Medieval Spanish Coca - AMATI 1:60 [COMPLETED BUILD]

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Many thanks, Heinrich!

At this point, we need to start shaping the strips. Approximately I removed 2 mm at the bow and 1 mm at the stern, but not symmetrically, because the frames with the largest perimeter are shifted from the centre to the stern.
I glued 6/8 strips together and then shaped them at the same time, to maintain uniformity; in the drawing above the shapes used for the strips, testing in place before glueing. The frames are very useful to evaluate the progress of the work:




Here you can see that the symmetry has been maintained on both sides:


Approaching the keel, the use of stealers becomes essential, as the curvature of the strips becomes unsustainable:

To help the approach of the planking to the keel it is useful to temporarily nail a 4x2 mm batten on the keel, which will be removed at the end of planking:

And now the first planking has been completed:




The next step will be the second planking with the wales.

See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Dear all,
Generally, the second planking is completed with the normal strips and then the wales are glued up to it. We have seen that in this way if particular attention is not paid, it can happen that the planking and the wales have not homogeneous trends.
Actually, the wales are structural reinforcements placed on the skeleton at a much earlier stage, at the stage of setting the hull. The method adopted here will be to place the wales first and next to them the planking courses. For this reason, the protruding part of the beams has been amputated to be re-positioned, rotated according to the inclination of the wales:
First a check about the keel groove:


The first wale is located above the upper deck beams (that seems strange...usually a wale is under the beams, but instruction say so) and is a little smaller than the others wales:

Upper the beams there's the normal plank. Under the beams, there's a simple strip; then the spaces between the beams can be covered with pieces of batten.
Now it's time for the first large wale that runs along the entire side of the hull; it is positioned below the beams and in close contact with them: At the bow, you should try to bend it as high as possible:




For bending vertically the wales I used an iron at the maximum of power on a soaked strip:

In addition to this, you also have to bend them horizontally to follow the lines of the hull, as with the first planking.

See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Heinrich]

Exactly the same method I use for vertical bending!

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Right, Heinrich; I think the best thing about the iron is that it has so many different radii of curvature.
Above the wale, I put a clear lime wood strip for the fillings between the beams and above them a normal walnut lath; the cut ends of the beams were re-glued rotated following the slope of the wales:

I found it very practical to use thumbtacks to fix the laths:



I continued upwards with the laying of a couple of normal laths and then a narrower and clearer one before the next wale, which must be as much as possible equidistant and parallel to the previous one. Pliers, rubber bands, clips, everything is needed to make the wale stick:



Given the different slopes, there is a gap left at the stern that needs a shaped strip:


this is the result at the end:


And here you can see the wale flush with the rail:

In the next post, we'll finish laying the second planking.
See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Heinrich]

On that difficult hull shape it is exquisite planking.

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

You're right, Heinrich,
although presented as easy for beginners, I actually found it a bit difficult (for myself). Anyway, with patience, we can do (almost) anything!
The following two photos show how the first well-laid planking allows us to continue in perfect symmetry:
Before moving on to the next wales, it is convenient to put the scuppers, which are not included in the project (inside and outside; unfortunately, I can no longer do the internal ones under the deck, I should have thought of that sooner!):



By bending the wales, even with all possible caution, it is possible that being wider and thicker they may break (it happened to me only once, fortunately). The solution is easy and aesthetically valid, as it is also used in real practice: a joint:



See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Heinrich]

I am continued to be fascinated and intrigued by this build. Keep on going!

 

[Steef66]

Very nice planking.

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Welcome, mates!
Let's continue with the planking. In this photo you can see how it's possible to adjust (a little!) the laying of the strip more or less at the tip, moving it back and forth.

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After three laths we place the last wales:




Since the plywood bulwarks didn't reach the bow, I made two vertical extensions:
Now you can get to cover the hull with the second planking up to the keel. It's helpful to draw lines to see how the work is progressing:


Unfortunately, I don't have any photos for the laying of the "clinker" planking on the forward bulkheads:


If I could go back, I would redo the "clinker" with curvilinear strips.

At the end, we apply "oak" colour wood impregnating varnish on the light strips, "Italian walnut" colour wood impregnating varnish on the dark strips and the residue of the bottom of the darker can (richer in pigments) for the joints:




Now we're going to see about putting in the keel, bow wheel, and stern straight....
See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Greetings to all!

