HJEJLEN by Mirabell61 - FINISHED - scale 1:50 - RESTORATION - Danish live museum vintage paddle steamer restored by Nils Langemann

[Mirabell61]

Hi there,

all you steam-paddle-boat lovers

since I was a teen I had an eye on this lovely boat.  It is the long time already out of production vintage Billing Boats kit named "HJEJLEN" Golden Plover, German : Goldregenpfeifer.

A few days ago I could hardly believe my luck in finding this offered complete kit-built boat, on Ebay, a bit damaged, together with a suit-taylored glass case, so I invested a drive to the seller in the region of Bremen area, and picked it up.

 

After thorough inspection back home I determined the minimum of parts and components required to restore and overhaul the charming old lady. I shall show the sequences of recovery and restoration in the next weeks to come, here in this tread.

As this will be no complete new build, but certainly worth an shorter thread on this forum, as I`m sure that there is interest for this model by the one or other fellow member.

Credit goes to the late father of the seller who built this steamer many years ago. It is known to be the oldest live steam, still cruising boat with passengers in the waters of Silkeborg in Denmark

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

name giver birdie, Hjejlen, Golden plover, Goldregenpfeifer

 

 

[mtaylor]

Count me  in to follow along, Nils.  

[laps]

I will follow this very closely. I have the complete kit in my stash, so it will be nice to get ll the knowledge I can.

 

/Lars Peter

[Blue Ensign]

Great find Nils, I look forward to seeing you work your magic on her. 👍

 

B.E.

[Mirabell61]

Welcome to this topic Mark and Lars/Peter, and B.E.

and many thanks for your kind comments.

Also thanks to the "likes"

For this kit I`m missing the 2 bullseyes for sidewise in the front section of the hull, and the golden plover figurehead for the upper bow post. Alternative parts are now ordered. The stand looks quite flimsy, so I decided to make pedestals from brass / wooden candle holders with a shaped outcuts for the keel to fit into. Small M3 screws hold these pedestals  firmly to the keel. they will fit directly to the baseplate of the glass casing.

The two ( meanwhile come loose) paddle wheels were glued to the hull. Now both paddle wheels have become an brass axis between outside spashguards segments and the hull. I am intending to place crew and passengers on board, like I did wth the Bohuslän steamer. Its not easy to find the right scale figures, and there are so many non occupied benches. I placed the benches on the upper aft deck, turned around, now back to back 180°, so that the passengers will face the water side of the rivers and lakes for a better view. The roof of the front well also requires some additional holding posts, as the current ones are quite flimsy, and therefore the roof quite instable

Also the ships boat is not in correct scale, so there will be an alternative boat fitted under the davits....

 

Nils

 

this is the "old" stand

 

the wood / brass new pedestals

 

New pedestals fitted to the keel (they had to be low in hight, due to the limited glass case hight )

 

the new brass axis for the paddle wheels, also to make them turnable

 

crew and passenger figures, prior to painting job

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Mirabell61

[druxey]

What a charming subject, Nils! It must be very satisfying working on a model that caught your eye and imagination so many years ago. 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Druxey,

thank you for your word

jes, thats true and whenever I saw an old unbuilt  kit of this one being offered (very rarely) the prices were so extraordinary high, but my mind still went pregnant with this thought  (someday the time may come ! )

 

Cheers, Nils

 

wish my hand would be more steady for the paint job on appr. 50 passengers...., but the hairstyles, shoes and other details will get touch-ups

 

 

[yvesvidal]

Great project Nils.

 

When I was a kid, I was drooling on the Hjejlen kit in the Toulouse Hobby Shop (Ideal Models). I never got it but I always kept it dear in my heart.

I am so glad you managed to find such a beautiful model and give it a second life.

 

Yves

[Mirabell61]

Thank you Yves,

I experienced the same feeling,...... , now that the chance came, I just could`nt let it go by...

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

After paint job, now passengers and 6 head-crew boarded, ready for river- and lake cruise at Silkeborg

 

Nils

 

 

 

on port side the paddle scoops were mounted, facing to the wrong side. I dd`nt want to disassemble  the paddle wheel, as the failure is not so obvious to be seen anyhow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Nils,

 

Nice Model!!  You did a fine job painting the passengers and crew.  Do the feathering paddle wheels work?

 

Roger

[Mirabell61]

Hi Roger,

unfortunately no, They do turn on the new established axis, but have no interacting cinematic for feathering the scoops. I cant tell if the original Billing kit provided this option.

 

Nils

 

Roger, guess this is what you meant for feathering the scoops.....

