kruginmi

Another 8 hours in the books (time flies when you are having fun).  I did a lot of touch up, the secret:
 

 
The spindle sander provided the sawdust.  I would put some glue on my finger, use the mini-trowel to push it into the offending space, and then rub sawdust over everything.  After a few minutes I used a scraper to remove a majority of the overflow and once dry sandpaper to finalize.  Worked like a charm.
 
The majority of the time was on those 90 eyebolts and 40 rings, and the assorted fitting, drilling, blackening, resetting (and on the floor finding the errant drops). 
 

 
I am pleased with the result.  Just have one more thing to button up this gun deck and move to the forecastle.  I have also actually fitted the bowsprit.  To set the gammoning cleats I thought the easiest was to have it solid on the hull so visually everything would be in alignment.
 
Stay building my friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Nice.. that looks the absolute business Mark !
 
All The Best
 
Eamonn
 
I always found those doors with hinges on both sides a nightmare to open..

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks Greg and Michael and all the likes / looks.  I appreciate them, this build has been a long time in coming!
 
With spring break being over with all the trips / visits / teenage angst I can finally get back to work.  First on the list was the 90 eyebolts and 40 rings (18 gunports, 5 eyebolts per, 3 rings per).  Just pull up a cozy chair, have a good magnet nearby to find all those AWOL pieces and a mere 3 hours later they were done:
 

 
Since I needed to blacken them, it was a natural to finally get all those hinges done to allow everything to blacken in one bunch.  I sliver soldered a thin rod onto a cut rectangular piece of brass then super glued this along with another small piece of brass to achieve the look I wanted.  These were also used for the rear lockers.  Then everything had a coat of gel coating.  I did make this job easier when I suddenly realized I didn't need hinges on both sides of the door!
 

 
Then of course you have the obligatory draft install to check out the final look:
 

 
Another notch in the complete column.  Now for some clean-up, the addition of a small windlass, affix all that cannon tackle and I will declare the gun deck complete. Maybe by tomorrow night?
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Thanks to all, for popping on and taking a look at my build.
 
>/    Not much going on slow progress,
 
I Have completed a painful Gun port pattern strips on both sides,,, Next, first layer of planking  to start soon,

Looking great - One down and 50 (or so) to go!
 
Stay Building My Friends,
Mark

Today I created the swivel stun assail boom attachments and attached them to the ship. The plan called for using rings on the end of the stun sails and to mount them on hooks attached to the hull. The real ship has pins in the stun sail booms bent at 90 degrees and these stick through mounts attached to the channel. It also needs to have a bracket made to hold the end of the boom for the forward booms. The rear booms tie to the channels. I used some brass channel pieces and some small brass tubing. I cut the channels to length to mount on the forward side of the chain channels. To these, I soldered the small tube pieces. Then I ground the assembly down to shape it nicer than the raw channel. I sloped the sides of the channel down to the width of the tubes at the outer ends.
 
I used some brass strips to create the brackets to hold the forward boom ends. I soldered 1mm brass rods on the end of the upper bracket to insert into matching holes I drilled in the hull just above the wale. The lower bracket brace I bent upward and glued to the hull. Since the rear booms end up straddling the midships and stern channels, I just tied the stern end of the boom to the channel. I did not feel that a hook would be seen at all. Also, since these are painted black they tend to blend in with the hull. However, I do like the way the booms look attached to the hull. I think the brackets came out like I wanted them to. 
 
I also have attached a photo of the four anchors sitting on the forward deck. Ready for installation.
 

MY VASA IS FINISHED!!! 
 
I myself can't believe it but it's TRUE! It's finally done!!! 
 
The feeling of proud and accomplishment one gets when finishing a 1200+ hour project is exhilarating.
 
Photo heavy thread. Sorry!

Status update....
 
drilled the 6 bulwark holes for the oars using a copied template from my plan on starboard side, am filing These square now
 

 

 
 
 
Nils

Thanks Popeye,
 
all 14 done, can now Close that chapter..
 
Nils
 
 

Thanks Nils, Ed, Jay and Russ for the compliments.  Jay - yes those slots are for the channels.  Almost a whoops there since I had almost glued in the molding over them before almost by chance remembering I needed to keep that clear.  The actual channels are roughed in and off to the side currently.
 
Now for the mast partners.  I had never really thought these through but had 'assumed' the normal fashion a ring and slip it over the mast and rest on the deck.  As I went over what had to be done I had one of those ah-ha moments where I realized the process was almost as complicated as the 'real' process.  Why not?  (bashing / scratch is so liberating - hah, hah).
 
First obstacle was that the deck hole was currently a snug fit for the mast and had to be enlarged, but by how much?  I affixed four 1/32" pieces to the mast and measured the resultant opening.   Also VERY important to trace the deck profile onto the mast since the partners are not at 90 degree angle to the mast.
 

 
This was then transferred to the deck and the hole suitably enlarged.  I measured the outside circumference of the new hole to define a uniform wedge size.  Then using some wood from the scrap pile (I  believe 1/8") I cut out that width and using a jig cut the tail down to the target 1/32".  The back of the wedge was sanded to the profile of the mast and the edges hand cut to the necessary bevel.  Each wedge had to be checked against the deck profile (drawn onto the mast) to insure the correct slant was added to the deck mating section.
 

