NMBROOK

Quick update.As I am not using the kit internal structure,prefering one with my own design of cannon barrel supports and stronger deck beams with camber(decks flat on standard model)I have started cleaning up the inside.I removed the kit bulkheads back to what would be the internal hull face.This has enabled me to dress the insides of the gunport linings.I have fitted the internal ply skins to take the uprights for the remaining uprights.These will be fitted when the other side has been cleaned up.I have made the lower balcony support for one side.This has been planked and treenailed before fitting in areas that would become awkward to get to.The planking is 1mm short of the side to form a rebate for the side panel.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have now reassembled the stern with my scratchbuilt parts.The lower section is simply a shaped piece of lime.Now that it is redundant,the pattern has been removed completely.I have also removed some of the lower structure to allow the gunports to be fitted below the side galleries.These are missing on the standard build.
Kind Regards Nigel

Once I had completed the grating I removed it from the jig.My method of properly bonding together the gratings is heavily thinned Zap epoxy finishing resin.I applied this liberally to both sides of the deck and immediately blasted it with a high pressure air line with blow gun.This prevents build up in the holes and when dry is rock hard.I glued some softwood to the top of the jig and when dry,cut through the bulkheads either side of the stem.After sanding off the remains of the bulkhead ears,this provided me with an inverted jig I could tack glue the grated deck to.With this upside down and the correct shape I could concentrate on the underneath.This was reduced in thickness by 1mm with a cabinet scraper.This gave the gratings their curved profile.I have now started fitting the structure to the underside using pear wood.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have fitted the bulkhead in place and faired the sides to match the hull.Now on to the prow.The kit prow,to be honest bears little resemblance to that of the artwork.The sides are far to deep and the grated deck is depicted as flat.To be honest this 3D nightmare has caused me a bit of headscratching,as to the best way to proceed.To remain faithful to the Van De Velde atwork the deck sits much higher at the beakhead and does not coincide with the mouldings on the outside.I figured the best way to start my jig was to glue in the supplied bulkheads for the stem.I only glued the top half of the slot allowing the ears to be sawn off later.I then profiled the top of the bulkheads and false keel to provide an acceptable curve.On top of this I glued(to the bulkhead ears only)a piece of 3mm ply which was cut out to match the supplied deck frame.The top of this ply is the bottom face of the deck.Today's work was concluded by clamping some steamed boxwood section in place and leaving overnight to dry.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have had a lovely long holiday weekend treenailing I have completed both sides under the wales and intend to give this area a few coats of polyurethane for protection.I have also inlaid some small pieces of maple to represent the bowtie piece that joins keel to sternpost.
Kind Regards Nigel

Hi Keith
Thank you very much indeed,and thank you for all your likes I have a little joke with myself that there is less than twelve square inches of plywood keeping this in the 'kit build' section   .I can categorically say nothing else of the partwork will be used and I no longer subscribe,just seemed a waist of money as I am not using any of the parts.
The black boxwood and the red wood I used for the railings come from 'originalmarquetry.com' in the UK.I also get the square boxwood and various other bits from them.The downside to the coloured woods is that they only come in 0.7mm thickness.The square uncoloured boxwood comes in very handy ranging in size from 3.4mm square right down to 0.81mm!! in 1metre lengths.
Kind Regards Nigel

Hi Nigel!
Wow, a really fantastic work!!!
 
Regards, Bernd

As I mentioned earlier,these next few stages are really slow.I have fitted the deck beam shelves and planked the inside of the hull on the starboard side,including lining the gunports.The framework of the entry port is in place,but this will have the carvings added at a later date,probably when I fit the channels as they sit on the middle channel.I had to reverse engineer the gunports to ascertain the deck levels which involved a great deal of headscratching,but it did 'prove' my gunports were correct.The internal planking has had several coats of poly applied in preparation for treenailing.I am using Dafi's(thank you Dafi) idea for drilling the holes inside.I have glued a drill into the end of a bamboo skewer so I can poke it through the gunports to drill the holes on the opposite internal face.I have given it a try and it works great,but it ain't no Dremel so I may be at it some time
Kind Regards Nigel 

A small update.I have completed the rails on the port side,I have only the forecastle left to do.I had to go and pick up my prezzies from the missus today.I feel like a kid in a sweetshop     Thank you love  Thank you to those on here that advised me which to machine to go for.It goes to show that the way to a modellers' heart is via workshop tools      
Kind Regards Nigel

Thank you very much indeed everybody for your very kind words  
In answer to your question Kevin.I am looking back and thinking how I could of progressed differently.The problem with this being a partwork is there are no drawings and the model being supplied is vastly different from the model advertised.This did start out with the intention of being a near stock build but as the part work progressed and looking at the Italian forum(which is about 6 months infront)the difference with what we are building to what was advertised was becoming obvious.At this point I had a fully planked hull which due to sourcing my own more expensive timber stood me at quite a lot of money.
So then the 'modification ball' started rolling and I found that all the supplied ornamentation was going to be inaccurate.Inspired by Bill Short's log which I used to follow before the 'crash' and becoming a member,I decided to take the step of 'having a go'at producing my own carvings.
What started out as a stock build had now turned in to probably 3-4000 hours work.Thinking on this made me think that 'dummy'canons didn't quite come up to par with the rest of the build.Helped in no small part by Chris Watton's amazing victory prototype.I think though the biggest discovery was Arthur Molle's amazing model of the Sovereign.I looked at that and thought 'I have to do that'.I include a picture of Molle's model that I am going to try and replicate to some extent for the deck structures,I am not planing on sawing the model in half though    
Back to the question of would I have done things different?Yes I would have bought Sergal's plans and worked from there,full scratchbuild.
Kind Regards Nigel

