Berlin 1674 by Strelok - 1:100

[Strelok]

Hi guys,

 

After finishing my brandenburgian Golden Yacht, I was quite sure, that my next build would be a spanish 22-gun frigate in 1/63rd scale. But as I have neither the tools nor the money for the wood, guns and so on, I kept on looking for my next build. A few days ago, I found the plans for a ship called "Fregatte Berlin" and decided, to give them a try. 

 

Concerning the ship's history:

She was a dutch-built pinnace (and not a frigate^^) and part of the electorial brandenburgian fleet - just like the Yacht. 

She was built in 1674 and entered brandenburgian service in the following years. In her first years, she was used for trading with the brandenburgian colonies in west africa and fought the spanish in the war of 1680/81 in the carribean. There she was part of a small fleet of five ships, which managed to capture two spanish galleons. 

Her end is unknown, but she remained in brandenburgian service at least until 1684.

 

I am not quite sure, how I will build her: paper or wood? Only the hull or fully rigged? If wood, then painted or not? 

 

Over the last days, I worked on the plans. 

 

Your comments and advices are deeply welcome! 

[Strelok]

Hi guys,

 

Browsing through the internet, I found a further four plans of brandenburgian ships. Combined with the Golden Yacht, I could potentially build a whole sixth of the brandenburgian navy, which mustered 34 ships at its peak in 1684. I therefore had the keen idea, to build the five remaining ships and display them all together.

 

The good thing is: all plans are drawn in 1/100th scale.

The bad thing is: I maybe don't really trust the plans of the Yacht and the Berlin.

 

If both of them were correct, both ships were of equal size, but the Yacht had one mast and 8 guns, whereas the Berlin had three masts and 16 guns. 🤨 Wikipedia gives both ships comparable lenghts, too (Y: 23m, B: 22,65m). Even the breadth is roughly the same (Y: 6,5m, B: 6,23m).

Furthermore, my Berlin-plans are not matching either! They call the length out to be around 23,5m, breadth 4,6m and height 19,2m (french wikipedia says, the height of the Berlin was 21,5m from head to toe). This means, while the length is almost in scale, the breadth is 27% off and height 11% - IF the measurements on wikipedia are correct in the first place

 

I am more inclined to trust the measurement of the Yacht, but this means, that the ones for the Berlin are way off.

 

I then decided to take a look at both Berlin kits. One is by Graupner and made in the 1970's in 1/50th scale, the other one is by Corel, more modern, and in 1/40th scale.

Doing the maths, they come out very similar: length overall between 33,2 and 33,5m (Corel being shorter than Graupner), height between 26,75 and 27,6m (Graupner being smaller than Corel) and a breadth of 7,6m (found only the measurements for the Corel kit)

These sizes sound waay more plausible.

 

CONCLUSION:

I need to rescale all my drawings *sigh*

 

Well, trusting wikipedia, at least the plans for the Yacht seem to be correct 😆

 

I'll be back... soon...

 

EDIT: I decided to use the Corel kit's measurements as guidelines. New "problem": to match them, I need to lengthen my plans to 139%, raise them to 143,75% and broaden them to 168% compared to their current status. This will be fun 🤪

Edited February 10, 2021 by Strelok

[RdK]

Hi,

 

Very interesting preparation and research. Since it was a dutch-built ship, did you consider to check the beam width to keel ratios of dutch vessels of that time and compare them to the different plans you have?

 

I would be glad to see you building that model from card and paper! Scale 1:100 is surely not easy from wood. I have never really build a ship from wood except my Elbing Cog (balsa wood, if that counts) but I can imagine that the wood starts to splice easily when making parts that small and tiny?

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Rgds,

Radek

[Ab Hoving]

Perhaps you should read this:

Seventeenth-century Dutch ship design drawings. Real or counterfeit - by Ab Hoving - pages 33-48.pdf

[Strelok]

13 hours ago, RdK said:

Hi,

 

Very interesting preparation and research. Since it was a dutch-built ship, did you consider to check the beam width to keel ratios of dutch vessels of that time and compare them to the different plans you have?

 

I would be glad to see you building that model from card and paper! Scale 1:100 is surely not easy from wood. I have never really build a ship from wood except my Elbing Cog (balsa wood, if that counts) but I can imagine that the wood starts to splice easily when making parts that small and tiny?

