Vasa by Jörgen - DeAgostini - 1:65

[Jörgen]

Hello all

 

Ever since I was a child and start modelling I have the dream to someday build the Swedish warship Vasa in wood. Early attempts were the Airfix plastic Vasa and the not so good Igra Vasa (See this link

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/14339-help-to-identify-vasa-kit/ ). Non of them were finished and the Airfix Vasa exploded by a fire cracker if I remember right and the Igra kit was actually never started. My wooden kit building started when I was working in Russia some years ago. In a very boring moment I actually ordered the Billing Boat Vasa but when I come home it ended up at the shelf since I realised it was totally over the top for me at the moment. So I bought and build the J-Class Endeavour instead just to learn (link in my signature). This build really got me hooked and I started on Sherbourne (other link in signature) to learn building period ships. It was then it come, the DeAgostini Vasa as a Monthly subscription. At the beginning I hesitated since no finish models exist but after following Puckotreds Vasa ( http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/13616-vasa-by-puckotred-deagostini-scale-165/ ) I was convinced. I haven't started it until now since I was waiting for all the parts for the false keel.

However I have start the build now and I will post the photos below to show how far I have come. I also must say that the quality so far, especially the figures is very good. I hop you will enjoy the build and have patience since it take 3 years to get all the parts. I will also not post a photo over every delivering since Mr Pucko does that.

 

 

The wooden parts I have so far.

 

 

And the figures.

 

 

This is Billing Boats stand for building. Little bit modified...

 

 

This was what I was waiting for. To be able to glue togheter the false keel part and get it straight.

 

 

Some initial sanding just in case     

 

 

Mounted on the building stand.....  

 

 

.......and test fitted with the Sherbourne Inside (same scale more or less)  

 

 

First painting of figures. I will redone this since I have learned that a black gloss coat as primer is way better for the metal look of AK extreme metal. I will show the difference later.

 

 

Too bad that I will remove the colour and repaint it. But it shows the detail of the metal parts.

 

 

And now the building starts (2 days ago). Lego Duplo  is so good to use for framing  

 

 

The result from the side......

 

 

.....and from the front. Really nice fit of everything.

 

 

And this photo is from yesterday. The fit is perfect.

 

 

And this is how far I have got at the moment.

 

Best Regards

Jörgen

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by Jörgen
Removed a picture

[Rossi46]

Look forward to following.  That trial painting looked great, why do you to remove it?

[Baker]

I follow also

Good luck with your model.

 

Groetjes

Greetings

[md1400cs]

Jörgan,

 

Welcome (:-) I will also bring a chair to your shipyard. This Deagostini kit is still NOT available for the USA market hmmm? Your start looks very good.

 

Cheers,

[Jörgen]

Thank you all

Rossi46 I want t have better metal shine and if I use gloss black as primer, I will get it because it will be a mirror effect. I will show you photos on it later.

[puckotred]

Ah, at last... I'm not alone anymore. 

 

And you're off to a good start.

 

I would recommend you go ahead with your plan on using longer planks on the hull. its a pain with 30cm bits. Although the bamboo is very easy to bend, it's hard getting 3 planks to lay in a straight line.

[Jörgen]

Yes it is weird with those short planks. Will see what I do in the first layer. If they works I will use them. But I am thinking of replacing the second layer (I hope they do it in that way, I will even if they don't) with some quality wood. See what I can buy and the price for it. I really want to do it in Swiss pear if I can. I hope it is possible to buy in Europe so I don't have to buy in us since shipping is expensive. We will see, maybe DeAgostini surprise me... 

 

 

 

 

 

[puckotred]

Issue 43 will have the first planks for the second layer. And rumor has it that the instructions for this start in issue 48.... But I think that it's the same sort of wood 

[Jörgen]

Hello

 

A small update on the build. Continue the main structure work with some parts every evening. Not so much to show actually, only a lot of plywood parts, but I am really enjoying it. So far the fit of the parts are perfect. I also think it is much easier to not to follow the order in the instructions. Just put in on a build stand, get the false keel straight and take it from there. So start the build when you have received around 20 packages.   

