Vasa - 1:65 DeAgostini [COMPLETED BUILD]

With the addition of the frames to the keel I now have the outline of a ship and I'm feeling super excited about that. I also added a few structural pieces at the fore and aft.

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I did the best I could keeping everything square – though it was challenging working in three planes of space simultaneously. I found that using aliphatic resin cement (Titebond) was helpful. CA would have bonded the pieces together too quickly – getting everything aligned requires way more working time than CA would have allowed. For the record, I started with Gorilla brand wood glue, but it was too slow to take an initial set – for some reason the Titebond seemed tackier (?). What adhesives should I use going forward for the different segments of the build (yes, I know that is a really elementary question…)? Waiting for glue to dry is no fun…but does CA actually bond wood well enough for the long haul?

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First issue: notwithstanding the book stacking exercise the vertical members of frame 15 are twisted and bent (the plywood is warped – my puzzle making skills are not to blame in this case). Not sure what to do about that yet. Should I straighten it now or use the future support/structural pieces to take out the twist/bend? The ply is much thinner than I might have expected so it should be easy to force it back into shape. Then again, it seems just as likely to break... I guess I'll wait and straighten the frame with the structural pieces that are forthcoming.

As an aside, I traced out a few of the frames before gluing them to the false keel (why is it called false?). By calculating the thickness of the future hull planking I am hoping to fabricate a dry dock/carriage to use later in the construction. Or at least that seems like a good idea...

I keep imagining what my bride will say when she sees the credit card statement. “That model ship thing cost $1300? What would a finished one have cost? Me: “Probably around $800.” Bride: “What am I missing?” Me: “Wait until you see what I spent on tools and supplies…”

Thanks for watching!
I have seen a kit cost $1500 dollars but the finished model was about $12k, so maybe you could sell it? just kidding, I probably couldn't
 
Having spent nearly 8 hours yesterday laying hull planks (the product of which was only 6 lines of planking on each side of the ship :confused:) I decided to do some painting today. I had a free afternoon so I chose the lion's heads that festoon the gun port covers. Here is what I ended up with:

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I'm considering whether I need to add some shading to the recessed areas of the mane. I added some very subtle highlights but feel like the whole thing comes across as a bit monochromatic. Since I'm not an experienced miniatures painter I'm struggling with technique. And after painting 57 (!!!) of these bad boys I needed to take a break before I ruined anything...

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Thanks for checking out my build log and feel encouraged to share your suggestions for improving my work!
Looks like counterfeit money???
 
I have not much time today, to clarify this more in detail - but you are right, that the instruction is wrong - usually every line of planks have to end in the keel.
The Vasa was somehow very very special, because they often did not follow normal regulations, f.e they shaped tapered the ending of a plank sharp and did not use stealers or butt joints in the planking
I do not know, if you can see the photos in this german forum (without beeing a member), but a very good friend of mine visited two years ago Stockholm and made a lot of detailed photos of the Vasa

also these photos will help
I know no German, how can I see?
 
What a spectacular re-work you made for your inner bulwark framing and timerber head railings! I can sympathize with the desire to tread the line between historic authenticity and pre-determined constraints of the kit, and/or our own early decisions.
As always, Marc, I am humbled by your kind and encouraging comments.

I do think I will end up showing the gun port covers mostly open (probably not pulled up against the wales but more than historical accuracy might dictate). I just can't get myself to the place where I make it hard/impossible to see the lion heads - those took a long time to paint!

I, too, am happy I chose to rework the bulwarks. It was painful taking off what I had previously completed but I had made it impossible to accurately represent the railing the way I had it (the open space below the primary rails is too prominent a feature of the ship to ignore). While there are other early decisions that I cannot walk back - this one was still available to me.

I'm in painting mode right now and will post my progress when there is enough to publish. This build log has become unwieldly for its length but I don't know of a way to go back and fix that. I'll just have to make the best of it going forward (admins - is there a solution?).

Here's a teaser of my current project...

IMG_6893.JPG

I think this guy is Heracles with his trusty pup and an oddly friendly-looking lion. What is of interest here is the figurine next to him. At scale that guy is about 5' 10" tall so on the real ship Heracles would be life sized. This is one of the larger castings...
 
