De Zeven Provinciën 1665 by Dražen - Scale 1:45

[Hubac's Historian]

Impeccable work, Drazen!

[druxey]

Ten! Those are the most pintles and gudgeons I've ever seen on one rudder! Well done - such neat work!

[amateur]

Ten is more than the drawing shows, but the famius drawing by van der Velde shows three bisible above the waterline. That leads to ten in total....

 

Jan

[Mike Y]

Very accurate and methodical process, thanks for all that "in progress" pics. A bit of a pity that part of the result is painted on top. Love the ribbon and letter carvings!

[Drazen]

Thank you!

 

The number of fittings above the waterline is actually 4. The plans from Lelystad show 6 (2 above the waterline). Still, in long discussions, I went for the original from the paintings - even other ships of the size like Witte Olifant 1666 or smaller have 4 above WL.

 

Below: plan from Lelystad

 

 

Dražen

[Drazen]

… following 3 drawings of 7P, than some other Dutch ships from this age.

 

English ships have less fittings on van de Velde drawings.

Otte Blom has even 11 in his plans.

 

Dražen

[Piet]

Fantastic work Drazen and thanks for all the detail photos, which are very helpful for all future builders.

The banner looks exceptional.

 

Cheers,

[Kopape]

Absolutely awesome construction !!!!

[Drazen]

Just a question if someone can give hints: I am getting cracks in wood due to humidity deviations. Please see my posting here:

 

Drazen

[KORTES]

It is with a great interst that I studied Your presentation. It's a very high-quality, masterly work! I have found many intersting methods and technologies. Thank you very much for sharing your experience. Wishing You inspiration in Your further work.

My best regards.  

 

[Piet]

Hello Drazen,

 

I'm not much help with your question in that I am a meta kind of guy.  However, a wood preservative comes to mind that may help keep the moisture fluctuation at bay.  Looking at your picture it appears that was a few years ago at an earlier stage of your build and you received 17 comments on it.  Do you still have the cracking problem?

 

Cheers,

[Drazen]

On 1/28/2019 at 2:26 AM, Piet said:

Hello Drazen,

 

I'm not much help with your question in that I am a meta kind of guy.  However, a wood preservative comes to mind that may help keep the moisture fluctuation at bay.  Looking at your picture it appears that was a few years ago at an earlier stage of your build and you received 17 comments on it.  Do you still have the cracking problem?

 

Cheers,

Hi Piet, dear friend!

 

I am working on this problem right now. Out of the help received in the MSW, I decided to buy a humidifier for winter and a dehumidifier for summer. I am right now testing the humidifier. It works fine (an ultrasonic device),  but has some problem with measuring humidity and thus steering the humidity on 50%. I will report in the other link about this appliance and how much it helps. Link:

 

This cracking is older, but is getting worse with the time. I just hope, it will go back somehow if I manage to keep the humidity between 40% and 60%. Till now, I did not do much effort on adjusting the humidity in my cellar.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Let's go to more beautiful postings than cracking 🙂

... the production of the decoration in transom...

 

I first made a tool to mill the outer frame of the transom and have inserted it into the Proxxon milling machine. The upper guiding part of the machine is custom made by myself and according the Russian advices on the DVD (Dr. Mike). Still, I have changed some things according to my logic.

 

The milling tool is made out of a common nail, which has been hammered and rasped to the shape in order to get the profile I need.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

The lower part of the transom frame after milling

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

After bending the three pieces of the frame (per side) on the steam, I have inserted them into the position on the ship, so they follow the shape.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

... and put just slight amounts of thin CA-glue to hold them in shape.

 

Take care:

• Not to let the glue make your frame stick on the hull (you will want to remove it later on)
• CA glue will leave yellow colouring on the maple wood. On the pear wood it does not leave any colouration.

Than I removed the frames and put additional thin/easy flowing epoxy resin to make it more solid.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Than, I ground the inner shape of the frame to get the wished angle when installed.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

.. difficult process on deciding on the decoration form/pattern. There are different decorations on the van de Velde drawings for the same ship. Also the models from the museums are not following the same pattern.

 

I decided to follow the drawing here  - second from above.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Luckily, the pattern was similar as I have on my plans. So, I cut the part of the plan and check if it fits into my frame

 

Drazen

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Drazen

[Drazen]

Since the pattern was not 100% clear, I needed to understand the forms. I made my own drawings about general shapes I want to get

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Than I made a piece of stripe which fits right into the frame. I took boxwood and bent it on the steam.

The stripe out of the plan, I glued on the boxwood stripe. After that, I started to work on the shape - bit-by-bit.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

What came out was a coarse "prototype". I checked the fit into the frame.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

... and we go to the other side... which has to be more or less - symmetrical.

For this, I simply scanned the part, mirrored it in the Photoshop and glued it on another boxwood stripe. Now, I am working with my own pattern and no more with the pattern from the plan.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

The other side ready and checked on fit into the frame. I still have the coarse prototypes.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

After refining the shape to get more 3D-effect and "contents behind the surface", I am ready with my decoration pattern.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Painting...

 

1st. : priming

 

It was difficult to get the best primer for wood. I finally decided on Golden GAC 100. This shall save the wood from decay and protect getting oil paint into the wood (bad for wood and bad for the surface effect). I think, in my next parts, I will use several thin layers of shellac to protect instead GAC100 beacause GAC100 makes the surface not so smooth and is difficult to grind and correct.

 

After GAC100, I apply Gesso primer by Royal Talens. This one is very nice and has acceptable price. Gesso is needed to get a solid grip for the oil paint.

 

All this in thin coats not to "destroy" the pattern. I am using high quality brushes

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

... than:

 

1) 4 very thin layers of Old Holland "yellow ochre light" (probably best oil paint brand existing - Old Holland). Always brushing the excessive outer surfaces to increase the 3D effect and depth of the structure.

 

2) Than finally only one thin layer of the "old Holland ochre" (Old Holland brand again). This one is of darker nuance then the first 4 layers.

 

You must imagine a very thin paint staying in the recessed areas slightly thicker and on the exposed areas nearly totally brushed away.

Let the layers dry thoroughly before moving to the next layer!!

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

Now: again make a copy f the form, and cut out the paper stripes. Put the stripes into the frames and remove paint on the frame on some areas - so the glue can get to the wood. On paint, it will nit hold well.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

... glueing with epoxy.

Protect the oil paint when applying pressure! A big drawback of oil paint is the low resistance to the mechanical influence.

 

Drazen

[Drazen]

... and how it looks...

 

Note, this is the length of exact 90 mm. So, try to look at the real size on the screen to get the real impression.

 

Drazen