marktiedens

A small update - finished the lower shroud ratlines on the starboard side.I like to give them a slight natural looking droop.
 

 

 
/Mark

A small update - finished the lower shroud ratlines on the starboard side.I like to give them a slight natural looking droop.
 

 

 
/Mark

A small update - finished the lower shroud ratlines on the starboard side.I like to give them a slight natural looking droop.
 

 

 
/Mark

Construction of the main deck staircase from scratch. This is included on the plans but not supplied in the kit. Even though it will not be visible once the upper decks are placed, it was a nice touch and a challenge to build.
 
Each step is made up of 2 parts and needs to be beveled at 45 degrees. I jig was made from lumber and the steps placed on top of each other. Once the whole thing is completed, it can be lifted off the jig.
 
I did find some nice stanchions at Model Expo that were pretty close to the correct size, and only had to be cut down a little and beveled on the tops.
 
I finished the whole thing in red walnut and weathered it to look old. Once the main deck is installed and planked, the staircase hole will be cut and the assembly placed down into the deck. A "C" shaped bannister will have to be constructed to match the staircase and attached to the outside wings so it encloses the opening in the deck on 3 sides.
 
Vince P.

Great looking ship.Now on to the rigging?
 
/Mark

I finished the small sculptures for the rudder. I used the BB lion as except his head looking straight up is pretty good. I reshaped the legs and removed the long tail to get that rather cute teddybear shape as can be seen on the 1:10 model. BB didn't include the mascaron with his tounge out and I really wanted that character on the ship so I carved him out of pear wood.
 
FIrst the one on the 1:10 at the museum:
 

 
And here are mine:
 

 

 

 

 
 
It was first after finishing them it occured to me that I just made the last planned sculptures for this model. It's a mixed feeling as I really enjoy the sculptures. The stern is also finished now.
 
 
/Matti

Moving on to the 10 railing pulleys (5 on each side),
I made them each out of a single piece of walnut.
 

 
Now I inserted the sheaves and drilled holes for the mounting nails
 

 
The pulleys installed in-between the cannon.
 



 
I will now start working on the belaying pin rails for the bulwarks and the ladders!
I am glad to be moving on from the cannon!
 
 

Continuing on, I made up a bunch of line bundles for the cannon rigging.

 
Rigging of cannon is finished with bundles.


 
I darkened and mounted the cannon into position

Completed one side of first planking layer below main deck. Sanded it down and filled in any low spots and small gaps between planks.
Before completing the other side, I made sure the masts would seat properly in the slots of the false keel and upper gun deck. It is necessary to mill the lower end of the main mast to a flat of 10.0mm in order to fit in the slot of the keel. 
 
Vince P.

Working on completing the first layer of planking below the main deck. Very slow process on a ship this size. You will notice many glue spots. I want to make sure the planks are very secure as the basis for the final planking. This will get all covered up with the pretty second layer.
 
Vince P.

Thank you very much indeed Patrick,Geoff and Matti for your kind words   On to the next,smaller update.I decided to carry on with this side as I still hadn't got my timber.I moved on to the gunports on the next deck.These are different in that many fall in the unplanked,exposed frame area.There is no option but to do them properly.An interesting point is that I am following the information in John Franklin's book as to the gunport sizes taken from the builders model,the main gun deck ones work out at 13mm W x 12mm H,the upper ones are 8mm square!!.I made a simple strip to slot between each side to ensure the cills ran true to the waterline athwartships and cut the rebates out with a burr and scalpel.I also made some simple sanding sticks up to ease the process,notably one wide enough to span between both frames to keep each side level.The excess will be sanded off after the top and bottom cills have been glued in place.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Hi Mates,
 
Here is an update on the cannons, very laborious, but moving along. The carriage wheels are finally completed and installed.
 
Some notes;
 
As you may have noted from previous posts I used small rings with stems to create the axle braces, cutting the ring parts.
 
I cut and adjusted all 112 individually, then glued them with a tiny bit of Gorilla white wood glue. Once they "set", I then added CA glue at the very bottoms for permanent adhesion. Note the shinny bits at the axle groove tips. The wheels will hide these smears.
 
Each carriage had to be size adjusted for my inconsistent cannon deck port heights. Hmmm. So numbered each one, after adjusting the carriage heights, and slipped their corresponding parts into small zip packs.
 
Next step is to blacken the metal upper frames which are presently still bright brass. I want to use the chemical, but think that painting might be faster because I need to airbrush all of the cannons (including the lower and upper "dummies" black. So I might do this all at once.
 
I haven't used my Paasche in so many years, I was surprised to find my air pump still working (:-)
 
This will be followed by drilling small holes at the bottom center of each carriage to allow for a set nail when attached to the deck.
 
Lastly, the blocks, hooks and ropes will be attached.
 
PS: I think that my axle pins are too far away from the washer Drat !!
 
Michael

Nigel,
 
yes, there are 6 of them included in the etch set.
 
