Hanseatic Ship c. 1470 by Foremast - 1:50 scale

[Foremast]

Thanks, friends!

 

@Popeye: what a surprise! A poem! I haven't understood if the ghost is me, my post or the ship ... but it doesn't matter, the composition is a very appreciated gift and ... perhaps the ghost is all them together!!! Reading what you say, it seems that lives of us modellers resemble each other, even on the opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. :-)

 

This type of guns (in italian "bombarde") was common during the XIV and XV century aboard ships. I saw many of them in an Italian museum in Genova ("Galata museum") and I took many pictures, with details of the charger device and the gun barrel. I'll look for those photos - hoping to find them, they were on the old pc, that broke - and if I found them, I'll post some.

 

Cheers

Alex

[Ferit]

Saluto Alex,

Fantastico is your build...

Arte italien...

[Foremast]

Thanks, Ferit

I hope to finish this model in a few months. I'd like to put on my dockyard another Dutch ship....

[popeye the sailor]

it doesn't matter Alex......just glad to see you back at the table.   I'm familiar with the word......I think I'll look it up to see if there are other meanings.   just as well........a cannon tutorial might be just the ticket for me    I know some things......but I think an expanded knowledge wouldn't hurt.

 

it's nice to find common folks in all corners of the world.........but it even nicer to join hands and find it a comfortable fit.  not too much of a gap between countries now.....is there? 

[Foremast]

Dear friend Popeye,

 

I was only joking a bit: the meaning of the poem is clear and I thank you again for the composition. You're right, for a foreigner it's difficult to understand all different meanings of words ... I remember when a few years ago I decided to read James Joice ("Dubliners") in its original language; I'm still terrorized, it was for me an epic challenge and I'm sure to have understood only a little part of the real meaning of those novels. But I'm proud of that little part.

 

Gap between countries? Nothing that isn't improvable, with a bit of common sense. But in this world it appears scarce, nowadays.

 

Cheers

Alex

[Foremast]

I've found the guns' pictures said above. As promised, now I post them. The guns were made by iron barrels, tightly bound together by iron hoops and soldered. The barrels were placed on a wooden gun carriage or linked to the gunwale with a pivoting support. In the pictures are shown all these different mountings. Those guns are all recovered by shipwrecks.

 

The good-looking black gun is a replica, and in the last photo ... is shown the Genova's beautiful central square

[Foremast]

... continue ...

[popeye the sailor]

you live in a beautiful country...........boy........I'd sure hate to get head butted by those helmits    thanks for the looky.

[Foremast]

It's rather difficult to see this kind of guns in their original aspect, so I thought to share a few images with all you.

 

Oh, Popeye, you're right I love a lot my country; Genova (where I lived a few months, years ago, working in the state railways) was one of the ancient most powerful state-cities of the Mediterranean sea. And nowadays, after a long restoring work, its ancient port has become a very interesting historical and touristic area. In the docks you can see the replica of a galleon (the Neptune), used on the set of a famous movie (Roman Polansky's "Pirates", with Walther Matthau). I send a few pictures.

 

Cheers

Alex

[augie]

Thanks for the photos.  Never got to Genoa......but I like the salami !

 

Hey those anchors look about like mine

[tarbrush]

Thanks for those photos Alex!!!, boy will they come in handy as reference when I am trying to weather a hull

[Paul Salomone]

Hello Alex,

beautiful work my friend. Those guns have really added life to the vessel itself. Can't wait to see the start of the rigging.

[Foremast]

Thanks friends for your visit!

@ Augie. I like salami too, and my doctor said that it isn't a good habit for me 

@ tarbrush. The Neptune is a scenic replica (it has also an engine) but some details are truely well done

@ Paul. I'm a bit afraid of masting and rigging. They aren't tecnically difficult, but the large scale doesn't admit mistakes!

@ avsjerome. The history of italian navy is full of heroes and full of tragedies. Let's hope to sail "ordinary" for next years ...

 

Cheers

Alex

[Foremast]

Dear friends, a little updating: placing of fore beams. Being the interior visible, I decided to make a realistic accomodation (...insofar where you can see beams and brackets ...).

 

Cheers

Alex

[popeye the sailor]

great progress Alex........planked over,  it will look very nice.   very clean and well done 

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the beams and knees.  Can't wait to see the decking.

[Foremast]

Thanks friends for your appreciation.

 

Decking? Here it is! I'm not very proud of that, but anyway it's done, now. The foremast has been placed with the deck because of its larger section at the foot; it would have been impossible to place it after. There's a little trick in this deck: the axes are not placed directly on the beams, but on a thin plywood sheet (0,4 mm of thickness) embedded on the first beam, properly shaped in its internal profile. So, I was able to make protrude a bit the axes without thickness mistakes.

