marktiedens

Main Deck Grate
No attempt was made to construct the Main Deck with its large hatchway until the three grate units of which it was composed had been produced. What is important to note is that the overall dimensions of the hatchway underneath in the deck will be slightly smaller than indicated in the drawings - its final dimensions were determined by the final size of the composite grate.

To lightly stain the grate strips for a more weathered look or leave natural timber? Two restored ships presented a distinct contrast - HMS Victory in Portsmouth with gratings painted white and a dark natural brown surround and the HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool where the entire grate (shown in the following image) including the outer framework having a brown painted/ stained surface. In the end, there will always be a balance between historical accuracy and modellers’ preferences.

I found it is best to be prudent when assembling the grate strips to avoid using more strips than was essential. After assembling to the required size, the grates were immersed in a diluted (1:1) PVA glue, removed and the excess glue blown out by vigorously blowing over the back and front surfaces and allowing to dry. Each grate was then carefully sanded back to the required dimensions and a border surround added. The following images contrast the underside view vs the topside view. Worth remembering.


The basic approach seems to be to form a flat grate but it would be the 3 mm. thickness from the supplied strips. The next alternative would be to reduce the thickness to 2 mm. to match the supplied border material. However, in my build, I went further by producing a slight concave/ convex configuration with the final thickness being 1.8 mm. The convexity of the grate underside surface allowed it to fit better onto the Main Deck camber. My tool for doing this - a narrow vertical belt sander !

Gun Carriage Dilemma Resolved
 
The fluyt was principally a cargo vessel with minimum or no armament so I resolved to also minimize my build in this area. After some thought, I settled on three different approaches to the gun carriages …
 
Only 2 gun assemblies are openly visible on the whole ship and they are on the open portion of the Quarter Deck. Some rationalization was called for after my earlier indecision and so just these two would be constructed with some modification, especially to produce the tapered appearance of the carriage. N.B. Quarter Deck carriages only have 4 mm. trucks supplied due to the fragile nature of the drawing-indicated 3 mm. trucks on the carriage rear. To add variation, 4 gun assemblies would be non-existent behind closed gunport hatches [ 2 on the Gun Battery Deck and the 2 towards the stern on the Quarter Deck]. So no construction here at all 10 gun assemblies (on Main Deck) would be constructed using the supplied carriages without modification.  
Two initial steps on the carriage whether modified or not:
axle tree holes (axle holes) through the 5 mm.trucks (wheels) I enlarged by drilling; the 4 mm. truck holes could not be readily enlarged without breaking the soft timber so I reduced the actual axle trees (axles) by careful sanding. recessed slots underneath the carriage designed to hold the wooden axle were too narrow and had to be enlarged by filing. a bed was constructed from some first planking. It was only after this addition that I realized that there was no height left for a quoin !!  
When modifying the visible carriages on the Quarter Deck:
carriage split down the centre, sanded on a taper and rejoined producing a taper difference of 1.5 mm. from forward to rear front of the cheeks (sides) bevelled backwards Painting was a final but significant step with a dull, dark red for the carriage itself and black for the trucks.
 
The brass cannons were supported on a wire after washing in warm water and detergent and allowed to dry. They were then painted with a matt black acrylic paint.

Trunnions were cut from the brass wire supplied and then glued in place in the cannons.
Shown here are two different examples of gun carriage assemblies - the upper one is visible (and tapered) on the Quarter Deck and the lower one is typical of those non-tapered on the Main Deck that cannot be seen.

 
That completes the initial carriage construction and now I must turn my attention to adding the first planking - some of the strips have been in ammonia solution for the last 7 days !

Hi Jason,
 
today I found and ordered the edition: Petersson's "Rigging Period Ship Models" from a reasonable offer at Ebay, hope that shall bring some more detailed knowledge for my rigging process when the post arrives from the UK next week, thanks again for your tip
I would have liked to find a priceworthy second Hand David Antscherl`s Volume 4, like Bob suggested but there are only new books that come round about 90 USD incl. postage to Europe
 
Bow sprit rigging is nearly completed...
 

 

 
Nils

Hi Mates,
 
Continuing onward with the carriage ropes and tackles installation.
 
After trying to install one completely assembled carriage with ropes attached, I found it to be too cumbersome and a pain in the @#&. That wasn’t going to work very well. Space was so limited and I needed to also, just below the upper blocks attach the hooks for the carriage stops. Too messy hmmm….
 
So, plan B; I completed all the rope/block assemblies for the14 carriages. Then chose to attach those to the weather deck first.  Made a small hook so basic but so perfect ha ah…
 
Sliding in the cannons, then attaching the pins to each side of the carriages will be a breeze (I think). I can then adjust the ropes and tackles for a tight fit.
 
Have not decided how to display the left over rope lengths. The Vasa museum sort of hangs the excess on hooks near the rear of each carriage side. I’m short on length of the carriages, as they had to be shortened (Corel kit weather deck too narrow).
 
As noted from the just previous post, I wanted to emulate the 1/10th assembly with the use of small wooden pins. Used tooth pics. The results are acceptable, but I find that the scaling is a bit “off” My error, but still achieved the intent. Again thanks for dropping by and the Likes and comments always a pleasure.
 
Regards,
 
Michael
 
 

Hola a todos!!
 
