First of all, I would like to apologize for my excess of information prior to the model development work itself, be it the history or origin of the ship, references or other topics, because for my part I like to be fully informed about the ship that I am going to build. model and evaluate whether it is worth the effort.
Indonesian Pinisi SINAR KUMALA A boat that seemed nice to develop is the pinisi, an Indonesian sailing boat, and the more I researched the topic, the more interesting it became. I also found an article, “Indonesishe Pinisi”, that appeared in the magazine Modell Bau Heute (September 1988) from the GDR, and whose (free) translation I include below, is somewhat long, but allows you to appreciate the history and characteristics of this ship.
Indonesishe Pinisi
Der größte noch existierende hölzerne Frachtsegler der Welt
Modell Bau Heute (9´88)
Michael Sohn
The Indonesian Pinisi
The largest surviving wooden freighter in the world today
Modell Bau Heute Magazine (September 1988) DRA
by Michael Sohn
“The Far Eastern seas have one of the oldest maritime histories in the world. The advanced civilizations of the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Malays in past centuries were always accompanied by a lively shipping industry that secured their trade and military interests. So it is no wonder that very unique ship shapes and construction methods developed that can still be found today. In fact, it is precisely here that the low level of industrialization has allowed the traditional shipbuilding trade to survive to this day, and it gives us a clear impression of the skills of these developing countries, which are often referred to in a derogatory tone.
It is thanks to this fact that the majority of the world's still existing sailing ships and boats are at home on the seas of India, Indonesia or China. Dau, junk or prau are the three general terms used to roughly classify these seagoing vessels. The pinisi presented in this article belongs to the latter group. Prau is simply a general term in the Indonesian language area, like ship or boat in German. The island world of Indonesia, with its central location between the Indo-Arabic and Sino-Japanese areas, forms a transition zone, both geographically and culturally. Thus, in addition to unique features such as the three-legged masts that were already present on the ships of the Boro Budur Temple around 800 AD, the praus today have typically Indo-Arabic characteristics (hull shape and construction) or Chinese characteristics such as the stern construction. Of course, the centuries-long Dutch colonial period and other European influences have left their mark. They are most clearly visible in today's sails. The gaff rig has largely replaced the dhowsail or Polynesian lugger sail.
The Pinisi is currently the largest sailing ship type of the Praus. Its current appearance developed around the end of the 19th century. It is a creation of the Buginese, who for centuries have been the seafaring people among the multi-ethnic mix of Indonesia. Their home is the south of the island of Sulawesi. Before colonization, they traded as far as China, the Philippines and Australia. During the colonial period, the Bugis secured their existence through an extensive smuggling business. The spice trade, in which the Dutch had the monopoly, was particularly lucrative.
Today, the Praus shipyards are spread over large coastal strips on Java, Borneo and Sumatra. Due to the low level of technical supplies in Indonesia, these teak sailing ships are an ideal means of transport for coastal travel from island to island. They will undoubtedly be superior to motor ships for some time to come, as they do not require any fuel, expensive shipyards, ports or cranes. All goods are carried on board by hand over walkways. These packhorses of the sea transport everything that is needed for life in this region; a lot of building materials such as cement, stone or wood, but also cotton, barrels of chemicals, machine parts, food, furniture and other things. Pinisi sailing differs considerably from the "Christian" seafaring of our sailing ship era. On the one hand, nature determines trade routes and navigation to a much greater extent through its climate and the monsoon. On the other hand, the mentality of these peoples is also very important for their way of sailing. The Bugis have little ambition for optimally trimmed rigging and maximum speed. Navigation instruments are also rarely used; an ancient nautical chart and an old compass are often the only aids. They mainly sail from island to island in sight of land.
The type of ship and its construction
It is estimated that around 1000 Pinisis still sail the Java Sea today. They usually have a carrying capacity of up to 200 t, and their dimensions range between 20 and 28 meters in hull length and 7 to 8 meters in width. With a main mast of a good 30 meters and a mizzen mast of almost the same height, they carry almost 560 m2 of cloth.
There are two common variants of rigging. The larger is a ketch rig with gaff sails and topsails as well as three headsails. In this case, the mainsail is sailed close to the wind without a boom. Only when the wind is from behind is a spar used to extend the clew.
In addition to this type of sail, a ketch rig with high sails has been increasingly used in recent years. In addition to the disadvantage of the smaller sail area, this offers the advantage of being easier to handle, because you no longer have to climb up/down the mast when setting sail. In addition to the two high sails, only one or two headsails are set on the considerably shorter bowsprit. The larger gaff rig has built-up masts with spreaders and donkey heads, the latter being omitted in the second variant. In addition to these western-influenced construction features, the Pinisi has a number of Asian features. The construction of the lower masts was already mentioned above. For centuries, Indonesians have
It is usual for ships to be built from three trees. This gives them great stability and reduces the number of shrouds required. In the case of the Pinisi, this applies to the main mast. The mizzen mast is usually a single tree, and is only rarely built as a two-legged mast. The mast feet do not end on the keel in the hull as on European ships, but on deck. There they are clamped between two strong posts with two thick wooden pins.
The fore rigging is also an elaborate construction made up of three trees that converge at the top and are connected by crossbeams. Steel ropes are mainly used for the ropes. However, these are often in poor condition as they were taken from an old, scrapped hull when the ship was built. This also applies to the fittings and turnbuckles. It all looks a bit like a joint, but it still works. Last but not least, the sailcloth is either synthetic or natural fabric in a wide variety of colors, depending on the source.
