amateur

And now, I should really return to my build before I can show you anything new...... Jan

After stays and shrouds, backstays are to be installed. The most interesting of these is the one one the spritsail topmast: getting the tension in this one right is almost impossible, as the tension of the forestay is far too low for a proper tensioning of the fore stay: either the fore stay is pulled forward, or the topmast backward (or both ) As the crowsfeet are attached to the stay at both ends, the tensioning of these was tricky: it should be straight, but not exert any force on the stay. The fun of it was to get all strings at a comparable tension. I did not completely succeed, but I'm content with the result. The other backstays are attached to the hull (not to the channels), the lower one by a tackle (upper violin block ,lower a single block), and the upper backstay is attached to the hull by a somple lashing, which is attached to the stay through an eyesplice: And the fiddle-block: The 7 mm fiddle block is not quite according to Dutcj standards, but it will do for me (at least, I don't have the patience to make my own blocks. By doing an seizing in the middle of the block, I try to cover up the mismatch in seize and proportions, but it remains suboptimal. However, I am not capable of doning a large number of these things by hand, and at the same time make them uniformly, and I don't know of any ready available ones like these: (If you do, please let me know, so I can use them for my next build ) Jan

First those at the bowsprit, which gave a small problem in the attaching of the chain plates: I used a method showed in Andersson: small eyebolts in the bowsprit, and rope lashings: (my first seizings, took me ages to do) It was only later that I discovered that the Ketting-models uses long iron chains for these deadeyes. I wont redo them Thane cam ethe tackles and shrouds of the fore mast: I had some discussion on the so called 'spreeworsten' (translation?) in the shrouds Ketting shows them in such a way that they are spreading the shrouds. I followed this Ketting setup (which he aslo used in his model of the Prins Willem). However, some fellow modellers made it quite clear to me that this setup could never ever hold the strains that they woudl take in real life. However, too late to redo After setting up the shrouds the rattling down started. I finished teh foremast, but when clipping the loose ends, I managed to snap one of the futtocks. That forced me to remove the ratlines on the futtocks and do some surgery on the shroud. Still visible in the rightmost futtock, but acceptable when not viewed in 'macro-mode' At the moment: shrouds is still work in progress: As is the rattling down: foremast done, main still to be started.... Jan

I tried to do some rope-work today, but it's just too cold at my bench .... Therefore: just an old update on how things were two years ago. After the masting, I had to start the rigging. After some thinking, I deceided to replace all Corel ropes with other material (as the thicker Corel stuff tended to be very uneven in thickness). I ordered Amati-stuf at Chantelle Wattons 'On-line hobby' store (I' ve no clue wheterh or not she is still - or again - in business. I also ordered lots of blocks, again, as the Corel stuff was a bit lousy made (holes not ending in the grooves, and double blocks that were single on one side.....) For the stays, however, I had to do some home-made things. Starring my old lego (ropewalk) and meccano (serving) Using this machinery, I succeeded in making some nice stays, of the (almost) correct thickness. I used beige thread, and stained it using some waterbased stains. (dark brown). The serving is done with 0.15 mm Guterman thread (dark brown) On the resulting rope, I made a mouse (using 0.5 mm thread). Nice eye (not a real splice, but some variation on what dafi has once posted under the titl eof 'power splice': use a needle to get the rope back through its own strands. No-one knows, due to the serving: On the lower end, I made the large 5-hole blocks (later on I decided to stain them as well) Finally, the crowsfeet were installed at the lower top: The more observant readers amongst you may notice that the crowsfeet were done after the shrouds were installed, and the main stay was in place (but recreating a log gies the advantage of sorting out things a bit by topic ) Ofcourse, the same was done for the main stay, and the top-stays. The main stay is attached using a block in a collar that is attached around the bowsprit: This is in line with the model in the Rijksmuseum Corel took as an example for this kit (see second pic), but it should have been installed through a heavy knee at the stern. (however, when I discoverd that , it was too late to change....) The crowsfeet for the main are not done yet. The mizzen stay differs from the main and fore stay, as it is attached differently to the mast: not using a large 5-hole block, but a three-hole deadeye (5 mm diameter), stropped in a strop around the main mast: The uppermost stays are not installed using a mouse, but a fixed eye: After taking this photo, I cleaned up a bit (removing the small strands of the rope coming out of the serving) Literature is not quite clear on whether or not there was a mouse on these stays. Both methods are mentioned, and as my mousemaking ability was not good enough, I went for the splice... Jan

