Looking at old maps it is amazing to see how
land and water intertwined once in the northern part of the
Netherlands, Noord Holland and Friesland in particular. It is
even more so, when one drives through Noord Holland and reminds
oneself that this once was a patchwork of islands and shallow
stretches of sea. The Dutch fought - and continue to fight - the
sea and at the same time a good part of the populations lived
off the sea. The Zuiderzee
once was a vast bay of the North Sea, reaching deep into the
country, nearly down to Amsterdam. It served as throughfare for
transport and as a rich fishing resource. However, pressure
on the scarce land was high and the sea was a constant
menace to the low-lying shores and islands. As part of their
struggle against the sea, the Dutch dammed up the bay by a large
dike, the Afsluitdijk,
completed in 1933. This put an end to much of the fisheries. The
already in its southern part brackish Zuidezee finally turned
into a large freshwater lake, the Ijsselmeer.
Botter BU130 built 1875 in Spakenburg and registered at
Bunschoten. Now preserved at the
Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen. Photographed in 2009
Over the course of history there have been
various types of sailing fishing vessels with numerous local
variants. The best-known is probably the Botter (and its larger
variant Kwak). At one stage it was estimated that there were
over 1000 in operation at the end of the 19th century. The
places around the Zuiderzee with the most botters were
Enkhuizen, Volendam/Edam, Monickendam, Marken, Bunschoten and
Urk. Spakenburg was an important building place.
Man's tools to win a lifelihood constantly
change and are being adapted to changing circumstances, new
needs and fashions as well. Thus methods of fishing evolved in
order to increase efficiency and in response to changes to the
fishing grounds and other environmental circumstances that
influenced the availability of the resource 'fish'. The history
of the botter is not easy to trace as no artefacts have survived
and artistic renderings are not so reliable bevore say the late
18th century. As with all small boats, they were built without
any drawings well into the 20th century. The botter or its
somewhat larger version the Kwak as we know it today developed
over the past two hundred years.
Sizes vary, but a typical botter has a keel of about 34 feet long.
Sources
There are quite a
number of comprehensive printed works on the botter and its
history (see below). These include also drawings. Some original
drawings are preserved in various museums in the Netherlands.
However, like so many traditional small boats, botters were
usually built without any drawings. The museums also preserve
various model built from about the early 19th century onward.
There are also surviving quite a number of original botters, the
oldest being from the last quarter of the 19th century.
Botter
MK53 (1919) from Marken, preserved in the Zuiderzeemuseum,
Enkhuizen
These boats survived because they have been
adapted as pleasure craft. Obviously a lot of concessions had to
be made in this case to accomodate the modern leisure-boaters
and therefore these boats are not useful for a reconstruction.
In more recent years some of these have been reconverted into a
state that is more like their original workday appearance. Also,
from the end of the 19th century onward some botters had been
built als pleasure craft for private owners. They usually
deviate somewhat from the work boats and are often fitted with a
cabin, as is found e.g. on boeiers.
The Zuiderzeemuseum
in Enkhuizen preserves a late botter in its boathall. The Zuiderzeemuseum
also has a large collection of ship- and boatmodels, including
several botters. Some of the models appear to be contemporary,
while others have been built in more recent times.
The model is based on the resin kit produced
by Artitec in 1:90 (HO)
scale. This company has developed a real mastery in casting
complex and large resin parts. In addition to the hull, the kit
contains castings for the mast and spars, for rigging blocks
and, somewhat strangely perhaps, the taken-down sails. Of
course, these kits are mainly meant as accessories for model
railway layouts and people not knowing a lot about these craft.
The kit also contains a small fret of etched parts, mainly for
the ironwork of the rigging. While the etched parts are well
made as such, they are for the most part not really useful for
representing the forged ironwork. For instance, masthoops are,
of course, flat in the horizontal direction, while they should
really be short tubes. Other parts simply lack the needed
plasticity. Hence most of the etched parts will not be used.
