AnobiumPunctatum

This will start the build log for the model I have been planning to build since I decided to start model ship building. However, I realized that I needed to acquire some skill and get experience before I could attempt it. With some models under my west I now feel ready to start.
 
The subject is medieval long-ship from around 1325 that was found in Stockholm in 1979. The ships size and unusual form caught the attention by marine archeologists and the public, so a reconstruction was built. The reconstruction was launched in 1983, and was named Helga Holm (literally "holy islet" which is a word play of the island where the wreck was found "helgeandsholmen" = "the islet of the Holy spirit") . The first years it was the Maritime History Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet) in Stockholm that owned and sailed the ship in order to perform "experimental archeology". Later on the ownership was transferred to an association that has sailed and maintained the ship since then, mostly for recreation. I have been participating and sailing the reconstruction for about 18 years.
 
Unfortunately the ship is now becoming so old, and requiring so large and costly renovations, that we can no longer maintain here as a sailing ship. The plan is to place her on land in the city of Sigtuna north of Stockholm.
 
The original reconstruction was documented in one archeological report and a more popularly written book. The report includes the reconstruction plans that I will use as the basis for my model. Both the report and the book documents the building of the reconstruction and will help with different detailed aspects. I will also (at least for a while longer) have access to the reconstruction for any specific measurements.

One question I have been asking myself, will I be building a model of the original ship based on the information gained by the reconstruction, or will I build model of the reconstruction? I have concluded that it will be the former. For the hull shape I will not be able to improve on the reconstructions results, but for the rig and some other details I plan to do a bit of my own research and might come up with other conclusions.
 

I plan to go slow on this build, and I will use my build of a Sloop from Roslagen as practice for certain aspects. In particular regarding building the clinker hull. On the other hand I would like to start the build while I still have access to the reconstruction for additional measurements etc.
 
Cheers

After finishing the ensemble I got the information that the step between stem and knee of the head doesn't exist. There is a drawing in Steel's Naval Architecture, that shows this detail. I am missing this book in my library and follwed the design which David descirbes in the Swan Class series by my first attempt.
 
Now I've reworked the comstruction:

Actually, the weather is too nice to work in the shipyard...
...but a little bit I did manage to do this weekend.

The two prepared parts of the "Knee of the Head" were carefully fitted to the steven and then glued together.

Next, all templates were carefully removed and the fit was checked again.

To make it easier for me to glue the Knee of the Head to the stem I drilled three holes of 2.0mm and fixed the component with brass wire. At this step the fit was checked one last time and some slight corrections were made.
Now the Knee of the Head was sandes into shape. It tapers from the keel to the upper corner of the leading edge from about 10.5'' (according to SR 9.5'') to 7.5''; the trailing edge has a constant width of 10.5''. To transfer the measurements to the wood, I made small templates in CAD and glued them to the component. The stern changes its width from 10.5'' at the transition to the keel to 16'' at the top edge. I have also made a template for this. Because of all the sanding I forgot to take pictures of this stage of construction.

The last three pictures show the finished ensemble. On the second last picture you can hopefully see the wooden dowels I glued to the model instead of the brass rods.


 
 
 

Thanks for the Likes.
 
Today I prepared the "Knee of the Head". I have divided this one into two parts to make it easier for me to adapt to the stem later. First the chocks of the upper part were adjusted and glued together. For the caulking  was again single layer cellulose used. To compensate for small tolerances, the templates were again exchanged for a single one after completion of the assembly. The main piece and the other components of the upper assembly were then added.

The lower assembly was then adapted and assembled.
The following two pictures show the current status:

Since my vacation is coming to an end, the shipyard is now being exchanged for the home office. Nevertheless I hope to finish the "Knee of the Head" next weekend.
 

Further with the "Upper stem". There are only two parts that have to be glued to the lower part of the stem, which was already shown in the last part. The issue is complicated by the fact that even tiny angular deviations in the "Joint" lead to deviations at the upper end of the component. Aggravating is the fact that the component is about 1.7mm thicker than the keel

At first I built a small jig, which fixes the keel during the adjustment work. To check the position of the components, a template was aligned on the working surface and fixed with adhesive tape. Thin wooden plates were placed under the keel to compensate for half of the height difference.

Next, the two components of the "upper stem" were glued together. A little more material was deliberately left at the sides to compensate for the construction tolerances later. Then the joint between the new component and the "Lower stem" was adjusted with my milling machine, chisels and sandpaper until the upper end of the stem was in line with the template. Now the components could be glued together.

The old templates were removed and a new template was glued and aligned. Finally, the stem was sanded into shape.

