Building OcCre’s Spanish 74-gun Ship Montañes from Part Kits – Part 1

I began writing about OcCre’s model kit of the Spanish 74-gun ship of the line Montañes a few months back, when I wrote about ordering one of several available “part kits” put out by the company. The others being the San Ildefonso, the Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and the Santisima Trinidad. I chose the Montañes because I like the type of ship, the size of the model, and the details of this particular kit the best.

I purchased the first of six Packs, as OcCre calls them, and plan on buying them as needed for the build. However, building from the packs is really no different in terms of materials, fittings, and instructions, as the full kit. You just don’t have to pay for it all at once, though it ends up costing you more, mostly due to the ship charges.

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A Wooden Wütender Hund Cog Model Build

As I work to finish up my Shipyard laser-cut card model of the Bremen Cog, I’ve been following a couple other builds of similar models. One that I just ran across today is on a German model building forum.

The build is well photo documented and the builder is doing a beautiful job. His model is not the same subject as mine – He’s building the wooden Shipyard kit called the Wütender Hund, or the “Angry Dog”. The hull is very similar to mine, which is officially called the Hanse Kogge von Bremen, 1380, but the stern castle and forecastle are based on historical images of other cogs.

Wütender Hund model by “Pietpieterszoon”

Anyway, you might want to check this out. It’s not complete – the builder was working on the model in November and December and is just about to get to the rigging stage. But, it’s very nicely done to this point, and well documented.

https://www.wettringer-modellbauforum.de/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=71154

Meanwhile, look for a final report soon on my own Bremen Cog card model. Ω

 

An Occre Part Order Follow-Up

It occurred to me recently that I’d written a post about ordering a part kit from OcCre back in December, which had a wrong laser-cut sheet in it. I’d contacted OcCre about it, but I never posted the results of that issue. So, here it is.

To recap, I ordered the first of 6 part kits, or Packs as OcCre calls them, of their Spanish 74-gun ship Montañes kit. It was a nicely packed set of laser-cut wood sheets, wood strips, and kit instructions. Unfortunately, in the process of marking the parts for identification, I discovered I’d gotten a duplicate laser-cut wood sheet and I was missing another.

Two of one sheet, with one needed sheet missing.

Japanese Boats in Wooden Boat Magazine

For those ship modelers who are interested in Japanese watercraft, or any full-sized wooden boatbuilding, check out the latest issue of WoodenBoat magazine’s articles on traditional Japanese boatbuilding.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

I just found out from Douglas Brooks that he wrote an article that was published in the current May/June issue of Wooden Boat magazine. In addition, there’s an accompanying article about Douglas Brooks and his apprenticeships with traditional Japanese boatbuilders in Japan.

If you’re not familiar with Douglas Brooks’ work and the status of Japanese traditional boatbuilding, you really need to read the WoodenBoat articles. It’s a good reminder of all the generations of knowledge that are about to be lost.

It reminded me that I want to do more to make people aware of the situation. During the Covid crisis, it’s been hard to do much. However, things are starting to open up, so maybe I can plan out a display or two for later in the year.

One thing I can do is mention the issue in a Zoom based talk I’ll be giving next month on modeling…

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Improving Basic Details – Wayward Blocks

This is really more for beginning ship modelers. Experienced ship modelers, and probably most beginners too already understand the way a standard rigging block works. It’s basically just a wooden block with a pulley, or sheave, inside a slot. There are different sizes and types, and there are single, double, and triple blocks, and just about ever wooden ship model needs at least some number of blocks.

Standard Amati single-sheave walnut blocks

There is one mistake I occasionally see regarding blocks. To me, it’s such an obvious error that it detracts from the entire build. But, the thing is, after a modeler completes so much work on the hull, deck details, masts, and all, I really don’t want to point out the error. So, I figured it might be best to just mention it here.

Hanse Kogge Bremen – Continuing a Shipyard Laser-Cut Model Build

I published a post about building this Shipyard card model kit a couple weeks ago, and I’m working pretty steadily to get it done. I’m not done yet, but I’m getting close, and I thought I should post an update this weekend.

After my last post, I finished making the mast and yard and finished detailing the sail. I have to say that I really enjoyed working on the sail. It was kind of a lengthy process lacing the bonnet to the main sail, but it was also something I could just do without having to think about too much.

Hanse Kogge von Bremen – A Shipyard Laser-Cut Model Build

Something I’ve been working on for about a year now, but haven’t been writing about here, is a card model from Shipyard. The model is of a medieval cog based on the Bremen cog that was excavated in 1962 in Bremen, Germany. 

The last time I mentioned this build was in my mid-summer update post last August. As I mentioned then, I have been maintaining a build log on this project, but this time, I chose to only post it on the Nautical Research Guild’s Model Ship World. I did this because I sometimes spend too much time writing and not enough time working on my many projects. So, I thought I might just keep the build log in one place for this one.

No NRG Conference for 2021

Sad news for fans of the Nautical Research Guild’s annual conferences. The NRG secretary just announced that there will again be no annual NRG conference this year due to continued Covid concerns.

The conference was to take place in the Fall at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum, the same place as originally planned for the 2020 conference, which was also cancelled.  The next conference will now be in 2022, and the intent is to hold it at the same venue location.

It’s unfortunate that the conference had to be again cancelled, but as the NRG secretary explained, many NRG members are at high risk for Covid exposure, so the board of directors made the difficult call to cancel the event.

It looks as though the annual meeting that usually takes place at the conference will be held virtually via Zoom or some similar videoconferencing service. Further details on this meeting should be forthcoming. Ω