Similarly, the cast rigging blocks will be replaced by home-made
ones and 'real' sails will be made. I bought the kit 'second
hand' and the at some stage the characteristic high stem head
was broken off and a new one will have to grafted on. Various
other details will be improved for better definition of the
shapes. Although the casting is well made, there are certain
limitations due to the casting process. A company policy of Artitec is to limit the
number of parts and to cast-on as many details as possible. Thus
for instance the spill is cast onto the foredeck. There are
limitations to undercuts in the silicone rubber molds, hence the
barrel is not completely free. I shall have to remove the
material underneath the barrel using a scalpel etc.
The
Artitec
polyurethane resin castings (note that the
stem head is broken off)
Not only are Artitec masters in casting
kits, but also in painting them as is evidenced for instance by
the diorama of the Texel
Roadsted and models in various other museums around the
Netherlands. Below is a finished botter model from their
Web-site.
The building began
with removing the casting pips. It appears that the model was cast
upside-down, so that excess resin is found only at the bottom of
the hull. This excess was cut off with an abrasive disk in the
hand-held powerdrill. The bottom was then ground flat onto the
waterline on a piece of wet-and-dry sanding paper. It is important
to hold the hull securely during the various building steps. To
this end two 2.5 mm holes were drilled into the solid part of the
hull and tapped for M3 screws with which it can screwed down on a
piece of wood for safe handling. The tapped holes will also used
to hold down the model in its dioramic setting
The hull casting
was then inspected for any flash and it removed with a scalpell
and files. Luckily, there was hardly any flash. As the next step
the hull casting was compared with drawings from the literature,
mainly BEYLEN (1985) and DORLEIJN
(2001), as well as the above photographic images. As is discussed
below, it will assumed that the model represents a botter from
Marken. Botters from different regions differed in characteristic
details and these should be represented as true as is reasonably
possible at this small scale. When going over the casting a number
of 'problems' were noted: a) the spill lacks some definition of
detail, although the general shape is well represented; also a
pawl bit is modelled, while normally the pawl would be pivoted on
the inside band of the bow; b) the horse for the traveller of the
main sheet is foreseen as an iron bar (an etched part), while the
more common arrangement is a wooden horse integrated into the
slightly raised stern-platform; c) the leeboards are meant to be
glued onto wedge-shaped protrusions on the main bollards; on the
prototype, the leeboards are suspended on a pin that ties into a
band that is laid around the bollard; d) the horizontal wooden
knees left and right of the stem-head are missing, but the whole
stem-head has to be rebuilt anyway. In addition, holes for
thole-pins etc. have to be drilled through. There are other little
bits and pieces that need to improved, but they will not all be
listed here.
Cutting
the slots for the handle bars of the spill
Milling
the ratchet wheel of the spill on the dividing attachment
Parting-off the ratched
wheel
The parts assembled on
the spill stem
Free-hand turning of
the spill ends
Milling
the eight sides of the winding drum on the dividing
attachment
The finished spill drum
The
spill installed
Improved
main sheet horse
Improved
rudder
- 03/11/10
Given the problems
with the spill, it was cut completely from the moulded hull in
order to be rebuilt as a separate item. Square holes and
recessions cannot be easily machined from the solid. Therefore the
spill was built up from a number of parts that would allow
machining, The 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm holes for the handle bars were cut
as slots into a section of 4 mm round brass bar. The ratchet wheel
was cut on the milling machine with a dividing attachment. All
part had a 1 mm hole drilled through to take up a 1 mm brass rod.
Brass was chosen in order to be able to soft-solder all parts
together for the subsequent machining operations and to provide an
axle. The cigar-shape of the spill was turned with the Lorch
free-hand turning device. The piece was then transfered back to
the dividing attachment on the mill and the eight sides of the
winding drum were milled on.