The description of my  reconstruction you will find here.
 
On Easter Monday the time had finally come. The keel of his majesty's frigate HMS Triton was laid.
 
First the 5 components for the keel were sawn out.

I have simplified the design of the joints considerably, as they will be completely covered later on by further components. I will continue to apply this principle during the further construction in order to adapt the building as far as possible to my craftsmanship.

The first cliff that had to be overcome is the joint between keel and lower stem. I worked this out with my milling machine and chisels.

 
After I had attached the wrong keel, the joints have to be dowelled. These dowels are a bit too big for the chosen scale, but I cannot draw pear wood thinner than 0.8 mm. I know that many modellers swear by bamboo, but I find pear on the finished model more discreet.

I have simulated the caulking with single-ply pulp.

That's a nice idea. I am also building the cog "Wütender Hund". But if someone needs some picture of the Kamper Kogge, I made some pictures during a small trip in my holidays.

Congratulations, just a beautyful model.

Do you want to build the keel from different layers? The only point for me to use a layer is the really complex design of the stemdecoration. If you have a colser look to the original stem you can see that it is very thin at front.
I hope that you need to much time, to start your build log. I am very interested so see, how you proceed.

I understand what you mean. That's also the reason, why I didn't start building the Oseberg or one of the other bigger viking ships. The stopped Skuldelev III was a not so nice experience. But I love this kind of klinker build ships.
But before I go back, I will finish my HMS Triton; but this project needs some more years to complete.
 

I understand what you mean. That's also the reason, why I didn't start building the Oseberg or one of the other bigger viking ships. The stopped Skuldelev III was a not so nice experience. But I love this kind of klinker build ships.
But before I go back, I will finish my HMS Triton; but this project needs some more years to complete.
 

I understand what you mean. That's also the reason, why I didn't start building the Oseberg or one of the other bigger viking ships. The stopped Skuldelev III was a not so nice experience. But I love this kind of klinker build ships.
But before I go back, I will finish my HMS Triton; but this project needs some more years to complete.
 

Already did. You even hit the 'like' button! We're gettin' old, Mark! 😉

Hi @AnobiumPunctatum,
 
 Yes, I’m still planning on building up the keel out of layers. My woodworking skills are insufficient to craft angled scarfs and the T shaped wings of the keel by hand, so I’ll build them up one layer at a time and sand them down.
 
I haven't honestly given much thought to the decorations. They are far beyond my skill level and I'm not sure how I would go about them. I'll give it my best effort, but may very well leave them out for this project. It's more important to me that this boat floats than that it be an exact replica.

Thanks for sharing the photos. The decorations are really nice. The lion looks special on the drawing. At the first looking I thought, it's a horse.

Well I am not sure if I should put  the photo's here or at the beginning and probably just do both. Just to give you some info on the plans Montagu was built at Chatham launch and copper in 1779.  Some of the plans show her Large repair in 1803 so figuring out how she was framed and planked when she was built.For some reason some of the photos turn them self's up side down and if one of the mod's can help me fix that I would be most thankful   Gary









 

Hi Christian. If you go to the first page of the log, maybe the second post I made, you should see what the decoration of her stern and bow. I will put up Montague photo's of her sheer for you as soon as I have a cup of coffee and wake up good sir. If you want I can also PM them to you along with putting them up on the log. Gary

It's the end of the road for CAD work.
 
I'll be losing access to Rhino soon, so here's the final CAD screenshot. Everything else will be photos of wood from here on out.
 

 
This is the completed jig design. I'm not sure if all of it is necessary, and may not end up building it this way, but it would support both the keel and the cutout. I've also made the cutout opening wider in this version than my last screenshot. The jig height is set up so that the cutout is exactly halfway up the keel and it can be flipped over with zero change in geometry.
 
The bulkheads will only be used in the upside down position while placing the first five strakes. After that I think the hull should be sturdy enough to flip it over and remove the bulkheads and cutout.
 
I've never done this before so please tell me, does this sound like a sane way to build a model?
 
Next step will be printing out all my parts and backing the files up to the cloud for when I'm able to get Rhino again some day.

Hi Gary,
 
I am really intersted to have a look at the fotos of drawings.

Congratulations, just a beautyful model.

Hi Gary,
 
I am really intersted to have a look at the fotos of drawings.

Congratulations, just a beautyful model.

Congratulations, just a beautyful model.

Congratulations, just a beautyful model.

That's a nice idea. I am also building the cog "Wütender Hund". But if someone needs some picture of the Kamper Kogge, I made some pictures during a small trip in my holidays.