In contrast to European wooden sailing ships, the ship's hull is built in the opposite order. After the keel and stem have been put together, the 2 to 4 meter long planks are attached without frames. This is done by clamping the hand-sawed 10 cm thick pieces of wood together with huge screw clamps. Then the holes for 25 cm long hardwood dowels are marked at the joints. The latter are driven into the holes in the butt edge of the lower plank, on which the pre-drilled second plank is then placed. This creates very tight joints that do not need to be caulked. Only after the entire hull shell is finished are the frames and supports adjusted and inserted, just 20 cm apart. The connection is again made with wooden dowels through the planks. For the bent pieces of wood, appropriately grown pieces are preferred. Bending the planks is not common here. This stable construction is further reinforced by nailing a large number of reinforcement planks to the inside of the frames. The deck beams with the planking on the upper edge of the side walls finally complete the ship's hull.
The interior of a Pinisi is not further divided. Since they are fair-weather sailors anyway, safe accommodation for the crew is not necessary. Only the deckhouse at the stern, which is only one meter high, provides some protection for the skipper and his "instruments". Cooking, eating and sleeping take place on deck. The fact that these ships are not designed for sailing in heavy seas is also shown by the lack of a bulwark or railing; large breakers would make staying on deck life-threatening.
The proportions of the Pinisi are quite peculiar. For an ocean-going sailor, it is relatively flat, but considerably wide. A special feature of the Pinisi is its stern construction. Similar modifications are common on many Praus. This results from the use of rudders. The suspension is carried out by means of a complicated-looking beam structure that surrounds the hull at the stern. The way it works is similar to that of leeboards. When sailing close-hauled, only the lee rudder is used, while the windward rudder floats loosely. One advantage of this construction is that the deeper rudder touches a shallow area sooner than the hull, thus preventing the boat from running aground.
When building the Pinisis on primitive beach yards at the mouth of rivers, the Bugis only need six months at best, which is quite impressive considering the simple tools used.
About the model design
Despite the typical similarities of the Pinisis, each one is unique. The reason for this is the handcrafted construction without plans and serial parts. For this reason, the model design is not a general type plan, but was drawn according to the dimensions of a very specific ship. The SINAR KUMALA comes from the deep-water port of the South Javanese port city of Surabaya, called Tanjung Perak.
This ship is a characteristic example of the conventional gaff rig. I was not familiar with the original color scheme, so I adopted a standard color scheme from comparable ships for the ship shown on the back cover of this booklet.”
The initial data for the model plan was provided by Clifford W. Hawkins in his book "Praus of Indonesia". These were supplemented by the well-known illustrated book "Solange sie noch segeln" by Hollander and Mertes (transpress Verlag Berlin).
For me, the appeal of these ships lies in their rather unusual shapes and construction, which is quite different from the fact that, alongside the dhows and junks, they are the largest wooden cargo sailing ships still in existence in the world - a fact that gives them historical significance.
3. Building the model From the plans shown and the lines of the hull, the sections for the frames, the shape of the deck and the dimensions of the rigging were obtained. It was drawn in AutoCAD and the frames and main parts were laser cut on 3 mm and 1.5 mm plywood sheets. The dimensions of minor elements were taken to the scale of the same plans. The first photos show other pinisis sailing as pleasure boats; The next two correspond to pages of the MBH article and the next two to the SINAR KUMALA model, as it appears in the shape survey drawings.
The following photos show the plywood sheets laser cut from drawings of the shapes and the first part of the frame assembly. After confirming the alignment, balsa wood fillers were placed in the bow and stern to facilitate giving an adequate shape to the hull. For the hull, 2x5 mm cedar strakes were used. which were brushed to eliminate highlights and differences. Then it was sealed with a mixture of putty, wood shavings and white rubber, filling the joints and deficiencies of the first lining; It was subsequently sanded with 100, 150 and 225 sandpaper and a diluted lacquer was applied to stabilize the sealing. After sealing the hull with lacquer, the entire surface was lightly sanded and the dead work was painted with several layers of white acrylic paint, leaving a strip of wood that was stained mahogany.
The decking was formed with 0.5x3x75 mm slats cut from capirona veneer, a semi-reddish wood, the edges were blackened and glued in an arrangement of 3 instead of what is shown in the drawings where an arrangement is not visible, it was simulated the nailing, sanding afterwards. The edges of the cover were rectified, its fixation to the frames was difficult due to a double curvature of the cover, sticking on the frames. The 1.5x4 mm rail was prepared and fixed, painting it white. Later, the deck elements were prepared such as entrances to the hold, winch; White color was used on the sides and mahogany tone on the tops. Their position was measured, and they were fixed to the deck with white glue.
The dimensions of the sails were taken, prepared with tissue paper painted on both sides with two layers of white acrylic, the seams were simulated with lines drawn with pencil. The edges of the sails were reinforced with cotton thread. Several sails were made and white was chosen for the jib and mizzen sails. The mainsails would be deep red or maroon. The masts, the peaks or gaff, booms, the boom and other elements were made, giving their taper to hardwood rods. They were given a mahogany tone similar to that of the side of the ship. White color will be used for the joints of the peaks and masts. The gaff sails are mounted on the rigging and the blocks, frames and other elements are placed. They are aligned and fixed to the deck passes, once again verifying the alignment and inclination of the masts. The outrageous sail and the jibs and other elements are mounted on the masts. We use two gauge thread for the stays and shrouds that have been darkened and waxed with Judea bitumen, and after they have hardened we begin to place the stays, the shrouds with their tempers. The rudders are placed, tied to the structure, and the final paint touches are given.
General data
SINAR KUMALA (1988)
Tanjung Perak, Surabaya, South Java, Indonesia
Pinisi type
Transport Function
Scale 1:75
Total Length 38.10 m (508 mm)
Total Height 33.82 m (450 mm)
Length 26.00 m (346 mm)
Beam 8.72 m (116 mm)
Prop 3.25 m (43 mm)
Completion date: October 2021
By: José Ruesta (Lima, Peru)