 

 

The Lego again. So useful.

 

 

Some force is needed to glues these part at the stern together (the clamps at the right). It is supposed to be like that so its no bad fitting. 

 

 

The most challenging so far was to bend these thick plywood sheets for gun supports. But a plank bender did the work quite well.

 

 

And this is how it looked yesterday. Lot of plywood and more will come.

[puckotred]

Nice!

 

Are you getting the feel of how big she will be?

[Jörgen]

Yes

[Jörgen]

109 cm long and 86 cm high. More or less same size as HMS Vanguard from Victory Models or HMS Diana from Caldercraft.  

[Jörgen]

This morning I repainted the lions and the weapon shield. After cleaning of the paints from the parts they looked like this

 

I use Tamiya X1 Black mixed with Mr Leveling thinner and the mix is around 40/60. The gold paint is AK interactive extreme metal gold (directly from bottle) and all is applied by my Harder & Stenbeck Revolution Silver Line with 0.2 needle.

    

 

The X1 black and MR thinner result in a very nice gloss black coat and this will have a mirror effect on the gold.

 

The gold is sprayed on and I must say that this paint is very good to use and is way more forgiving to use than Alclad II. Here is the result in white light

 

and in yellow light

I am really happy with the result and I think it is a improvement over the old painting  

[Hubac's Historian]

That is really fascinating how the gloss undercoat impacts the gold topcoat.  Great tip. I wonder, though, whether gloss white would result in an even brighter gold, or does the black somehow create greater depth in the creases.

[amateur]

Goldleaf is always used on a red base coat, just for the same reasons.

looking good, this coat of arms.

 

jan

[Jörgen]

I think the gold will be brighter but I think you lose the deep and the "mirror"

effect. But I haven't tryed it. I didn't know that about red base for gold leaf. Interesting  

[Jörgen]

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.

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Passer, I can see with your willingness to re-work your frames until they are right, and the care and attention with which you are doing your paint work that this is going to be a really good model.  I'm really excited to see this one through!

[Hubac's Historian]

I've recommended this to a builder on a separate thread, but have you picked up the book Vasa by Fred Hocker?  This is an invaluable resource for anyone modeling the ship.  She is beautifully photographed and her entire origin story, loss, recovery, restoration, structure and iconography is described with amazing clarity.

[Jörgen]

Thank you Hubac 😊. I have that book and I also just bought the Vasa 1. The DeAgostini paint instructions is not so good in my opinion so I follow the photos on the 1:10 Vasa model. An even better place to find photos is here:

https://digitaltmuseum.se/search/?context=photograph&aq=text%3A"vasa"%2C"modell" owner%3A"S-SMM-VM"&o=0&n=224

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Jörgen, love the way you did those golden National coat of arm, must try this when i get this ship.

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin Jörgen, how are you finding the Wasa by DeAgostini, is it a good kit?

[Jörgen]

Hello WoW goblin eddie😊

So far it is a very good kit. I also have billing vasa so I can compare the details and they don't play in the same league. Highly recommended.

[md1400cs]

Jörgen

 

Nice update, along with very informative advice. Your paint-work is very good. IMO finally, I believe that your kit will be THE Vasa kit to own. 

Billings was the best before, Corel as most know was very weak. It will be interesting to see what the rigging instructions will look like. As you know this has been one of the “grey” areas for those of us building a Vasa from the three main available kits.

 

 Last week I contacted DeAgostini – below are their response. I’m posting it here since you are building this specific Vasa, and for your followers who may be interested in the USA market.

 ======================================

Dear Michael,
 

We have not been made aware of plans to introduce this model through
Model Space USA. I will forward your email off as a suggestion as a
model for us to introduce in the future. I also encourage you to
subscribe to our monthly news-letter at the bottom of the Model Space
website so you can be made aware when new models are being introduced. 

