Wasa 1628 by Snug Harbor Johnny - Billing Boats - 1:100 - old kit c. 1970

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Thinking about the best grain orientation for re-sawing mahogany planking stock ... If one has a perfectly quarter sawn board (normally 3/4" thick in the U.S.) where the grain seen on the face runs parallel with the length of the board (one can always plane the edge to make that edge get parallel with the grain lines seen on the face), then cutting thin stock off the edge should provide the best bend-ability.  The dots on the face of the planking are the 'rays' in the wood seen on-end.  When cut at other angles, the rays present oblong to linear markings on the plank face.  There are many books on woodworking and understanding grain, cutting stock, etc.

 

  Back to the model, I took a picture showing a number of things.  Because the Cherub molding on the piece removed from the back broke, I glued the pieces to balsa substrate and made repairs her and there.  I scrounged rear windows from another old kit I use for supplies, and realized that they should be recessed to become flush - since military miniature figures will have to be added later on either side of the windows.  The rotary tool was used with a milling bit (hand held, I had to be extra careful not to remove too much material).

 

  Balsa pieces were glued below to provide the substrate for the lower gallery, and I used a low-angle plane to shave off the balsa on the stern - since the grain was oriented across.  The blade had to be quite sharp, and you can see the Veritas holding jig to assure the bevel is even on the blade - which is on a Japanese water stone (here shown dry) 1200 'grit'.

 

 

  There is a tiny arrow on the end of the brass knurled cylinder if the sharpening jig that is shown pointing 'up' in the picture.  When the bevel is cleaned-up, this arrow is positioned pointing 'down' (there are detents on the barrel of the jig) to create a 2 degree micro-bevel.  The white stone at the bottom is a super- fine (6000 I think) finishing stone for the micro-bevel.  Then the blade was remove and the back worked flat on the finishing stone.  Stropping on a piece of thick leather was a final step in getting a razor sharp edge.  Then the low-angle plane could shave off thin curls of wood going with the grain.

 

  I suppose that it could be used to taper planking as needed when doing planking.  I've heard that miniature planes may be available.  In the photo, you can see the side piece of wood I'm shaping before gluing to provide the substrate for the lower side gallery.

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   The lower galleries are now planked like the uppers - two access doors were drilled, but are note likely to be seen once the gallery covers and copulas are added.  The second photo show that I was able to add some upward curve when seen from astern (didn't think of that on the uppers).  As noted before, the job is to come 'closer' to the original, but there will be unavoidable inaccuracies due to the limitations imposed by the circa 1970 kit in 1:100 scale.

 

 

  Yeah, the stern geometry is off - and there will be missing elements, but it should be identifiable as the Vasa.

 

 

 

  Some pre-painting will be done soon before the gallery covers are fabricated.  The third photo shows the installed viewing openings that will serve as a base for the gallery tops.  The kit rudder (marked as part #55) is of plywood, so I glued some mahogany strips together and will cut a new rudder.  There is a box of fittings from another kit that I've picked some hinges for the rudder.  The paint stirrer is used to mix epoxy on (when used), or to hold a blob of titebond glue that is then applied with a small stick.  Otherwise, a finger dab of glue can be put on some of the pieces.

 

 

 

   Fair sailing !

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Some thought was given on how to proceed with the cupolas ... Some kits have turned wood to merely glue in place, and some builders have flattened facets on the cylindrical turnings so that shingles can be glued on.  I'm trying to 'work smarter - not harder' and took a 3/4 inch piece of balsa stock and used a plane to shape the corners off to make hexagonal stock.  Since all the grain is running lengthwise, it was easy to start whittling the end into a hexagon-cupola shape.  Of course as one cuts into the stock, the grain becomes more like end-grain - so I used a mini sanding drum on a rotary tool to grind out the 'shoulders'.  There first picture shows the stock (easy to hold onto and work on) with the shaped end - I marked the edges to make them easier to see.  The illustrations below represent the steps to get from point A to B.  No instructions here, so one must plan out each phase as one goes.

 

 

  I cut a thin strip of mahogany veneer to use for shingling the dome on its flat faces.  The dry sheet measures 0.027" (nominal 1/32), so can be cut with a rotary cutter on a cutting mat (normally used for fabric.  I'll have to change to a new blade before going back to textiles as it had likely been dulled a bit - but it was already overused for the original purpose.)  At 1:100 scale it represents 2.7" thick shingles - a bit thick, but that's what I've got to work with.  For the 1:75 models, it would correspond to about 1.9" planks - not unreasonable, considering the size of the warship.  I did think of a 'colored' wood other than mahogany and walnut that is easy to find in the U.S. - heartwood poplar, which is light brown and oxidizes to medium brown over time.  One could cut planking boards off the edge of poplar planks found where lumber is sold - once the light colored sapwood is trimmed.  The lighter wood can be used for decking.  Photo 2 shows the rotary cutter.

 

 

  Photo three shows the first two layers of shingles glued on with ordinary wood glue.  I find that aliphatic resin glue 'holds' fairly quickly, but still has plenty of time to re-position or adjust parts being glued.  The shingle stock (strip) is held up to the work piece and marked with a pencil for each piece.  The part is cut off with an X-Acto knife and glued.  After each time around, I let some time go by (what, 30 minutes) so the hold is firm enough to lightly file or trim.  Curing takes longer, but I don't have to wait that long.

 

 

 

  Once I got the 'hang of it', I started cutting the shingles by angling the blade a little to get sort-of mitered corners.  Now for the very tops, I found jewelry fittings at a local craft store - a 'bead cone' to glue on first, and  a decorative 'head pin' to simply stick into the top.  The pin was not hard to push into the end-grain of the balsa underneath, but a drop of glue was an added precaution.  The cupola can be sawed off the stock with a fine saw - then a new cupola can be built.  I have to make 5 more, and each will turn out a little different.  Each will be tried on various places on the model to see what looks best.  There can be further trimming to suit, and I still have to make the planked roof sections that go between the turrets.

 

 

  I'm definitely influenced by my late father, who started with model ships but switched to aircraft.  He was really big on flying RC models - which were powered by gas engines years ago (now battery powered motor are the thing due to noise and pollution regulations).  I picked a couple of small models from his belongings (my brother got the only remaining ship), and his craftsmanship shows.  He had more skill than I, yet persistence and a relatively steady hand can still produce acceptable results in many applications. 

 

 

[Wintergreen]

Well done on the cupolas Johnny!

