flying_dutchman2

1 hour ago, burrapeg said:

One must admire your persistence.  And even with real fluits, no doubt they were not all alike and some were more successful than others.  I had a question:  Some time back you mentioned half-round headed black stainless pins.  Where did you get those? 

Thank you. 

The pins I got a long time ago. In the 70's in the Netherlands. I bought a thousand and still have a couple of 100 left. I use the as steel pins in the wales. I'm looking for more. Once I find them I'll let you know. 

Marcus 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

When I was sanding the opening where the tiller goes in, the two top wales sprung loose from the hull. Ten cm of that wale was removed and 8 cm of the wale below the top wale was removed. Created 2 new scarph joints and placed 2 new walnut planks in  place of where the other wales were removed. Using glue & sawdust combo, bend the wales towards the hull, clamped and pinned the area and let dry overnight.

On the inside installed 0.5mm thick planks and most of it will not be visible.

The tiller opening the stern area is a bit off. If you look towards the hole and keep the stem as your middle point the left area is a bit bigger than the right side. I'll figure something out to make it more even.

Next will be the 4 windows on the rounded stern.

Up to now this is what she presently looks like. 

Marcus 

I just noticed this built and she is beautiful. I find fluits some of the more unique vessels. Yours looks really good and the hips are nicely curved. 

Marcus 

5 hours ago, Boxbuilds said:

This is sooo much  more complicated than many builds.  The complicated wood manipulation is commendable.  ......and a good lesson for many of us.  I've run into a few types of these complications but for them all to converge in one build is mind boggling.  

Thank you very much for the compliment. A Fluit is one of the most difficult ships to build. I've always loved her shape and always wanted to build one. But I had to built other ships to get ready for this one. I soak the walnut an cherry for several weeks and the planks become very playable. I also use many thin planks and layer them together to get a thick wale. 

The planking of the hull is the most difficult part of the built. You can read about some of the mistakes I made which Ab Hoving has mentioned and I redid it as he suggested. Ab has built several Fluits so I consider him to be an expert. Also there is a Dutch forum (modelbouwforum.nl) where several members have built fluits and they have been a great help. 

Marcus 

Wales have been glued on and scarph joints have been created. 

Made some pilot holes with an awl and will drill them a bit bigger so a black pin will fit into the hole. 

Planking the sides above the wales and eventually paint it green.

All colors for the Fluit will be paints that existed in the 17th century. 

Marcus 

17 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Marcus, not sure if it's just the photo, but in the third last pic above the topmost wales port and starboard seem to be aligned differently. I don't know if this is a problem. Other than that the wales look very good.

Thanks for the compliment and they are. I started out wrong and by layering the wood slowly adjusting them to get it straight. I thought of a tear down and redoing this but that meant removing a significant amount of wood and than I might as well starting from step one. 

There are so many mistakes I made on this ship that I see this as an exercise towards another Fluit. 

On modelbouwforum.nl there is a guy, handle name amazone, and he has built several Fluits. He mentioned that the Zeehaen is one of the most difficult to built. He tried twice and they both ended in the trash. 

Marcus 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

As I mentioned before the wales are 2.5mm thick and 6mm wide. The planks have been soaking in plain water for about 4 weeks. I soak all my wood a long time especially with building the Fluit. 

I made small indentations in tbe stem of the bow and stern.

The plank for the wale will be pushed into it. I than slowly bend the planks by pushing with my fingers to the contour of the hull. At the same time I make small pilot holes and use pushpins to hold the we on the hull.

Initially I make scarph joints for every plank. Once set, I will add more.

The holes from the pushpins become holes for half round headed black stainless steel pins imitating the heavy nails used to hold the wales on the hull.

Marcus

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

Started back on the Fluit after lots of garden work, redoing some perennial plant beds. All that is left is harvesting the last of the food and put everything to bed.

After much sanding started on the third layer of the wales. The planks are 2.5mm thick and 6mm wide. There will be a total of 6 on each side. The last one which is towards the top is 2mm x 2mm. There will be two of these side by side

Marcus

Thanks for all the likes. 

Her hull has been evenly sanded.

Next I will sand the inside. This has to be even as I need to install an inside wall. 

I will do this with a belt sander which is has a belt that is 1/2" W and 18" long. 

This item has been very handy since building the Zeehaen. 

Marcus 

After installing the 2nd strake I noticed that I was off again just like the first time I planked that area. After much measuring different areas and comparing the left hip to the right hip I noticed that the left hip (when facing the stern) is slightly more rounded than the right hip.

I will need to put a steeler between these planks. It won't show as much as a carving will be placed their.

I know that the last view posts weren't that exiting, but they were necessary. 

