Zuiderzee-Botter by wefalck - FINISHED - Artitec - RESIN

[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

[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

[dafi]

Amazing as always :-)

 

XXXDAn

[BANYAN]

Very nice work work work on those sails even if you are not completely happy with them.  They look quite good and amazing to think it is paper.

 

A nice collection of small rigging tools also; the micro crochet needle is a surprise.  Where did you find that? (don't tell me watchmakers use it )

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

Thanks, dafi and Pat, for the encouraging comments - not that I am very discouraged though 

 

Well, like many of my tools, the micro-crochet hooks are accidental finds, not stuff you can buy at will. I appropriated them, when we cleared out the house of a deceased aunt or one of my grandmothers, I don't remember exactly. I suppose they were meant for making crochet-lace. In the old days ladies decorated their handkerchieves etc. often with lathe borders. I just love these old-time tools and many are of much better make than what you can buy today.

 

wefalck

[wefalck]

Before I am off to the Polar Circle for a few days here a small update.

 

The mainsail was sewn onto to the port side of the gaff. Correct, sewn ! On those Dutch craft the lace-line runs through a grommet of the head of the sail, then straight through a hole drilled into the gaff with a pear-shaped cross-section, runs along the starbord-side, returns throught the next hole and grommet, continues along the port side of the sail to the grommet, etc.

 

Port side of the mainsail

 

Into the grommets of the fore-leech of the sail the various lacings were spliced. With these the sail eventually will be tied to the mast. Often chafing of the lacing was reduced by a number of parrels. However, I neither could find small enough beads (0.6 mm diameter with a hole drilled through), nor did I manage to produce them myself. The parrels are optional anyway.

 

Starbord side of the mainsail

 

I also started to put in the reef points. These reef through a grommet and are secured by a knot on both sides.

 

As one can see, the paintwork e.g. on the gaff needs a bit of touching up after all the handling ...

 

wefalck

[NAZGÛL]

Very impressive, I love the great figures and the wooden look is awesome!

 

/Matti

[wefalck]

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

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up with what you're doing, mate - she's looking really first class!

 

John

[druxey]

It's difficult to appreciate how small the scale and model is in the photos, unless there is something else in the picture to compare it to. The rigging at this scale is very, very impressive!

[BANYAN]

Thanks for the update Wefalk, the wait was worth it - WOW.  Very nice work mate, and as Druxey has commented that rigging is supurb for such a small scale you are workig at.

 

I hope all is well with ealth after your short hospital stay!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Dee_Dee]

Wefalk, I have been following your build from the start (on MSW1 and your website) and your build it's one of my favorite.  Your attention to detail, use of alternative materials, color and more.....   

 

 

[wefalck]

Thanks, gentlemen ...

 

Slowly the work on the Botter itself draws to a close. Small and unspectacular steps in which the previously made parts are assembled to give the ‚whole’. The rigging work is rather difficult to photograph – one’s three hands are already busy and there is no free hand for the camera.

 

Net hauled out up the mast for drying

 

The Botter is a fishing boat and a fishing boat needs a net. But just this caused me some headache. In accordance with the ‚story’ that is to be told in this scene, the net will be shown hauled out up the mast for drying. This can be seen on many old photographs.

 

Detail of the net hauled out up the mast

 

In these old photographs one also notes the fineness of the yarn from which such nets were made. There is not really any material that can convincingly represent a fishing net in the 1:87 scale. The second best solution are the finest ladies tights one can put one’s hand on. Unfortunately, these don’t have quite the reddish-brown colour of a tanned fishing net. In order to improve their resistance against the elements, fishing nets were ‚tanned’, i.e. they were boiled in a brew made from oak bark.

 

Tanning of nets (in the Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen)

 

An additional problem was, that I didn’t have any detail information on what kind of nets a Botter would have used in the winter fisheries on the Zuiderzee and how these nets were constructed – Van Beylen just devotes half a page to the subject. There is a book by Pieter Dorleijn, that apparently treats the subject in some detail, but I found it too expensive to buy this book, just for the one net I had to make. Therefore, I cheated a bit.

 

Detail of the net hauled out up the mast

 

As the tights didn’t have quite the right colour, I somehow had to dye them, which turned out rather difficult to do. First I pulled the tight over a round-bellied bottle to open the meshes. A try with mahagoni-coloured woood-stain failed, the material just didn’t take up the stain. In the end I stabilised the tight with thinned matt acrylic varnish applied with the airbrush. After cutting it out, the ‚net’ was coloured using Sepia-ink, again applied with the airbrush. The acrylic varnish allows the net to be draped in an acceptably realistic way. The net then was glued with solvent-based matt varnish onto the fore-deck. A few drops of this fast-drying varnish also kept the draping in shape.

