Piet

Well done Nenad. Love the close-up! Cheers,

Wow, you have been busy Popeye. That's beginning to look real nice! Cheers,

Hi Omega and Joe, thanks for the ideas but I'm again way ahead of you Yes, I'm planning to make a brass plaque with some personal information on it but can't hide it somewhere inside the hull. It'll be mounted to the bottom of the dock keel. Then I'm making another brass plaque to mount on the display board with the KM emblem (KM being the short for Koninklijke Marine or Royal Navy in English) , the date of laying the keel to the date of her being scuttled by her crew. The date and finish of the model build and what ever comes to mind. I'll have both engraved being that I don't own an engraving machine anymore, that stayed with the business when I sold out. All this'll take some thinking time about what and etc. Come to think of it, I may be able to write a short log on a piece of paper, roll it up and shove it through an opening somewhere, like in in front or aft of the dingy compartment. Could also be inside the lower part of the conning tower. Nice thought there fellows. You see - there still is a lot of work to do, a good reason to keep this log alive. It may slowly move way back here though. Cheers,

hello all, This morning I did some more touch-up painting and some other minor adjustments. I seem to be forever fiddling with things here and there. I also installed version 2.0 of the flags. Thanks to Remco these flags are the cat's meow, just superb. i'm glad he send me a several sheets for possible oopsies because I had a few that didn't turn out just right. Okay, we are coming close to the final part. I don't know if I want to bore all yuns with the last parts such as the boarding ladder, the mine bun lid hinges and the dingy. And of course the figures to crew the boat. These I can always make in between other projects. I'm leaving the build log active for the final final photos when the model is mounted on her display board. This'll be another head scratcher but I'll overcome that one as well. Here are a few pics I pulled out of my picture archive of today's work. Here I have attached the Geus flag to the bow flag post and lowered the anchor for those to see who have not seen the pics when I made it. This'll also be one one of the extra items I want to make together with a few more mines, torpedoes and deck gun shells. This is version 2 of the main flag. The white spots are from the flash glare. This is version 2.0 of the stern flag. Reworked the torpedo to make the sling look like it has some weight. I also took a pic of the mine in it's bin. Yeah, yeah, I know, the hinges must still be made. Cheers,

Thank you all for "enduring" my story of one of the crazy escapades my father told me and your likes, it's much appreciated. @ Joe, Omega, Vivian and others, a special thanks to you for your most kind words about my father. Yeah, I guess he could be classified as a hero but so were thousands of others with him. He felt it was his duty , the same way he felt it was his duty to go out with the fleet to battle the Jap fleet on January 1942. He knew that the chances of surviving it were very slim. Needles to say that I am proud of him and all the others who served with him in the fight against a common enemy. Yup, he's still very much alive in my mind. Actually Omega and Joe here is my plan for the near future. I plan to assemble a sort of log with photos of the actual build in the Netherlands with pictures of the build of my model at the appropriate places. I'll also write a few anecdotes about what he did, at least to the best of my recollection. It'll end with a picture of his grave marker, 70 meters down on the bottom of the Java Sea. It'll be in a loose leaf format but can also be put on a CD and / or thumb drive. The paper copy will be bequeathed to my youngest daughter and grandson together with the model. The digital issues are free for the asking, I don't know how much a [a[er copy will run but my guess is mucho dinari Thank you all so very much for very kind words and encouragement. Cheers,

Hi Nenad, count me in babe! I like to commiserate with you and you can cry on my shoulder anytime. I have been there and done that kinda thing. Cheers,

