JanV

Good to see you back Sjors. Also greetings to Anja.
Nice to see this Aggy again in process.

Good to see you back Sjors. Also greetings to Anja.
Nice to see this Aggy again in process.

Thanks everyone for visiting my shipyard, your comments and also for the likes.  As usual it's very much appreciated.
 
Yes, for simulating the splicing of rope in this small scale is near impossible and I really didn't want to spend the time and effort to do so.  In the end I think that my method works out acceptable.
 
As mentioned in my previous post I am using a different method in making the little eyelets on one end of the pulley strap.  It's done in a few seconds but I have to be careful not making the eyelets too small.  Has happened to a few of them but making new ones is now a no brainer 
 
Stropping the pulleys seems to be going a lot faster now with only a few redoes.  A teensy drop of soft solder on the eyelet part and after the first twist on the hook part secures the strop nicely to the pulley block.  Actually, the "splicing" of the "ropes" takes more time, go figure.
 
Here is the sequence go how I am now making the strops for the single sheaf pulleys.  
 

Step 1. Take short piece of brass wire (I used 0.3 mm - I would have liked thinner) and make a loop.
 

Step 2. Grap the loop at its end in a pair of pliers, making sure not to cover too much of the loop end other wise the eyelet will bee too large.  Conversely, too little and the eyelet will be too small for the "rope."   It all depends on the rope size.
 
Cheers,
Step 3. Pull each end of the brass wire to tighten the loop and presto, you should have a nice eyelet.
 

Here is the completed eyelet - sorry for the blurry pic, camera shake 
 
Cheers,

I believe the correct way is to use 2 large 3 hole blocks as in this picture.
 

 
Mark
 
 

Hi Mates,
 
Continuing with the foremast cap (platform?) I decided to try to make a ring for the lowest one on the platform. This may seem old school to some of you, but for me it was new thinking J I used Corel’s metal ring as a template.
 
I modeled my attempt, for this cap, from looking at the 1/10th. I also realized that I would need to attach the chainplate deadeyes through the lower ring (four to a side), and not at the base of the platform as was done for the bowsprit cap.
 
That said, it also appears as if there are variations in the cap ring designs when comparing the 1/10th to the 1/1 rebuilt cap rings; again Vasa and its question marks.
 
So those small basswood rings that I curved, would not accept chainplate deadeyes. It would have been a mess. So a larger ring it had to be.
 
I used the Vasa museum plan sheet as a guide for placing the ring braces.
 
The foremast had an issue as well; as I made the mid smaller foremast I then realized after also making the trestles that the mid mast just slipped right through.
 
So back to re-adjust trestle spacing and a bit of sanding and squaring off the tip of the lower foremast (note the pics) all fits ok now. Enjoying this part of the build.
 
Always BIG thanks for dropping by!
 
Regards,
 
Michael
 

Hi Mates,
 
David, thanks so much. It's so nice when we can learn from each other.
 
Almost done with bowsprit masts, just need to finish up shrouds, attach the chains and deadeyes as well as the ratlings.
 
I will remove the six lower deadeye lines, and re install them. I am not satisfied with the knots (too bulky [pic. 8]) then attach them to the bowsprit mast under the cap.
 
Please note that the mast has not been permanently attached. Talk about a mistake that would be !!
 
Now working on foremast platform. As always thanks for your visits.
 
Cheers,
 
Michael
 

According information of Fred Hocker the book Vasa II is delayed till Easter 2016. so after issuance of the book we can revise the rigging
 
I made the wrapping on the fore and main mast according Corels instructions and based on information of Dutch standards in shipbuilding.
I am using information from the replica of the Batavia also

The Billings kit does appear to be more accurate than the Corel, but it has plenty of its own problems.  Maybe some day Fred and the Vasamuseet will come up with the perfect kit...
 
A couple of photos of the mainmast.  It follows the same design as the foremast - there are two cheeks with slots cut in them and in the mast for the yard lift pulleys.  Here I ran into more trouble.  First, the cheeks are a different size from what the plans specify, and they don't fit properly under the pre-cut trestles - they are just too small.  So I fabricated my own pieces slightly wider.  You can see the difference in size below:
 
 
 
Next, the kit dowel stock for the masts is oddly from different kinds of wood.  The wood used for the mainmast looks completely different from the other masts, both in color and grain.  I fixed this by putting a color wash on the mast that toned down the differences somewhat.  You can see the result here:
 

 
Here's a photo of the completed mainmast and the foremast.  The mainmast has woldings as well as iron hoops.  The plans don't specify the hoops, but I copied the look from photographs, using black paper.  You can also see the fore topmast and the main topmast laying on the deck.
 

