marktiedens

I have managed to put all those spindle/balusters/balustindles to good use!   A little error in my planning led to less work - only 80 spindles were needed.
I've made and installed more of the decorations as well.
 

 

 

Thanks to the tape idea, I've finished the first 60 balusters for the top taffrail. I'll be making the railing and installing these soon.
 
 

Update Feb/12/2014
 
Today, at 9:52 AM I tied the last of the clove hitches that form my Vasa's shrouds and ratlines.
This may mean nothing to you, but to me it marks the finish of the standing rigging in my ship, (buh-bye ratlines tying.See you again in my Royal Louis, a few years from now.  )
I'm including some photos. If you notice some loose lines laying around, it's OK. They will be properly trimmed when the time comes.
Comments, critiques and anything else you may write: Welcome!!!

Like some others on MSW building a Wasa, I am currently working on the chain plates. I find it very difficult to prepare these items, so that they look ok, fit well and function satisfactorily, all at the same time.
 
Following on the example from Mark, I have bought aftermarket chainplates from Amati, as well as triangular deadeyes.
I have built the Amati chainplate as it is intended, but I am not really happy with it because of its bulky part to fit the deadeye. (picture: second from the right/bottom)
Next I tried to follow Marks example by bending the plate and fitting the wire around the triangular deadeye, but I did not succeed in bending the wire around the deadeye and then be able to fit the wire properly. As a modification on this, I replaced the brass wire by very strong yarn (ijzergaren in Dutch) and knotted the deadeye to the vertical part of the chainplate. (picture: at the right/bottom)
In the picture, there are two more/different chainplates: at the left is an example as was built by the previous builder (before my restoration), but there were only a few still attached to the ship when I obtained it. The second from the left, is after replacing the circular deadeye by a triangular one.
 


 
I will appreciate your comments about by intention to continue with the yarn-version (the one at the right/bottom). Of course, I will paint it as well.

A minor update, but still slowly moving forward. Here are a few pics of the installed channel deadeyes for the main mast. Thanks to all of you who are so kind spending time on my log, clicking and of course offering your thoughts; much appreciated.
 
As many other builders have said, close up photos are scary....I see all kinds of errors that I have made (:-) 
 
 
Regards,
 
 
Michael

Hey all!
 
Making the cannons are more work then I thought. The wheels and axels are brass and I'm no fan of metal parts as they make painting and shaping much harder. So there is a lot of time just to sand them to make the paint bite.
 
Anyway the carriages are made of a total of 20 parts each (I still have to add the two locking parts that holds the cannon).
 
Painting them black was quite tricky as it's hard to get a realistic look with the details noticeable. It's a mixture with gray/black. Then highlighting edges and details with gray and finally blending them with brown/black washes. I wanted the wheels to look like they where rolled in dust/being worned so they are painted like the carriages. 
 
A few pics of the real cannons and carriages:




 
And here are mine so far:




 
Still some painting left to do, and also there are some baking soda I need to clean off.
 
 
/Matti

My kit does seem to be a bit older than yours as you can see by the box cover.
 

 
/Mark

I will follow with interest as I also have this kit sitting in the closet.
 
/Mark

Cannon Rigging
 
Well, after a week of Chinese New Year celebration, and another week before it as preparation, I finally can sit down here and make some updates.

Corel doesn't provide a clear instruction on the cannon rigging, and even the rigging blocks are not coming in correct size. Purchasing them will be really out of my budget, while making 80 of them sounds bit crazy for me, so I decided to make a easier version.

I first made me a jig for the rigging before putting them to the deck. The horizontal line marks the level of the eye bolt on the bulwark.
 
I started the first one on top of the jig as here gives a larger space for me to work on.
 
 

 
After making the first knot, I applied glue to secure it before rigging it down.
 

 


After this, I transferred it down and did the same on the other one.
 


Done.


On the deck. From this picture, you can see that I've also added the the waterway and rail, I'll make the update as soon as possible.
 


Thanks for viewing.

Hi everybody.
After removing almost all the parts that were misplaced or wrong I begun with the hull plancking.  For that it was necessary to make some adjustments in the bow adding a little piece in order to fit the plancks.

 
The next step was to correct and rebuilt the stern.

 
After making the stern and the bow adjustments I proceed with the hull plancking.There were few problems placing the first plancks, but below the water line it was a little tricky because the hull made a sharp curve and the plancks at the stern, and mainly in the bow area, must be cutted and bevelled.  
 






 

Posting some more pictures!
 
I'm not to happy with the way these came out. I might redo them when I make the bitts.

