Introduction
I find Renaissance galley warfare in the Mediterranean fascinating. The galley was an elegant and deadly weapons platform, a testament of human ingenuity - and cruelty. It is also nice to keep in mind that for many centuries oar-driven warships dominated the seas, and only later did it dawn on the Age of Sail.
Reading a few books on the subject, made me interested in wargaming the period, and after many experiments, I came up with a solution to create models which can be disassembled to show damage, but still have realistic lines.
I now have a pretty refined way of building 1/350 scale scratchbuilt galleys, so I thought I would share a complete tutorial, in a page format, where I publish my printable templates and building tips.
Later on I plan to make a fully photographed tutorial showing each step, for now it will suffice to submit the text version.
1. Tools
Besides a printer to use the templates provided, you are going to need the following, in order of importance more or less:
- Scalpel or X-acto knife with disposable blade
- Sandpaper, at least a rougher (say 240 grit) and a very fine (600 or higher) type. Sanding blocks and needle files also come in handy.
- Steel ruler
- Superglue (gel or liquid)
- PVA glue
- Pair of small tweezers
- Pin vice to drill the slots for pegs, masts etc.
- Paint (I mostly use a variety of browns from Van Dyck/dark chocolate to deck tan, along with bright decorative colours)
2. Building Materials
My main materials for building galleys are:
- Balsa wood, 1, 2 and 3mm thick. You can get it at hardware or hobby stores.
- 0.5mm thick plasticard
- toothpicks or other bamboo sticks
- I found that hairbrushes with thin plastic bristles work best for oars, as brooms are way too thin and push pins/paperclips are a bit more difficult to work with (more on that in Chapter 5)
- paperclips (oars for larger ships)
- printed templates (also for decorative elements, see Section 4)
3. Hull Templates
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Large galley
Standard galley or galiot
These are the templates I tested and used. I also have a galleass template that needs experimenting with, which I will upload once the model is done.
I tried more complicated methods, but ultimately this is what the scale allows. Note that if you don't want your model to be disassembled later, many of the following instructions are not relevant.
Pray do bear in mind that this is still a simplified model for wargaming. The actual ship's plan that I used as their source (mostly to get the proportions right) is from this thread's OP. I broke this blueprint down to measurements, such as the width to length ratio of the hull compared to the oar banks, and reconstructed my model from there.
To use the templates, paste them in a Word file and rescale the image to size.
My standard galleys are 12cm long, and the image is arranged so that if you set the width to 12cm total on the printed page, the parts will be proportionate. You can use the same template to create galiots, which are 9cm long (this equals to about 30 meters or a hundred feet in length, making a smallish ship).
The larger galley (a capitana/lanterna flagship) is supposed to be 15cm long. When scaled to, for example, Zvezda's 1/350 scale Armada offerings, they look in place.
Once printed, you can use your knife and ruler to lay the page on a hard flat surface and cut the templates out. Alternatively you can use a pair of scissors if you are good at that kind of thing, for me it results in less precise cuts.
4. Sail and Banner Templates
I made a pair of separate posts on my backup blog with the images for sails and banners:
Each post has instructions for colour printing and assembly.
Of course if you wish to use canvas or freehand banner designs, you can omit these.
5. Construction
5a. Foreword on Working with Balsa
Balsa wood has very large, soft grain. It requires a sharp blade to whittle it to shape. It is also prone to warping when painted. Look for wood with a straight grain and possibly no warping of the rough material you plan to use.
If you hit untreated balsa wood with primer or paint, it will absorb the moisture and the grains will swell, resulting in an uneven rough surface. So you need to treat the wood whenever possible (unless you want it to be a bit rougher looking, in which case it's OK to just use paint straight away).
Here's how to reduce the swelling/splitting of the grain:
- use a rough (240-350) and a fine (600-1200) grit sandpaper in succession on the surface,
- don't forget to dust the small particles off,
- cover the surface with superglue (it's important to use CA glue, because it actually hardens the wood and is easier to sand than PVA), using it straight out of the bottle, or using a small toothpick to dab it on evenly,
- once dry, use fine sandpaper again.