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Rgds,

Radek

Hi Radek, 

Thank you for your advice concerning the ratios. 

I finished the rework of the plans yesterday. The upscaling was not as difficult as I had imagined after I discovered,that this could even be done with Paint the results were a bit blurry, but I think I was successfull. (pictures will follow)

 

I lean more towards working with wood or making a hybrid. The backbone and bulkheads will definitely be made from wood (3mm plywood) due to increased stability compared to card. The planking of hull and decks are yet to be decided. Maybe I'll try wood and if it does not work, I'll switch to 0,5mm cardboard. 

I've built the Große Jacht (log is titled Golden Yacht) more or less purely with cardboard and some things worked fine, but others were just a paint. But that's true for the wooden parts, too. I've yet to find my perfect way in 1/100th scale. 

 

13 hours ago, Ab Hoving said:

Perhaps you should read this:

Seventeenth-century Dutch ship design drawings. Real or counterfeit - by Ab Hoving - pages 33-48.pdf 1.32 MB · 8 downloads

 

Even the title sounds promising. I'll take a look at it! 

Thank you very much. 

[Strelok]

Hi guys,

 

as promised, albeit a little late, here are a few of my reworked plans.

Please forgive the neck gymnastics, that are required to look at the pictures... I turned them the right way, but they were inserted "unturned"

 

The first shows the backbone.

 

I had a longitudinal section of the Berlin, from which I took the height and placement for the decks and masts. The cut-out at the rear (half way between frame N and the keel) is reserved for the beam connecting the rudder to the inside stuff (terminus technicus unknown 🤔)

In the top left corner is Frame P, which I drew myself. This will be put alongside the backbone to stabilize the rear and give the windows/gun ports below the galery their left and right edge. The cut-outs (steps) on the top and bottem left (rear) side of P are the places for bulkhead N2 (lower) and O (upper), which will form the transom (It's Heckspiegel in german)

 

This is one example (of three sheets) for the frames:

 

I just copied the sketch of the ship's lines 18 times, so that the halves of two sketches form one bulkhead (like there are 2x N1  or N2). I will cut them out and glue them together - either to another piece of paper or to the plywood, that will become the bulkhead. On the top left and lower right sketch, you can see the will-be windows/gun-ports (blue squares)

 

Here you can see a cross section at the place of bulkhead H or I. The measurements at the top (right) are the thickness of the ship's side walls at the different height levels above the water line and the scribbling in the middle is the height difference between the middle part and the edges due to the curvature of the deck.

 

And last, but not least: the keel parts

 

I took all the measurements of length and angle, but will (most certainly) just cut it out and use it as a template 😆

 

I am pretty pleased with the results, remembering the low resolution the plans are/were in.

 

 

[Strelok]

Hi guys,

 

just a quick update: the templates for the bulkheads are cut out and glued on to backing paper. This way, I have an almost clean base (now on the backside), were I can draw the lines for the decks and outer walls AND see the lines from the templates at the same time.

 

When the time (and wood) has come to proceed with the bulkheads, I will seperate both layers (AFTER drawing all lines 😁) and glue the backing paper to the plywood. At least, that's my plan... If it works, only my future self can tell.

[Strelok]

It's been a while, since I've posted an update. But the next step was quite a mental challenge for me. Not because of its difficulty, but because I was not sure, if the results were to be good enough. 

 

So, here are the finished templates for my Berlin! They were not as tricky as I feared 🤣

 

The next step is waiting for the wood to arrived. 

The bulkheads will be made from plywood. Planks of the hull, masts and yards are from walnut and the decks will be planked with Tanganjica wood. I didn't choose them for any specific reason other than that the decks should be of lighter colour than the hull and rig. Although the Tanganjica could be a bit darker than I think 🤔 

 

Edit: after looking at it a few times more, I came to the conclusion, that I need to reinforce the backbone-section, where frame C and the Fore mast are located. As it is, it may break easily. 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Strelok

[Strelok]

On 2/12/2021 at 5:24 PM, Ab Hoving said:

Perhaps you should read this:

Seventeenth-century Dutch ship design drawings. Real or counterfeit - by Ab Hoving - pages 33-48.pdf 1.32 MB · 28 downloads

If I under stand this study correctly, my plans of the Berlin, that seem to be a direct copy out of the sample, you researched here, are in the best case an educated guess, but complete fakes in the worst case. 

