WackoWolf

A bit of more progress: started the planking of the upper deck.

Continuation.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relationship is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Paul

Hi Michael,
 
I'm going to create a build log too. I was not in a hurry though, I do have another build log for rigging my old Cutty Sark model that I transported from Sweden to Australia (I took the masts down and took it as checked luggage! :-) )
This will probably take another couple of months, then I'll start working on my Vasa again.

As for the sculptures, Intentions does not necessarily mean talent unfortunately.
I'm going to cheat a bit. I have seen some really good wood carving on this site (and elsewhere), but I don't really feel confident doing that at this stage ( I did carve the Cutty Sark figurehead back when I was a teenager)
 
Instead I'm doing some experiments with polymer clay (Super Sculpey):

 
I made a master, and then a mould (inspired by the kid's Play Doh) -original is to the right of the mould.
Then I can churn out multiple copies of a sculpture, adjust it as I like, and then bake it into a hard plastic.
 
 
Cheers,
/Peter

Happy Birthday HMS VICTORY, I hope to finish mine before it gets that old

Hi Michael,
You're doing real well with a difficult task!
To me, it was all a bit disheartening (too much fixing of errors), but I'll be picking it up again soon!
Well done to fit the extra gun port at the front.

As you may have noticed, the problems with the Corel hull shape here are two; 
* The hull extends too far forward, over a centimetre too far
* The hull is too narrow.
This means the bow is not bluff enough, so the forward gunport ends up pointing in the wrong angle.
If you look at your attached museum pictures (bottom one in post 905), you can see that the three most forward gunports all point somewhat forwards.
It also means that in order for the beakhead to attach to the hull and still not need to be narrowed too much, the beahead sides will attach further aft, covering the place where the soldier sculpture should sit (as you noticed..)
 
I reshaped the stern according to the museum plans as well.
While the middle part was too narrow and required padding... 


...the top was actually too wide.

I will not be able to use many of the supplied figures, if any.

The supplied top crest is now too wide to fit for example (proper stern outline to the left):


The outline to right is not sloppily traced, this is the actual supplied Corel frame in my kit!
Rather ridiculous shape.. :-(

Cheers!
/Peter

Somehow, I did manage to install the gun port at the front, with enough space for the warrior between the gun port and the bowsprit side railing structure and with enough room to have the gun port open. However, if you look carefully, you could say that my gun ports do not align perfectly nearing the bowsection...
Before attaching the railing structure, I first dry-fitted the warrior to check for sufficient space. I needed to remove part of the Corel-supplied railing structure to have enough space there.

Peter,
 
Very nice work reshaping the hull, as well as the bowsprit area, and the weather deck; thanks for sharing. The stern, of course, had to remain too narrow in order to accommodate the gilded pieces?
 
For my part I stuck an extra set of required soldiers near the stern windows in order to have the correct number. Corel only supplies two instead of four.
 
I also tore out and rebuilt the entire stern section, as noted in previous log postings because the Corel was so inaccurate. Here are a few pics from the original kit shape, my repair, and my completed effort.
 
This kit, for those who are interested in better accuracy is sadly a "looser".  Many of us certainly did not know of so many inaccuracies until we started reading all of the rants from builders, and looking at museum plans and pics, as was the case for me.
 
Ferit, you are correct, one would think that after 30 years of sales Corel would update it. I do understand, according to Fred Hocker, the curator of the Vasa Museum, that several companies have approached him with interest in producing a very accurate kit.
 
On the plus side, now with so many fixes available, it could be one of those fun kits to "bash". AND not a single visitor to my home has ever seen Any Flaws (:-) ha ha 
 
 
Cheers,
 
Michael

Update time.    Starboard side aft outer bulwark is done..  sanded and has one coat of Wipe-On poly drying.    I'll rotate the hul around and turn to on the port side aft.  I'm debating over when this part is done whether to finish the hull planking or turn my attention to the stern planking.  I guess I'll just wait and see what mood I'm in.
 

FYI-Another ongoing issue with the Corel kit, for those of you whom might read this, and are considering, which of the two kits to purchase, Billings being the other one, I noticed the following;
 
----------------------------------------------
 
After installing the most forward upper gun deck cannon lids that the two most forward warriors would have to be mounted much higher than they should be. This is because Corel’s kit does not allow enough space between the cannon opening and the bowsprit side railing structures.
 
Even with foresight of this issue, if the two side structures were moved forward then they would not line up correctly at the beam with the lower central keel-framing bit. The Lion would have to hang on by its fore-paw claws (:-) And the weather deck would extend out too far forward adding an overhang lip.
 
