BLACK VIKING

Coming along very nicely Pucko. Nice idea with the templates for marking out the gunports a lot better than the Sovereign of the seas as you had to measure every one. Great work.  
 
BV 

Since I am not happy with the grating provided in the kit, I wondered what to do.
Today I spent half an hour at my local "second hand shop", and found a sheet of veneer, to my surprise mahogany.
It was thin to, so 50 cents later I had it in my hand and this came useful today.
It's perfect for the grating and making strips out of.
Sadly I don't have any mini table saw, so I used my Japanese fine saw and ripped the sheet.
One picture shows the strip in the boat

the other how it takes varnish.

Sanding varnish - sanding varnish and many more times will make the wood luster.
 
Edit: I am to experiment to make some plywood of this material and try making the steering wheel.

Well...work delay. Back in the saddle. Tired and a bit stressed, but nothing a few hours in Ship room can't cure. 
 
Put on fcsl deck.  Moving on...
 
 

Stage 5: Planking the hull
 
So Friday I came home to find Artesanias delivery of replacement strips...
 
.... rammed 20 cms deep into my angled mail box. Thanks, DHL delivery guy. After spending 30 minutes trying to pull, wedge and cut the package free I was surprised to find the strips entirely unphased and in top condition. Great quality and great packaging by AL.
 
So this means I can continue with my build, which I promptly did. The strips are very nice to work with so far. 
 

Phase 1: Hull structure.
 

As usual we start with fitting crossframes to the logitudinal main frame. This one's a single piece, sorely needed as it is only 3 mm plywood. A sub deck is fit which will carry the non functional model boat engine.
 

All cross frames fitted. There's minimal warpage on the top part of the main frames bow and stern halves. Not entirely surprising as the material along the sub deck is only a centimeter in height. Easily cured with a bit of filling and sanding until the level gives its okay.
 

Adding the mast holder and bow strengtheners. Those are roughly sanded a bit in preparation
 

The engine deck is painted white and then it's on to the main deck. Now we have both a camber and a positive sheer, so this is fun, as the main deck needs to wind against itself in different directions across its length and width. Pictured here is the deck drying for a day after a several hour watering session to preform it before glueing it down. The outer veneer of the decks plywood apparently wasn't glued down correctly in production, so it started to roll up from the board at one location. A bit of sanding solved this quickly.
 

Perfect fit, if I may say so myself. At least from my point of view. I don't usually build boats this small in size, so I wouldn't know. To close out this stage the hull is faired for the planking, which goes remarkably quick.

Stage 2: Building the stern former
 
ALs solution to the ridiculously difficult to plank stern section is to not plank it at all. Instead we build up a former out of overlapping wood pieces. Mare Nostrum veterans will notice this very different from the stern former used in earlier kits. Only the upper part of this is sanded to accommodate the stern bulwark right now. The piece itself will not be added to the boat until after hull planking is done and it will be sanded to form even later
 

 
Stage 3: Planking the decks
 
A simple alternating pattern is used to plank the deck. The veneer delivered is an absolute joy to work with. It's plyable and flexible and holds a very nice and clean edge. Other manufacturers could learn from this. I mean you, OcCre.
 


 
The tiny quarter deck is shaped, sanded and also decked with the veneer. Also pictured is 
 
Stage 4: Building the boat stand
 
The next stage is hull planking, which means we lose the option to use the assembly holder for a short while. Instead the boat stand is assembled and it will give the boat a place to rest in that time.
Not pictured yet: The stand was painted black.
 
And now we wait for my replacement planking strips.

Completed grapnel anchor installed. This was done in three layers: one line looped over the thwart, one rope coil over that, and another rope coil attached to the grapnel. I can see why Bob F removed the thwart to work in this tight space.
Steve

While I understand the reasons given for leaving masts unglued, my personal preference is to glue them in place. I would rather have the stability of a permanently mounted mast. Proper tensioning of rigging is difficult enough without having to worry about the mast moving about.
 