In between, the hull-moulding was freed from
cast-on belaying and other pins as well as the collar for the
leeboards. All parts that will be replaced in metal for better
definition. The respective holes for belaying and thole pins
were opened up properly. The missing stem-head was fashioned
from an off-cut piece of polyurethane resin. Bands and rubbing
strakes for the forestay haliard were added from styrene sheet
and copper wire. On close inspection it was found also that the
stern piece was too narrow to accomodate the pintels for the
rudder. It was widened with a piece of resin stuck on. The
tiller from the kit didn't look quite like what I had seen in
the literature and on real boats. Consequently a new one
was rough millled from a piece of plexiglas and finish filed to
shape. The tiller was completed with the band from styrene that
holds it together. in the prototype.
The horse for the traveller was also
fashioned from a piece of Plexiglas that had just the right
thickness. All seams were filled with putty. From putty were
also sculpted the stem knees. The horse also received rubbing
strakes from thin copper wire.
- 16/03/11
Leeboards
Milling clamps
Slicing-off
clamps
Clamps
installed
Installing caulking
Mast
on the milling machine
The mast in its
ironwork
The leeboards are cast in resin, but due to
the casting process in an open mold, their back is flat and
without any sculpting. In reality, they are not just flat boards,
but they have a cross-section almost like a propeller. In fact
they are hollowed out over some part to create some hydrodynamic
lift that counteracts the leeway and also pushes the leeboard
against the boat. Using files and diamond rotary burrs the
appropriate shape was given and also the separation of the
individual boards of which the leeboards are composed were marked
out.
There are various belaying clamps distributed
around the hull. The kit has photoetched parts for these, but
somehow they appear rather flat. In addition some or all of them
would have to be of the single-horned variety, rather than the
more common double-horned one, as forseen in the kit. Replacements
were milled raw from a strip of brass and sliced off on the lathe.
They were finished using the hand-held power-drill using small
grindstones and polishers.
Again, the casting of the hull is nicely done,
but Artitec were a bit overenthusiastic in depicting a rather worn
state. If there were such big gaps in the hull, the boat would
sink to the bottom of the Zuiderzee like a sieve. To counteract
the rather rustic appearance, fly-tying silk was glued as
'caulking' into the gaps using varnish.
The cast mast was nicely done by Artitec - in
principle, but was too short for a boat of this size, did not have
the right chocs for a boat from Marken and above all was warped. A
new mast was fashioned on the lathe from a piece of steel rod - I
did not have suitable stock of boxwood or similar and brass,
aluminium or plexiglas would have not been stiff enough. The mast
was turned in steps on the watchmakers lathe. This also allowed to
turn-on the mast bands. It was then transferred to the dividing
attachment milling machine to mill on the squares. The
various eyebolt and cranes were fashioned from copperwire and
soldered or glued on.
- 23/08/11
As the mast, the boom was turned on the lathe from a 2 mm steel rod.
The flexing of the rod was utilised to obtain the taper towards both
ends. Again the bands were turned on and the boom was tranfered to
dividing apparatus for drilling the holes for eye bolts etc. The
goose neck was turned from steel and the square, where it attaches
to the boom, milled on using a very small end-mill.
The gaff has a rather odd, pear-shaped
cross-section. In addition its longitudinal shape is rather
crooked. It was fashioned from a piece of brass wire that was
tapered off and bent to the right shape. A piece of brass sheet
was cut to follow the curve of gaff and hard-soldered to the brass
wire. The pear-shape was filled-up with soft solder. Then the
claws that were fashioned from brass were soldered on. Finally,
the 0.2 mm holes for the line with which the sail is attached were
drilled. The gaff was completed with various bands fashioned from
partially flattened copper wire.
Turning
the boom
The gaff, still without
bands on the drawing from VAN BEYLEN's
book
The
completed
gaff
and boom
Mast tabernacle
Boom
end
and thole pins
Iron-work for
leeboard
Guide
for running bowsprit
- 23/02/12
The smithy of the boatyard has been busy and turned out various
pieces of ironwork for rigging and other purposes:
The mast is held in its tabernacle by a latch hinging on
eyebolts.
