wefalck

Our aesthetics are still dominated by the 18th century classicistic scholars and the re-discovery of medieval and earlier art in the early 19th century. At that time much of the original paint on buildings and other artefacts had crumbled away and faded. Hence, we tend to expect either the 'pure' material (wood, marble, other stone), rather than a colourful paint-scheme. Modern archeological techniques, however, have revealed many traces of paint that allow us to reconstruct paint-schemes and painting techniques. As a result, one must assume that many ships and buildings over history were painted in rather garish colours.
 
There is no comprehensive study on colours and paints used in decorating and preserving ships. It is quite certain, however, that the dominant pigments were mineral ones because they were cheap and stable. Many plant-derived pigments, particularly reds, are not permanent, i.e. they will fade when exposed to sunlight. Yellows, brick-reds and browns are all iron(hydr)oxides that are derived from natural ochre that has been heated to varying degrees and they are relatively cheap. Blues and greens can be derived from cobalt- or copper-containing minerals or synthesised from salts of these metals. They are more expensive. White, being derived from chalk or lime is cheap too. This gives you the main palette and other colours can be produced by mixing pigments.
 
As we all know, due to the long-wave light absorption by the water vapour in the air, colours appear to become more blue and paler the more distant you are from the painted object. In order to sufficiently impress across the typical viewing distance of several hundred meters you have to use a more garish paint scheme. Of course, if you reproduce this on a model that is being viewed from a short distance, it may not be very pleasing aesthetically to the modern beholder. Even modern replicas, such as the UTRECHT statenjacht or the frigate HERMIONE are not really pleasing to the eye that has been trained by museum models and old paintings.
 
Old paintings are another problem. Often the varnish on them tones down the original colour scheme. I have been shocked, when I discovered the original bright colouring in some paintings that I have known before their varnish was stripped off and they were cleaned.

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

Not sure, whether this applies to North American fishing schooners, but on many ships the bolt-ropes were of different circumference on the different sides of a sail, depending on the expected strain. In the 1:48 scale this should be quite visible. 

It is high time to report on some progress. The work progressed slowly, interrupted by various business travels and also a short hospital-stay.
 

Head of the main sail from starboard
 
The main sail was fitted out with the halliard and the throat-halliard and then attached. The imagined szenario is that the sails are set for drying. The shore of Volendam is exposed to the East, so that the sails are slightly filled by a light easterly breeze. The cold easterly breeze, that comes across from Germany and the Baltic was a winterstorm a couple of days ago and forced the botter to seek shelter in Volendam. The easterly wind brought with it the frost that is responsible for the Marker botter to be locked in the ice. The main boom has been topped a bit to provide better clearance in the workspace underneath.
 

Head of the main sail from port
 
In the meantime various ropes of different size were made from fly-tying thread. Then I also noticed that I forgot to make that special block with a half-cleat that forms the lower part of the main sheet tackle. This block was carved in the classical way from a strip of Pertinax and fitted out with an ‚iron’ band etc.
 

Running rigging at the mast
 

Running rigging at the mast
 
The running rigging was attached by fake eye-splices. On the prototype, all blocks are attached to eye-bolts by hooks, which are secured by musings. The pictures do not show this detail yet. Owing to this way of rigging, all tackles could be prepared in advance and just hooked into their respective eye-bolts. The throat-halliard is made up from a short length of chain with an S-hook at its end. The S-hook is attached to the eye in the bolt-rope. The throat-halliard is hauled taught with a tackle that hooks into an eye-bolt in the mast. The S-hook was made from a short length of wire that was flattenend and provided with a hole in the middle for a chain-link.
 

Stern with boom-sheet
 

Stern with boom-sheet
 
The halliards etc. were belayed prototype-fashion on half-cleats, which is rather difficult to do at this small scale in comparison to the same process on normal cleats. The rest was coiled up and stored at suitable places. I am not sure how this was done really on the prototype, as the half-cleat do not allow to suspend the coils in the usual way. The rope made from fly-tying yarn is relatively stiff. However, with a drop of flat varnish it can be persuaded to form more or less orderly coils. Hanging coils have to be loaded while the varnish dries in order to attain a natural shape.
 

