousands of Euros were totally vanished and destroyed). She had had the luck of being aside at the work brench only parts of inches away from the water - brought in the heating cellar and due to this rescued from thr moistre that killed the rolled plans.

Doing so I figured out the original drawing I did enlarge the plans from and also found my

test drawings of Red and Green colouring sheme, so I can decide about the dcoration
and appearance.
As I mentioned I do restart her slowly using the knowledge of the paper kit building...

 

[Iterum]

Hello here further details from the Click Here! Royal Swedish Naval Museum:


The figure head in the side view...

...and the beautyfully rokkoko craved detailling.

Here the facinating transom with it's splendid details:


The pair of figures are the two columns

of the upper part of the transom. The row of columns is a complex feature - the door does not looks to simple (without a doorknob). And all the fine detailling.


The crown is not really looking French - perchance Swedish?But the pattern between the two parts is rectangular? All the sun's details seem to be opulently craved and not simply painted.


Here the inner structure with the oilpaintings, columns and stair...
...the panel enclosed windows with it's detaillings and got the idea to do the leaf cravings from so called "bible (very thin) paper" by an embossing set soken in cyan glue.


Here the luxurious detailled rudder and the thick CWL (but the line of the outline is only in the topview but not to be find in the sideview..


...also viewable in the water line drawing from top.
And two outlines above the astern and astem I am not been able to find in the side viewable?
The keel is clearly viewable to be bent along between the two lines.

There are a plenty of details I will have to deal with and do need some ideas to the structures and certainly to the following colouring.

Here the frontview of the figure head and the dotted line of the first bow bulkhead:



This from here and tonight.

 

[Iterum]

Here further inner details of the ATHÉNA with columns:




The portside painting with the rokkoko typical insymatic frame...


So of the starboard side with the door.


The figures with all the fine details...

a lot of scetches bringing a lot questions...


The asymethrical frame in the hand of the nymph.

The pattern above the sun in rectangular.
...some nice detailing done by ink.

The more functional part...


Details of the cathead in leaf pattern (insymatical?)


The bow without figurehead.
Two details to be copied several times...

...the stairs and the handrail will be an intetesting part of the build.

The couch and the stairs with slimmer oilpaintings.

...and the underdeck's construction.

So these are my notes for this night.

 

[Iterum]

Hello friends, the question to whom this galley did belong - or the plan was presented to is still unsolved. We have got the empty Cote of Arms at hands and the crown with the very rectangular ended cross atop. So I did certainly look in the Swedish monarchy's "Royal Tooling"

So these are the found examples of

the Swedish Queen Consort's crown of Lovisa Ulirka (1720-1761), coronation took place in 1751 - so she is of intrest as Af Chapman dealt with mid XVIIIth century ships.

This crown compadred to the drawing at the top of

the Cote of Arms cartouche - the choosen one may be the one of intrest - the stricktly edged cross does give a further hint, doesn't it?

In the very same way the funeal crown does appeare made in 1781 to be placed atop of her coffin (to imitate the original crown) - since then in Royal furneal use in Sweden. So here we may have a very good prototype for the original appearance of the crown in completly 3D-type and this is the type if the

(here king's) crown was only a flattened relief model pictured from a bridge in Stockholm. So the king's and his Queen Consort's crown are both in favour to me. But are there any other sources I may have left aside?

The research to the ownership is on it's track...

Edit:
And due to this detail I found on my research for the rudder

we are shure all the crowns are a relief fore shure.

 

[Uwek]

An interesting project
Looking forward to see some sawdust

 

[Iterum]

Thanks Uwe - the question of the material wood is still unsolved - it may be a "compound" build of a stiff (super glue hardened) plywood midkeel and cardboard bulkheads (due to my recent experiences with paper modeling) filled with balsa wood to get a solid hull to work with.

But due to your question the


bent keel is in focus again. And with it the question how to make a podester for the hull to store it later on. So the mid of the galley's length will be found and the collumns are to be placed in the golden ratio:


So there will have to be a pair of slots from below or I will have to place thin wires in her sides. The other way would be to show her afloat on a pice of acrylic glass the CWL-line been cut out and the hull set in from the top.

But I have had to decive it before sawdust or/and snipets do appear on the work bench.

 

[Iterum]

THE MASTS

Due to the highly detaiiled drawings we do not find any attachment points for the rigg of the latin sails and it's furniture onn deck.


Here the fore mast but are the tops of the frames strong enough the survive the forces of wind and rigg's tearing onnthe structure?



So fore the main mast - not a single one of a part to fix the rigg - so what has to be added? And what forces the fragile structure is able to bear without breaking or beeing bent?

The beam "e" does run mainly parallel to the keel giving additiv strength. So my midboard has to do the very same to get a working structure able to deal with the pulling of the mast's rigging pushing the mast's food against the keel.
So this is the next question to avoid the masts leaving the hull downwards by breaking the keel.