Marcus 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

Made a minor mistake on the hull planking towards the stern. The strakes on each side of the hull did not meet equally going towards the stern.

So I removed 4 strakes with a chisel, sanded the rest of the area and reinstalled the first new strake.

Marcus

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

Installed 2 thin strakes of 5mm wide cherry planks above the upper wale. I am using narrow planks because the contour of this part of the hull curves inwards on the left and right and outwards on the up and down.

Once they are glued on two, 2mm narrow straks (wales) will be installed and from there on clinker built planking wall going all the way up.

Marcus

Thanks for the comments. 

We've had a pretty wet July and that is why the grass is green and growing fast. 

Usually around this time of the year it is pretty much straw colored and dormant. 

After this sanding it is starting to look like a Fluit. I am not very happy with the hips. They should be more rounded. My next fluit will have rounder hips. That fluit will be a whaler. 

Marcus 

Thanks for all the likes. 

Did some serious sanding of the hull today and it is coming along nicely. Still need to do a few areas. Once done I will plank the sides of the hull. Sand some more and then glue the 3rd and final layer of the wales. 

Repaired the right side of the bow. 

Marcus 

Repaired the bow and added crack filler.

Did a first sanding of the hull, patched the cracks again and will do a second sanding in the next couple of days.




After that, will finish the rest of the planking on the sides of the hull. From looking at all the pictures I have from Fluits this area is clinker built. I will continue to study the books.

Marcus

Today wasn't as hot so I decided to do a rough sanding on the part of the hull that has a second layer of planking.

I sand an area and leaving the sawdust on the hull. Then I take a mixture of glue and water and brush this on the hull mixing with the sawdust pressing this in the cracks that are between the planks. I do this until the cracks are eliminated and the hull is smooth.







The black square on the bow is where I sanded a bit too much. So I will cut it out and re-plank the area.

Marcus

The second layer of planking is finished on main area of the hull. What is left is the sides and the hip area.
Once planking is completed there will be much sanding to do to get it all nice and even.
The final planking will be the last planks for the wales.

I did some dry fitting of positioning the different decks and masts as this will give me complete picture of what it will look like.

Marcus

Second layer of planking on one side below the upper deck is completed. As I mentioned before planking the bluff bow is an exercise on its own. Planking the hips is not as difficult as I thought.



Planking the sides from the upper deck up, should be easy. Once all planked the sanding begins.
Marcus

Now comes the fun part.
The scarph joints that are next to the stem of the bow are copied from the 'Statenjacht Utrecht book'. I find that it has a neat appearance. What I don't know is that was it used on fluits. It makes sense as these planks need to be hooked into the plank next to it. I have re-done some of the planks like this instead of letting them go into a point (in Dutch that would be, naar niks).


The following picture shows how the planks will becoming together. Once dry I will cut them lengthwise so two planks become one.



In general the width of the cherry planking is between 6.2mm and 6.5mm. Once I started planking the 'hips' of the Fluit, the planks are between 5.9mm and 6.1mm in width. Slightly narrower but it makes for an easier lateral bending of the planks.

I've made several mistakes with shaping the frames of the hull and now I am paying for it by using slightly narrower planks and fiddling with the narrower area in the middle of the hull. Live and learn. I won't be making that mistake on my next Fluit de 'Langewijk'.
Marcus

Beautifully executed. You do excellent work.

I love the lines of this ship. Have to make this one myself one of these days. 

Marcus 

On 6/3/2020 at 6:46 PM, RussR said:

In my opinion a sailing ship without sails is a raft. A sailing ship sould have sails (furled or unfurled). The model to me looks unfinished without sails. All of your rigging will be viewable from different angles anyway.

If I am going take years to finish why stop at the sails?

I am a bit late to comment, but I so agree with the above. I hear lots of modelers say that the sails hide the rigging. That is a load of manure. 

When you don't include the sails, the model is not finished. 

Marcus 

Thanks for the compliments and likes. 

Did a few more strakes. Most of the planks are 20cm long and all the joints work out. 

Marcus 

On 6/15/2020 at 11:18 AM, Ab Hoving said:

Marcus: I missed your recent updates about planking the fluit. Problems?

Ab, 

Little here and there. I take my time planking the hull. I made some mistakes early on and one can see that. 

I will be building more fluits in the future, such as the Langewijk. My goal is to master the buding of a fluit. 

Marcus 

Beautifully built and I have to agree with the others is that the 'sails, look like sails'. All your models look very realistic and like they are made of wood, not card. 

Marcus 

Continue to add cherry planking. Slow process especially if I do it with scarph joints. 

Stern

Mid. 

Bow

Marcus