A little paper boat

[janzwart]

I recently came into possession of Ab Hoving’s wonderful book titled “Schepen van papier” with the subtitle “Een inleiding tot het maken van papieren scheepsmodellen.”
Ab has published something about this method on SoS already. See:https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/ever-considered-to-scratch-build-from-card.4676/



This book is illustrated with photos of some of Ab’s stunning models, placed in lifelike settings by his son Emiel—as everyone had the chance to admire at the recent exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.
In addition, in this book Ab provides an introduction and step-by-step guide on how to build a model using this method.
It’s an approach that didn’t immediately appeal to me at first, but given the level of detail, I’d still like to give it a try—if only so I can later say with confidence, “It’s not for me.” Though there’s a risk it might turn out to be a fun way to build after all.

We’ll see.

The book provides a detailed description of how to build a narrow-hulled ship—or a wide-hulled ship if you make it a bit larger.



These ships were used to transport goods from Amsterdam to Dordrecht. This could be done via two routes: the inland route or the outer route. The inland route ran through Gouda, where ships had to pass through a lock that was 4.68 m wide. Ships that could fit through that lock were called narrow ships, and wider ships were therefore wide ships.
These ships were practically identical in construction; only the size differed.

I’ve chosen to build a narrow ship. As described in Ab’s book.
And it should look like this:



It’s not a large model—only 22 cm across the stern—and it’s on a 1:77 scale.

I hesitated for a long time about whether to start it, because I’m already working on three other projects, so this will be the fourth. In terms of priority, though, this project is at the bottom of the list. Only when I can’t continue with one of the other projects for a while or have to wait for something can I work on this model—maybe sticking a piece of paper somewhere or cutting something out.

So don’t expect rapid progress.
It starts, like many building projects, with a false keel and a number of transverse frames. I cut these out and glued them onto a piece of 1.3 mm thick cardboard.



The bottom two strips are intended to thicken the false keel, creating a rebate between the frames and the false keel so that the skin covering will fit into it later.

That’s it for now.
To be continued.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[janzwart]

Update 1
Another week has gone by, and I’ve been busy crafting.
First, I cut out all the parts.


I simply cut along the outlines and carved out the slots with a sharp knife.
I made sure the bottom slots of the frames were wide enough to fit into the slots of the false keel—and vice versa. The slots for the deck also need to be wide enough.
I can’t rely entirely on the drawn lines because the thickness of the cardboard isn’t exactly the same as the thickness on which the drawings are based.
I did file the slots a bit straighter with a small file.



Here, everything is assembled. Very important: the horizontal lines on the false keel must align exactly with those on the frames. That way, they’re all at the correct height.



Two steps further:
The deck consists of two halves and has been slid into the frames here. The small protrusion above the deck toward the railing is very fragile and has turned out a bit rough. However, it’s only meant to indicate the height of the gunwale that’s still to be installed, and will have to be removed afterward anyway.
The second step is to double the frames beneath the deck. Why? That will become clear later when we start “planking” the hull.



Here you can see the model from below. You can clearly see that the keel has become three times as thick because a narrow strip has been glued onto both sides. It’s gotten a bit messy at both stems. But keep in mind that this is my first little model built this way.
And this is what it looks like from above.



The next step is to attach the gunwales. These were also printed and cut out of plain paper and glued onto thin cardboard. These gunwales are glued to the side of the deck and the upper part of the frames below deck level. The protrusions above deck level indicate how high the gunwales should extend above deck level.



That’s all for now.
To be continued

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[Ignatius27]

Janzwart - I hope you are enjoying Ab & Emiel Hoving's book on "17th century Dutch Ship Models in Paper." I built the "Smalschip" earlier this year and it was my first paper and cardstock build. Here's a link to my build log.

"Smalschip" 17th-century Dutch inland cargo ship from plans by Ab Hoving - Build Log

1. Build Log - "Smalschip" 17th-century Dutch inland cargo ship 1/48 scale, in paper cardstock from plans by Ab Hoving in his book "Dutch 17th Century Ship Models in Paper: An Introduction to Scratch Building Paper Ship Models," from SeaWatch Books. I started this build because I wanted to...

shipsofscale.com

I corresponded with Ab Hoving and he liked my build. He encouraged me to try building Witsen's Pinas from the same book and Im building the Pinas now. By build log is in the paper and cardstock builders forum.



My plan is to use the cardstock method again to build Ab Hoving's "Jaght Heemskerck", the fluyt 'Zeehaen" and the "Duyfken" using paper and cardstock. Im hooked!

Good luck with your Smalschip build and I hope you enjoy this building method as much as many of us do.