Bob

I got a lot done tonight and the great cabin takes on more life! Exterior bulkheads are up, doorways to the quarter galleys cut in and built a couple of bench/storage lockers. Next up I am going to try to build a table and a couple of benches and then I will be ready to run the wires to the lights. I plan on trying to design a couple of small hanging lanterns for the lights to go in. I bought flickering LEDs in hope to simulate candle lighting. We shall see. 

After the nice word that I received after the fix it's time for an update.
I places all the gratings ,railings, paintwork that has to be done.
Cleaning a little bit .
So we are on track again.
And I have put 12 eyebolts with rings on the hull.
I don't know the purpose of that but it looks nice 
 
Sjors
 
 

Hi Mates,
 
Got myself into a bit of a mess. As I’ve mentioned this is my second build. My Santa Maria so many years ago, by comparison, was a walk in the park, even for me a first time builder.
 Well as I have been really learning so much about rigging this Vasa I realize now, in retrospect, that I had/have very little foresight.
 
 For example; I installed the knights with cross-bits at the base of the foremast and main, without thinking ahead. I was happy that I had learned how to use the Proxxon to make slits for the sheaves. And let it go at that – happy to install. Even added nails in the cross pieces to “look” better.
 
So, now, looking ahead at the Corel rigging plans I realize that the cross-bits also needed pin holes (a lot of them) It took the THIRD, and last Corel rigging page to point this out to me (a learner) grrrrr. There was no way that I could drill these fourteen holes at this point.
 
Thought that I could wiggle the knights free and pull them up through the weather deck. The first set install they were just glued into place on the weather deck. When I built new ones with the sheaves I also cut holes through the deck and ran the new knights to the deck below.
They were not “going anywhere” curses. Then thought that I would just tear out the two cross pieces and make new ones, but was nervous about those cross bit nails.
 
Turns out the nails were only decorative and the cross bits just snapped off using small pliers.
 
=====================
 
Sharing because I’m super relieved, and in case another builder misses this foresight as I did as a newbie.
 
Cheers Mates sorry for the long prose. Ok time for a single malt – I think ha ha

 
 

Yes good plan EJ.
Learning is part of the seasoning. This particular "issue" won't happen with my next build. I will certainly do as you suggest also looking at all rigging sheets.
I wonder if the "pin" rigging problem that I had is only particular to Corel instructions?. Though I assume that kits at this level the instruction writers assume that "we know what we are doing" (:-) and would be aware of needed pins later on...
 
That aside, now working on the shroud ratlines for the lower main (first time here as well) So with eight strands clover hitched, realized that rows were not aligning horizontally with the platform above. Though I thought that I had figured this bit in with the first lower row. And, of course, the expert that I am, I glued many of the knots so as not to have then loosen later. HA HA. So had to unstring all the rows and start all over again. Luckily none of the main shrouds were damaged,
 
So learned NOT to glue anything until all rows up to the platform are attached. Then I can use tweezers for minor spacing adjustments. THEN glue. Having fun - good learning going on here as well.
 
Cheers,

Hi mates,
 
Anton T, and costeo - You are so kind –thanks so much for your thoughts
 =======================
 Almost back-to-back updates, this one is small but there was a lot of needed learning. This small bit took almost four hours to figure out and execute. Hmmmm.
 Decided, rather than removing the already attached Futtock shrouds (used Chuck’s .018s his .012s would have been too thin.
 --------------------------------------
 So did the following
 1-2) unspooled the center futtock shroud at the stave. Wrapped it around the stave separating the three “threads, then re spooled them between the shroud to add a bit of glue at the joint.

 
3) removed the third ply from the shroud and attached one to each side of the shroud at the ratline.

 
4-5-6) did the same for the other two end shrouds also removing one strand. After wrapping around the shroud scale “looked” ok.

 
7-8-9) secured the mizzen backstay.

 
10-11) Now onto the lower mainmast shrouds, BUT the dilemma starts. Looked at the 1/1 for guidance, for the mizzen shrouds, then noticed the 1/10th where the work looked much neater then “finally saw” the difference. Hmmm?

