tlevine

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

17 people have purchased the kit so far (including you).  Yours was shipped out less than an hour ago.
Have fun with the build!
 
Mary

I've just purchased this amazing teaching tool. Should arive in just a few days. Just wondering if others have done the same.
 
Chuck
 

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

The truss pendants are paired ropes that hold the yard against the mast.  These are made from twenty feet of 4” rope with a double block stropped on one end and a thimble on the other.  The end with the thimble is seized onto the yard. I spliced a thimble into one end of the line and seized the pendant onto the yard inside the quarter block, keeping the thimble on the aft side of the yard.  I rotated the yard 180 degrees to gain better access to the aft side of the yard.

Once both pendants were attached to the yard, I ran the line from the starboard pendant through the top of the port pendant thimble; the process was repeated with the port pendant, passing it through the top of the starboard thimble.  The result is a crossing of the two lines on the aft side of the mast.
 
Three-millimeter double blocks were stropped on the ends of the pendants for the pendant falls.  In the picture below, the outer lines are the jeer tyes and the longer inner ones are the pendants.

The lower blocks for  the pendant and jeer falls attach to the eyebolts on the mast partners.  The strop for the blocks is spliced, with a loop seized at each end.  The lower loop is fitted with a hook and the falls will be attached to the upper loop.  It took a few tries to make hooks that looked realistic.  After they were made, I opened the loop and inserted it into one of the block loops.  The rope for the falls passes through the other loop and is spliced to itself to secure it.
 
The jeer tye falls are 2” rope.  After securing it to the lower tye falls block loop, the line was passed back and forth through the upper and lower blocks and hooked to the block on the aft eyebolt, adjusting the length of rope as necessary to get a snug but not too tight line.  I wrapped the line a few times around the bits and taped the ends to the back of the last frame.  This allowed me to easily adjust the tension.
 
 
The pendant tye falls were rove the same way.  The rope for the pendant falls is 1 3/4”.  The ends were taped to frame 1.  I tightened all the lines and let the model sit for a day to allow the rope to stretch from the tension.  The lines were adjusted and retapes them to the frames.  The jeer tye falls were finished off by making rope coils to go over the bit pin.  I made my coils by taking a piece of line and wrapping it around the jaws of a caliper.  The line was removed by closing the jaws.  A few turns of line were wrapped around the middle of the coil.
 
 

Steel states that both the jeer tye and pendant falls tie off to bits.  I tied the jeer tye falls to the bits and the pendant falls to itself to prevent the lines from rubbing against each other and to show an alternate way to tie off a line.  The rope coils for the pendant falls were made on the model.  My rope coil is 3.5’ long and the wrap is 4’ up from the deck.  That completes the rigging.

 

Hi All
 
I've not checked in for a while as I cannot get any work done on my ship at the moment.  My workshop has been turned into a storage room due to a contractor letting us down to fit a complete bathroom - The bathroom is in my workshop - such is life.  It looks like it's going to be this way until October so I will have to be patient.
 
I did start the planking and it was going on very nicely following my marking out.  I did find it quite hard though as the planks are 3.2mm thick so require a lot of clamps.  Here's a good indicator - the coin is a pound coin.




The bow and stern required spiling as otherwise the planks just don't fit and will not sit flat on the frames.


Now here is where I hit a really big problem.  If you look at the above photo's you can see that I used a black toolmakers clamp.  It was brand new and did the job great.  Unfortunately what with the moisture and heat in the planks the black oil coating ran straight onto the ends of 4 planks.  It didn't do this for the first 3 planks and then Boom!
 
I tried every kind of solvent to try and remove the blackness - it was so bad at the tips that I tried to cut away part of the tips and replace them with small scraps.  I even tried diluted bleach but the results were very bad - see below (I had already removed one plank). Basically at this point I was bodging it up!

So I realised that I was trying to cut corners and I could not leave it looking like that.  I removed the stained planks and that's where I'm at now.  It's going to need a really good clean up but thats OK.  I also have to damaged planks to use a templates too.  I'll recut the rabbit and clean up the stem at the same time.