On my 1985 kit I only painted them and did not try any shingles or so.

Might possible draw shingles on them if I get to renovate the ship. Reason is to not get too out of scale. That is always a risk when working at these smaller scales.

Very nice planes also. Talented father obviously 🙂 

 

Keep it up!

[Baker]

Great planes!

And Vasa model of course 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Ahoy (after time to make all 6 gazebo tops)!   Each side has three different sizes per the position they will occupy, and I realize that there has to be a curved roof over the galleries as well.  Heavy demand from the hospital I work for as a Pharmacy Tech (due to short staffing) plus an influx of orders for Colonial Re-enactors (from the retailer) force me to sideline modeling for the time being.  Yeah, something similar happened last year about this time.

 

  Anyway, once the balsa roofs have been carved, fitted and planked with the turrets - I'll take some photos and post.  Meanwhile, I just love looking at many of the builds on MSW ... a source of inspiration and helpful tips.  All it takes is a bit of searching and patience to find out just about anything about ship modeling.     Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I see that my last post on this 'build' was March, 2022 ... and its been nearly a year.  'Lots of learning and intervening tasks have happened - and participating in MSW has been a fascinating diversion.  I have some plans on projects to come, and I've resolved to finish this present one first before moving on - which will give me 3 out of 3 completed MSW builds.  As stated elsewhere on other threads, there are some major gaffs in this earliest version of the Billings Wasa (the Swedes prefer Vasa - take your pick) - and rather than try and make the masting and rigging kosher when the inaccuracies from the deck down are not correctable for the most part, the idea is to represent it still 'under construction' in dry dock.
 

  That means having the first sections of masts plus fore stays, shrouds and ratlines  (not unlike what is seen on the restored original) on a substantially complete (but not fully fitted out) hull.  BTW, the Vasa kits offered these days in a slightly larger scale are much better than the ca. 1970 version I'm puttering around with.

 

  Theres nothing like renewed interest and a sense of direction.  So I decided to continue working on the stern area and work forward.  The kit rudder was mere plywood and broke while trial fitting, so I made a new one by laminating left over planking mahogany and cutting it out with a small scroll saw - a Dremel scroll I got from my dad, which is noisy but works well enough for occasional cut outs.

 

  I'm not opposed to taking a few shortcuts (I'd rate myself as a permanently 'intermediate' modeler, so 'good enough' and 'standoff scale' work for me) - and I decided to shear some strips of thin brass shim on a paper cutter to bend around the rudder and matching keel area (offset, of course).  The picture below shows the original part, the re-made part and a strip of the stock used to do that in three layers.  (I love mahogany for a wide variety of things - but certainly not for decking.)  The brass strips were CA'd in place temporarily, marked with pencil, 'linked' lightly with a prick punch and just drilled through with a wire drill for putting tiny brass plated brads into.  The new ridder shows some of these steps.

  As noted in another thread on glues, smooth metal does not offer much 'grip' for Duco or CA ... maybe Epoxy might have done better - but it occurred to me (too late) that lightly sanding the underside surface of the metal before bending would have given it some 'tooth' for the cement to adhere to, as the process of even light punching caused glue failure in places.  (A little de-burring is also a good idea - note to self for later.) So I had to nail (with the aforementioned brads) from the outer edge on both sides and work my way in.

 

  Also said elsewhere is that I don't want to go through a whole bunch of new pages to wrap up this build, in part because the techniques are familiar to most.  The stern geometry I'm stuck with left little room for the two rear gunport lids, but it gave me practice on how I might do all the ones needed for the sides.  I took a piece of planking stock the width of the ports (which were made exactly one plank wide some years ago ... yeah, out of scale) and drilled a tiny hole with a wire drill on either end (as I wanted to make 2 lids and holding the plank was a convenient way to work) for the pull rope.  No need to make the opening rope since there would be no way to see it.

 

  Before passing a line through and knotting the end to prevent pull-through, the periphery was painted with scarlet acrylic.  I recently got some modeling flat paints in acrylic, as Testors enamels seem to be all gloss and take longer to dry.  I glued a small lions head previously molded in dental plaster (similar to Durham's water putty) in a latex mold I made of a master sculpture in plasticine clay, and painted the lion's head in metallic gold - with white eyes (and a dot of black for the pupils) plus a little red in the mouth.  When dry, I simply cut the port lid off the end of the stick with a fine saw (Atlas track cutter for O-gaige model railroad track).  The lids were glued in place (BTW, I used CA for all the gluing - gel type), and the pull lines stuffed into the opening and glued to one side.

 

  There are half-cannon barrels that fit into the 'dummy' gun carriages with dowel receivers.  The dummies are visible through the ports, but I have not yet glued in the brass barrel halves that will protrude through the gun ports.  The rudder was pinned in place with 3 thin iron nails - drilled first  - (yup, why fuss with pintles (or are they gudgeons) when (at this scale - 1:100) they'll look well enough.  BTW, the brass plated brads were harvested from an AL kit used for parts and stock.  I found a threaded brass eye (from a Steingraeber parts kit) to mount on the edge of the rudder to accept the rudder chains - which were found in the jewelry section of a JoAnn's fabric/craft store.  Two holes were drilled to either side of the rear cannon ports (where fittings are on the original ship), jewelry fittings were slid over the chain before stuffing the chain ends into the drilled holes and CA glued (accelerator provides REAL quick setting !).  Then the fittings were slid unto cover that and glued.  The picture below shows the result of a good day's work in my shop.

 

 

  It seems that around 27.5 degrees (or thereabouts) is the maximum that a rudder should turn to either side before it become both an inefficient brake and an inefficient rudder.  Rudder chains are suppose to limit travel to either side.  The second function is - in case rough seas cause a rudder to become unseated and come off - to retain the rudder and keep it from being carried away ion said rough seas.  'Funny the stuff one can learn in the process of modeling.  I won't go into the list of boo-boos, but rather think there is a certain 'charm' to it, at least in my eyes.  Two more pictures of this area appear below.

 

 

 

 

  Fair sailing !         Johnny

 

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I read about how Charles Goodyear 'changed the world' in a big way with Vulcanization of natural rubber.  Yet he never prospered from all his work, since once an innovation is made public there are many who capitalize on it for their own benefit.

 

  Suffering the adverse effects of years of exposure to dangerous chemicals, Goodyear collapsed at a hotel in New York City on July 1, 1860, dying later that day. At the time of his death, he was 59 years old, penniless, and deeply in debt. 

