Wasa by fmodajr - FINISHED - Corel - 1:75

[fmodajr]

Hi Everyone,

 

I’m Frank from Massachusetts.

 

I have been working on my Corel Wasa for about 2 years now. My parents visited the ship in Sweden 2 years ago and brought me back some books and plans of the ship. I selected the Corel kit for my build, and  I have been so inspired by the fantastic work of other Wasa logs that I thought I would create my own log for your review. I will skip the pictures of the keel and framing photos and start in on the gun port construction and slowly build my log to where I am currently. (Just finishing the bow section!) Let me know your thoughts!

 

I cut and enlarged the width of the gun port channels supplied with the kit, in order to accommodate the framing of the gunport openings. Then I made a full set of false gun carriages for the guns to sit on. slotted the backs of the gunport frames, so the guns could be inserted and then glued down onto the false carriages. Then I glued a "floor: to the frames so the carriages can sit on them at the correct height.

 

First set of planks with the gun ports set at the correct height.

 

Both rows of gun port openings completed with 1st layer of planking

 

 

 

 

 

[fmodajr]

Adding the False Deck

Finishing the first layer of planking

For the second layer of planking I selected and cut some darker Walnut wood for contrast on the wales.

I soaked the planks in a 50/50 mix of ammonia and water, then bent the planks and glued after drying.

 

 

Edited July 22, 2014 by fmodajr

[JeffT]

Your Wasa looks great. I'm curious about the bolted on piece at the bow though. Whats that?

[md1400cs]

Frank,

 

Welcome to MSW. You will have a lot of friends here including the Vasa builders. Very excellent idea to pre build-in the gun carriages into the lower and upper gun decks. Your pics look great (excellent size) It will be a pleasure to follow along.

 

Regards,

 

Michael

[Ulises Victoria]

Excellent! Fond memories of my start of this kit!!! I was going to tell you to rig the violin shaped block before closing your decks, but saw you already did!!!

Good work. I will follow with interest.

 

Best regards

[fmodajr]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

 

Jeff, I bolted on a temporary piece of wood on the bow and stern so I could flip the ship over (without damaging the top) and work on the underside of the hull. (See picture above with the ship flipped over). I remove the pieces of wood later in the build.

[fmodajr]

Finish planking of lower hull using mahogany strips

I veneered the keel with lighter mahogany wood and then I sanded and coated the entire Hull with a satin sanding sealer

Framed the gun ports and added the partial carriages

Overlap the upper planks near the stern

[fmodajr]

Ulises,

If I recall correctly, it was viewing your detailed log that reminded me to add and rig the block before closing the deck!!!

 

Thanks,

Frank

[WackoWolf]

The planking is beautiful, your doing an excellent job on a ship that isn't easy. Love your work. Keep the pictures coming.

[JanV]

Good to see another Wasa (Corel) builder here.

I will follow your build log of course

[NAZGÛL]

Looks nice!

 

 

/Matti

[NMBROOK]

Great work Frank   I like your rework of the gunports with dummy carriages

 

Kind Regards Nigel

[Ulises Victoria]

Ulises,

If I recall correctly, it was viewing your detailed log that reminded me to add and rig the block before closing the deck!!!

 

Thanks,

Frank

Very likely. I made emphasis on that step! Great idea that of the gun carriages. Why didn't I think of that???

Best wishes!!!

[JanV]

Good idea for the carriages for the guns. I will think this over also if this is still possible in my build.

[marktiedens]

Nice work - welcome to the Wasa club.

[fmodajr]

My attempt at the decking went as follows:

 

I found a nice piece of Eastern White Pine at the local lumber yard. I cut it down into 2 to 3" wide strips (So it would fit into my thickness sander). Once I determined the width my planks would be, I ran the strips through the thickness sander and made the thickness the dimension for the width of the plank.

 

 

Then, using flat black construction paper, I glued the paper onto 1 side of the strips (using Elmers Rubber glue). I let it dry overnight.

 

 

Now I cut the width of the strips to the thickness I wanted to have for the planks. Then I filed the corners of the plank strips.

The result is planks with black paper on one side ready for laying on the deck.

 

 

When laying the planks, I inserted small pieces of the black construction paper on the ends and butting up the next plank to it.

 

Edited July 22, 2014 by fmodajr

[fmodajr]

For the tree nails I used the following method:

 

A few years ago, I bought a set of wood dowel cutters from a company in California.