For recesses or surfaces that would be otherwise hidden/covered, it's not necessary to sand that much, but treating the wood with CA or PVA glue is still important.
General advice on using CA glue: a bit of water causes it to activate faster. This is especially useful when gluing in the oars.
If you are using the printable templates straight on the model, first cover the back side of the paper template with PVA, glue it on the piece of wood you're working on, and once completely dry, make sure to add some diluted PVA on the printed surface as well.
5b. Main Hull Assembly
The hull and oars are the largest and most complicated parts of the vessel, so I usually start there. If you start the prow and forecastle and/or stern subassembly, you are going to rush those and be left with having to work on the hull for a lot longer.
My galley hulls are usually made from two or three main pieces.
Use a 2mm/3mm thick piece of balsa (depending on how low you want the ship to be in the water), and shape it to the form of the hull template. Some smaller galleys had as little freeboard as two feet, so you can make them really low.
To get the gentle upwards curving feature of real galleys, now you have to raise the stern a bit, by adding one or two more layers of 2-3mm balsa and gently sanding it to a sheer. Sometimes I sand a bit out of the center of the hull piece to get more of a natural bend.
Illustration for the above
I usually add a simple curved rudder (also a feature of art and extant pieces/models) after rounding the stern a bit more with sandpaper.
Make sure to add a layer of varnish or PVA to the bottom of the ship, if you skip this step the hull will start bending upwards at the center when you attach the oar bank.
5c. Oar Bank
Use the printed template on a piece of 1mm wood and cut it to size. You can glue this rectangular piece on the hull right away. I use PVA glue because its drying time allows corrections if the oar bank is not placed square on. Once it's in place, I use a pair of clamps to fix it to the hull and allow it to cure with the curve towards the stern setting in naturally. Clamping the entire thing to the flat of your workbench also helps to avoid the warping issue described in the step above.
Once the bottom of the oar bank is set in place, you can start adding the gangways to the sides and center, and then cut 0.5mm plasticard strips and place them on the template to create the benches.
Once the gangways are set in place and the glue had cured, I drill a pair of 2mm holes to be used as slots for the masts. One is at the center of the length of the hull and the other right behind the forecastle. I read that on some ships the foremast was offset to allow the large cannon to roll back, but I believe that to be the case on early (15th century or so) ships so I place the foremast on the center line. On some standard galleys I use a main mast only with a larger Lateen sail.
Make sure to harden the insides of the mast slot by dabbing one end of a blunted toothpick in superglue and rolling it in a bit. This will prevent troubles with fit later, when you start painting and the grain would swell.
For Ottoman galleys I usually do not add bulwarks to the sides of the oar bank because they did not really have them (see the model of the Ottoman galley a bit below). For Christian galleys I cut another thin strip of plasticard and superglue it on the sides. The ship's boats approached from the stern and on larger ships there was a ladder at the end of the oar box for admirals and such, so I leave that part open. The same goes for the prow, the forecastle will fit snugly so you don't have to square that end off.
I usually wait to drill the hole at the stern section the upper works will be attached to until I completed that subassembly (see section 5e), but you can do it now.
When everything is in place, I usually go over the entire thing top to bottom with a layer of diluted PVA. Make sure to clean the surfaces first with a stiff brush so dust particles won't stick in there.
5d. Oars
This is the worst part of the build, but I came up with some standardized procedures that allow it to progress well and not cost me many hairs.
Using plastic oars:
The first thing to do is settle on the oar length. I made a Patient Zero and stowed it away for future reference, it's about 15-17mm long.
Now I lay down a very thin strip of straight 1mm balsa that is the length of the oar bank. Then I cut six (no more) pieces of oar to the previously set standard length. I glue a pair at the ends of each balsa strip with CA glue, usually at an angle, making sure they are mirrored, and one to the dead center.
I cut the rest of the oars to basically any length, and glue them leisurely at the same angle to the strip of balsa as the ones already there. They will look wonky but we shall remedy that.
Once all the oars are set in place and the glue had cured, I take a pair of scissors and simply trim away the excess. Make sure you have the three standard length oars well aligned because your eyesight will deceive you and you won't be able to cut straight.