 

 The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, founded in Akron, Ohio by Frank Seiberling nearly 40 years later, was named in honor of Charles Goodyear. Neither Charles Goodyear nor anyone in his family was connected with the company.

 

  Reflecting on Goodyear’s achievements, the historian Samuel Eliot Morrison wrote, “The story of Goodyear and his discovery of vulcanization is one of the most interesting and instructive in the history of science and industry.”  But, as he added, “It is also an epic of human suffering and triumph, for Goodyear's life was one of almost continuous struggle against poverty and ill health.”

 

   Goodyear himself was philosophical about his failure to achieve financial success, writing that he was not disposed to complain that he had planted and others had gathered the fruit. “The advantages of a career in life should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents, as is too often done. Man has just cause for regret when he sows and no one reaps.”

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

 

 

Hello again,  The cupolas were glued in place (titebond) and I cut some balsa 'filler' to serve as a support for the roof clapboards that need to go on.  Another approach might have been to make small frames, then plank them - but the balsa was handy and won't show.

 

  The planking with mahogany veneer was a little fiddly in places - as it was doing the cupolas.  I started using aliphatic resin, a 'go to' glue for wood-to-wood applications - but it takes a few minutes to 'grab' and I found myself using 'finger clamps'.  Still, the smaller pieces for the end of the upper gallery would tend to move, and before installing the next row in any case - I had to let the glue cure at least an hour because some trimming and cleanup was needed before moving on.

 

  OK, so I thought I'd try using gel CA which bonds much quicker.  (Note that even dry wood has some moisture content that aids in CA bonding.)  Once positioned, a dauber was used to transfer a very little 'accelerator' to the edges of the last clapboard glued ... and there was an almost instantaneous solidification of the CA.  I could do trimming, filing sanding right away.

 

  I know of recent CA discussions on the site, but there are some times when it comes in handy, as there are times I used 2-part '5 minute' epoxy and even kneadable epoxy (JB) as a filler.  'Guess its a matter of whatever works for the builder.  Anyway, the roofs are done and I applied some flat acrylic paint ... and things are looking ever more 'Vasa like'.  I glued in the turned brass half-cannons astern for the picture this time.

 

    It occurred to me that the somewhat larger (and improved) Vasa kits sold these days have all the small figures of various sizes needed to decorate the places on the ship where ornate carvings were used.  What I've done so far was hand-sculpted and tedious, and the process of making the many dozens of various kinds of figures, etc. is daunting.  The approach will be to use some HO and N scale molded military  (among other) figures re-painted to look more like Emperors or whatever, then bond them around the stern roughly where they appear on the original.  This leaves something to be desired (as often happens), but at 1:100 they should be adequate - and certainly better than nothing.

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  So I got out those boxed figures to see how I could re-paint them to be approximately OK for my build.  On 'old school' hobby shop is still in business in a nearby town - mostly because the son of the owner decided to keep it going as a business ... they have a LOT of 'old stock' as well a new stuff aligned to fantasy gaming.  Quite a mixed bag, and these stores are disappearing one by one as Hobby Lobby and other chains become dominant.  Still, there are lots of things available on the internet - old stuff as well as new.

 

  The picture below shows two groups of HO scale military at attention - all manufactured and painted in Germany - and another group not shown are firemen.  3 figures of this size should stand on either side of the cherubs (or are they putti ?) beside the wheat sheave on the stern.  BTW, the babies are naked on the original but I decided to give them loin cloths (diapers ?) for modesty's sake - and didn't want to model little privates for them ... not at 1:100 scale.

 

  You know, Steve from down under (aka Louie da Fly) is working on Henry Grace a Dieu where the original was nearly the size of the Vasa ... but in 1:200 scale !!!  Size does matter, mate.

  Now the figures on the Vasa represent Emperors, classical Heroes, fighting men and such ... most with bare arms and legs beyond tunic arms or skirt.  So I mixed some flesh color (not too light, since they'd likely have sun tanning) to paint on the figures arms and legs.  On the ones with legs close together or relatively close, some gel CA was dolloped to fill the gap and treated with a touch of accelerator to lock in place.  Then tunics (hauberks, kilts, whatever) were painted in polychrome - from looking at other builds, a lot of different colors are used - so I let my imagination run wild.

 Some of the figures stand together on a base, and others have little bases of their own - both fit into a little gap in one half of the box, so it served to hold a group of figures together nicely. I held onto the plastic box half with one hand and painted enamels with the other.  The finished HO figures are pictured below, and they may be good enough to pass on the model.

 

  Then I had to paint the N scale (N-gauge RR) figures that go in various places around the stern.  That was finicky, but then there are some Z scale figures that go at the bow - one of them (as yet unaltered) can be seen in the shot of the N scale figures below.

 

  I won't mount any of them just yet because there are a lot of things to do that require manipulation of the hull.  Have to think of the 'order of assembly' - which things to do first to make later progress easier.  So we'll see how long it will take me to 'putter through' all that.

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Just messing around the man cave (aka shop) and thought I'd try an idea I had for making tiny eye bolts from hypodermic syringe needles.  I thought they could be useful with the end ground flat to use as tiny gun barrels for the small guns on a Metal Earth U.S.S. Missouri in my stash.  But then I was thinking (the Admiral thought she smelled wood burning !) ... what if some material was ground away behind the flattened end, then the 'eye' of the needle lumen of an 18 gauge 'blunt fill' could be bent over to form an eye bolt.  A 22 gauge needle fits inside the blunt fill to help keep the eye round when bending.

 

  I've got to be careful as I've 'cored' a finger a few times before when working in an I.V. hood doing admixtures - an occupational hazard of a Hospital Pharmacy Technician.  The first picture shows the 18 ga. needle.

 

  Step 2 is to grind the end flat ... nice for a secondary gun barrel on a warship.

 

  Step 3 is to grind behind the end as shown.  BTW, the brass 'gall' on the stone wheel is from trimming other stuff.

 

 

  Bending with fine needle nose tended to distort the eye, so the insertion of a smaller needle proved helpful.

 

  Clip with flush cutters to separate.  This is very tedious and the results are not perfect eyes.  There are PE eyes available that will save lots of time and trouble.  Also, the needle was not the biggest risk, as iImanaged to grind a bit on one finger.  A great thing to put over an open wound is Dura Bond - sort of an artificial epidermis.  Dura Bond is waterproof, stays on for days and allows the skin to heal in by 'secondary intention'.

