flying_dutchman2

Pat; I have done the serving where they fit around the mast. Shrouds: most forward leg of each pair I understand. Other question. On the Mary, I have 2 pairs of shrouds. So 4 total. From left to right | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | no. 4 is the leading leg of the set (3 | 4), I serve that all the way down. Would no. 2 also be a leading leg of the set (1 | 2)? The book is on my wish list on Amazon. Marc

1900 Hyman Rickover, American admiral who is considered the "Father of the Atomic Submarine." 1671 - Pirate Henry Morgen lands at Panama City

Sir Samuel Hood was a busy man.

On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying the first 736 convicts banished from England to Australia land in Botany Bay. Over the next 60 years, approximately 50,000 criminals were transported from Great Britain to the "land down under," in one of the strangest episodes in criminal-justice history.

http://www.hnsa.org/doc/steel/ This is David Steele's book on line or you can get it here: http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Rigging_and_Sails/Steel1796-TheArtofRigging.pdf http://www.modelboatyard.com/stropping.html This one is really good as it shows it step by step in color.

Very nice, This boat is on my future build list and I am always interested in anything VOC. Marc

Thank you for the info. I have Steel's and Peterson books. My models are all Dutch so I look under Continental. Presently building the Royal Dutch Mary which is a yacht and I have been looking at the plans from the Statenjacht Utrecht and they are very similar. Not much changed from 1600 to 1700. Steel's book can be difficult to read so I will give it a try again. Thank you Marc

Military History - 25th Jan. On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress authorizes the first national Revolutionary War memorial in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775. The Israeli submarine Dakar, carrying 69 sailors, disappears on this day in 1968 and is never seen again. The exact fate of this vessel remains a mystery to this day. 1579 - Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic (VERY important) 1775 - Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx) 1802 - Napoleon Bonaparte elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic 1856 - Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians 1865 - CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia

Several Questions: 1 - What are the rules of the amount of serving a line/rope? 2 - How do you know which vertical line on a ship needs to be served, and how much? 1/2? 3/4? I know it depends on the type of ship, what country is it from and what century. But are there some general rules and are there any books available. I looked in some of my books but there is no details. Several people on this site mention Steele (sp). I have looked at many models on this site and others and it gets confusing. I like to be accurate about all the models I make. Thank you, Marc

Beautiful, and your attention for detail is superb. Love the basket (something I need to try). The diorama looks great and the brown reed grass almost looks real. Thank you for showing your excellent work. In general I like diorama's as they complete the environment where the ship is. Boats on or in cradles look naked to me. I have to learn how to do diorama's as well. Anyway, awesome work. Marc

01-24-2014 On this day in 1781, Patriot commanders Lieutenant Colonel Light Horse Henry Lee and Brigadier General Francis Swamp Fox Marion of the South Carolina militia combine forces and conduct a raid onGeorgetown, South Carolina, which is defended by 200 British soldiers. German naval forces under Admiral Franz von Hipper, encouraged by the success of a surprise attack on the British coastal towns of Hartlepool and Scarborough the previous month, set off toward Britain once again, only to be intercepted by a squadron of British cruisers led by Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty on the morning of January 24, 1915, near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

I was looking at the block which will be located at the bow. I re-did it and created one from Popular in shape of a heart, or that is what they call it (I think). The Statenjacht - Utrecht has it as well and some of my other models from the same era too. View of the heart/pear shaped block. Measuring how wide. Made it 3mm wide. Finished product on the right and a picture of what it looks like on the "Utrecht". Marc

It is a decent kit. I have redone many items that are historically incorrect. This is after reading and looking at my pictures of Dutch boats and the building of other flat bottom boat kits. Marc

The website WackoWolf is talking about is https://www.drillbitcity.com/ . He mentioned this elsewhere on this site and I bought some bits from them and they are worth it and I will do business with them again. Marc

Finishing up the main mast and the spars. Did many different things as the instructions did not look real. There are a lot of things on this boat that are not correct. The tan rope I got is flimsy. So I purchased some rope from Chuck P. Syren ship M. Co. I am waiting for that to start the rigging. Made a small jig to line up the deadeyes. Also, some of the deadeyes are a joke. There is a large one that is supposed to have 5 holes and only has three. Tried to drill 2 more and the piece just fell apart. It was brittle. I created a new one. It is not the same as the machine made one but I still need to sand it down a bit. Mamoli has decent Dutch kits, but I am afraid to purchase any of them in the future, knowing that they are not accurate. It is a shame. I spent a $120.00 on the Mary and about 20% of the material is worthless. Plus the drawings are all by hand. This company never heard of CAD drawings? Constructo had all CAD and there were large sheets with an excellent color booklet and description. The following pictures are of the mast and spars. Some of the spars have a metal "U" attachment in the middle of the spar. I researched that and the jachts from that era and the Utrecht (100 years later), Use this to tie a rope to it, instead of tying the rope directly to the spar. Last but not least. I am going to donate the Mary to the hand surgeon Dr. Nagel who did my wrists. I had acute carpal tunnel on both my wrists. He loves talking about ships so why not give him a boat. He will see the intricate details on building and he understands what it takes, as he does wrists. He mentioned that on both my wrists it wasn't a simple cut with the laser, he had to get out the tiny saw and put that in the scope to cut the ligament. He said that I have thick and muscular wrists but common for a person that works a lot with there hands. Marc

