Dutch State Yacht by Billing Boats rebuilt

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May 30, 2020
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For over ten years I have been building models of sailing ships in asmall scale (1:150). This scale brings some limitations, but has the advantage that I can accommodate a larger amount of models in my apartment. Lately, I've been building mostly waterline models that I arrange for photos against natural backgrounds. I have already shown a few of my models here on the forum. However, I also have a wooden past. Among others I have built the Norske Löwe from Billing Boats and the yacht Mary from Mamoli. I have a special interest in Dutch state yachts, and for a long time there has been a plan to build a large scale model of one by Billings Boats. A great incentive is that the High Admiralty has released a particularly prestigious place in our living room for it. Unfortunately, I am very reluctant to build hulls, so I waited a long time until late last year when I found a completed model whose hull was good enough to rebuild. I was able to remove all ornaments and attachments from the hull with little effort. For two months now, I have been busy replacing the manufacturer's very crude parts with new builds. In doing so, I do not have to rely on my imagination alone. On the contrary. The model for this model kit is a model of a state yacht, which is kept in the Amsterdam Maritime Museum. It is a very large scale model which, according to the museum, was used as a toy for children at the time of its creation (around 1750). A very elaborate and certainly very expensive toy, about 180 centimeters long and high and with fully functional rigging. There are a few studio shots of the model that the museum has posted on the web. I myself was able to take a few dozen photos of my own during a visit to Amsterdam, which I am now using as a template for the redesign. I show below a few photos of the Amsterdam model, the billing Boats modeal as I bought it and of the current state of it. The ornaments are mostly formed from modeling clay (Magic Sculp) and partly molded and cast several times. At the moment they are all still loosely attached. Some of them will soon be scanned in three dimensions and then printed laterally reversed.

The Amsterdam Model
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the great cabin
Amsterdam
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Billing Boats
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mine
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the bow
Amsterdam
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Billing Boats
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mine
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the cabin front
Amsterdam
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Billing Boats
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mine
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to be continued
Schmidt
 
For over ten years I have been building models of sailing ships in asmall scale (1:150). This scale brings some limitations, but has the advantage that I can accommodate a larger amount of models in my apartment. Lately, I've been building mostly waterline models that I arrange for photos against natural backgrounds. I have already shown a few of my models here on the forum. However, I also have a wooden past. Among others I have built the Norske Löwe from Billing Boats and the yacht Mary from Mamoli. I have a special interest in Dutch state yachts, and for a long time there has been a plan to build a large scale model of one by Billings Boats. A great incentive is that the High Admiralty has released a particularly prestigious place in our living room for it. Unfortunately, I am very reluctant to build hulls, so I waited a long time until late last year when I found a completed model whose hull was good enough to rebuild. I was able to remove all ornaments and attachments from the hull with little effort. For two months now, I have been busy replacing the manufacturer's very crude parts with new builds. In doing so, I do not have to rely on my imagination alone. On the contrary. The model for this model kit is a model of a state yacht, which is kept in the Amsterdam Maritime Museum. It is a very large scale model which, according to the museum, was used as a toy for children at the time of its creation (around 1750). A very elaborate and certainly very expensive toy, about 180 centimeters long and high and with fully functional rigging. There are a few studio shots of the model that the museum has posted on the web. I myself was able to take a few dozen photos of my own during a visit to Amsterdam, which I am now using as a template for the redesign. I show below a few photos of the Amsterdam model, the billing Boats modeal as I bought it and of the current state of it. The ornaments are mostly formed from modeling clay (Magic Sculp) and partly molded and cast several times. At the moment they are all still loosely attached. Some of them will soon be scanned in three dimensions and then printed laterally reversed.

The Amsterdam Model
42923727ii.jpg


the great cabin
Amsterdam
42727569xb.jpg


Billing Boats
42727568ib.jpg


mine
43110128yg.jpg

43110124he.jpg


the bow
Amsterdam
43032610kv.jpg


Billing Boats
43032611hq.jpg


mine
43110125cz.jpg


the cabin front
Amsterdam
43091399qz.jpg


Billing Boats
43091398mv.jpg


mine
43110127mz.jpg


to be continued
Schmidt
G'day Schmidt, that looks like a nice model you are redoing, and some very nice moulding work,
Best regards John,
 
Interesting project - I will follow with big interest
Hope to see regularely some updates of the log
Many thanks for starting
 
Fantastic work. Very nice work on the bulkhead have you been milling this or build it up from individual parts?
 
Many thanks for the kind comments!
The front bulkhead is initially constructed from a polystyrene sheet and resin profiles that I cast myself.

