Re: Shtim's Dutch Colonial Adventure - Java Cigar Shop (23/02/25)

[Shtim]

Welcome To Shtim's Dutch Colonial Adventure! - Introduction

Over the next few pages I will be taking you through the (slow) progress on my Dutch East Indies project. The Netherlands first colonised what is now known as "Indonesia" in the late 1500's. This initial colonisation effort was little more than a few trading posts operated and maintained by the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC).

What started as a humble collection of trade posts eventually became what is now known as the Dutch East Indies - a country with a population of over 60million people and total area of over 1,900,000 km². Until the Japanese occupation in 1942, the Dutch held the vast majority of the Indonesian Archipelago.

My project is set in between ~1904 (the end of the Aceh war in northern Sumatra) and ~1945.

The quality of photos and workmanship dramatically differs (and improves!) over the course of this thread. Below an index of the various projects:








Index

• Palm Trees & Tong Fah Co. Building - Page 1
• Tong Fah Co. Building Completed & Post Office - Page 2
• Office Building & Post Office Progress - Page 2
• Completed Hotel Building & Overview Picture - Page 3
• Sports Car & Clock Tower - Page 4
• SHELL Sign, Garage, & Completed Sports Car - Page 4
• New character models (Archeologist) & Warehouse - Page 5
• New characters, fuel pump, & picture of the town - Page 6
• Advertisements/Shop Signs, Village Fountain, & Completed Warehouse - Page 7
• First Dutch Indies Soldiers - Page 7
• Building Bases - Page 8
• New Characters ("The Turk"), the Cinema - Page 8
• Baggage Carriers, Trees, Finished Cinema - Page 8
• More Dutch Indies Soldiers & TinTin characters - Page 10
• Building Upgrades - Fixing Facades and Past Mistakes! - Page 11
• Building Update - Post Office, Wongso Bro's Pharmacy, & 1:35 scale Chinese Gatehouse - Page 12
• Chinese Gate completed & KNIL steampunk walker - Page 13
• Bird's Eye View of town, Oshiro Models House, & KNIL Machine Gun Team - Page 13
• Book & Office supplies store, KNIL Officers & Japanese Imperial Army Squad - Page 14
• KNIL Vehicles & Tank, Start of Radio Station, & Laser Cutter - Page 15
• KNIL Sailors & Radio Station Finished - Page 166
• KNIL Uniform paint recipe - Page 17

My previous thread (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=125409.msg1599059#msg1599059) I thought it appropriate to start afresh.

First Post:

Since my last post, I repainted my Dutch Colonial Aceh troops. Unhappy with the original paint job, I decided to add additional highlights and a splash of colour. Next I'll probably re-work the bases for all my miniatures - not happy with the drybrush!



In addition, I have been painting some extra characters for my settlement, pictures of which can be seen here:



Once the lighting improves, and I get some time this weekend, Ill take some more pictures of the buildings I have been working on for my Dutch settlement (both unfinished, but a third one on the way!):





Let me know what you guys think!

[bc99]

These are amazing. It's an area/era I'm unfamiliar with so I look forward to this.

My favorite miniatures are the soldier with the glasses and the heavily decorated gentleman in brown and grey uniform.

[marianas_gamer]

Great start. I have been very interested in the Dutch East Indies for many years. I have some minis done and more than enough jungle but lack the nice colonial buildings that you have. I look forward to your future work!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Beautiful work!

[Hu Rhu]

Lovely painting on those minis and some superb buildings as well. Wonderful start. 

[pauld]

Amazing stuff.

They all look splendid - I'm very jealous 

[Mad Guru]

Looks FANTASTIC!  I'm very excited to see more.  I remember your previous thread when you first started, and to be honest your figures looked great to me back then, but what matters most is how they look to you, so well done!

[Diablo Jon]

Those building are excellent.

[juergen c. olk]

Absolutely beautiful..checkout the Dutch Docu Channel on FB. Tons of photos.

[marco55]

I tried to get a range for the Aceh Wars but couldn't afford it any longer and there wasn't much interest.
Mark

[Helen]

Very nice project you are working on. Best wishes going forward.

[HerbyF]

Looking at those photos I think that many of the War of The Triple Alliance (Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil VS Paraguay) would work for some native militias. Also quite a wide variety Moro, Indian mutiny, Arab or Asian pirate figures can pass as the Indonesian natives.

[Shtim]

Thank you all for the kind words! Very encouraging

My favorite miniatures are the soldier with the glasses and the heavily decorated gentleman in brown and grey uniform.

Oops! That's supposed to be a red uniform that has faded over the years following retirement...!! Back to the drawing board 



Very little progress to report on this week from me.

First off, I finished the trunks/bases for my modular palm trees. Quick paint job on the bases, then added some flock, flowers, and grass tufts, and added some matt varnish to tone down the gloss on the plastic palm leaves. I'll probably add a green drybrush to the leaves at some point for some colour variation:




I also started work on a larger modular tree base. Not quite happy with how it looks yet, but I am still in the process of adding some more trees, grass, and colour.
I'm very torn on whether I should use static grass (and invest in a static grass applicator) or continue using flock instead.. plus - I never know how much ground to leave exposed/cover in vegetation. Any tips or feedback would be most appreciated!



Finally, I got my hands on some corrugated card to finish the WIP build from last time. I will be using this as corrugated iron plates for simple roofing across the town. I am yet to add orange rust, but the paintjob is done for the most part (except for a final drybrush on the wooden roof).

Looking at those photos I think that many of the War of The Triple Alliance (Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil VS Paraguay) would work for some native militias. Also quite a wide variety Moro, Indian mutiny, Arab or Asian pirate figures can pass as the Indonesian natives.

Ah excellent!! Do you have any manufacturers in mind? Always looking for new miniatures!

As always, any pictures, interesting facts, or sources about the Dutch Indies are more than appreciated!!

Thanks,
Shtim

[bc99]

Of course it's faded red! Outstanding work continues, I do like those palm tree stands.

[Grumpy Gnome]

You continue to make cool stuff! I have to resist getting into another genre! Must. Resist.

Brilliant work. It is tough to decide flock or grass and just how much dirt exposed. No truly right answer, just trust your instincts I think and keep tinkering until it feels right.