After a very occupied weeks I had only made small advances on my Vasa (besides and as you know,  the rigging process represents much more work than it seems at first sight).  Here a small update:
 

 
Additionally, and thanks to Frank who sends me a sketch of the anchor, I modified the plastic one that comes with the Kit
 

 
 
Thanks for watching and the likes,
 
Saludos, Karl

Done building and placing the metal window frame and the rudder wheel assembly.
Can you tell in the 3rd vs 4th photo that the camber of the beams is different?
Yes, I fixed that after all. :)
 
Wheels painted wood color

 

 

 

 
 

I have placed the finished layer of walnut planking on the inside of the main and forecastle deck bulwarks. Since the gun ports are planked over again, it is necessary to cut them out again. When cutting them out you have to be super careful to not damage the hard walnut planks. Applying just a little inward pressure with the knife will splinter the walnut. I had to do most of the cutting either from the inside out or use cutting stokes from inside to outside. I think the next step will be placing the quarterdeck.
 
Vince P.

Build log part 53
 
 
 
Still doing the masting, top platforms and started tackling the bowsprit
 
 
 

self made "heart blocks" for the stays and violin block
 

All blocks put on
 

 
 

The Standing rigging for the bowsprit can be put on...
 

 

 

lazy day at the Fitting out shipyard
 
 
 
 
Nils

Continuing on, 
 
I blackened all the hinges.

 
Also blackened all the eyelets for the ropes on the gun ports

 
 Gold leafed the lion heads

 
Glued the hinges on.

 
Now I am working on adding the ropes to the eyelets. 


 
Thanks,
Frank

Continued with the platforms
 

 
and during drying of the glue also continued with the masts
 

 

 
an uncontroled dryfit of the masts
 

Hello everybody,
 
during summer of course there are a lot of other things to do, but some progress has been done.
The mainmast is ready so far. The construction is similar to the foremast. Therefore now only pictures from 
the ready assembled mast.
 
 
 
first an overall view
 

 
 
This is a holder mounted above the height of the mast bettings is used to hang surplus ropes
 

 
 
Now the mars
 

 

 
 
next the saling
 

 

 
 
Halfway up between spreader and masthead is a kind of small spreader, the function of me but so far is not yet clear
 

 
 
On the masthead then something laterally offset the flagpole
 

 
 
Had tried to make an overall view of the provisionally inserted masts, the photographic result is however quite bad ... 
if all masts are finished then I'll have to go to the photo studio ...
 

 

 
 
Now I will start with the third and last mast.
 
 
Bye Joachim
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The first layer of planking all the way up to the upper deck bulwarks is completed. I have added some length to the upper deck bulwarks planking just to make sure the metal siding pieces will fit, and then I can cut off the excess later. All of the main deck gun ports are also cut and the doubled layer of planking on the inside of the main and forecastle bulwarks has been added. I am not sure exactly what is the next step until I do some research, but I am thinking of applying the finish layer of walnut planking to the inside of the main and forecastle bulwarks and then installing the quarterdeck.
 
Vince P.

This is the material I use for my windows. Is plastic mosquito mesh glued to a clear acetate sheet.The glue comes from a spray artists use to protect pencil or pastel works from smearing.
 

 

 
Gluing the material to the metal frame after paint it
 

 
 
Lesson learned:Those metal windows do not bend. I broke this one, and had to fix it with epoxy. The good news is that this will be in a very low visibility area, (there's still one more deck above) so not much care was taken. I painted the frame with Floquil Antique White, one of my all time favorite colors.
 

 
 
Thanks for watching!!!

Thanks Frank,Vince,& Nigel. Well let`s see  - maybe the Nuestra Senora or Royal William  or the MS version of Vanguard  or Constructo Prince or............................
 
/Mark

FINISHED! I decided to add a stern lantern to finish it off. There are still a number of errors but I am fairly satisfied how it came out. I want to thank everyone for all the loos & likes during the build.The problem now is where to put it - it`s almost 4 ft long. An even bigger problem is deciding what to build next I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery.
 

 

 

 
 

 
/Mark

FINISHED! I decided to add a stern lantern to finish it off. There are still a number of errors but I am fairly satisfied how it came out. I want to thank everyone for all the loos & likes during the build.The problem now is where to put it - it`s almost 4 ft long. An even bigger problem is deciding what to build next I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery.
 

 

 

 
 

 
/Mark

Actual pics of Royal Caroline:






 
The tackles are tied temporary and I am going to modify them later.
 
Enjoy the pics and have a great holidays.
 
Best regards,
Doris

Some of wooden blocks with weathering - I use Tamiya acrylic paint for this:


 

FINISHED! I decided to add a stern lantern to finish it off. There are still a number of errors but I am fairly satisfied how it came out. I want to thank everyone for all the loos & likes during the build.The problem now is where to put it - it`s almost 4 ft long. An even bigger problem is deciding what to build next I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery.
 

 

 

 
 

 
/Mark

Hello all.I managed to finish the bowsprit rigging - resembles a spider web. Would be much easier if I had 3 hands.
 

 

 

 

 
/Mark

FINISHED! I decided to add a stern lantern to finish it off. There are still a number of errors but I am fairly satisfied how it came out. I want to thank everyone for all the loos & likes during the build.The problem now is where to put it - it`s almost 4 ft long. An even bigger problem is deciding what to build next I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery.
 

 

 

 
 

 
/Mark

I am speechless. This is truly a masterpiece. Hats off to you. You indeed built something to really be prod of.
My sincere congratulations!!!
 
Ulises

Really gorgeous work Mark.  I was just going through your galleries - you are very skilled, thank you for sharing!

congratulations with this result
 
once more I see now the differences between the various kits.
I can imagine your problem were to place your perfect Vasa. I can suggest to move to another house with a spare room for all your models

FINISHED! I decided to add a stern lantern to finish it off. There are still a number of errors but I am fairly satisfied how it came out. I want to thank everyone for all the loos & likes during the build.The problem now is where to put it - it`s almost 4 ft long. An even bigger problem is deciding what to build next I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery.
 

 

 

 
 

 
/Mark