Vanda-Lay Industries

Running Springs, CA

(I don't know if they are still in business)

 

 

The cutters came in 3 sizes (.026, .031, and .038 Dia.) and they attach to a cover and onto my dremel tool.

I cut some walnut strips square, using my table saw, close to the dia of the cutter. (For the Wasa I used the .026 tool).

When I turn on the dremel, I run the square walnut piece into the opening and it turn the end round to the correct dia.

 

 

I pre-drill the planking and insert the now round walnut dowel, cut and sand flush.

 

After final sanding, I stained the deck with a light oak finish and put a coat of Satin Poly as a sealer.

Edited July 22, 2014 by fmodajr

[fmodajr]

Thanks for the kind words and great to meet everyone.

 

Happy New Year to all!!

 

Frank

[JanV]

you are showing us here a high standard of ship modelisme

welcome again in the group of Wasa builders within MSW

[DiKri]

Nice to see yet another Corel/Wasa being build . Although the same kit; all models look different. Keep the pictures coming!

[S.Coleman]

You've done a great job on that deck.it looks very sharp and clean.

[md1400cs]

Frank,

 

Your deck work is setting the standard, and raising the bar very high. Perfect....Thanks for the detailed "how to". Your weather deck is really a work of art.

 

PS: what thickness sander and saw are you using? And to think that I was all done buying tools (:-)

 

Michael

[fmodajr]

JanV and S. Coleman

Thanks for the kind words!

 

DiKri, Yes I was worried that with all the wonderful Wasa logs on this Web site, I would not have much to add! Hopefully I can.

 

Thanks,

 

Frank

[fmodajr]

Michael,

Happy New Year! I hope all is well.

 

The thickness sander I have is from a company called "Ship Ahoy Models and Miniatures"

Website is  www.shipahoymodels.com

It was started by a good friend of mine (and a former employee of mine for many years) Bob Prezioso.

I bought his 6" thickness sander and it works beautifully. Well built. I also own the disk sander with the tilting table and the seizing and serving tool. You can look at everything at his Web site.

 

Hopefully I will be able to post more picts tomorrow!

 

Frank

[Ulises Victoria]

JanV and S. Coleman

Thanks for the kind words!

 

DiKri, Yes I was worried that with all the wonderful Wasa logs on this Web site, I would not have much to add! Hopefully I can.

 

Thanks,

 

Frank

I wish you had started your Vasa before I did mine, so I could learn from your build. Seriously.

Respectfully. 

[md1400cs]

Michael,

Happy New Year! I hope all is well.

 

The thickness sander I have is from a company called "Ship Ahoy Models and Miniatures"

Website is  www.shipahoymodels.com

It was started by a good friend of mine (and a former employee of mine for many years) Bob Prezioso.

I bought his 6" thickness sander and it works beautifully. Well built. I also own the disk sander with the tilting table and the seizing and serving tool. You can look at everything at his Web site.

 

Hopefully I will be able to post more picts tomorrow!

 

Frank

Frank,

 

Thanks for the link. Hmmm they sure have beautiful ships there. Re: sander I have one that also has a sanding belt on one side. I was not aware that these tools were also known as thickness sanders. I will have to learn how to do that.

 

Michael

Edited January 2, 2014 by md1400cs

[marktiedens]

Excellent work Frank.As we are all learning from each other`s builds I`m sure I will see something on yours that I could have done better on mine.

 

Regards,Mark

[fmodajr]

Continuing on with the deck items!

 

The Corel kit comes with metal door pieces. I was able to grind away all of the middle parts of the metal, leaving the decorative frame. I then made the doors out of wood and inserted the decorative frame around the edges. I later take these off and gold leaf them along with all the other fittings later. (I'll get into my gold leafing process (why and how I did them in future posts)!

 

Working on the bow section.

 

[fmodajr]

This section is from my work on the stern area of the ship!

 

 

Drilling of the fwd gun holes with gold leafed ornaments

 

Decking near stern

 

 

Stern Windows

[fmodajr]

Before going too far with the ship build, I thought it might be prudent to get the ship on a stand. I was worried that if I went too far in the build, I might damage something trying to get the ship fitted on a stand.

 

I made a Mahogany base for the stand.

I had a Pegasus stand kit, given to me by a friend, and I thought it might work well with the ship.

 

I thoroughly cleaned the Pegasus figurines and then I gold leafed them. I mounted them on the 4 pedestals and then mounted the ship to the completed stand. I drilled 2 holes in the keel of the ship and then pinned the ship to the stand. This way, if I had to, I could easy pull the pins and remove the ship from the stand.