 

  Below is a picture with the covered boo-boo.  After a while the wound site may appear to 'bubble up' below the Dura Bond - but this is normal and allows healing.  Oh, the plastic box lid contains a bunch of really tiny steel mini brads that came with the 1:100 Billing kit.  They were supposed to be used for the single planking (yeah, how much did I know about fairing or adding extra bulkheads years ago), but I didn't want to used them.

 

  Now I see that the original ship had a lot of iron nails (spikes) used in construction and visible on the outside.  Maybe Billings had the right idea with these brads ... but they would be best applied AFTER planking (pre-bending & shaping with glue as the bonding agent like I did it).  The 'instructions' could have been a lot better, but what better instruction than to study builds on MSW?

 

 

  OK, so I counted them and found 556 ... plus a few extra that slipped by the tweezers I used to count them all - so the number is more like 560+.  So the plan is now to allocate about 250 per side to apply and get an appearance similar to the ship on display in Stockholm (they are replacing the old iron with stainless steel to better preserver the ship).  Holes will be drilled so the brads will not split the thin single planked mahogany.  My smallest drill (.030) is the same size as the brad shanks, so testing proves that a slightly smaller hole is needed to provide a little interference to retain the brads.

 

  A set of 'wire drills' was ordered on Amazon using a gift card left over from Christmas -   Fair dinkum !       Johnny

 

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Baker]

Make an eye bolt of an injection needle.
well -found 😉

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   'Still shifting focus from place to place on this build - sort of like the eye of Sauron gazing from place to place in Mordor ... I don't want to 'paint myself into a corner' or make subsequent work more difficult by doing the wrong thing first.  It also take time to think of the steps to do each small bit - but then once I have a good idea of what it should look like (or thereabouts), it is often a matter of jumping in and improvising as there work progresses - nip and tuck here, correct a couple things there.

 

  Apart from previously mentioned shortcomings of the ca. 1970 Billing Wasa (I'll often use Wasa and Vasa interchangeably), if someone obtained an old kit somewhere for a low price (I'm thinking of $100 or so ... a little more if it hasn't been messed with), there is a lot than can be done with forehand knowledge to improve it.  Modifying some bulkheads (and redoing a few) plus adding more to conform to the ship's actual lines would be done at the outset.  Make partial lower gun decks for low-detail gun carriages  drilled to mount half-barrels (the portion that will show from the outside) later - and this can be done on the 1:72 kits available today ... that will look a lot better than the 'false' recesses supplied.

 

  Going to double planking will can permit inner gun ports to be cut, then the second (nice wood) planking with width closer to scale will come up just a little shy of these first openings, which is what closed gun port lids would bear against.  The biggest challenge is dealing with all the figures and carving at 1:100 scale.  This is where the more recent kits excel, and there is also much less to correct.  I've ordered a few Kevels, a capstan and some odds and ends from Crafty Sailor.

 

  The first picture shows three items.  On the left is a reasonably sized stern lantern scrounged form an A.L. parts kit - drilled to accept a steel rod I had on hand, painted, then panels of clear plastic (the sort encasing all sorts of things sold these days - rigid enough but not too thick) were cut with scissors and CA'd as glazing.  In the middle is the center support for the flagstaff (shown slipped into the retaining bands) that I will taper on a lathe and turn a little ball on the end.  'Good to have this removable so it won't be subject to breakage as more work is done on the ship.  The lantern will go into the small projection at the top of the flagstaff support - an will also be removable (can be glued later).

 

  On the right is a test deadeye where I just wrapped soft 24 gauge jewelry wire around, then formed the free end to widen it with a mini ball-peen hammer (planishing face opposite the ball) and drilled for a brad fastener.  I note that the deadeyes on the original Vasa are not all that 'triangular', but they are nearly round ... just slightly oblong in the vicinity of the third hole.  I wouldn't even call it 'almond' shape.  So at 1:100 it might be be OK using round ones - 3mm would be near to scale, but the one shown is 5mm that I have a bunch of.  If I were doing a 1:72 version, it would be closer to the original Vasa to abrade a little off each deadeye side to get that slightly oblong look.  (I might even do this on mine.)  But I would not use the 'obviously triangular' deadeyes that can be purchased (or made).  These approximately equilateral triangle deadeyes are suitable for many other early ships, but in the case of the Vasa - not so much ... just saying.

 

 

  The shot below shows the framework in place on the inside of the stern.  A close shot shows all the recent filing burrs and slops I've yet to clean up ... all the tiny warts that are hard to see when simply looking at the model on a stand.  For these bits it was a matter of cutting small pieces of stock, trial fitting then CAing in place.  A daub of accelerator does a nice job of instantly 'locking' the assembly done in a piecemeal fashion.

 

 

[clearway]

Still can't believe how wrong Billings got the original kit- here's me complaining about occres offerings!

 

Keith

[Wintergreen]

6 minutes ago, clearway said:

Still can't believe how wrong Billings got the original kit

My guess is that they wanted a kit to be out as soon as possible. It was probably quite a hype when they found the ship in the late 1950:s. And for the first decades it was kept in a temporary location primarily used for conservation of the ship. Though it doubled up as a museum. It wasn't until 1990 that it was moved to its current location in the dedicated Vasa museum.

 

That said, you're doing a good job on enhancing the old kit harbor johnny!

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   Here's a picture of the lantern and flagstaff temporarily mounted.  The end of the staff was tapered and grooved for the flag pulleys - the contrast is off with the Admiral's old camera.

 

 

  'Seems the upper stern of the Vasa has lapstrake clapboards, so I decided to lay on strips of walnut veneer to do this.  Again, the overlapping boards don't show well in the image below - but when done and painted they will better conform to the original.  The hull is going to be the salient feature of the model when done, so things that will add visual interest and detail may be a plus.

  The sternmost gun port on the lower gun deck had to be closed off due to where I had to place the lower gallery.  But I see that there was a 'communication' port (a little smaller and a bit lower down on the original) for orders, mail and such on the original.  So I could place a couple hinges on that cover for effect.  After adding clapboard to both sides, I'll put in all those mini brads as previously discussed.

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:46 PM, clearway said:

Still can't believe how wrong Billings got the original kit- here's me complaining about occres offerings!

 

Keith

  Wintergreen is right about the 'early days' once the Vasa was raised.  I read with interest the National Geographic article (when it came out ... 'showing my age') and the pictures of the hull again in daylight showed that the entire stern had been ripped apart from early 'salvage' efforts - mostly to get the cannon back then, as well as the bow and the decking was gone.

