rcweir

All three of them are beautiful.

Sorry to hear that you have eye trouble. Coincidentally, I'm just finishing up a re-read of 'Two Years Before the Mast'. When Richard Henry Dana wrote that book he was about your age and had eye trouble, too. His solution was to go to sea for a couple of years to give his eyes a rest.

Great! Thanks Ab. Bob

What's the right shape for the deadeyes in a mid-17th century Dutch ship? The written references I have don't say. The plans I have of ships of that period all show round. The Wasa (1628, and not Dutch but also not English) has triangular. And, from what I can tell by pics on the web, the replica Batavia (same date as Wasa) has triangular. Apologies if this question has been asked here before, but I didn't find that it had been. Bob

Those are wonderful photos! Thanks for posting.

The painting is a big deal for this model and yours is looking great. The crest on the transom looks especially convincing. What paint are you using? Bob

I'm going to follow along with interest. My brother started this kit back in the 60s (in the days when neither of us ever finished anything!)

This is a new kit from the Dutch company Kolderstok, and it's a significant addition to their growing line of 17th century Dutch ship models. I'm certainly thrilled to have my kit since I've been wanting to build a fluyt since 1970. Fluyts were cargo ships; designed to be cheap to purchase and cheap to operate. And, for the whole 17th century and beyond, they were very successful at it. The best modern references I know of to learn more are two companion publications from Seawatch Books: 17th century Dutch Merchant Ships, and 17th century Dutch Merchant Ships Plans Set for modelers, both by A.J. Hoving, C. A. Emke, et al. And there's my original source, The Great Age of Sail, Joseph Jobe, ed. The Kolderstok kit gives its ship's date as 1636, which suits me well. There is not much information in the kit's introductory writeup to say how the details were arrived at, though any involvement by Ab Hoving gives me confidence that it's on good foundations. It says: There is an active build log of a late prototype kit on a Dutch forum at https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/het-fluitschip-uit-de-gouden-eeuw-hans-groenenberg.278397/. The builder there, Hans, is obviously in close contact with Hans van Nieuwkoop of Kolderstok. I expect that log to be enormously valuable (with the help of Google's transations) when I start on my own build. The kit has parts and instructions to construct either a lumber carrier or a whaler, though in the latter case you might want more boats (6-8 according to Hans) and of a different design than the two in the kit. I intend mine to build mine for lumber (I was trained as a forester many years ago) so the kit-supplied boats are going to be fine. The kit currently lists for 369 euros at https://kolderstok.com/en/products/fluytschip. There is a paint set available at 19 euros, which I also got. It comes with a full set of sails, but you have to stitch them yourself, which is a stopper for me. The kit includes flags, too, plus Kolderstok offers the possibility of printing a flag of your own design (prices aren't quoted for that service). There are a few nice resin castings for the transom including three choices for the central carving. Below are photos of just about everything that came in the box. It was very well packed and all the materials seem to be of high quality. I'm certain that I will upgrade the blocks that I use; the kit blocks are typical but I can't settle for them now that I've seen what can be gotten from, for example, Syren. And I hope to include sails in my build but, since I cannot sew, I'll probably make mine of silkspan (if I can). I like the 1:72 scale of the kit; it will be a nice size to work on at my bench and won't require adding a new room to the house when I'm done. The terrifying part of this kit, of course, will be planking the hull. To try and make this easier the planking starts upside down, from the keel, with the frames inserted into MDF forms. Most, if not all, of the hull planks are pre-spiled on laser cut sheets. Once the lower hull is complete the MDF is all removed, so the modeler could choose to outfit the lower decks. I haven't fully absorbed how the planking is going to go for me but I'm game to try it. The blocks, deadeyes, etc. come in a nice plastic box. And here's the paint set for the fluyt (an extra I added): Next are some photos from the manual, parts list, etc. There are two large one-sided plan sheets and 8 more smaller sheets, printed double-sided. The quality of the plans looks quite good to me. They're sharp and attractive and on nice heavy paper. I'd probably prefer that all sheets were one-sided, but when I actually get to doing the work I may find that these are just fine as they are. In the photos below the two big sheets are at the end. There are three sheets of sails with good instructions on how to deal with them. Finally are pictures of the spars and all the laser-cut sheets. The two sheets of MDF frames are at the top, followed by the laser-cut oak sheets which includes keel, stem, frames, etc. Below are the laser-cut basswood planks. The last four small laser-cut sheets are for the two boats, the tops, and some deck furniture. There's strip wood of various species. The walnut looks to me like black walnut (one of my favorite woods), and the cherry has a nice color, too. What the heck "abachi" is, I don't know, but I'm sure I will learn in the fullness of time. And that's it. I expect that it will be a difficult build for me and I have some learning to do before I start. But Hans is very responsive, the manual is clearly written and well illustrated, and the online build I mentioned at the beginning has very good photos. Bob

I just ordered two kits from Moewe Verlag and they were fulfilled - very promptly - by their US rep HB Precision Card Models (www.hbprecisioncard.com). If you're in the US, going through HB Precision Card will simplify ordering and, since they have their own stock, it's a big boon for rapid gratification.

