flying_dutchman2

Finished the first layer of planking. Next I will measure the skinny hip area and see how much to build it up. I will create a stern piece of 5 bulkheads (#5 thru 25) and use that to build it up, so if there are mistakes I can easily undo it and I will not wreck the model if I did it on that. Marcus

Phil and Mark, thank you both for the advice. I shall built up the hips. Not too much because it will look weird. I'll use the models in the book as references. Marcus

Thank you for all the likes. I am going to try to explain this and if you don't understand, please feel free to ask questions. I wanted to plank the Fluit in similar ways as the models in the 17th century Dutch merchant ships book, pages 73 to 77 (look below, pictures from the book and the model). The wales were installed first and I followed the contours of the ship without a problem. Then started planking going up and down from the wales and there I got into trouble. Also planked few strokes away from the keel. The models in the book show the following: the plank is at its lowest around the middle of the ship. It then slightly curves up towards the bow and the plank butt, ends up straight at the stem post. From the bottom wale going up, planking is easy to execute, lots of curves but nothing extreme. From the bottom wale going down, every planking strip becomes difficult to execute. Not only curved like a 'smile', but the plank is also curved inward (when you hold a plank by its sides with your thumb and pointing finger and putting pressure on the fingers to bowe the plank lengthwise). All plank butts, end up on an angle against both stern post and stem post on the model. This is not like the models in the book. Bow Stern In the book the stern area is much more bowed then my model. The models in the book have fat hips, whereas my model has skinny hips. It still curves. (I'll figure this out when I built my next sectional Fluit, just the bow and the stern). Fat hips Skinny hips Fat hips Furthermore, when I cut out the stern bulkhead #5, #10, #15 and #20 and spaced them 38mm of each other it was what the plans looked like. Looking at the models in the book bulkhead #0 (if there is such a thing) is the same width as bulkhead #5. Conclusion I read on other forums that planking a Fluit was a difficult exercise. (maybe I should have built a Cat first, which is similar to a Fluit). I cut out the bulkheads correctly and lined them up with spaces correctly. I am just not getting the fat hips. ********* I could start all over......... not doing that. I could saw (cut off) her where bulkhead #30 is and recreate the ship from bulkhead 5 to 30 with bigger hips. Leave the ship as is and install the second layer of planking like what the book shows. See if it is possible to built up both the bow and stern to get the results (bigger hips) of what is in the book. If you got this far, thank you for reading. Marcus

More planking. This time, besides push pins there are clamps as well. Building up the back of the ship. She is looking good, nice curved hips 😁. Not a straight line anywhere in the first layer of planking. Marcus

Those are days some of us can only dream of. Marcus

Here is some more planking 😁, the walnut shows where the wales are going to be. Getting a bit boring? There is progress...... Bow Stern Marcus

More planking of the 1st layer. Planking the area between the stern and where the poop deck is to be placed is a challenge. Basswood soaked for 4 days to get it thoroughly wet, then slowly bending it 2 ways and pinning it down with pushpin. Lots of pins used. It is a tedious process. Marcus

I have large blocks of free time.😁 Thanks for the preview and yes I am interested in the plans. Will send you a pm. Also, thanks in advance about the Rex. Marcus

More questions. Are there any plans available for the ship modeler of the 74 gun ship William Rex? I picked up that little booklet from the Rex last time I was at the Rijksmuseum. The booklet has plans on several pages but they are rather small for me to use if I want to build that model. I have that book from the Valkenisse, 1717 - VOC Retourschip by Rob Napier. There are 4 sets of plans just none for the masts, sails and rigging. Can you recommend any books, articles, etc that show masts, sails and rigging for that type of Ship and from the Dutch 1700. After seeing the Prins Willem and the Mercurius at the Rijks and the den Ary and d'Gerechtigheid at the National Maritime museum, I just have to build a VOC Retourschip. Thanks Marcus

Thanks for all the likes and comments. On both sides of the Fluit the lower 3 wales have been glued on. The 1st upper wale is pinned to the hull and drying. Towards the stern this plank has to be bend in two different directions. Lots of pins used, a "PIN FOREST" Stern. After the 3 lower wales with enough space between them for the 1st layer of planking, I should have done this differently. After the 1st lower wale, I should have installed a strip of basswood next to it and then a strip of walnut, etc. Instead, I made little blocks and pinned those between the wales. Complete Waste of Time!! Oh Well....... Started planking the 1st layer with basswood started with strips next to the keel. I was going to follow the planking pattern from the Fluit pictures in the book but they are all different so I will follow the pattern from the Boyer which is similar to Fluit planking. Marcus

