flying_dutchman2

While in Taiwan I went to Wood Craft Fair and purchased some interesting planers. Facebook links: lukangtools - Chisels, planers, etc. - Taiwan https://www.facebook.com/lukangtools sincerecraft - Taiwan Check out their facebook page and some of their videos. https://www.facebook.com/sincerecraft.tw

Cut square and rectangular dowels from walnut on the bandsaw and glued the front of the block on one side and the side of the block on the other side. They are now ready for drilling using a 1mm diameter bit. Marcus

In the summer of 2024, I started working on the blocks. Using TurboCAD, I took the block plan from the book and used the measurements for the scale I am using. Copied both the front and side of the blocks and filled the page with copies of the individual blocks and are ready for printing. Marcus

I did a drawing of the anchors in the scale I needed. They are completely made of wood except for the ring. Two sheet and two best bower anchors. Marcus

Crowsnest.

Added sails, oars, the sticks that belong to the windlass in one of the boats. Tied it all together and will be placed on the Fluit once the masts, sails and rigging is completed. The little boats were difficult to make and the next ones that go on the Heemskerck (War Yacht and sister ship of the Zeehaen) will be made differently. Marcus

In November of 2024 we went 4 days to Taiwan and 10 days to Vietnam. In Taiwan I went to a wood museum and a wood craft fair. I purchased some interesting planners (pictures will follow). I will attach the facebook pages from the woodcrafters I visited. All the temples we visited had very intricate carvings. Taiwan is very clean (not a piece of paper on the roads), and the people are very friendly and that goes for Vietnam as well. In March of this year we are going to Capetown, South Africa for a little less than 3 weeks. South Africa has been on my bucket list for decades. That little crescent shaped piece of the Southern tip of South Africa called, Cape Flora Kingdom is one of the 6 unique plant kingdoms in the world. About 70% of its flora is found nowhere else on the planet. As a retired Horticulturist/Plant & Soil Scientist I just have to see this before I die and the Botanical Garden, Kirstenbosch is the place to see some of these species. Also interested in the Dutch history and the maritime museum. Add some updates which were done last year.

Great review, Chris! I got it a couple of weeks ago and it is another excellent book from Ab and Emiel Hoving. This book will give me the courage to build a ship in card. Marrc

Hi Chris, Thanks for the link. I am going to check some Dutch sites (I speak it fluently) and plug in the weight of paper/card numbers mentioned in Ab's new book. Marcus Thanks Phil, for the information. Marcus

Hi Chris, I am going to try my hand at scratch building paper models. Yesterday I received Ab Hoving's book "Dutch 17th Century Ship Models in Paper", from Seawatch Books. I will start with a small Dutch merchant ship. In his book, Ab discusses the types of weight of the paper but it is the Dutch kind he uses. Can't seem to find a conversion table (European to US paper weight). What do you recommend I use? Abe mentions 0.5 mm thick, 1mm thick and 2mm thick. Thanks in advance, Marcus

Every Fluit you have built is always beautifully executed. I always learn something looking at your Fluits. I use this knowledge on my own fluit to make sure the Zeehaen is correct. Marcus

Ab, Beautiful pictures, so realistic. Emiel does an excellent job with Photoshop. Do you have higher resolutions of all your pictures, especially the ones in your book of 17th Century Dutch Merchant ships? I would be interested in the Fluit pictures. Thanks, Marc

Ab, Glad you are feeling better. Looking forward to the Photoshop composition. Marcus

Jules, I second that from @druxey, is there a thesis or dissertation on the above information? If so, I would love to read it. I would also like to see the biography list of all the references you are using as you have some interesting articles that I have not heard of before. Thanks, Marcus

This is a fascinating topic and I have been reading this thoroughly. It also gives me a better understanding of it all (Thank you Jules). I use Witsen's manuscript and Hoving's book which is an interpretation of Witsen's manuscript plus several other books to attempt to either built another Fluit (First I need to finish the Zeehaen), or the war yacht, the Heemskerck. Marcus

Hallo Jues, The following link are from two Dutch model builders that are building models "shell first". They are both very interesting threads to follow. Winter's Hollandse tweedekker 1/75 POF bouw door Stephan Kertész | ModelbouwForum.nl Marcus

Thanks for posting. It is amazing how this was done and the work that went into this. I like how all the figures were swimming a backstroke when the ship went down. Marcus

Same here. I was just in the Netherlands but due to time constraint it wasn't possible to see it. Marcus

WOW, Beautiful. Clean Lines. Well Done. Marcus

I second that "and" I will think about your questions and come up with something that may answer or not . Marcus

@mangulator63 "I'm just curious, does anyone still sit at a drafting board and design and draw anymore?" Yes, I do. I still have my drafting table and Rotring pens (from 1978 when I studied landscape Architecture at the Horticulture College in the Netherlands) and still use them. My present built went from 1:75 to 1:37.5. I have a fast pc with TurboCAD installed on it. But firing that up and scanning in the plans, blowing that up to twice the size, printing them all, and then taping that all together takes much longer then cutting a piece of velum from a 5 ft wide 100 ft long roll. Measure by hand the dimensions on the original plans and transcribe them on the 1:37.5. Marc

After reading with much interest, this has been very educational. Philemon1948 "Is this true? Were drawings not used before they started building a ship in the seventeenth century?" The Dutch were well known for not putting anything on paper. The master shipwright had it all in his head and they taught the younger shipwright and he taught it to the next on and so on. Nothing on paper so when you read through books lets say the book "17th Century Dutch Merchant Ships by Ab Hoving and Cor Emke" , drawings/plans are from paintings, edgings, maritime archeological excavations and contracts from Witsen and other authors. Nothing like "we got plans from this and that. Unlike other Western European nations that put everything on paper and some of this has survived to this day. This makes it more difficult for the present model ship builder to built a model because it never is exact. Reading through these 2 books I have mastered the art of reading and understanding contracts. It did take several years and help from Ab Hoving. – A. Hoving, A. Lemmers, In tekening gebracht. De achttiende-eeuwse scheepsbouwers en hun ontwerpmetoden, 2001, – A. Hoving, Nicolaes Witsen and Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age, 2012. I figured if I master understanding contracts I can built any Dutch Ship. Philemon1948 "The flute and the pinas represent two different ship types although they tend to have many features in common". On the site of De VOCsite : Scheepstypen van de VOC it discusses a "Hekboot", which is the best of both worlds. The bottom part of the ship is a Fluit and the top part is a Pinas. Dutch quote "Het is een soort mengvorm met als onderschip de kenmerken van een fluit en de bovenbouw van een pinas". Just my 2 cents. Marcus

I have the book and it is a great addition to my library. It has helped me with building my Dutch ships. My interest in building Dutch ships is the method and technique the Dutch used. Ab Hoving has written a good book about this and he has several articles on this as well. Marcus

As a frugal Dutchman, I have been making them for the last couple of years (I make almost everything myself, about 95%). I take a round dowel, clamp it, on a drill press put in 3 holes in a triangle. Use my crude home made lathe and put the dowel in the chuck from the drill and use an abrassive cord to make the groove. Cut off the deadeye a bit wider and sand both sides a bit round. As someone already said, if you only need a few, you can purchase them from any online store. Marcus

Beautiful book and the ships look very realistic. Marcus