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In this condition I cast the part. The decorated parts were created separately from Magic Sculp and inserted into the casting.

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This is a cast from a second mold. It has received a primer coat of Humbrol 76. The final coat will be with oil paints.

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This is what it should look like one day. The window crosses and the windows are still missing.

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Schmidt
 
It was and is difficult enough to make the ornaments reasonably similar to the Amsterdam model. Using photos as documents is extremely problematic because they are always distorted in some way. But it is almost more difficult to design the ornaments in such a way that they fit together well. At the bow this was rather easy, because here we are dealing with parts that have no problematic connection with each other. It is much more difficult at the stern. It took several variations of the fish to finally have one that fits the large ornament at the stern as well as its carrier (waves). The main idea behind the ornament is to show a living being that moves in or on the water. The important thing is to show the organic connection. The parts from the Billing Boats kit do not take this into consideration, which is also evident in the models built according to plan. They all seem stiff and wooden.

At the stern I am now struggling with a particular difficulty, because here the ornaments not only have to merge harmoniously, but also structure the entire surface in an appealing way. The hull provides guidelines and dimensions that I cannot ignore. The photos show what I mean. At the moment I am in the process of extending the large stern ornament downwards by a few millimetres so that the upper edge of the ornament below forms a harmonious line with the crossbeam. Such a way of working is of course only possible with a material that can be extended or stretched at will. A carving made of wood would not be able to be treated in this way.



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Schmidt
 
You are a very creative modeler. I think that the jacht "Mary" is in my future so I follow you with interest.

Fair winds.. Ed
 
I had originally planned to have the large ornaments on the stern (oriel, fish, waves, stern frame) recorded with a 3 D scanner, mirrored and then printed out. I had already contacted local companies who assured me that this was possible. But as time has gone by, I have become more and more sceptical. Will I be satisfied with the surface of the parts? was my first question. And then another came to the fore: Will it fit? Anyone who builds ship models knows it: it is infinitely difficult to build two sides with identical dimensions. So I finally gave up the futuristic project. I don't want to spend a three-digit sum on parts that I will have to cut and file again later to make them fit together. Instead, I first made a cast of the oriel, cut it into pieces and reassembled it mirror-inverted. This worked very well, even though a lot of reworking was necessary, of course. I rebuilt the fish on a mirror-inverted floor plan, and that too went surprisingly quickly after the experience I had with its twin. The last photo shows that I am already in the process of fitting the parts together on the spot. The experience I have gained on the starboard side means that the speed of work is now increasing enormously.

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Schmidt
 
Great Job,
just curious what is Humbrol 76?
I have been looking for that green, can you tell me about it?
Thanks
Steven
 
Steven, sorry, I thought Humbrol colours were well known and available in the US. Nr. 76 ist called Uniform Green, which says not really much. It is near to Chromoxid Green or RAL 7016. I use it as a base colour. The final coat will be with Chromeoxid Green as an Oil paint.
The most difficult of all the ornaments is definitely the part I call the carrier wave or the wave carrier. It has to be adapted to the ship's side, to the curvature of the stern, to four whales and last but not least to the fish. On the starboard side, I still made the parts one after the other and then painstakingly adapted them to each other, which led to a lot of changes. The fish in particular had to undergo plastic surgery every two days. On the port side, I want to be smarter for once and try making the three large ornaments in parallel so that I can continuously make sure that they really fit together.

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Schmidt
 
I had actually sworn not to make any changes to the hull, because I had already experienced several times that this could lead to the total loss of the model. I allowed myself small exceptions, and the small exceptions turned into bigger exceptions. I reinforced the bulwark from the inside so that it forms a smooth surface. I removed the deck to replace it with a new one of plywood with a veneer overlay, and I reinforced the plank joints from the inside with narrow timbers. And finally, I opened another construction site.

The lower part of the stern is made of plywood with plank joints printed on it. I couldn't leave it like that, but I should have decided to change it much earlier! The easiest way would have been to cover the part with planks of veneer, but that would have given a wrong transition to the side planks of the hull. So I went the hard way and milled out the part first.



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This was actually a suicide mission, which I only realised when I saw how thin the hull planks were. Fortunately it worked, and I immediately secured the planks from the inside with a thick layer of wood glue.



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I then reinforced the planks in the rear area with veneer strips, so that they look much thicker when viewed from the rear.



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Now I am in the process of making suitable parts from resin, which will be planked with veneer strips. I hope the conversion will continue without collateral damage.



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Schmidt
 
Again and again I put all the ornaments together. On the one hand, this is very helpful as motivation to continue, but it is also necessary to guarantee the interplay and harmony of the individual parts. If you look closely, you can see white spots where the lateral ornaments meet the horizontal one at the top. Here I still work with Magic Sculp to create the best transitions.