There is a complex piece of ironwork that guides and holds
down the running bowsprit (which will not be shown on the model,
as it was normally left home during the winter season, when a
reduced rig was used). The ring was turned from a piece of brass
rod, while stay was fashioned from a piece of steel rod on both
the lathe and the mill, as it has partially a square section. In
fact, various parts of the ironwork do have square sections,
inter alia to prevent them from turning, or because they have
made from square bar, hammered to a round cross-section where
needed.
The leeboards are held by sort of square rings that slip over
the leeboard-bollards. These rings were made from brass strips
soldered together and filed to shape. The leeboard pivots on a
bolt that is held by these rings.
A major challenge were the various belaying and thole pins. On
the prototype theyr maximum diameter is just under 40 mm, the
cylindrical sections generally being around 20 mm. So, in the
1/90 scale this means they are 0.2 to 0.4 mm in diameter, with a
length of 3 to 4 mm. There are five different types and the
literature (VAN BEYLEN, 1995; DORLEIJN,
2001) gives the typical dimensions and shapes for each them.
Turning them from the available brass was impossibe, so that 1
mm steel wire was used as starting material. Even then turning
them flying, i.e. supported only in a collet in the headstock
proved impossible. This lead to the design and manufacturing of
a tailstock-held
micro-steady. The spherical parts on the pins where shaped
free-hand using files and abrasive paper strips.
Cross-pin in belaying bollard
Micro-steady
for turning belaying pins and similar
Shaping rigging blocks on
the milling machine with the aid of a diving head
Slotting
the rigging blocks on the lathe
Milling
slots into rigging blocks
Jewelling press with
shop-made anvils
Selection of blocks
before painting
- summer 2012
Though still a long way away some preparations for the rigging
of the model were made by designing and building a miniature
rope-walk.
- autumn 2012
I have been
thinking very hard on ways to make really convincing rigging
blocks of late 19th century model. Some of the blocks would
have to be as small as 1.6 mm long, while the typical block
would be just under 2 mm long. Most of the blocks would have
to have external ironwork. The ropes for the running rigging
typically would have a diameter of somewhere between 0.15 mm
and 0.25 mm in 1/90 scale, depending on the particular rope.
This would mean that quite a large number of holes of
equivalent diameters would have to drilled to a depth of
around 1 mm, which is a bit of a challenge. I wanted to avoid
this by cutting slots into the material and inserting real
sheaves turned from brass. The slots at the bottom would have
to be filled in later. The outside shape of the block was to
be milled in the dividing head from round stock. A table was
prepared that calculated the exact distance of the cutter from
the centre-line for each pass, so that eventually the oval
shape would emerge. This raw part then was transferred to the
lathe for cutting the slots. While perhaps a good idea from a
theoretical point of view, the slotted material proved to be
too flimsy for further manipulation. Therefore, a different
method was devised, for which the material was changed from
brass to Plexiglas. The outside shape was cut as before, but
instead of using a flycutter, a dental burr was used, which
due to its smaller diameter exerts less force on the part.
Then the holes were drilled at pre-calculated positions. The
cross-section of the future blocks were positioned in the
round Plexiglas stock in a way that the axes of the sheave
would coincide with the rotational axis of the dividing head.
This arrangement allowed the sheave to be milled out of the
solid. Many shipmodellers just drill their blocks and perhaps,
if they have a thin enough tool, attempt to file the edges of
the hole round to give an indication of the sheave. However,
this never looks quite right, with the ropes sort of sticking
out sideways from the, rather than running around the sheave.
These blocks then were cut off from the stock on the lathe. It
should be noted that the stock was turned down at the end, so
that it could be inserted into the collets against a shoulder,
ensuring repeatable positioning. The latter was needed, as the
dividing head on the lathe and the one on the mill use
different types of collets.
