New build: Airfix Wasa *Finished 5-20*

She's since been moved to a big, permanent building on the mainland.  (I don't know just when that happened. I was in Amsterdam in the fall of 1987 for the Congress of International Maritime Museums conference, and the chief curator of the Wasa was one of the speakers; he showed the architect's renderings of the new building, construction of which was just about to start.  So I guess the ship must have moved in during the very late eighties or early nineties.)  It's a remarkable structure.  It's big enough for the lower masts to be stepped, and various viewing galleries give visitors wide-angle vistas from several levels (which are wheelchair-accessible).  The basement contains several galleries full of archeological exhibitions.  The exterior of the building is surmounted by three big, abstract shapes (in steel, I guess) vaguely representing the ship's masts and sails.  Frankly I thought those things - in the design-stage drawings I saw - were pretty hideous, but I guess the idea was to make the building visible from all over the city.

The big new book referred to in several earlier posts contains quite a few photos taken at various stages of the excavation and restoration processes - including at least one shot of the King of Sweden, in a hard had and raincoat, slogging around one of the lower decks.

Fascinating stuff.  One of the things I want to to before I die is take a cruise in the Baltic (in the summer), with stops at the Wasa Museum in Stockholm and the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.  I may never make it, but it's sure nice to think about.

JTilley wrote:

It seems the current problem that's worrying the conservators is not directly related to the polyethylene glycol treatments applied in the sixties, but rather to sulphur deposits that are leeching out of the interior surfaces of the wood.

When I went to see her in the mid seventies, several things stick out in my mind. The first was the building, which was basically in the shape of the hull but bigger, in gray steel. Form follows function, and kind of a highrise landmark on the island where it's located.

Second, although we didn't wear raincoats and sou'westers as I believe there's a picture of in "Men, ships,...", the place inside was slippery with preservative, all over the viewing platforms and railings, and there was kind of a sprinkler system spraying it on the hull.

Big Jake wrote:

I found this on Ebay for you, you might want to try and get it.  Jake http://cgi.ebay.com/MUST-SEE-Large-VASA-Ship-Poster-UP-CLOSE_W0QQitemZ190207106304QQihZ009QQcategoryZ14055QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think I'll wait a couple of days and see if anybody has bid on it. Thanks for the heads up,

I found this on Ebay for you, you might want to try and get it.

 Jake

http://cgi.ebay.com/MUST-SEE-Large-VASA-Ship-Poster-UP-CLOSE_W0QQitemZ190207106304QQihZ009QQcategoryZ14055QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

your right that book isn't cheap. I think that the book would be worth the read and price, i just need to convince my wife...... I've always been fascinated with marine archeology and shipwrecks. This was one of the reasons that I was drawn to the Wasa. Clive Cussler books have also been my favorites for years for the same reasons.

I would love to go to the presentation but I live on the other side of the country so I probably wont be able to make. although my wife has said that she would love to see sweden....

Here's a link to the book:  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vasa-I/Carol-Olof-Cederlund/e/9789197465908/?itm=1

It's a beautiful piece of work, but unfortunately not cheap.  There's a ton of fascinating information in it, but modelers will find it frustrating:  much of the most useful stuff will be in the later volumes.  (This one concentrates largely on the history of the ship and the recovery/restoration project.) 

By coincidence I just had a meeting with our two grad students who were over in Sweden a couple of months ago working on the Wasa.  They cleared up a couple of questions for me.  It seems the current problem that's worrying the conservators is not directly related to the polyethylene glycol treatments applied in the sixties, but rather to sulphur deposits that are leeching out of the interior surfaces of the wood.  (The exterior is in much better shape because there's a coating of tar on it.)  The conservators now are on top of the problem; earlier fears that the ship would simply disintegrate have largely been laid to rest.  (That's undoubtedly produced some sighs of relief in Swedish government circles.  As I understand it, the Wasa is the biggest source of tourist money in the country.)

One of the students bought a copy of the book mentioned above - only to be told that he'd have to have it mailed back to the U.S.  It was so heavy that the airline wouldn't let him put it in his suitcase.  The second volume is due this coming December or thereabouts.  Time to start dropping hints to my wife about Christmas presents.

