Koga Elbląska from 1350 C.E. - MM 9/2000

[RdK]

Hi @ all!

As the title already tells it is about the cog. I made this model this year after a 10 year brake from model making (It took me about 2 and a half month). The "Mały Modelarz 9/2000" ( Koga Elbląska) seemed for me to be a good, not too dfficult start back into business. I see this model as an experiment so some parts may be not really done well (i.e. the sail, planking), but hey, the people in the medieval age worked not perfectly neither..

My wish was always to make some wooden model so I decided to try out new materials. Since I do not have so much tools here and not the money to spend on, the choice fell on balsa wood. The only paper parts in my model are the anchors.. :p Still I would like to share some pictures of the finished model and some experiences/problems about the cog.

After seeing DORIS' her paper models, I may reconsider to change the material and stay with paper, carton, etc. :D

For the start here some pics:

[Michael Mash]

Hello Rdk:
From 1350? This is an old one! Real nice looking piece of work.
Mike

[RdK]

Originally Posted by Michael Mash

Hello Rdk:
From 1350? This is an old one! Real nice looking piece of work.
Mike

Hi Mike!
At least that is what the description in MM tells. The plans of this ship are based on a city seal of Elbląsk from around 1350 or 1380 (I am not exactly sure). I found a detailed picture from that seal:

[RdK]

And here some pics about some details...

[RdK]

Hi @ all!

Let me share with you some of my experiences during the building process of this model. It is a very nice vessel from the medieval age (around 1350 C.E.) and I recommend it for every one who wants to start building ships. The good thing about those old ships is they have usually only one mast and one sail which makes it quite easy to build (compared with bigger vessels and a lot of rigging) . Thats also the reason why I started with this one after a long model making break.

As mentioned before the model is from the Mały Modelarz 9/2000. This is the historically more accurate version of the "Koga Elbląska" from Mały Modelarz 12/1973. Main changes were made in the design of the deck of that vessel after a cog wreck was found in the German city of Bremen (Museum page here but in German language!!). Small changes were also made on the ledge and the shrouds keeping the mast.

Since no plans of that kind of vessel survived from the medieval times and no one really knows how this vessels looked like there is some room for interpretation for each modeller. In this thread I would like to present my own interpretation with some information I found on the web (net or however it is called nowadays ). It does not has to be a right one or the most accurate, it is just my idea of how it might have looked alike and maybe it can help the one or another builder. If you find something to be wrong on my interpretation please feel free to criticize .

However, as you may know, the MM (Mały Modelarz) simplifies many details in his models. The main problem with this model is the rigging. As I tried to do the rigging as reasonable as possible according to reality I found it difficult to find useful information on it. Especially about mounting the ropes on deck or the belaying pin. The plans from MM do not really tell much about it:

[Wyvern]

Your model is BEAUTIFUL! Bravo!

Wyvern

[Tapcho]

Hi Radek,
Swedes, those busy bees, have reconstructed The Cog (or kogg how they say it) and not only once but twice – so the are two sailing examples of this ship type.

Skanörskoggen
Almerekoggen

Links are to picture galleries of the launching of both vessels. Here's is the site on those swedish ships. Go through the sites thoroughly, there's a lot of info on the process - pictures of some models too. Both are reconstructions based on shipwrecks found around Baltic Sea. There are some fotos on researching the wrecks too.

Here’s some additional info on sailing ships during that period. The rigging of the ships was simple at that time with only one sail to handle but the basics are pretty much the same as on the sail ships later on.

Tappi

[Ron40]

I always like to see well done models no matter what the
medium used. You can be proud of her. I'm sure your paper
projects will also be of the same quality....Ron

[RdK]

Thank you all for the words of appreciation! (*humbly bowing down*) And also for the links providing additional information about those kind of vessels. Very interesting (hopefully not only for me)!

My main problem with the rigging was to find good information best provided in form of pictures about how to mount the rope (or thread ) to certain parts of the ship. I found some interesting basic rigging information in polish language here.

As Tappi says: "...the basics are pretty much the same as on the sail ships later on" this page (Boy's Manual Of Seamanship And Gunnery) was of use for my "old" vessel and is useful for other vessels as well. I found helpful information also on this page from the historical ship and naval association (The Elements and Practice of Rigging And Seamanship, 1794, by David Steel).

After reading this information my 'Elbingians' (the polish community might forgive me for using the German name of the city :p:o:p but it sounds nicer than "Elblouskians" ) turned out to be a little bit more sophisticated concerning the yard lifts since they did not mount the simplest solution like shown in the plans of MM. The first picture shows my interpretation of the yard lifts.

The halyard is running to the 'capstan' and from there to the belaying pin as seen in the second picture of the attachment.

But first I needed to find a solution for the standing rigging, especially how to mount the shrouds on top of the mast. You can see my solution of that problem in the third picture. The knot (i don't know the name of that one) I used here is pretty simple but strong ( I found it in "The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship).

On that point I ask everybody who have some ideas on how to do what I describe here in a more accurate way to comment, please. This here is my own solution, but it does non necessary have to be the right one. :o

[strk]

IMHO Last picture definitely shows "wyblinka" knot (polish) - "clove hitch" knot.

Looks pretty good.