 
The main topmast was almost identical in construction to the fore topmast - same size platform, slightly different running rigging blocks.  Again I'm following the plans' specification for the rigging blocks and hoping I won't get into trouble later.
 

According information of Fred Hocker the book Vasa II is delayed till Easter 2016. so after issuance of the book we can revise the rigging
 
I made the wrapping on the fore and main mast according Corels instructions and based on information of Dutch standards in shipbuilding.
I am using information from the replica of the Batavia also

According information of Fred Hocker the book Vasa II is delayed till Easter 2016. so after issuance of the book we can revise the rigging
 
I made the wrapping on the fore and main mast according Corels instructions and based on information of Dutch standards in shipbuilding.
I am using information from the replica of the Batavia also

Hi mates,
 
Still with the foremast, added a light Oak stain, then installed the pulleys. Started the mast rope wraps using the technique in last photo.
 
Also starting the foremast top. I had some issues with the bowsprit platform installation (my bad-still learning) this one will be easier. When I get it together I will post some pics as well as what I did wrong with the bowsprit top.
 
Still have not figured out how to properly scale the platform rings. The lower ring should be wider and flatter. Frank has a great tool for making those rings, but I don’t want to buy more tools (;-)
 
So small visual update, thanks for dropping by. 
 
PS: Mast wrapping technique I learned here, of course...
 

LOL

Patience 

Thanks for all the compliments!  On to the foremast.  The dowel stock from the kit is wide at the base, tapering toward the top, and then bulging out at the top so you can file the dowel down to make a square mast head.  As far as I can tell from various books and internet sources, the mast is also supposed to taper inward about 1/3 of the way down toward the base, so the base is narrower than the mast at its widest point.  Since I don't own a lathe, that required putting the dowel stock in a drill and spinning it while pinching the dowel with sandpaper.  It worked reasonably well.  The instructions and the plans disagreed on the mast length, so I picked one.
 
Here's a photo of the masthead, with the cap, cheeks, and trestles installed.  The cheeks are supposed to have metal braces to support the yard lift pulleys; I simulated them with black paper.  You can see the topmost of four woldings as well - after I made them, I discovered the kit plans are wrong and the ship didn't have foremast woldings, so I removed them later.
 
The mast cap hasn't had its braces (more black paper strips) installed yet.
 

 
Another view, where you can see the pulleys installed.  They are brass, so I blackened them with brass blackener.  Here you can also see two blocks associated with the fore yard running rigging.  I installed them early while it was easy.
 

 
And finally the mast installed.  I looked at several sources to try figure out the correct rake.  As near as I can tell the mast is supposed to be perpendicular to the deck, with the trestles tipped downward at the fore end very slightly.
 

 

worked on finishing up all sorts of leftover jobs around the hull/decks. Trying to get a more consistent paintjob/color on the railings in the process. Fitted the guns on the forecastle. Im keeping the rigging super simple cause frankly Im not feeling up to the challenge of rigging it accurately at this scale. This one rope already drove me to frustration so yeah, dark times ahead  
 

 
 
 
 

 

Hello,
 
I have been working on finishing the shrouds for the foremast and also pre-rigging and mounting the foremast top sail.
 
Shrouds and ratlines for the top sail



 
Shrouds and ratlines for the top gallant sail area



 
Foremast topsail ready to mount onto the yard
 


 
Blocks added to the rear of sail /yard

 
Blocks and pr-rigging done to the lower half of sail

 

Continuing on:
 
Foremast top sail ready to mount on ship

 
Sail mounted and halliard finished to mainmast stay


 
I now ran the rigging thru the ship to makes sure everything is where it should be. However, at this time, nothing will be fastened or leveled until all the sails are on the foremast and I am sure of where the lines will end on the deck. So everything is still loose!
 



 
Overview of where I am at this point with the installation of the sails


 
My next step is to rig the foremast upper stays and install the top gallant sail
 
Thanks for visiting,
 
Frank
 

Speaking of the platforms...
 
Here's the bowsprit platform:
 
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After I pored over the instructions, plans, and part manifests for a while, I figured out that four of the platforms - bowsprit, mizzen, foretop, and maintop - are exactly the same, and layout instructions appear just once, in the area for the mizzen mast.  Obvious in retrospect, but not when you are staring at a laser cut sheet of circles and you don't know which go where.  In addition, the instructions are wrong about how to assemble the top - part numbers don't match with reality and the diagrams are incorrect.
 