Have now completed the two bulkheads and the intermediate wall in lengthwise direction (with door) between those bulkheads.
Also some extra belaying Points and the oil-lamp lights and door hinges.
Wish there were more hight in These Areas, but then I would have to Change the Amati plan completely.
It was quite a fiddeling work to get those bulkheads in place, the larger one had to be separated in two parts, and then mounted in place, due to the trapez-like shape.
 
I would reccomend that These bulkheads are planked equiped with all necessary Fitting out and mounted in place before the hull is planked, it would be much easier.
 
Nils
 
 

also two outer clamps port and starboard to the twin double door bulkhead
 

the intermediate space between the bulkheads
 

great cabin Forward bulkhead
 

the upper Portion of the first bulkhead Need to trimmed off Flush when glue is dry

Today a surprise..
 
with only 5 days for postage US to Germany ! I received sample blocks from Chucks shop today. They really look fantastic, are of super precision and Quality, so I started straight away to do a typical sample Gun Tackling by using the 4mm blocks
1 x 2 sheave and 1 x 1 sheave
I Chose the natural hemp Color rope 0,5mm diam from 100% Polyester and had to increase the sheave hole borings in the blocks to 0,8 mm. I am happy with the result regarding to the realistic look.
When the rigging starts, I find it is a must to us These fine looking blocks
 
Nils
 

 

I have completed the basic 'inner' hull structure to the starboard side.As I am waiting for a timber delivery I thought I may as weel sort out the lower gunport linings.After studying Euromodels drawings and also pics of the builders model,it became apparent there were differences not just in the position of gunports but also the height  and shape of the top of the hull sides.Because I want to reflect the design of the NMM model I would have to address these areas.The most notable fact is there is a gunport right forward on the museum model that is missing on Euromodels representation.Looking at the design you would probably only get a musket in there,but it is there nevertheless.Also the stern galleries are very different and you will notice the gunports are close up to this.This basically meant starting from scratch and the bulk of the ports were moved aft slightly.An additional port would then fit in at the beakhead,but also the first and last port on the main gun deck are spaced differently.My revised design reflects this. 
There is a three page article in John Franklin's book covering the builder's model which gives the exact gunport sizes and wale scantlings and spacings.The Euromodel kit design shows upper wales that are too small in comparison.In order to get things to work the top edge of the hull has been increased in height to compensate for this.You will notice the additional pear laminations on the top edge,the bulkheads are too short to run to the top.The lower of the pear strips has been 'dowelled' with 0.7mm copper wire into every pear upright.This has resulted in an incredibly strong hull wall even before planking.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks guys your nice comments, they give energy to building her!
 
The rudder is in place and all left to do on the whole stern now is the hanging lion. First pics of the real one I took earlier:
 

 

 
And how mine turned out. The rudder was on of those things that changed the whole look, well at least for me.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
/Matti
 
 
 

Nice looking rudder - mine doesn`t have enough hinges.I didn`t correct it before installing it due to my failure to notice it.
 
/Mark

Hey all, started to work on the rudder. I want to make my own hinge construction to make it more in scale and more wonky like the original.
 
The original shape is good but had no cut outs for the hinges so I wanted to have them aswell.


 
 
/Matti
 
 

As I am waiting both for glue to dry and a timber delivery to arrive,I thought now may be a good time to make some linings up for the ports of the main gun deck.I had come up with a simple design that through its shape would ensure consistency of size.This profile was machined on the MF70 out of 3mm Pearwood.The thickness will be hidden under the planking so I could afford to make something substantial.The idea being to machine the profiles,glue together and slice the box up into lengths sufficient to allow for the tumblehome.These will be glued in place and the inside and outside face shaped flush with the hull structure.the sequence of pics explain it better than anything.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Finally a new post,
I am busy privatly with the preparation for selling our house
 
finished with the gunport doors total 58 pcs
 
 

 

Hola!!
 
Now that I'm finishing with the port side chainboards, I've noticed that the number of holes for deadeyes and blocks of the middle one (main mast) mismatch between plan and drawings of the instruction manual. In fact I realized this because the number of chains appear to be insufficient.
 
Plan; with 12 chains and marked with an X the one added incorrectly.

 
Figure in the Manual:  with 11 chains and marking with an arrow the correct place based on the 1:10 Model that is in the Vasa museum.

 
By the way, one thing I've observed in this BB kit is that the number of pieces is the minimum required and not as in other brands where they place extra additional pieces to replace defective parts or inaccurate counts  in case you need them. In fact in this BB kit I have had to replace some of the wooden planks and wire because they were not enough.
 
Saludos, Karl

Lower shrouds & stays done using Chuck`s rope - very nice rope.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

Started working on the shrouds.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

Very nice work Mark, your rigging is getting wonderful
 
Saludos, Karl

Excellent work Mark She looks fabulous.I have to agree Chuck's rope is something special and adds greatly to the model.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel