BLACK VIKING

Wow I have just found this build and that is one stunning ship especially as it's radio controlled, very well done Vic .
looking forward to seeing on the water 
 
Martyn

Looking good Sjors can't wait seeing it in the Tung oil  
 
Martyn

Peter, Dave: Thanks appreciated. I have decided to do something about the "problem" that I have with those two blocks. I'll update when I have a plan.
 
Hubac: Very kind of you to follow along. Your work is indeed very impressive.
 
Here is the answer to your question.
MORE than you probably ever wanted to know 
 
VASA II will be the companion to the first book.
 
Here I copied and pasted from the Vasa specific forum Fred Hocker's information; for us Vasa builders it has been so frustrating waiting for this "bible" of the ship's rigging.
 

 
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Since everyone wants to know, I thought I would start a thread here for status updates on the Vasa rigging volume (Vasa II). PS: thread is from 2014
 
Part 1 – The archaeological evidence (Hocker)
The first part of the book presents and analyzes the find material from Vasa which is relevant to the understanding of how the ship was rigged and sailed. Chapters are organized by functional groups and vary in length, depending on the amount of find material. In each chapter, the relevant finds are described and illustrated in sufficient detail to allow useful conclusions to be drawn. Due to the number of finds and the fact that many of them were made on a production basis in specialized workshops, it is not necessary to present every object individually – readers are referred to the Vasa Museum’s online finds database for such information.

Chapter 2: Hull, including construction (Hocker)
This covers the fixed part of the rigging material which was part of the ship’s structure or fastened permanently to it:
1. Mast steps and partners
2. Chainwales
3. Bitts
4. Catheads and fish davit
5. Fixed sheaves in bulwarks, chesstree, etc.
6. Belaying devices (kevels, pinrails, etc.)
7. Ironwork

Chapter 3: Spars (Hocker, Nilsson)
Spars are the masts and yards, the wooden poles which carry the sails and allow them to be adjusted to meet the wind at an optimum angle and transfer the wind’s energy to the ship.
Chapter 4: Tops (Hocker)

Tops are the round platforms at the heads of the masts which provide working space for handling the rigging as well as sharpshooter positions in battle.

Chapter 5: Tackle (Howe, Lindblom, Hocker) 
Tackle is all of the movable wooden and metal parts of the rigging which connect the sails to the spars and the hull and allow them to be raised, lowered and controlled
1. Deadeyes (Lindblom)
2. Blocks (Howe)
3. Parrels (Hocker)
4. Euphroes (Hocker)
5. Fairleads (Hocker)
6. Other (Hocker)

Chapter 6: Rope (Magnus, Seeberg, Hocker)
The rope represents one of the groundbreaking studies in this volume. It is a common find on archaeological sites but rarely presented or studied in detail, so this chapter receives special emphasis and extra material on the materials and manufacturing processes.

Chapter 7: Sails (Bartoš, Bengtsson)
The sails are the most unusual find among all of the artefacts found with Vasa, and so this chapter is also given extra weight. 

Chapter 8: Capstans and windlass (Donohue)
Capstans are the human-powered machines mounted on the deck, which make it possible to lift the heavy weights of the anchors and sails.

Chapter 9: Steering (Hocker)
Vasa preserves the only known complete example of the whipstaff steering system, the most common form of steering gear on large ships from the late Middle Ages until about 1700. 

Chapter 10: Anchors (Hocker, Ward)
Anchors are essential for operation of the ship, and all parts of the anchoring system survive, including anchors, stocks, buoys and cables. 
Chapter 11: Navigation equipment (Hocker, Pipping)
The navigation equipment (compasses,timekeeping devices, sounding leads, etc.) is included in this volume as it is essential to sailing the ship.

Chapter 12: Reconstructing Vasa’s rig (Hocker, Pipping, Stolt)
This chapter synthesizes all of the archaeological evidence and comparative material in a reconstruction of the rigging of Vasa.

Part 2 – Rigging and Sailing Vasa (Pipping)

The second part takes the archaeological data as the departure point for a more wide-ranging contextual examination of the rigging and sailing of a large ship such as Vasa. Where the first part focused more on objects, this part focuses on process and meaning to explore the relevance of this find to larger questions of ergonomics and organisation, resource utilization, and operational implications.

