De Grote of St.-Bavo kerk Haarlem 1:300 [FERTIG]

The second chapel R18 has been added along with some of the outbuildings and buttresses.

Thank you Matthias.
Gert, wonderful site! Listened to '08 Gigout-Grand Choeur dialo' with full orchestra. Magnificant. I remember playing the organ in St. John's Anglican Church with the organ full open. The caretaker came upstairs into the church and gave me 'the look'. I toned it down, but man it felt good! Thank you for this site.

The southwest quadrant of St. Bavo has the main features in place. My sincere thanks to Michel van Meersbergen for taking picutres of the church for me. Here are two of his photos with parts of the model they represent - the shops.

The model...

Photo by Michel...

Behind the south transept, things really start to get interesting.

Good information for the enjoyment of the programs, Gert. Thank you.

Here are two shots that show the beginnings of the the work east of the transepts. The lower walls are made up of the aisle walls of the choir and the ambulatory walls running around the back of the apse.

Ricardo, I can see why you would mention no support between the inner and outer walls. As you know, on most cathedral buiilds there is usually a roof 'deck' at the top of the outer walls spanning to the inner walls. The roofs of the apsidal chapels often sit on this gallery deck. But no, Ricardo, I don't foresee any problems putting on the roof.

On this church, the outer walls require no internal connection to the inner walls. They will be kept secure and plumb by the external buildings abutting them. The roof edges sit on a narrow gallery shelf and lean shed style towards the inner walls. They simply hinge inward. Holes in the top of the model allow support to be given as the top edge of the roof is glued in place.

In the picture on the left you can see the buildings in place outside the external walls. On the right, you see me holding out a roof with my finger. Its lower edge is fixed in place.

The polygonal ambulatory roof has been cleverly thought out. The designer deliberately left out a section. This open section allows the builder to reach in with long needle nosed pliers and secure the tabs inside one at a time as the roof comes around through the angles.
In the picture below, the roof is closed on the left but still open on the right. I am intrigued by how three roof sections can change angles at the bottom, but remain in the same plane above.

Hi Ricardo.
You are absolutely right. There is a gentle curve in some of the roof panels as they close around the angled facets of the ambulatory.

Now back to the buildings of the southwest quadrant. Some of the parts are already attached as they were put in place to steady the exterior walls. These are complex, tight fitting buildings with both hip and gable roofs. Tolerances are tight.

Notice the stepped gable end in this photo courtesy of Michel van Meersbergen. It can be seen on the model over on the right in front of where U14,U15 and U16 will be placed.

The roofs on these outbuildings do not land at the eaves. They stop short on flat roof decks that hang out over the walls to create the soffits.

Here is an example of a roof deck mentioned above. In this case, some tabs (*) of W3 are folded and glued under the deck. The thickened edges of the deck are coloured and the roof is glued on top.

Here is the south side of the church with all the outbuildings attached.

Notice the little house all by itself at the back of the apse. It is the small east gate.

Here is that east gate photogarphed by Michel.

Here is the last region of the cathedral to finish at ground level - the quadrant behind the north transept.

Buttresses come right around to the buildings tucked against the transept. They are small and detailed.
Here is a photo sequence of their construction.

A common problem with dormer design in my opinion, is the overuse of tabs. (e.g. N17 tabs below) Along the lower edges of the gable end and the walls running up the roof, they tend to spring the dormer away from the plane of the roof. They do not appear to be coming out of the roof, but rather sitting on it.
I cut all the tabs off except the one tab at the ridge. It closes the two roof sections nicely. On the N17 tabs shown here, I guess two tabs will be needed to fasten both sides of the shed roof in place, but all the other tabs will go.

Eight full height buttresses have been placed from the east gate around to the buildings behind the north transept.

Now, only the roofs of the north buildings and a few transept buttresses are required to complete the cathedral at ground level.

Hello Michel and René,
Thank you for your kind comments. Very much appreciated.
Here is the north side of St. Bavo. It's time to head upward now to the galleries and the roof! (or was that... to infinity and beyond...!)

Michel, you await the tower. Actually, on the cover photo of the model sheets it is quite poorly done. It's tipped off to one side. Close inspection of my work would also show a lot of little mistakes, but the tower is critical to the overall appeal of the cathedral. I'll try to do it justice. Unfortunately, it is very darkly printed and may lose much of its detail. We'll see...

Michel, again I thank you for the wonderful photographs of the cathedral. For others who have not been following this thread, Michel van Meersbergen lives only 300 meters from this Cathedral and can see its tower, roof and upper parts of the walls from his house!

Here is a magnificant picture looking up towards the top of the north wall. Notice the bricks set on their edge in the buttresses below the galleries. They create an interesting pattern in relief.

Now look at how this brick pattern is represneted on the model part. Nice attention to detail in the artwork here.
The buttresses, galleries and pinnacles are all painted on one flat model part that will be glued to the side of the building. They will be put in place after the roof is on.

Let me share a mistake that has been bothering me for quite some time. Early in the build, I noticed that the large west window was crooked in its frame. Today, it was time to fix it. For you see, before roof construction could begin, a hole had to be cut in the roof deck to get at the window.

In this photo, you can see the remains of the window tabs still attached to the back of the window frame.

This meant that some means of attaching the window minus its tabs had to be provided. Strips of wood were close to hand. They could have been card, but their greater thickness gave more gluing surface.

That's better...
Edit: Now I know why the window was crooked initially! Sometimes you can see things in a photo you miss when looking only at the model with your eye. Notice that the apex of the window does not line up with the apex of the window frame. When the window was first glued in place, it would have been assumed that they would line up, making the window plumb. Now we can see the compensation in this photo.

Roofing the upper reaches of the cathedral begins with covering the transepts...

...then the nave...

...and finally the choir and apse.

Hi Hagen.
Good to hear from you.
Thank you for your kind comments.
I always enjoy seeing your helmet! It reminds me of my Grade Six students and their medieval studies. I recall making one out of paper (what else?) and spraying it silver for my kids to wear when they presented their projects.

Enjoy a great summer.
Cheers...John

Interesting indeed Michel. I'll see if I can't defy gravity and get that tower plumb. It could be the hardest part of the cathedral to build.

Here are three shots of the south side of the cathedral with the upper buttresses, gallery railings and pinnacles in place.