Shaping of the coils while the varnish dries
 
In order to facilitate the work on the rigging the model was fixed on a small cast-iron stand. This stand can be turned and pushed around on the work-table at one’s convenience, yet is stable and safe.
 

Model on the work-stand
 
To be continued ...
 
wefalck

The rigging of the foresail was a rather painful process. My paper-sail turned out to be not quite fit for the purpose. They would be good to represent sails billowing in the wind. However, for representing sails that are hanging limp from the rigging in order to dry this technique is not quite suitable. In the past I made similar sails from ‚silk-span’, i.e. the silk cloth that is used to cover model airplane wings. These sails could be draped quite well, but the material would have been still too thick for sails in the 1:90 scale.
 

The foresail set for drying
 

Details of the foresail rigg
 
So I toiled, sweating blood, but am still not really satisfied with the result. The foresail simply looks too stiff. I also had too cheat a bit in the area where the sail is pushed together above the dead-eye. Due to the rather forcefull procedure of folding the sails some of the hoops on the which the foresail runs on the stay were ripped off. There are many area where some touching up is necessary.
 

Forestay set-up with dead-eye
 

Halliard/down-haul belayed on mast-cleat
 
On the botters everywhere half-cleats were used. This makes belaying a bit tricky on a model and somehow doesn’t look quite right, though I followed the sketches in BEYLEN (1985)
 

Fore-sail sheet
 

Forestay set-up with dead-eye
 
A shortcoming often seen on shipmodels is that the running rigging seems to be sticking out of the block, i.e. it doesn’t run properly around the sheaves. The reason, of course, is that usually only a cross-hole is drilled, without attempting to shape the sheave. The rather elaborate procedure of block-making described earlier was intended to remedy this. Looking at the pictures, however, it seems that I only have been partially successful.
 

Fore-sail sheet
 

Masthead with the head of the foresail rigged with a sheep’s head-block
 
And finally here a selection from my arsenal of rigging tools:
 

Rigging tools (from left to right): straight watchmaker’s tweezers, bent tweezers, stamps-tweezers for draping sails and straightening wires, two antique micro-crochet hooks to pull on rigging, pin-vice with forked needel for pushing rigging, pin-vice, sewing needle for making fake splices, micro-scissors, microscopy-scalpel.
 
Next the main-sail will go on. Another problem case ...
 
wefalck

Thanks, Pat. Actually, I don't find the scale that small and others (e.g. dafi here) are working at similar scales.
 
 
A colleague on a German forum pointed out to me that botters usually had an iron rod as forestay. I was aware of this arrangement, but somehow I assumed that these rods with forged-on eyes were introduced later, together with a set-up by lacing or a bottle-screw. I assumed that the somewhat antiquated arrangement with a deadeye would be used together with a wire-rope stay. With this idea in mind I misinterpreted the drawings in BEYLEN (1985) und DORLEIJN (2001). I re-reviewed the historical photographs I have and as far as can be seen the forestay indeed is an iron rod.   I corrected this now and re-rigged the fore-sail with a 0.15 mm diameter wire with soldered eyes as stay.   Fore-stay made from a ‚rod’.   wefalck

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

The traditional dress of the Volendam people is somewhat different from that of Marken. The men wear long baggy black trousers, which gives them a very distinctive silhouette. The upper body is covered by a shirt and a tight-fitting jacket, which is often of some pale red colour, but can also be black. In winter a sort of pea-jacket may be worn, which is black with blue lining. During the winter a fur-cap is worn.
 

Volendam fisherman in winterdress (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman from Volendam (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Young woman with baby  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

Old woman from Volendam  (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 
The women wear long skirts over which a full-length apron is tied. The skirt is either dark and then a white or striped apron is used, or the other way around. The upper body is covered by a tight-fitting jacket under which a shirt is worn, that may be visible at the decolltée. According to photographs and drawings there are many variations, particularly for work-day dresses. The sleeves of the jacket for adult women were only 3/4 length and pushed back to the elbows. In winter knitted pull-on sleeves may be worn, put the fisherfolks were a hardy folk. The most distinctive feature in the women's dress was the white lace bonnet with starched and turned-up flaps at the sleeve.
 

