Beckmann

Dear fellow model builders, thank you for your kind words. I have recently been studying 18th-century Danish artillery, as I would like to include it in my stern model and possibly another section model of the TRE KRONER. As is well known, the sources here are quite good, as is generally the case with the Danish navy. There are several instruction manuals for cadets and the shipyard, where you can find contemporary drawings of gun barrels and carriages. As always, you just have to keep an eye on the chronological development. Of course, it is possible that my approach contains errors, as the carriages used specifically for the TRE KRONER are not explicitly named in the plans. First, here are a few illustrations from the mid-18th century. One significant difference from the English gun carriages is the arrangement of the aiming wedges, another is the color scheme. First, the gun carriage: There are different drawings in the archives showing an older and a newer design. I assume that the TRE KRONER already had the newer gun carriages and that the older ones belong more to the 17th century. I cannot prove this exactly, but the transition was probably a smooth one. Examples of both types have been preserved, which I find very helpful. The aiming wedge on the more modern gun carriages was apparently pushed under the end of the barrel from the side in the normal setting and rested on a kind of crossbar, as can be seen in the drawings and the illustration of the cannon. Apparently, the crossbar could also be removed for particularly high settings and the wedge could be placed directly underneath from behind. The first two images in this article illustrate this nicely. From the early 17th century until around the 1820s to 1830s, the colors were largely fixed: red iron oxide for the wood and yellow to light orange munium (a mixed lead oxide) to protect the wrought iron parts from rust. The gun barrels are also depicted in several publications. Here is a depiction of the 36-pounder gun barrel. The TRE KRONER had 36-pounders on the lower battery deck, 18-pounders on the upper battery deck, and 8-pounders on the quarterdeck and certainly also on the forecastle. A model-building colleague from Copenhagen (TJM), who has the necessary technology, kindly printed out the artillery for me and added the monogram of Christian VI. I drew the gun carriages accordingly and had them laser-cut from pear wood. In addition to the installation in the stern model, I plan to build a section of the battery deck showing the arrangement of the artillery. There is a model at the NMM in Greenwich that serves as my model here. Finally, here is a picture of the unpainted gun mounts with the gun barrels, still without fittings and wedges, which are next on the list. I painted the gun barrels black and finished them with Tamiya aging powder (soot color). Best regards, Matthias

That looks promising Jack. Looking forward to see more progress. Matthias

Looks very good Jack!!

Hi Jack, the size of the gunports seem to differ somehow, or ist that just a problem of perspective on the photo? Matthias

Hi Chris. Very nice. Will they be available as separate Figures as well? I play the Cello myself and would love to have them both sitting in my 1:32 scale captains cabin. Matthias

Hi JJ, did you develop the carvings yourself, or is there another artist involved? Matthias

Hi Chuck, I would take one. Great idea! Matthias

That looks good Jack!!

That looks much better now. Well done! Matthias

Hi TJM, Somehow the QG leans backward and the roof leans forward, shouldn't both lean backward? But beautifully done anyway, Matthias

Hi Jack, This looks very interesting, I have never seen a jig like this. I am curious, how good it works. Seems to be a completely new method. Matthias

Hi Jack, that is a nice any helpful jig you created. Well done. Matthias

Hi Jack, I am looking forward to this. What are your plans? With, or without planking? Frames visible or not? Matthias

