TRE KRONER 1742 by Beckmann - 3"/8' scale - Transom-Model

[CiscoH]

 i would vote natural, red trim with natural, or red.  But i think any of the example colour schemes would look great

[druxey]

The safe choice would be natural wood. However, light grey or pale gray-green might be other choices to consider. Usually the 'red' was actually red ochre; a brownish red.

[dvm27]

First off, congratulations on you wonderful carpentry. Your joinery would pass inspection if enlarged to full size. It'll look beautiful whatever you do but personally I would opt for the natural wood with a varnish.

[Siggi52]

Moin Matthias,

I would paint the great cabin turquoise, in a blue or green tone. That is for the rococo period a good choice. The officers cabins white and all rooms for the ordinary seamen red. Natural wood only when ist was walnut or something like this. 

[Canute]

Your joinery is superb. I'd lean towards a blue shade.

[TJM]

Based on contemporary models at the Danish Krigsmuseet (War Museum), it seems to me that blue was not really used much on Danish ships after the 1720's (it was quite used in the 1600's though!). The colour palette of this period seems to be red, black, white  and yellow/gold. But the interior of the contemporary models are not detailed, so there are room for speculation/interpretation. 

 

I would go with natural or red - or perhaps a clean off-white?

 

BR

TJM

[ChrisLBren]

Nice work - personally I would go with a shellac - my favorite finish - either a blonde or garnet if you want darker.  Its so easy to apply and you can make you own mixture using flakes and alcohol.  

[Beckmann]

Hello everyone, and thank you for your interest and comments.

 

Not much has happened since my last post, but I have decided on a color to be used for the paneling of the “underste Kajyt”. Siggi had suggested a turquoise color, which is common for the rococo-style. In addition to all sorts of other suggestions such as grey, natural or red, I somehow stuck with it. Not because it was historically vouched for my model, but because it is something different from the usual red and white, and spreads a Northern European-Scandinavian cool atmosphere, which I like for my model, it is not English, so red would have been a good choice.

It may still be a little intense, but I'll leave it that way for now:

 

 

In the Danish National Archives, under the archive number A 1175d, there is a layout of the stern cabins of the Orlog ship ELEPHANTEN (same size, same designer and same year of construction as the TRE KRONER) and under the archive number A 975 an elaborately drawn longitudinal section of a Danish ship oft he line, which also shows the paneling of the “underste Kajyt” and the “Storre Kajyt” (great cabin). The “Storre Kajyt” has fluted flat columns with Corinthian capitals.

 

 

I am basing my model on both drawings, i.e. there will be no partitions in the areas of my stern section and the paneling in the upper cabin will be correspondingly more elaborate.

 

Further clues are provided by a contemporary cutaway model from the Krigsmuseet, where the rudder trunk, the stern bench and a bookshelf are beautifully depicted, and the preserved interior of the Swedish royal yacht AMPHION in the Sjohistoriska Museet in Stockholm. It doesn't have to be quite so magnificent, but the columns and the paneling are comparable to the sectional drawing A 975 (see above) I visited and photographed the Amphion myself, it is extremely impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards,

Matthias

[Siggi52]

Moin Matthias,

that looks very good. But don't make the color sooo dark. More so in the direction of your last pictures. These light colors are not so good to determine, is it light green or blue. That is what I mean with turquoise. 

Mostly you may see how the cabins where painted at the sides of the portholes. Here the Victory SLR0512

 

Edited June 2 by Siggi52

[druxey]

The color you show does look too intense. Even if this was what was used, it should be tinted (lightened) at scale size to look right.

[Beckmann]

Hello everyone,
After the summer break, I have returned to the TRE KRONER. The model continues to develop from bottom to top, so the interior of the ‘Underste Kajyt’ is currently being worked on, as well as the continuation of the transom from the outside.
Here we start with the cantilevered balcony, which was glued into shape from two layers of pear wood and butt-jointed to the model:

 

 

 

The cornices that form the end here are again partially curved. I experimented a little and steamed the rather stiff boxwood mouldings (7/10 mm) in the cooking pot and shaped them. This works quite well for continuous curves, from which the segments for the side pockets are cut, the attempt for the balcony railing went wrong, I then discarded that and chose another way:

 

 

 

 

In principle, this consists of building a jig in which the moulding is fixed and the profile is profiled to its final shape. The advantage is that there is no need for hot forming or the use of force if it doesn't quite fit and the profile follows the mould neatly. The disadvantage, of course, is that the curved ends always run slightly against the fibre, which makes the profiling process somewhat laborious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the first cornices fitted to the model, the accuracy of fit is quite good:

 

 

 

Finally, I continued working on the interior.
I've had some feedback that my choice of colours is not authentic and that the colour scheme is definitely too strong.
However, I have somehow fallen in love with this petrol shade and find it quite suitable. The bold interior colours are also not completely untypical for the Baroque period; you can find something similar in residential buildings. The colour restraint only really became predominant again in Classicism with the imitation of the ideal material marble.
Anyway, I stuck with my colour and painted the stern bench, rudder head box and panels the same colour.

 

 

 

 

Best regards,
Matthias

 

[Chuck]

That looks fantastic.  Really nice detailing.

