Vasa by Karleop - FINISHED – Billing Boats – reviving a poorly built model

[Karleop]

Hola Matti, thanks for your words.  

 

Indeed I read about that the shield was actually a door and I was tempted to cut it in half but finally I didn´t do it because it was barely noted.

 

About the cannons I did not implied they were painted but I assumed they were made of iron and not brass and so the "black" color was the natural one. Probably I will give them only a very light bath in the Patina solution, only to made them more greyish.

 

By the way, do you know if there were a chain in the stern holding the rudder blade, or the lateral holes were intended for other purpose:

 

 

Saludos, Karl

[dgbot]

A nice model of the Vasa.

David B

[NAZGÛL]

They where made from bronze. I think they couldn't make iron cannons light enough until much later.

 

I have only seen ropes for the rudder. a precaution in case the whippstaff or something else broke.

[Karleop]

Hola Matti, thanks for your information about the cannons and rudder rope.  I will obscure a little the cannons with the patina solution to look them "older"

 

Saludos, Karl

[Andre]

Karl,

It is a pleasure to see the work of another skilled Wasa builder! Your bow section looks wonderful!

I will be looking at your deck canons for inspiration when I start building my own...

 

Andre

[Karleop]

Hola Andre, thanks for your comments.  

 

I've been following your thread and really you have accomplished an excellent work, especially considering the original state of the model that you show in the first photos. Not only your woodwork is very good but also the painted figures and hull are excellent.

 

By the way, you mention using Rebel paintings: are them oil based or acrylic?. I have used acrylic because they come in many colors and shades and are easy to mix and combine.

 

Saludos, Karl

[Andre]

Karl,

Thank you for your compliments.

I use Revell paint. The cans read 'enamel paint', and they contain mekoxim. So I assume that they are acrylic paints.

 

Regards, Andre

[Karleop]

Hi guys,

 

although according to Matti the rudder blade was held out with rope I decided to put instead a chain as is in the Corel kit because I think it looks better:

 

 

 

By other hand, I also finished the cannons and carriages as you can see in the next pictures:

 

 

 

To fit the cannons that are at the stern portion of the ship I had to modify the carriages to raise them a little. The whitish portions are the added pieces.

 

 

Saludos, Karl

[Karleop]

Hi all,

 

Folowing the idea of Matti about putting bars on the capstan I made the same.  His sugestion about making a little shorter the capstan and with fewer holes was also good but I already made it.

 

 

Saludos,  Karl

[dgbot]

Keep up the good work

David B

[NAZGÛL]

You've made a lot of good work Karl, well done!  Your capstan looks great, (I didn't mean fewer holes, but fewer bars like on the real ship today).

 

It's neat to see our different solutions to details.

 

 

/Matti

[Karleop]

Thanks for your comments Matti.  

 

About the capstan: you are right.  Seeing the picture of the original it is difficult to see if there were 6 or 8 holes (4 bars) but in the  kit indicate the12 holes I already made.  Pity I did not noticed before.  Anyway, it was a great idea to include the bars.

 

 

Saludos

[yvesvidal]

There is a lot of pleasure in rescuing and repairing an old kit that was started in a poor way and quite often never completed.

I know I enjoy these challenges.

 

Beautiful work.

Yves

[Karleop]

Hola a todos;

 

I just finished the stern lantern.  As I already mention, the plastic piece that simulates glass did not fit, I need to make a new one and also added and upper and lower piece to accommodate vertical “ribs”.

 

 

Here you can see the finished lantern in position.

 

 

Saludos

[dgbot]

What did you use for glass?

David B

[Karleop]

Hi David,  the "glass" is the transparent semi-rigid plastic that is use for packing.  To shape it, first cut the desire shape and then with a plastic or metalic ruler, as a guide and support,  bend it as you want.

 

Saludos

Edited April 11, 2014 by Karleop

[NAZGÛL]

The lantern looks really nice and suits the model well!