Not sure, depends on the ship and the country I suspect.... In the paperwork of the Zeven Provincieen (1666) both stay sails and spritsail topmast are mentioned. The Lelystad reconstruction project published plans showing them both. http://www.bataviawerf.nl/feiten-en-cijfers-van-de-7-provincien.html Jan

Perhaps you should re-open the "name the great laker ship"-thread, that will show us down even more Jan

Both your decision on the tiles and on the dragon's head were the right ones: it does look soooo much better now. Aren't you affraid of discolouring of the paper you used for the tiles? Jan

I have the building navy board stuyle and the sailing men of war. There is considerable overlap in the three books, as some of the techniques are used in all types of ships. The men of war is (as the title says) based on a large ship, the period ship modelmaking is the same on smaller ships (equal scale, thought). The period ship modelsmaking is more explicit on the rigging. (Reed uses al kinds of meterials, the explanation is better in the book presented here) I very much like the book on a navy board style model. (makes me dream of work to do in the future) As the other books use a solid hull type approach, the navyboard style book is (by definition) not. It gives quite a lot of pictures on how to do a miniature (1:196) navyboard style model. In its set up it is comparable to the other books: some basic info on workplace and tools needed, some on wood types, other materials (Reed is quite liberal in materials 'accepted'), Followed by what I would call a very extensively illustrated build log. There is in this last book some overlap with the McNarry and McCaffery books on miniature modelling. Jan

Great book, even for those who will never, ever be able to build ships like the ones Frohlich shows (me, for example). Hours of drooling over pictures of fantasticly detailed models. Jan

One of the major points you should tackle: the sheer of the planking towards the aft end of the ship is not correct: you have your planks almost horizontal. In 'real life' it should more or less follow (or even be stronger) than the upward curvature of the decks. It should more or less follow the direction of the railing, and not that of the waterline. Jan

The pic is an english copy of a drawing in Van IJk's book on Dutch shipbuilding. Anderson is a good reference. Anderson did republish his book, focussing more on the English rigging. So, if building a 'continental' ship, you should go for the earlier book. Jan

You're not like the 'standard builder', we all know that by now, but.....why start a second one? and: will you finish the first, as soon as you have a second one that (undoubtedly) will be better than the first? Jan

Hi Remco, Glad you restarted. Yours was/is one of my favourites (along with Danny's) You should not forget to post some of your famous 'redo's' Jan

The original model has flat chainplates However, the book by Ketting suggest linked chainplates. I don't know why, but I liked the idea (atleast: better than I liked the Corel provided flat plates, that did not fit at all, as I changed the dimensions of the channels) So I started out experimenting and soldering: First on the small ones for the shrouds on the spars: These were relatively easy, as there were no links below the tops, so a one-part thing would do. I did not solder the thing after putting the deadeye into place. I used a small drop of CA for those irons that did not close tightly enough. (for the scale: these are for the 3 mm dead eyes) The dead eyes on the mast are 5mm ones, and these have links to attach them to the hull. As there is quite s sheer in the hull, and a number of shrouds fanning out from the mast top, there was no way to go into mass production of the links: only the lower link is more or less mass-produces. the others are all individuall measured and modelled. As these are expected to get more strains that the small ones, the upper and the lower link is soldered. The connecting one is not. The lower one is soldered at the positionof the nail (and so connecting it to the nail). The upper link is soldered just below the dead eye. As I'm not into slver sodlering, it is all soft solder that is used. As to now (feb 2013) everything seems to take the stresses quite well. No deadeyese coming loose (just one or two nails that keep coming loose, but after a drop of CA, they don't) And in place (starboard main channel), before painting black:

Overview in may 2009, after placing the channels.