The botter has a variety of rather
special blocks that also needed to be made, such as the
sheepshead-block for the foresail. They were produced the
technique described above, but in some instances were
'eyeballed' from the stock in the dividing head. One
violin-block was also built up from hard paper with real brass
sheaves and filed to shape by hand. The blocks were completed
with 'ironwork' from copper wire. On the prototype this
ironwork is forged from different sizes of bars. The
blacksmith shapes the cross-sections as needed either flat
(around the shell of the blocks) or round/oval for the hooks.
This process was repeated up to a point by flattening the
round copper wire used. In order to flatten the wire in a
controllable and repeatable way another watch-repairing tool
was adapted: a so-called jewelling press. This tool has a
piston the movement of which is controlled by micrometer stop.
I made some anvils and pistons for it that allow to squeeze
the copper wire to a preset thickness over a particular
length. The thickness is set with the help of a feeler-gauge.
- January/February 2013
Drawing sail plan 'as built'
Panels
of sail-'cloth'
Assembling the sail from the
panels and adding doublings etc.
Fake
eyesplices
Completed
sails ready to be painted
With many parts of the boat actually
completed, I turned my attention to the sails. I did this before
painting the model, as various fitting and shaping actions will be
required that may damage the paintwork.
The plan is to show the sails in a sort of
semi-set stage, as they would be when the boat is in harbour in
order to allow them to dry. This going to be a much bigger
challenge to represent convincingly than fully set or furled
sails. As the boat will be shown in its winter rig, there will be
only two sails.
The raw material is a very thin tissue paper
that I found in my stock. The first step was to draw a sail plan
'as built', i.e. with the actual dimensions of the mast, boom and
gaff. The shape of each panel of sail-cloth was pencilled in also
with the help of a french curve. The drawing then was backed with
a piece of stiff cardboard and covered in clingfilm. Based on this
pattern the individual sail-'cloths' were cut from the tissue
paper with the addition of 1 mm for the seam. This is rather wide
at this scale, but inconsequential as the sail will not be
translucent, being tanned and dressed (i.e. soaked in a broth from
bark and smeared with a concoction of tallow, oil and ochre) on
the prototype. This treatment prevents the formation of mildew and
allows to furl the sails when wet. Using the drawing as a
template, panels were stuck together using wood-filler (CLOU
Schnellschleifgrundierung) as glue. The tissue paper soaks
up the filler, turning it into a sort of compound material. I
prefer wood-filler over diluted PVA-glue because it does not swell
the glue and the joints can be loosened and re-adjusted by
applying a drop of thinner. After completing the basic sails,
outside margins and doublings were added in the same way based on
the detail drawings in VAN BEYLEN,
(1995) and DORLEIJN (2001).
The next thing to go on was the bolt-rope. The
rope was made on the miniature
rope-walkfrom 8/0 size tan fly-tying yarn
(UNI-Thread). According to the authors cited, is was left to the
individual sailmaker whether the bolt-rope was sewn to the port or
starboard side of the sail. I attached all doublings to the port
side and decided on the starboard side for the bolt-rope. Again it
was glued on using the wood-filler. On the prototype the bolt-rope
does not continue all-around the sails, but rather ends at the
respective head in spliced eyes. The mainsail is attached to
corresponding eyebolts in the gaff with hooks or shackles in these
eyes. Owing to the springiness of the fly-tying yarn, I found it
impossible to recreate real eyesplices. I took some artisanal
license and bound the eyes, pretending they were served
eyesplices. The eyes at the other corners of the sails were
fashioned in a similar way. To increase the stability of the sail,
the corners of the bolt-rope were 'sewn' to the tissue paper using
14/0 size fly-tying yarn (Sheer).
Painted sails
Tools used for
sailmaking
Hull
and mast after the application of a base coat of paint
Hull
painted and weathered
The sails were further completed by adding
cringles and eyelets. For the cringles the sail was punched with a
needle to simulate the eyelets. A piece of 8/0 yarn was threaded
through, twisted with itself and secured with a blob of lacquer.