The original Preiser-figurines for the young couple with baby
 

The original Preiser-figurines with the woman on the sleigh
 
Both sexes wore wooden clogs – the shape of which varied between villages - as everyday footwear, but leather slippers and pantolettes were also used, particular to church on Sunday (BTW, Volendam is an oddity, being a catholic village in a largely protestant country).
Due to the fact that picturesque village and its equally picturesque inhabitants drew many artists and tourists from the late 19th onward, the Volendam costume became the best known and 'typical' Dutch folk costume.
 

The young mother from Volendam in base-coat
 

The young father from Volendam in base-coat
 
The first pair of Volendam folks is a young couple that has a stroll on the dyke, while she is carrying their baby. The second pair will be a younger man who pushes an elderly woman (his grandmother ?) on a sleigh across the ice. A quite common and convenient mode of transport in cold winters, as seen on paintings from the time of Brueghel and well into the 20th century on photographs.
 

The young Volendam man, who will be pushing the sleigh
 

The elderly Volendam woman who will be sitting on the push-sleigh
 
The close-up photographs reveal again that the figurines still have to worked over and cleaned up.

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

If you (or other admirers) were always standing a meter away from the model, you could probably omit a lot of detail. The problem is that the observation distance of models varies, so you have to cater for even the case when someone sticks their nose almost into it (or as close as any glass case may allow) ...

Flags point in the direction of the 'apparent wind', see e.g. http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sailingcourse.com%2Fkeelboat%2Fimages%2Ftrue-apparent-wind-2.gif&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sailingcourse.com%2Fkeelboat%2Ftrue_wind_calculator.htm&h=678&w=682&tbnid=fhlqbg3bXztHlM%3A&zoom=1&docid=tYl5Fc7fuXy6PM&ei=eRt7U9DhFqWK0AWk0oCwBg&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=2026&page=1&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=0CFgQrQMwAA.
 
wefalck

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

Thanks once more for your kind comments ...
 
***
 
The edges of the vitrine are to be covered by L-shaped brass profiles. These are cut to length a bit longer than needed and then the mitre is ground on. In order not to let the sanding disc work too much, I pre-cut the mitre rough with a cutter. My first investment into machinery in the mid-1980s was the purchase of a PROXXON pillar drill. It served me well ever since, not only as a drilling machine, but also as disc sander and (occasionally) as a wood lathe. At that time a longer pillar, a tool rest, a sanding disc/face-plate and a revolving centre were available as extras. The tool rest has a mitre guide. Together with a grind stone, I also used it to shape and sharpen lathe tools.
With a sanding disc one can grind the mitres very precisely.
 

Grinding of the mitres into the brass L-profiles
 
For a good fit, a certain sequence of fitting the brass profiles is advisable. First the parts for the top are roughly cut to length and the mitres ground on at both ends. Then two profiles are mated in one corner and, say, part 1 taped down with Sellotape. Part 2 and 3 are mated at the next corner and part 3 taped down. Next part 2 can be ground to an exact fit between part 1 and 3. One continues with mating part 3 and 4 in the next corner, and so forth. The brass profiles at the bottom, that sit on the wood, are fitted in the same way.
 

Prepared brass profiles
 
The brass is ground finely, polished with steelwool (0000), and then degreased with white spirit. The profiles are now glued on one by one. For this I use a clear general purpose glue (German brand: UHU Alleskleber). Until the glue is set, the profiles are taped down again.
 

Mitred corner at the top of vitrine
 
The four uprights are the last parts to go on. They are roughly cut to length and the mitres are ground on at one side. The exact fitting is done at the square end. Here we only need to fit one edge. When grinding on the mitres, one can also compensate slight unevenness of the other mitres and thus achieve a perfect fit.
 

