Anyone who walks into the house at Danny Pothof in Klazienaveen immediately finds himself in a different time. Signs with old shipping scenes on the wall, showcases full of ship models and even a cannon in the middle of the living room. It is a thirties with a special hobby.
“Everything starts here,” says Danny as he steps in his way. “All signs of former shipping.” And that is just the beginning. Because those who continue their house will end up in a mini-museum.
Danny’s great love? Shipping, and especially the time of the VOC (the United East India Company). For more than ten years he has been working on impressive models, full of hand -painted soldiers of sometimes less than two centimeters high. “These are the soldiers of Napoleon,” he points out. “I all paint it myself. It is really fiddled, with one set I am sometimes busy for three weeks.”
On a large table is an impressive scene, the Battle of Austerlitz. “I worked on that for one year,” he says proudly. “You see the French here, there the Austrians in white, and here the Russians in the green. They used to call this the battle of the three emperors.”
Danny makes everything himself, from the knots of the sails on the ships to painting the soldiers. “It’s not a simple kit,” he says with a smile. “I do everything you see myself.”
What fascinates him so much? “Every ship is different and every ship has a story,” says Danny. “It’s the history behind it that fascinates me.”
Not everyone has the patience for such tiny details. “There are also people who say:” I’d rather throw it through the living room, because I don’t have the patience for it. “But I just really like it.” And Danny likes to share his passion with others. “It is really a museum, so if people want to come by, then that is of course possible.”