Here's a small schematic:
Now you can glue the oars as one piece to the bottom of the oar bank. I found it's easier to have the balsa strip positioned below the plastic oars, and then sanding it away carefully, than the other way around.
Using metal oars:
For larger ships I use paperclips that I cut to length with a nipple cutter. You can also play with standardization, but in a bit different way.
I repeat the beginning of the process above, by cutting six oars to standard length, and glue them to the bottom of the oar bank right away, at the two ends and the center.
Now I glue a piece of thread to the ends of the three oars on each side. This will help me align the rest of the oars and I don't have to fiddle much with the oars already in place.
Once all the oars are glued in and aligned with the thread, I simply tear it off carefully. You can see the results on my Lanterna (to be posted).
5e. Prow and Stern
These require less hassle. The prow includes two sub-assemblies, the ram, which is just a single piece carved and sanded to shape (with a peg at one end that goes in the slot in the oar bank) and the forecastle, which is made in the sandwich method.
For the forecastle I cut a 1mm and 3mm piece of balsa to the rectangular shape (this is left blank on the oar bank template). With a rounded file I make notches in the 3mm piece for the gun ports and then I harden their insides with CA glue. It's OK if the grooves are visible on both sides, it adds some detail from the direction of the oar bank. Once this is done, I glue the two pieces together. Most galley forecastles had slanted sides, which is easy to reproduce with some sanding.
The guns (one on galiots, three on standard galleys and five on lanternas) are usually leftover bits of plastic spears, but the same rod that is used for the oars can be used for smaller pieces on the sides of the forecastle, and the same can be said of paperclips. I glue them in the apertures already made and paint them along with the rest of the subassembly.
Now I add the pegs to secure the forecastle to the hull, by simply adding a bit of superglue on the end of a paperclip and pushing it in the bottom piece of balsa. I don't cut the rest of the paperclip right away, it will come handy when painting. I harden the surfaces with CA glue (the bottom too), and add a bulwark on top from a piece of 0.5mm plasticard bent to shape.
The stern is a boxy structure similar to the oar bank. I make a base from 2mm balsa, glue a piece toothpick to the bottom for the peg that will join it to the stern of the hull. The sides are made from 0.5mm plasticard strips, and the awning or roof can be constructed in many ways: some I leave open, some I cover with a square or arched awning. If you look at period pictures, you can see that each ship was kind of individual, and truly this is the part that, along with the paintjob, makes a ship unique.
A model of Hayreddin's galley with square awning
Raphael's sketch of a small Venetian galley with open stern
If you would like to measure where the peg goes at the stern of the hull, the easier method is to dab the end of the peg in black and white paint, measure it up by eyesight and placing the black/white dot at the point of drilling. Make sure to harden the inside of the slot just as with the masts.
5f. Masts, Sails and Banners
Sails and banners are easy, just print the templates to the desired size, fold and glue them together.
For yards and masts I use 2mm diameter toothpicks, some of which I join using superglue and a half-lap technique.
Bamboo toothpicks are great for this purpose as they already taper towards their end. You can enhance the taper with sanding the toothpick a bit.
The mainsail on my standard galleys is 5.5cm along the yard, so I do need to glue a pair of toothpicks as described above. The trinquet sail is 3cm long, so a single piece should suffice. Once the masts and yards are shaped, I coat them in PVA, then paint them in various shades of brown before gluing them together.
I found that gluing the yard to the sail first, and then the entire thing fixed on the mast with some PVA proves a firm bond, but you can also cut a notch at the center of the yard for a larger adhesion surface, or pin it, using a pin vice for pre-drilling holes in the mast and yard and inserting a small piece of dowel.
Most models show the banners attached to the upper end of the lateen yards and not directly to the masthead, so that's what I usually do.
6. Painting
I paint my models in subassemblies, using temporary clamps for the smaller pieces and a Jenga brick and blutac to hold the larger ones.
I start with the bottom of the hull, painting it a dark brown or black colour, and usually adding a layer of acrylic medium for a firmer bond so that the blutac won't remove the paint.