Also the most forward lower gun deck cannon port is an addition that I included for this build. These two are not part of the Corel kit instructions. Having added them, the lids had to remain closed as well. I include comparison pics FYI.
 
Cheers,
 
Michael

Growing old is not for sissys!

George, I have either arthritis in my left hip or sciatica, the Dr's can't agree. Either way, if the pain I get in my hip/leg is anything like your arthritis I don't blame you one bit for finding faster and easier methods. Besides, whatever gets you the results you are looking for is what really matters.
Sam

While I agree that working with wood the way the old time artisans did it has it's romantic allure, I think that those of us with arthritic problems, look for easier and faster ways to accomplish jobs, with less and less manual labor, to minimize painful movements. Hence power tool popularity.  

It's been a while since the last update. Recovery from my hip surgery has certainly slowed things down a little, but I have managed to make some progress.  The next stage was construction of the Mortar Pit.
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit commences with the six Mortar Pit Deck Beams that sit atop the Shell Room.   These were cut from 1/4" Pear stock.  Six rectangular blanks of identical size were cut and then spot glued together. A single paper pattern for the beams was then glued on to the gang of blanks and the notches for the Shell Room headers (5/16”) and the Mortar Pit Boundary Timbers (1/4”) were cut on the mill to take advantage of the still square faces. The round-up of the beams was then shaped using the spindle sander for the inside curve and the disc sander for the outside curve.  After test fitting, the Deck Beams were used as additional support to ensure the Shell Room was squared up for final fixing. Once the Shell Room was securely fastened, the Beams were given a coat of Wipe-On Poly and glued in place.
 

 
The Mortar Pit itself is fairly straightforward construction, consisting of two Boundary Timbers of 1/4” x 5/16” Pear, a Primary Layer of planking (3/16” Holly) and a Secondary Layer of planking (1/8” Holly).  I decided to use pencil along the plank edges to simulate the caulking with these decks, rather than the black paper used on the deck of the Shell Room, partly because I was concerned about glue adhesion, and partly because I wanted to see what it looked like.  Once again, the “drill and fill” method was used for simulating treenails. In retrospect, I should have sealed the Holly before applying the filler for the treenails as some of the filler has gotten into the grain of the deck and slightly discoloured it.  Here are the component parts prior to receiving a couple of coats of Wipe-On Poly.
 

 
The Primary planking has a 1/8” brass spigot inserted – this will locate the base of the turntable in a later stage of construction.  The Secondary planking has a circular cut out for the turntable. This was formed by cutting roughly to shape on the Scroll saw, and then finishing on the spindle sander. 
 

 
Once both decks had been completed, it was a fairly simple case of finessing them to size to fit the space defined by the Boundary timbers.  Here are a few pics of the completed Mortar Pit in place:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up, fitting of the Upper Deck Clamps and preparation for construction of the Upper Deck.  Stay tuned.....
 
 

Some more petiteness:
 
The salt box for the cartridges ...
 

 
... used my etch monograms and pressed them with my vice into the wood to be more leveled, nice side effect is that they became less high :-) 
 

 
Glued the fittings and afterwards some red paint - careful, explosive!
 
The buckets from Master of Buckets were wooden ones from the lath with brass eyelets and copper handles, for the small ones I wanted to try something else.
 
2 mm poly rod, drilled open and milled out ...
 

 
... and then shaped them with a conical device pressed into it.
 

 
Then cut and filled with PVC and we have a nice water bucket for the small boy, that is supposed to have a wet wipe up on all remains of powder on the floor.
 

 
Then I realised - too much space - pillars were missing ...
Tja und dann etwas bemerkt: Soo viel Platz war da gar nicht Mal, denn das dafi hatte in seiner großen Weitsicht noch nicht die Stützen platziert ...
 
 
 
... so I had to replace some of the stuff
 
Two more shots for the subject: red salt box for the cartridge, round transport case, wad, multi purpose water bucket and a barrel with slow burning matches in case the flint lock does not work, everything as far off the guns as possible.
In P. the wads are hanging in a netting in between the hammocks, I omitted that, as there was not enough space for that.
 

 

 
XXXDAn

The carronades have been far more time-consuming and awkward than I anticipated. I have now completed the hardware, and now have to do the rigging. Having looked at carronade rigging all over the website, it now appears there are as many ways of rigging them as there are members. I have decided to go with the 'full' rigging shown in the instructions. While it may not indeed be 'full', it seems to be a reasonable and fairly elegant compromise.
 