 
As soon as I get my workshop back I'll be at it again and hopefully never make the same mistake again.  If you've followed my build this sort of thing is pretty much on par for me  
 
Thanks Mark

This thread will show the result of a conceptual interpretation and a partial reconstruction attempt of an important, very well-preserved wreck of a mid-17th century Dutch cargo ship, excavated in the Ijsselmeer basin in the north of the Netherlands. The ship has been identified as the Samuel, serving the trade with the Iberian peninsula, among others.
 
A very extensive archaeological record of the shipwreck can be found at:
https://beeldbank.cultureelerfgoed.nl/rce-mediabank/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=e81&page=1&record=bb0c9df7-b54d-2770-7cff-2d946e245039&sort=order_s_objectnummer%20asc
 
 

Shipwreck E81 (Samuel 1650), photo by Jan Rypma
 
 
Ship’s main dimensions (as recorded, read or interpreted):
 
Breadth: 26 feet
Length of keel: 78 feet (3 x breadth)
Length between posts: 91 feet (3.5 x breadth)
Depth in hold: 10 feet
 
* * *
 
Keel assembly, lengthwise division & main design lines
 
Ratio of sternpost rake to stempost rake: 1:6 (note: stempost rake measured from the point where the rabbet line crosses the upper edge of the keel and enters the stempost)
Height of sternpost: ~2 x height of tuck (note: height of tuck at the waterline level)
Height of stempost: height of sternpost + 1 foot
Longitudinal position of master frame: 1/3 of keel length (see diagram for the determination method)
 
Note: the radius of the stempost in the diagram relates to the arc of the upper rabbet line.
 
 

 
 
According to the archaeological record, the following relationships and design sequence of Samuel 1650 have been found or guessed:
 
– the waterline level was set at eight feet, corresponding to the height of tuck (or vice versa), horizontally (as in the diagram) or, alternatively, angled to the lesser height of 7 feet at the bow,
– the length of the waterline (not including the posts) has been divided into seven parts (with a possible subdivision of 14),
– the line of the floor was set, terminating aft at the height of tuck and, at the fore, one foot below the horizontal waterline level (or at the intersection of the design waterline with the stempost for angled waterline); at the master frame deadrise has been fixed at three inches,
– the height of the greatest breadth at the master frame is 1/10 of the total length of the hull (i.e. between posts), about one foot above the design waterline,
– the wales are perfectly parallel to the line of greatest breadth (scheerstrook, scheergang).
 
Of note is the extensive use of logarithmic curves to define the shapes of the main design lines. These are one of the easiest types of curves (or maybe better: transformation) to use in practice, especially as they are ideally suited to achieving the contours of the frames straight away on the mould loft with a trivial simplicity, and without any real need to make any scale drawings on paper in advance. Essentially, no knowledge of theory is required, just familiarity with straightforward division operations is enough.
 
So much for the essentials of this rather simple design (in conceptual terms).
 
 

 
 
* * *
 
Cross-sections
 
Dimensions of master frame components (as recorded, read or interpreted):
 
Width of the „flat”: ~17 1/3 (2/3 x max. breadth)
Deadrise (at the master frame): 3 inches
Design depth: ~9 feet (1/10 x length)
Futtock sweep: variable radius (equal to respective breadth) or fixed radius (equal to max. breadth); note: both variants result in almost indiscernible shapes for this shipwreck,
Bilge sweep: 4 1/3 (fixed radius; 1/6 x max. breadth)
Reconciling sweep: 17 1/3 (fixed radius; 2/3 x max. breadth)
 
It can also be added that the transverse contours of the „flat” for all leading frames are straight lines, except for the last leading frame it is in the form of an circular arc (note: on the diagram below one more frame was drawn between the last leading frame and the sternpost). Employment of the arc is for the smooth transition of the hull surfaces toward the sternpost, providing better waterflow for at least acceptable rudder efficiency.
 
 

 
* * *
 
Possible appearance
 
The graphic below shows a hypothetical appearance of the Samuel 1650 once its upperworks have been recreated. The Samuel 1650 is actually almost the smallest ship for which the two-deck configuration was used. The distance between decks was taken from Grebber's table, reproduced in both Witsen's 1671 and van Yk's 1697 works. This feature, taken together with the relatively small size of the ship, make Samuel's silhouette quite tall, and despite the smallest distance adopted between these decks (about 4½ feet).
 
