Zuiderzee-Botter by wefalck - FINISHED - Artitec - RESIN

[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.

[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.

[BANYAN]

That's excellent work Wefalck and will add some great detail to your build.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

Thanks 

 

******

 

The Marker fisherboy also needed a couple of wooden buckets to carry suspended from the joke. These were turned from clear Plexiglas and only hollowed down to the assumed water-level. The buckets are suspended from rope made from fly-tying yarn on my own ropery.

 

The painted fisherboy

 

The painted fisherboy

 

The painting was carried out in Schmincke AeroColour, Vallejo and Prince August acrylic paints. Some of these paints are meant for application by airbrush, but give nice washes, when applied by brush. Also the uncovered parts of the bodies, such as the faces were painted in acrylics. In the past, I used artists’ oils on 1:35 scale figurines successfully, but it didn’t work here. Perhaps the oil paints had been oxidised already somewhat, considering that they already spent several decades in their respective tubes. Sinces the heads are only about 2 mm high, painting the faces was quite a challenge.

 

The painted young mother from Volendam

 

The painted young mother from Volendam

 

The painted young father from Volendam

 

The painted young father from Volendam

 

The painted man pushing a sleigh from Volendam

 

The painted old woman on a sleigh from Volendam

 

For the last two figurines a push-sleigh was fashioned from 0,5 mm polystyrene sheet, based on the examples from the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen. Such push-sleighs were cobbled together by there owner according to their needs, to be used to transport goods, equipment for ice-fishing and also for transporting people. They can already be seen on Dutch paintings from the 16th century. In fact, a winter-themed exhibition in 2009 in the museum gave me the idea for this scenic setting..

 

Push-sleighs in the Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen

 

The unpainted push-sleigh

 

The painted push-sleigh sitting on a 1 Euro-Cent coin

 

The push-sleigh in use

 

As always macro-photos show in unforgiving and glaring clarity all imperfections and the dust that had already settled on the figurines

 

Looking at them from a normal viewing distance of 20 to 30 centimetres is much kinder to them ...

 

Just to remind you, the figurines stand about 18 mm tall !

[GuntherMT]

These are really neat to see.  Thanks for sharing something that I've not seen as part of this forum before (as we all like to build wooden boats!).

[mtaylor]

Very stunning work, Wefalck,  Nice weathering on the sleigh.

[BANYAN]

These are miniature masterpieces mate; a truely outstanding addition of detail to your wonderful diorama. 

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited November 3, 2014 by BANYAN

[wefalck]

Thanks, gentlemen, for the kind words ! 

 

*******

 

Work on the actual botter model continued with a few pieces of equipment as shown in VAN BEYLEN’s book: a long and a short boat-hook, the the tiller, a shovel-shaped bailer, a handspike for the spill, the pennant that goes onto the mast-top ... and the ‚afwasbak’, a wooden box for doing the washing-up, or sorting fish, together with a teapot and couple of mugs in white emaille.

 

Loose pieces of equipment (the teapot has a diameter of 2 mm !)

 

The teapot and the mugs were turned from brass. The spout and handles were soldered or glued on, while the pieces where still attached to the stock, as was done the painting. The pieces were then parted-off back on the lathe. The teapot has a diameter of 2 mm !

 

And now getting ready for the final lap ...

[WackoWolf]

Beautiful

[mtaylor]

Amazing.  These will be the icing on the cake, Wefalck.

[wefalck]

And finally ... all the little bits and pieces have found their place and the scenery has been populated. Below some impressions of the completed model. More pictures can be found here: http://www.wefalck.eu/mm/maritime/models/botter/botter.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the end of my Noord-Holland nostalgia project.

Edited December 8, 2014 by wefalck

[druxey]

That is a terrific model and setting! I really enjoyed the sociological and sartorial history that you provided as well, Wefalk. Thank you.

[dafi]

Phantasticoooooo!!!

 

Wonderfully build with an extremly high skill level and still it breathes life :-)

 

Thank you for sharing the ride!

A true masterpiece, DAniel

Edited December 8, 2014 by dafi

[Piet]

Magnificent!  Yes, it brought back memories from the few years I lived in the Netherlands.

 

Cheers,

[BANYAN]

A true work of art mate; and especially more amazing noting the scale you were working at.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[stevetuck56]

only just caught up to this build ., looking for weathering tips [ your's are very good] you are a very talented man wefalck , love to see some more of your build's        steve

[Ab Hoving]

I missed this post, because it was way before I joined this forum, but it really is great. You succeeded in getting the atmosphere right.

Chapeau!

Ab

Edited September 5, 2019 by Ab Hoving

[wefalck]

Thanks, Ab. I had three years to study the 'atmosphere' while living in Alkmaar (mid 2006 to mid 2009) and working at the JRC Petten.

[Mirabell61]

Wonderful work Eberhard !

so many busy people at the winterly pier, a beautiful 19th century atmosphere, well done project  

 

Nils

[Ab Hoving]

I live there too. We could have met...

[wefalck]

I learned that later (when I saw it on your LOGBUCH articles), I thought you would be living in Amsterdam.

[Ab Hoving]

I lived in Amsterdam from 1989 to 2006.

I love the old towns in the country. Like the one I was born, up North in Groningen.

Is Paris an improvement?

[wefalck]

One has to go where the work is ...

[wefalck]

On 9/5/2019 at 12:59 PM, Ab Hoving said:

I missed this post, because it was way before I joined this forum, but it really is great. You succeeded in getting the atmosphere right.

Chapeau!

Ab

Sometimes I felt (and still feel) guilty to have started from a kit, rather than from 'scratch', particularly after I had amassed probably most of the literature that is available, plus numerous pictures from preserved specimens. On the other hand, it depends on the purpose of a model, whether you want to demonstrate your craftsmanship or, whether you want to create a true to the prototype miniature as possible, based on research. I gather in the latter case, it is not so important what is 'underneath', if the appearance and details are as correct, as possible.

[Ab Hoving]

You are absolutely right. Besides, you picked a real good kit, done by my friend Herbert Tomesen, owner of the Artitec company. There will be more goodies to come in the near future. 

[wefalck]

Yes, Artitec makes good stuff. I have had the 'statenjacht' sitting on my shelf for 10+ years. My knowledge of 18th century shipbuilding is rather limited, but I find the type aesthetically pleasing and of manageable complexity. I plan to complete it one day as a 'model of a model', rather than a realistic depiction of an actual ship.

[Ab Hoving]

A model of a model? But the Utrecht is an actual sailing ship. It can even be chartered. It sails on the IJsselmeer, mostly from Muiden, but lately I spotted her in Volendam.

She was fun to build.

[wefalck]

Yes, I will try to reproduce the finish of old museum models, say with visible brass nails in the planks etc., but probably no sails. I have to deal with the somewhat rustique appearance of the planking.

 

Saw the UTRECHT once moored in front of the museum in Amsterdam (and have your book).

[Ab Hoving]

Ah, that's clear.

You will probably succeed.

[Chuck]

What date range would this best fit in? For moving into a correct forum by era.