Then I do the oars and upper works. As the main hull is already covered in at least one layer of glue everywhere, it doesn't really require another layer of primer, but I prime the oars as the small rounded plastic/metal surface is not that good for adhesion.
Again, I mostly use browns of varying shade and hue, this is a part where some more individuality can be added to the vessel. It's actually not that difficult to paint galleys because drybrushing can be applied to most surfaces.
I decorate the prow and stern a bit more, with some bright patterns, and paint the guns a black or bronze colour. Similarly, the oars can be done in a bright red, or white, etc. to represent the ship's master's status.
For deck surfaces (the gangways, the stern and top of forecastle) I add thin lines of bright beige or sand to represent the planks of the deck.
7. Adding Crew and Finish
I believe this to be an important step. Galleys had very open structures and were crammed full of rowing slaves, officers and soldiers. I always found it odd at larger scales that there is no crew at all on a ship, and here's an easy method to represent them.
I cut strips of 2mm thick balsa wood to about 3-4mm width, and round off one long 2mm edge, making an U-shaped cross section. The bottom of the U will be the upper part of the crewmen's bodies.
I clean the strips and soak them in PVA, followed by a dark skintone, still as one piece.
Once the paint is dry, I start cutting the strips to size, to fit the gangways or oar banks respectively.
Then I paint the ends of the small pieces with the same colour of dark skintone, and glue them to place: soldiers on the edges of the oar bank and on both ends (including the top of the forecastle), officers to the central gangway and stern, and rowers to the benches.
Mind that the ship itself is already painted at this point, so a contrast is made between the crews and the hull.
Once the pieces of crew are in place, I take a 00 size brush and start adding small dots of paint on the strips, a bright or medium skintone on the rowers (they are a bit tanned after spending much time under the sun) and more white, red, green and metallic etc. on the soldiers/officers.
From a distance of two feet and up this technique yields a nice overall effect.
Once the crew is painted and glued in place, I wait 3-4 days but preferably at least a week before varnishing the subassemblies. This is a general protective measurement against paint rubbing/flaking off and can be omitted.
At this point I snap off the extraneous paper clips from the forecastle, leaving only a pair of 1-2mm long pegs. I mark their place on the forward part of the oar bank and drill holes for them. The forecastle goes on top, and the prow to the open slot below it. Put the masts and stern in place, your final assembly is ready, your ship can set sail.
8. Basing
I make sea bases for my ships, again mostly for purposes of protection. To produce the 'ramming' effect in games, the ship's prow will overhang the edge of the base, but it is more important to protect the fickle oars.
Thus my bases are generally a long as the ship itself, and I place the hull a bit more forward so the prow is extended from the edge.
For a sea effect, I roughen up the plasticard or MDF a bit with a sandpaper, then add thick acrylic paste which I shape into waves with a very stiff plastic brush. This is one of the tasks where synthetic bristles will overachieve natural ones. I leave bit of flat surface at the center of the base where the ship will be placed.
Please remember that a 1mm wave in 1/350 scale is almost two feet high, so you don't really need to do very dramatic effects some scale modellers excel at. Galleys were usually employed on steady seas and could not endure storms very well.
Once the acrylic paste is cured I paint the sea base using the following technique:
- a prussian blue basecoat
- drybrush the wave crests with a bright grey
- a dark green wash
- another layer of grey drybrush
- another diluted layer of prussian blue
- finally a dusting of pure white for the waves
This produces a rather bright effect, something I would not do for North Sea ships for example (I would use a darker, almost black blue for that), but the Med is very bright, which you can see if you fly over it.
If you're not entirely content with the sea texture, you can wait 1-3 days and apply another layer of gloss acrylic paste with your stiff brush. Otherwise, wait at least a week and apply one or two layers of gloss varnish.
Then all you have to do is glue the bottom of your galley's hull to the base and your ship can take part in any fight.
I hope readers will find this lengthy tutorial helpful, and perhaps some interest will awaken to this period and mode of warfare which is often overlooked by traditional age of sail type games.
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