Scratch-built English Galleon 1/36 scale
Hey, I just found this site and thought I'd ask you what you thought of my first combat ship project, which I started about a month ago.
It's an English galleon from 1610. I understand that nobody currently battles with sailing ships, but I thought it would be a fun project anyways. After I prove the concept with the trials of the first ship, I am planning to build a second vessel to battle against.
The plans were obtained free from this page: [link]http://www.all-model.com/list1/Galleon/English%20galleon.html[/link]
Click "Download Now" at the top to get them.
A word of warning: the plans are packaged in .exe files for some reason, but I didn't detect any viruses. So install them at your own risk.
So far the plans have been free and the materials cheap; I used plywood to construct the keel and frames, and popsicle sticks with the ends sawed off for the first layer of planking. I need to find a source of longer planks, without paying for actual ship model planking.
This design carries about 36-50 cannon, and I plan to have at least a 24-gun broadside plus bow and stern chasers. My prototype cannons currently are electrothermally (RC) or match (manually) ignited and can use either roman candle filler or regular black powder. This creates a flash, a bang, and lots of smoke, making for a nice visual display, but I doubt it would be legal to use them to fire projectiles. So I will probably have to resort to using air cannons for actual combat.
The model has a three-inch wide strip of balsa at the waterline so it can be holed and sunk in combat, and I may incorporate balsa in other parts as well.
I'm planning to use a 6-channel radio; does anybody know what a good, cheap set would be that comes with enough servos?
Channels:
1. Rudder
2. Square/Lateen Sails Angle Control.
3. Raise/drop, Reef or otherwise nullify Sails, furl or roll them up if possible.
4. Open/close gunports, run the guns out.
5. Select/Fire cannon banks.
6. Raise/drop anchors
The sails and rigging in the pictures are just paper mock-ups to give you an idea about what it will look like when it's done. There's a lot of standing rigging, running rigging and ratlines that I didn't even show.