This is how I have done the breaching ropes. I have made up a jig to enable the rigging to be more or less done off the model. Among other things, it enables the ropes to be of consistent length.  I will rig the blocks etc in the same way. The remaing difficulty is the get the various eyelets into the holes drilled into the bulwarks. The is very little room and for the forward-most carronades on each side, there is no bulwark to drill into. I guess I will have to attach the rigging to eyelets set into the deck near the bulwarks.
 

 

 

 

 

Hi Albert,
thank you for the nice comment.
 
So it goes on with the construction report.
 
To rig the 18 pounder I'm still researching on with respect to the breeching ropes. Was this right laid or left laid?
In the meantime, I'm doing the "Baille à Drisse", some sort of container for
coiling of ropes, such as the topsail-haylard.
On the French Corvette was thereof a total of 5 units available. 2 pieces each in front of the foremast and the mainmast and 1 piece in front of the mizzen mast.
Here I show the detail of the plan by J. Boudriot.

This is an example of this container on the model of the Belle Poule from the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

For the French corvette I make the container of sheet brass. The upper and lower parts were etched. The drawing for the film I made myself. The etching is done by a service provider.
After assembly, the part is still burnished. But thereof next time more.

 

 

I added the blocks to the bottom rear of the sail and pre-rigged some more lines.
 


 
Here are some pictures of the yard and sail mounted onto the mainmast. Remember, a lot of the pre rigged lines will stay loose and unfinished until later in the rigging process.
 




 
Yard attached to the mast
 

 
Lifting lines finished to deck


 
Front of mizzen sail attached to deck
 

 
Now I am starting to work on adding the lower main mast shrouds and ratlines.
 
Thanks,
Frank
 

And then the assembly, taking measure by putting the lid on the barrel, marking the positions with a needle ...
 

 
... drilling and fitting test.
 

 
 
 
 
Still missing the lanyards . Took my drilled and streched sprue ...
 

 
... a template gives the right distances ...
 

 
... open the holes with drills step by step ...
 

 
... introduced the tubes ...
 

 
... still spliced the lanyards to the rings and introduced them into the tubes ...
 
 
 
 
... and with some luck ...
 

 
... one gets ...
 

 
... something like that.
 

 
XXXDAn

wq3296,
 
The doors on my model are ~4' 6" high as I have modified the bulwark and quarter deck heights.  Tight, but with a step down under the quarter deck it would be consistant with period practice.
 
Regards,
Pete

Alittle progress - made the odd looking pulleys that mount to the front of the mizzen chain whale.
 

 
Also installed the catheads - I`m not going to try and make the little guy in the cage that sits under the catheads. Also made & installed the upper hand rail - I made them from some .8 by 1.5mm brass bar bought from my local hobby shop. Now I will have to be careful not to break them off . Also got the rest of the figures installed.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

Hello friends,
thanks to all for your kind comments.
 
 
My next project  is the construction / build of the 74-Gun Ships,
rear section as a cross-model with complete interior outfitting.
 
Karl

They deserve to be in a real museum one day, Karl!

Thank you for your nice comments.
 
HI John,
 
This is sold under the name bitumen. In Canada, it is sold as Natural Bitumen by Waxine.  You can find in 2 kinds of store artist paint products and wood finishing products.  Depending of the % you add, the darker it will get and yes it does the trick. To answer, your second question. My father was building houses, so I learned at young age to use woods. This is why I have a long experience with wood. When I broke a finger around 15 years ago, I stopped model building and began to machined steel and aluminium tools  in a continuum to build more and more complex tool. When the day arrived where I had no more tools to build, I came back to wood  ship models. I am surely not the best modeler, but I know the road  to build it.  
 
HI Mark, 
 
Thank you I now understand the problem.

Hi Gaetan,
 
I've spent the last few hours reading this build log from the beginning. As a novice modeler, I find the level of your skill unbelievable (not only the modeling but photography as well). One thought I've had looking at your work is that the cherry will only get darker and more rich looking over time!
 
I have two questions;
 
One is where does one buy asphalt? I've seen it also called bitumin in some of the posts. Does it have another name in the U.S. I have been using the beeswax-turpentine mixture as a finish and I would love to make it a bit darker. I thought of using artists oil paints, but I think the asphalt will do the trick.
 
Two, if it is not impertinent, may I ask what was your career before becoming a master modeler?
 
I cannot think of the appropriate adjectives to describe your work, only to say that I aspire to you skills (and workshop! ) and to give you a heartfelt thank you for sharing it.
 
Best,
 
John

Thank you Ian.
 
If there is no fix for this, I am wondering: Am I going to change build log every 20 pages if I want to be able to print the entire log???