Hanse Kogge by Torbogdan - FINISHED - Dusek Ship Models

[Torbogdan]

My second model. I´m staying with Dusek ( my third sometime in the future will also be a Dusek as I have already bought it)

 

This time it is the Hanse Kogge. It is also rated as a "advance beginner" so it should suit me fine. It is a clinker built ship, it will be fun to try that building style so to speak. Looking through the kit everything looked fine. 

 

I started to build a few days ago and here is the first update. Note that this build will proceed fairly slowly as it is summer and other things will take precedence but I will try to update every now and then.

 

There was one hitch. There was a discrepancy between the instructions and how the parts were numbered. No big deal as it was possible to figure out which bulkhead went where but still. For someone not paying attention or so it could spell trouble as the bulkheads could be put in the wrong slots.

 

I emailed Daniel and described the problem, he replied immediately and said he would look into the problem. Great customer service.

 

All parts have so far gone together without a hitch. What bothers me bit is that the keel parts do not meet up after sanding. There is a small gap which can be seen in the pictures. That will have to be filled with a small sliver of wood.

 

 

 

 

 

Dryfitting the first plank. Fits perfectly. Second plank laying below. First I fit the plank to check if it fits ( of course) sanding if necessary. I then soak each piece in water, then "dry fit" the wet plank and fix it into place. After it has dried in place I loosen it and glue it in place permanently. Works well so far.

[Torbogdan]

 

Adding planks. It is going very smoothly. Actually so good I´m getting suspicious… I must be doing something wrong. It is more or less just "falling into place"...

 

I can manage about 1-2 planks per side per day. Actually building it does not take that long, it is all the drying times that makes it slow.

 

Test fit

some sanding

wet the plank, and fix it into place and allow to dry

remove and glue into place, allow to dry.

 

When this plank is secure I can start on the next plank. So slow progress.

[Torbogdan]

I´m continuing adding planks. It is going well but there was a mishap in the bow. I do not have time to take a picture of it but will try to soon. Work, vacation, family and some commission work is taking precedence over my hobby for the moment.

 

But I´m in no hurry, all in all it is going smoothly and the kit is very satisfying to build.

[Mirabell61]

The build looks very nice Torbogdan,

 

NIls

[Mirabell61]

 

Adding planks. It is going very smoothly. Actually so good I´m getting suspicious… I must be doing something wrong. It is more or less just "falling into place"...

 

I can manage about 1-2 planks per side per day. Actually building it does not take that long, it is all the drying times that makes it slow.

 

Test fit

some sanding

wet the plank, and fix it into place and allow to dry

remove and glue into place, allow to dry.

 

When this plank is secure I can start on the next plank. So slow progress.

 

 

Congrats, Looks like you have chosen a precision high quality kit, I like that lapstrake planking very much, looks very realistic for the "Hanse Kogge"

 

Nils

[Torbogdan]

A little update. Three planks have been added. Now only one plank per side is left!

 

As "promised" the updates have been a bit slow and will continue to be so during the summer. I´ll get a few hours of work in this week though. The build is going smoothly, I noticed a mistake in the planking earlier and will take a picture of of. There was not much to do but to ignore it and keep working, It would not have been possible to fix it. Overall I´m very satisfied with the planking. It has gone very smooth and the quality of the planks and their "exactness" is very very good.

 

 

[Torbogdan]

Planking is done! Last one glued in place. I even remembered to avoid gluing the two top most planks to the "bulkheads". They are to be sawed off in the next stage.

 

 

 

Here are two pictures of my mistake… I used a too large clamp to hold the planks in place in the bow. The clamp bended the planks in the wrong direction. I did not notice this until I had glued one plank above them. I did not know how to correct it so I just ignored it. Stupid mistake but seen normal viewing it is hardly noticeably.

 

 

[JanV]

did you use glue which is water-soluble. if so use a injection neadle and spray some water at the point with the failure.

hopefully this part will then release and then you can carefully re-glue this again.

 

good luck

[Torbogdan]

Thanks for the advice! I used Aliphatic Resin. I will try it on a few pieces of scrap wood for further building. This time I will let it be on this model. The reason I used a large clamp was that the "point of contact" between the board and bow was so small. Next time I will att a piece of balsa wood to the bow and sand it down so that the planks have a larger contact area so to speak. this will also guarantee that the shape is correct.

 

But thanks again, I did not think of trying to dissolve the glue. I thought of sawing it loose but that then I would loose a couple of millimeters and the plank would be too short. So I decided to leave it.

[Torbogdan]

Some progress. I shamelessly endorse the glue "Aliphatic resin", it is great. it has a short clamp time but still some time to slide things around, if you are fast . For super quick clamp time a tip I picked up here on the forum and forward is to add some glue to both pieces that are going to be joined, smear it very very thin. Let it rest for a maybe 20-30 seconds, put a little extra glue (not much) on one of the surfaces and push them together. Hold for 10-15 seconds or so and it has set! Almost like superglue (ok that can be faster but still… )

 

 

The large floor piece is very thin. When glue is added to its back it curls up, bends lite a "U". To stop that I have lined the edges with blue tac to keep it down. Otherwise the edges will curl up and it will look a complete mess.