 

I planned to not have one as an homage to the real one at the museum, but looking at yours makes me think twice.

 

 

/Matti

[dgbot]

I would go for it.

David B

[Karleop]

Hi everyone!

 

After finishing cannons and other deck object’s my purpose was to begin the installation of deadeyes over the chainboards. 

 

To accomplish this I realized that in first place  was necessary to display the masts in a preliminary way to determine the angle of the different shrouds. In the process I decide to shape the upper square portion of the foremast and mainmast outright.  To achieve this I used my homemade Dremel base as shown in the picture.

 

 

 

Saludos, Karl

[HIPEXEC]

Wow! That lantern is great! What did you use for glass...I would like to do that for my skylight.

Nice work.

Rich

[Karleop]

Hi guys:

 

Once the mast in their preliminary position and using a thread as a guide I noticed in first place that some of the deadeyes lay exactly over the cannon apertures, obviously illogical.  So, before putting the deadeyes I compare the kit with pictures of the museum and the ones that Matti kindly send me.  

 

 

Results: first, the original ship has also the problem I already mention and second, everyone has its own version.  Conclusion: I followed the museum 1:10 model considering specially not interfere with the cannon apertures.  For this it was necessary to make new holes for deadeyes and blocks on the chainboard and cover the ones that came originally in the kit.

 

 

By the way, the lower blocks that are laid over the chainboard and between deadeyes are single and not double blocks as show in the instructions.

 

Saludos

Edited April 17, 2014 by Karleop

[WackoWolf]

Saludos,

 

    Very nice workaround. Keep the pictures coming.

[Karleop]

Hi again,

 

Once the location of deadeyes and blocks was determined, I set  the corresponding pieces in place.

 

 

Here you can see the line I use to align the chains

 

 

Saludos, Karl

 

 

[NAZGÛL]

Nice Karl! I'm not there yet...

 

/Matti

[Karleop]

Hola Matti, will be interesting to see your decisions about these chainboards.

 

Saludos, Karl

[HIPEXEC]

That was a big job with my chainplate locations...not to cover the gundeck cannons. Nice job! I'm finding more and more errors and ommissions in Constructo's plans causing me to have to look farr ahead before mounting something.

[Karleop]

That's Rich, this is precisely what I learned with the first boat I did, the HMS Pandora (Constructo), which I had to redo some things because they did not coincide with later steps. Unfortunately the problems in the clarity of the instructions are rather the rule rather than exceptions.  Actually I find more than 50 errors and sent them to Constructo in order to make the appropriate corrections but their answer was that they had already discontinued this model. 

 

Something similar occurred with the kits I made from Artesania Latina and now with Billing Boats.

 

As you say, main thing to learn:  go much further in the instructions to see if the piece you are cutting or gluing are where they must be and not interfere with other pieces later. 

 

Saludos, Karl

[clearway]

excellent work. I have to agree about manufacturers and their instructions. aglad i didn't start billings victory without lots of prior experience! also they "cut corners" with certian features and dumb down others.

Keith

[Karleop]

Hola!!

 

Now that I'm finishing with the port side chainboards, I've noticed that the number of holes for deadeyes and blocks of the middle one (main mast) mismatch between plan and drawings of the instruction manual. In fact I realized this because the number of chains appear to be insufficient.

 

Plan; with 12 chains and marked with an X the one added incorrectly.

 

Figure in the Manual:  with 11 chains and marking with an arrow the correct place based on the 1:10 Model that is in the Vasa museum.

 

By the way, one thing I've observed in this BB kit is that the number of pieces is the minimum required and not as in other brands where they place extra additional pieces to replace defective parts or inaccurate counts  in case you need them. In fact in this BB kit I have had to replace some of the wooden planks and wire because they were not enough.

 

Saludos, Karl

[HIPEXEC]

You can buy that plank cutter on E-Bay. It's called

 

Midwest Easy Cutter Ultimate.