Once I figured out how the top needed to be constructed, I went about modifying it.  The pieces are much too thick and there are too many of the rings.  I removed one ring and thinned down the base, the two full rings above it, and the half ring above that.  Very tricky delaminating the plywood without breaking the pieces, but I managed to do it.
 
Next, I planked the base in a manner similar to the real ship - as close as I could get with my skills anyway.
 
Finally, the kit provides 8 "braces" evenly distributed around the base.  5 are raised to hold the half-circle rail, the other 3 are smaller.  I needed to recut all of them because they didn't fit right.  Ironically they fit better with the extra ring eliminated.  I have no idea how they would fit if you followed the instructions and used all three rings.  I thought about adding a full set of them (the real ship seems to have more like 16-20 of them) but they would have been too crowded together.
 
Finally I drilled three holes each side for the futtock plates.  I tried several strategies for making futtock plates and attaching deadeyes to them, none particularly successful, so I'm thinking on it for a while.  The kit has no information on the subject at all - I assume you use rigging thread, which isn't correct.
 
The result is pretty good.  I can't imagine building the platforms completely from scratch identical to the real ship - lots of very delicate pieces.  The kit version was OK after all the reworking.
 

I've spent the past three months building the masts.  It's been a complex process, mostly because the instructions are terrible.  I've had to engage in a bunch of detective work to figure out which parts go where, because the layout of the laser cut plywood sheets doesn't match the instructions' layout, and the part list isn't descriptive enough (imagine 20 parts for the mast tops, all described as "top" and you get the idea).  Add to that a bunch of missing parts, as well as various conflicts between instruction diagrams and full scale plan sheets, and the fun just keeps increasing.
 
With that in mind, I started with the bowsprit and worked backward.  There were several false starts and backtrackings along the way, but I'm reasonably happy with the result.
 
Here's the front of the bowsprit, with various fittings attached.
 


  And the rear of the bowsprit.  I added the spiral binding, made of black paper, as well as reinforcing pieces on each side, made from thin veneer steamed into shape.  I couldn't find the kit-supplied cleats so I scratched some up.
 


  Oh wait, I found the cleats!  Turned out they were made of plastic and buried in with a bag of parrel beads.  I liked the shape better, so I removed mine and replaced with the kit's.  Note the gammoning: the plans don't mention that you need a pair of gammoning slots at the bottom of the beak.  The forward slot requires that you thin down the reinforcing pieces above the slot.  A little delicate but doable.  The light makes the spiral binding look purple, but it's black.
 



  And a view of the bowsprit in place.
 

 

Worked on the Friesland for a little bit yesterday. Started making the 64 cannon port hatches. I think I won't continue adding them to the hull yet as they are super fragile and I imagine they will get knocked loose frequently when I'm rigging the masts.

It does look nice though Light at the end of the tunnel for constructing the hull. 

Finished.Finally. Well, I finished up by rigging the anchors & finishing the running rigging.Not sure about some of the belaying points but I think it passes the galloping horse test . Sorry I was not a little more descriptive of some of the work but sometimes I get going on something & forget to take pictures.A lot of modifications were made but I think the end result was worth the effort. I would like to thank everyone for looking in & posting all the generous comments & hitting the like button. I will try to put a few more pics in the gallery. Now for the hard part - trying to decide what to build next .
 

 

 

 

 
/Mark
 
 

I like the sound of that

After the lower shrouds and ratlines, I added the lower foremast stay to the bowsprit.
 



 
Now I started placing the pre-rigged running lines in the proper locations.
All the running lines will remain loose, until the other foremast sails are installed and I am sure of where all the rigging will terminate on the deck!
 


 
My next step now is to finish the upper shrouds / ratlines, install the upper yards and sails and finish the upper stays to the bowsprit.
 
Thanks,
 
Frank
 

Hello,
 
First of all, thanks for all the likes!
 
I have been continuing with the foremast rigging.
 
First, I installed the the lower shrouds



 
Next was rigging the ratlines.

I made all the ornaments for the Batavia kit in cast resin, but have also started making these in white metal. I made a special casting mould of heat-resistant silicone and started pouring.



The white figure you see is a special order for a customer in South Africa.  The red fluid is silicone on the fresly made new ornament for the Batavia.



Although not very clear, left the mould and right the first attempts.