HIGH HOPES, WILD MEN AND THE DEVIL’S JAW - Willem Barentsz Kolderstok 1:50

RDN1954 said:
Anxiously waiting for the first planks to go on the frames. Hoping to learn some new, colorful SA swear words.
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The planking isn't too far off.

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I have started boxing the hull (on Bulkhead #2 you can see I have actually gone too far as the filler wood extends beyond the bulkhead). I will continue the boxing towards the rear of the hull, then fair the bulkheads, complete the boxing and then do the final shaping.

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And a close-up of a Chinese night-beetle who is pretending to be an inspector! ROTF
 
Heinrich said:
Hello Dear Friends

Building continues.

View attachment 317136

I started the day by beginning the boxing of the hull in anticipation for planking. At this point it will just be a partial boxing until the fairing of the hull has been done. The pic above shows the opening for the main mast left open.

View attachment 317137
I borrowed the main mast from WB #1 just to make sure everything is in order.

View attachment 317138
A very nice and tight fit - just as it should be.

Sawing 28mm long pieces of Paulownia wood and then gluing them to the underside of the hull was perfectly ok for a while, but hardly stimulating or challenging. Cannons sounded much more interesting!

So, what did the cannons on the WB actually look like? Well to start with, they were three-wheelers and in all likelihood 6-and 3-pounders.

View attachment 317146

View attachment 317147

View attachment 317148
When the replica's rudder was hung, the occasion was celebrated by the firing of one of the cannons.

View attachment 317149
Onboard the ship.

Now those of you who have followed my log will know that I also cut open gunports on WB #1 but somehow never got around doing something about it. When I start planking, I become so engrossed with it that the hull was closed before I did anything about the cannons. This time, I wasn't going to let that open - those gunports gave me too much trouble not to utilize them properly! :)

The main problem was how to fix the cannons to the carriages in a way that is absolutely permanent and 100% secure (if there is such a thing), because once the next deck is on, that's it - there is no further access. The issue was compounded by the fact that I don't have any soldering and/or flux and I can only order that on the weekend when the admiral is here to do it for me. Then it struck me - on WB #1, I used the @Kolderstok-supplied brass nails as a makeshift trunnion just for fitment purposes. Somehow, the thought of these brass nails remained stuck in my mind.

What I did was to create a wooden bed for the cannon inside the gun carriage which would mean that the barrel will be absolutely level. Moreover, it also provided the opportunity of creating a 100% uniform result - in other words, making sure that both barrels are mounted at the same height and angle. The cannon was then laid down on top of its bed and rotated so that the trunnion hole was vertical instead of lateral. And yep, you guessed, nailed down from the top into the wooden bed by the brass nail.

View attachment 317139
View attachment 317140
Cannons done. I am pretty confident that those barrels will not separate from the gun carriage for as long as the model exists. Obviously, the severe lack of space made things like gun carriage wheels, hooks, rings, tackle, trunnions and trunnion caps impossible to incorporate into the space that I have available. At the back I I even had to shorten the cannons to make sure that they would fit between the two bulkheads. The picture below, shows them dry-fitted on their special decks.

View attachment 317144

And this is what they look like from the business end (dry-fit).

View attachment 317145
With that I am really, really happy and all of a sudden, the combination of the brass cannons, the red gunport linings and the oak, looks great to me! They will be glued down permanently - each on its own mini-deck - once the hull fairing has been completed.
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Beautiful contrast with the red border and brass canons. And I just learned that there were three wheeled canons.
 
RogerD said:
I am so pleased the document is of interest to you. The link to your own WB and the fact the restored gun is on the replica is very interesting indeed.
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Great PDF Roger - more relevant than that, you can't get! Thumbsup
 
pingu57 said:
The Willem Barents is looking great Heinrich, keep going, i am actually waiting for your planking to go on the ship:):)
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Thank you my friend! I am very happy with that stern. As I have said to @RDN1952 Johan, I am not too far away from starting the planking!
 
Daniel20 said:
Beautiful contrast with the red border and brass canons. And I just learned that there were three wheeled canons.
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Thank you so much Daniel. The contrast is also what I find attractive. You must read the document that @RogerD Roger posted - it is incredibly interesting - the three-wheeler actually had certain advantages over its four-"legged" cousin! :)
 
Heinrich said:
However, me and anything that is remotely connected to electricity is like expecting me to fly a P51D. Disaster!
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Now you're selling yourself short.
I think you would be able to pull that one off. Plus, it's already mentioned before, Evan designs could be of great assistance there.
 
Alexander74 said:
Heinrich, let me lay out for you a model of a packet boat "Saint Peter" made by a Russian ship modeller. I saw this model at the Russian Championship in 2018. It's all made of oak.View attachment 317171View attachment 317172View attachment 317173View attachment 317174View attachment 317175View attachment 317176View attachment 317177
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Thank you so much for these beautiful pictures, Sasha! That is most interesting and there are plenty of good ideas that I can take from that - especially when it comes to some finishing touches. The next picture has really put my mind at rest as far as the heavy grain of the wood goes.

2018-04-13 17.22.16.jpg
We can see the heavy grain clearly in the red-encircled area - these deck beams would represent the same type of "heavy" timber as would be used on the keel of the WB.

Sasha, you don't know by any chance what was used as a finish on the model?
 
Heinrich said:
Hello Dear Friends

Building continues.

View attachment 317136

I started the day by beginning the boxing of the hull in anticipation for planking. At this point it will just be a partial boxing until the fairing of the hull has been done. The pic above shows the opening for the main mast left open.