 
12-13) went back to my picture bible (what I have been modeling so far. Then read/looked at Anderson – either way it seems is “ok”.

 
 
Certainly the 1/10th method would be so much less work, but having already done all the topmasts, the bowsprit area, and the mizzen on one side the Peterson way – I will probably need to continue with the extra work for all of the lower shrouds.
 
PS: I’m not even totally comfortable with the work that I have done tying off the ropes around the shrouds - so dilemma indeed. I assume that ALL “finishing off” as Anderson calls it should be the same for the entire ship?
 
PS: Part of the problem is that I used lines that are probably too large for this area. Though the museum 1/1 seems to use a “thick” rope. Again hmmm
 
As always thanks for your kind thoughts and visits,
 
Cheers,
 

Hello again
Here is the finished national coat of arm. I am really happy about it and I think it better than the first one I did.
 

 
And here is a idea how the real size is. Really difficult to paint all the small details.

 
This is how far I am on the ship itself. I must give the advise to other people that might to build this ship and this is to wait to glue all the frames to the gun supports until all of the parts for the upper false deck has arrived. I ended up in a situation were the frames didn't fit the precuts in the false decks. So I had to bend the frames lose and refit them.   
Now must I wait for other deck parts to arrive so over to paint more figures.
 
 

I have dry fitted the foremast. Finished the aft cabin mostly. Door handles were too much for me. They are actually functional! Lots of CA all over my fingers.

Frames, false decks and stumps for cannon glued in place. The old instructions are very limited and the English translation is worse than a google translator! Haha
 
but progress is coming along. 

Thank you all! I will start my next build as soon as I read through the in
structions a few times as well as Kurt's articles. I also need to rearrange my work area to better suit the new build. Anyway, here are the photos! I apologise for the unprofessional background.


Until next time!
 

... The wale, the rubbing strake ...
The rubbing strake is comming first, below it the wales are comming in two thickness; 0,5mm the lower strips and 1mm the upper ones.
They are to be glued onto the planking, so it looks like they are the strips of different thickness.
...Some coloring is good to do before the next steps. This is the way to avoid the stains later on ...
 

 
 

Hi Mates,
 
Continuing with the mizenmast shroud rigging as a “test start”. This area is all new to me. Ratlines look ok – but will get better. Yes - as has been SO noted very repetitive indeed. And I’ve barely started. So;
 Removed those totally wrong futtock plates and added hooks (to be painted flat black).
 But the following bit is confusing; need to think this bit out.
 Installed the first futtock stave. Should be tarred, but left it as is just to highlight details. But here is where is gets more involved.  I believe that my futtock shrouds are too large. Should have used a smaller diameter rope. Attaching these three shrouds to the stave will make for too “thick” a look (after spooling/tying these to the shrouds).
I think that I will remove a strand from each at the point of attachment; then wrap them over the staves. Also note the 1/10th photo (during its construction) it appears that these shrouds should also be split and attached in two places. Noted that this photo is for the main mast. Hmmm. I will do that for the center of the three shrouds that I am presently working on. 
 Then again, I may (since I have to remove all of those lower cap plates just re-rope these first three and start again. Just sharing my frustrations (J)))
 
Cheers,

 

EJ,
 
Still laughing  about that your 1/1 photo from your previous post. So thought that I would be a bit immature (my wife swears that I still am (:-))
 
So here is one looking up ha ha - iPhone was none too pleased - too close

I've just pasted in the article so we don't have to figure out what's wrong.
 
