Wasan 1628 by Nazgul - FINISHED - Billing Boats Vasa 1:75

[marktiedens]

Nice looking rudder - mine doesn`t have enough hinges.I didn`t correct it before installing it due to my failure to notice it.

 

/Mark

[NAZGÛL]

Thanks guys! Nope no dog Nigel and hopefully my cat doesn't get her paws on it.

 

Mark, BB is one hinge short and has none of the iron straps at the top where it connects to the horizontal pole. But the basic shape is good so I'm happy with it .

 

 

/Matti

Edited April 25, 2014 by NAZGÛL

[NAZGÛL]

Cheers for the kind words mate!

 

Been working on the hinges today. I see I need to do some touch up on the paint still.

 

 

Working on the ones on the ship now.

 

/Matti

 

[themadchemist]

Its those little details that matter most...but on a ship of your Wasan 1628's caliber you must make everything remarkable as the ship itself has so much detail. Plus, you've raised the bar so much higher Matti with your weathering details.

I love how you ride the razors-edge so often, the true personality of the builder really shows in your work.
It's still hard to believe at times that this is your first wood ship. There's no telling where your journey will lead, but I look forward to seeing it and appreciate your sharing your techniques.

Your outside photography inspired me to take the DSotM outside yesterday for a photo shoot. 1/2 a world away and I thought of you as I took pictures.
 
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be....

[NMBROOK]

Your hinges are great buddy !What are you making them from?I enlarged the pic and it looks like the real rudder sat on a 30ft high book!!!

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[NAZGÛL]

Wow, thanks guys, really happy you like it!

 

Keith, I'm still amazed what you managed to do in small scale detailing. Thanks for your kind words. Pictures outside not only gives nice backgrounds and light, tt's also a great way to see how the paintjob works.

 

Cheers Nigel, I use regular paper soaked in CA glue. It works great for thin details like these and it's shapeable before turning really hard. The surface is great for looking like iron after painting it. I try to keep the details small and thin and I find tis method to work well for that. It takes some practice to get the right amount of glue, and mounting the detail quick enough though. When used to it you get great controle, The shafts are simple brass rods in a nice scale in the right lenght.

 

 

/Matti

[riverboat]

that's quite a method for those hinges Matti,....... very nicely done , the rudder looks just great!!

Frank

[Ulises Victoria]

Great great job Matti! Every step you do is a masterpiece. I like what you did with the gunports. I may copy that look in my R.L. They add a sense of life and reality.  

[JesseLee]

I agree. I like it when someone takes the time to think about how you would have seen things in reality instead of a picture perfect pose. Kind of like seeing someone buried in a suit & tie & you never saw them wear clothes like that. It's sort of a false representation. Love the work you are doing!

[NAZGÛL]

Thanks guys your nice comments, they give energy to building her!

 

The rudder is in place and all left to do on the whole stern now is the hanging lion. First pics of the real one I took earlier:

 

 

 

And how mine turned out. The rudder was on of those things that changed the whole look, well at least for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/Matti

 

 

 

[NMBROOK]

Excellent work mate !!That is a great technique,I am sure practice off the model is necessary,just have visions of hinge stuck to fingers and hand stuck to model I take it you use medium or thin CA?

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[NAZGÛL]

Thanks! Yeah thin CA, glue one side and you have a few seconds before it soaks in (it turns grey).

 

I dont cut the lenght before the part is in place. That gives me a long piece of paper to hold and then just place the glued end in place and cut it with an exactoknife or scissors. Gives great controle.

 

 

/Matti

[NMBROOK]

Thanks mate,definitely one to try in the future

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[NAZGÛL]

Nigel, it's great for some details so try it out.

 

Thanks Chris and Lawrence, I'm glad you like it! The grass looks worse than it is. We have a rather dry period now, but rain is soon to come...

 

/Matti

[themadchemist]

More superb photograpy, I love that 3rd one down with the full stern port side showing, It really gives a sense of the sheer-line and tumblehome which give the Wasan her elegant beauty.

 

I've read that that shape may have been part of her demise as the King said to make her bigger after the keel was laid and the modifications threw her center of mass upward, as the framing futtocks weren't wide enough and concessions had to be made mid-build. That and she was running low on ballast as they left and attempted the salute, which was enough to roll her with the cannon ports wide open. Regardless of the engineering faults, it is what makes her lines so nice to look at. I find the reality of the ships stories, myths and legends so fascinating, It show that just like us, they struggled and that ultimately ship construction is a human endeavor.

[pete48]

Hi Matti, Amazing work Beautiful job, Great details I love the pics Keep it up

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[NAZGÛL]

Thanks Keith and Pete!

