Gunnar Blumert
Baubericht "Katharina Dorothea Fritzen (4)" (cfm-Verlag)
Translation from German: Ralf Schnurbusch
The fans of freightships in the scale of 1:250 are unfortunately neglected
by the publishers, especially actual ships in service, are missing completly.
Thankfully recently models of older originals were published by the CFM Verlag
- maybe somebody has also the courage to publish a Feeder - Ship.
The Katharina Dorethea Fritzen (4) makes on the first view the best impressions of all cfm-freight ships; good drawings, very detailed, as well as many small parts, show that the designer - Rainer Blocksdorf is not satisfied only with a konstruction of a good fit, but that he also thinks about the building without problems and a sufficient error tolerance. For example the markings for the superstructure on the decks are not complety white, but have a small edge in the color of the deck, so the white paper does not shine through, if a wall is placed exactly on the right spot.
1929 the KDF was launched in England as „Grainton“, the ship was 129 m long and measured as approximately 10,000 tdw. A few hundred units were built. From 1950 to 1960 the KDF was in service for the Shipping company Johs. Fritzen & Sohn, Emden, until she was sold to Japan as scrap.
The kit consists of 12 pages in A-4 format, the parts are arranged in a clear order and almost in sequence of the numbering. Free place between the parts is filled with freight goods in form of boxes and rolls of robes.
As I took a closer look at the sheets a coarse error caught my eye. On the middle segment of the hull walls the waterline and the scupper are missing. A few weeks later I received an errata sheet from the cfm verlag - an example which should be adapted by others- and the builing could begin.
Unfortunately CFM does not offer a photo etch set for this model, but the printed parts are all built nicely. I have only used railing and stairs from „Saemann-Aetztechnik“, everything else I took from the sheets.
In the first construction stage I did not come across problems, except the
bulkhead 16 should be placed with the printed side front, and not as stated
in the building instructions, backwards if you want to built with an open hatch.
The hull fits very well, helpful the special construction at the stern . Left
and right parts are designed as one part. A very good idea, as it make a very
difficult part easier to built. Otherwise the construction follows the usual
way and I can spare myself a more detailed description.
The hull is colored in anthracite grey and if you are using felt pens to camouflage
the cutting edges, you will have a problems as black is too dark. It does not
make a big difference as the errata sheets were printed on a different material
as the original print, which shows the colors brighter. Also the parts on the
stern are not grey but black, so that the hull has three different shades of
color, which is more or less obvious depending on the lighting.
This is really a pity for this wonderful and clean designed model! The only
possibility to eliminate this problem is to scan the part, color them on the
computer and reprint them. For an expensive models as this (31 Euro) this is
unacceptable.
The further building did not cause any problems, except the anchor winds (Part 47). The diagram mentioned in the instruction was missing - Mr. Blocksdortf was so kind to send it per email to me.
Another point were the capstans, where the designer obviously did overestimate the material thickness (or a layer of glue): the shaft b is a little longer than the rope drum h and k with the disks i and l. Through some disks tubes have to be passed; the openings are a little bit too large, and therefore the tubes sit too loose. The same applies for the profile disks of the smoke stack. I recommend to cut them a little larger and then sand them until they fit perfectly. All this can be the result of overestimating the material thickness.
All in all I have to say, that since long time not such clean designed freighers was published. I am waiting anxiously for the next Blocksdorf-Construction. It is a pitty that this good impression is affected by the multi-color hull; notwithstanding this is a wonderful model. I particular like the coloration of the reserve propeller, which comes close to the shiny impression of metal.