My sincerest and heartfelt thanks to all who visited and showed your appreciation by your likes! Hoi Remco, thank you and yes, I'm also very pleased with how the launcher came out and worked. The decals are super! Hello Popeye, thank you for your compliments. Actually I closed the starboard door for this shot but I'll try to remember to open it for another picture. I think that Remco used a bunch of little elfs to paint the white on the transparent decal paper Hello Vivian, welcome to my shipyard, it's certainly great seeing you here. Thank you so very much for your kind words. Yeah, I guess I put a little more "of something" into this build and glad it shows. I hope to see you resume your build soon, stay in good health. Hi Nenad, great seeing you here too, welcome my friend and thank you as well for your kind words. Okay Omega, I'll now relate the story my father told me when I was about six or seven years old. This was before the war with the Japs started and we lived in Surabaya, in the Dutch east indies. Well, y'all must know that my father was also a certificated and fully trained hardhead Navy diver but also a "soft" diver using air supplied by a small serving boat. He could swim like a fish and hold his breath for a long time, no smoking for him. He was young and not married with a lot of "loose hairs" as an old Dutch saying goes, wild and crazy. Being young he also had that youth syndrome of eternal life, nothing can happen to me idea. When assigned to a submarine and on one particular training trip, the boat he was on got tangled in fishing nets that got wrapped around one of the props, rudder and dive planes. No matter what the captain tried nothing worked. As a matter of fact she became even more entangled. Now, this was sometime in the late twenties, early thirteis and as I recall telling me, there was no floating telephone either. The captain was about to order abandon ship even though that would be a risky business at the depth they were in. Soooh, my father told him that he was a trained diver and could go outside to cut the boat loose. After some debate, the captain reluctantly agreed. My father then prepped himself with two "third lungs" devices, a clothespin on his nose , a big sharp knife and bolt cutter. Then, in his skivvies went into one of the stern torpedo tubes. They closed the door behind him, opened the outer door that promptly flooded the tube and he clawed his way outside. He proceeded to cut the fishing net away from the prop, the rudder and dive planes but checked also above and there he had to cut some more free. He just held his breath for a minute, then took a deep swig of air from his air supply. That way it lasted long enough for him to do the job. When he was reasonably sure that the boat was free, he crawled back into the tube, all the while taking a swig of air every minute. He knocked on the inner door as a sign he was back, the crew closed the outer door and carefully blew the water out and opened the inside door. A thank you and a pad on the back from the crew and captain. Well done mister. Yes, the boat was free and could move again. When my grandson and I visited the USS Cod in Cleveland I told this story to my grandson when we were in the aft torpedo room and one of the doors was open. Yup, my then 17 year old grandson could fit alright. Well, that was my crazy father and I'm glad he told me all kinds of stories of his escapades and that I can still remember after all those years. I hope I haven't bored anyone with this tale. Hope to see all yuns later for the next parts to be made for the O19. Cheers,

That's a very nice looking bow Popeye! Cheers,

Hello again everyone and thank all who visited and give your thumbs up with the likes, much appreciated. This morning I started out replacing some of the bothersome decals. Remco PM'd me telling me that there are smaller bow numbers on the decal sheets. And yes, there are so I replaced the bow decals and also the load numbers decals. They are now in the correct place, both bow and stern. Much better looking, I'm a happy camper After that was done I started with redoing the aft deck railings, making them look like in the ones in the commissioning photo. Not as easy as I hoped for in trying not to damage the boat in any way. The epoxy cement did a good job holding the stanchions in. I was trying to safe them - - - being the frugal Dutchman ) but then I decided "to hell with it" and put a 4 X 4 - - - mm that is - - - slat on the deck and pried them up with a small pair of pliers. I filled the holes, soldered the angled side braces on in situe, soldered the tops on and restrung the cable. After I was happy with the result I touched up the paint that was removed. There was no damage that I could see. Lucked out again So, I took a few pics for my records of today's work and share them with all yuns below. Oh yeah, I installed the deck torpedo launcher as well, works great and so do the doors. Self explanatory. That little divot in the cable has been straightened. I left one stanchion at the aft crew hatch. There was one according to the commissioning photo. I think it served as a handhold for the crew getting in and out. This shows the new decals I received from Remco. They are white on transparent decal paper so the paint can be seen through it, no messing mismatching colors or painting around them. They are perfect! I couldn't resist taking a shot of the torpedo launcher inside the deck structure. I closed the starboard side door to prevent back glare. It swings freely out and in. Cheers,