 

  So until a 10 year program of stabilization could be complete - and also finding all the broken bits on the sea bottom and preserving them as well -  it was anyone's guess as to what the missing portions might have looked like ... perhaps a little like guessing what the Golden Hind looked like, but there was a lot more to go on with the Vasa, and even the Mary Rose.  Hmmm, I still think that with  modern techniques the British might yet be able to unearth the hull remnants of the GH - thereby at least getting the length, beam, tonnage and lines below the waterline.  I'm amazed at how the Swedes have put all the pieces of the 'giant jigsaw puzzle' back together.  If I ever win a Nobel Prize (which includes a free trip to Stockholm), a trip to the Vasa museum will definitely be in order ... also with a decent smorgasbord and sauna.

 

  Therefore, I do not fault Billings much  - and can highly recommend their current Vasa kit.  Yes, the carvings are molded plastic, but the detailing is excellent - and plastic can be heated carefully to form as needed before mounting.  The Corel kit has metal figures, and I don't think they have near the detail of the ones Billings provides.

 

  I compare two other Billings kits - the old Vikingskibbe (1:20), based on Skudelev 5 and the relatively recent Roar Ede (1:25) of the same boat.  The old kit was inherited and by examining the materials provided (and a MSW build of the same), the old version is a real challenge.  All the parts have to be cut out, the veneers are somewhat fragile and prone to splitting - yet the construction of the bow and stern are done as the original was - built up in successive layers.  The new kit, which I have in stash has been adjusted in scale to go with their Oseberg kit (also 1:25 - a kit that has been improved in later releases and also in my stash), is laser cut thin plywood (a real time saver there and the strakes can either be stained OR bonded (before building) with walnut or mahogany veneer (as I intend to do).  The new kit does not have the built-up bow and stern, but I saved the parts sheets from the old kit, perhaps to reduce the outlines to 1:25 and attempt to "meld" with the new kit built from contiguous planks.

 

  In another post somewhere I compared/contrasted the Scientific Robert E. Lee steamboat wooden kit with the plastic Lindbergh/Pyro kit that turns out to be the SAME scale.  Obviously starting with a nice basswood hull is much preferable to a hollow plastic one, and the mahogany stand in the Scientific kit is a nice touch.  Still, there are components in the plastic kit that can save time and add detail, such as the boiler and also to have full paddlewheels that spin on an axle (instead of cast metal partial wheel segments).  The solid wood stacks are preferable, but the stack top trim (and much other trim) in the plastic kit will be the ones I'll use.  

 

  Now in the case of the Endurance kit (under $200), just upgrading to brass stanchions and railings would add $60 to the kit price, as more ship-specific fittings would do.  Costs associated with greater development time would also have to amortized into the kit price, as would better sails, rope and belaying pins.  And OcCre has to consider the kit cost spread offered by their competitors.  'Hard to second guess this, so I can see the logic in selling an adequate kit that can be built 'out of the box' at one skill/experience level - yet still be enhanced by a builder at a higher level willing to make or buy any needed items.

 

  Whether I will get to all of the 12 kits accumulated thus far (and I've heard of stashes in the many dozens) before I head out to sea doesn't bother me.  If I don't build 'em, someone else will get a chance.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[clearway]

Well pointed out regards vasa- i cut my teeth on billings kits and like them because they are easier to convert/ adapt/ upgrade as the frames tend to be accurate for a start! I also find some of the older billings kits had advantages over the new ones as everything is laser ply for a lot of the parts that used to use "proper" wood though they did like their plastic for deck/ mast fittings.

 

Keith

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Seems I decided to put the doorways on the stern decks while what 'next' to do was pondered.  It's basically going ahead without instructions, but making them up as I go.  The large doors on the weather deck are not where they should be, but previous work (out of the old box) forced them where they ended up.  The voids behind them were filled with balsa chunks, covered with veneer, then two cast doors from a parts kit were epoxied in place (after painting).  They looked 'stuck on' so I put frames around them.  The 3 other doors higher up are about where they should be, and were made from shaped balsa for the headroom, backed with veneer (CA for speed) and front door panels were added.

 

  From thin stock the roofing was glued around the top plank by plank, and side frame pieces were added.  A thin black lining pen marked planks on the doors, and scrounged port lid castings were glued on as hinges.  Then a dab of Titebond glued the door assemblies into place.  Ladders from level to level will be added.

 

 

  I'm fiddling now with the channels, which should go in with lower deadeyes before I start putting the 500 tiny brads into the hull, thus there may be a few days before there is something worth showing.  I'm not 'on the clock' ... unless the Admiral starts giving orders.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Realized that I need a few more tiny lion heads and round gunport surrounds - and the old latex molds crumbled with age.  Not finding liquid latex locally - and it is a long process to 'build up' layers thick enough to use as a mold, I ordered 2-part silicone mold material on-line and found a new mold easy to make.

 

  I place intact original parts (molded form dental "stone") in a plastic compartment from a Mamoli kit ... any convenient container thats not too deep will do - or even a flat glass or plastic surface that one put a cookie cutter over as a 'dam'.  Traces of gold paint are on the pieces to copy.

 

 

  The silicone material is two-part, and at room temperature has a 30 minute working life.

 

  The key to successful curing is getting EXACT amounts of part A & B together, and the best way is to weigh it out - I'm using a small cut-down plastic cup 'tared' (zeroed) on a small digital scale.

 

 

  I watched the stiff 'de-bubble' itself after 3 minutes of mixing with a stick - and allowed 15 minutes for this process to occur. A stick was used to drizzle silicone carefully on the items so as not to have bubbles.  'Should have used a little 'Stick-um' on the backs so they would not shift, causing a thin film of silicone to get behind them - later trimmed away with nippers.

 

 

  After 3 hours curing the edges were teased up[ with a dental tool, and there was no sticking to the surround.  The cured mold was 'squeezable' to pop out the originals.

 

  And a nice mold was made ... with a few specs of gold left behind that were easy to remove by squeezing the mold and wiping with a damp cloth.  Now the Durham's water putty I tried did not cast as nice as dental 'stone' ... not so hard and more brittle, whereas 'stone' is made to be worked on in a dental lab.  I tried less water and added a little Elmer's glue to the Durham powder, and that worked better.  What I'll get today is was is MEANT to be used with silicone molds - resin.  This is available in hobby stores and referred to as 'casting resin'. 