 

Keith I definately share your fascination about the ships histories. The struggle, guesses and deigns by gut feel of early shipbuilding compaired to todays computer generated perfect products is truly fascinating. And it is what makes the early ships and other products so much beautyful and alive. Actually it is a whidespread myth that Gustav Adolf changed Vasas design in the middle of constrution. He did change his mind before Master Hübertsson started the build though, after a third of the swedish fleet got destroyed after a storm near Riga, he changed the order from one big and one small vessels to two medium sized ships. These two ships became Vasa and her sister Äpplet (the apple); Vasa is the same size that was ordered. Äpplet was very similar to Vasa from all we know, but was widened one meter. That made her stable enough to be in a long service for 30 years! She was even considered for another rebuild before sunken at Oxdjupet outside of Stockholm. One meter was the difference between success and failure. Hübertsson also constructed the ship Tre Kronor before Vasa and that ship was such a good sailor that Gustav Adolf chosed her as his flagship when the fleet went to war against the catholics in Germany later so Hübertsson must have been a good shipbuilder.

 

I'd say the reason Vasa sunk was that her construction was new to both Hübertsson and swedish shipbuilding, something like a prototype for how the Swedish ships where going to be built later on. But all timbers to allow for the cannons made her top heavy and unstable. Captain Hansons decision to keep her gunports open after knowing she was unstable is, in my opinion, a strange one as they never got to test her before sending her on her first mission and he knew she did not pass the stability test. I think a strong fear of superiors and a faith in a higher power protecting her was a big part of the decisions made for Vasa.

 

Captain Hanson where found innocent and was put in charge of salvaging her.

 

I hope I didn't mix up any facts now...

 

 

/Matti

Edited April 27, 2014 by NAZGÛL

[Farbror Fartyg]

I often get asked, by foreign visitors and suchlike, (because I always bring 'em to the Vasa museum) - why did she go down? The Only answer I can give is: weight distribution.
Not enough beam for ballast.
Superstructure too heavy.
Perhaps the Dutch shipwright paradigm wasn't the optimal one for Baltic waters? (Other ships, presumably build in the same style did do do rather well, though).

Yeah,  the open gun ports are interesting. If I've done my homework right, that wasn't something you you usually did.

[Farbror Fartyg]

Man, this is starting to look bloody amazing.

[Karleop]

Hola,

 

Indeed the Vasa story is outstanding! I remember you (Matti) passed the direction of the Swedish TV where you could see the story on film. Unfortunately you can not do it anymore in that channel but on Youtube it is possible to see the same movie in Swedish or French. Either way and even without understanding the language the movie is very good.

 

 

 

Saludos, Karl

Edited April 27, 2014 by Karleop

[NAZGÛL]

Thank you Farbror Fartyg, still giggle when I see your name (Uncle Ship).

 

Karl, yeah it's a great film. Sorry but I feel awkward about having a link to a pirate version posted in my thread so if you could remove the link I'd appreciate it. I know I'm old fashioned about stuff like that.

 

 

/Matti

[Karleop]

Sorry Matti, I didn´t know it was a pirate copy.

Saludos

[NAZGÛL]

No problem mate. Thanks!

 

 

/Matti

[pete48]

Hi Matti, Thank you for the History of this fine vessel, it is very intresting to know the story behind the boat

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[NAZGÛL]

Thanks Pete! There is a lot of history to read if you are interested in her story.

 

Two books I can recommend is Warship Vasa by Fred Hocker. It's both about the ship and the history of the days she was built. Very good allround book with many great pictures. Fred Hocker is head of research in the museum and therefore the book is a great source of knowledge and is both in depht yet a pleasure to read.

 

 

The other is Björn Landströms book The royal warship Vasa. It's written in the 80-ies and we know today some of the facts in the book to be wrong (like blue and gold Vasa, or Gustav Adolf changing the pland during the build). But Landströms drawings and indepht studies in how the ships where built is a huge inspiration to read.

 

 

 

There are many more books but these are great starters and look at the times she was built.

 

 

/Matti

[pete48]

Hi Matti, Thank you I will look into those books, Fasinating subject and a intresting history

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[NAZGÛL]

Yeah, agreed! If you get bitten by the bug then there is Vasa 1 and soon Vasa 2 is released. They are written by Fred and other researchers and are really thorough. 

 

 

/Matti

[NMBROOK]

Some wonderful pics of your fabulous model mate in the gallery         Great work!I won't post anything other than a like on there,because if you delete old posts when you upload new ones,the comments don't make sense

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[NAZGÛL]

Cheers mate!

 

 

/Matti

[NAZGÛL]

I finished the small sculptures for the rudder. I used the BB lion as except his head looking straight up is pretty good. I reshaped the legs and removed the long tail to get that rather cute teddybear shape as can be seen on the 1:10 model. BB didn't include the mascaron with his tounge out and I really wanted that character on the ship so I carved him out of pear wood.

 

FIrst the one on the 1:10 at the museum:

 

 

And here are mine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was first after finishing them it occured to me that I just made the last planned sculptures for this model. It's a mixed feeling as I really enjoy the sculptures. The stern is also finished now.

 

 

/Matti