The very full shape of the underwater part of the hull, suitable for a cargo ship, is also evident. Taken together with the high freeboard, this must have made the ship very leeward, which ultimately surely contributed to her disaster, but also preserved her to our times.
 
The position of the masts, or rather the foremast and mainmast, was taken from the shipwreck documentation, but it must be said that it is altogether quite typical: the mainmast at the middle of the keel and the foremast above the gripe, i.e. above the junction of the keel with the stem post.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Also below are some graphics showing ships of a similar nature. While not all from the Samuel's particular period, especially the last two, they still can be relevant for various details, but also to get a better feel for this vessel’s general specifics (Dutch archives).
 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
* * *
 
Reconstruction hull lines
 
As the below drawings are reconstruction plans, there is no need to take them too literally. For example, a 'perforated' railing may be added in the aft part to make the sheer of the ship more attractive, or the upper edge of the stern 'mirror' may be made as an arc. Some more wales with a smaller cross section above the three main ones drawn on the plan should actually be attached as well, and the sternpost possibly shortened a little, roughly to the height of the wing transom, for free entry of the tiller into the hull, etc.
 
The correct arrangement of the garboard strakes in Dutch convention is well shown below in the documentation of the Samuel 1650 shipwreck. Actually, in the central part of the hull, the garboard strakes are not in contact with the frame timbers at all. On the plans the garboard strakes are not drawn because these plans show the contours of the frames and not the planking. On the sheer view, however, both rabbet lines are plotted, just for this purpose.
 
The hull lines has been checked for fairness (as opposed to actually forming the shapes) with diagonals and waterlines.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Thank you for your attention,
Waldemar Gurgul
 

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 
The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 
The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.
This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.
Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.
 
So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.
 
For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

support for swivel guns:











 
 

Very informative of what to expect, Toni. Well put together.

Very cool project!  Nicely done!

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 
The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 
The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.
This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.
Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.
 
So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.
 
For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 
The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 
The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.
This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.
Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.
 
So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.
 
For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 
The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 
The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.
This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.
Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.
 
So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.
 
For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 
The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 
The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.
This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.
Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.
 
So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.
 
For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

The directions indicate adding the sternpost and rudder at this point.  I did and the rudder was promptly broken off, so this will be added at a later point.   The fit between the sternpost and the hull required a lot of filling. 
 
The stern assembly was partially  painted off the model and then installed.  I don’t know whether the problem was myself or the kit but the rudder opening in the transom did not center on the sternpost.
 
The bulkhead and quarter badges were painted off the model and installed.  Veneer was glued to the quarter deck and installed.   This would have been a painted deck, not natural wood, on the actual vessel and is painted on the reproduction.
 
 
On Utrecht there is a painted metal plate on the stem.  This was used as an anchor for a mast stay and bowsprit lashing.  This was provided as two photoetch parts which simply needed folding and nailing to the stem.  It was well-shaped but was made from a white metal that did not like to bend well.  Since this is painted, I would use the provided triangular piece but replace the larger piece with something more malleable, such as softened brass or copper.

The rest of the stem parts were installed next.  The head timbers were molded to the top head rail.  This was glued to the lower rail and installed.  The starboard head rail/timbers were nicely molded and fit reasonably well.  The port side had molding problems; the foremost head timber was missing and the middle one was misshapen. 

The figurehead is a resin casting to which a brass crown is added after painting.  The only problem is that it looks quite different from the figurehead of the replica Utrecht.  The body is realistic but on the replica figurehead, the lion looks fierce and the kit version looks comedic.  A crown is molded onto the resin fitting and looks better than the applied brass crown.  The picture on the left is the replica figurehead.
 

Thanks, Chris.

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

The truss pendants are paired ropes that hold the yard against the mast.  These are made from twenty feet of 4” rope with a double block stropped on one end and a thimble on the other.  The end with the thimble is seized onto the yard. I spliced a thimble into one end of the line and seized the pendant onto the yard inside the quarter block, keeping the thimble on the aft side of the yard.  I rotated the yard 180 degrees to gain better access to the aft side of the yard.

Once both pendants were attached to the yard, I ran the line from the starboard pendant through the top of the port pendant thimble; the process was repeated with the port pendant, passing it through the top of the starboard thimble.  The result is a crossing of the two lines on the aft side of the mast.
 
