Thanks for your enthousiasm Kostis, Peter, BB and sberry!
Kostis Ornerakis wrote:naval museum of Chania Crete reconstructed the Minoan ship.
Nice. And what a beautyful picture! The sunlight reflecting on the hull. And the fog or smoke above the watersurface. Of course I know this type of ship from the fresco's from Thera (San Torini) but I did not know the Cretan people build a replica of this.
Kostis Ornerakis wrote:Keryneia ship
That one will be the next shipmodel I like to build and produce. It is supposed to be exactly form the period of Alexander the Great.
Beano Boy wrote:Copyright protection upon all your Master Patterns & Moulds
Thanks for reminding me again. Can anybody tell me if there is an official way to protect the copyright of a model? I think in the 'Piracy topic of Alex' gasmask men' there was some information about that.
Beano Boy wrote:Unique Marks on these works,known only to yourself is advised too
Of course I can engrave my name in the bottom of all parts but that can easily be removed. I think the woodveins in the planking are a better way to recognise an illegal copy in the future.
Peter wrote:move the animals in
I will cast a gangboard sufficient for elephants (and bears!) especially for you
sberry wrote: I really would like to buy one of these.
Thanks for your interest. Since you wrote this I can not stop thinking, when working on this kit, about what Mr. Berry will think of the quality of my castingwork as soon as he has the model in his hands in his Berlin studio (or workdesk?).
CASTING THE ULUBURUN SHIPHULL
I decided to cast the ship upside down to make use of the flat bottom as a huge pouring hole and ventilation channel at the same time.
A temporary mold is made of clay.
A fluting it made on both sides to keep both parts of the rubber mold exactly in position.
A casting box made of plastic board and duct tape.
Sealed off with hot glue to prevent it from leaking.
Two component pouring rubber, extra stiff because of the relatively large size of the mold, I wanted to be sure the boards of the mold do not slump and crumple.
A test made clear the wood does not have to be treated with chalcum powder or parting agent because the rubber does not attach to it.
The syllicone rubber is mixed and poured in at prow and stern.
The rubber is very expensive. I mixed not too much. In fact it was just too little.
So I chopped up an old rubber mold.
And added them into the liquid rubber as far as possible from the model surface until the right surface level was achieved.
After six hours drying the rubber was hard but the clay was still moisty.
A lot to clean and wash.
Superimposed relief of the woodveins: at some places it was so excessive I had to remove it with a side cutter.
The outside part of the mold is ready:
To save 70% of rubber for the inner part of the mold, a piece of foam can replace it.
The blue rubber that is still visible after adding the shipmodel and the outer supporting mold is treated with parting agent:
Both foam and plastic board serve as a support molds:
Only a very limited space needs to be filled up with liquid rubber now:
After pouring the rubber, the foam support mold is pressed down until the required surface level of the rubber is achieved.
After another six hours the molds can be separated.
Because of the foam support mold the rubber mold was so thin, I can almost look trough its bottom side.
The hole for the mast foot did not come out well
The rubber was so fluid while pouring, it crept under the wooden ribs and between the planking.
These excessive rubber bits were removed with sidecutters.
Putting the two mold parts together makes clear how thin the hull will be after casting.
Fast drying resin mixed with brown paint is poured in at prow and stern ends. Except for some bubbles in the bottom, there was no problem with ventilation.
Fifteen minutes later the resin copy of the hull was hard enough to be removed.
Some flesh of course.
Reproduction of the woodveins:
Inside, between the ribs, traces of white glue are reproduced in the copy
Because of the fast hardening resin a few hours later I already had several copies.
Next step is to cast the decks, additional timbers, mast, steering oars, ladder, anchors, cargo and sail.