So cardboard or paper may not be the right material for the midkeel at all.

 

[Iterum]

LOCATING THE CUT THROUGHS


The dotted lines are here solid


in the cut through drawing - so it becomes easier to locate the cuts at all.


A very complex problem around the cabin I do have to face by a simply done rough paper model to figure out



(I do have to remember myself with these lines) the


real architecture of this small floating palace. We here have got the spiral stair case got the outside.

 

[Iterum]

NYMPH AND RUDDER

As I do Deal with the plans I recognize more and more finely pictured Details I will have to deal with Not to forget anything I do collect my Impressionen inhere - ready to add my own drawings more below when I caught the idea correctly as I learned by viewing to Marc's beautifully decorated SOLEI ROYALE based on the much too slim Heller kit. So let's start with a nice Objekt I may have to clad a bit with her long hair to cover erotical details - or do I have to show her naked die to the profession of the galley and the lustfull taste of the time?

THE PORTSIDE NYMPH

Here the portside column covered as a nymph.


Firstly shown from the stern holding the outside port cartouche



and the portside view covering parts of the rudder's engraving/onlaying ornaments showing us the lower fixing is only done on her feet - taking the wight by her hand and head. In this drawing the nymph's body does look much slimmer and longer.

Du to this pair of drawing Details it is obvious this nymph is a complet freely standing figure holding the uppermost part of the transom's top ornamentation.

THE RUDDER

The very big rudder is abplace of a very nice detailled ornamentation.


The slimmer upper part seems to bear a cartouche with an Fisch scales or rombus pattern inside. Clearly a regular pattern filling the cartouche up to the very top near the tiller - covered by the bars going towards the transom's top.

I still have not decided for a colour sheme and a white underwatership with a black part above would give the possibility to me to imitate an chine tea bone kind of painting style to the rudder - avoiding complex carvings to be layed onto the rudder. The other possibility is to kee under and upper water hull in complete white - seperated by a thin hullred line (for the CWL) so the paintings could be made in a more impasto style.

This Nymphenburg plate gives

a lot of colouring ideas and this light green is a very nice tone often found in the late baroque/rokkoko - the Olive borders will be useable for the shadowing or outside lineing.


The plate's Artist does Show us the gold paintings with a beautifully light "handwriting" so the rudder may be with an open grid?




Not tho forget the chamouse yellow asva very popular colour during the late baroque era

existing in different shades (here a more orange one) to be added to the ship.

This are the not-to-forget-about notes for me.

 

[Ivan Trtanj von Banat]

TSCHAPMAN NI GALERE GEBAUT

 

[Iterum]

TSCHAPMAN NI GALERE GEBAUT

Hy Ivan, galleys werde very common on the Baltica Sea for Swedish and Russian Navys. And it is wenn known that Chapman had a lot of never build ships in his plates, too. So thank you very much for the information.

 

[Iterum]

Click for the right music!

 

[shota70]

Dear Iterum
it's looks very interesting project, I will keep following with great curiosity

 

[Iterum]

Started with restarting g into the project by glueing the newly done copies together:
dealing with the waterline as they will be the stabilisation horizontally - the scrstchbuilding of Mr.Deep's THE GLORY OF CATHARINA (THE GREAT) influenced me very much:

So I think about the WLlayers very much.
And I did some artistic work in colouring the transom decor as I will have to deal with the hole fineart decoration in 4/1 on some sheets of frostpaper:



So I have to cut out the several items of the transom and develope two drawings:
a) the unrolled lateral surface
b) true lengths of the lines


Here above the transom as a bow and the upper crowning as a less bent bow in the WL-plan and the drawing as originally done by Af Chapman.



So I think about adding additional WL-lines to the plan at all 7mm to get a stiffer hull at a more precise shape.

Sorry @Uwek no wooden sawdust, but some "brain dust", and some good progress today in the ship yard at all.

 

[Iterum]

Hello friends, not too much happened today - but I was able to to a bit.at all:


The WL-plan was established...


the backbone of the model was prepared by pluingbthe plan's hältst onto 2mms stiff (bookmakers') cardboard. When doubled it is exactly the thickness of the keelson (Sometimes god Neptun is with us modelbuilders).


The this night I managed to add in 7mms distance further WLs so I can Cut the waterlines from the very same 2mm bookmaker's cardboard and fill in 5mm balsawood pices die to get a solide hull.
Not completly shure how to build the Part G the galley with twin stoves and the Apparatur for the achor. Still I do not have got any idea how it does work... I Will have to look in further books of Delius-Klasing and Wolfram zu Mondfeld. But that is still to be done tomorrow.



Adding the lines astern I am still without of any solutions how to build the superstructure on to the enclosed hull's body. Ans also being unshure what is the right curveature for the deck.

This afternoon I met a friend who is architect and he told me to neglect the cuts as they are not precice drawing - "the are for marketing not for construction." :-/