Chapter 13: Ship performance and the sailing environment of the Baltic Sea
The geographic and climatological context is examined, as are the operational environment and the strategic limits within which the ship functioned. The essential parameters of the ship’s performance, such as speed, stability and weatherliness, are discussed in order to establish how well the ship was suited to its likely sailing routes and conditions. 

Chapter 14: Money, materials and men (Hocker)
This chapter concentrates on the administrative framework for outfitting Swedish naval vessels and the resource base from which the raw material were drawn, as well as the organization of the processes of producing rigging and assembling it into a functioning rig. It addresses the economic, environmental and social factors influencing the production of sails, rope and tackle. It makes use of the historical documents relating to the operation of the Stockholm navy yard, where the ship was rigged and fitted out, as well as the remains of the ship itself.

Chapter 15: Rigging the ship
The process of rigging, starting with a bare hull and progressing to a fully outfitted ship ready to sail, is followed in detail, with attention on the manpower requirements, the organizational challenges, and the technical limitations imposed by the particular materials and methods used.
Chapter 16: Sailing the ship

The chapter opens with an analysis of crew organization and Vasa’s one, brief sailing passage for what they say about the ship’s performance and the level of competence of the crew. The rest of the chapter follows a typical passage across the Baltic, based on the sequence of sailing orders recorded for the Swedish navy in the 17th century. It presents the different maneuvers which the ship was expected to perform and how they should have been carried out. The ergonomic requirements are analyzed, and the ship is placed in the context of what is known about Baltic sailing in the 17th century.

Chapter 17: Sailing a modern reconstruction (Morgens and Litcofsky)
Trials made using the modern reconstruction Kalmar Nyckel both confirmed certain hypotheses about the how this rig functioned and raised new questions about the nature of the evidence used to study 17th-century seamanship. The relevance of Kalmar Nyckel for the study of how Vasa sailed is studied, as are the basic limitations of experimental archaeology.

Chapter 18: Conclusions (Pipping and Hocker)
 
 

Thanks, MD!  Well, this sounds like essential reading for anyone that wants to more fully understand these ships for the machinery they were.  I have one Hocker book on the Vasa - a bit more of a general overview of all the topics he expounds upon in these two volumes.  Maybe one day, when I'm feeling a little wealthy, I'll invest in volume I.  It is heartening that the people at the Vasa museum have done so much to try and understand the full import of the Vasa as an archeological find.

Thank you all for the likes and for looking in 
A little more work done on the deck furniture 
I have made the ladders and cat heads and painted the windows to the cabins 
Next job fitting the capping rails to the top of the bulwarks 
 
Martyn

One mast to go and feeling exited as I am nearing the home run.

The oil has certainly made the wood pop , very well done 
 
Martyn

Stunning planking EJ looking forward to seeing it all sanded up 
 
Martyn

Yesterday i was busy sanding the hull in preparation for a first coat of "something". Have not decided on what that "something" will be; most likely it will be a wood satin finish, clear coat, waterborne or maybe some tung oil or linseed oil. Most likely will use few planks for testing before committing..
 
Several layers of sanding were completed, started with 50, then 100, 200, 400, 600...
 


 
After that, i put some masking tape on the hull, just to protect it from dings and dents that can definitely happen during construction process. 
 
Kit plan does not have any parts that will be used to tight the mast, once installed; i have decided to put a bit of a reinforcement (and to cover some holes) where the mast will be installed. It is a small peace of extra planking, with a 6mm hole. Using my trusty bench drill press i made a hole in that small peace of wood. Miniature parts, fat fingers.... welcome to the world of ship modeling. 

On the main deck i will put a small, bolt shaped peace of wood, that will cover imperfections on the main deck where the mast will be installed. Again, i did not see part like this on the plan but there are some other builders using this method to improve appearance of the model. 
 

 

 
The next step will be to put some wood finish on the interior part of the ship, before covering the ship with main deck...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Stunning planking EJ looking forward to seeing it all sanded up 
 
Martyn

Stunning planking EJ looking forward to seeing it all sanded up 
 
Martyn

The oil has certainly made the wood pop , very well done 
 
Martyn

Frank: Using Chuck's at Syren as well as all of his blocks - (except those 6 big ones for the three mast stays those were Corel's).
At one time Syren also had pear wood blocks, that I really liked (miss those)- sorta blended the few that I had left over here-and there.
 
