*Hans*

Hey Jim,

And then you show a glimp of your ship - but I am (we are) eager to see the whole of it. Do you have your own topic? Or could you post an overall picture here?  I bet Piet won't mind.

Edit:  I first did not see your autograph but then I did and found your topic. Impressive!

Thanks everyone for your comments and for all the likes, it's much appreciated. 

 

Actually these are carpenter ants REALLY!  They are all over the place, under my palm trees, inside the palm fronds and these I picked from a dead palmetto bush in the vacant lot next to us.  They are as fears as fire ants but much larger and we have to keep tem away from the house! 

 

 

 

prepping for coiling tackle ropes.jpg

 

How I make the tackle rope coils.jpg

Here you see how I plan to make the rope coils.  

 

Cheers, 

Althoug these ants are a nuisance I appreciate it you gave them a nice and decent sailor funeral, tight in sailcloth, with a "één, twee, drie, in Godsnaam..."

(but why did you use blue sailcloth?)

Colors are looking much better Piet. Maybe the grey green still a bit to grey and the green green a bit to green, but if you can land somewhere in the middle I think it should do very fine

Every once in a while I'll post something in this topic.

On a Dutch forum Mr. Danny Mulders is building the Kolderstok Batavia.

Please visit http://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/bouwverslag-kolderstok-voc-schip-batavia-1-72.234841/if you are interested.

As far as I know the first editions of the book where with plans, but they skipped these plans in the later versions.

Piet,

Wait until the Portugese sailors come to reclaim their trading land. They'll shoot some holes in your ship, destroy some railings, and you have to start once again.

In those days it was quite normal thank planking was removed and repaired - and they didn't bother about colordiffirence...

Piet,

The green you made is already much more in the right direction. It is personal taste of course, but I prefer the upper color.  Maybe you could extra add a bit of grey in it. 

Thanks Hartmut! 

It already has been a while since I finished her, and after that I started with a Greek Trireme (see my signature)

This one however has come to a temorary stop due to the fact I started making wooden building kits of the Batavia. There are hardly any Dutch 17th century ships as kit available so I started to fill this gap.

Working model for the Batavia kit was/is the "Dordrecht" from 1618 - a sister ship of the Batavia and the previous vessel Francesco Pelsaert sailed on. There is no build log on the Dordrecht, but here some images of her stern:

Jan, merely for two reasons:

- first of all the fun of trying it and doing it.  I think it is a main part of modelbuilding not only making the model itself, but also (to me) make the tools and get the feeling of how things can be made by yourself instead of just use the parts provided in a kit.

- second: when showing a modelkit to someone they often ask if ornaments etc are in brass or other cast metal. Resin is good stuff and easy to work with, but not everyone is pleased with it.

But to be honest: the resin is in fact the better product. Easier to work, easier to glue, easier to paint, easier to change, easier to sand, etc.etc.

Regarding the angle of open gunports:  Keeping in mind how over 300 people had to live and work for over 9 months on their journey to the East Indies and back I am pretty sure they wouldn't bother about the angle they had opened the lid.

Just pull the rope with blocks until it won't go further - which means all the lids would open merely the same...but never all of them under 97,4 degrees angle or so 

Nice job Jan - looking good!

thread not behaving the way you want it is the most annoying thing there is.  

 

Just don't hold your breath Hans, it'll be a while yet before I'm ready to start carving.

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.   Thank you Piet!  I was just getting out of breath....

Piet, just took a quick re-read through your topic - You're doing a very nice job here!  

Did you already try to do something on the diverse carvings for the stern? I saw your nice drawing (and saved it on my computer - If allowed  ), but I guess you haven't started on it. I'm eager to see how nice this is going to be!

Thanks Chris & Nils,

It is really fun doing this! There is also a main diffirence in casting resin and castin tin.

- resin can be done just like pouring yoghurt in a bowl - so an open mould and just pour the fluid in it.

- tin has to be done in a closed mould. So I make the red silicone mould as an open one and then use a piece of oak plank to close it. Important then is to think how the air in the mould can escape - thus all the "opkomers" (English word?) for releasing the air.

I made all the ornaments for the Batavia kit in cast resin, but have also started making these in white metal. I made a special casting mould of heat-resistant silicone and started pouring.



The white figure you see is a special order for a customer in South Africa.  The red fluid is silicone on the fresly made new ornament for the Batavia.



Although not very clear, left the mould and right the first attempts.

Piet,

About blackening the brass - just give it a try!  I use some blue fluid (which I call Eau de Cologne) to blacken the brass, but it does exactly the same on copper and on soldering tin as well.  The fluid is normally used to blacken tin on tiffany lamps (I once made some of them)  and is (I guess) about the same chemical bad stuff as any other blackening fluid.

 

 

...I am slowed down with making blocks because of my Poxxon drill/carving motor tool is still in for repairs. I was informed this afternoon that the motor had died.  I'm just wondering how a motor of such a high quality tool can just die.  If I had abused this tool I can understand but after infrequent and light use - - - I'm not impressed with Proxxon, this is two out of two Proxxon tools that broke after light and infrequent use.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Proxxon is a German company and they usually make good stuff.  

Maybe this has to do with the fact that Europe is 230 Volt / 50 Hz and the US 110 Volt / 60 Hz.  The machine can be the same, only the elektromotor has to be changed to a 110 Volt type. And if this one is of less quality due to the manufacturer who makes these, well.

Some other fact we had here in Europe (a bit off topic - I know) that the voltage changed to 230 Volt with a +/- of 10% instead of 220.  So you could sometimes have over 250 Volt on the net.  A lot of nice 80's amplifiers went down in this way. If you have rather high fluctuation on the net this can cause trouble.

Hey AA schipper - good luck with this vessel. It is always nice do do some scratch-work and change an excisting kit into something diffirent. Makes it a nice job - not only the building, but also the bookwork you have to do.

And regarding the Batavia and the plastic model of Revell - please take a look here:  www.kolderstok-models.com 

Hey Piet,

You know I like these kind of ships - and you are making a pretty nice one! Allow me though to make a small (positive mend) remark:

The green color you have used on the Surabaya is quite "vivid" - maybe a bit to much. I don't know if you are planning to redo some paintwork on the hull, but think about making a more grey-green for the upper hull. 

I guess you haven't visited the Batavia on your trip to Holland this summer (due to your tight scedule), but she has quite the green color which would suit your VOC-lady very well!

oohpps! 

It all looks so nice and tranquil. Seeing this, no one would imagine all the tragedies that have happened almost 400 years ago.

Thanks for the explanation, Anton.  Ah.. unions, insurance companies and politics... Yuck!!!!!! 

All the same - all over the world. Here in NL you have to make a special safety scaffolding even working at 2 meters hight.

All the "carvings" I made are in 1: 72 so even if you wanted this I cannot send you something because it is to small.

Modelling clay has been a long time "not done" but many more see it as a good alternative to the real carving. And to be honest: claying isn't the easiest thing as well.

Keep up the good work, but first you have to finish your Agamemnon I guess 

Correct. I did wash some shade over it, maybe I should'n have done that. But the picture is also taken by lamplight.

And promised - the painted version of the lantern for the East Indiaman:

Top painted in dark brown copper - lantern in yellow plus earth grey shade over it. I'm not satisfied yet about the painting.