You're right, enemeink:  the Swedish version of the website has some considerably more interesting pictures.  Thanks for the link.  One of the grad students had some of the same ones on her laptop.  I've dragooned the two of them into making a presentation at the next meeting of our ship model club.   Carolina Maritime Modelers' Society; Saturday, March 29, at 2:00 in the auditorium of the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort; new members and guests always more than welcome. 

jtilley wrote:

Those drawings - with the red "ground" behind the carvings - are new to me.  It seems that quite a bit of good, up-to-date artwork is being created in conjunction with the current conservation project.  It seems that some of the preservation techniques and chemicals that were applied to the ship right after she was raised, back in the late fifties/early sixties, have broken down since then.  Some of the biggest names in the conservation field are working on the problem, and conservators from all over the world have been turning up in Stockholm to help.  (Two faculty members and two grad students from the joint where I work just got back from there.)  One happy result of all this is that the Swedish government (which is supremely aware of what an important source of tourist dollars the ship is) has been spending money on her rather lavishly.  The money is going not only to the actual conservation effort, but to a series of excellent publications.  As I understand it, the plan is to publish a series of four major books about the Wasa.  The first volume is in print now; I got a copy of it for Christmas a couple of years ago.  (Maybe Vol. II is out, but if so I haven't seen it.)  Vol. I is spectacular - one of the best such publications I've seen.  The only problem is that it's a little frustrating:  it contains several sheets of well-drawn, folded plans, but only a fraction of the full set that, presumably, will be published with all four volumes.  (Guess they want us to buy all four.)  I have no idea how long we'll have to wait for the full set, but such projects have an irritating way of taking longer than anybody predicted. In the mean time, here's a not-bad website with some decent pictures on it:  http://www.vasamuseet.se/sitecore/content/Vasamuseet/InEnglish/About.aspx That color shot of the gun (click on "History," then on "Built for Battle") gives, I suspect, a pretty good idea of what it would have looked like when it was new.  Shiny, but not "brass" colored in the traditional sense - rather a dull, dark, highly-polished brown with a metallic cast to it.  (That word "bronze" apparently covered a lot of somewhat different metals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.)

could you tell me the name of the book? I would like to try to find it if I can.

here is the link for where I found the drawings. same site but in swedish. I haven't been able to find a site that can actually translate this very well. you should poke around the swedish site. There are much better pictures and drawings of the ship and conservation.

http://www.vasamuseet.se/sitecore/content/Vasamuseet/Skeppet/vasamodell.aspx

Those drawings - with the red "ground" behind the carvings - are new to me.  It seems that quite a bit of good, up-to-date artwork is being created in conjunction with the current conservation project.  It seems that some of the preservation techniques and chemicals that were applied to the ship right after she was raised, back in the late fifties/early sixties, have broken down since then.  Some of the biggest names in the conservation field are working on the problem, and conservators from all over the world have been turning up in Stockholm to help.  (Two faculty members and two grad students from the joint where I work just got back from there.)  One happy result of all this is that the Swedish government (which is supremely aware of what an important source of tourist dollars the ship is) has been spending money on her rather lavishly.  The money is going not only to the actual conservation effort, but to a series of excellent publications. 

As I understand it, the plan is to publish a series of four major books about the Wasa.  The first volume is in print now; I got a copy of it for Christmas a couple of years ago.  (Maybe Vol. II is out, but if so I haven't seen it.)  Vol. I is spectacular - one of the best such publications I've seen.  The only problem is that it's a little frustrating:  it contains several sheets of well-drawn, folded plans, but only a fraction of the full set that, presumably, will be published with all four volumes.  (Guess they want us to buy all four.)  I have no idea how long we'll have to wait for the full set, but such projects have an irritating way of taking longer than anybody predicted.

In the mean time, here's a not-bad website with some decent pictures on it:  http://www.vasamuseet.se/sitecore/content/Vasamuseet/InEnglish/About.aspx

That color shot of the gun (click on "History," then on "Built for Battle") gives, I suspect, a pretty good idea of what it would have looked like when it was new.  Shiny, but not "brass" colored in the traditional sense - rather a dull, dark, highly-polished brown with a metallic cast to it.  (That word "bronze" apparently covered a lot of somewhat different metals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.)

searat12 wrote:

Pretty cool in the red decor!  On bronze/brass cannons, they should probably be BRIGHT brass, just as shiny as you can make them.  First, because the ship and the guns were brand new, but more importantly, because this was to be the flagship of the fleet, and as anyone in any Navy (even today) will tell you, if it is brass, it must be polished (besides, what else do you think all those gunners have to do all day when they are not actually firing the guns?)!  Same is true for the ship's bell, the binnacle, etc, etc......

