Friends, I was not a good place for the longest time, because I lost access to my CAD software over a year ago. I still technically have it, but it's installed on a dead computer that I can't be bothered to fix at the moment. Luckily, I stumbled across a YouTube video in which the creator was using a free online CAD program called OnShape, so I decided to give it a try, and I must say, I am very pleased with the results. In other words...
I'M BACK, BITCHES!
This model was not one that I made on a whim, it was actually requested by a customer. This customer apparently liked my 1:700 full-hull model of a Roman Trireme, which was also a customer request. Maybe it was the same customer, I don't know, I totally forgot about that model being a request, which is unusual for me. Then again, it could have been one of those cases where I planned to make it anyway, but didn't prioritise it until someone asked me, I don't know, I didn't write it down.
My customer provided me with this picture:
...which I had seen before, in fact I had previously used it to make my 1:1200 waterline model of a quinquereme, so I decided to combine the two models along with my customer's specified length of 45 metres (64mm in 1:700 scale) to make this model. Here are the 3d-printed models sitting on my keyboard (I hastily took this photo while typing up this post).
Perhaps I'll print this new model for myself as well, but I still haven't painted those modern sailing ships from last year.
Oh, that reminds me: the trireme has 88 oars, the longer quinquereme (which is 65 metres long) has 124, this shortened one has 96, and the one in the original picture has 116. What makes a quinquereme isn't necessarily five banks of oars. In a trires configuration, the top two rows of oars have two men on each oar. In a bires configuration, the top row will have three men on each oar, and the bottom will have two men on each oar. As you can probably imagine, these oars are massive, sometimes as long as 10 metres.
I took some creative liberties and added a scroll to the bow. The older model has it too, but it's not as nice, and at such a small scale, it doesn't really show up on the 3d-printed model anyway. I was extremely tempted to shape the ram like a meat tenderiser as well, but I didn't bother.
You can buy one here (unless you live in a country that Shapeways doesn't deliver to, such as Russia): https://www.shapeways.com/product/4QVTVHLEY/1-700-full-hull-roman-quinquereme
If you want to buy the file and print one yourself, let me know, and I will upload it to my Wargaming3D page. Also let me know if you want any modifications, such as catapults, corvus boarding bridge, or aforementioned meat tenderiser.
I know I promised a certain monstrous mechanical mud-muncher, so perhaps that will be next, assuming I don't soon get another request.
Amazing 😍