 

Being not careful, I smeared the floor piece with the glue in the bow. I wiped it off but it can still be seen. But, all is not lost! I will stain the model dark brown and the glue takes a stain!. So it will be covered up. Just to make sure though I will give it a careful rub with fine grain sand paper first. 

Edited July 22, 2016 by Torbogdan

[Torbogdan]

A meager update!

 

 

Some of the items to be glued to the deck. I have roughly marked on the hull where some details are to be added. I thought I was really smart with the blue tac to keep the deck piece tight to the hull when I glued it in place. It was, and still is, a good idea I think but be careful with the glue. Some glue "crept" up between the lower deck and the piece I glued in place and the hull planks. This "glued" some of the blue tac to the hull and deck. A minor nuisance and annoyance as I could peel, scrape, grind and sand it away very carefully but still… So I you use blue tac take care not to let it "be glued to the ship"!

 

Otherwise the build is going very smoothly. Parts are crisp and "tight", everything so far fits very well. 

[Elijah]

Nice progress! She is looking good!

[Torbogdan]

Thanks!

 

This is not much of an update . I will not have much time for a few weeks for building and even less for updating the blog. So there will be  no updates for two or three weeks . But after that I will have a bit more spare time and I can continue to build this great model ship.

[Torbogdan]

Some progress but also some trouble. I decided to add the 2x3mm sticks that goes along side the hull. The trouble is that they need to bend "sideways". That is, they  lie flat on the 3mm wide side and bend towards the 2mm thick side. This was a challenge. The first one I added did not behave properly despite being soaked in hot water some time. It wanted to twist and I finally had to nail it in place, as can be seen in the picture.

 

 

For the second one I decide to alter my approach a bit. I yet again soaked it, the with my trusty X acto blade i cut into the 2mm thick side of the stick. I made cuts every 10mm approx on both sides. Not deep cuts just maybe .2 mm deep or so. Then back to the bathroom sink with hot tap water in it.

 

 

After a soak i bent it against the side of the wash basin which had a nice curvature. Working carefully I got a nice bend. The cuts really helped.

 

Finally I got a nice bent stick which I could "force into place"

 

Now I leave it to dry and will glue it in place tomorrow. Hopefully it will look better than the first one ( which doesn't look bad except a few brass heads but still…)

[Torbogdan]

I have started to add the frames to the inside of the hull. I guess these are the "ribs" of the ship.

 

 

I counted the number of frames and measured the inside of the hull and divided to get the correct distance between the frames. So far so good. Unfortunately the frames are precut with a very high degree of accuracy and, I guess, any small mistake in planking the hull will mean that the frames won´t fit perfectly.

 

At least this happened to me… I have to modify each frame quite a lot . But this is also the beauty of wood models I think. If the pieces do not fit perfectly just modify them and it will turn out nice. In plastic models everything just "falls into place" without thought. With wood one needs to work a bit more. But this also means that one has to build very carefully or things will deviate a bit from how they are supposed to fit.

 

Oh well, "scratch building" parts with wood is fun so no problem and in the end it will look quite nice and no one will notice the difference

[Torbogdan]

 

 

All frames are done. Each had to be modified as I had not mounted all the planks 100% correct. It was not one plank that was grossly incorrect, more 1/5 of a mm here, another 1/5 mm there and it adds up. But in the end it was not a serious problem, just a bit more work

 

One might think that  errors this small would not matter but as the errors can only go "one way" they add up. 

 

 

If I were to build this model again, I would be very careful when mounting the hull planks. I guess the overlap should be maybe 1mm per plank. I could not find this in the instructions and it would be helpful if this was included. That way a lot of unnecessary extra work would be avoided in the step where the frames are glued in place.

 

As always work slow and be careful and patient.

 

 

[Torbogdan]

Support structures for the fore and aft castle. I like to work with subassemblies as I can make several "small models" and then in one sitting assemble them and, voila, a almost finished ship!

 

[John R. McGann]

Unfortunattly the cog as shown is all wrong! The first four strakes  port and starboad are carvell constructed. The decking is located between four rabbited beams which run fore and aft, thus the deck is athwart the vessel. The strakes are not the same width nor number port and  starboard. The scarfs of the strakes stand proud on the exterior and interior of the vessel for 1/3 of the strakes total thickness and are nail joined.There are five thru beams located just above the water line that project beyond the strakes  and carry huge knees. At the bow and stern are brest hooks which show above the decking! There are ceiling planks that carry all the way up to the rail. The clinker strakes  pass over the stem and then are capped with a massive false stem. The capstan is a cone shaped device located at the stern castle, not like an 18th century capstan at all. There is shielding over the channels to protect the deadeyes and prevent boarding by pirates. The kit manufacturer did not research or produce an accurate  product  in spite of the information and an actual 14th century cog available. John R.McGann

 

 

 

 

 

there is a

[AntonyUK]

Hi Torbogdan.