 
Once all the wedges were attached there was point sanding to smooth / round things out.  I should note that I periodically checked the fit against the deck as the wedges were attached.  I still have some more refining to do but it works out to around an hour per mast partner.  Still have the main and foremast to do, hopefully today.
 

 
-mark

On to the bulkheads!  The windows ended up being 66 different pieces of wood, it will be interesting to see how many pieces are used for these 3 panels.
 
The approach for the 3 panels (2 cross ship, one bow and aft connecting) was to use a 3 ply sandwich of 1/32" basswood, used on other builds in this forum.  The middle piece is a solid piece of wood with the 2 other being trim pieces added to give the look of fancier paneling.
 
The initial form was defined through the use of cereal box cardboard.  If any one needs that detail let me know, but needless to say it took around 3-4 iterations before I was satisfied (around a full size Cheerio box - hah, hah).  Once I was satisfied with the fit I transferred to the basswood and cut out:
 

 
The panels were cut to fit under a defined deck beam, flush with the rear edge.  You can see in the above photo the Legos used to help hold things up (another great idea from this forum).  I then defined the doorway locations which required more effort than I thought.  The original location looked great but upon trying the panel in location was obvious had an issue with the location of the stairs to the berth deck.  I moved them farther out but then realized the door locations had to be equivalent on the aft bulkhead for the connecting partition to work and, of course, they were now too far out.  So....third time the charm and I got to an acceptable location:
 

 
The connecting panel was added and the trim work to allow them to connect.  I added some preliminary trim pieces to check out the pattern I sought after, but it is still incomplete.  The doors will not have windows added to them.
 

 
A final check required before the push to complete the panels was to add the other quarterdeck beams.  I love it when a plan comes together:
 

 
Tonight the plan is to complete the trim pieces on all three panels, add solid 3/32" pieces of wood between the beams on the fore and aft piece for strength and a more finished look.  The metalwork for the hinges and door knobs will be this weekend.  Then the pieces get stored away until the cannon carriage bolts are affixed.
 
Not too much work, but a tremendous change in visual appeal.
 
-mark
 
 
 
 
 

She's looking beautiful, Mark!

Seeing what is possible is truly inspiring.  Beautiful build. 

For a second go I used the shank of a drill bit to achieve around a 50% reduction in ring size for the eyebolts affixed to the hull.  The hanging ring I kept at the 4P nail size.
 

 
This achieves the look I had in my mind.  I now have to find my Zen, a comfortable spot and produce 90+ of the eyebolts.  Then after cleaning and blackening I will put them aside until the gun deck is totally gel coated before gluing them in using CYA glue. I hope this ends up being this weekend!
 
Stay Building, My Friends,
Mark

Thanks everyone for looking, with your motivation I am almost buttoning this gun deck up! 
 
One of the last things is to affix the cannon tackle (port tackle eybolts on top, breeching ringbolts on bottom each side of cannon).
 
For my prototype I used 28 gauge wire and a 4p nail.
 

 
It looks to me I need to go with a smaller nail.  Given that their will be no cannon I am also leaning towards having no breaching ring hanging off the ringbolt for a cleaner look (the right side of the pic).
 
Any comments?
 
-mark

Thanks Nils, Ed, Jay and Russ for the compliments.  Jay - yes those slots are for the channels.  Almost a whoops there since I had almost glued in the molding over them before almost by chance remembering I needed to keep that clear.  The actual channels are roughed in and off to the side currently.
 
Now for the mast partners.  I had never really thought these through but had 'assumed' the normal fashion a ring and slip it over the mast and rest on the deck.  As I went over what had to be done I had one of those ah-ha moments where I realized the process was almost as complicated as the 'real' process.  Why not?  (bashing / scratch is so liberating - hah, hah).
 
First obstacle was that the deck hole was currently a snug fit for the mast and had to be enlarged, but by how much?  I affixed four 1/32" pieces to the mast and measured the resultant opening.   Also VERY important to trace the deck profile onto the mast since the partners are not at 90 degree angle to the mast.
 

 
This was then transferred to the deck and the hole suitably enlarged.  I measured the outside circumference of the new hole to define a uniform wedge size.  Then using some wood from the scrap pile (I  believe 1/8") I cut out that width and using a jig cut the tail down to the target 1/32".  The back of the wedge was sanded to the profile of the mast and the edges hand cut to the necessary bevel.  Each wedge had to be checked against the deck profile (drawn onto the mast) to insure the correct slant was added to the deck mating section.
 

 
Once all the wedges were attached there was point sanding to smooth / round things out.  I should note that I periodically checked the fit against the deck as the wedges were attached.  I still have some more refining to do but it works out to around an hour per mast partner.  Still have the main and foremast to do, hopefully today.
 

 
-mark

Thanks for all the likes!
 
7 hours and 180 pieces of wood (and counting) the bulkheads are pretty close to done.  Still need the hinges and door knobs to make the doors pop and the gel coating will help accentuate the paneling.
 

 
I also will add some pieces on the fore and aft panel between the beams to clean up the top edge and provide some added strength to keep it from shifting in the future.  With the deck extension the British added these bulkheads are pretty far under the quarterdeck lip.  I will keep a gap in the floor planking for some glimpses.
 

 
Now on to the mast partners.....
 
-mark