Now we've to insert the keel, the bow wheel, and stern straight in the seat that has been left free from planking strips:


The spur of the bow must be well controlled because the laser cut may not have been perfectly orthogonal:


After that, we've to plank both sides of the keel, using walnut strips 1x5 mm:


After that, we must plank the upper edges of quarterdeck bulwarks, using 2x10 mm walnut strips, that has been slightly diagonally cut in 30 mm length parts, coupled and applied following the bending:

As can be seen in previous photos, we've already prepared the rail above the stern board using three strips 3x1 mm.
After that we're going to plank the bulwark edges using pieces of 3x1 mm walnut strips:


Next time, we'll see how to change the bow structure...
See you soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Dear all,
At this point, it is also necessary to work on the bow, which has been neglected until now. The manufacturer proposes such a solution, a kind of bow framing:

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I have never seen such a structure in any image of the time, among those I have found (Botticelli, 1485):

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we will then need to create a frame in the shape of an isosceles triangle:

To avoid seeing the thin layer of light-coloured wood on the side of the future deck planking, glue a slim rise (1×1 mm lath) along the perimeter:


To check the geometric accuracy of the structure, a long square lath (5×5 mm) is inserted and should remain in the centre:



We begin to plank the surface and build the "frame" for the opening of the bridge in which the ladder will be inserted:

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The frame is covered with the appropriate strips:


Since the part underneath is rather unadorned, a traverse was added:



Next time, we will see the davit.

Dear friends, see you soon!

Rodolfo

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[Michiel de Ruyter]

Welcome friends!
Now it is worth thinking about the structure for the movement of the anchors: at that time maybe there were already horizontal winches ("molinete" or "molinello"). But there are many contemporary representations that depict a transom in the bow, straight or curved:

An Italian treatise -1445- -1502- -1495- British Museum 1470-1490

In the Nao of Matarò there is no trace of winches, neither vertical (cabrestante in Spanish, capstan in English), nor horizontal (molinete in Spanish):

From Heinrich Winter - "The Ships of Christopher Columbus"​

Capstan comes from the Latin <<capistrum>> (halter) to which the rope is attached and thus rotation could be excluded. The verb <<capistrare>> with participle <<capistrans-capistrantis>> could have originated the Spanish "cabestrante" from which "cabrestante" by permutation. A hypothesis is that in this case, capstan would be a simple bar, for the times before Columbus.
Anyway, the manufacturer's instructions solve the problem in a somewhat simplistic, not very elegant way:


I preferred to add a bit of work to get something that looked more like the great transom of the Nao of Matarò:



Then the structure must be inserted into the corresponding slots and glued:





Dear friends, see you again soon!

Rodolfo

 

[Steef66]

Great work again, I respect your effort in research even that you show us those beautiful historic pictures

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Thank you, Stephan,
indeed it is difficult to work in an atmosphere of uncertainty, given the lack of documentation of the ships of those times...I've changed Jakob's ladder three times, I still haven't decided where to fix the mainstay, the same for the blocks of the mainmast lifts...

Anyway, now we'll work on the rail above the stern board. Here too the instructions give a reductive interpretation; the Matarò's ship has beautifully shaped strips and supports seem closer:


Holders have been shaped:


after that, also laths have been shaped:





And now we move on to the main deck rail, starting from the top of the aft wall and descending by adding pieces of 1x4x10 mm strips:





See you next time!
Rodolfo

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

A warm welcome to everyone!
The instructions indicate that the side reinforcements will also be the attachment points for the shrouds, which is why they have a hole in the top:

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This arrangement is also plausible since a painting from before 1489 ("Reliquary of St. Ursula" by Hans Memling) shows a similar solution, however with blocks instead of deadeyes. They are also smaller ships than our cocca:

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Since, however, the shrouds of this ship will be fixed inside the bulwarks, I provided the construction of the reinforcements as normally structured, without the hole. It is preferable to do a work in series:



Flaking and cracking are also possible:
It is preferable to make a dry test before glueing:

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If all goes well, the reinforcements are glued and painted:


See you soon!

Rodolfo

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[Gebirgsmarine]

Beautiful construction of a rarely seen type of ship!

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Thanks, Gebirgsmarine!

Dear friends, here we are with the rudder. The original Nao of Matarò has it fixed, glued and with larger hinges and more numerous:

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AMATI's project has only three shorter hinges:

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The hinges can also be made of thin cardboard. If you add hinges, you must also prepare hinge housings in the rudder.

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In our model, the rudder is constructed by glueing pieces of strips onto an MDF plywood template:


The hinges must be shaped:


It is advisable to prepare the seat for the little nails:

The final result:



See you next post!

Rodolfo

 

[Michiel de Ruyter]

Welcome friends!
This post is about the quarterdeck rail. As far as this rail is concerned, the manufacturer proposes three simple battens applied on nine columns:

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The Nao of Matarò has a more elaborate structure:

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The Matarò ship has a larger number of columns and a certain stylistic refinement. Here a compromise was sought by curving the battens according to the shape of the deck and shaping the columns; indeed it's difficult to add further columns:


The strips are a little longer than necessary so that they stay in place by forcing slightly and without glue. In this way the columns are positioned in a controlled manner, glueing them to the deck:

When the columns are glued to the deck, the portions to be glued and the portions to be shaped can be traced on the laths. They can then be shaped:

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In addition, the rail is also completed at the rear:


At the top of the columns, I have placed a shaped square:



See you soon!

Rodolfo

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[Jimsky]

Looking extremely good! You have an eye for the details.

 

[Steef66]

Nice work, I agree with Jim