Jean-Pierre

OK, when I asked about the 17th century spelling of the word STER, I really did not mean to start a political crisis in the Netherlands😷 . I swear!!  But thanks for the feedback anyway.  By the way, I was told that the language (Nederlands) was called Nederdiets in those days, which remembers of its North Deutsch or Platdeutsch origin.
 
So that's settled I guess: I'll try very hard to correct the name plate on the ship into POOLSTERRE.
 
The kit is really an "open source" to the builder's imagination.  Take for instance the fact that you have from many points a view to the inside structure.  Unacceptable, and of course what would remain visible inside should be masked with matt black paint.
 
I am now about to install the deck furniture, starting with the winch.  I include a picture of a winch built straight from the box, with the exception that the builder painted the flanges to cover up the plywood layers.  I also had liked to include a picture of the winch found on a flute wreck, a most simplified example, but I cannot reduce the picture size on this Macbook.  Sorry!
What bothers me on the kit winch are:
-the straight drums with grooves in it.  Why these grooves?  Shouldn't the drum be larger in its middle part? From a few other models, it seems that that the drum should extend from one side of the ship to the other one.  The wreck seemed to have a round drum, not an octogonal one.  Then the ratchet is ridiculously weak in the kit.  But then, I have never seen a winch (other than in this kit), that is supported by an extension backwards: nice, but not correct.  Also, it seems that the winch drum should be much lower to the deck.  Any opinion?
 
The kit picture is from Mr. Onderwater's model.

Thank you for your kind comments.
 
Jan, you are right about this kit's winch.  It makes no sense.  It should be said that this kit seems more aimed as a decoration item than as a historic replica and as such, she is beautiful. Still, for me, the model was interesting just because of the possibilities for improvement.
 
About the winch, here are 2 underwater pics of a flute's winch.  Difficult to discern if they were taken backwards from the bow or otherwise.  Anyway, after many clumsy trials with a piece of round dowel, then with the kit pieces, I finally used a square dowel that I made more or less octogonal
I would have made the winch from side to side, but then I would have had problems with the access to the forecastle, PLUS I still want to build a ship's boat and therefore need the winch to be as close as possible to the forecastle to have enough place for it.
 
Another question:  I have seen on various models of Dutch ships a vertical pin rail along the mast, with 2 to 3 pins and a pulley there under.  Should this replace the classic horizontal pin rail before each mast?  See picture from the ship wreck.
 

I did some more work on the winch to hopefully make it look a little more civilized and finally glued it in place.  It is good from far (away), but far from good, I am afraid.  Anyway it is a large improvement on the kit winch.
 

Quite a few things have been done, and this log was quite difficult to find.   I had to face a number of problems I had never encountered before.
First I had (have??) wood worms in my deck. I sprayed the whole ship 2 or 3 times  (in- and outside) and look each morning anxiously if i don't notice any new wood dust heaps.  Grrr...
Then I think I may be happy with my winch.  I had previously made a couple of attempts you can see on one of the following pictures: One with a round drum, which i felt i would never succeed to make octogonal and then another attempt was made based on the kit parts, but that soon proved unfitted.  I finally used a stick of square stock.  The square hole were drilled round and then made square with a suitable nailhead.  But then I made the wrong decision to cover it with a coat of matte varnish (old enamel range by Humbrol) and it all turned white.  I used various ways to get a darker shade with the available materials, but Luckily, part of it will be covered by the anchor rope.
So far with some unexpected problems.
 
On this picture, you will find some of my trials and fails.  First the City of Hoorn coat of arms: my first two examples were either uncentered or just too large.  Then you have, clockwise, the rejected winch drums and flanges.  Then a skylight which I built during my first build seesion, and which I don't remember where to put them. Then, on the left a rather successful attempt at better pumps, next to the kit pump.  Then a roof which iss too large to be placed before the fore mast, and above these, two sets of winch bars, the small ones are way too small, and maybe the larger ones are in fact ... a little too large.
 
I have enlarged the pic to show the fairly ridiculous chains provided in the kit: no way for me to make anything solid with those rings.  But I have noticed that these chains were (on paintings), much shorter than what the kits suggests you to do.  See the end result.
 
I also made the various deck furniture pieces.  I tried to make better staircases but failed.  These are from the kit
 
Questions to 'specialists ':
I wanted my model to have 2 water pumps, 1 each side of the main mast: does that make more sense than just one of them.  Problem: I have already built them both, but let authenticity prevail!
The majority of flutes pictured on the web do not have mast bands!  I want to follow this trend (the easy way?): what do you think.  And in this case, the mast probably was a one piece wood piece, probably pine ? Then there would be numerous wood knots visible, no?
 
