Vasa - 1:65 DeAgostini [COMPLETED BUILD]

Hello Friends,

Having temporarily set aside the installation of backstays, rigging work continued on the ties and halyards.

But first, I was asked via PM to provide a bit more detail on what I have been calling top ropes. As I understand it, these ropes were used to raise the upper mast segments. I chose to rig them as entirely removable once the topmast (or topgallant) was raised, and as a fairly simple affair (my research uncovered all kinds of increasingly complicated configurations...).

Two eyebolts are attached to the underside of the mast cap. I added a hook to the end of the rope - ran the rope down and through a sheave at the foot of the mast - back up through a block on the other side - and then down to the deck. Here are a few images:

View attachment 309527

View attachment 309526

On the foremast the top rope runs through the knighthead at the base of the mast and then would have been run to the capstan on the weather deck (and in my interpretation taken down after the mast was hauled into position). On the main mast the top rope passed through the weather deck to a lower deck where it would also have been run to a capstan. I'll show some of that in a moment.

On the mizzen, since the topmast is lighter, I simply rigged a tackle to an eyebolt on the deck at the foot of the mast. I have also seen this rigged to an eyebolt mounted on the mast itself (as well as to a cleat on the mast). The mizzenmast of the Vasa was never recovered so it's all just conjecture.

Here is the working end of the mizzen top rope:

View attachment 309536

Now on to ties and halyards. First of all, I should have rigged these before I did shrouds. Access was quite limited making what should have been an easy task very challenging (no yards have been attached - this is just roughed in at this point).

Here is the overall view at the foremast:

View attachment 309535

And now a few images of how I did the halyard at the foremast:

View attachment 309528

View attachment 309529

View attachment 309530

In the image above, the four sheaved knighthead should actually have a carved head on it like the others. Sadly, the head that belongs here disappeared in my garage months and months ago when I was cutting it off the unusable casting that came with the kit...

The line running through the fourth sheave (on the far right) is the top rope. It would have run to the capstan, but I just left it laying there.

And now at the main:

View attachment 309531

Notice how the stay has been offset on the mast - this is actually correct, not sloppy work on my part. You can see how the halyards simply pass through an opening in the deck. The seventh rope is the top rope.

View attachment 309532

And finally, here are a few images of what is happening up top with the ties (tyes?)...

View attachment 309534

View attachment 309533

Thank you very much for stopping by! I'm so happy I found this forum and all of you. This would be lonely business without a few folks walking alongside me...
 
Paul, hello. Great job with the rigging. Bravo. Thumbsup I have a question about ezelgoft. Here is such a design with an iron butt under the topmast in which place did you peep? I'm not very sure, but it seems to me that the ezelgoft was completely made of wood, and in this place too. I'm talking about ezelgoft in the second photo
 
Paul, hello. Great job with the rigging. Bravo. Thumbsup I have a question about ezelgoft. Here is such a design with an iron butt under the topmast in which place did you peep? I'm not very sure, but it seems to me that the ezelgoft was completely made of wood, and in this place too. I'm talking about ezelgoft in the second photo
Hey @Jimsky. Can you help translate what Sasha is pointing out to me? Google Translate has made a complete mess of his post...
 
I wrote about the structure of this ezelgoft. Was the Ezelgoft really such an iron yoke. As far as I know, the ezelgoft was made entirely of wood.View attachment 309587
Got it! Thank you very much for asking about this Sasha. In this case, I used the example at the Vasamuseet...

Stockholm-180323_8850.jpg

Stockholm-180323_8900.jpg

I had not seen this configuration anywhere else in my research. Other ships of the period were done the way you showed. Who is right?
 
Got it! Thank you very much for asking about this Sasha. In this case, I used the example at the Vasamuseet...

View attachment 309590

View attachment 309591

I had not seen this configuration anywhere else in my research. Other ships of the period were done the way you showed. Who is right?
Now I understand. Where is the truth? I can't answer so quickly. You need to delve into the history of the rank of the 17th century. But if so on the museum model, I think the repetition of the same element on your model will be similar.
 
Hi Paul, beautiful rigging as always. Your work is real eye candy. You answered a big question when showing the main stay being offset, which I was going to have to do anyways. Where does your mainsail halyard tie off to, looks to be under the main deck by removing the deck grate maybe?
 
Hi Paul, beautiful rigging as always. Your work is real eye candy. You answered a big question when showing the main stay being offset, which I was going to have to do anyways. Where does your mainsail halyard tie off to, looks to be under the main deck by removing the deck grate maybe?
That would have been clever Daniel - but the area under the grating is closed off. I actually painted the area inside the 'picture frame' flat black - drilled holes the size of my rope - pushed the rope into the holes with a tiny dab of CA - and held it there until it set. The whole thing is an illusion.

