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drobinson02199

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Everything posted by drobinson02199

  1. drobinson02199
    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
  2. drobinson02199
    Peter -- Yes, I think this will be a beautiful model. The painted colors are the reason I was attracted to this model. Regards, David
  3. drobinson02199
    Hans -- Yes I did notice. You had said they would really add stiffness, and they do. The bulwarks are very solid. Regards, David
  4. drobinson02199
    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
  5. drobinson02199
    Alex and Robert: These are both wonderful sites. Thank you for sending them to me! Regards, David
  6. drobinson02199
    I made a jig to help with installing the spars to keep them properly spaced and parallel. Regards, David
  7. drobinson02199
    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
  8. drobinson02199
    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
  9. drobinson02199
    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
  10. drobinson02199
    Hans -- That's what being in lockdown will do!
  11. drobinson02199
    The rest of the side planking is up. This is overlapped, clapboard-style. Goes up pretty quickly. Next step will be to remove the frame ribs and start working on the cabin bulkheads and spars on the side. I want to do those before painting the exterior as I'll need to sand the spars down to be level with the top of the sides. Regards, David
  12. drobinson02199
    Three hatches done. The two red ones are simulated canvas using T-Shirt material and paint. The wooden one on the quarterdeck was difficult. I had trouble with glue adhesion on the hatch material, and also with sanding. Did the best I could and then varnished it, and what I got was a "weathered" hatch, which looks fine on the boat -- better than in the pic. Regards, David
  13. drobinson02199
    Spars installed on the side bulkhead. One picture pre-painting to show the pattern, and one after painting. There will be a cap rail on top. Regards, David
  14. drobinson02199
    I referred in my post above to the "box" across the side bulkhead. Here's how I built it: I created a simple jig to get the top of the box level. Prepainted the ends so I wouldn't have to paint near the green cabin bulkheads Glued the top to the side bulkhead, covering the rib stubs Prepainted a soffet (for a clean line at the deck) and glued it on. Now I can install the spars on top of the box and then paint it all black. I'll use this same approach on the other decks as I move up. Regards, David
  15. drobinson02199
    Finished the cabin bulkhead at Frame 9. First, I had to build up the side planking a bit so that I could paint the inside corner black. Then I painted and installed the two side bulkheads and the span between them. What's left is the unfinished side bulkhead. Next step is to build a "box" to cover the area where the ribs were removed, then install spars and paint it all black. Regards, David
  16. drobinson02199
    Bluebeard -- Glad to hear it. This means that my many mistakes will have some lasting value. 😄 Regards, David
  17. drobinson02199
    Hans: Is that because your "bad" side wasn't actually bad, or because your eyesight is going with age (like mine) 😜 Regards, David
  18. drobinson02199
    Now the starboard gallery is done. I did some surgery on the framework where it meets the stern that allowed me to get the short connecting planks straight on this side -- which is my "good" side. Regards, David
  19. drobinson02199
    For something different to try before working on the starboard gallery, I decided to do one of the cabin bulkheads, and it really illustrated for me the importance of getting the sequence right on this model. I built the cabin bulkhead off the model. But in order to mount it, I needed to paint the corner black (the rest of that side bulkhead will be black) so I didn't mess up the green planking on the cabin bulkhead, and in order to do THAT, I needed to start the green overlapped planking toward the bow. You can see the sequence requirement in the pictures. The rough areas where the frame ribs were removed will be covered over with a long "box", but I didn't want to install that first as it would require cutting into the cabin bulkhead. I have seen pictures of other models that painted this cabin bulkhead black (and the other ones to come), but I really like the green color on this boat, and the side bulkheads will be black, so it's a nice offset (even if not authentic to the real Batavia). Regards, David
  20. drobinson02199
    [NOTE: Pictures loaded in reverse order relative to the text, which this site sometimes does] Continuing with the galleries, I have finished the port side gallery. The port side is slated to be facing the wall, so it's my "try it first" side for complex parts of the build or things I'm not quite sure how to work through -- and this was one of those. The galleries are a fun detailed challenge, and something of an engineering challenge to be sure they fit on the boat properly. I posted the frameworks in my previous post -- I then planked and decorated them off the ship -- you can see that in the attached picture. Note the end of the top rail that you can see at the top right. This rides along the top wale and if you have followed the "tic marks" on the frames during planking (see my earlier posts), then the galleries line up with the stern parts (at least at the bottom). There's also a pic of the port gallery mounted on the ship. The top side planking that joins to the ship at the stern is the only part done on the ship, and you can see why -- I had to plank down a bit to get the alignment right. This gallery begins to show the color scheme of the ship -- and it will pick up some additional fancy decoration later on when I glue on the resin figurines provided in the kit. They will be yellow and that will look terrific against these colors. Regards, David
  21. drobinson02199
    A few odds and ends getting ready for the galleries and their intersection with the stern: "Leaded glass" on the rear windows, made by scoring acetate and then washing it with diluted black paint. A decoration for the stern. This doesn't come with the kit: I took it from a stern-on shot of the real Batavia, and then photoshopped it into the right size. This one you see is a test -- I wanted to see how the printer inks reacted when varnished. They do fine, so when ready I can print another copy and mount it on the stern. The gallery frames -- ready for planking. Regards, David
  22. drobinson02199
    Now we begin to get to the reason I was interested in this model. The colors are beginning to go on. Side planking turns green from here up with red and yellow accents. Regards, David
  23. drobinson02199
    Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the positive feedback. Regards, David
  24. drobinson02199
    I decided to go with the natural look for the wales. I built a jig on my worktable to bend the wales. I free-bent the main planks using my steamer, but I wanted to make sure that the wales laid down well and in the right position, so I used the jig for those. I used steam to allow me to bend the wood into the jig and soften it, and then a hair dryer to set the bend. The other pictures show the wales from several different angles, and also show the framing I did on the gun ports. As mentioned earlier, I really butchered the cutting of the gun ports, so I took some walnut strips I had left over from a previous build and framed them. Looks much nicer now, although it's not the look that Kolderstok specifies in the manual and plans. Regards, David
  25. drobinson02199
    Here's a picture of the walnut part of the hull after the first coat of varnish. A couple of comments on this kit. ' When I bought the kit, Hans of Kolderstok asked me if I'd like an all-walnut hull (compared to the stock hull with painted bottom made of basswood). I opted for all-walnut because I love that look on my hulls. Hans provided it at no extra charge. I had some concern about how this would look because it's a single-planked hull, and most of my first planking layers have some visible flaws. But the walnut Hans provides is the best quality I've worked with to date -- 1.5mm thick and doesn't have the "chips and flakes" I've encountered with other walnut. So my first and only layer (taking my time) came out well. My next step (after sanding and varnishing this again) is to add the wales. I'm currently debating whether to paint them black (as on the stock model), or keep them natural. Leaning toward natural. I pre-selected some darker strips for the wales so there should be some coloration difference if I stay natural. Regards, David

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