View from below showing how the parts fit together
 

View onto the wooden plinth and brass edging
 

View onto the vitrine
 
This was the first vitrine I constructed from Plexiglas, rather than silicate glass. As noted before, Plexiglas as a number of advantages and disadvantages compared to mineral glass. An advantage certainly is its shock resistance and that it can be worked easily at home. A big disadvantage is its low scratch resitance and one has to take extra care during construction. Thus a working over of the brass profiles once glued on is rather tricky.
Plexiglas can be glued, or rather chemically welded, almost invisibly. However, the recommende glue (Acrifix 90) has a rather short open time, which makes adjusting the parts with the necessary precision quite tricky. Also the dosage of the glue was difficult. Any sequeezed-out glue is impossible to remove without damage to the Plexiglas panels.
If I compare the most recent job, with the vitrines I built in the past from mineral glass, I am not as happy with my result. Perhaps I will return to mineral glass in the future.
 

Vitrine and model united provisionally
 
wefalck

Thanks once more for your kind comments ...
 
***
 
The edges of the vitrine are to be covered by L-shaped brass profiles. These are cut to length a bit longer than needed and then the mitre is ground on. In order not to let the sanding disc work too much, I pre-cut the mitre rough with a cutter. My first investment into machinery in the mid-1980s was the purchase of a PROXXON pillar drill. It served me well ever since, not only as a drilling machine, but also as disc sander and (occasionally) as a wood lathe. At that time a longer pillar, a tool rest, a sanding disc/face-plate and a revolving centre were available as extras. The tool rest has a mitre guide. Together with a grind stone, I also used it to shape and sharpen lathe tools.
With a sanding disc one can grind the mitres very precisely.
 

Grinding of the mitres into the brass L-profiles
 
For a good fit, a certain sequence of fitting the brass profiles is advisable. First the parts for the top are roughly cut to length and the mitres ground on at both ends. Then two profiles are mated in one corner and, say, part 1 taped down with Sellotape. Part 2 and 3 are mated at the next corner and part 3 taped down. Next part 2 can be ground to an exact fit between part 1 and 3. One continues with mating part 3 and 4 in the next corner, and so forth. The brass profiles at the bottom, that sit on the wood, are fitted in the same way.
 

Prepared brass profiles
 
The brass is ground finely, polished with steelwool (0000), and then degreased with white spirit. The profiles are now glued on one by one. For this I use a clear general purpose glue (German brand: UHU Alleskleber). Until the glue is set, the profiles are taped down again.
 

Mitred corner at the top of vitrine
 
The four uprights are the last parts to go on. They are roughly cut to length and the mitres are ground on at one side. The exact fitting is done at the square end. Here we only need to fit one edge. When grinding on the mitres, one can also compensate slight unevenness of the other mitres and thus achieve a perfect fit.
 

View from below showing how the parts fit together
 

View onto the wooden plinth and brass edging
 

View onto the vitrine
 
This was the first vitrine I constructed from Plexiglas, rather than silicate glass. As noted before, Plexiglas as a number of advantages and disadvantages compared to mineral glass. An advantage certainly is its shock resistance and that it can be worked easily at home. A big disadvantage is its low scratch resitance and one has to take extra care during construction. Thus a working over of the brass profiles once glued on is rather tricky.
Plexiglas can be glued, or rather chemically welded, almost invisibly. However, the recommende glue (Acrifix 90) has a rather short open time, which makes adjusting the parts with the necessary precision quite tricky. Also the dosage of the glue was difficult. Any sequeezed-out glue is impossible to remove without damage to the Plexiglas panels.
If I compare the most recent job, with the vitrines I built in the past from mineral glass, I am not as happy with my result. Perhaps I will return to mineral glass in the future.
 

Vitrine and model united provisionally
 
wefalck

Thanks again, gentlemen, for the kind words.
 
***
 
Time has come to release the botter into its natural habitat ...
 

 
The model was fixed to the baseboard by a screw with countersunk head. Where necessary, the loosened ice around the boat was touched up with the same sugar-acrylic gel mixture with which the rest of the ice-scape was modelled.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
The next step will be to complete vitrine. Then, work on population of the scenery will continue and a some ‚loose’ equipment for the botter will also have to be made.
 
wefalck

Thanks again, gentlemen, for your favourable comments.
 