 
Added the knees to the lower bow railing

 
Finished Bow railing



 
I have finished the tops of the railings and now I will start working on the kevels.



 

I agree - nice job.You may recall my deadeyes were not all drilled on center either but I think that after the lanyards are rigged it won`t be noticeable.There are so many other inaccuracies that I am not going to spend all the extra time to fix them.Besides that if I break or damaged one I don`t know if I could find a replacement as mine are triangular & I don`t have any extras.I would really hate to try & make one to match.

Hi everyone,
 
Here is the second part of the chainplates/deadeyes installation. Continuing from the first part, with the deadeye chainplates matter resolved, now it was time to shape, drill new holes (for the nails), then cut their lengths, thin their bulk where the nails would be added, and touch up with flat black paint. I decided to have that flatter look at their ends in order to make them appear more as flat plates, so Dremel-ed the front and back faces.
 
I then realized that the nails, though they had flat heads, were actually too wide. A bit of Dremel trimming and black paint resolved the issue. I added a comparison photo.
 
I then borrowed from Ferit's spectacular Berlin build and used his rubber band concept to align the chains correctly for nailing. This technique allowed me to drill holes into the wales at properly angled locations. Great idea Ferit a big thanks, again!
 
There are some errors, of course. The deadeye rings are not correct. They should be actual rings with longer lower lips that clamp to actual plates. Mark's Vasa (marktiedens) really captured that correctly! His looks perfect.
 
Also the deadeyes should be triangular as well. So it goes. Lastly, I was so concerned about sourcing deadeyes that had similar staining that I totally overlooked, what I now see glaring at me- in some of them the three holes are not properly spaced. These were all machined parts so I assumed (there's that word again) I will fill-in some of the worse offending holes and re-drill them. OK now onto the main mast, then the port side. Again, as always thanks for dropping by, its always so appreciated.
 
Regards,
 
Michael
 
 

Small update: I've painted the big sculpture at the middle of the ship. First how it looks on the 1:10:
 

 
And here is how mine turned out:
 

 
I've also made the wooden pieces that sits around the round holes below the bow:
 

 
I have also started to plan the cannons and now know what where used. By looking at the guns made by Clayton for the 1:10 model at the museum I noticed that the guns supplied by BB is not that bad actually and I will use them for the stormstycke cannons. To my relief the wagons included in the kit is close to the originals in look so there is no need to buy or build others. I might tweak them some though.
 
On the real ship 8 of the cannons where old 3 pounders made in the 1500's. I decided to scratch these in wood as I want to have those long and thin barrels. 
 
Here is how they turned out:
 

 

 
 
 
/Matti
 
 
 
 
 
 

B.E.
 
Thanks, no she has resided within her own protected home for many years. Though she has travelled across the Atlantic twice. A small pea within a huge container ship.
 
Please note (for our U.K. members) that small painting on the staircase wall (the yellow building). We had a flat in this building located in Saint John's Wood (NW8). Apparently Bonaparte II slept there at one time, so the building got "listed". It took us almost two months to get approved to have a TV cable hooked up to the flat. This was back in the mid 90's much has changed in NW8 from what I understand. A wonderful elderly gentleman did the painting for us. I so loved living in London, a great moment in my family's lives. The building is called Eagle House.
 
Cheers,
 
Michael

It took a while, but I finally got the cleats, rails, and sheaves in place.  
 

covered with oil:


 
after drying oil tinting:




 
Everything. And so it did:


 
Sincerely, Alexander
 
 
 
 
 
 

manufacturing slot:




 
Thread bottom feet:





 
 

I am going to try and get technical now and provide text with each picture  
The first step is to copy the drawings regarding the bulkheads.This is due to the between deck areas not be cut out from the factory.These were pasted to the relevant bulkheads to allow cutting out with the scrollsaw.Some areas were not shown,mainly the first and last bulkhead which will require some drafting to get the cutouts.

The design of the kit intends for a 3mm by 7mm stringer to be fitted each side of the hull.This stringer does not coincide with anything and to a certain extent will be in my way,so the bulkhead notches were filled with scrap timber.

These are pictures of the skeleton so far.You will notice I have cut my own notches out on the lower deck.These are for 5mm square stringers supplied by me.These provide support for the lower gundeck,which is the only deck that will have a plywood subdeck.The plywood additions to the structure are to incorporate dimensional stability and resistance to twisting.The triangle design makes the skeleton rigid,it is impossible to twist it for and aft.The lower hull will be infilled with lime wood.This triangular structure reduces the wood required and also prevents any distortion that can occur due to the moisture from the glue when fitting the infill.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
That brings things up to date for the time being.
Kind Regards Nigel

Hi everyone,
 
Thanks for the nice words about my first attempt.
 