It has been a while since my last update,although I have been doing lots of hours on the build,it doesn't really show.I have now profiled the hull inside.I have cut and relined the main gunports on the starboard side(upper ports still to do.) the gunports have been cut on the port side but lining to finish.I made a start with the internal planking on the inside of the starboard side.I am only representing caulking on the decks internally.The first deck beam shelf is in position and notched.I have now told myself I must complete all the railings before going any further as I am fed up of breaking the uprights.I have made a start on this as my pictures show.There are some gunports to cut out in these but I shall do that when they are all in place.The red is coloured veneer,not paint.
Kind Regards Nigel

After considerable deliberation,I felt my build was missing something,an interior.I haven't posted for a bit,but I have been busy beavering away.I wanted to utilise full cannons and carriages throughout.In order to do this I had to remove 20mm of solid birch ply infill at the bottom and smooth off the inner walls of the hull.I then shaped pieces of lime to the inside profile on the scroll saw to build up the hull thickness to nearer scale.The sections were left overthickness to allow for interior profiling.These were bonded in two at a time and allowed to dry before continuing to avoid hull distortion.It has meant that I get to cut the gunports all over again   .I have started work around the top of the hull completing the railings as I go in the hope of avoiding breaking anymore railing uprights.The plan is to fully plank the interior and other than the lower gundeck that will be fully planked,the rest will have sections of planking missing to be able to see the insides,navy board style.

After a marathon carving session over the last few days I have managed to complete the basic ornamentation on the starboard side of the prow.There are still vertical carvings to fit on the stem underneath and of course the myriad of decorative panels.
Kind Regards Nigel

Just a little progress,these figures are taking about six hours each on account of the small size.The faces are 2.5mm across.
Kind Regards Nigel

I thought I would post some pics as they clearly show the stages involved in the prow ornamentation.I laminated 1.5mm pear sections on to the outside of the upper and lower rails inbetween where the uprights sit.You can see one in the first pic.The top and bottom rails were shaped and tapered leaving stubs where the uprights sit.The uprights were shaped form pears stock to fit over all three rails.The uprights will have the central carving carried out off the model and the rest will be done after fitting.This is to get the correct shape of the wrapround top and bottom.
Kind Regards Nigel

After a little head scratching I have decided on a method of tackling the prow ornamentation.The problem being as that the figurines wrap over the horizontal strakes.Anyway rather than trying to explain this,I shall post pics as work progresses through the steps.A late night and early morning has resulted in the first step complete.I have steamed and fitted pear section.The top and bottom are to be shaped a little later on.
Kind Regards Nigel

Managed a little time on the build today and planked the prow in black boxwood.
Kind Regards Nigel

Despite the birthday distractions I have made some progress on the build.After careful study of the V de V engraving it became apparent to me that the prow cheeks are not faceted as depicted on most models,but in my opinion are flat.I came to this conclusion because the vertical carvings run down in a straight line when viewed at an angle.This made life a whole lot easier.I developed the shape to match the engraving but also to match the proportions of my build.I cut the pieces out of 0.8mm ply and made formers to hold the pieces to the correct curve.When it came to planking the cheeks I had originally planned on horizontal planking,however being faced with a 3D structure that I believe must be close to that of the original,it didn't ring true.I realise the planking on Vasa's prow runs inline(nearest thing in existance,thanks Matti for your wonderful pics)but whilst the two look similar,they are quite different.The way I saw it was that you have four very large structural timbers running inline close to one another,then it made sense that the planking infil would join these together.
therefore I chose to plank the inside faces vertically with boxwood.These have been treenailed and epoxied in position.The outside faces should be planked tomorrow with black boxwood.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have had quite a productive evening.I first fitted the remaining carvings.I then made the caprail  out of 1mm pear then fitted it.Finally I applied a coat of varnish.The varnish still has a slight sheen because it is not fully dry.
Kind Regards Nigel

Just a small update.Work is progressing well on the pediment carvings,but as they are only 6mmx8mm I gave up trying to take a decent picture.I have now fitted the first and the autofocus on the iphone works now the carving is fitted to the hull.I am actually up to 5 out of 6, but because I am putting two coats of varnish and then leaving 24 hours before fitting,it will be a couple of days before they are all fitted.
Kind Regards Nigel

I first cut six pear blocks to the correct overall size of the pediments.The back face of these was bonded onto the end of some boxwood strip for handling.I set a jig up on the pillar drill(no miller yet)and cut the scallops in the front face.I then set another jig up to cut small slots on the sides to create the top cap.By doing these two operations,it should make it easier to carve them consistantly.I think the pictures are fairly self explanatory.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have decided to concentrate on detailing the bulkhead before fitting the sides to the prow,simply to make access easier.I include a snipet of the van de velde artwork I am working to.The plan is to start at the bottom and work my way up.The first job is to replicate the frames around the lower charactures.I cut a piece of !mm pear strip and cut out apertures for the carvings.Rather than leave the corners sharp like in the artwork,I decided to put 0.5mmx0.5mm chamfers on with the scalpel.I feel that this looks much better.The next task is to carve the six pediments with the climbing foliage that sit below the figurines.These will fit on the vertical sections between the panel cutouts.
Kind Regards Nigel

I have fitted the grated deck to the prow with epoxy and a few brass dowels in key positions.
Kind Regards Nigel

A small update.Both carvings/hawse holes are now sorted.I masked off and varnished the area below where the grated deck sits in preparation for fitting the deck tomorrow night.
Kind Regards Nigel

The final instalment.The rib detail was added using the scalpel and dental probe.The end detail were shaped using the scalpel.Then finally a dress up of the edges with p320 silicon carbide paper.
Kind Regards Nigel