 

 

 

  Below are the initial pieces made - the gun port rings had to be Ca'd together as they broke on de-molding.  Casting resin will be much tougher.

 

 

 

 

 

  As far as the ship goes, I realized that the angles of the sides astern were a bit too far off, so trimmed them into a better profile - nat quite right, but what I'll have to live with on my attempt to make a 'sow's ear into a silk purse' ... if not silk, then perhaps linen.  The drilled channel were CA'd on the starboard side.

 

 

 

  Of course there's lots more to do.

 

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I knocked over a container of the tiny brads and thought I'd have a time picking them all up.   

 

 

  Then I remembered a handy 'magnet on a stick' the Admiral has, that looks something like a golf club.

 

 

 

  'Worked like a charm, since the brads (and a few other bits) are magnetic.  Too bad there's not a 'magnet' for brass.

 

 

   BTW, I found that quick set epoxy ('5 minute' type) does NOT stick to the silicone mold, and that parts cast in epoxy have a 'flexing state' after 15  minutes, so perhaps the curved figures for the cupola roofs can be modeled and cast flat - then formed during the 'flex stage'.  After much more time than that (30 -40 minutes) the pieces are firm - hmmm ... about the time a blue pill takes to work.  'Full cure' is 3 - 4 hours, but I like to let them sit overnight before sanding/filing for any clean-up.

 

  I didn't find 'casting resin' at Hobby Lobby - they have discontinued sales.  I asked why and the answer was 'defective product'.  I believe that there were too many people who did not mix EQUAL parts and did not get proper curing - thus returned product for a refund as 'defective'.  The manufacturer provided no warranty due to lack of control of product use, and also had a 'litany' of hazard warnings because of component chemicals ... again, we have ultra cautiousness these days over ANY potential liability.

 

  Yet these hobby 'resins' are just epoxy that color is added to, with varying cure times.  Two aisles over they sold bottlers of epoxy glue with varying cure times as well ... go figure.

 

  BTW, if the Admiral's in a mood and sounds 'beat to quarters', this gunner can chew the pill (tastes bitter), chase with water on an empty stomach and be ready for action in 15 minutes ...    aye-aye Sir !

  

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Bout time for another small step forward, and some more decisions on how to proceed.  This project is definitely a substantial 'kit bust' from what came in the box, as has already been noted.  With the stern scratch re-worked and the bow area to be done from scratch, the project approaches semi-scratch ... but I wouldn't go quite that far.  It's more a work of art, and I said something to that effect on a recent post to an Endurance build.  The smaller the scale, the more simplifications have to be made.  I'm finding 1:100 (or thereabouts) not too difficult, yet challenging nonetheless.

 

  I imagine that I was someone allowed to the build site in 1628, where I made some quick sketches and notes - figuring that I could make a more complete and detailed version after the ship was moved, the object being to do an oil painting if not a model.  Then came the shocking news of the sinking, and all I'd have to work with are those initial rough sketches and pacing-off !   Of course, with MSW there are other builds to look at, and every one has it's own unique characteristics and charm.  I suppose that what I end up with will be no exception.

 

  I'll need 2 catheads, so I found a piece of spruce stock from one of my 'parts kits', drilled a hole through the side for 20 gauge brass beading wire (soft state) with a finger operated pin vise, and cut two slots in the end for the sheaves with an ordinary hack saw (holding the stock end-up in a vise).  A piece of 1/8" brass rod was chucked in the Unimat, and I drilled the same size hole in the end.  I should have used a small center drill first, since the wire drill 'walked' a little off center before 'grabbing' ... no matter.  A model railroad track saw was used to clice a thin sheave off the drilled stock after first scoring with a sharp pointed tool cranked-in from the side.  The parts are shown below.

 

 

  There was a little wobble to the end cuts in the wood - course corrected as I went.  The second cat head came out better.  getting the wire through everything was fiddly - a sewing pin was used to rough align the assembly, then the wire end was filed to 'sharpen' and it finally went through.  One wire end was bent over a wee bit - the other cut with the angled side of the flush cutter so I could bend that bit over as well.

 

 

 

  Below are the finished pair.  NO, I'm not going to do the first one over ... its 'good enough' and the close-up magnifies every defect.

 

 

  I did put the tiny brads in the sides and stern as previously indicated.  Of the 560 that I started with, 130 remain .. so that works out to about 430 brads put into the hull ... I didn't bother counting as each hole locations was pencil marked, 'dinked' with a prick punch and drilled with the flex-shaft before each brad was positioned and pushed into place.  I think they add something to the project.

 

 

  Too many brads might have been distracting as they are slightly out of scale (better for the 1:65 AL version), and the toothpick trunnels are also out of scale, so too many of them wouldn't have been good either.  I find the combination pleasing, and I have only myself to please.  BTW, the holes without brads in them are where chainplate will be fastened.  The first mast sections were put temporarily in place so I could 'eyeball' (with a hacksaw blade as a straightedge) the line of the shrouds coming down to the lower deadeyes located by pre-drilled holes in the channel (can't be seen here) and through to the attachment point below the channel.  Will it be 'exact'?  Likely not, but not enough to be a bother - and that (as I've said) should be 'good enough'.

 

 

[72Nova]

I for one love the work you're putting into this kit, we all have screw ups here and there that we need to hide, heck I almost cried when I cut thru the topmast shroud on my build doing the ratlines, a rope coil solved that.

Michael D.

[Lastcore]

When I saw the first pictures I really wasn't sure if it was the Wasa. Goes to show how much the kits and overall information has changed over the years.

 

You did an awesome job on updating this to match the more modern kits. Now It unquestionably looks like that Wasa.

 

Your gallery spindles (not sure what they were called) make mine look horrible I can tell some effort was spent there.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Figured I'd have to file down the planking to let the 'ribs' be higher, then put a gunwale on the ends ... there will be light railing put on later.  

 

 

  After the gunwales were added, I can see I'm one step further along this model 'rescue'.  And there are now places to belay quite a number of rigging ropes.  Postings on this forum indicated that belaying pins were not used on large ships prior to around 1745 ... and the Vasa is 1628.  There are substantial posts with sheaves on deck for the heavy halyards, and there are also rails w/o pins ... and a few kevels, of course.  So it occurred to me that the end of a rib (the original had a lot more of them than my poor model shows) would be a great place to loop a line around twice and do a half hitch.  'Just saying ...