 

Cheers

Alex

[Foremast]

(...continue...)

 

First knees are a bit longer than others, because so was shown in the plans  It is a bit strange, but I liked it and followed the drawing plans

 

Cheers

Alex

[lamarvalley]

Thanks friends for your appreciation.

 

Decking? Here it is! I'm not very proud of that, but anyway it's done, now.

 

 

 

Wow Alex, I would be very proud of that decking. Super Job!! Beautiful work!

Edited August 14, 2013 by lamarvalley

[popeye the sailor]

agreed!   I don't see what your unhappy about.........the decking came out superby!  I was going to suggest installing the bow spirit before you did it,  but I can see that I was wet behind the ears.   I really like the way you fitted it...neat and very tight to form....you did a really super job with it!   nice accent with the outer knees.......I think they should be a bit larger.....main load bearer

 

truly wonderful work!

[mtaylor]

The decking is great,  Obviously, you see something we don't see.  Afterall, we are our own worst critics.  I know I am.

[Foremast]

Thanks for your kind worlds!

 

I don't like two things, in that deck. First, what Popeye correctly said; the deck was designed too long, and that obliged me to make strange knees. The outer knees aren't a bit thin but ... carved! I hadn't space to place knees beside the beams, so ... I carved a bit the internal section and the beams are in part beside the knee and in part on the knee. Second, I don't lke completely the shape of the lateral axes of the deck: perhaps it would have been better to bend a bit all axes an make something more harmonious.

 

You're right, Mark. I'm a strict judge of myself

 

 

Cheers

Alex

[popeye the sailor]

you mean.....more rounded?   nawwww,  I like the way you capped it off along the bulwarks......really tight,  no gaps.   as for the knee,  it serves two purposes.....a main load bearer,  and an end cap..........you had to do it this way,  or it wouldn't have looked good.   just my thoughts.......you did an awesome job

[augie]

Just catching up Alex.  What I'm seeing is some beautiful work.  The time you put in below that deck really paid off.  Yes, it's hard to 'see' but you know it's there, I know it's there and so does everyone else on board here.

 

Decking looks great to me!

 

Just superb.

[Foremast]

Thanks, mates!

This is my first (I hope not the last) medieval ship model and many building aspects of that era are still surrounded by a "dark fog". I'm groping in that fog with my modeller tools and, in the end, I'll glad if the result will be something realistic ... more or less. If you think my Hanseatic ship is a good ship to see, it's a good motivation for me to continue in this challenge; I sincerely thank you for your looking here and for your positive opinion.

@ janos. The deck is made with aged maple strips (1x5 mm).

 

Cheers

Alex

[lamarvalley]

Cheers Alex.

Not to be too overwhelming but you are very gifted at this 'hobby'. There are perhaps a few dozen individuals that have a certain flair, a talent that shows in the precise details and those individuals are a joy to watch as their build develops.

You Alex, in my opinion, are one of those people.

[michael mott]

Hi Alex just catching up, your work on the ship looks very fine I would be very happy to have the results you are showing so far.

 

Michael

[Foremast]

Randy and Michael,

 

thanks for the kind words. I hope you'll have the same opinion when you and me will see the final result !!!!

 

Cheers

Alex

[Walter Biles]

Foremast,

 

I have been reading through your build.  You show some pictures from a museum of some cannon.  It appears that there is an opening oval in the top with a filler bar to fit in the breach.  That and the handle grip on top of the bar makes me wonder were those early breech loading cannon? There even appears to be a wooden block behind the bar for recoil stop. 

 

Walter Biles

Edited August 18, 2013 by Walter Biles

[Foremast]

Hi, Walter!

 

Yes, the device you talking about is just the charger. It was a sort of iron can with a handle grip to move it in and out the cannon (I think, that handle grip served to make easier the handling of the device and avoided the crew burning their hands after a shoot).

To make a shoot, in order: the ball (iron or stone made) was inserted in the barrel; the gunpowder then the wad were stuffed in the can; the can was inserted (better, embedded) in the barrel; a piece of wooden block was fit between the back of the can and the back of the gun support. At this point the gun was ready to fire. Yes, it was a retro-charged weapon.

 

I saw these kind of weapons not only in that naval museaum (Galata museum, Genova, Italy) but even in Rome, Castel Sant'Angelo (Saint Angel Castle). They were great-caliber cannons and defended the castle during the XV-XVI century.

 

Cheers

Alex

Edited August 19, 2013 by Foremast