 

The net draped on the fore-deck

 

The lee-boards were brought on board too. They are fastened with small round-headed nails. In reality the lee-board would have been secured on the pin with a wedge in a rectangular slot in its outboard end. As on the model this pin has a diameter of only 0.4 mm, I gave up on the idea to recreated this arrangement   The lee-boards are raised by a simple tackle. A block with a hole, fastened to the rail, redirects the pulling force and acts as a stop. The lee-board halliard is belayed on the aftermost half-cleat.

 

The raised lee-boards

 

Also the various belaying pins found their right places. The pins, turned from steel, were heated using a hot-air soldering gun until they changed their colour to brown and almost blue. This, in my opinion, looks quite like forged iron that is slightly rusted.

 

An overall view of the model

 

Other fittings will follow suit ...

 

wefalck

Edited December 28, 2013 by wefalck

[flying_dutchman2]

Excellent work, the small metal custom made pieces, I love the figures (reminds me of old pictures my grandfather had), the sails.  Everything about this boat looks pleasing to the eye.

 

The resin model looks a lot like the kit from Authentic Ship Models which I crudely built as my first wooden boat in 1984.  This one is so much better.  I also love the old equipment you restore and then use on your models.

 

Excellent job.

 

Marc

[amateur]

Hello Wefalck,

 

I like the nets. I think you couldnt have done better 'without cheating'. I never read the book by Dorleijn, but I know that there is a wide variety in types of nets used, depending on the type (and size) of fish, which in turn depends on the time of year.

There is the 'staand want', which are just square nets, hung in the water by the use of buoys.

And there is the 'gaand want', which are nets that are towed by either one or with two botters. These nets are like giant eal-traps (ahlreuse). Called 'kor' or 'kuil' nets.

Hung to the mast, I don't think any differences will show: it is just netting. There are some differences to the mash-size. But at your scale I don't think that will show.

 

Jan

Edited December 30, 2013 by amateur

[Salty Sea Dog]

Brilliant execution of the little details! It is also really hard to believe that the hull is resin and not weathered wood. Truly masterful work. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the completed diorama.

 

Good health and best wishes,

[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

[druxey]

Brilliant baskets! Well done.

[Salty Sea Dog]

Wow!

[WackoWolf]

Now that is excellent. Your attention to detail has pay off big time, just beautiful. Keep the pictures coming, always watching your work. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[mtaylor]

Beyond incredible baskets, Wefalck.  The details and care you're putting to this is spectacular.

[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

[BANYAN]

Wefalck, that is a stunning diorama; very well executed.  It almost makes me feel that I am walking around Volandam (spelling?) in winter - though I think your's is from a different area?

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited January 23, 2014 by BANYAN

[amateur]

Pat:

VolEndam, please......

 

Wefalck, your model ands its setting is absolutely fantastic.

It is difficult to realize that the picture is larger than real life....

two questions: were did the tiller go and is there a bowsprit hidden under the foresail, or did you leave that one out?

 

Jan

Edited January 23, 2014 by amateur

[dafi]

Simply love it :-)

 

XXXDAn

[wefalck]

Thanks for the comments 

 

@Amateur, I still have an unresolved problem with painting the Dutch 'tricolore' on the tiller. My attempts to do it free-hand didn't turn out well. I have to start again with proper masking and the airbrush. The (running) bowsprit was left at home when fishing in the winter. The summer rig would comprise a couple more (rather odd) sails, for which spars would be carried. I only modelled the iron-work that goes with the bowsprit.

 

wefalck

[mtaylor]

Your diorama makes me shiver....   it looks that cold.  Beautiful work. Wefalck.

[flying_dutchman2]

Beautiful, and your attention for detail is superb.  Love the basket (something I need to try).  The diorama looks great and the brown reed grass almost looks real.

Thank you for showing your excellent work. 

In general I like diorama's as they complete the environment where the ship is.  Boats on or in cradles look naked to me.

I have to learn how to do diorama's as well.

 

Anyway, awesome work.

 

Marc

[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

Edited February 2, 2014 by wefalck

[Salty Sea Dog]

Absolutely stunning! To put a sense of size to this, what are the dimensions of your vitrine? Congratulations on such an amazing job!