Salty Sea Dog

Very nice project to follow Vivian! I like the aproach to darken the wodd before building it. It will give you great control. How does the wax work with ca and wood glue?
 
Jack that is a very cool thing to do, hats off to you!
 
 
/Matti

Hi Vivian,
I am happy to be on the front row for your new build. I can't wait to see the modifications, especially the scroll work. Great work so far. Good luck and happy building.

So, as I said, I´ll begin some new projects while still building the Chinese Junk. This is the first of two, the Osberg by Amati.
 
Before any sawdust comes through, I have to thank my friend Jack Panzeca for his gift. Yep, he was a sweety and sent me this kit he wouldn´t build for he already was building the Billing´s Oseberg - As I was always telling how nice it was and let it clear I would build one if I had, Jack surprised me with offering this one. Jack, here I am, building the ship - Thank you.
 
A review of the box - In comparison to the other 2 ships I built till now, the Amati Oseberg kit is a little sparse on material. Truth be told, that´s because the ship itself isn´t that material consumer - viking ships are fantastic ships considering the small use of wood and their sailing capabilities. The false keel and bulkheads are laser cut, as the wood for hull planking - at first I thought it strange for they´re strangely shaped, but that's explainable by the planking of a so characteristic hull. Some pictures follow:
 

 

 
Fittings may be a problem to those who, as I do, like the wood everywhere. Shields are metal cast, oars are plastic as the mast step. All of those are already marked on my plans as scratchbuild fittings.
 

 
I have to say, though, that Amati Oseberg isn´t really the Oseberg. I measured the ship´s keell and middle bulkead to find she doesn´t fit on the true Oseberg dimensions - False keel should have 43,16cm, and it has 43,9cm, width should be 5,20cm, it´s 5,7cm. Also, Amati´s bring a strange dragon head instead of the engraved details Oseberg has, as a central oar holder that shouldn´t be there. My plans on bashing/modifying goes for removing the central oar holder, engraving the stem/stern as the Oseberg (well, the closest I can get, at least), adding the big barrel the museum ship exposes and chests before the oar holes. I´ll scratch the oars, shields, mast step and rudder.
 
I begun by building a stand. It´s a 6mm mdf board with two 6mm planks held together by butterfly bolts. I would install metal trails for a bulkead aligner, but changed my mind. Instead, I traced lines on the board and made a 90° angled piece gluing 2 mdf pieces (sanded and measured).
 

 
(To be continued)
 
 
 

False keel was attached to the stand, first picture shows the before first modification:
 

 
Second picture shows the after, as I cut the tail off. As I intend on building an engraved cover, that part had to get out of the way.
 

 
I waxed the false keel, then and started placing the bulkheads. They were glued and fixed to the block I made for 90° aligning. I took pictures only after they were already glued and I could verify they were rightly fixed.
 

 

 

 

 
As the ship seems too fragile at this point, I decided to place beams between the bulkeads to assure they wouldn´t bend while planking.
 

 
And that´s it for now. Hope to be posting more pictures soon. :D

Thank you Steven, Cristiano and Vivian! I have worn out the like button reading through Woodrat's build log - thanks for the reference. All the pictures you posted there Steven are a lot of help too. Thanks for the hints on internet searching Cristiano - I had just been using "carrack" and was getting limited results. Vivian - It is you I need to thank (or blame!!  ) for getting me excited about building the carrack next after posting your caravel build log. Thanks!

Thank you Steven, Cristiano and Vivian! I have worn out the like button reading through Woodrat's build log - thanks for the reference. All the pictures you posted there Steven are a lot of help too. Thanks for the hints on internet searching Cristiano - I had just been using "carrack" and was getting limited results. Vivian - It is you I need to thank (or blame!!  ) for getting me excited about building the carrack next after posting your caravel build log. Thanks!

There´s a lot of discussions on there. This type of ship seems to me a lot more spanish than portuguese on its looks. And, in portuguese we call it a Carraca Atlântica . When I was researching types of ships to build I found some words about the Carraca Atlântica discussing it as a Spain/Mexican "cruiser".