 

Well... The historian in my head says "dump the project, as it is not correct", the shipbuilder says "use it as practice.. Noone will notice or care" 🤔 

 

Maybe I build this ship, which claims to be the Berlin, but isn't and build her as any ship I want her to be. Be it a pirate ship or the fictional flagship of the even more fictional saxonian navy 😅

 

An way, the wood has arrived. I need only some spare time to finish my current projects (three tanks, ten miniatures and a plane 😅) and after that, I can start building the "Berlin" 

[knightyo]

I think this ship would be fantastic to see in unpainted wood.  I also wouldn't worry about whether or not the plans are 100% accurate, as no one will be able to prove they are wrong anyway.

 

Alan

[Strelok]

The wood has arrived and I want to show it to you - kind of like a teaser and a sign, that this log is not dead 😅

 

To the right is Tanganjika-wood for the deck planking. In the middle is nut wood for the hull planking and details and to the left is also nut wood for the mast. 

I fear the hull to be a bit dark, but I really like the orange tint of the Tanganjika-wood and the contrast it forms with the nut wood. 

 

Unfortunately, work keeps my busy, so I don't expect to start the Berlin in the near future ☹️

[Strelok]

Hi guys,

 

just a quick update. A few weeks ago I bought this book at a flea market. I must say, these were well spent 10€

It's published in the 90ies and shows 100 photographs (even the oldest known ship model) and around 3000 technical drawings and tables of different proportions (diameter of masts or the rig).

It's like a well written roadmap to build a ship from wood fromm start to finish. It has drawings of many different parts including variations, that certain parts had according to time period and/or geografical origin.

Included is a questionnaire of 41 questions that the author recommends to take a look at. They ask things like "Do I have enough pictures and other sources?" or "Am I skilled enough to build this ship in a way I will be satisfied with?". One thing, the author emphasizes greatly is "DON'T WORK WITH BAD PLANS!" If you don't have good ones, search for them and if you don't find them, consider building another ship.

 

Well, you've seen the quality (or the lack of) of my plans... I think, I will follow his advices and stop the work on the Berlin right now. No cut has been cut, no tear or sweat has run and no bad language has been spoken by now. I think, this project does not fit to my set of skills at this moment. Maybe I will return to it one day, but now, I have laid my eyes on yet another brandenburgian ship: the small brigantine Castell Friedrichsburg

 

She was a merchant ship of the brandenburgian navy in the late 17th century and took part in the triangle trade, including deporting african people to the american colonies. She was built in 1688 and lost in 1693 on her way from Africa to her home port Emden.

NOTE: my actual plans are of way better quality than this picture

 

I take her as a base and will alter her design a fair bit.

 

1. I will include the staysails, jib and top gaff sail, that are just hinted at in this drawing - she looks way better with all her skirts

2. I will increase the number of guns from six to fourteen, maybe sixteen - she looks unbalanced with her few guns concentrated at the bow

3. She will not sail under brandenburgian colours. Maybe pirate, mabye saxony... not yet decided

 

I'm not yet decided on the scale. My plans are in 1/37,5th scale, but I think, I will scale them down to 1/50 or 1/72 (for the latter one it's easier to find pirate miniatures for height comparison)

 

This is an idea of, how she will look like. I'm not sure about the colour scheme. I have two other options in mind: The upper part in copper oxide green (which is blue in this picture), the lower part still bare wood and no black band above the water line OR bright light blue on the upper part, the lower part yellow and black wales as a contrast - a bit like the 1747 HMS Tiger, that is being built by Siggi.

 

I will use this thread for further updates.

[mtaylor]

I recommend opening a new build log on the Castell Friedrichsburg.  Leave this one here in case you decide to come back this model.   Otherwise, things get confusing to readers.

 

The Monfeld book is a good resource.  Just be careful though as there are some errors in it,  I use it as my starting point for research and then dive deeper with other resources.

[Ferrus Manus]

It is highly unlikely that the meter (as a unit of length) was standardized across Germany OR the Netherlands in 1674, so you do not have to worry about the length of your ship.