That's if the crew had a chance to polish them..... These guns are made of Bronze. The picture of the guns came from the wasa museum, so the color scheme wasn't some wild idea that I plucked out of the air, even though I have been known to do that from time to time. But thanks for the advice. it just goes to show that you can't always find everything on google, which is a good thing, makes people talk to each other.....

Pretty cool in the red decor!  On bronze/brass cannons, they should probably be BRIGHT brass, just as shiny as you can make them.  First, because the ship and the guns were brand new, but more importantly, because this was to be the flagship of the fleet, and as anyone in any Navy (even today) will tell you, if it is brass, it must be polished (besides, what else do you think all those gunners have to do all day when they are not actually firing the guns?)!  Same is true for the ship's bell, the binnacle, etc, etc......

All most all of the information that I have on the Wasa came from the museum in stockholm. I had to look in the swedish section of the website because there are some things that were left out in the english translated pages. But I managed to find these drawings of the sculptures that I'm going to use as a reference. The guns are not quite finished yet. the picture was just to show that cool weathering paint that I had found. I will be dry brushing them with some bronze to put some color back into them. So far I've been able to find that she had all but 6 guns on her. Those 6 guns were to be picked up at her final fitting but sank on the way. Where those were located on the deck  I haven't been able to find out. Thanks for the heads up on the rigging.

I second Jtilley on the cannons, in fact it's only by looking further that its confirmed she had them aboard, since it was her maiden voyage and she sank less than one nautical mile from the wharf . But they were recovered, green, later.

"Men, Ships and the Sea" has a lurid illustration that suggests she capsized because of her open gun ports.

I had the opportunity during my wandering years to visit her in Stockholm, in the 70's. I'll dig out my slides some time, but my overrriding memory was overhead sprinklers dumping preservatives on her and me.

Bill

gerrardm correctly predicted my opinion of those "ratline looms."  If you do a Forum search on the word "ratlines" you'll find quite a few discussions of the subject.  Lots of people have different opinions about it; for heaven's sake read what they all have to say and form your own opinion.  I'll only offer two observations.  One - rigging your own ratlines, using the various techniques described in other threads, isn't anywhere near as difficult as people who haven't tried it think.  Two - this is one of the many phases of ship modeling where there are rather steep but quite short learning curves.  You'll find that the second ratline you rig takes about half as long as the first, and by the time you get to the top of the mast you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

The Airfix Wasa is one of my favorite plastic ship kits - a really remarkable tribute to the artisans at Airfix.  I do, however, feel obliged to make two points about the real ship that are highly relevant to any model of her.  (Those who are content to build that excellent kit according to the instructions may want to stop reading here.) 

First - she never had the chance to become an old ship before she sank, so I have to question whether the guns would ever have had time to turn green.  Second (and perhaps more importantly) - recent scholarship (since the kit was released) has led to a major rethinking of her color scheme.  The first reconstructed color illustrations of her (after the wreck was raised, back in the early 1960s) assumed that the wonderful decorative carvings were gold-leafed, and that the upperworks of the ship on which most of the carvings were mounted were bright blue.  That's the scheme that's shown in most paintings and graphics - and on the instructions of the Airfix kit.  (Caveat:  I haven't actually seen that kit outside the box in quite a few years.  I suppose it's possible that Airfix has changed the color scheme - but I doubt it.)  Recent paint research has established that the basic color of the upperworks was red, and the vast majority of the carvings were painted in "natural" colors.  The only gilded parts were such things as medals and sword handles. As I understand it, the people at the Wasa Museum have been revising the models and graphics that are exhibited there to reflect the new findings.  People who visit the ship, and read the new books about her, will get a completely different impression of what she looked like in her heyday (short though it was).

Personally I think the "old" color scheme made her look a lot better.  And I know at least one modeler who's said he's going to give his model the blue-and-gold scheme, regardless.  Any modeler certainly has every right in the world to do that.  But I think everybody's entitled to know about this situation.

Good luck.