druxey

Lovely work, Gianpiero!

You are making good progress there, Albert. Very nicely done so far!

You are indeed a fortunate fellow, Jim! While I don't own a copy, I have seen this tome. It appears to show the ship's restoration and only fairly reflects her state at that time. It does not show the ship 'as built' or in her various other intermediate appearances. I understand that some of the features of her restoration have since been queried or disproved. That said, it appears to be an excellent and exhaustive document on her 20th century restoration.

Woodrat is quite correct in his translation, Brian. it does mean 'big belly' or 'fat belly'!

All the more reason not to use ebony in model work! (As if there weren't enough reasons already!)

Merry Christmas and beautifully done, Gary. I'm sure that the maple will 'settle down' visually as the air oxidizes the surface over time. Fresh cut wood always seems so bright. Look at the fresh cut surface of any wood and compare it to the outer side that was sitting in the shop to get the comparison.

Michael: you would need to maintain the geometry of the points in order for the calibration to remain accurate.

Elia: the rack and pinion move the pivot unit, so that it adjusts the proportionality. If you need to re-calibrate the instrument, you would need to loosen and slide the points - a fiddly task to avoid doing, if possible!

As a P.S., I've only ever seen one other set with this cranked style of point, so assume that they are rare. And, as I noted before, I seldom use them; so they remain fairly pristine!

Michael, what I have are these. The set must be vintage if not antique, and are in excellent condition, as you can see.

Um, from the way everything is set up and lit, I'd say that was shot in a studio in a partially mocked up 'shed'.

Gaetan: I agree that a top-grade set of dividers such as the one in your pictures can be very useful in certain circumstances. My own decimal set, with rack and pinion, also have the points cranked to a right-angle, so that you can lay the dividers horizontally. However, for most model-making applications the radiating scale and tick strip are more practical, I find.

The seat caning job is very impressive Michael. Would the corners of the hatch be rounded off ? (I know, it would spoil the crisp lines of your dovetails!)

Nice work, Remco. Yes, every inch of space was well used in these small ships.

My, but you do like tinkering, Michael! Nice concept.

Made masts in Sweden in the early 1600's were very different from Steel's British practice of 1800, Henry.

My suggestion is to study photos of the Vasa's masts to see where the joints appear. The inside construction, being invisible, will be unimportant, as long as the joints are in the correct places on the surface of the mast when you've competed shaping it.

Are you referring to the counter, seen in figures 32 -33? Or the area aft above the propeller?

It would be better not to use lead for a number of health related reasons, as well as the possibility of the cast lead pieces turning to lead salts later on. 

I recommend taking a mold in RTV rubber from your master pattern and casting with lead-free pewter. All you need is available through such companies as Micro Mark. Please read up on metal casting techniques. You need to have risers to allow air to escape and observe other safety precautions.

A washer! Brilliant and simple. Terrific idea, Remco.

Do a few each day and watch the 'done' pile grow! 

It's difficult to appreciate how small the scale and model is in the photos, unless there is something else in the picture to compare it to. The rigging at this scale is very, very impressive!

For certain hull forms, one can control the shape better with closer spaced frames, particularly at the bow and stern. Also, there is greater area to land and attach planking to. However, as already mentioned, it's all a matter of taste.

I assume the transom issue was simply not taking the bevel on the top edge into account? She's looking good so far!

Aren't those lodging knees fun? Nicely done.

Mini electrical transformer wire can go down to extremely fine gauges.

From the sublime to the ridiculous in scale, Michael. You excel at both ends of the spectrum!

I agree with Mark's posting. This holds for British 18th century grating dimensions. I also read somewhere that the hole size had to be less than the size of a shoe heel.