Three-millimeter double blocks were stropped on the ends of the pendants for the pendant falls.  In the picture below, the outer lines are the jeer tyes and the longer inner ones are the pendants.

The lower blocks for  the pendant and jeer falls attach to the eyebolts on the mast partners.  The strop for the blocks is spliced, with a loop seized at each end.  The lower loop is fitted with a hook and the falls will be attached to the upper loop.  It took a few tries to make hooks that looked realistic.  After they were made, I opened the loop and inserted it into one of the block loops.  The rope for the falls passes through the other loop and is spliced to itself to secure it.
 
The jeer tye falls are 2” rope.  After securing it to the lower tye falls block loop, the line was passed back and forth through the upper and lower blocks and hooked to the block on the aft eyebolt, adjusting the length of rope as necessary to get a snug but not too tight line.  I wrapped the line a few times around the bits and taped the ends to the back of the last frame.  This allowed me to easily adjust the tension.
 
 
The pendant tye falls were rove the same way.  The rope for the pendant falls is 1 3/4”.  The ends were taped to frame 1.  I tightened all the lines and let the model sit for a day to allow the rope to stretch from the tension.  The lines were adjusted and retapes them to the frames.  The jeer tye falls were finished off by making rope coils to go over the bit pin.  I made my coils by taking a piece of line and wrapping it around the jaws of a caliper.  The line was removed by closing the jaws.  A few turns of line were wrapped around the middle of the coil.
 
 

Steel states that both the jeer tye and pendant falls tie off to bits.  I tied the jeer tye falls to the bits and the pendant falls to itself to prevent the lines from rubbing against each other and to show an alternate way to tie off a line.  The rope coils for the pendant falls were made on the model.  My rope coil is 3.5’ long and the wrap is 4’ up from the deck.  That completes the rigging.

 

For anybody interested, the kit is now available through the NRG store.  https://thenrgstore.org/collections/plans-and-projects/products/masting-and-rigging-kit
 
The jeers are the pulley system used to raise and lower the lower yard.  This ship has three jeer blocks, one attached to the lower yard and two others suspended by strops from the masthead.  These blocks are not included in the kit.  They are large enough that they are not difficult to make.  The jeer tye runs through the blocks.  The tye is a 6” rope with a scale diameter of 0.04”; the opening for the sheave is just large enough to allow the rope to run through it.
 
Look at the block proportion drawing.  The sheave opening width is “1” on the drawing.  The length of the block is 8, the width is 4, and the breadth is 6.  The sheave opening length is 5.5 times the sheave opening width.  It is not centered in the block, as shown in the drawing.  The jeer blocks have a double strop, so the blocks will need two grooves on their sides instead of just one.

 
To make the three blocks, I took a piece of boxwood a little larger than required and sanded the sides to the correct width and breadth.  Sanding instead of sawing prevented any burn marks on the wood.  The tops and bottoms of the three blocks, the sheave opening and the strop grooves were drawn onto the wood.  A  space was left between the blocks to make shaping the bottom of the blocks easier.  These blocks will have a false sheave and the sheave bolt is omitted because it is hidden by the strop.
 
I started with the sheave opening.  A 0.045” opening corresponds to a #57 drill bit.  I drilled the holes for all three blocks at the same time.  I used a drill press but this could be done with a pin vise.  The key is to keep the drill bit exactly at 90 degrees to the wood strip.  If you do not have a drill press, I would suggest drilling shallow holes from each side and having them meet in the middle.  This is what happens if your angle is slightly off and you drill through from one side.

A #11 blade was used to score the block along the pencil lines between the two holes and using a combination of files and #11 blade, the area between the score marks was shaped to simulate the sheave.  Two shallow cuts were made all around both ends of the blocks and halfway between them.  Using a V-shaped chisel, the strop grooves were cut.  The halfway cuts acted as a stop to prevent from cutting into the next block. 
 
With a sanding stick, the upper part of the block was shaped on all four sides.  I removed most of the wood between the saw cuts and start shaping the bottom of the block.  Finally, the block was cut free from the strip and the lower edge was shaped. 
 
The jeer block is located in the center of the yard.  The double strop for the jeer block is made from served 5” rope.  Just like the quarter blocks, the jeer block is not centered on the strop, but at the 1/3 mark.  The strop eyes are located on the fore side of the yard and secured with a seizing.