A fishing boats needs some fish-baskets to store the sorted catch in.
 

Fish-baskets on the Marker botter in the Zuiderzeemuseum
 
I could not think a convincing method to fake such baskets and dropped ideas of using fabric or wire mesh – there would always be an unrealistic seam. If you have a closed or filled basket, you may sculpt it from something and imprint the woven pattern, but this does not work for empty ones. In the end, I decided to weave real baskets, well almost.
 

Tool for making (fish-)baskets
 
For this I needed a tool that would give the basket its shape and allow me to handle it while weaving. So I turned the little implement above from a piece of 5 mm diameter aluminium and drilled a 2 mm hole all the way through it. It will allow me make two baskets simultaneously. The material for weaving is another issue. I would have like to use wire, but it would have been difficult to actually weave with wire. So I used some thin cotton thread for the stakes and fly-tying yarn for the weave.
 

Weaving fish-baskets
 
First the ‚stakes’ were put into place by wind the thread around the form tool in a continuous series of loops, passing the return part through the middle of the center bore of the tool. This then was woven out with the fly-tying yarn using a sewing needle. The rim is a bit of a fake: normally the stakes would be bent back one over each other to produce a stable and decorative finishing. Here I made a double row of half-hitches with the weave, i.e. the fly-tying thread. Once this was finished, the ‚basket’ was soaked in wood stain and then a few dabs of matt varnish were applied to secure the weaving. The stakes with the exception of two on each side then were cut off flush with the rim. The remaining stakes were twisted into looped handles. Finally the stakes were cut around the hole in the bottom of tool. A bottom of the basket was faked by closing the hole with a good drop of white glue.
 

The finished fish-baskets
 
The baskets then were weathered using acrylics paint (umbra). After looking at the museum-picture, I noticed that I should paint onto the baskets the registration number of the boat - so that catch can be identified at the fish auction.
 
One may notice on the above photograph that in the meantime also the anchor, a grab, has been installed. Finding such small chain is a challenge, but I got something suitable from a Bavarian model railway supplier. While the links were nicely soldered and blackend, they were actually round. Anchor chains, however, have oval links. With a pair of pliers I slightly squashed the links into an oval shape.
 
wefalck

Thanks once more for your kind comments ...
 
***
 
The edges of the vitrine are to be covered by L-shaped brass profiles. These are cut to length a bit longer than needed and then the mitre is ground on. In order not to let the sanding disc work too much, I pre-cut the mitre rough with a cutter. My first investment into machinery in the mid-1980s was the purchase of a PROXXON pillar drill. It served me well ever since, not only as a drilling machine, but also as disc sander and (occasionally) as a wood lathe. At that time a longer pillar, a tool rest, a sanding disc/face-plate and a revolving centre were available as extras. The tool rest has a mitre guide. Together with a grind stone, I also used it to shape and sharpen lathe tools.
With a sanding disc one can grind the mitres very precisely.
 

Grinding of the mitres into the brass L-profiles
 
For a good fit, a certain sequence of fitting the brass profiles is advisable. First the parts for the top are roughly cut to length and the mitres ground on at both ends. Then two profiles are mated in one corner and, say, part 1 taped down with Sellotape. Part 2 and 3 are mated at the next corner and part 3 taped down. Next part 2 can be ground to an exact fit between part 1 and 3. One continues with mating part 3 and 4 in the next corner, and so forth. The brass profiles at the bottom, that sit on the wood, are fitted in the same way.
 

Prepared brass profiles
 
The brass is ground finely, polished with steelwool (0000), and then degreased with white spirit. The profiles are now glued on one by one. For this I use a clear general purpose glue (German brand: UHU Alleskleber). Until the glue is set, the profiles are taped down again.
 

Mitred corner at the top of vitrine
 
The four uprights are the last parts to go on. They are roughly cut to length and the mitres are ground on at one side. The exact fitting is done at the square end. Here we only need to fit one edge. When grinding on the mitres, one can also compensate slight unevenness of the other mitres and thus achieve a perfect fit.
 