Hello Buck,
don't take  the jointery of the plans too much seriously, since it is almost surely fictious.
Mamoli and Corel in many plans show an "apparent jointery" which is made using the provided walnut strips and that more or less is nice to the eye.
I think that their purpose is to give to the model a more complete appearance using the provided material in the box.
A more complex research must be done in order to provide a good answer to your doubts regarding keel structure of those type of ships.
Maybe you should search in the web for the Cogs of the Anseatic League, the "Nave tonda" of the Venetian Republic or other type of ships of the same period.
you should consider that the largest part of the material in the web can be find using the key words of the possible Country of origin of the type of ship.
In anycase, as an example check this build log:
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/4915-venetian-carrack-or-nave-tonda-by-woodrat/
 
 

I love carracks as well, Buck. To me they have a rather ungainly beauty.
 
I'm not an expert on joints in keels, but I'm sure you're right. The model seems to have far too many of them, and far too fragile.
 
Also, in my view the rear cabins in the model you're considering seem somewhat over-large compared with how they're portrayed in the pictures of the time.
 
There's a particularly fine build log of a Venetian carrack here, which has lots of very good contemporary pictures of carracks and may be of help to you in your research.
 
 
Steven

Hello again! Well, maybe I´ll get more updates as I enter the final laps. Here is the hole fix over the cabin and the switch for my cabin´s lighting. I made a step by step on the fixing/lighting as I´m proud to have done it. I know it´s not the greatest of executions or the best mechanism I could´ve used, but those hours spent on science fairs at school weren´t wasted. :D
 

First picture shows the led with a circuit board - I used the led from a garden beacon with a timer, so the battery wouldn´t be consumed when I forgot to turn it off.
 

This is my remade lantern - first version I used tin and painted paper. Replaced the painted paper for silk and better painted the tin frame.
 

Attached the lantern to the circuit board.
 

Cut two 2mm copper stripes from a copper foil and soldered them to the battery box.
 

Cut another 2mm copper stripes and soldered them to the circuit board.
 

Fixed the circuit board on its place (there was a hole for the lantern to be placed in the cabin) and glued the copper stripes parallel - that way the battery box could be placed and turned into the switch.
 

 

After the eletronics were placed, used the same wood for deck planking to close the hole. Part of the stripes were left for the switch.
 

Hole closed, planking aged and battery box/switch placed - ligths on. I thought on replacing all the planks so that trapdoor look wouldn´t be there, but kinda liked the idea. Maybe I´ll fix some holder for it.
 
Next pictures shows the lighting effect.
 

 

 

 
Now, all for the rigging!!!!!

Further progress on the sterncastle of my Carrack ( nave tonda)


note the two knights at the stern. These are seen in the original illustration

slow progress because of work committments. Hull is complete. Next job is to install rudder and some accommodation in stern. Where should the galley be positioned? Dick

through the rudder port.

The outside planking of the hull is complete. The next step is the main deck, hawse holes and transom framing
 

 

 

 

 
 
The spaces between the protruding main deck beams will become scuppers. I have no idea what form the deck waterways will take yet.
 
Dick

Sorry, Steven. I cant access that link. But I think I know the image referred to. As you allude, many models of carracks underestimate the length of the mainyard which is made of two timbers fished together like  lateen yards.
 
Here are some pictures showing the bracing for the transversal bitt. The bitt is not bolted in but is wedged in placed. This allows some slight movement of the bitt which protects the side timbers. It also allows removal of the bitt if required.
 

 

 

 
  the stern timbers incomplete
 
 
Dick

Planking progress to main wale



Dick

These pictures show the transversal bitt in place although not fixed in place. These bitts were a typical feature of the carrack and were probably not meant to be rigidly fixed to the toptimbers. They were however quite massive.


Here is a picture of the Mataro nao showing the transversal bitt.
This shows the step for the foremast
 
Dick

Thanks, Vivian and Steven. Here is the progress of planking to the level of the turn of the stringer at the outer end of the floors
Fitting the stealers

stealer glued in position
planking complete to first stringer


 
 
Here is another similar carrack. Note the triangular topsail and the forward positioned foremast. I will base my rig upon this illustration
 

 
Dick

Thanks Steven, useful links with good detail. The watermarks dont bother me much
 
The model is moving along. Having done the garboard strake and the various wales, The planking is straight forward.

