by Arthur Macon
1/75 Roman Bireme (Heller)
This was the build was the one I was doing in the main forum. The kit was an old Heller kit that a friend had for over 30 years. Some of the parts were missing, some broken and just about everything was warped. My intent was to make my own sails but they were not working out so I used the ones from the Zvezda Roman Trireme kit. The original kit sails were just to badly damaged to attempt. This is my second Roman warship as you can see in the main picture the Academy kit in the background.
I modified the ram with sheet styrene, rebuilt the oar rudders and laid down wood planks on the outriggers. The flag on the standard was hand painted on paper as the kit flag was missing. Other than having to clamp the main hull down (due to being warped) with everything I could find it went together okay. The main hull was much like a large aircraft model in how it was assembled. All the internal parts were laid down exactly the same as a cargo plane would be. The rigging was a bit confusing at times but I had a help from forum poster "bgire" who translated some of the instructions for me.
Another enjoyable build and a nice addition to my now growing Roman fleet.