Regarding his ropes and blocks I find them to be superb. Order after order the quality stays 100%. And he ships right away. 
PS: his blocks out-of-the-box are excellent but "tweak" them just a bit. hardly needed (:-)
 
FYI: His company link is on the home page right side. I'm sure that you've seen it.
 
Kier - thanks SO much for your likes 
 
Zappto: thanks for your kind words.
 
Regards,
 

Finished planking the lower hull a few minutes ago! Some sanding to do but overall I'm happy with it. Now I will set her back right side up and continue the upward planking. Plus side is this is the easier planking as it is mostly straight runs with very little if any to bend. More to follow soon!

Thanks John. With P.O.B. kits I really need to stop trying to piece in the planking board by board for the first layer like I do on the second. The supports and frame structure are not very helpful for that style of planking. Instead, that first layer should be full length pieces which would give a much better appearance and smoother surface. Then I can plank piece by piece.
 
I remain stubborn on doing it the harder way mainly because it is practice for me. My ultimate goal is to only have to do one layer of planking so I keep practicing and with each build I get a little better. I'm making my way through those 99 ways to do something wrong in order to find that one way of doing it right!
 
I'm looking forward to being able to give her a good sanding and apply the finish coat. I did a small test sample and really liked the way t came out. Now I want to see it across the entire surface. Ready to see that wood coloring at it's best! Still a little way off but with the completion of the lower hull, it is a lot closer. 

The oil has certainly made the wood pop , very well done 
 
Martyn

Superb work on the main deck she is coming together very nicely ,well done my friend 
 
Martyn

I have been busily mapping out and drilling nail impressions in the deadworks.  I haven't put a caliper to the bit I'm using, but suffice it to say that it is near impossibly small.  There was some trial and error to arrive at a bit that left a plausible impression, and that didn't overheat and clog with melted plastic too quickly.  I still have to stop the Dremel and clear the bit every 15 holes, or so, but that's much better than the 5-8 range.
 
As a quide to my spacing, I am using the exposed timber heads of the caprail.  This works out to about 5/16", on center for the most part, but there are several instances where I'll have to run a row or two at 1/4" spacing, in order to maintain overall consistency.
 
In the waist, and for about six ports aft of the waist ladder, the nailing pattern runs perpendicular to the waterline.  With the hull half sitting on the table, I simply use a try square to align my blue painter's tape guide for keeping my lines nice and straight.  As the sheer rises, further aft, it has become necessary to skew my tape guides ever so slightly, by eye, so that my nailing pattern doesn't run too far askew of the gunport framing, with which it should remain parallel.
 
After much deliberation, I have decided to mimic the alternating nailing pattern that Dan Pariser used for his very thoroughly researched and excellent Queen Anne's Revenge.  I have known Dan for a long time now, and there is nothing he does without considerable thought and research.
 
Here are a few pics of my progress, so far.  They are hard to make out in the black plastic, and after priming and painting they should just barely show as faint impressions.
 

There you have a lot of rigging, i like it goes so smooth! Beautifull sails!

Hi Mates,
Apologies for the late thanks - for the likes, and super nice comments.
Denis, Martin – so overly kind indeed.
 
Frank, she’s actually my second build. There was a 40-year gap between the Santa Maria and this current Vasa. Again you are also so kind with your compliments.
         PS: Your HMAT Supply with its “years” of weathering and barnacled hull are way beyond my skill set. Love that build of yours!
 
Henry, Somehow I intuitively sorta new that that specific ramshead needed to be off center from the mast knowing that the mizzen mast stay would attach to the lower part of the main. It wasn’t knowledge – especially looking at the three plans that I was using. Nonetheless mounted the knight off center.
Thanks for your knowledgeable clarification –luck on my end.
 
Lower main yard is now attached. Added most needed lines as well; now onto the mizzen.
 
Cheers,

 

And some more pictures.....
 
 

Every time I look at this it gets better and better stunning work my friend 
 
Martyn

The oil has certainly made the wood pop , very well done 
 
Martyn

Thank you all for the likes and for looking in 
A little more work done on the deck furniture 
I have made the ladders and cat heads and painted the windows to the cabins 
Next job fitting the capping rails to the top of the bulwarks 
 
Martyn

The oil has certainly made the wood pop , very well done 
 
Martyn