Nice build.. I like your approach to modeling.

The Halse is a interesting little ship that has some very nice features.

 

John... perhaps a message to Daniel Dusek might have been more appropriate?..

It's not always easy to make a kit that is 100% correct and some of the other kit manufactures just guess what the ship looked like.

 

Keep up the excellent build and ime following along with this one.

 

Regards Antony.

[Torbogdan]

The great thing about hobbies is that it is up to the individual to define it… Some people like building and do very little research, others research a lot and build much less. Others focus on other things, but everyone is part of the same hobby!

 

Basically "to each his own". I like to build or paint things. Of course I want them to be fairly accurate but, for me, the joy of constructing things with my hands is much more important than accuracy. I like to buy and build models and very rarely do much research, I just build Other hobbyists focus on other things. In my eyes, no one is more right or wrong, we just enjoy different parts of the same hobby.

[Torbogdan]

Some of the subassemblies added to the deck. The forward castle is not glued in place. I placed it there to check the placement.

 

[Torbogdan]

 

I´ve added the ribs to the inside of the forward castle. Progress has been slow these last two weeks. I have only been able work a few minutes here and there for some time. Frustrating to sit down and then be interrupted ten minutes later and so on. I think that this will be better from now on though as I will be able to get some more free time.

 

But, slow progress is also progress! And I´m in no particular hurry. 

[cobra1951]

Nice job, looks like a fun little build

[Torbogdan]

@Cobr@, Thanks a lot!

 

 

The forward castle is done with its support ribs on the outside, The bowsprit is attached and I´ve started on the rear castle. On the model itself I have added the two thin ribs on the inside of the spars. 

 

To the top left, below the mitre box is four rounded pieces of balsa wood glued together. That will be a door to a ship I´m building with my daughter. She comes in and sees me build and of course, being five years old, wants to help. As I´m a bit leery of her helping me with the model I let her help on a "special boat" she and I are building...

 

So she sands a few pieces and gets to glue them together and she is happy. Sooner or later that might end up as another ship model, or not

 

She has already built the ship cannon for that model. Picture might follow.

[Torbogdan]

Parts for the aft castle. It went together fairly well but the deck twisted a bit when I glued the planking to it. It can be seen in the picture that the most left corner is a bit off the ground. I will try to glue a couple of "support beams" to the inside to try to straighten it out. Otherwise I will have to force it in place and glue it and hold until the glue sets. It is always a small hazard to glue two large flat pieces together in my opinion, the risk that it twists a bit is always there.

I have also started to stain the model! did that this morning. Forward castle done and started on the hull. I´m not actually completely done with the hull, four little square pieces needs to be put in place. The four little squares mark their position. That is the reason I did not stain the entire hull. I used dark oak stain, it gives it a very nice look I think. the deck will only be varnished with a clear satin coat. I have not decided how to stain/coat the capstan, hatches and what not on the dec. Either varnish them or stain them with the same color of the hull? What say you?

 

Inside of the hull will be dark stained though.

 

Last but not least a picture of the cannon for my daughters modelship. I bought it a the Wasa museum. Compared to the "doors" we have done it is vastly out of scale, which does not bother her the least

[Torbogdan]

Long time, no update. But finally some work done. I´ve had a little commission work that had to take precedence but now I´m building again.

 

Aft castle is done and waiting to be stained. Also begun on the lifeboat. That is a neat little model in itself. It is built in clinker style just like the Kogge itself. It will be fun to build such a small model.

 

Actually there is not that much left on the Kogge. Mainly putting together all the subassemblies, forward and aft castle, mast, and cargo and some detailing. After that is the rigging of course but this model does not have a huge amount of rigging. 

 

 

 

 

[cobra1951]

Nice Work on the aft castle

I see some very fiddly work coming up

[Torbogdan]

On each plank I have written down its number and which end points forward.

 

The planks are only one millimetre thick but when they are this short it is "thick" and makes it difficult to bend properly. Especially the ones that need to bend in two dimensions. Also, since everything is so small it might be difficult to use ordinary clamps.

 

What I will do, I think, is to sand the planks a bit to make them thinner. And then soak them of course. Then fix them in place and let dry and then glue them in place.

 

We´ll see how it goes because tomorrow I will start!

 

 

[cobra1951]

If those planks are plywood be careful when you soak them because the layers will come apart. Bending should not be too bad as it looks like the planks are already shaped to allow for the curvature of the hull

Edited September 27, 2016 by Cobr@

[Torbogdan]

Yes they are plywood, hmm, did not think of them coming apart. Thanks for the heads up! I started to sand the first plank a bit. I trimmed it from 1mm to about .8mm. The ends i trimmed a bit more. I think that will be sufficient without soaking them actually. You are correct that they are shaped but they still need a bit of "bending" to fit properly.