 
I made a template for the strop from a scrap piece of rope following the instructions below.  It took a few trials to get the correct length.  Once I was satisfied, the strop splice was unglued and the total length required was measured.  The pictures look somewhat crude but consider that the entire strop is less than 1.5” long.  These pictures are enlarged so that you can see the process.  I served a piece of rope, leaving extra unserved rope and serving thread for the splice.  The two ends were untwisted to make the splice.  This was glued and, when dry, served over with the extra serving thread.  Eyes were formed at both ends of the strop.
 
The block was positioned on the strop and seized so that one leg was twice as long as the other.  The splice is on the side of the block, where it will be less noticeable.

 
The arms were wrapped around the yard and the two loops were seized together.  These pictures show both sides of the yard.  The seizing is on the fore side. 
 
 

Thanks, Chris.

To prevent damage, the top rail was made last.  There are four balustrades that fit into the holes previously made in the top and a top rail.  The rail extended almost to the edges of the top and is 4” wide.  This was cut from 1/32” sheet wood and the edges were smoothed over.  The rail was placed on the top’s gunwale and the locations of the balustrade holes were transferred to it. 
The balustrades are two feet long and 2 inches square.  The two ends of the balustrade are square and the center section is round.  You can see the transition marks for the top and bottom pins, and between the square and round sections drawn onto the wood.  I used an 11 blade, files and sandpaper to round the center section.  The transition from square to round was shaped with a half-round file.  The end pins are square.
  
 
The balustrades were inserted into the rail after enlarging the drill holes.  Then they were glued into the holes in the top.  The rail is angled 90 degrees to the water line.  Once dry, the protruding pins were sanded flush with the rail. 

As a final step, I applied mahogany veneer to the exposed frames.  All that was left was to clean things up.  Thank you for following along!

 
 

The truss pendants are paired ropes that hold the yard against the mast.  These are made from twenty feet of 4” rope with a double block stropped on one end and a thimble on the other.  The end with the thimble is seized onto the yard. I spliced a thimble into one end of the line and seized the pendant onto the yard inside the quarter block, keeping the thimble on the aft side of the yard.  I rotated the yard 180 degrees to gain better access to the aft side of the yard.

Once both pendants were attached to the yard, I ran the line from the starboard pendant through the top of the port pendant thimble; the process was repeated with the port pendant, passing it through the top of the starboard thimble.  The result is a crossing of the two lines on the aft side of the mast.
 
Three-millimeter double blocks were stropped on the ends of the pendants for the pendant falls.  In the picture below, the outer lines are the jeer tyes and the longer inner ones are the pendants.

The lower blocks for  the pendant and jeer falls attach to the eyebolts on the mast partners.  The strop for the blocks is spliced, with a loop seized at each end.  The lower loop is fitted with a hook and the falls will be attached to the upper loop.  It took a few tries to make hooks that looked realistic.  After they were made, I opened the loop and inserted it into one of the block loops.  The rope for the falls passes through the other loop and is spliced to itself to secure it.
 
The jeer tye falls are 2” rope.  After securing it to the lower tye falls block loop, the line was passed back and forth through the upper and lower blocks and hooked to the block on the aft eyebolt, adjusting the length of rope as necessary to get a snug but not too tight line.  I wrapped the line a few times around the bits and taped the ends to the back of the last frame.  This allowed me to easily adjust the tension.
 
 
The pendant tye falls were rove the same way.  The rope for the pendant falls is 1 3/4”.  The ends were taped to frame 1.  I tightened all the lines and let the model sit for a day to allow the rope to stretch from the tension.  The lines were adjusted and retapes them to the frames.  The jeer tye falls were finished off by making rope coils to go over the bit pin.  I made my coils by taking a piece of line and wrapping it around the jaws of a caliper.  The line was removed by closing the jaws.  A few turns of line were wrapped around the middle of the coil.
 
 

Steel states that both the jeer tye and pendant falls tie off to bits.  I tied the jeer tye falls to the bits and the pendant falls to itself to prevent the lines from rubbing against each other and to show an alternate way to tie off a line.  The rope coils for the pendant falls were made on the model.  My rope coil is 3.5’ long and the wrap is 4’ up from the deck.  That completes the rigging.