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At the rear, all that's missing now is a curved ornament below the windows and the framed coat of arms between them. Here the parts are already roughly laid out on a true to size scale copy from the photo of the original. When they have hardened, they can be further worked on. This way I don't run the risk of changing the dimensions of the parts through machining. Depending on the size, the ornaments have gone through up to half a dozen machining stages.

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Schmidt
 
I have already observed several times that something like the "nest-building instinct" breaks out in (male!) modellers who deal with the interior decoration of their ships. The best example of this is Daniel (Dafi), who even crafts all the hygienic unmentionables for his Preiser crew. I myself, of course, am now in particular danger of building the first doll's house of my life, as I have recently started working in the fabulously huge scale of 1:30. The manufacturer of the kit has included a transverse bench in the rear cabin. However, there are no other ornamental details. I first primed the area in white to be able to see all the corners and edges. But I was very careless, which annoyed me later.

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Then I skimmed the rear bench, cleaned the floor and painted the inside of the cabin with the colour of the upper hull. I didn't want to get too colourful. The frames of the windows are modifications of the outer frames.

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I won't be able to get mine as nice and stylish as the aft cabin of the Utrecht. But a little bit of plush and ornamentation should still go in, even if you won't see much of it from the outside.

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Schmidt
 
Here, for the first time, all components of the stern are provisionally arranged except for the coat of arms between the windows. Only now does the design intention become fully clear.

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So far, I have only done work that was easily reversible. But of course it can't stop there. This morning I summoned up all my courage and set a waterline. Model builders know what an excruciatingly difficult business this is. I would like to take a moment of silence for all those modellers who measured and measured until their heads smoked and then, after painting, had to realise that "something is wrong". I hope that won't happen to me too. At least I had a movable stand, a large glass plate, a very accurate spirit level and a professional height gauge (left in the background) at my disposal. Now let's see what comes of it.

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On the Amsterdam model, the deck consists of four pieces of wood. The deck planks are not shown, I assume in the interest of greater stability. I removed the kit deck and with no little effort cut three pieces of plywood to fit under the bulwark. Now I glued maple veneer to these pieces. Ideally, they fit and can be fixed to the frames with dowels. I have something else to look forward to.

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Schmidt
 
The 3-part deck already presented above has been fitted (not without some effort). It is only to be fixed to the frames with wooden dowels so that it can be easily removed again in the event of a (modelling) disaster. It should also undergo some ageing. I don't yet know how to do this.

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After agreeing with myself on a waterline, I was able to paint the underwater hull white. I chose a commercially available paint and the colour pure white. According to the museum in Amsterdam, their model has been restored and most probably the partially rotten underwater hull as well as its paint have been renewed. This difference between the new paint and the recognisably aged hull I would like to reproduce at least in rudimentary form.

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I wish everyone a peaceful Easter in accordance with the unpeaceful world situation.
Schmidt
 
I'll add to that right away.
I have already said several times that I am very reluctant to carry out work on the hull that I cannot undo. But what has to be, has to be. I had already set a milestone with the painting of the underwater hull. I can still change the colour by painting over it, but the waterline must now stay where it is.
The next step is much trickier. I had planned to make the ship's side so that the model does not look like a model from a modern kit that has been assembled with modern means such as superglue. The original in Amsterdam shows clear traces of the original nailing. It looks as if small iron nails were used to fasten the planks, hammered deep into the wood and then covered with wood putty. But the iron nails have rusted and formed more or less irregular black wreaths. That's exactly what I wanted to recreate. After all, one is a bit ambitious.
So I first started to determine the position of fictitious frames based on the Amsterdam model.

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Then I used a very thin drill to transfer the position of the fictitious nails to the hull and made fictitious nail holes at these points with a round cutter of a little more than a millimetre in diameter. I carefully burned their edges with a narrow soldering iron. It might have been possible to do this with paint, but then I think there would have been a danger of the paint soaking into the wood and not being able to be removed. With the soldering iron, as experience has shown, it is much easier and the effect is even better. I then filled the hollows with a wood putty that is pretty much the same colour as the side of the boat.

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The next two pictures show the same fake nail hole, once after applying the wood putty, then after a fine sanding with 320-grit sandpaper.

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The work is not quite finished yet, but here I can show a piece of finished hull. I am still undecided about how to do the finish. As usual, I have the choice between clear varnish, gouge, wax and furniture polish. Another option would be to do nothing at all. Does anyone have any hints for me? Comments are wellcome!

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Schmidt
 
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