The free ends were threaded cross-wise through the second eyelet
and secured with knots. The cringle was secured with a bit of
lacquer. For eyelets in the sail itself blobs of acrylic gel were
set on both sides and once dry punched with a needle. The foresail
runs on small iron hoops along the forestay. These were reproduced
by small rings of copper wire that were sewn to the cringles using
16/0 size yarn (Veevus). The sails
then were checked for any joints having come loose and more
wood-filler was applied if needed. Now the sails were ready for
painting. A terracotta colour ('terre' by Prince August Air) was
chosen as the base colour that was applied with an airbrush. Once
on the model some weathering and shading will add more plasticity.
- March 2013
Finally, the hull etc. were ready for the
application of a base coat of paint using the airbrush. A light
terracotta/flesh colour was used for the hull and an ochre ('bois'
by Prince August Air)
for the spars.
- April 2013
In order to create 'depth' of the surface and a wood-like
appearance, the hull and other parts were brush-painted with an
oak-coloured cellulose-based varnish. This proved to be not such a
good procedure as it is not possible to apply a second coat to
deepen the sheen, as the second coat tends to redesolve the first
coat. On a next project the varnish should be applied by airbrush.
The resulting uneven coating then was rubbed down cautiously with
fine steel wool and a glass eraser. This resulted in a suitably
'worn' look. This appearance was further enhanced by targeted
washing with acrylic burnt umber. The tarring of the underwater
body was simulated by a stronger wash of burnt umber. The rubbing
strake and the registration number board were painted in black,
the registration number was hand-drawn in white acrylic. Finally,
the hull was given a light coat in matt acrylic varnish (Winsor
& Newton), which resulted in just the right lustre.
In the next step all the iron work was given a coat in black
acrylic, followed by wash with a mixture of acrylic burnt and
'rouille metallique' (Prince
August Air), which gives it a sort of 'browned' appearance.
The metallic effect was further highlighted in places, where the
metal would have been worn bright by rubbing with a soft pencil
(6B).
As a last step grime and dryed salt spray were simulated by
rubbing-on black and white pastels with a brush and a cotton bud.
This procedure also gives the foredeck and the floorboards a
well-worn appearance.
Hull
painted and weathered
To be continued
...
Scenic Setting
Background
The kit is actually for a
waterline model, which somewhat limits the possibilities for
dioramic displays. It was originally envisaged to show the boat on
a slip such as that preserved in the Zuiderzeemuseum
in Enkhuizen, but being a waterline model this is unfortunately
not possible.
In developing a scenic setting
some sort of story-board is of great help. It sets down the
wheres, whys and hows, and thus helps to make the scene consistent
and logical. Having lived for several years in Noord-Holland, the
inspiration for the setting to be developed came from a winter
visit to the Zuiderzeemuseum
and a subsequent trip along the coast of the Isselmeer towards
Volendam. Quite rare today, the canals and part of the Isselmeer
were frozen over. There was a thick accumulation of 'pankake' ice
floes around the coast, while the canals where frozen black, there
having been no snow. Appropriately the museum showed wintery
footage of locals ice-scating around frozen-in boats, taken in the
1930s in Volendam and Marken. Hence, the idea developed to show
exactly this scene: a botter from Marken trapped by the ice in the
harbour of Volendam; the sails were too stiff to be taken in and
are still half-set; the net is hoisted to dry, but would also be
frozen stiff; the skipper and his mate, dressed in the
charakteristic Marker dress with 'culots', while locals in the
Volendam dress - the men in baggy black trousers and tight black
jacket and waist-coat, the women with the well-known white lace
bonnet - scate past; there may be also a couple of kids on a
push-sleigh. The time would be around the turn of the 19th to the
20th century. This 'story' allows me to show both, the Volendam
and Marken costumes.
The area of Edam-Volendam and Marken has coined very much our
mental picture of the Netherlands, thanks to the numerous painters
who came to this area from the last quarter of the 19th century
onwards. They were attracted by the picturesque towns and villages
as well as the locals who still wore their traditional costumes.