View from below showing how the parts fit together
 

View onto the wooden plinth and brass edging
 

View onto the vitrine
 
This was the first vitrine I constructed from Plexiglas, rather than silicate glass. As noted before, Plexiglas as a number of advantages and disadvantages compared to mineral glass. An advantage certainly is its shock resistance and that it can be worked easily at home. A big disadvantage is its low scratch resitance and one has to take extra care during construction. Thus a working over of the brass profiles once glued on is rather tricky.
Plexiglas can be glued, or rather chemically welded, almost invisibly. However, the recommende glue (Acrifix 90) has a rather short open time, which makes adjusting the parts with the necessary precision quite tricky. Also the dosage of the glue was difficult. Any sequeezed-out glue is impossible to remove without damage to the Plexiglas panels.
If I compare the most recent job, with the vitrines I built in the past from mineral glass, I am not as happy with my result. Perhaps I will return to mineral glass in the future.
 

Vitrine and model united provisionally
 
wefalck

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

I realise that I haven't posted any updates for a while. Well, mainly because not so much happened in the last few months, being 'distracted' by a workshop re-organisation and make some more machine tools.
 
******
 
The crew of a botter also consists usually of a boy, often a young relative of the master or the mate. The set of Preiser figurines used also comprises a smart hotel bell-boy, who now has to get used to much lesser sweet life in the rough outfit of a fisherman. Instead of carrying the hat-box of an elegant lady he now carries to freshwater back to the boat in two buckets suspended from a joke.
 

Volendam fisherboy carrying a joke (© www.geheugenvannederland.nl)
 

The original Preiser figurine of a bell-boy
 
The Preiser figurine was worked over by carving and by adding details in Milliput clay, such as the typical wide Marker ‚knicker-bockers’ and the clogs. The spencer-like jacket remained almost unaltered. The joke was carved from a strip of phenolic resin.
 

The joke
 

The boy in base-coat
 
The figure was given a base coat in white acrylics. The macro-photo shows in frightening clarity all the imperfections. When you hold the figure in your hand in normal viewing distance it actually doesn’t look too bad. Still, it has to be worked over at various places.
 
BTW, the figurine is about 15 mm high.

Our aesthetics are still dominated by the 18th century classicistic scholars and the re-discovery of medieval and earlier art in the early 19th century. At that time much of the original paint on buildings and other artefacts had crumbled away and faded. Hence, we tend to expect either the 'pure' material (wood, marble, other stone), rather than a colourful paint-scheme. Modern archeological techniques, however, have revealed many traces of paint that allow us to reconstruct paint-schemes and painting techniques. As a result, one must assume that many ships and buildings over history were painted in rather garish colours.
 
There is no comprehensive study on colours and paints used in decorating and preserving ships. It is quite certain, however, that the dominant pigments were mineral ones because they were cheap and stable. Many plant-derived pigments, particularly reds, are not permanent, i.e. they will fade when exposed to sunlight. Yellows, brick-reds and browns are all iron(hydr)oxides that are derived from natural ochre that has been heated to varying degrees and they are relatively cheap. Blues and greens can be derived from cobalt- or copper-containing minerals or synthesised from salts of these metals. They are more expensive. White, being derived from chalk or lime is cheap too. This gives you the main palette and other colours can be produced by mixing pigments.
 
As we all know, due to the long-wave light absorption by the water vapour in the air, colours appear to become more blue and paler the more distant you are from the painted object. In order to sufficiently impress across the typical viewing distance of several hundred meters you have to use a more garish paint scheme. Of course, if you reproduce this on a model that is being viewed from a short distance, it may not be very pleasing aesthetically to the modern beholder. Even modern replicas, such as the UTRECHT statenjacht or the frigate HERMIONE are not really pleasing to the eye that has been trained by museum models and old paintings.
 
Old paintings are another problem. Often the varnish on them tones down the original colour scheme. I have been shocked, when I discovered the original bright colouring in some paintings that I have known before their varnish was stripped off and they were cleaned.