Brussels Marketplace and Town Hall - MaKit - 1:303

[Seascape]

Time to start a new model build.

This one is going to be the MaKit Brussels Marketplace and Town Hall. It's going to be quite a large model (about 29" x 24"---76cm x 63cm) and a scale of 1:303. Total of 36 sheets (about 13" x 9.5"---34cm x 24cm) - 8 for the Town Hall and 28 for the surrounding Marketplace. 982 total pieces.

The instructions are very minimal, half a sheet with very basic instructions (i.e., follow the numbers starting with A1 etc.) for the Marketplace and the same for the Town Hall. Very much like the "Haletoren" build earlier this year.

The originals were scanned and printed on 80 lb (218 gsm) cream cover stock. That's about the same paper weight as the original sheets.

I'm starting with the Marketplace houses first. These are all grouped into different housing units. Starting with the first group A (see ground plan) and the first house completed.

Fred

[Thomas Pleiner]

... you will find the assembly of the »Grand Place« an amazing experience. The whole arrangement is indeed not too large. In 1984 I've glued all the arranged houses onto a polished wooden plate made of cherry-tree ... and hung it up the wall.
It was a pity that this special cardmodel concept designed by Michael van der Haert was not continued. Besides the the few well-known published items I saw the prototypes of »San Marco« (Venice/Italy) and the Capitol in Washington D.C. on display at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1982. Both never published. As far as I know the present copyright owner is Léon Schuijt in Alkmaar/Netherlands ...

Cheers
Thomas

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

I visited the designer almost eight years ago. He is very much the copyright holder still. Leon Schuyt has nothing to do with this whatsoever.
I also saw the unpublished models you saw at Nuerenberg... Mouth watering.
I tried to persuade him to publish a new edition of the marketplace and perhaps the never published San Marco, and thought he seemed interested. However, after several more attempts I gave up. He was very busy winding up his advertising business at the time. Perhaps I will try one last time...

[Seascape]

Thanks Thomas and Diderick for adding the extra information. It always makes the build more interesting I think. I enjoyed building the Haletoren a couple of months ago as a test of what to expect before starting this model. Diderick graciously emailed me the instructions since they were missing when I bought the model from a private seller in The Netherlands who was on one of the German Forums.

Hopefully this build will help to bring some more interest in the designer's models. It is a pity that it is so difficult to find (and expensive unless you're lucky). The artwork is fantastic on this model.

Fred

[Thomas Pleiner]

Good afternoon Diderick,

so I have to apologize.
Unfortunately I must have minsunderstood what
Leon told me in the early 1990ties.
Some letters about this topic to him received
only very vague replies ... and I never had any
direct contact with Michael ....
Nevertheless it would be a greatd pity if these gems would get lost ...

I feel free to add a few pictures from my 1984 assembly.
Only a few houses remain in acceptable condition after
several moves in nearly 30 years ...
Baseplate, breadhouse, meathouse and townhall got lost ...

Cheers
Thomas

Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker

I visited the designer almost eight years ago. He is very much the copyright holder still. Leon Schuyt has nothing to do with this whatsoever.
I also saw the unpublished models you saw at Nuerenberg... Mouth watering.
I tried to persuade him to publish a new edition of the marketplace and perhaps the never published San Marco, and thought he seemed interested. However, after several more attempts I gave up. He was very busy winding up his advertising business at the time. Perhaps I will try one last time...

[Thomas Pleiner]

two last pictures ... and I'll be off this thread now ... :-)

Cheers
Thomas

[Vermin_King]

Those are very nice. Looking forward to following this thread

[Seascape]

Thanks Thomas for the photos. Now can clearly see what to look forward too. I think the Town Hall will be the biggest test that's why I'm leaving that to last. Hope my build will be as clean as yours always are. Please feel free to jump in on the thread anytime you want. Only been at this a couple of years now so any advice/comments are always appreciated.

Fred

PS: Planning to build your EPR model in the near future. Thomas-R did email me his files and photos.

[marco1971]

Hello Fred,

good luck with the new project!

Marco

[elliott]

Judging from your photos Thomas this must have been a real beauty when you finished it. Even 30-something years later it appears to be in remarkably good shape. Thanks for sharing the photos.