Hooker Ship 82 ft. by Rik Buter - scale 1 : 64 - 1757 design Pieter Pauluszoon van Zwijndregt - first wooden ship build

[barkeater]

In answer to the matte finish question,. The one I use Testors Dulcoate is brushed on. It does coat nice and evenly if that was your concern.

[Rik Buter]

Thanks guys for your response. 

 

Andrew, about that detailing I 'll have to say I wished I had done the build in a 1:48 scale in stead of 1:64. All the elements get really really tiny. And the camera on my telephone can see them much better than my eyes can. A phenomenon probably most of you will recognise.

 

Thanks Keith!

 

Thanks Doreltomin, yes 'pawl' would be the word I was looking for.

 

Thanks Jacques, I used lime wood for the deck planking. I have a dark brown, almost black wash that I apply to it. But very briefly. Before it dries I rub it off with a piece of cotton.  This is to accentuate the fibers of the wood and gives it a light grey hue.

 

 

Here is a traditional ship in the harbour where I come from. It is called a 'botter'. These are the colours I trie to emulate. The deck is not made out of oak and it is not varnished like the rest of the hull.

 

Thanks Rich.

[Rik Buter]

                                                        the Companionway

The companionway, like most of the deck furniture, was not on the construction plan. However the location and the exact size of the hatch were. So I had to come up with a shape. After scanning through a bunch of paintings and drawings and models of roughly that period, I sketched a few of the possibilities. In order to get a bit more specific, I took the plan that Ab Hoving used for his fishing hooker by Fredrik Henrik Af Chapman. 

 

 

It is a bit hard to discern but there is a faint dotted line describing the shape of the structure. After I subtracted that small shape from the Chapman-plan, I made it fit on the side-view of the van Zwijndregt hooker. After that I modified it slightly into an arched roof (blue line) without deviating too much from that original shape.

In the search for contemporary companionways I came across pictures of a wooden sailing ship called 'the Phoenix' which had a version with an arched roof I thought would match the hooker ship nicely. 

 

 

The reason I used the Chapman-shape as a base, was that by now I knew that hardly anything on a sailing ship is designed randomly. The companionway on the Chapman hooker is much lower than the one on the Phoenix. Probably because the bowsprit starts at the main mast in this type of rigging so everything in front of the mast had to stay under it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

best regards,

Rik

Edited September 15 by Rik Buter

[Keith Black]

The companionway hatch turned out swell, Rick. Your use of washes is great, something I need to learn to do here shortly. 

[Rik Buter]

Thanks Keith. I think you are not doing so bad yourself with that floating steam donkey. The only thing I would suggest, if I look at post #230, is to apply the paint much thinner. 

[TheDuckDetective]

Rik, your build is coming along splendidly! I am a fan of your way of finishing the wood and other details. Very lifelike but subtile enough for the scale. 

Maybe you allready mentioned it and I've missed it. But what products do you use to achieve this finish?

[Rik Buter]

Thanks Rutger, I 'm glad you like it. How are you doing with that Twikkelo?

 

For finishing or colouring the wood on this ship there's a very simple product that I use all the time. It's a dark brown, almost black acrylic paint. But there are three different ways of applying the paint that makes it so versatile.

The first one is to apply the paint very thinned down with water and immediately afterwards wipe it off again with a piece of cloth. That is what I used on the deck planks. With larger areas you have to be careful though, because the paint has to be wiped off before it dries. With the deck for instance I only did two rows at a time.

The second one is to apply the thinned down version and let it sit. An example would be the doors of the companionway. The paint is used as a glaze. 

The third way is to use the paint as a covering finish. That one is being used on the side of the companionway and the coamings for instance. I still dilute the paint considerably though.

 

And it might be obvious but I would like to add that the quality of the brush plays an important role in this process. 

 

 

I only use the two at the bottom. They are brushes ment for painting with watercolour or ink. It doesn't have to be top quality but the brush needs to be soft. The one at the top is very useful for painting on canvas but definitely not on a ship model. It is made out of pigs hair or it can be synthetic but it is too stiff to make a smooth coating.

 

I hope this is somewhat useful.

[Keith Black]

On 9/15/2024 at 2:26 PM, Rik Buter said:

The only thing I would suggest, if I look at post #230, is to apply the paint much thinner. 

 Rick, the piece in #230 was a test piece with at least four coats of different colors which has since been put in the bin. Scale and materials determine how to paint a subject, IMHO. At 1:120 I have to apply paint pretty thickly as normally the pieces are small and a wash effect would be lost. Highlighting a dirty area needs to be a thick black (or brown) or it just doesn't show. Make sense? 

