The first cog – a medieval cargo ship also used for war – has arrived in the Port of Hambeck!

The cog is a lasercut kit by Sarissa, made for wargaming so it is both quick to build but also rather small and simple.

But since Hambeck needs a lot of ships, I decided to go ahead with the model and see how it might be improved along the way.

The assembly of the hull is very quick, so within a few minutes you have something resembling a ship on the workbench, which is highly satisfying.

The cog is a waterline model, which is great both for wargaming and diorama building.

A nice part of the kit is the functioning windlass, meaning that you can actually raise and lower the yard and sail, if you prefer!

The sides of the ship are the greatest disappointment of the kit in my opinion. The construction of the model is quite clever – the side of the ship is just a piece of laser engraved cardboard that you bend in shape, which works great.

But a real cog would have been clinker-built on the sides, meaning that the planks would overlad each other. At the same time the planks should be parallel to the railing of the ship, but now it looks really odd with strange pieces of timber at the ends.

I wish Sarissa would fix the lines of the planks, so it would look more like the real thing, here the reconstruction of the Kamper Kogge. It would just be a small change in the drawings – the already have the right pattern in their rowbarge kits.

I decided to take inspiration from the Kamper Kogge for my ship. The proportions seemed to match somewhat, and it was most helpful to be able to look at pictures of the real thing when working with the model.

Just adding some brown paint really made the model come alive. The model came with both a forecastle and an aftercastle – the two added towers that would provide fighting platforms on the ship.

In line with the Kamper Kogge, I decided to use just the aftercastle. But I decided to give it some colours to add some variation to the brown wood.

The red and white colours were favorites among many hanseatic cities during the medieval times, so I went with that.

Then I added the mast, filing the very square mast somewhat round. In my next build, I think I will create a round mast from scratch, which seems more realistic.

I noticed there was no way to enter the cargo hold below deck, so I created a hatch from balsa wood.

The ladder leading from the deck to the aftercastle was a bit too crude in my eyes, and I think one of the future crewmen agrees!

Instead, I scratched one from wood, as it would quite visible on the deck. The figure will eventually be the skipper, counting his money after a voyage.

The new ladder looked much better, and I also added a couple of barrels as clutter. The inner side of the aftercastle was quite bare, so I added some strips of wood to improve its looks.

Since the bowsprit no longer carried a forecastle, I shortened it a bit with a saw.

Next, it was time for the rigging. The yard seemed a bit too wide for my taste, so I cut a bit off.

Then I started rigging the ship with some brown cotton thread. Since it is quite a simple rigging, it was relatively easy, as long as you take your time.

Finally, I wanted to create a sail. As the cog will likely be moored in port, I wanted the sail tied to the yard. After wondering for some time on how to do it, one morning I simply took a paper napkin without any pattern, dipped it in our morning coffee and left it to dry on a plate. When it was almost dry, I shaped it to fit the yard and tied it up with some more string.

Not perfect, but quite easy! 🙂

The completed cog in all of its glory. Despite the relative simple kit, I am quite satisfied with the model. It is a very small cog, only about 12-13 meters in scale, but is quite charming.

I would love if Sarissa would make a larger and longer version with correct planks, but for now I am fond of the great little model.

I like the chubby shape of the hull!

Perhaps it is true that ship models are the most noble kind of model building? At least my wife did not seem to mind too much with the model was gracing our dining room 🙂

Now the model needs a crew, some more clutter and perhaps a flag, but that will have to be another article. Thanks for reading this far!