 

 

  My earlier finger boo-boo healed, but a pinch just cause me a 'blood blister' ... better than a cut with thinned blood.  'Have to watch how I use pliers.  Now about the lack of belaying pins - I recall a scene in 'A League of Their Own' where the coach (Tom Hanks) bawls out a player for a goof (Madonna), which makes her cry.  Then he yelled, "There is NO crying in baseball ! ... There's no crying in baseball !"  So I'm thinking, 'There are no belying pins on Vasa ..."

 

  Now just two extraneous pictures stuck on my 'desktop' that I want to get off, and they might be of passing interest to forum members.  The first is a tight barge squeeze.

 

  The second is the longest English 'rope walk' ... My Syren Rope Rocket can't hold a candle to it.

 

 

  Fair sailing !     Johnny

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Thought I'd make some rope to approximate scale, as the various spools of kit ropes on hand vary in quality.  It would be best (given the trouble gone to so far) to have as much as needed made up on the Rope Rocket for consistency.  I started with black for standing rigging using a good polyester (same as I use for tricorn hat making) brand - Metler's "metrosene".  We know that cotton or silk can have some age related problems in the 60 - 80 years range, depending on lighting and atmospheric conditions.  Linen line is the old standby, but polyester (with pros and cons related to glue use on model applications) is likely to have a very long life.

 

  With 3 threads wound in each of the 3 strands on the Rocket, the line (after stretching by hand to 'set' the rope once made) measures .030" in diameter ... representing about 3" diameter rope on a 1:100 model (my Vasa scale).  This will be used for some of the fore stays.  With 2 threads per strand, the diameter is .022 - representing about 2.2" diameter rope for shrouds, backstays and higher fore stays (and heavier running rigging in a tan color).  Single thread strands make .012 rope - for ratlines, running rigging and lacing the dead eyes.

 

 

  I'm taking a 'shortcut' for seizing dead eyes by tying a small 'hangman's noose' and snugging it on the dead eye ...   Then it struck me that BLACK may not be the best for this build (fine for clippers and many later sailing ships) ... but rather a dark brown as I've seen used elsewhere.  So I went out and bought 2 shades of brown to compare - one a raw sienna and the other closer to burnt sienna.  The raw sienna may best represent rope treated with the concoction often used to promote better service life.  Some note that ropes so treated would darken further with use, but the Vasa didn't get much 'use' ... what, 20 minutes?

 

   BTW, there is another 'rope making' "kit" sold for ship modelers ('forgot the name, and don't care to remember it) that I tried before finding out about the Syren product ...  What was supplied with the 'other' device would not 'go together' without a LOT of tinkering and re-engineering - and a hand cranked device is NOT the way to go, as it takes AGES to get a decent amount of product (and a sore arm as well).

 

  Now I did run into something with the Rocket, relating to a set screw having the function of locking a drive bolt to the central gear assembly.  One should only tighten a set screw 'so much' ... as to avoid stripping threads in the housing (set screws come hardened), yet the drive bolt is itself a 1/4-20 threaded bolt.  What happened in my case was that as tension built, I may not have moved the geared end forward far enough (refer to the You tube on how to use the Rocket ... really, its not 'rocket science' ) - and the drive bolt 'screwed itself' past the set screw somewhat (due to excess tension?).

 

This eliminated clearance between the moving parts (pulled everything together, actually) and friction increased enough that the Phillips head bit in the electric drill stripped the head of the drive bolt as shown below.

 

  So I realized that what was needed is a 'flat' filed on the side of the drive bolt to give the set screw a better surface to grip - one that won't allow the bolt to shift .  This was also the time to see if there were any other changes that might improve functioning.  I noticed that the planetary gears all had small washers (the drive bolt has a large washer) - but the central gear didn't have any washer (as supplied).  This caused flexure in the middle when everything was pulled tight - but delrin (the presumed gear material) does have some 'give' to it.

 

  When I took off the central gear, it was obvious that bolt ends from the hub had gouged a circle where they protruded slightly through the central gear.  These bolts engage the gear to spin it.  As I decided to add a brass washer with a diameter less than the bolt circle of the hub, it was not necessary to file the bolt ends ... but something that can also be done when first building.

 

 

  Below is the underside of the central gear showing slightly protruding bolts.

 

  No matter, the brass washer sandwiched itself nicely when re-assembled.  The drive bolt (when assemble from the back) will align everything properly.

 

 

    There was a test assembly and the set screw was tightened to 'dink' the threads of the drive bolt to mark where the flat needed to be filed.  I used a nut and vise grips to hold the drive bolt while filing a flat for the set screw to grip.

 

 

  The everything was assembled and tightened.  I used white lithium grease as a gear lubricant, and clock oil elsewhere.

 

 

 

  Now we're 'good to go' ... and I  made some nice rope on it.   The idea is to (rough) pre-lace the dead eyes before mounting on the hull.  After the first mast sections are in place, the shroud ends will be looped around and CA'd (as opposed to seizing with thread under the tops where things are cramped) - with the dead eye spacing regularized by adjusting the lacing before finalizing that loop around the mast section.  At least that's the plan ... we'll see how that goes.

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   'Spent a couple days trying to get a miniature rope makers' "top" to work - and thereby eliminate step 2 of the Rope Rocket method  (as designed).  Seems that the very small size of the material being spun does not 'scale down' like what I've used on full size rope when I have demonstrated rope making as a period craft.

 

  With too much friction preventing the automatic generation of counter-twisted mini rope (even trying a roller bearing for the central hook), I'd need a motor mounted on the second end of the rig - activated by a foot pedal ... and I've delayed further progress on my build as it is.  Perhaps my R&D in this area  will be continued another time  (would be cool though).

 

  Meanwhile I noticed that for every turn of the large gear on the 'business' end of the Rocket turns each planetary gear about 6 1/4 times.  My first drill had a VERY high rate of speed, so I got a lithium battery powered 'drill/driver' at Harbor Freight ($19.99 !) to have better control of step one of the process.  I first went to a 'big box' store to look in their tool department, and they had nothing under $100.  But $19.99 ? ...  No way it could be made in the U.S. and sold for a profit at THAT price.  Then again , in retirement, I have to look for 'bargains' ... but have we made a 'Devil's bargain' that has hooked us on low prices for consumer goods?  It's still Lent, so I should do a little more Penance.