Next came the channels. It was only then, that I discovered that a bot more carefull planning atthe start would have paid off... So some surgery was necessary: This is the foremost port at the upper deck. It was just behind one of the shrouds. I placed a small plug in the hole, and shifted the port slightly to the stern. Result of this is that it is no longer possible to place the guns in these ports: the port is no longer in front of the wooden U-profile. However, as all ports on the upper deck are a bit low to the deck, I already discareded the idea of putting guns on the upper deck. Also some surgerey needed at the other end of the ship. The mizzen channel didn't fit in. I had to shift them a whole port-width (5 mm) towards the front. And the round port had to go a bit upward. That way the mizzen channel just fitted in, and the chains did not end in the middle of the port. Glad I decided earlier to make these ports as 'fake' ones. The white things you see are my version of the gun-lid hinges. strips of white paper (<1mm in width, to be painted black). I liked these far better than the Corel stamped brass hinges. The channels itself were laminated in three layers. Why laminated? They are 3 mm thick at the thickest point, and there should be a light curve in it as they should follow the main wale. The only way I could do that was by laminating (and thinking that there would be a layer of black paint covering up this little fraud) I made the channels less wide that the Corel version, but later on when the masts were in palce, and I started rigging, I discovered that they should have even less wide. Jan

After more or less finishing the hull, I came to the masting of the ship. I decided to make a few changes to the Corel setup. A bit encouraged by the fact that Corel gave me some non-straight wood to do the masts and spars. I used slightly thicker wood than Corel provided. Corels wood is a bit underscale, minie a bit overscale, but I like the overscale version (especially while the rigging thead by Corel is also overscaled in thickness) I started with the bowsprit, and the top at the end of the bowsprit was the first thing I made. While starting on the kit-provied version, I got the feeling that it wasn't correct, and that I could do better. Corel-version to the right, mine to the left. The Corel-provided clamps are way to heavy, and clumsy in form. I decided I could make my own by using some spare 1x3 mm walnut strips. I also used these strips to form the base of the top. (the version to the right also has a home-made base, as the plywoodversion of Corel didn't look right at all) By "scaling down" the parts of the top, I had also to scale down the trestle trees.I liked the finished result. The ring around the top is 0.5mm walnut, in stead of the 1.5 mm flexible beach Corel prescribes. Soaking it in ammonia made it very easy to bend around a small bottle with the correct diameter. After succesfully completing this beta version, I did all the tops in this way. To the left of this picture there is a plank I created to make the base of the top: four 1x4 walnut strips glued together to get the correct width, and doubled were necessary. Four of these composite planks formed a rectangle, with a hole of the correct size in the middle. I just had to make a circle out of it to get the base of the top, as shon on the right. The thickness of the base is slightly overscale, but as everything in this kit is, there is no problem (actually, now the topbase is 2 mm thick, using the 1.5 mm plywood, and covering it top and bnottomside with the 0.5 mm strips as per the manual, woudl have resulted in a thicker base.) And the finished main top (march 2009): Final decission with respect to the tops: to paint or not to paint. After consideration of the pro's (hiding of ugly glue residue) and con's (no wood structure visible) I decided to pain all the tops, and the mastheads black (as per the book of Ketting). As an example: the fore top, in a slightly later fase of the build. I used balck acyllic paint, quite dilluted. A light sanding was necassary between cats, as the wood fibres tended to react to the water. Due to the strong dillution, the tops are black, but quite a lot of the wood (both structure and colour) is still visible through the paint.

