A small cog c. 1410 by Brinkman - FINISHED - scale 1:20

[Louie da fly]

Binho, there's a very interesting article on all this at https://www.academia.edu/29671878/Bayonese_cogs_Genoese_carracks_English_dromons_and_Iberian_carvels_Tracing_technology_transfer_in_medieval_Atlantic_shipbuilding

[Binho]

Excellent, thank you! Love me some reading material

[liteflight]

I like the practical use of masking tape!  Seems to work well!

[Brinkman]

Thank you Binho and Liteflight! And thank you everyone for the likes 🙂

 

When I was back at the hobbystore to buy more planking I saw that the timber in my dimension was made in two batches with completely different graining patterns. Now I bought the good looking timbers instead.

 

 

The planking continues. I think the boatbuilders would have prefered to have it all clinkerbuilt for extra strength, but that extensive beaching would damage the hull, so they made the part of the hull contacting the sand flush.

 

The wreck had the line between flush and clinker looking random, but I made it more even.

 

I wasn't very precise when fitting the planks and some gaps was unsightly. 

 

The ship was caulked from the outside in grooves between the planks that were covered up with mosslaths. I thought I had read they were 3cm (1 3/16"), but after building it I looked it up again and saw that the were just a third of that. Oh well, I guess the mosslaths can be oversized if the treenails are...

 

It would be nice if I also could make the butterfly clamps holding the laths in place.

 

[PhilB]

Looks great! I'm always impressed by cool planking. Great job! One of these days I'm going to have to try my hand at it.

I'm curious how you're going to arrange the decking... but I guess I'll just have to be patient.

[liteflight]

I recognise the material of the tree nails!  That looks to me like end grain bamboo?

 

if it is we (and Harold Underhill need a new shipbuilding term, “grassnail”

 

[Brinkman]

PhilB, thank you! And yeah, I'm also wondering of the decking. There will be a front and aft deck. But I havn't decided on the exact placements yet. I think they will be held by beams with hanging knees. I always thought the decks should lay horizontally, but I read something about them following the shear? The deck planking will anyway be wide planks with natural edges. And the cargo area will have ceiling with some spacing between the planks.

 

You really should try planking like this, it's really fun with new challenges all the time.

 

Liteflight, yes, that bamboo graining is horrible! I started out with beech, but it was much easier to adjust the width of the bamboo sticks without them breaking.

[liteflight]

Not so!  
the bamboo end grain Is just what it is, and is a perfect material for the job.  
If the shipwrights had had Sikaflex they would not have persisted with loose caulking, would they?

 Well apart from a few nostalgia buffs!

fascinating build

[Brinkman]

After doing some more strakes and only having the shear strake left it was time to cut off the super structure. It had played it's role to make the hull solid as I planked. I tied the clamp as a guide for sawing.

 

 

 

Lots of treenails to trim... You can see how one of the cats is eyeing the boat and can't wait for the spikes to be removed so she can use it as a bed.

 

 

And after fitting the clamp and shear strake the outside of the hull is nearly done.

 

 

Changed plans for the decks. After reading up a bit more I will have a shelf running from stem to stern for beams to rest on and then standing knees on top of the planks. And gangways running alongside the cargo area.

 

Next step is smoothing out the inside of the frames.

[Louie da fly]

Beautiful work. That's looking really good. I like your carpenter standing there ready to trim off the treenails with his axe . . .

 

Maybe think about where your belaying points are going to be - where all the ropes get tied down to. I didn't think about it with my own build and now I'm having to get clever figuring out where to put cleats etc after all the main structure has been finalised.

 

I love your planking, by the way.

[Brinkman]

Thank you a lot for your encouragement Steven! It's good that you brought up the subject of cleats as I'm pondering it myself. I only see two variants:

 

(Source https://digitaltmuseum.se/021025899838/fartygsmodell)

 

Having the frame extend above the clamp and tie the rigging to it.

 

Or

 

(Source: Exploring the medieval farmer on facebook)

 

Having holes under the clamp. This picture is of an earlier viking boat, but as my clamp is cut off under the clamp like this

 

 

I think the second one would be best? Do you have any suggestion? I see some mediveal models with modern looking cleats, but surely that is not accurate?

 

Edit: Perhaps the first version is feasible anyway as I will have standing kness on the decks and they could extend upwards and act as cleats?

[Louie da fly]

I think both of these would work, and the idea of extending the knees upwards would certainly be feasible. But the horizontal cleat would be more secure.

 

But have a look at my most recent posts in 

which deal with all the evidence I've been able to find for belaying points in ships of this period. It only deals with shrouds, but there's nothing at all for belaying points for any other ropes.

 

And as far as I've been able find out, there haven't been any rigging items found at all from shipwrecks of this time period. If you do find any, I'd be very interested.

[Brinkman]

It's impressive how many pictures you find Steven, thanks! I think I'll go with the hole under the clamp, that looks both like the most sturdy and accurate one. Nice detail on the pic from Luttrell's showing how I can fix the standing rigging.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, mate. Your choice for fixing the shrouds sounds like a good one. That Luttrell picture is certainly very good. I could only wish all the others were as good! 

 

I mostly get these pics by starting with Pinterest and when I get something I like I see if I can find the original website it was taken from - either from the Pinterest entry, or by doing a Google Image search or by pasting the name of the document (manuscript name and folio number if possible)  into google search and see if anything comes up. It's surprising how often that's successful. And often one Pinterest image leads to another and another and another. . . .

[Moab]

Thank you for this great build process. I’m learning a great deal from 834 and everyone who’s been posting ideas and suggestions.  I’m continually  amazed how this forum has brought individuals from across the world....Sweden to Australia to Virginia and points in between. It’s a real tribute to this site bringing modelers together...Moab

[liteflight]

14 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Beautiful work. That's looking really good. I like your carpenter standing there ready to trim off the treenails with his axe . . .