What I SHOULD have done is plan for this whole thing ahead of time, but when I was at that stage of the build I didn't know any better.

The mizzen stay is offset to the port on the main mast to allow for the mainsail halyard per the Vasa Warship forum... Also take note of the offset four-sheave knighthead at the base of the foremast (this time to starboard). This is needed to clear the mainstay where is splits around the foremast.
 
Hey @Jimsky. Can you help translate what Sasha is pointing out to me? Google Translate has made a complete mess of his post...
Sorry, doc, a.c.a. Baker, a.c.a. Paul, mon ami, although I am late to the party. The 'ezelgoft' mentioned by Sasha is referring to a Mast Cap. I am sure ezelgoft isn't a Russian word, most nautical words used by Russian shipwrights are borrowed from Holand and Germany where Piter The Great learned shipbuilding. Here is what Karl Heinz showed in regards to the mast caps. I can see that (I) is specifically referring to the Cap used on WASA.

IMG_2384.jpeg

BTW, beautifully crafted work, as always...
 
Hello Friends,

Having temporarily set aside the installation of backstays, rigging work continued on the ties and halyards.

But first, I was asked via PM to provide a bit more detail on what I have been calling top ropes. As I understand it, these ropes were used to raise the upper mast segments. I chose to rig them as entirely removable once the topmast (or topgallant) was raised, and as a fairly simple affair (my research uncovered all kinds of increasingly complicated configurations...).

Two eyebolts are attached to the underside of the mast cap. I added a hook to the end of the rope - ran the rope down and through a sheave at the foot of the mast - back up through a block on the other side - and then down to the deck. Here are a few images:

View attachment 309527

View attachment 309526

On the foremast the top rope runs through the knighthead at the base of the mast and then would have been run to the capstan on the weather deck (and in my interpretation taken down after the mast was hauled into position). On the main mast the top rope passed through the weather deck to a lower deck where it would also have been run to a capstan. I'll show some of that in a moment.

On the mizzen, since the topmast is lighter, I simply rigged a tackle to an eyebolt on the deck at the foot of the mast. I have also seen this rigged to an eyebolt mounted on the mast itself (as well as to a cleat on the mast). The mizzenmast of the Vasa was never recovered so it's all just conjecture.

Here is the working end of the mizzen top rope:

View attachment 309536

Now on to ties and halyards. First of all, I should have rigged these before I did shrouds. Access was quite limited making what should have been an easy task very challenging (no yards have been attached - this is just roughed in at this point).

Here is the overall view at the foremast:

View attachment 309535

And now a few images of how I did the halyard at the foremast:

View attachment 309528

View attachment 309529

View attachment 309530

In the image above, the four sheaved knighthead should actually have a carved head on it like the others. Sadly, the head that belongs here disappeared in my garage months and months ago when I was cutting it off the unusable casting that came with the kit...

The line running through the fourth sheave (on the far right) is the top rope. It would have run to the capstan, but I just left it laying there.

And now at the main:

View attachment 309531

Notice how the stay has been offset on the mast - this is actually correct, not sloppy work on my part. You can see how the halyards simply pass through an opening in the deck. The seventh rope is the top rope.

View attachment 309532

And finally, here are a few images of what is happening up top with the ties (tyes?)...

View attachment 309534

View attachment 309533

Thank you very much for stopping by! I'm so happy I found this forum and all of you. This would be lonely business without a few folks walking alongside me...
Impeccable work Paul,

Pity about the missing head, are there any plans for a replacement?

Cheers,
Stephen.
 
Sorry, doc, a.c.a. Baker, a.c.a. Paul, mon ami, although I am late to the party. The 'ezelgoft' mentioned by Sasha is referring to a Mast Cap. I am sure ezelgoft isn't a Russian word, most nautical words used by Russian shipwrights are borrowed from Holand and Germany where Piter The Great learned shipbuilding. Here is what Karl Heinz showed in regards to the mast caps. I can see that (I) is specifically referring to the Cap used on WASA.

View attachment 309596

BTW, beautifully crafted work, as always...
Hi Jim,

The Russian word ezelghoft comes from the Dutch word ezelhoofd which means donkey head because from the side it looks like that. :)
 
I feel a new carving project in the making.
I'm going to make a mold and pour up replacements for the missing parts in plaster. Not sure if I'll do the missing head or not. Three mer-men are needed as hull adornments at the railings and their absence has already been noted by a keen-eyed forum member (Marc :mad:).
 
Back
Top