I'm not only trying to restore my log, but also my post-rank, that's why I use so many posts to show you 20 pictures Jan

Still updating on my build log (in stead of making any progress on the ship herself ) When I was this far in the build (september 2008) I came across the buildlog of Chuck of the Mayflower. Apart from all very usefull info in this log (which is gone by now, and will not return, I'm affraid) was some info on how to build a little boat. Chuck used a number of stacked layers, to form the basic hull, smooting and thinning it up, and use that as a base to add exterior planking, and interior framing. As Dutch ships (as all ships) should have at least a small boat stowed on the deck, I decided to add this little boat as an extra to the kit. I downloaded the plan Chuck had in his log, and gave it a go. It worked out pretty well, and was very easy to do (much easier than e.g. working from a plug). The basic structure: Outside planking: using walnut, 3.5mm wide. Flush planking on the bottom, clinker on the sides. Inside framing, using 1x1 mm walnut strips, bend using a soldering iron (there was only a thin line between severe burning of either fingers and wood and giving them the correct curvature ) Bottom planks, and the aft seat installed I had some problems to do the topside of the railing: it should be around 1 mm high and 3 mm wide (to hide the thicknes of the base-shell), and it should be left-right symmetrical. In the end I opted for the laminated version: I made a mold, and attached three layers of the standard 1x3 mm walnut planks provided with the kit. After drying of the glue, I used a sawe to divide this into two symmetrical 1 mm thick and 3 mm wide planks in the correct curvature. After attaching a details (seats for the rowers, keel, sterns and railings), I decided that this was as far as I would go at detailing the little one. I know that there shoudl be metal work, oars, rudder and so on on the boat, but I though it best to keep the level of detailing of the boat in line with that on the kit in general. The lenght of the boat is 7 cm overall, which nicely fits in with the empty space on the main deck where I stowed her. Jan

Hi Michiel, As my planking isn't completely flush, and not at all level, wuite a lot of the underlying structure is coming through. The wood used for the planking is walnut, and that has little structure visible in itself. The main structure is the gaps between the planks. The white paint itself is Talens Van Gogh acryllic paint, white, with some added yellow, brown and black. I gave it two coats, so the underlying woodcolour is not visible. I used cellotape to mask the waterline at the first layer, removed it when still wet. The second layer wasn't masked, and was done by eye (and a steady hand) Jan

I did not like the capstan as provided by Corel. So I made a couple of small changes to her: I made the head thicker, and I rearranged the spokes. It still isn't as Dutch as it shoudl be, but the colours make up for that (no flash used, so the colours are a bit 'off white') Jan

Ofcourse I will finish her (some time in the very distant future:) ) And then I started painting her. I had a problem there: the figures made by Corel do in no way resemble the originals on the Prinw Willem in the Rijksmuseum. Corel uses half-naked women, the original had just heads on some kind of pedistal. Therefore the paintscheme of the original was not fit for the model. I didn;t want to do any carving (I once tried that on a 1:30 scale, and I did not succeed, so I wasn't prepared to do it on a 1:100 scale) I decided to use a paintschem that was used the Netherlands a couple of decades later: All carvings just plain yellow. This is how it came out: Stern: Gallion Bottom and sides: I should have made all colours slightly less bright, but overall, I like the result. Jan

Great you restarted your log from the beginning! Jan

I discovered that I do not have any (!) pictures taken of the build up of the gallion.... I don't know why, presumably becasue it was not the easiest part to make, as I did some adjustents to the lion, and to the bow, so the ready made etched parts did not really fit well....

Knees of the head Here my own lack of planking skills was very visible (remember: PW was an dis my very first "real" kit) The positioning of the hawse holes if not as it should be, as the wales should (but aren't) almost horizontal towards the stern. And painted black: Visible on this last pic is a slight adaptation I made to the kit: I removed the top-layer of the plywoodkeel, and replaced it with a new top-layer, which reflects the historic correct build-up of the stern. Jan