Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren Amersfoort/ 1:200 [FERTIG]

Gert sent me this little model as a gift. It represents the church tower of "Our Lady" in Amersfoort. I believe this model was commissioned as a fund raiser for the restoration of the church.
Thanks Gert.

Scale: 1:200
Publisher: Leon Schuijt
Dimensions: 13 cm x 13 cm x 50 cm tall
Copyright Date: 1989

Fine details are modelling into the domes of this tower. On the section being worked up here, four tiny little dormers will be attached. A good challenge.

Here's where that dome will go...

The dormers are quite tiny.

Before setting the dome in place, let's have a look at the tower.

The card used for this model has been embossed with a nice bumpy texture. This is the first time I've seen embossed paper used on a card model. It's quite nice. The salmon colour of the lower tower sections and the soft gray of the upper reaches make a nice colour combination.

Note the red dot in the fourth photo. That's where a gargoyle will be attached.

Thank you Norm for your kind words.

Here are a series of shots I took to show a process. This little transition piece was a joy to glue up. It involved a simple concave curve - the easiest to form up. The trick that works for me with the tabs is to not cut them as printed. Since the segments of the piece are bending into a concave curve, the tabs will spread outward like the fingers of an outstretching hand. Triangular tabs are only required on a convex curve where they come closer to one another as the curve is shaped. Triangular shaped tabs then makes sense; they don't bind or overlap each other.

Sorry about going on about tabs so much, but the slits really make life easier. With very small tabs such as these, thin slits reduce cutting stress on the material, keeps the tabs larger and stronger and provide more gluing surface.

There, I promise to not go on about tabs again.

From my limited experience with Dutch models, I assume the crown and the rooster are iconic to churches in the Netherlands. Here are two photographs of the modelled vane of St. Bavo in Haarlem, built in 2007.

The third photo shows a hardened rod of steel that has been ground down on opposite sides at the end to accommodate the two-sided rooster for this Amersfoort church.

Hello Gert,
Thank you very much for telling me about the significance of the rooster. Now when the model is displayed, I will have a talking point.

Norman, thanks for the alternative method of attaching tabs. If I understand your technique correctly, you are using glue to soften the card to allow it to stretch. I like the idea of releasing tension in the part by using the slits. I've had problems in the past with twisting when work goes under tension - especially as the number of segments increases.

Hello Helmut.
Thank you for your kind compliment.
You're kidding about the name, right?

The crown is shaped with sixteen staves; eight on the outside and eight on the inside.

The elements on the top of the tower, spaced out like this on the central rod, look like shishkebab pieces on a skewer. The ball was turned on the lathe.

Thank you gentlemen for the kind comments.

Gert, you've done it again!! A beautiful picture to perfectly wrap things up. Thank you!! I still use one of your pictures of Sparrendaal as a computer screen image. (the one with the cat sitting on the pathway)

I've taken your picture and attached it to the bottom of the model.
Thank you again for not only the picture, but the model itself!
John

The last gargoyle goes into place...