The Ship Model Forum

After WW2 the august directors of the Nederland line were worried. Their crews had changed a bit. Officers and crew were subassertive, hard drinking en had a tendency to get into fights when ashore. Some of them even talked back to passengers. This would not do. As luck would have it a solution was at hand. During the war some directors had formed a new company which would be running tramps which could be out on lines if necessary, a copy of the arrangement between P&O and the Hain steamship company. And after WW2 lots of tonnage was available and cheap. So the Reederij Amsterdam started out with some old Nederland ships as well US and UK built standard ships and the more problematic crew members of the Nederland were given an offer they could not refuse. The company quickly accquired a reputation as being rather rough around the edges but those unmanageble crews, who were suffering form ptsd off course, did rather well so after 10 years the old tonnage could be replaced by new built semi-tramps and large bulk carriers. By the time it was merged into Nedlloyd in 1970 most of the old crews had left the sea and now only the stories are left. Amstelveen was one of the early ships. An Ocean class standard ship, the direct forerunner of the Liberty ship. I built it as a basic conversion of the Trumpeter Jeremiah O Brien for a small presentation at last month’s ESM in Houten. The built was mostly building a new bridge and moving the winches of hatch 3 some 15 mm. The water was my first attempt at layering water colors. I wanted to get a rather windy southern North Sea. Amstelveen is almost down to its marks on rare visit to its home port.

Hi, Pieter,

a nice little dio (admired it at the ESM) and a nice little story.

Cheers, Walter

Thanks Walter. The next on in the series, 'Granddad', is up now.