Here are some pics of her actual status:
 

Thanks for your reply, Marcus.  Alas, in the meantime, I had built with success, a PAIR of pumps, and I could not resist to glue them on both sides of the mainmast.  I suppose that the 2nd pump would also be on the main deck?

I am currently working on the masts.  Not a small job anyway, as I found it difficult to align them properly.  And as I am not a dedicated user of sophisticated machinery, I brought all masts to the right shape with a Stanley cutter blade and abrasive paper: and I dare say they look fine, and sufficiently well aligned.  But before I glue the 4 masts on the deck, I did some changes and "improvements" to the deck.  First I followed the advice of Marcus, and removed one of the water pumps.  Then I glued the anchor cables.  I had also made 6 winch bars and mounted 3 of them each side, in the only place still available.  Then I had an aesthetic problem with the various pin rails.  Some had "shouldered" feet, and others didn't but looked too high (see pics above).  The shouldered rail at the mizzen mast received the straight feet of the ones behind the bow, and these, like the ones at the main mast, were shortened by 0,5cm.  The pin rail near the bow got shoulders, as most of the lines attached to it would go to the bowsprit.
 
By the way, you can see on one of the following pics a few woodworm holes.  These were all made in a couple of hours, an some extensive insect spraying seems to have killed the poor little beasts.

I have listened to the linguistic experts about this ship's name, and decided to rename her more correctly (see pics)  By the way, Sergal had placed some ovals in the rear deco of the ship.  It can hardly be seen but I framed a few portraits in them.  These portraits are taken from  the famous 17th century Dutch portrait painter Jacob cats (but the quality of these paintings is admittedly difficult to appreciate here.  The landscapes are 17th century landscape paintings of the city of Hoorn.

I am now facing the masts and the rigging.  As I have decided to add the vertical belaying pins, I luckily will have some spare belaying points in case I decide to add sails.  Indeed a problem arises that I had not thought of: this model is supposed to be rigged only without sail.  Now on a real ship, most of the blocks needed to manoeuvre the sails would be present on the various spars and on deck: I shall have to buy some extra stock.   The masts themselves needed quite a bit of trimming: the kit proposed mast rake was not correct on the fore and main masts.  The upper mast also would not run parallel with the lower mast, due to mast caps that were quite a bit oversize.  Everything seems OK so far as can be seen on the pics below.  I also submit a picture of my technical advisor Kaly, a cocker lady.

There have been some awful delays in this building again.  I have assembled and glued the mast into their place.  Problem with this kit is that the materials and given dimensions do NOT allow a good alignment of the topmasts.  Furthermore, the holes for the topmasts are way too large, and the naive builder that I am made as a result, topmasts that were much too thick.  I yesterday dismounted the topmasts and carefully scraped a fair amount of wood and, ok this will do for me.  I just need to finish the shrouds, then the ratlines, then the stays.
 

There have been some awful delays in this building again.  I have assembled and glued the mast into their place.  Problem with this kit is that the materials and given dimensions do NOT allow a good alignment of the topmasts.  Furthermore, the holes for the topmasts are way too large, and the naive builder that I am made as a result, topmasts that were much too thick.  I yesterday dismounted the topmasts and carefully scraped a fair amount of wood and, ok this will do for me.  I just need to finish the shrouds, then the ratlines, then the stays.
 

And "Pirate Pete" has done an amazing job (*) by writing building advice on their models.  I downloaded his series on the Derrflinger as the model he built is far better than the original!  It is lucky that all the work he put in his writings is not to be lost.
 
(*) I got that expression from some prominent American citizen...

And "Pirate Pete" has done an amazing job (*) by writing building advice on their models.  I downloaded his series on the Derrflinger as the model he built is far better than the original!  It is lucky that all the work he put in his writings is not to be lost.
 
(*) I got that expression from some prominent American citizen...

And "Pirate Pete" has done an amazing job (*) by writing building advice on their models.  I downloaded his series on the Derrflinger as the model he built is far better than the original!  It is lucky that all the work he put in his writings is not to be lost.
 
(*) I got that expression from some prominent American citizen...

And "Pirate Pete" has done an amazing job (*) by writing building advice on their models.  I downloaded his series on the Derrflinger as the model he built is far better than the original!  It is lucky that all the work he put in his writings is not to be lost.
 
(*) I got that expression from some prominent American citizen...

If this is true, then that is the kind of news that makes my day. They were/are among the best.

If this is true, then that is the kind of news that makes my day. They were/are among the best.

If this is true, then that is the kind of news that makes my day. They were/are among the best.