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Mirabell61

[Mirabell61]

Progress on Restoration report :

 

- all passengers seated, crew on their positions

- Bulleyes sdewise in front section

- roof in front well area has additional stabilizing posts

- Bulleyes at sides of boiler room

- Rigging of stern white-light lantern

- Base-plate, steam ironed- down the self adhesive veneer, in order to flatten out the gentle bulbs that came there over the years

_ fitted the removeable pedestals with dowels to the baseplate ( the model can be taken off the baseplate easily)

- alternative figurehead

 

still missing:

steam horn, 1 larger lifeboat, 2 life-raft containers to go next to the lifeboat on port side

 

Nils

stern lantern

 

 

 

note: passengers sitting back to back on the long benches

 

additional bulleyes in the boiler room sides

 

 

bulleyes in the front side portions

 

passengers sitting in the beroofed front well area, additional posts for the roof stability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

alternatve figurehead for the bowpost (Golden Plover, instead of lost Hjejlen figure )

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

17 minutes ago, Mirabell61 said:

Nils, there is something wrong with these seating passengers. Either they all have short legs, or the benches are way too high or they are not at the proper scale for this boat.

It is disturbing on an otherwise beautiful model.

 

Are these little people, Chinese toys? Since you live in Europe, you should look for PREISER figures at 1/48 scale. They are by far the best quality.

 

Yves

Edited February 24, 2020 by yvesvidal

[Mirabell61]

Hi Yves,

thanks for your comment, I´ve been expecting a comment on the seated people zise. Usualy Preiser is my first choise, here unfortunately neigther 1:48 nor 1:50 scaled seated figures were not offered or not on stock. I can live with the substituted figures  I finaly chose in scale 1:43 resp. 1:45, and was after receipt disappointed that even these were a bit too small in comparism to 1:50 regular Preiser ones. (if they had been available )

 

Nils

[yvesvidal]

Nils,

 

I understand your dilemma. Maybe the Preiser will become available again, in the near future. 

What you could also do, is shorten the legs of the benches, to make them look more realistic.

 

Yves

[Mirabell61]

Yeah Yves,

The bench-legs  should have been shortened, now its too late, would be a too great surgery. Earlier one of the benches came loose and dropped onto the carpet, no problem with that, but I did`nt pick it up immediately, and you can guess what hapened, I forgot that it was still laying on the carpet and under a nasty cracking noise, that was it....... It took me some hours to mend that bench, so I`ll leave my fingers off it in the future.  

 

The ships boat is in a scale that suits the figures in a better way.  It takes some painting and rigging under the davits by means of double sheave block tackles. Together with the 2 liferafts the capacity will be adequate

 

Nils

 

this is the 14 mm dowel I made the connection pedestal / baseplate from, it works well

 

 

 

the ships boat is a 123 mm long Kutter from Aeronaut in scale 1:50 together with 2 oars

 

[popeye the sailor]

really great find Nils    Billings had some nice looking models in their early days.  I know what you mean about the figures........it can be a daunting task to find them in the scale your working on.  your doing a superb job bringing her back up to speed   

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Denis,

and also thanks to all the "likes"

 

I`m enjoying the restoration, which is now nearly completed, and I am wishing those fellow members who are also holding an old "Hjejlen" Billing boats kit , encoraging them to push out a build log..... if possible

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

restoration progress....

 

Ships boat under davits, with oars and grapnel anchor...

 

Nils

 

 

 

2 oars and grapnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Mirabell61

[Mirabell61]

Progress status....

 

after achieving a tall and narrow  white book shelf yesterday on Ebay, I removed the books from the lower portion on of the  "Eagle of Algier`s" sideboard.

The "Hjejlen" now fits into the free space compartment with it`s glass case, as if it were made for this.

 

I have now 7 glass cased models in my working office, the 8th one "Gorch Fock" 3 mast barque and in lack of space, had to move upstairs to it`s new mooring place for display....

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

4 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

What a beautiful collection Nils. My favorite is pictured right above....with the Chebec.

 

Yves

[Mirabell61]

Thanks for your kind comment Yves,

much appreciated

 

Nils

[Captain Poison]

Nice collection Nils! 

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks for your word captain !

much appreciated

 

Nils

[Barbossa]

Beatiful Collection, indeed

I like the diversity ( type of ships vs. period of ships )

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Christian,

yes, it was my aim to model different types of ships and scales. The Zeesboot in scale 1:24 is momentarily my current work in progress still waiting for deck-planking, rigging and sails

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

great collection Nils........the Hjejlen,  a very nice addition  

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Denis,

 

after adding the steam whisle today, the restoration is now complete, and I shall add the Hjejlen to the Gallery.

 

Nils

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Mirabell61

[JPAM]

 

das ist fantastisch. Was für ein wundervolles Modell und was für eine schöne Arbeit du geleistet hast. Gute Arbeit!