View attachment 317137
I borrowed the main mast from WB #1 just to make sure everything is in order.

View attachment 317138
A very nice and tight fit - just as it should be.

Sawing 28mm long pieces of Paulownia wood and then gluing them to the underside of the hull was perfectly ok for a while, but hardly stimulating or challenging. Cannons sounded much more interesting!

So, what did the cannons on the WB actually look like? Well to start with, they were three-wheelers and in all likelihood 6-and 3-pounders.

View attachment 317146

View attachment 317147

View attachment 317148
When the replica's rudder was hung, the occasion was celebrated by the firing of one of the cannons.

View attachment 317149
Onboard the ship.

Now those of you who have followed my log will know that I also cut open gunports on WB #1 but somehow never got around doing something about it. When I start planking, I become so engrossed with it that the hull was closed before I did anything about the cannons. This time, I wasn't going to let that open - those gunports gave me too much trouble not to utilize them properly! :)

The main problem was how to fix the cannons to the carriages in a way that is absolutely permanent and 100% secure (if there is such a thing), because once the next deck is on, that's it - there is no further access. The issue was compounded by the fact that I don't have any soldering and/or flux and I can only order that on the weekend when the admiral is here to do it for me. Then it struck me - on WB #1, I used the @Kolderstok-supplied brass nails as a makeshift trunnion just for fitment purposes. Somehow, the thought of these brass nails remained stuck in my mind.

What I did was to create a wooden bed for the cannon inside the gun carriage which would mean that the barrel will be absolutely level. Moreover, it also provided the opportunity of creating a 100% uniform result - in other words, making sure that both barrels are mounted at the same height and angle. The cannon was then laid down on top of its bed and rotated so that the trunnion hole was vertical instead of lateral. And yep, you guessed, nailed down from the top into the wooden bed by the brass nail.

View attachment 317139
View attachment 317140
Cannons done. I am pretty confident that those barrels will not separate from the gun carriage for as long as the model exists. Obviously, the severe lack of space made things like gun carriage wheels, hooks, rings, tackle, trunnions and trunnion caps impossible to incorporate into the space that I have available. At the back I I even had to shorten the cannons to make sure that they would fit between the two bulkheads. The picture below, shows them dry-fitted on their special decks.

View attachment 317144

And this is what they look like from the business end (dry-fit).

View attachment 317145
With that I am really, really happy and all of a sudden, the combination of the brass cannons, the red gunport linings and the oak, looks great to me! They will be glued down permanently - each on its own mini-deck - once the hull fairing has been completed.
Click to expand...
Great work on the guns Heinrich. There is always something very attractive about cannons and their carriages Thumbsup
 
Nomad said:
Great work on the guns Heinrich. There is always something very attractive about cannons and their carriages Thumbsup
Click to expand...
Thank you very much my friend. I am very happy with how the stern cannons came out - I am glad I took that plunge. :)
 
Hello everyone.

I know you are anxious for me to get going and start the planking, but I first spent some time reading this amazing PDF (http://www.adviesoudewapens.nl/Three-wheeled Gun Carriages.pdf) that @RogerD Roger sent me. It is incredibly relevant to my build and in fact mentions many of the aspects which I have already mentioned as part of my research.

For those of less studious nature, I have summarized a few of the most interesting points.

1. The two carriages were recovered from the wreck called Scheurrak S 01. Why is this important? This is the wreck that was used by Gerald de Weerdt as one of his primary resources to determine the hull shape and the dimensions of the Willem Barentsz.
2. The Scheurrak probably went down in 1593 during a heavy storm at Texel - this place it squarely in the same time frame as the WB.
3. The gun carriages that were retrieved were in remarkably good condition (especially the second one) no doubt aided by the soft clay sediments of the Dutch waters.
4. The carriage was constructed entirely from oak, except for the axles which are of as a yet unidentified type of wood.

3W3.png
3W4.png
3W5.png
Note the rake of the gun in the middle picture. This is important - I will explain why, just now.

3W.png

5. Even though there were no barrels found on these gun carriages (it is believed that there are actually a third- and fourth-gun carriage still waiting to be retrieved of which one still has its barrel), the shape of the trunnion beds, the thickness of the carriage cheeks and the distance between them, would suggest a two-or a three-pounder barrel. This means that it was the smaller of the two calibers (the Zwaan of Zeeland had three-and six-pounder cannons).

6. The side view of the carriage suggests that the whole gun assembly (including carriage) must have leaned backwards at quite a substantial angle in order to compensate for the camber of the deck. The strong rearward inclination of the carriage might also be linked to have the greater part of the barrel weight behind the front axle to prevent the piece from toppling. Another reason might have been to increase the gun's weight on the single truck wheel at the rear to assist with the braking resistance. On the next picture it is obvious just how large a part of the cannon extends towards the rear.

3W 2.png

Rolpaard 4.jpg
Another example.

Advantages of the Three-Wheeled Carriage:

1. It would have been safer to operate - less chance of crew's feet being crushed by truck wheels during the recoil.
2. Because of the greater mass placed behind the front axle, the stability would have been the same as that of a four-wheeled truck, while being lighter in weight.
3. It was much easier to train, since the three trucks would have had far less friction on the deck than four.

Disadvantages:

1. Four-wheel trucks would have stopped better during recoil, because of increased friction.
2. The braking distance of a three-wheeler would have been longer than a four-wheeler.
3. The recoil would have been livelier, as they would jump inboard quite vigorously after being fired.

I suppose it was pretty much a case of what you lose on the roundabouts, you make up on the swings. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating document and one that will help greatly during the construction process.
 
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