The transverse deeck beams are now fitted. I have a theory that the protruding deck beams seen on carracks were used  to house the scuppers as scuppers at deck level arent seen on contemporary illustrations whereas dots or holes are sometimes seen in the end of the protruding deck beams.
 

I have finished all the bulkheads and have almost finished fairing them. I am more happy that the shape of the stern matches the original drawing and other illustrations of the period



Dick

Some progress. Keel, stempost and sternpost in place and bulkheads positioned..
 
Dick

I found some more information trawling the Net, and particularly contemporary pictures of carracks, which might help with rigging if you decide to go that way. I got most of them from a flickr collection put together by a computer gamer called ModernKnight1. It's a mixed bag, and I've picked the eyes out of it - including (as far as I can judge)only actual contemporary representations appropriate to your model and leaving out later copies, reconstructions etc. I have to hand it to ModernKnight1 for persistence and dedication. That's a heck of a collection of stuff and his site's well worth a visit.
 
Several pictures of Mediterranean carracks of the mid-late 15th century show what appear to be small groups of ratlines at intervals up the shrouds. No use as ladders, but perhaps to keep the shrouds together?
 
Jonah and the whale (date and source unknown) has them, as does Modern Knight 1's "Unknown Carrack 3" (the text is in German, but the flags are crescent moons - perhaps supposed to be a Turkish ship? "Venice carracks", which appears to be a detail from de Barberi's view of Venice have them as well.
 
Reixach's St Ursula retable (Catalan, 1468)doesn't show them, and neither does another of Carpaccio's St Ursula series - the departure of the pilgrims (partenza dei pellegrini). Modern Knight 1's "Carracks in Venice" hasn't enough detail to be certain if they're there or not. The Venetian woodcut of the 1499 Battle of Zonchio doesn't show them, either.
 
There are some other worthwhile representations of carracks in Modern Knight 1's site, all with conventional ratlines, such as two which appear to be Spanish if the banners at the mastheads show (as they appear to) the coat of arms of the combined kingdoms of Castile and Leon. Lacking any other identification I've called them "Modern Knight1 Unknown Carracks 4 and 4A".
 
And then there's the wierd ones; I think they're simply bad art, and not very good representations (or in one case a really bad one) of contemporary carracks, but they may contain useful information.
 
I hope this is of use in your model. I've certainly had fun chasing it all up. Just love those carracks!
 
Steven

Another thought. Perhaps the ship in drydock is in the process of being planked and the strakes between the main wales are not yet in place. The square blocks could be the underlying frames. :mellow: Dick

 
The rudder is made of several pieces with wooden battens and metal straps reinforcing. Note the curve of the tiller.

Thanks, Doreltomin. It is unfortunate that the Mataro nao has been interfered with so much over the centuries but it is the best we have. It is a challenging project .
 
Here are some views of the temporary framework used to support awnings on the stern and fore castles. Also the eccentric "bowsprit"

The engraver Master W.A. (Willem A. Cruces, ca. 1468) can be very useful for rigging, though as he was based in Flanders it's a moot point how much of the rigging he shows is appropriate to Venice. this link is to a pdf on the rigging in his engravings and those of others. WARNING - it's at least 10 MB of download.
 
There's also the ships of the Beauchamp Pageant (English, about the same time)shown here. Unfortunately the pictures are extremely faint, but there is a good zoom function and you can get pretty good detail despite the faintness. You can see ships at pages 17,19,29,31,45,49,51,71,73,97 and 99. Again, perhaps not appropriate to Venice.
 
I've also attached a few contemporary pictures that may be of help. Unfortunately the tapestry of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India was done not in Portugal (which might have helped with Mediterranean rigging) but in Tournai in Flanders.
 
I'm going to have a look at my copy of Landstro"m's The Ship. I'm pretty sure it has more pics of Mediterranean vessels of the the right period which might be of help.