FWIW, this is what Mayflower II uses for deadeyes - looks like they made the same decision you did.

It's a beautiful work and I'm very grateful for Ab's generosity in making it available to us.

David, those pumps look great as does the decorative molding.

Wow, what a great idea for a little break from ships. I couldn't help myself - just ordered their 50s convertible kit.

This is wonderful! (I am working very, very, very slowly on this same model in hopes of completing at least one sailing ship before I expire!) The points you've highlighted, especially the crows nest is a problem ahead of me and your detailed solution is going to be a great aid. You mention the divergence between Chuck's prototype in the instructions with the kit we have before us: I think that's my greatest disappointment with the kit. It seems unfair to provide instructions that illustrate what one might be able to do with top grade materials and more experience - what a relatively inexperienced modeler (e.g. me) wants to know is how to best use the materials actually supplied. (As an aside, I am located in Massachusetts and have been able to take many photos of Mayflower II in its recent large overhaul. It's way too much to just post on the forum but if anyone's looking for something specific, pm me.)

Lee Valley Tools has one (and it's not cheap): https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/marking-and-measuring/bevels/114778-crucible-sliding-bevel?item=97K5033&utm_source=free_google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&gclid=CjwKCAjw_ISWBhBkEiwAdqxb9v8QHz5gG_a8pU9l7OqTYPrsuCX4IIFI5HNeHEE9paukkYWovQMVvhoCjTcQAvD_BwE I don't have this myself though I've found Lee Valley to be a trustworthy source.

Sorry, I mistyped: Check at bookfinder.com.

Check at bookfinders.com. For used books it's the place I always start. In this case there's one listing for $70.00 which isn't hugely below the Amazon price but $39 is $39.

The publisher of the 1963 edition, at least for the US, is Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The first paragraph of the acknowledgements says "The Lore of Ships has been designed by Tre Tryckare, Cagner & Co., and is based on the ideas and plans of EWERT CAGNER." I'd never noticed that and for all these decades have thought that Tre Tryckare was a real person! I agree that it's an amazing compendium of information.

The ModelWarships forums are great for a question like this. In particular, look at this thread: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=104955 But I wouldn't burn my brain up on the topic: for my own model of a mid-1970s USN frigate I used Liquitex Neutral Gray and I think it looks perfect. For a WWII model I had 4 different paint chip cards to work from for hull colors and none of those cards looked very much like the others. So I felt free to mix my own. But the post-war haze gray is such a neutral color that I think most any premixed, neutral medium gray will be fine and mixing can easily be avoided.

That's all quite true but it would be a mistake to leave readers with the impression that Mr. Baker was just an imaginative enthusiast. He was both an experienced naval architect and an historian and he has described in detail the way he arrived at his design for Mayflower II. In his writing I think he's been clear regarding the cases where modern necessities forced him away from what he understood to be 17th century practice. Two of his books, The New Mayflower (Barre 1958) and The Mayflower and Other Colonial Vessels (Conway 1983) are both pretty easy to find from online used book dealers and they describe the bases for his design and the various decisions he had to make to produce a real ship. Plus, for those interested, The New Mayflower came with 1/8":1' scale plans for a version of Mayflower II that omit the adjustments he made to the 20th century replica.

I'd be interested in ideas about that, too. Thus far I've just been lazy and let things fall off the end - seeing some ideas about what to do might spur me on to actually build a solution.

Absolutely! When I can, I try hard to get the original printing of older volumes for this reason, because the original drawings are much sharper, and also because the original bindings are usually much easier to work with than reprints (Dover reprints are usually bound in a way that's especially hard to use). (I've never found a reprint of anything that feels as good in the hands as the original edition.) I have had great experience finding old editions at excellent prices through bookfinder.com, or sometimes through one of the other sites that bookfinder uses (notably biblio.com). And I make an effort to avoid buying such things through Amazon; you'll usually find the dealers' listings through various sites at somewhat different prices. In a case like this Amazon offers no benefit and I want to support the independents as much as I can. Remember, in many many cases a patient search can get you the first edition for no more money than a new reprint.

On the topic of Van de Velde drawings only, there's a two volume folio set published by Cambridge University in 1973. I have vol 1 (National Maritime Museum drawings) with all 745 drawings illustrated. Vol 2, which I haven't seen, covers "the Ingram Collection". The full title of my volume is "Van de Velde drawings; a catalogue of drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the elder and the younger Willem Van de Velde."

I go though this question anew on every model, but usually end up with more or less the same solution, i.e. raise the model up on something in the spirit of keel blocks set on a nice piece of wood. I think models look better raised above the mounting board and my keel blocks (which are decorative, not intended to be accurate models) make it easy to hide the screws that fasten the model to the base. I have attached a couple of photos of a model in the size range that you are dealing with. In this case the wood base and blocks are ebonized walnut. The wood base is mounted to an MDF base painted gray. The MDF holds the plexi enclosure and I wanted it to be unobtrusive. The plexi is not fastened to the MDF.

Constitution has been under sail in the no-too-distant past. There are plenty of pictures on the web of her under sail (on a distinctly non-windy day), soon after leaving a recent overhaul. I think that they may not have the nerve to do that again. Bob