The story of my Schnatermann-build began in spring 2018. I had been building another kit for a long time and had all kinds of “decision-making”-problems with it. Instead of diving into these properly once and for all, I had grown slightly tired of it and put it on hold. I needed a new challenge.
I love scale-models of working-boats, that’s my cup of tea. Not speed boats, not historical monuments and not sail-boats (although I do sail a Dragonforce65 every now and then :)) Unfortunately, the supply of model-kits that appeal to me is quite limited. We have the excellent line-up at Model Slipway and Dean’s Marine have a couple of nice ones. So does Graupner and a few others. Add to the equation that I like doing things a little bit different than everyone else. Meaning, building another Graupner-kit would not be so appealing to me, since “everyone else” has already done that. I know, I really should end up with scratch-building, but I don’t feel comfortable and experienced enough for that yet.
After countless of hours searching on the net, I stumbled upon a – to me – unknown supplier at http://www.modellbau-sievers.de/. Instead of trying to find a nice kit at this site, I actually had to sit down and carefully select between several models that I really liked. In the end though, the choice fell on the Schnatermann pilot boat.
At first, I planned to “convert” her (paint-job mostly) into a Swedish coast guard vessel, since her shape is pretty similar to the KBV 300-line of vessels that I absolutely love and adore. But, since my local club already has a “perfect” build of a KBV 307 (see below), I figured I should stay true to the actual pilot vessel – and thereby becoming more “original”.
The Schnatermann is one out of 5 identical vessels built in 1995. She is known by MMSI 211222780 and Call Sign DQKK.
Please don’t confuse her with this version of Schnatermann 
Schnatermann’s sisters are the Klaashahn, Öllermann, Meckelborg and Muttland. All vessels are active as of this writing (2018).
They are operated by the “Lotsbetrieb GmbH” in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northern Germany, and serves the waters between Rostock and Rügen, close to the Polish border.
Vessel data is available at http://www.lotsbetrieb.de/en/fleet/schnatermann/