Thus we came to think that the baggy trousers of Volendam and the
culots of Marken were the
Dutch men's costume. Similarly the women's dresses with a striped
apron and the peaked lace bonnet became synonymous for the Dutch women's
costume. They are picturesque, without question and somewhat
exotic when seen together with the large wooden clogs. So, some
fisherfolk in these costumes will add greatly to the atmosphere.
While the female costume from Volendam is rather pretty, I think,
to the contrary the traditional costumes from Marken are almost
ugly, particularly the headgear: the women used to wear the neck
and back of the head almost clean-shaven while long streaks of
hair protruded at their temples from underneath the bonnets ...
Photographs and paintings are
another source of inspiration for a dioramic setting and below I
provide the link to a number of them together with an
identification of the source, as the material might be
copyrighted:
Creating the scenery The baseboard for the scenic setting is a piece of blockboard
cut to size in the DIY store. At a later stage it will be protected
by a (Plexi)glass display case with brass edges.
On the left side there will be a short stretch of dike behind which
Volendam is tugged away. The height is not quite to scale, but I
didn't want it to dominate the scenic setting. The dike is framed by
some left-overs of mitred laths and filled-in with residues of balsa
wood. The basis for the ice surface will be a 2 mm Plexiglas sheet.
I drilled a hole through the board and the Plexiglas for the screw
with which the botter model will be fixed. Everything being glued
together, I sanded the four sides smooth and flush. The wood then
was stained in mahagony and varnished, as will be the frame of the
display case.
Raw baseboard
Trial setting
Edges stained
to be continued ...
Creating the Staffage
The starting point was a set of unpainted figures from the Preiser-range. I selected
suitable poses, to begin with for the fisherman and his mate, who
are both assumed to be from Marken.
The dress of Marken men is characterised by
very baggy breeches- or culotte-like trousers of dark (black,
blue, brown) wool or natural linen. The lower legs are covered by
dark woolen stockings. In the more clement seasons a collarles
heavy shirt is worn, sometimes also a crew-neck sweater. In the
more inclement seasons a jacket may be added, but people at this
time were hardy and these don't appear too often, even on winter
photographs. The head was protected by a round felt hat, a cap
like a forage-cap with a narrow shield or a knitted 'sock' cap.
Around the neck a scarf was worn. For work and on weekdays
universally clogs were worn. The exact shape of clogs around the
Netherlands depends on in which village they were made. There are
many more details to the dresses, but this is not the place for an
ethnographic essay on Dutch folk costumes.
A range of photographs from the late 19th and
early 20th century provided inspirations for the conversions. The
Preiser figures were carved according to the needs of the dresses
or details were sculpted-on using putty. The changes become
obvious, when one compares the box art with the photographs of the
figures. A spray-painted base coat in a dark flesh colour make
imperfections glaringly obvious, when a photograph is taken. The
skipper will be clad largely dark, with the clogs having a light,
but worn wood-colour. Conversely, his mate will be at work,
cleaning some gear and, therefore, is dressed with a beige canvas
apron. He also put on his sea-boots, consisting of clogs with a
canvas bootlegs.
NOOTEBOOM, C. (~1925): De inlandsche scheepvaart.
Deel 11 van de gids in Het Volkenkundig Museum.- 79 p., Amsterdam
(Koninklijke Vereeniging ‘Koloniaal Instituut).
OSTROM, C. van (1988): Ronde en platbodems schepen en
jachten.- 144 p., Alkmaar (De Alk b.v.).
PEL, H. VAN (1956): How to tan nets, sails and
lines.- South Pacific Commission Quarterly Bulletin, 6(3):
33.
SOPERS,
P.J.V.M. (196?): Schepen die verdwijnen (bearbeitet von H.C.A. van
Kampen).- 162 p., Amsterdam (P.N. Van Kampen & Zon).
VOORBEIJTEL, W. (1943): Bechrijvende Catalogus der
Scheepsmodellen en Scheepsbouwkundige Tekeningen 1600-1900.- 191 p.
Amsterdam (Nederlandsch Scheepvartmuseum).