Hey Joe, yeah man, working on this model worked great on my memory. Things from 76 years ago pop into my mind. I remember snippets from when I was 4 years old. Oh yes, there is also a story attached to that one, at 5 when we just got back to the Colonies in 1939. What's doubly amazing is that my brain damage (thanks to the Japs) seems to have healed to some extend. I still have problems memorizing stuff and recalling things. I need a trigger it seems. Being also an airplane man is the word piper in your handle related to that? Sorry to hear that you and your father were not close. I have a friend in the same boat, a WW II PBY crew member. Very sad. Hi Popeye, thank you for liking my story, actually his story. Yeah, he was a riot but after that incident he kinda was more careful staying out of trouble. Did I ever tell yuns about him going out of a submerged sub that got tangled up in a fishing net? Besides being a "wild and crazy guy" when he was young and unattached, he was also fearless. If yuns like to hear it let me know and I'll tell you something not many men or women have done. Cheers,

That's really looking great Dave. Cheers,

Hey Nenad - - I had stomach cramps from laughing and all in a good sense. Very clever indeed! You are too much my friend and love your sense of humor and innovative ways to deal with "problems." Keep it up my friend, I for one am enjoying your build and how your CS is taking shape. Cheers,

Hoi Carl, - - - Okay, I'm off the floor. Drunken sailors indeed. That reminds me of another story my father told us when he was fancy free and footloose, i.e. before being married to my mom. You want to hear it ???? Oh, okay you twisted my arm After shore leave he was boarding the boat (no not the O19) and the officer of the deck stopped him and said, "mister you are drunk." My dad said, "no, I'm not." with that the officer of the deck told my father to walk the deck-slat." Now one thing he could do was walk in a straight line when snookered. So, the officer of the deck said, "well, I guess I made a mistake, carry on." My father then, in his drunken mind was rather peeked at the officer of the deck and said, "like hell you say, I am drunk and I think you also need a drink." With that he heaved the officer of the deck overboard. Well now, that sobered him up enough to realize that that was not a very smart thing to do. So, he got himself a broom, a rope and one of his shoes tied to the rope that he tied to the broom and proceeded to go "fishing." That got him to a visit to the psychiatrist instead of being thrown out of the Navy. The doctor had a hearty laugh about his story and made a note in the records of 'temporary insanity.' As a young lad I pictured all this in my mind and thought it rather funny. As you can see I still remember many things about my father, which I treasure. Yeah, it's a shame that I was behind that flag otherwise all y'all could have seen one handsome 5 year old and say, aaaahhhhh, how cute. Cheers,

Hi Ian, Your gun tackle is coming together just fine. I like for people making their own tools and jigs. I try to do the same but then again I am a certificated too and die maker. never earned my living with it bit it sure came in handy when i was running an aircraft repair business Great show and tell, may help someone in the future. Cheers,

Hey Joe, those "screws" look just plain marvelous! And thanks for showing one in the palm of your hands, now we have an idea of how tiny they are. It's great when a plan comes together Cheers,