If you have any other questions, or if I can be of any further
assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Regards,

Danny H
DeAgostini Customer Care
Model Space: 877-544-6779

www.deagostiniusa.com 

 

Also, I did read that Fred Hocker noted, responding to the same question, that the month-by-month kits in the USA market do not sell very well. Most kit purchasers prefer the entire kit at once.

He further stated that when this Vasa kit ships its last package to subscribers, the kit would then be complete, and its possible that the complete issue will be offered for sale in N America.

 

Cheers,

[Hubac's Historian]

I just visited that link to the digital museum of the 1:10 Vasa model, and it's interesting; it appears that the carvings are all carved from some form of plastic or polymerized clay.  When I saw this model, in person, back in 1998 (circa), the carvings had not yet been painted.  I had always assumed that they had been carved from wood.  I would love to know what the museum modelers used for their carving substrate, as I am debating carving ornament for my current build out of styrene, or polymerized clay, or both - depending upon the application.

[puckotred]

Some damn good painting there Jörgen. I had the same problem with the frames, thought it was me doing everything wrong... 

Have you got your March shipment yet?

[Jörgen]

Thank you Mr Pucko and no, I have not got the March shipment yet. Have to paint figures and continue on my Sherbourne while waiting.

Danny, I am not so much thinking on the rigging instructions since I probable will use Vasa 2 for that if it arrives in near future (i hope..). This is Freds Hockers answer on he issue:

 

"Hej Jörgen,
The current status is the same as it was about a year ago. I have text and illustrations ready t go, but the Swedish state system requires expenditures this large (layout, printing and distribution) to go out for tender, and our tendering department has been having a problem formulating the terms. I had the latest in a long series of meetings on this last week, not sure when this will move forward. Once the tender is out (April???), it will take about three months to complete the bidding process to select a publisher, and then about six months to produce the book. I will let everyone know once we have a publisher. At least on this schedule, the book should be out before the DeAgostini kit gets to the rigging stage!

Fred"

 

Hubac, I don´t know anything about the carving on the 1:10 Vasa but use this link and register. Then can you ask Fred Hocker about it

http://warshipvasa.freeforums.net/

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Jorgen, thanks for the link.  I will reach out to him.  So, I had some time to look into this D'Agostini kit, this weekend, and am just now coming to the realization of just how different this kit is from Billings or anything else.  The finished model, what little I can find of it, is REALLY impressive; it looks to be truly museum quality.  Although, I was also reading through Pucko's log and it seems as though quality was great until the first planking underlayment.  This made me wonder what, if anything, you intend on replacing and/or making from scratch.  the installment nature of the build makes it a little more difficult to make a fair assessment of what you would be better served by replacing.  Wondering what your thoughts are at this stage of the build.

 

Regards,

 

Marc

[Jörgen]

I will use the supported wood as first layer but I most probably will replace the second layer (If DeAgostini don't surprise with really good wood...). The ship is already expensive but I think it deserves better wood (even of the cost). It will probably be Castello boxwood or swiss pear. Havn't seen these wood In real life so can't decide on the colour. But I want the colour to be similar to the oak colour on the 1:10 vasa. And I want to build with quality wood. I have replaced the wood on my Sherbourne with better Walnut and it is so much more fun to build. I must also find were to buy it. Sad the shipping rate is so expensive from the states.

[Hubac's Historian]

I have no experience with boxwood, but I carved a cane handle out of American pear, once.  The wood was amazingly dense and difficult to carve, but I hadn't much experience in relief carving, at that point, so my lack of knowledge was a factor.  As for planking material, as long as it bends well, I think the tight grain and color would make for a very nice finished surface.  I know the model is expensive, but a little extra for premium wood will be well worth it, IMO.  You won't regret the added expense, but there is a strong likelihood that you would regret using sub-standard wood, in the hope that sanding and finish will bring it up to par.

 

What was nice about that cane handle was how it oxidized over time.  Will you be filling in between bulkheads, with balsa, for a smoother first run of planks?