 

  But I've digressed,  the SECOND step of the Rope Rocket is to spin the other end ... but there is no gearing there, so for every turn of the drill head there is one 'counter turn' to twist the tensioned strands into rope.  The initial twisting of the strand in step one needs to be countered by about an equal number of counter turns in step two ... so if the drill head speed is the same as used on step one, then it will take about 6 times longer to complete step 2 (compared to step 1).  THAT is why I used the FASTER drill (somewhere between 2 and 3 times as fast) for step 2, so it only take a little more than twice the turning time of step one.

 

  After a few tries with the normal 'learning curve' it is a straightforward procedure that I find relaxing.  For a given limit of your mini rope walk, there will be an ideal amount to let the geared head move forward (judging the 'tension' with one's primary hand - right or left, so the walk is set up either way as desired) - in my case about 18", while the other hand applies the drill.  BTW, I needed to use a large 'blunt' phillips drill bit to best fit the indentation in the provided bolts.   My rope walk will make about 7 paces (about 1 yard per pace) of finished rope each time.  This works out to about 700 yards 'in scale' at 1:100 ! 

 

  In step 2, the other end of the Rocket DOES move back (longer) a little (8 - 12 inches depending on the thickness of rope being made (as noted in my last post), and it does move back forward just a little - the 'feel' being judged by hand (as that end has been unclamped) - but with opposite hands to the first step.  I'm not ambidextrous, so rope making with the Rocket is no big feat.  When the rope is twisted nearly to the end, I stop.

 

  The end is cut and knotted over itself, and I'll pull about an arms-length to 'set' the rope (no need to bother with water when using Metrosine polyester thread) and let the end dangle.  If there was not quite enough counter-twist, the hanging end of the mini rope will 'twirl' clockwise a bit (the same direction as done in step 2, which 'appears' counterclockwise when looking down at the dangling end).  Only if over spun will the end twirl the other way.  When I 'get it right' there is almost no twirling.  When I saw the rope makers working at the Goshenhoppen Folk Festival, they counted the number of turns on side one of their rig, and the man (or lad) at the other end counted the same number of counter twists since their second end was geared the same as the end with the spinning heads (planetary gears).

 

   When doing demos myself, I never did anything quite the same twice, but let the unrestrained single hook (swivel) at the far end 'do its thing' as the rope maker's "top" ran up the run like a juggernaut.  When done, I just 'shook out' the rope to remove any residual twist imbalance, then tied an end around a post or tree so I use my body weight to 'set' (or stretch out) the rope.  The best rope was from hemp (which I found rather expensive), so I had to switch to jute, which was OK.  Sisal is lousy.

 

  Anyway,  I'm happy with what I can make with the Rope Rocket since I can control the color, thickness and material used.

[clearway]

Hope it all works out in the end- this goes to re-estabilish why i never went down the rabbit hole of scale model rope making😉

 

Keith

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

1 hour ago, clearway said:

Hope it all works out in the end- this goes to re-estabilish why i never went down the rabbit hole of scale model rope making😉

 

Keith

  Actually, I was almost making it into a rabbit hole by pondering how to "improve" (or speed) the process.  As provided, Chuck's Rocket does a decent job as a two-step process.  One just needs to pick a preferred material and see what diameters are produced by varying the number of threads used on each of the three lengths spun.

 

  As far as rabbit holes are concerned, I try to back out off them in most cases.  The one that almost got me good was trying to figure out how to make my own replica of the Antikythera Device ... google that.

 

Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  To clarify what I said about a rope maker's "top", a photo is shown below.   The 'top' itself looks looks a child's toy top (on its side), and I've added a wooden flange to make sure the strands don't jump out of the notches.  There is a weight on the bottom to keep the 'top' from spinning (like a top), which would twist strands on the other side (not desired).   On the full size rig, the tension from twisting the strands is enough to make the rope form 'all by itself' - and the 'top' moves back automatically as the rope is formed by counter twist.  On the mini rope walk, it doesn't work due to friction on the small turnbuckle, etc. - hence a motor on the second end would be needed to make the process a 'one step' operation ... perhaps helpful for someone wanting to make large quantities to sell.

 

 

  Now for an  "AH - HAH !!" moment.  - at least concerning the present build.  When the major changes to the stern were made, only the first two cannon aft of the main mast were exposed on the weather deck (the next two being under a higher deck).  This was always the case as the framing for the 1:100 model was built 'out of the box' some time ago.  But the Vasa had 4 cannon on the weather deck aft of the main mast.

 

  The problem with THIS kit is that the length of the hull is not to the stated scale, even though the beam and fittings ARE to scale.  The Vasa hull is 201 feet (without the bowsprit ... 228 feet with bowsprit - a very large ship for its day) and the beam (max) is 38 feet.  OK, for ease of calculation I'll use 200 feet (alright, we Americans are still hooked on the 'English' system rather than the metric used by the rest of the world) for just the hull.

 

  There are other lengths one can fine, such as 'at the waterline' or 'between perpendiculars' ... but at the stated scale of 1:100, a 200 foot hull would scale down to (duh) 2 feet or 24".  My Vasa hull is only 20 inches !!   A 38' beam scaled down (1:100) should be about 4.6" ... and my model is just that.  So width-wise (and fittings-wise) its OK at 1:100, but the length is 4" SHORT.  Was that a goof back in the 60s when the kit was designed?  Or were there other reasons, like having the plywood keel fit into a certain sized box? (The box was lost long ago.)  Or was it 'cloned' from another kit design - like the Norske Love ?

 

  Sure, things were corrected in subsequent editions (at a 1:75 scale), but short of sawing-off the end of my partially complete model (which I might have been tempted to do before getting as far as I've come to date), splicing in 4 inches of keel, making 2 additional frames and adding planking to blend with the aft portion to 'stretch' the model ... there is no reasonable way to have corrected the anomaly.

 

  I've made a rough sketch of my model size in pencil, and ADDED in blue ink what the profile 'should be' at 1:100.  THEN, the cannons on the weather deck would be right, as well as the position of the stern walkways, etc.  Tisk, tisk - no stopping now, and I think I'll have a reasonable impression of the Vasa when done (as mentioned before in this build) ... art imitating life.  And I'm learning a lot about the hobby in the meantime.

 

 

 

  The 'long', high-sterned configuration of the Vasa likely made it more 'canoe-like' in behavior (heavy armaments and high masting didn't help either).  It is said that more beam would have permitted better ballasting, ergo more stability.  The current day kits (Corel and Billings) are 1:75 should have about a 32" hull ... a pretty large model to make, and the Artesania Latina at 1:65 should have about a 37" hull - a whopper.