Paul, I am just in awe of your painting skill and at such a small scale. My thought is you should not be concerned with the length of your build log. I look at it as a wealth of information, a lesson on what it takes to excel at an endeavor, a journey that I have particularly enjoyed. Please don't delete a thing.
Daniel
 
As always, Marc, I am humbled by your kind and encouraging comments.

I do think I will end up showing the gun port covers mostly open (probably not pulled up against the wales but more than historical accuracy might dictate). I just can't get myself to the place where I make it hard/impossible to see the lion heads - those took a long time to paint!

I, too, am happy I chose to rework the bulwarks. It was painful taking off what I had previously completed but I had made it impossible to accurately represent the railing the way I had it (the open space below the primary rails is too prominent a feature of the ship to ignore). While there are other early decisions that I cannot walk back - this one was still available to me.

I'm in painting mode right now and will post my progress when there is enough to publish. This build log has become unwieldly for its length but I don't know of a way to go back and fix that. I'll just have to make the best of it going forward (admins - is there a solution?).

Here's a teaser of my current project...

View attachment 241047

I think this guy is Heracles with his trusty pup and an oddly friendly-looking lion. What is of interest here is the figurine next to him. At scale that guy is about 5' 10" tall so on the real ship Heracles would be life sized. This is one of the larger castings...
Great painting at scale Paul. You’re going to have a highly detailed ship! I think you are improving exponentially! ;)
 
Paul, I am just in awe of your painting skill and at such a small scale. My thought is you should not be concerned with the length of your build log. I look at it as a wealth of information, a lesson on what it takes to excel at an endeavor, a journey that I have particularly enjoyed. Please don't delete a thing.
Daniel
I’m inclined to agree here with Daniel. My build log was 55 pages long, and I had just begun to build the mast. So I requested it be deleted, so I could repost a cleaned up version, that ended up being 5 pages of pictures and text. What I lost was the detailed step by step instructional pictures, that I never kept, and all of the questions and answers on technique and materials used. In retrospect, I realize that some of the more valuable information, and pictures, were lost in my efforts to reduce the build log size. Something to consider. ;)
 
I'll just have to make the best of it going forward (admins - is there a solution?).
Why would you worry about the length of your log? Don't worry, there is no limitation. An interesting log makes it valuable to the readers. Please keep what you are doing, we will provide you with extra space (if you ever needed) :cool:
 
As always, Marc, I am humbled by your kind and encouraging comments.

I do think I will end up showing the gun port covers mostly open (probably not pulled up against the wales but more than historical accuracy might dictate). I just can't get myself to the place where I make it hard/impossible to see the lion heads - those took a long time to paint!

I, too, am happy I chose to rework the bulwarks. It was painful taking off what I had previously completed but I had made it impossible to accurately represent the railing the way I had it (the open space below the primary rails is too prominent a feature of the ship to ignore). While there are other early decisions that I cannot walk back - this one was still available to me.

I'm in painting mode right now and will post my progress when there is enough to publish. This build log has become unwieldly for its length but I don't know of a way to go back and fix that. I'll just have to make the best of it going forward (admins - is there a solution?).

Here's a teaser of my current project...

View attachment 241047

I think this guy is Heracles with his trusty pup and an oddly friendly-looking lion. What is of interest here is the figurine next to him. At scale that guy is about 5' 10" tall so on the real ship Heracles would be life sized. This is one of the larger castings...
Hi Paul,

Compared to the actual colour researched statue in the Vasa museum, spot on. Chapeau!!
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Excellent painting work (as ever) Paul. I especially love the detail on your lion under Heracles. Out of interest, what paints are you using - I assume they are acrylics, but they seem to be giving very good coverage? I remember spending HOURS researching the combat and games figure painting videos and tutorials. Some of these are simply works of art. This aspect of the Vasa is very rewarding. It is slow (with SO many figures/statues etc) but the attention to detail makes the model a quality, finished work of art in its own right - It also makes a great break from planking and head railings.
 
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