drobinson02199

I have finished the exterior of the stern area aft of the main deck -- pictures below showing the decorations and small doors. The painting of the ships on the lower part of the stern is a photograph. Hans sent me a good digital copy, and I adjusted it a bit in Photoshop to snap the colors up, and then printed it using photo paper to capture the detail. Regards, David

Here's the decoration for the upper part of the stern. I'll go on to the port side railings now. Regards, David

Finished the stern railings on the starboard side. In order to line up the last, shorter railing, I had to paint and mount the top of the stern decoration, so that is shown too. My first venture into fine detail painting. Again, the level breaks between the railing sections will be dressed with curved ornaments. For variety, I may do more of the stern decoration before doing the port side railings. Regards, David

Peter: Thank you -- that's an extremely generous offer. I'm finding that the main value of that log for me is the pictures. They show me colors and the treatment of some intricate builds that are hard to figure out from the plans and manual. But if I need a translation and Google doesn't produce something I can understand, I will certainly call on you. Regards, David

[I have pictures below that are supposed to follow my text in sequence, but sometimes this site reverses the order or mixes it up, so if it does that, you should still be able to figure it out] I've started on the railings, which are among the most intricate and challenging things I've encountered on any ship -- but fun too. In order to get them right, I built another jig, which is shown below. This one has two purposes: first, to get the initial spacing and orientation right, and second, to support the posts for fine sanding (see below). After painting and striping the bottom rail section, I cut red post sections from a strip of red painted walnut. Those go into the jig as shown. The tricky thing is that it's impossible to keep glue off of the jig, so there's a sort of dance of letting them set just enough to move the assembly out, before they get stuck in the jig. Then a trial fitting with the top strip (which is also the bottom strip for the next section. That indicates where the posts need to be sanded down, and for that the assembly goes back into the jig, and I used the drum sander for that with the jig providing lateral support so that the posts don't pop off. Then there's some alignment checking, gluing the first assembly, and then making the next one (which contains the top rail of the first one) in the same way. What you see in the assembled picture is two sections with the bottom rail of the third (top rail of the second) taped into place to show how the railings look. I have some touch-up to do on one of the rail edges. The challenge is not just building the assemblies, but also getting the post height right and the alignment right between sections. But the result is pretty satisfying. By the way, there are some curved cast resin pieces that dress the area between sections. That's why I didn't worry about running the posts right up to the curve on the lowest section. It may seem like I'm working fast given how quickly I posted this after the last one, but I've actually been doing parts of this in parallel with the hull painting and the last spars, since glue and paint have to dry. But it's now going to take a while to finish the railings on this side and do the other, and then go up to the bow section for more of the same. Regards, David

Finished the cabin bulkhead at Frame 16 as well as all of the spars on both sides leading back from the main deck. Also painted the unfinished part of the planking a nice green. I should mention that Hans gave me a Dutch build log that's an excellent source of pictures. I don't try to translate the Dutch -- I have just copied down all the pics so I have something to reference, as the ones in the manual don't show everything. That log was, for example, my source for the red deck at the rear. It can be found at https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/bouwverslag-kolderstok-voc-retourschip-batavia-1628.234841/ Regards, David

Peter -- Yes, I think this will be a beautiful model. The painted colors are the reason I was attracted to this model. Regards, David

Hans -- Yes I did notice. You had said they would really add stiffness, and they do. The bulwarks are very solid. Regards, David

Finished installing and painting the spars between frames 9 and 12. The little jig made the alignment come out well. Built and installed the cabin bulkhead at Frame 14. Now I'll do the spars between 12 and 14. As you can see, I'm working my way back to the stern, after which I'll paint the exterior hull and do the railings (which promise to be a real challenge to get right). Regards, David

Alex and Robert: These are both wonderful sites. Thank you for sending them to me! Regards, David

I made a jig to help with installing the spars to keep them properly spaced and parallel. Regards, David

Peter: Welcome aboard! Glad you are interested. You are right -- I am really enjoying this build. It has a number of new differences and challenges from other models I have built, and I really love the way the colors work. The materials quality in this kit is excellent -- on a par with the Amati Victory series, which has been my gold standard for kit quality. Regards, David

Yankee D -- No problem asking. Regarding the pillars: you are correct when viewing carefully from the photo angle, but from a normal viewing angle you can't tell. Re the ladders: I debated whether to have them standing on the deck (slanted) or vertical and attached to the bulkhead, and chose the latter treatment. Maybe I'll change that for the main deck ladders, which are more visible. Regards, David

Built and installed the cabin bulkhead at Frame 12. The three pillars are made of molded resin. There are a lot of these parts, and this is the first time I've run across this material. It's a joy to work with -- easy to separate the pieces, and they clean up easily with a file. Regards, David

Hans -- That's what being in lockdown will do!