Installed more wales on the hull. There are 5 wales on each side. Three wales equally spaced. 2 wales equally spaced. Stern Bow Wales: There will be 3 strips of 2mm thick glued on top of each other. Each wale will be 6mm thick and the wood is walnut. The rest of the ship: 1st planking layer is basswood and second layer is cherry. What I like about cherry is that it darkens over time. Last month at the woodworkers club meeting I was given lots of walnut and cherry planks so that is the wood to be uses for planking. Furthermore, someone gave me a slab of basswood (12"x 12" x 2"). This wood I will use for the carvings. Marcus

Jan, Beautiful build. The rigging is excellent. Love the ship with all its colors and following Ketting over Corel is a smart move. Looking forward to your progress on the PW. Marcus

Wale installation. So that the wale would follow the curve of the Fluit, I created 1cm long blocks with a hole in it. The hole is for a push pin. I line up a block to where the bottom edge of the walnut plank is to be. All blocks are push pinned Into a bulkhead. Then I get 2 pieces of 2mm thick by 6mm wide by 50cm long walnut planks (soaked for several days in water) and slowly bend and push against the block each of the plank along the curve of the Fluit. The planks overlap and somewhere I lay them on top of each other and cut several notches so they will lay tightly together. This is the most challenging part of building the Fluit. Once that is done, the rest of the planking will be easy to install. Marcus

Guesstimated where the lower wale will be installed and marked it with narrow tape. The 3 lower wales are 6mm wide and 6mm apart from each other. The 2 upper wales are 10mm apart from each other. Lower wales green, pink and blue tape. Upper wales purple and brown tape. Next exercise is to completely soak several pieces of walnut and bend them according to the flow of the tape and use as many pins needed until the wood is dry. Once the wood is dry, remove tape and glue the wale in place. Marcus

HI Steven, Thanks for the compliment. Your plan is what I have been thinking about since I got the plans and the book. One problem, it will be a huge display, something like 4x4x4 feet and I don't have the room for that. Need to donate it as soon as it is completed. (I am getting ahead of myself) Marcus

I've been reading several PhD dissertations from universities of Groningen and Leiden about the history of fluits and also the many wrecks that have been explored. In everyone of the papers they talk about a vessel called a 'hekboot'. Are there any plans available of this ship? Marcus

Completed the sanding of the hull to its required shape and glued in the stem post, keel and stern piece. From the above pictures on can see the extreme curves of both the stern and the bow. Should be a fun project planking them. Rough cut the top of the railings. The next step is to figure out where the wales are going to be. This is very important. Once wales are installed the rest of the planking is easy. Marcus

I find this conversation between Jaager and Ab Hoving very interesting. Learning some new things. Thank you! Marcus

Different question. Book: The Ships of Abel Tasman. Pg 33, pen painting from vd Velde de Elder. How can you tell a 600 ton yacht from the rest? Marcus

Thanks for the advice. All my hulls look like this one or worse and as you said, "the planking will hide it". Marcus

Ab, Thanks for answering my questions. Conventional would be how the Brits or Spanish etc. did it. Marcus

Thanks for all the well wishes. I am completely healed. Still need to take it easy. Not carrying 60lbs of goods, yet. Been sanding the outside of the hull which is now 90% complete. The stern will probably be the most difficult part. In the last month I have been looking at pictures of Fluits. In books and the Net. Staring at the curvature of the stern. I need to be able to visualize it in my head. Temporarily attached the stem, keel and stern to the ship. I need a decent fit before I permanently glue the pieces in place. Marcus

Questions When the Dutch build ships for the French, did they do this in France or the Dutch republic? Did the Dutch use the shell-first method or conventional method? Was the Vasa built shell-first? Marcus

Ab, Thanks for the lines of the 1680 Warship. All ships I built are from readily available wood. I get all my wood for free from the local woodworkers club I joined a couple of years ago. Predominantly walnut, cherry, poplar, linden and maple. I have been studying the plans of the pleasure jacht. Once you sent me the final plans of that ship I will attempt to build it shell first. When needing a break from building the Zeehaen, I will built the pleasure jacht. Marcus

Ab, Interesting story about the warships that you and Wilma worked on. So besides finding the contract in the archives you also found the information of how the ship was built and what went wrong. Kind of like a diary. If Wilma found a spec. contract in the Amsterdam archives, I wonder what other contracts the archives have. Do you build your ships from reading specification contracts? All those archives with all the contracts, gives you lots of choices of what to build. You don't happen to have plans from that Warship that you are talking about? I like how you make your cannons from card. Something for me to try. Making the barrels from card would be easier than from either wood or brass. Marcus