English Royal Yacht by Ab Hoving - CARD

[Ab Hoving]

The gift from a friend inspired me to build a model of the type that is shown in the drawing. (See https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22309-what-did-you-receive-today/page/154/#comment-1083544)

Fortunately I have a nice drawing. It is for a ketch-rigged ship, but changing that into a standing gaff rig is just a matter of minutes:

So I spent a day to set up the basics for a nice paper hull:

So far I do not see any problems for the near future. Making a hull with this material is just a breeze. But the point is that I wonder into a world I know nothing about. A Dutch yacht would not have been any problem as I have shown earlier (https://modelshipworld.com/gallery/image/17836-satenjacht_3_lrjpg/?context=new), but about the English counterpart many details on the hull are unknown to me. And here (I hope) you come in.... 

Is there anyone who has clear close-up pictures of a model like this or maybe even draughts? Can you please post them here?

I'd be most grateful.

 

[ccoyle]

I have moved this to the research section, but if you decide to create a build log for this I'm sure we'd all love to follow along!

[Ab Hoving]

That was indeed my intention Chris.

[Martes]

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/search/fubbs

 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66391

 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-459439

 

Note that the plan has a second sheet with some internal arrangements.

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Ab Hoving said:

That was indeed my intention Chris.

 

Okay, I have moved it back! Looking forward to seeing how this comes together.

[Michael Mash]

4 hours ago, Ab Hoving said:

Quote:  "The gift from a friend inspired me to build a model of the type that is shown in the drawing." 

 

Art inspiring more art.

Looking forward to watching  .   .   as always !!

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21 by Michael Mash

[Ab Hoving]

Thank you Martes!

And Chris and Mike: I hope not to disappoint you.

 

[Ab Hoving]

The pictures of Fubbs are most helpful and I had to adjust the model in only a minimal way. But Fubbs was not the ship I wanted to model, because of the different rig. Does anyone know of pictures, drawings or whatever of an English yacht with only one mast?

Edited January 22 by Ab Hoving

[druxey]

Ab: you have opened a large can of worms here! The plans for Fubbs are for the rebuild of the 1720's and differ somewhat from the earlier Stuart classic yachts.

 

As you may know, Effie and I are working on a book covering all the yachts of the Stuart era. There is scanty hard evidence of internal arrangements. The most detailed 'plan' (and perhaps showing artistic licence) are the Vincenzo Coronelli plates of Isabella that include a longitudinal section:

 

[Ab Hoving]

Hello David,

 

I can hardly express how happy I am about your remark about the lack of sources for these yachts. I never aim to picture a specific ship with my models, I am always more after just a type. I don't even think in the direction of making such a beautiful model as you did. I just want to see an impression of what such a ship looked like in reality. So now I am free to make a model of an impression of such a ship without being hindered by what the real ship looked like.

No rivet counters for me... I just want to make fun building a model.

 

Did I tell you how much I admire what you did on the Fubbs? High class! Dazzling.

 

Best,

Ab

[Ab Hoving]

There is one thing about working with card that is worth noticing: it is incredibly fast. I started on Thursday with nothing but a rather obscure drawing and yesterday, after a dozen of hours work at the most, the hull was closed, both above and below the waterline.

Something else to notice is, that the usual sharp and crispy lines we see on wooden building projects are obviously not (yet) here. But it is most reassuring that everything you see here, will be covered with other material, one way or another.

The sides above the wales are simply copied on card from the drawing and glued into place.

Covering the part below the wales is simply done by glueing vertical strips over the frames. Some slight sanding is enough to take away the roughest obstacles. It looks quite bumpy, but actually the pictures, done with grazing light are more unforgiving than the real object. A second layer of planking will stretch any irregularities in the shape.

 

To be continued.

[Baker]

On 1/22/2025 at 11:39 AM, Ab Hoving said:

Does anyone know of pictures, drawings or whatever of an English yacht with only one mast?

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66339

And, I watch and learn from you

 

[Ab Hoving]

Thank you Patrick, most helpful.

Don't pick up my wrong habits. 🙂

[druxey]

The model Patrick quotes has a contemporary hull but modern rigging. The latter has some oddities such as the small spreaders at the peak of the headsails.

[GrandpaPhil]

The yacht is looking really good!

[Ab Hoving]

The longitudinal planks are glued on, they needed some sanding, which makes them a bit furry. I use shellac to mend that.

Some filler here and there is also necessary. That's how it goes building from scratch....

The inside of the bulwarks is stiffened with an extra layer of card and the outside is planked.

I work about six hours a day and I think for a small ship like this one a week should be enough to roughly finish the hull.

But then the deck furniture and the decorations follow, not to mention the rigging. Still a long way to go....

[Ab Hoving]

I started planking the upper strakes with c-d-fix self adhesive latex. The top planking will have to be covered with carvings, so that is for later. Things are going real fast now. 

Covering up all the mistakes I made in previous phases. Glueing on the covering boards is a start for a neat finish. 

[Ab Hoving]

Planking a hull in less than an hour:

Still a lot to do (and a lot to hide :-)).

[Baker]

I also started a yacht. As a side project.

It seems that the Dutch yachts have a different hull shape than this one (and mine).

Correct? Or imagination 🤔.

 

And you build faster than me 😉

[Ab Hoving]

There is a world of difference between the two. The Dutch shape is very full, almost square, the English one was sharp: 

 

The Dutch shape was meant to push the water under the hull and slide over it, 'like a duck's breast', the English shape really cuts the water. No doubt much faster, still originally derived from the Dutch example, which was presented to Charles II by an Amsterdam lord mayor in 1660. It did not stop Charles to start the Anglo-Dutch wars. The English master shipwrights made a beautiful 'translation' of the Dutch example.

[Ab Hoving]

Ten days ago I started this model with little more than an original design drawing and some pictures of other models. The hull (overall length 33 cm) is ready for painting now. As you can see most of the untidy 'loose ends' have been cured and I made some progress in planning what the model will look once it is finished. I never make models of actual ships, I just show the type and that seems to be a lucky decision here, because of all the models I saw I can only say that none of them is similar to the others. That gives a lot of freedom, which is exactly how I like it. The stern I (temporarily) added is just a first stage one. I will find out how to make it acceptable. The lining of the hull planks look better in reality than in the grazing light available when I made the pictures.

Choices have been made. I chose for a front bulkhead instead of hull planking up to the stem post. The bowsprit will not rest on top of the stem post, but beside it. The panels for the inside of the bulwarks have already been painted red and will be glued in as soon as the decks are painted. I will have to make a stand now, so I can draw the waterline, after which the usual painting of the outside will be done. A lot of time will pass while the paint is drying, which gives me the opportunity to make all sorts of details for both the inside and the outside of the model.

I'll keep you posted.