Piet

Glad to hear that all's well with Bill. You and Diane have safe trip. Looking forward to the updates and some pics of your trip. Cheers,

What a lovely lady Pete! Build be a 1:1 so Gwen and I can go sailing on the St. Johns river. Cheers,

Composer Maestro Patric is composing a Symphony in minor, wood - opus glorioso in smooth flowing lines and colors. Not the magic of flowing notes in sound but the magic of sight, observing the beauty of the tangible Symphony. We are patiently awaiting for the completion of this Symphony when the orchestra has finally assembled on stage and all of us are immersed with the visible notes of this masterpiece. Bravo Maestro! Cheers,

Good questions on the planking JesseLee. That stern to counter area is tricky, to say the least but it looks like you got it under control now. Looking really good. Cheers,

Nicely done Kees and the same sentiments for your previous showing. Beautiful build of a beautiful ship, well done. Cheers,

What a nice idea making a slide show of the build. Very nice looking model Kees, especially with the weathering, makes it look like the robust working vessel she is. Cheers,

Great start of a beautiful ship Nils. Love to watch you work the details. I'm still planning on building a model of my father-in-law's little freighter, the Musi of the KPM. Cheers,

Ah yes, every project must have some blood on it. Good thing is that we have a build in self fix system, ships don't Great progress JesseLee, gun ports look good. Cheers,

That looks rather nice Ian and fine machining work! Thanks for the kudos on the O19. Cheers

Yup, great job Popeye and now I'm taking my Heineken crate and move to the Titanic yard. As soon as your Bat Boat yard is set up I'll take another heineken crate over there too, to sit on Cheers,

Hey Popeye, mind if I pull up an empty Heineken crate to sit on? Plastic eh? I have four plastics on the shelf for a lifetime now. So here I am learning how to finish a plastic model. Please be very generous with how you are tackling this build and the finishing details. Cheers,

Incredible detail Kees, what a beautiful build of the highest quality. Cheers,

Thanks Popeye and Michael for your kind words. Yeah. I guess all of us may have some "hind sight' feelings end who knows what'll fall put. Hey Michael, it'll be a long time read going through all the pages of my build. I am now also rereading them all and am not even half way through. Like I have mentioned before, it has been a real joy and at times a little emotional. Many memories seem to op up, some good some bad. Thanks George, I'll be reading your PM right after this Cheers,

Magnificent work Popeye. Your ingenuity and thinking outside the box is truly inspiring. I'm looking forward in following your next project. Cheers,

Thank you Kees, Pete, Jan B, Amateur Jan and John Ladd your positive notes are really appreciated. Each time I look at the boat I'm still amazed that she came out as nice as she did. There are few things I should have caught and changed - - - like the railing at the dinghy location. I should have made the cables detachable there and the stanchions removable. That way the cover doors could fold out flat on the deck and the dinghy could be swung overboard. The same for the area where the little boarding ladder hooks to the deck. These are things I can still change without much effort and won't damage anything. I still plan to make a few crew members, including my father, of course. Plan is to have a few sailors handling the forward torpedo loading and perhaps a few men at the dinghy. My father would be in "the badkuip" or the bridge with the commander of the boat. Please don't hold your breath though, that'll be done in between all the other things I need to attend now. Pete 48, my next build has already been in the stocks for several years. I'm continuing with my version of a VOC ship I have named Surabaya. As a note of interest to why I spell the name of that city in the Indonesian spelling and not the Dutch is that that city was known as Surabaya in the mid 17th century. In later years the Dutch colonizers changed the spelling into the way the Dutch heard the word sounded out. In Indonesian the U sounds like the English OO as in book but to the Dutch that sound is spelled as OE, which is a diphthong for that sound. The letter Y is sounded out as the English Y as in yes but the Dutch would write it with a J. Ah, the differences in languages, but that makes it all interesting. Oh yeah Pete, there is a great possibility that I may start with a small motor freighter, the MS Musi, also in a scale of 1:50. That's the ship Gwen's father was captain on around 1954, '55. He worked for the KPM (Royal Packet Company) for many years but was also a reserve Naval Officer, in the KM (Koninklijke Marine - Royal Navy) - - Lieutenant ter Zee Eerste Klas or Lt. Commander. Also a very interesting and gripping career. Yes, Jan (Amateur), I'll be getting back to the Surabaya dockyard and will need your input on "things" as I get to them. BTW, I heard from Bindy! She's doing just fine and working on her model. As an 81 year old GENTLEMAN I can safely and honestly say - I love that spunky young lady. Cheers,

Ah yes, much more gooder Dave. Great Idea by using poster board. Cheers,

Great progress JesseLee. So glad you got the warp fixed. Cheers,

Thanks George for visiting my Surabaya build. I am doing the same thing too, just to get back in the groove. The dockyard is now all cleaned up, kinda and ready for the shipwright (me) to get back at her. I still have a few domestic issues to handle and prepping for the visit of Sir and Lady Hekker in two weeks. Ys, I'm actually eager start work on her. Cheers,

My sincerest thanks to all who clicked the like button and browsed my log. Thank you George, Augie, Patrick, Mark T, Remco, Anthony, Popeye, Mobbsie and Vivian for your very kind words. @ George: Yes, I'll be getting back to the VOC ship soon. I have a few other things I need to handle here at home. However, the ship is patiently waiting as she has done for the last few years, a little jealous @ Remco: Gwen and I are looking forward to seeing you and Rosette. You will be the second individual who can hold her in your hands and on your lap! Your name is engraved on a few parts of the build. @ Anthony: You and all the others are too kind with your accolades. The Rijksmuseum? I don't think they would want the model nor the Maritime Museum. Perhaps the Navy Museum. But I'll just keep her here in the house and our grandson wants to inherit her. Actually, a part of the Navy Museum is asking for a model builder to build a model of the O19 in 1:100 scale and are offering 4000 Euros for it. As I mentioned before, hmmmm - - - no. @ Popeye: I'm glad having been able to add a little teaching in the build. We all learn things from each other. We pick things up about what someone is using, to achieve a desired result. @ Vivian: It's so good hearing from you again. I hope all's well with you and your partner. Please stay in good health. Again everyone, thank you so very much for your support and encouragement. It's been an enjoyable and sometimes emotional trip. See all y'all later at the VOC ship Surabaya dockyard. Cheers,

WOW Patrick, that was quick! She's looking very nice indeed, great work. Cheers,

Glad to hear JessLee that your efforts worked out okay. Now on to bigger things - gun ports! Cheers,

Hello everyone, well, as I have mentioned a few posts ago, the only thing left for me to do before closing this build log is a few final pics. Out of the roughly 50 pics I took yesterday I picked only nine. I want to thank everyone for following this build and your encouragement. A special thanks to those who gave me advice and assistance in procuring photos, drawings and hardware like Gino, Remco, Amateur Jan, Mark T. If I missed anyone, please forgive me, I have thanked you on the spot in one of the earlier posts. I will monitor this log for a short while and respond but please keep it on topic. If you have questions send me a PM and I'll answer to the best of my ability. I have really enjoyed doing this build with all of you looking over my shoulder. Your friendship I will treasure and hopefully I'll see you all again in my VOC ship dockyard. Cheers,

Glad your wife is feeling better and our prayers go out for your mom. Stay strong my friend. Cheers,

Very nice work on the bell Ian. Cheers,

Beautiful work on a beautiful boat! Well done Pete. Cheers,