If this is true, then that is the kind of news that makes my day. They were/are among the best.

I am now facing the masts and the rigging.  As I have decided to add the vertical belaying pins, I luckily will have some spare belaying points in case I decide to add sails.  Indeed a problem arises that I had not thought of: this model is supposed to be rigged only without sail.  Now on a real ship, most of the blocks needed to manoeuvre the sails would be present on the various spars and on deck: I shall have to buy some extra stock.   The masts themselves needed quite a bit of trimming: the kit proposed mast rake was not correct on the fore and main masts.  The upper mast also would not run parallel with the lower mast, due to mast caps that were quite a bit oversize.  Everything seems OK so far as can be seen on the pics below.  I also submit a picture of my technical advisor Kaly, a cocker lady.

I am now facing the masts and the rigging.  As I have decided to add the vertical belaying pins, I luckily will have some spare belaying points in case I decide to add sails.  Indeed a problem arises that I had not thought of: this model is supposed to be rigged only without sail.  Now on a real ship, most of the blocks needed to manoeuvre the sails would be present on the various spars and on deck: I shall have to buy some extra stock.   The masts themselves needed quite a bit of trimming: the kit proposed mast rake was not correct on the fore and main masts.  The upper mast also would not run parallel with the lower mast, due to mast caps that were quite a bit oversize.  Everything seems OK so far as can be seen on the pics below.  I also submit a picture of my technical advisor Kaly, a cocker lady.

I am now facing the masts and the rigging.  As I have decided to add the vertical belaying pins, I luckily will have some spare belaying points in case I decide to add sails.  Indeed a problem arises that I had not thought of: this model is supposed to be rigged only without sail.  Now on a real ship, most of the blocks needed to manoeuvre the sails would be present on the various spars and on deck: I shall have to buy some extra stock.   The masts themselves needed quite a bit of trimming: the kit proposed mast rake was not correct on the fore and main masts.  The upper mast also would not run parallel with the lower mast, due to mast caps that were quite a bit oversize.  Everything seems OK so far as can be seen on the pics below.  I also submit a picture of my technical advisor Kaly, a cocker lady.

You can be happy and proud of your work, Marcus!

I have listened to the linguistic experts about this ship's name, and decided to rename her more correctly (see pics)  By the way, Sergal had placed some ovals in the rear deco of the ship.  It can hardly be seen but I framed a few portraits in them.  These portraits are taken from  the famous 17th century Dutch portrait painter Jacob cats (but the quality of these paintings is admittedly difficult to appreciate here.  The landscapes are 17th century landscape paintings of the city of Hoorn.

I am currently working on the masts.  Not a small job anyway, as I found it difficult to align them properly.  And as I am not a dedicated user of sophisticated machinery, I brought all masts to the right shape with a Stanley cutter blade and abrasive paper: and I dare say they look fine, and sufficiently well aligned.  But before I glue the 4 masts on the deck, I did some changes and "improvements" to the deck.  First I followed the advice of Marcus, and removed one of the water pumps.  Then I glued the anchor cables.  I had also made 6 winch bars and mounted 3 of them each side, in the only place still available.  Then I had an aesthetic problem with the various pin rails.  Some had "shouldered" feet, and others didn't but looked too high (see pics above).  The shouldered rail at the mizzen mast received the straight feet of the ones behind the bow, and these, like the ones at the main mast, were shortened by 0,5cm.  The pin rail near the bow got shoulders, as most of the lines attached to it would go to the bowsprit.
 
By the way, you can see on one of the following pics a few woodworm holes.  These were all made in a couple of hours, an some extensive insect spraying seems to have killed the poor little beasts.

I am currently working on the masts.  Not a small job anyway, as I found it difficult to align them properly.  And as I am not a dedicated user of sophisticated machinery, I brought all masts to the right shape with a Stanley cutter blade and abrasive paper: and I dare say they look fine, and sufficiently well aligned.  But before I glue the 4 masts on the deck, I did some changes and "improvements" to the deck.  First I followed the advice of Marcus, and removed one of the water pumps.  Then I glued the anchor cables.  I had also made 6 winch bars and mounted 3 of them each side, in the only place still available.  Then I had an aesthetic problem with the various pin rails.  Some had "shouldered" feet, and others didn't but looked too high (see pics above).  The shouldered rail at the mizzen mast received the straight feet of the ones behind the bow, and these, like the ones at the main mast, were shortened by 0,5cm.  The pin rail near the bow got shoulders, as most of the lines attached to it would go to the bowsprit.
 
By the way, you can see on one of the following pics a few woodworm holes.  These were all made in a couple of hours, an some extensive insect spraying seems to have killed the poor little beasts.