Me, I would be using, of choice, an adze and keeping my feet out of the glancing blow area.

But studying learned articles about Nordic shipbuilding has revealed the side-axe! A sort of kinetic plane. And claims that Viking shipwrights did not use the adze! Surprise.

[Louie da fly]

Yep. It's even shown on the "shipbuilding" panel of the Bayeux Tapestry, where a fleet is being built for William of Normandy to invade England. (Also a hand drill held by the guy on the right working on the upper ship, and perhaps a smaller one held by the left-hand guy on the lower ship)

 

[Louie da fly]

I thought you might be interested in this: https://www.academia.edu/22591645/Medieval_Shipwrecks_from_North_Norway_and_their_Contribution_to_Understanding_Maritime_Interaction_and_Trade?email_work_card=title - they found "six complete or partial blocks and two possible deadeye fragments.", though the only block the paper show a photo of is what we would now call a heart as it doesn't have a sheave.

 

 

The paper also quotes a definition of what are nowadays understood to be the defining characteristics of a cog "having straight stem and stern,flush-laid bottom planking, clinker-built sides, and floor-timbers alternating between extension to port and starboard (Crumlin-Pedersen, 2000)", which I had never come across before , and though there are exceptions to this, it's a pretty good definition.

[Binho]

Wow, looking really good silverman! I like the unusual carvel-to-clinker transition!

[Brinkman]

Thank you Moab and Binho! And thank you Steven for the link, it's always good to find more original parts to look at.

 

There was a lot of filing to do to smooth out the inside. And than the shelf was installed.

 

 

The stern deck was next and I planked it what I thought was the easiest (and therefore most likely) way.

 

 

But the next day I undestood how wrong my thought process must have been and I redid it more according to finds. Much better this way. Standing knees, treenails and iron nails will be added later.

 

(The deck is also smaller now. I saw that I needed more space towards a future bulkhead and was therefore actually glad that I had to rip out the deck)

 

I'm giving everything a quick coat of paint as I build to reach all nooks and crannies and will go over it again later for finishing. The paint is an oilbased wash and I havn't used it before but like how slowly it dries and how it is absorbed in the wood.

 

Large cogs had the beams hook into the planking, but smaller cogs instead had large iron bolts doing it. This was not to keep the beams in place, but to keep the hull in place and keep it from bulging out.

 

I did these rosebolts by flattening brass nails and using blackening fluid.

 

 

Next up is the forward deck.

[bruce d]

Hello silverman834, I like what you have done with this obscure subject. I assume you have seen the two papers in this link:

Regards,

Bruce

[Brinkman]

Thanks Bruce, Steven linked me those earlier in the thread, great links!

[Louie da fly]

That's beautiful work, Silverman. A very enjoyable build to follow.

[Binho]

I really like the paint you are using, gives a

beautiful and realistic finish. Can I ask what paint it it?

[Brinkman]

Thank you for the Steven for the encouragement!

 

Binho, the paint is from a swedish brand and I think a correct description of the paint would be that it is an oilbased wash meant for furniture and the colour is appropriately called tar. It gets a nice finish if it dries for an hour and the exposed areas is then wiped off to get contrast. But today I got some spots where it turned shiny and I must tone it down.

 

(The can has the description in both swedish, norwegian, danish and finnish)

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up on your build.  She's looking very nice indeed.

 

John

[Brinkman]

Thank you Jim and every one else for the likes!

 

Next up was completing the decks.

The worker hasn't learned his lesson and is yet again using the wrong kind of axe.

 

The shipswright deems the work tolerable, but that it needs another coat of paint after all the sanding.

 

Planks and knees are fastened with treenails to the beams, but I run a line of nails to also fasten the planks to the hull.

 

I bought the thinnest pins I found and use their 1.3mm (3/64") heads for nails after blackening them. Quite fiddly work.

 

I have also started nailing the hull, but will spare you the sight of it until it's all painted as I know that some of you are quite sensitive to too obvious nailing 😛

 

Fore deck also done. The opening in the front is of course for the bowsprit.

 

There almost isn't anything left of the decks in the wreck I base this build on, but I take inspiration from other similar wrecks from the region.

 

I alternate the standing knees with rider beams with knees in the ends to strengthen the decks. The fore deck also has a stanchion underneath.

 

The primary cargospace is of course aft of the mast and it will have ceiling and bulkheads but I think they also had cargo fore of the mast. But that area had not any ceiling on it and I think it would look weird to leave that area "naked", so I enlarged the fore deck and argue that one can load heavy stuff like barrels and bricks under it and lighter loads on top. The watercourses in the rider beams can be used for belaying. And the space underneath is of course also used for spareparts, tools and ballast.

 

An early thought of having a large fore deck was to have it act as shelter for the crew, but it proved too cramped. The ship is so small that it wasn't used for any longer travels any way.

 

Next up is to furnish the main cargospace and having gangplanks on the sides.

[PhilB]

Amazing work! I'm struggling with the idea of depicting nailheads at 1/50, but yours at 1/20 are already so small, it's hard to imagine how I would approach the problem at 1/50. I guess the standard method of scribing nail holes in the planks before painting may have to do.

 

Your work is inspiring! Keep the pics coming!

[Brinkman]

Thank you so much Phil for your kind words! Yes, I agree that it will look wrong with this kind of nails in smaller scales, this scale is just on the edge I think

[Brinkman]

The work with furnishing the hold continuous, but I'm also looking into the mast and just can't figure out how to fasten the yard to it. I created a thread for it and would be grateful if anybody has any ideas of how to solve it.