Hello all, again - very little done on the O19 today. Just a little more paint touch-ups. I'll also need to redo the load nummers, they are too high. Fortunately I have enough of them so there is no problem. I didn't take any pics of the decals being placed on the model for that very reason. After that's done I'll put the edge sealer on the decals and then maybe take a few pics of her. There is still plenty little piddl'n stuff to do before we can truly call the model completed. I need to make one torpedo from aluminum rod so the loading sling looks like it has some weight on it. Thanks for pointing that out. Then I need to make the boarding ladder, hinges for the mine bun lid, new flags and the dingy. My real challenge will be to make a few members of the crew. I'll start with my father of course and at a scale of 1:50 he would be about 35 mm. That seems about right when looking at the photo where he is standing next to the con. I like to place him in the "bathtub" or the bridge with another figure. This can always be done after the model is completed. I also cleaned up my build dock and put new paper on the board, it looks neater that way Okay, we had a little discussion about the railing and I went to my photo archive and dug up a bunch of photos with the O19 having railings. I mainly used the official Wilton-Feijenoord drawings for my railing. It shows the railing and from where to where it was placed. I may have to remove a few stanchions on the aft deck when taking a closer look at the photos. This is okay, no problem. Looks like the builder deviated from the plans. The railings were still on the boat on her voyage to the Netherlands East Indies from Holland in 1939. I have two pics with the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt, one of her stops for fuel. Before arriving in Alexandria though they performed magnetometer tests in the Mediterranean Sea, submerged. This shows that the O19 did go submerged for quite some time with the railings installed. Unless, as Freek pointed out, they removed them and stowed them before diving. Seems like a lot of work each time she comes up and goes down again. In any case, the reason for my model is to show how the boat actually looked like with everything on it, including the things that may be temporarily stowed for underwater cruising. Obviously they wouldn't load torpedoes, have the AA guns out or the dingy out and neither the boarding ladder. It's for static display and show and tell I hope all yuns don't mind me having the railings on a submarine Let me add a few pics for you to see a submarine with railings This is the official drawing from WF. Here you can see from where to where the railing runs. On the last photo below of the commissioning in 1939, you can see that they didn't run the railing as far back as the drawing shows. Well, one more small alteration to make. Yes, the drawing still shows the original identification number, K XIX, which was changed to O 19. This picture shows the O19 docked and presumably in the Navy base Den Helder sometime in 1939. Here you can see the railing stanchions. This shows the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt on her way to the Netherlands East Indies in July, 1939. The railing is clearly visible here. Here is another photo of the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt on July 1939. The railing is clearly visible. Yes, it was common practice to span tarps over the deck for shade. This is a picture of the O19 going out to sea for proving runs. My father was on board for each one of course. Oh, I remember one hair-raising story he told us about what happened on one of these proving runs Shudder, shudder. I may have shown this one before but this is a photo of the commissioning of the O19 on July 3, 1939. My mother, sister and I were there to witness the event. I have annotated the picture where it shows my mother holding my hand but my sister and I are hidden by the Geus, the flag at the bow. Hey, I was only 5 years old then but I still remember quite a bit, it must have made a big impression on me, I guess Remco directed me to a website where I copied newspaper articles about the commissioning where my father's name is mentioned. This was his third trip to the colonies. Oh, sweet memories Cheers,

Hoi Kees, impressive indeed! Love the weathering you have been able to do, very realistic. Cheers,

Wowsy babe, that looks stupendous! Fantastic job Sjors. Cheers,

I couldn't do much today. Just wiped the newly painted areas with a damp cloth with enamel paint thinner to dull it. One more wipe and then put the nummer decals on. I did paint the railing cable dark grey - - I like the result. There is still some touching up to do but she's close to being finished. Just other details that con come in between other projects. Like I mentioned, I am thinking of a mounting board and how to mount her, and then a place in my studio. Cheers,

Thanks Kevin and Freek, you may well be correct that they removed the railing and antennas before going on patrol. The pics I have after the refit in 1943 all railing is gone as well as the torpedo loading gantries. I do also have a picture of the O19 surfacing wit the torp loading gantries still in place. Then I have photos with the railing in place but that was in 1939 or 1940 with her tied to dockside. I also show the model with de flags. Let's just assume that as a model, she is tied to the dock and the crew is out "painting the town" and all the mothers have their daughters locked inside their houses This way I can show the model with as much "stuff" on her as possible, like the open dingy hatch and loading a torpedo. I could even lower the side anchor and raise the telephone but that one I'll leave stowed. I'll just have to add that to my speel when explaining why all that "stuff" is on a submarine Cheers,

Ah yes, that's beautiful Boris. What a treat to the eye. Congrats to a successful model. Cheers,

Congratulations Freek with a successful shakedown cruise! The video is awesome! Cheers,

Dang Kevin, that's one handsome looking ship. My jaw dropped when i gazed at the bow shot, awesome. The masts look fantastic. Cheers,

Hello Omega, I'm glad you made the decision to build a facsimile of the Ingomar but my goodness, doing a complete interior at 7 inches??? That's shear magic! You must have binocular vision and very steady hands. I'm already exited watching your progress, can't wait. Cheers,

Hoi Carl, thanks for the info. Yes, I know where WF is located but never been there. We lived in Vlaardingen Ambacht at that time till we moved back to Indie in 1939. I didn't like the cold, wet weather, summer was okay but always rain. The recipe is in your mailbox, enjoy. Cheers,