 
Which wood is that? Are you sure? A warning tale by John Wheeler
Over the Christmas period I have re-started work on a project which has been on “hold” for a while – my Zuiderzee Botter. It was originally an Artisiana Latina kit, bought many years ago while on holiday in the Netherlands.
One of the problems of building from a kit – especially a kit where all of the instructions are in Dutch or German – is that you have to understand how the kit makers would approach the various challenges of creating their model. I went back to the parts list to find out which bit was which on the plans and found the parts numbers I was looking for – brilliant!
Next to the description I noticed a “material” column which had the word “Manzonia” next to my pieces. In fact, “Manzonia” was next to lots of pieces.
The word rang a bell. I looked at the pieces – the wood was gorgeous. I had bought and used wood just like it over many years. My first kit had called this wood ‘African Walnut’, but a quick look on the web told me that this wasn’t African Walnut – it was indeed Mansonia or Manzonia.
Mansonia (also called Bete or Ofun) is a dark greyish colour and is finely grained. It ‘works’ well and can be drilled and sanded to thin sections. It can be polished and looks very fine as masts and spars. Indeed, its colour and strength mean that it is almost designed for model making. But something still nagged – something that I had seen in the past...
I looked the wood up on the Internet Wood Database ( an invaluable resource). Under Allergies and Toxicity it said this:
Mansonia is on the short list as one of the worst wood species in terms of toxicity and commonness of allergic reactions. Mansonia has been reported as a sensitizer, and though the most usual reactions simply include eye and skin irritation, the wood dust can also produce a wide range of other effects, including nausea, giddiness, sneezing, headaches, nosebleeds, infected splinters, and asthma-like symptoms. Additionally, both the bark and heartwood have been found to contain cardiac poisons, which can cause heart disorders.
Now, I have asthma and I had found it really getting me down over the holiday. Indeed, instead of getting out and about, I had stayed indoors to do more modelling - which included cutting, and sanding pieces of mansonia. Even if there was only a slight chance that this dust had aggravated my condition, this was serious. I did not want a stay in hospital because of something I had done to myself...
I immediately removed all the mansonia scrap that I had built up and carefully wet-dusted and hoovered the entire room throwing away the hoover bag at the end.
I looked up modern kit contents to find out which woods are included today. No- one includes mansonia and it is difficult to buy it even over the internet. Presumably, no-one wants to take the risk of supplying it. But I know that I had bought extra pieces from a show only a couple of years ago – again wrongly labelled “Walnut”. (I also looked up other toxic
woods. Many of these (like Yew) are quite potent, but are unlikely to be used by model makers for various reasons.)
In other words, there are fairly large stocks of this wood still in circulation and if you have a personal stock of wood that you have collected for projects in the past, there is a good chance that you have some mansonia kicking around in there – especially because it has often been mis-labelled by suppliers.
While it can be worked safely, this does include precautions that most people would find impractical (facial respirators, professional quality dust removal, gloves, etc). It is interesting to note that the Health and Safety limits for hazardous wood dust is 5mg (5/1000ths of a gram) per cubic metre of air.
I am in the process of removing all mansonia from my model and rebuilding with other (safer) materials.
If you want to check whether you have mansonia in your stock, then the best guide is the colour. Mansonia is an even greyish colour with a close grain whereas walnut tends to be russet and brown with a greater variation of shades. (As always with natural products, there is variation and there are a range of types of walnut.)

There is a lot more information on toxic woods and how to deal with them at:
http://www.wood-database.com/
 
 

Ugh, the sanding part.... yeah, I'm already looking to see if I can use my electric palm sander to hit the really rough stuff then finish by hand. That is one of those jobs suited for sitting on my back porch with a few adult beverages while I sand and sand and sand and sand and sand.....
 
Thanks for the compliment Zoltan and to all the likes! No matter how many times I see them it always feels good to see that others are enjoying the build with me.

Finally I have bought a little lifeboat kit online (don't worry - its not from one of the banned manufacturers - I checked) and I am in the midst of putting it together. Its probably a couple of decades too old in it's design. But I found it hard to find a good quality little kit of the right size. This was as close as I could find. About $18 AUD. I like it. Not finished yet, but making progress. Its about 80mm long, so the planking is quite tricky. 
I have been using the steamer on my coffee machine and a bit of CA (no pins) and a few miniature clothes pegs to bend the planks - and it seems to go pretty well.