I just posted several pics in the completed ships section, if you care to visit that would be very kind.
 
Nigel she looks as she did forty years ago. I attempted, then to "age" her a bit. The stairs for example. I also used an air brush to highlight certain areas with stain, then Watco oil to preserve the wood.The oil was rag applied.
 
Then finished the rigging. My nineteen year old girlfriend did the sewing for the sails (She's still by my side). The only changes are with some of the rigging which has lost some of its original color and "relaxed a bit. I hesitate to go in and adjust things.
 
Here are a couple more pics. Thanks for dropping in. Its been almost a time capsule looking ship, hard to believe that it was such a long time ago. A couple for footnotes; I paid $70.00 USD, and I only had sandpaper, a basic Dremel and rarzor blades. Whoa how our hobby has improved with helpful machines. I note that this ship is still being produced today with full color booklet instructions (:-)
 
OK now back to the Vasa.
 
Regards,
 
Michael

Placing the stem and the real keel. The stem is solid walnut and 7mm thick. It is heavy and I didn't trust just a glue joint to hold it on, since much will be hanging off this piece including very large metal figures. I drilled 1.6mm holes from the outside into this and the false keel about 30mm deep. I inserted 1.5mm brass rods at the top, middle and bottom and drove them in below the surface with thick CA glue. If you look at the last photo, you can see one of these pins just below the surface. I did not worry about glue stains or the holes for the pins because the whole thing will be planked with walnut strips later on.  A very small amount of adjusting using a sanding wheel was necessary to match the curves of the false keel and the stem.
I also placed the 1.5mm pins in the keel piece as well. Since there was nothing to hold clamps to, I used some planking clamps I had bought which I could never get to work correctly. They did work for this however, so I got my money's worth afterall.  It is important to note that the plans call for making the keel from 3 pieces of lumber, but the kit comes with a single 6x7mm walnut board instead, that must be shaped into the keel. The last thing to do here is to attach the sternpost, but some shaping of the keel is necessary first.
 
Vince P.

Hi everyone,
 
Well it took about forty years, but I finally took some pics of my first build. Here are a couple of pics. I will put some together and post them in the completed ships section in the next couple of days. I was in my early 20s and it was the Mantua Santa Maria. She has been untouched in all of these years. She held up fairly well. 
 
 

As work is moving well on the construction of my Caroline build,preliminary work is now starting on my next'bill paying' project.This is based on the Euromodel kit,but it is my intention to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with a kit.I shall be using construction techniques for the hull that have been developed by myself,specifically for this build.The completed model shall include the following details;
1/hull planking in boxwood and ebony
2/hull planking omitted between the upper wales with false boxwood frames,this is a feature on quite a few Navy board models which I am quite fond of and an alternative from a fully framed build.
3/Full hull interior,lower gun deck upwards,with planking sections omitted on the upper decks for viewing the interior.
4/Remodelling of the stern to replicate the drawing by Van de Velde the Elder.
This project will be a 'slow burn' until Caroline is finished,but I am starting this log now to avoid missing anything as work progresses.I am trying to avoid starting another log with a planked hull  
Some photos to wet your appetite

The box,rather heavy,given it's size

Mordaunt by Van de Velde the elder
 
Kind Regards Nigel

As I said, this kit is closer to a scratch build than a kit build. Most kits come with provisions in the precut parts of the false keel and bulkheads for installing the bowsprit later on. This one does not. There is a certain point while constructing the hull that this must be addressed before things get covered up. Now is the time, even before placing the solid bow section, any planking at all, and before working on any of the decks above the lowest gun deck. With the bottom gun deck secured in place and the hull stringers secured, it is time to deal with the bowsprit. The plans show about a 40 degree angle running on top of the stem and down to a quasi bulkhead just behind bulkhead "E". This bulkhead must be fabricated and secured to the lower gun deck just behind bulkhead "E". A line is drawn on the stem where the bowsprit will rest and then a big piece of the stem has to be removed above this line. In addition, parts of bulkheads "F" and "E" have to be cut away to allow the bowsprit to pass through. Some supports have to be added to shore up the bulkheads that were cut. The bowsprit can now be dry fitted and beveled at the end to butt up against the added bulkhead and then removed and put away. Next up is to fit and secure the real stem, keel, and sternpost. They don't address these until way later, but they must be in place before the first planking, as the planks have to terminate on them at the bow, stern, and bottom of the hull.
 
Vince P.

I have finished the railing posts on both sides of the ship. I will start working on the railing tops, finishing the bow railing, and the rigging pulleys on the middle lower railings.