I wonder who came up with that name for a ship Marc

So I am about to start rigging - I am waiting for the line I bought from Syren Ship Modeling Co., from Chuck P. - and read this thread again and reviewed many finished ships on this site and on other's as well. Then I looked at paintings from Bob Hunt and some others. I checked ANCRE site where Boudriot and Delacroix have there boats and also modelshipbuilder.com. There is a similar question on that site and there was a member by the name of "aew" who said, "If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, tar it!". All I can say that it is rather confusing. One does this and the other does that. Not sounding too harsh in my next comment. Either the builders don't care, want to do whatever the kit provides, be creative in the color combination or just don't know. On many sites I see boats with black rope shrouds and the rat lines are tan. I will go with what aew said: "If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, tar it!" Marc

Eamonn; There would be a lot of that. Everything mankind did? My suggestion: Stick to the same centuries Kevin already used and add other naval facts. Admirals-born/died and what achievements they did. Ships used such as descriptions. Armaments used, when they came into existence, who invented it and how. Go here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ type in keywords and get FREE books - copyright is no longer valid, lots of Naval. I have learned a lot from books on this site. Lots of VOC, British East Indies, diaries of Bligh, and other sailors, lots of everything. Marc

Kevin; Where do you get all those detailed dates from? The Net? I am looking on Dutch sites and there isn't a lot of naval info, but I will keep looking until I hit the jackpot of information. The Brits always kept detailed information. Better than the Dutch. Marc

Title: Reconditioning an Eighteenth Century Ship Model, VALKENISSE Retourschip of 1717 Author: Rob Napier Publication Date: 2008 Publisher: SeaWatchBooks LLC. 19 Sea Watch Placé, Florence, OR 97439; www.seawatchbooks.com. ISBN: 978-0-9820579-0-2. Binding: Hardcover, 8"X 11" Edition: First Pp.: 253 Numerous photographs, drawings, five appendices including tables, brief glossary of Dutch terms, index, four plans. Valkenisse, a “retourschip,” meaning a return ship, was a Dutch East Indiaman belonging to the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or United East India Company. Built in Middelburg in 1717, the vessel sailed between Holland and Batavia (now Djakarta) taking supplies out and expensive merchandise back, making seven round trips before being wrecked in 1740. While Valkenisse was lost, a model of her still exists, almost 300 years after an unknown builder created it to decorate VOC headquarters in Middelburg. This model is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. Valkenisse, one of twenty retourschip models in existence, was damaged and devoid of its masts and rigging when MFA asked Napier if he would like to rig the model, this despite the fact that two others had worked on the model in the previous hundred years and there was little information as to what either had done. The book, beautifully written and produced, documents Napier's ten-year reconditioning process, a term he feels is more appropriate, with much of the time spent on vast amounts of research, study and old- fashioned detective work to decide what had been, how, and by which builders hand - the original builder, an unknown English one, or a later American owner. The book contains a foreword by Albert Hoving, ship model restorer at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the preface is by Gerald W.R. Ward, senior curator of decorative arts at MFA, Boston. Hoving, Ward and others provided support during the reconditioning and book-writing process. Chapters are as follows; Opportunity, Provenance, Research Sources including studies and photos of most of the existing retourschips, The Riddle of the Scales, Preparing the Berth, The Hull Below the Main Rail, The Hull, Main Rail and Above, Going Aboard (a tour of the model) Sparring, Rigging Preparations, Standing Rigging, Running Rigging and the Final Steps, followed by five appendices, a glossary, sources and an index. There are also four folding plans by Napier in a pocket on the inside back cover. The book is lavishly illustrated, primarily with Napier's photos and illustrations. If I never build this boat, it is still worth having it in my library. Thank you, Marc

Title: The Ships of Abel Tasman Author(s): Ab Hoving & Cor Emke with an introduction by Peter Sigmond Year: 2000 Publisher: Verloren, Hilversum, The Netherlands Language: English Edition: First ISBN: 90-6550-087-1 Pages: 144 Book Type: Softcover Extra: This box contains a book (Dutch, English or German), 40 printed drawings scale 1:75 and a cd-rom. The cd-rom includes Plans for both the Heemskerck - yacht and the Zeehaen - fluit for the following metric scales: 1:50, 1:87.5, 1:100 and 1:150. The plans are in HPLT format. Any decent CAD app. can read this. I use TurboCAD Deluxe 20 and it reads it well. The cd-rom also includes tabels in Microsoft Excel for Every measurement in Every scale and lots of pictures of the model, paintings of these types of ships and maps. Summary: As described in his preserved extract-journal, Abel Tasman had two ships under his command during his memorable voyage to the mysterious 'Southland' in 1642: the yacht 'Heemskerck' and the fluyt 'Zeehaen'. According to historian Peter Sigmond, head of the department of Dutch History of the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, these ships can be placed in the same rank as ships like the 'Santa Maria', the 'Golden Hind' and the 'Endeavour'. Ab Hoving, head of the restoration department working for Sigmond, built models of these ships. Cor Emke has recorded the entire (experimental) building process on cad drawings. These drawings are not only printed but also recorded on cd-rom. This cd-rom enables the model builder to examine and print each part of the ship in a scale selected by himself. In the book to which the cd-rom belongs, Peter Sigmond describes the historical background of Tasman's expedition. Original illustrations from Tasman's journal, and paintings and pictures of yachts and fluyts illustrate the narrative. The book also offers an analysis of seventeenth-century shipbuilding; an account of how the models were built; a typology of the ships Tasman sailed with and a lot of information from which anyone interested can make his own choice in order to construct his model. My Personal Interest. Some of the modelers in this site know that my interests is in Dutch ships, preferably VOC and flat & round bottom boats. For a couple of years I have been looking for boats to scratch built. To start with I am going to built the Statenjacht "Utrecht". From there on I wanted something larger, challenging and historical. As I read anything about the VOC I have been reading a lot about Australia (Anthony van Diemens landt), New Zealand (Named after the Dutch Provence Zeeland) and Tasmania (last name of the explorer). So decided that the Ships of Abel Tasman would be a challenge and different. (I enjoy building boats that very few people built). I had difficulty obtaining the book, but found out that a member of my local nautical club, Bob F., had the book in possession and was willing to part with it. Purchased the book and have been reading it and studying the plans. The printed plans in the book are in scale 1:75 which is of a good size. If I am energetic enough I may do the boats in scale 1:50. I plan to do the jacht 'Heemskerck' first and when I have more experience with building do the fluit 'Zeehaen' last. The fluit looks so odd to me. Small waist (deck), big buttom (hull). Pear shaped boat with a large cargo bay near the waterline and a narrow deck. For the members of this site that do not know what the purpose of a fluit was is the following: The Dutch had to pay high taxes to Denmark which was assessed based on the area of the main deck and this is how the fluit came about. It was not built for conversion in wartime to a warship, so it was cheaper to build and carried twice the cargo, and could be handled by a smaller crew. Minimized or completely eliminated its armaments to maximize available cargo space. Construction by specialized shipyards using new tools made it half the cost of rival ships. These factors combined to sharply lower the cost of transportation for Dutch merchants, giving them a major competitive advantage. Another advantage was a shallow draft which allowed the vessel to bring cargo in and out of ports and down rivers that other vessels couldn't reach. The fluit gained such popularity that English merchants build similar looking ships. Here is a link of a person in Germany that built the Zeehaen. Excellent built. http://www.modelships.de/Fluyt-Zeehaen/Photos-ship-model-fluyt-Zeehaen_details.htm Thank you for reading. Marc

1991 - Operation Desert Storm, liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, begins and there was some Naval involvement. I remember this as we were glued to the BBC in the office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Gulf war was one big joke. No chemical attacks, EVER. I kept a dairy and reading it every so often makes me laugh as everything was clockwork. Around 5pm and 5 am there would be a scud attack. 5 minutes later it would be on CNN and they would make it out to be that WWIII had started. CNN and others exaggerated sooooo much. Except the BBC. Marc

Always great reading this history. Thanks, Kevin. Marc

Delftship is another FREE program. There is a learning curve and the FREE version lets you do all kinds things. http://www.delftship.net/ Marc

BWPETERS; Always liked the Dutch ships, I am a Dutchman living in the US. I will let you know if I need more detailed pictures of the Utrecht besides what I can find on the Net. I like all round en flat bottom boats plus the many Staten, Prinsen en admiral jachten. The war jacht from Abel Tasman is impressive as well. In due time I know I would like to have more pictures of her carvings. I need more different angels. Also het boegbeeld (figurehead), the lion. The facial expression is unique. Marc