[druxey]

Nice work on the moldings. The angled joints are also very neatly done!

[albert]

Fantastic work.

[tartane]

Yesterday I saw your report on this project for the first time. Great to see and read! I will follow you because I am very curious about the sculptures you are going to make. I built a few ships that involved quite a bit of carving on a scale of 1:87. I made that from pear wood that I selected from old utensils.

I plan to build a state yacht on that scale but I hesitate because I don't know if I can finish the many sculptures. I hope to learn something from your reports about materials and methods.

Constant

[Beckmann]

Hi Tartane,

Thank you for your message, I hope to begin with the carvings in 3-4 months. 

Matthias

 

[Beckmann]

Dear colleagues,
thanks for the likes and comments,
As a short addendum to my previous post, here are three more pictures of the now completed ‘underste Kajyt’,

 

 

 

 

best regards,
Matthias

[Beckmann]

Hello everyone,
There is some progress to report. Over the past few days, I've been working on the large arch, which is crucial for the design of the TRE KRONER's transom. As the component is a triple-curved arch with a curvature that should follow the stern and is also inclined, it was a little difficult to achieve the exact fit here. I cut out the arch from a pear wood plank with an allowance according to the drawing and then worked on it until the shape was right, at least to the eye.

The final assembly will take some time, but it was important for me to have an idea of how the stern design will develop towards the top. The rear arch will later be accentuated with fancy moldings in different colours before I finally attach it to the model.
Until then, I continued with the completion of the lower quarter galleries. The framework has been in place for some time, but I still had to fit the windows and moldings. As always, I worked with paper templates to find the right shapes in the three-dimensional space, as these are not immediately recognisable from the drawing. These were then laser-cut out of boxwood. The perforated mouldings are the bases for the balcony railings, where the balustrades will later be placed.

 

The windows are placed on stop mouldings from the outside, the glazing is cut from Ferrero Rocher tins. To ensure that the shape of the windows follows the curve of the side gallery better, they were heated and bent by hand. This works quite well if you make sure that the grain is on edge.
 

Then the upper mouldings had to be fitted and the window joints covered.
Here are a few more pictures of the current status of the work:

 

 

Once the other side gallery has been completed, the deck panelling above the main deck will be installed.

Best regards,
Matthias

Edited November 19 by Beckmann

[Chuck]

Beautiful stuff.   Nicely done.

[CiscoH]

amazing!

[albert]

Great beautiful work.

[westwood]

It looks gorgeous.

[Beckmann]

Hello everyone,

There is some minor progress to report on the model and some planning considerations on how to proceed, where perhaps this or that person has an additional idea?

The deck above the already completed lower cabin of the battery deck has been laid and some thoughts on the further planning of the side galleries have been sketched.

 

 

 

 

It's slowly getting cozy down there...

I looked for references for the further development of the captain's cabin and unfortunately didn't find much.

There is a contemporary painting of an English captain on board the HMS Nottingham (60 guns) from 1742, the year the TRE KRONER was built, painted by William Hogarth:

 

 

 

Here you can see that the wall paneling is quite elaborately decorated. Fluted flat columns and gilded carved capitals can be seen in the background. Between the stern windows, you can see the surrounding molded panels that also divide the rows of windows on the outside of the TRE KRONER.

 

 

In my opinion, the cabin was relatively elaborate and of high quality, whereas later examples are rather simpler. The cost of ship decorations was continually reduced throughout the 18th century, this applies to the exterior decoration and presumably also to the interior.
There is a detailed section through the Danish ship of the line Sophie-Magdalena from 1727, where a similar decoration is shown:

 

 

In Stockholm there is also the original paneling of the Amphion from 1778, a little too young and perhaps already influenced by classicism, but the elements are similar.

 

 

I made a drawing and put the Danish King Christian VI on the wall, what do you think?

 

Best regards,
Matthias

 

[druxey]

The painting is a nice touch!

[glbarlow]

On 10/8/2024 at 2:04 AM, Beckmann said:

feedback that my choice of colours is not authentic and that the colour scheme is definitely too strong.

It’s your model and your choice. Not sure how anyone can claim to know the shade of paint on a ship that hasn’t existed for hundreds of years. I also like it, very striking. Beautiful work, exquisite detail. 

Edited December 9 by glbarlow

[dvm27]

Perhaps one could extrapolate from homes of wealthy people of that era? I believe that many contemporary mansions have been well documented and restored to their original colors based on paint samples.

[Beckmann]

Yesterday I found this contemporary drawing from Thomas Phillips, dating 1701. All the cabins show elaborate interior. Even my petrol colour can be found in the lower cabin and some pictures of maritime subjects. 

Matthias

[Beckmann]

...and here another drawing from Thomas Phillips from the RMG-Homepage. The captains cabin looks very well equipped.

 

Matthias

Edited December 10 by Beckmann

[Canute]

I believe your colors are appropriate for the mid 1700s. I refer to the decorations and paints used at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. They do extensive research in that pre-American Revolutionary period.

[Beckmann]

Thank you Ken,

Colonial Williamsburg ist really a nice reference, I didn't know about this place before.

Matthias