[Rik Buter]

4 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Rick, the piece in #230 was a test piece with at least four coats of different colors which has since been put in the bin. Scale and materials determine how to paint a subject, IMHO. At 1:120 I have to apply paint pretty thickly as normally the pieces are small and a wash effect would be lost. Highlighting a dirty area needs to be a thick black (or brown) or it just doesn't show. Make sense? 

 

I am afraid it doesn't. But by all means Keith, apply the paint thickly.

 

[Keith Black]

Golly, I don't want to hijack your log with my painting issues. If you'd like we can continue this conversation on my log, okay? 

[TheDuckDetective]

Rik, thanks for the explanation of your methods. This knowledge definitely will prove useful once I get around to experimenting with finishing my next model. 

About the Twickelo project, I'm currently in the middle of moving houses, which sadly means I have near 0 time to work on modeling. But on the plus side the new house has enough space to be able to build a permanent modelling workshop, which will definitely help the project along when I get to the building stage.

I have however received high resolution copies of the lines plan and detail drawings of the decorations, courtesy of the Maritime museum in Rotterdam. So if I can make time, in the coming weeks, I'll be able to start Fairing the lines(if needed) and developing the frames.

 

In the meantime I'll be able to still the modelling fervor by living vicariously through great logs like yours 😉.

[Rik Buter]

                                                                                                             the Skylight

 

 

The construction plan of this hooker ship does not feature any deck furniture. There was a deck plan though, so I could at least determine the exact size and placement of all the hatches. I already put all the coamings on the deck. The area of the ship right underneath the rear hatch, was probably used as living space that would need ventilation and light. So I think the hatch cover was build as a skylight. But because it was a fishing boat, it can't have been very fancy.

 

 

 

A butterfly-skylight with plain wooden covers.

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards

 

[ccoyle]

Rik, your model is looking like it sailed right out of a painting by one of the Dutch Masters!

[Rik Buter]

Thanks Chris. Actually the Dutch marine painting is what got me into modelmaking in the first place. As a big fan of that category I used to study all the books on that subject. Some of the books were also about sailing and sailing ships and contained construction plans. So one day I tried and see if I could build one.

 

 

Here is one of the early models, build with black and white cardboard. I think it is a Gloucester schooner.

 

[Keith Black]

She's beautiful, Rik. 

[TheDuckDetective]

Rik, the skylight is a lovely addition to the whole. The Hooker is looking great!

I was thinking about something you said in post #45 about the grating coaming not sitting on the beams and carlings on Dutch ships.

In the Maritime museum in Vlissingen they have a construction model of a 64 gun ship of the line (presumed to be to a Zwijndregt design). This model showed the coaming to sit on top of the beams.

Could it be that ships of war used a different technique compared to civilian ships?

[Rik Buter]

I don't know, it could be. It could also be that the model was of Dutch design but was build somewhere else. And if the exact position of the coamings was not specified, the modelmaker did not execute it according Dutch fashion. I spoke to Ab a few weeks ago and he told me something similar about the model in the Rijksmuseum that is also linked with van Zwijndregt. It is a mix of Dutch design and British interpretation...

By the way, do you have a picture of that model in Vlissingen? I am very curious.

[TheDuckDetective]

I see, I have not yet looked at the other Zwijndregt models in depth but that coaming discrepancy would be explained by the outsourcing of the modelling work.

I have lots of pictures from a recent visit. I'll post some when I get behind my PC at home.

[TheDuckDetective]

Found the pictures.

 

The model is in a very nice display with lots of lighting. Wich made for good pictures.

 

This is the online archive link for the model.

{Constructionmodel of a warship of 58 pieces which has strong likeness to the ships designed by the "van Zwijndregt" family}: :https://www.maritiemdigitaal.nl/index.cfm?event=search.getdetail&id=110004689 

[Rik Buter]

Oh wauw, that is great! What a weird looking model, it looks pretty experimental. I wonder what the story behind it is.

Thanks Rutger.

[Rik Buter]

Next is a short update, the cathead supporter. Here a zoom-in on the construction plan.

 

First I made a paper jig.

 

Then I took a piece of wood and made it slightly thinner than the cathead itself.

 

the port side one

 

 

 

best regards

Edited October 27 by Rik Buter

[Ronald-V]

Lovely work again...the use of colors and weathering with your build is spot on 👌really liking it  

Edited October 27 by Ronald-V

[Rik Buter]

58 minutes ago, Ronald-V said:

Lovely work again...the use of colors and weathering with your build is spot on 👌really liking it  

Thanks Ronald