Thank you all for your encouragement and the likes! Today, I first need to address an issue, namely my incorrectly constructed window in the upper side gallery. I had a window here that was actually intended to have double glazing bars, but I inadvertently constructed it with a single central glazing bar, which resulted in horizontal window panes that should otherwise all be vertical. The problem is that the window is glazed and curved under tension. So replacing the entire muntin bar was out of the question. I would never have been able to fit the new window cross neatly into the curve. The only option was to carefully cut out the centre muntin bar and insert new muntin bars. Here is the result: Next, I turned my attention to the gallery railing, a task that I had been puzzling over for a while and which, at least on the starboard side, has not yet been satisfactorily resolved. The gallery railing consists of a balustrade, similar to those often found in stone on elaborately designed Baroque balconies or staircases. The individual gallery balusters feature multiple coving, thickening and tapering. To make matters more difficult, they are tilted, in the case of the side gallery backwards and inwards. At the rear, they are later tilted backwards and outwards. One could make things easy and make them all the same and tilt them accordingly. This is sometimes done in architecture for staircases. Then, in the transition to the inclined contact surfaces, wedges are simply placed underneath and above. To illustrate this, here is a drawing from the 17th century: However, since the TRE KRONER model has a tilt here, I have to try that too, of course. I then drew and cut out the tilt towards the rear. The profile was roughly pre-cut on the circular saw and then finished with a file. The inward tilt was also worked on as best as possible at the front ends with a file and a carving knife. The railing rail was drawn on a template. A hole was drilled and fitted with a small wooden dowel to secure it to the contact surface. Finally, everything was inserted, aligned and glued to the upper railing rail. Some of the inclines are not quite right. If you build the whole thing two or three times in a row, it will probably get better and better. But I'll leave it like this for now, as it's a lot of work. Best regards, Matthias

This is a lovely project, well done Scrubby. Your aproach to the building is masterly. Of course CAD helps, but one has to solve all the problems in ones own mind before drawing things. When do you plan to release the project? Matthias

That looks superb, lovely framework. Matthias

That will be a nice feature with the coppering plates. I don't know wich one is left and wich one is right. The coppering of Fregatten Jylland is symmetric. Matthias

Dear fellow modellers, After quite some time, I now have some progress to report on my part. Since I am building a transom model, it will later face the viewer with its stern facing forward. I was a little bothered by the fact that when looking into the model through the stern cabins, you are looking into empty space, so to speak. To remedy this, I added a rear wall to form the missing bulkheads to the ship's interior. Below are a few pictures of the first stages of construction with the bench in front of the upper gallery windows, the deck beams and the rear wall: In order to get a good view of the interior later on, it was necessary to provide lighting. There are numerous options for model making here, which are more or less complicated, time-consuming and expensive. In the end, I chose the most primitive option imaginable and purchased a string of lights from Roßmann for €2.95. The small LED lights have a diameter of approx. 3 mm, very thin cables and are spaced 8 cm apart. I made a drawing of the lanterns and petroleum lamps that I had in mind as fittings and asked Igor Capinos to draw and print them in 3D, which I think he did very nicely. Installing the lighting in the upper part of the model went quite well, as I still had access from above, but in the lower cabin it was a compromise, as I had to run the cables under the ceiling beams, which of course is not so nice. Here are some pictures of the installed lighting on both levels: I still need to work on the fit of the rear wall here. This was followed by the completion of the aft deck with the offset above the arched canopy. My design here is speculative, as the original model does not show the built state here. I inserted a bulkhead in the front area and added a deck to the upper platform. Later, ladder ascents and brackets for the hackboard will be added there. Finally, a few pictures of the overall model as it looks now. The LED-light seems to be extremely bright, that is an effect of the camera of my mobile-phone. In reality it is more warm-white. Best regards, Matthias

Yes of course. The Wikipedia picture is propably the most authentic. It is said to be contemporary.

By the way, do you know this painting of Lüder Arenholt? Elben is the Schoner on the left side. This picture from Wikipedia you might know as well: and there must be this model somewhere in Denmark. These pictures by Julius Prömmel are interesting as well. Elben in the center of the painting. Matthias

That looks really good! Well done Matthias

Hi Ben, you are making a great Job on this model!!! I have a question. Is it necessary to glue the keel onto the model so early? Maybe it is easier to fair and paint the frames without the keel and stem on it. Matthias

Hi Frank, I didn't look in here for a while, great progress!! Building the great cabin is so much fun! I enjoied that part a lot, when I built my Winchelsea. Matthias

Really nice design! Well done. You should offer this as a kit, once the prototype is finished. Matthias

Thank you for your nice comments and likes. Thorbjørn (TJM), the photos you made for me from the original model at the museum in Copenhagen made it possible to understand the construction much better then by just looking on the plans and the two photos, wich are public available. So thank you again for your help. I will visit Copenhagen this summer and am looking forward to have a look at the original model myself and all the other wonderful models of the Danish Navy. Matthias