Clayton707 - VASA OF 1628 IN 1:50 SCALE

The Warship Vasa was built for King Gustavus Adulphus of Sweden in the early 17th century. It was to be the most powerful warship in the world, however, the shipwrights had to break mostly armament rules in order for it to achieve this status and the ship ended up sinking on its maiden voyage about a mile from where it was launched. The Baltic sea has a very low salinity which prevents the existence of shipworm, a small snail that eats wood. The Wasa was rediscovered by Anders Franzén in the 1950's, was raised in the 1960's, put back together since more modern ships anchors and rubble from the construction of nearby docks had demolished parts of it, and put in a museum in Stockholm.

Because of its status as a world attraction, the ship has gotten a lot of attention in the past 40 years and is well documented. Information on the ship is not hard to obtain and the above framing diagram exhibits what we know of the general concepts of warship construction in the early 17th century. The planking on the real ship has never been removed so it is impossible to know where most of the framing members sit, however, thanks to the knowledge that the experts at the Vasa museum transmitted to me, I was able to come up with this approximation that I am using to build my 1:50 scale model. Every other frame on this diagram is colored tan in order to distinguish it from the next. Each frame is made up of 8 separate pieces of wood and there are over 90 of them. The only parts that have a definate position are the top timbers since they are exposed on the real ship.

The start of the framing process. The two large upright pieces of pine are molds that are cut to the hull lines at their particular station. They are temporary and are removed as the framing progresses, with new ones being added as and where needed. The pine lath that goes from one mold to the other forms a guide that keeps the outside edge of each frame exactly where it should be. This method in itself actually approximates the way that the original ship was built. It was Dutch practice in the early part of the 17th century to plank their ships before framing them. (The Swedes hired Dutch master shipbuilders to oversee the work on the Vasa) Besides the fact that the planking on the real ship has never been removed, this construcion method is the other reason we have no idea where the framing members sit. When they planked the hull and then fitted in futtocks, floors, and top timbers, there was no incentive to keep these framing members square to the keel, as long as there were good overlaps between the parts of each frame. One frame on the port side may be in a different spot than its counterpart on the starboard side and vice versa.

The Dutch method of shibuilding. From a diorama in the Vasa museum.

The model from the starboard bow. Woods used in framing include birch, walnut, alaskan cedar, apple, and sycamore. I used different types of wood in the framing so that the viewer could distinguish one frame from the next easily.

Starboard side planked up to the planksheer

Planking/hull framing Close-Up

24 pounder artillery

My 3 pounder approximation

3 pounder master and finished barrels

Masters for all of Vasas guns.

The finished Lower Gundeck

The finished upper gundeck....

Weather deck mostly completed...

Finished foreship....

The waist...

Helmsmans cabin...

The lower transom...

Looking into the lower gundeck from a gunport...

Finished Exterior Bulkheads...

AND THE ORNAMENTATION

The Vasa was adorned with around 700 wooden sculptures. The reason for this was to show off the power of the king, serve as a propaganda medium, frighten the enemy, and to instill morale into the crew since going to sea in these days was a brutal affair. The below pictures show the carvings that I have made so far. Be aware that many of them may recieve more carving work in order to fit in more detail and could be shaped slightly in order to fit in their appropriate place on the ship.

(you can click on any of them in order to get a larger, more detailed view)