Revell Viking Ship WIP- FINISHED!!

Very nice!!

I can't wait to get mine on the bench.  Got to finish the two projects on the bench and clean and resurface it.

It rests in the care of my friend Edwin, who collects Iron Age history. I should have thought of you. I may build another one yet.

Bill

Hair "product", deodorant soap, dental floss, fingernail clippers, lint rollers. It probably was a long list...

Yep, I set the scale on 1/64, based on a bunch of sets of numbers from different sources for o.a. length. Used that to sculpt my little men.

It's also far from clear if thats really where they sat. It's pretty obvious they sat on something, the oar holes are close to the deck and standing wouldn't have worked.

The Norwegian buried ships, since they were repurposed as human tomb burials, had all that normal stuff removed in order to put up the deathbeds, tents, wagons, shields,  other offerings and dead people and animals in them and around them.

The wrecks sunk in the mouth of the fjord at Roskilde in Denmark were stripped of their stuff beforehand.

The contemporary Bayeux tapestry from France of the 11th Century seems to show every one standing up, but they aren't rowing.

Thank you, Ed. Those look pretty swell. There's also a need for 1/64 Olafs and Erics. If I were Belcher I'd make those a combined casting.

Hmmm...."Viking personal grooming equipment" sounds to me like an oxymoron. Thanks for the link, though.

I can't say definitively that I'd buy a set of those benches for my model (which has been finished for quite a few years now). But I'd be happy to see them on the market. One point: the Revell kit is on about 1/64 scale - not 1/50.

See Mike Belcher/BelcherBits posting on Hyperscale.   

http://www.network54.com/Forum/409174/message/1456420914/Viking+sea+chests+...+seriously%21

He is trying to determine if there is sufficient interest to expand his Canadian aircraft aftermarket line to include sea chests for the poor Vikings to rest their weary butts while rowing.  As he notes,  they were also perfect for storing all their personal grooming equipment.

A mighty fine, attractive model. I'm glad to think I may have had something to do with it.

I hope one message comes across loud and clear from this thread. A model of a small vessel in a large scale, based on a good kit, can be an extremely worthwhile exercise. You don't have to blow your budget, or hundreds of hours of your time, to build a nice ship model - and the experience can be rewarding and FUN.

GM,

Sometimes the modelling gods smile upon us.  I think they did on this build,  though maybe with only one eye!  

Good work!

Gary

Say GM, I am glad to hear that this build is being held so close to your heart. That makes the build even more awesome. BTW...taking it into the crematorium with you could be a fitting end to her. It would go back to dust with her creator.

Isn't it amazing what they were able to do? The skill, craftsmanship, and even their knowledge to design it as such is simply amazing. I share that awe with you.

“The thing came alive on the bench in a way I've never seen a boat/ ship do before. I have imagined myself flying my airplane models, but this got to me.”

I have to tell you that when I looked at your finished ship, that this is exactly how it struck me. In a brief moment it looked alive to me. It was like I was looking at an actual Viking Ship. Maybe you were so in the zone that you put life into her.

It is very cool and you should feel very good about this.

Enjoy it!!

Steve, A.K.A. Bakster.

Fred I went by the Sailor's Union Hall today and saw the bust of Lundeberg outside in his "West Coast Stetson". Thought of you and your father. Thanks for giving the time to comment.

tankerbuilder

Hey " G "

    When are you gonna build mine ? That , My Friend is a beautimus job of shipbuilding . Bravo !  Tanker - Builder

 

Huddled below the gunwale to escape the spray.

Tilley is right- the kit is a real winner.

docidle

That is one beautiful Viking ship! You have definitely raised the bar on this kit. Hopefully, anyone who is considering building this model will study this thread. Well done.

Steve

Thanks Steve. I did so much reading for so many years about these boats. And as we've shared, friend, we both have sheets in our hands and a tiller under an armpit.

The thing came alive on the bench in a way I've never seen a boat/ ship do before. I have imagined myself flying my airplane models, but this got to me.

I spent a year in High School in Norway and had a chance to go to their Viking ship museum. A year in college in Denmark and I had the chance to go to their museums and Iron Age re-enactment settlements.

The model just said "sail me".

 Rain today so no pictures

Bakster

Holy Viking Ship GM! That is gorgeous! It should be under glass for posterity.

Hey! I read in another thread that you throw your builds out when you are done building them. Save the space in the landfill and ship that sucker to me.  I'd proudly display that work of art until my last breath. 

She is a beauty...

 

Thank you, I'm pleased to get your view. As I built the thing and read about how these were designed, my old sailing nerves came back.

Imagine this: Each hull strake, and there were fifteen up each side and a couple three long each butt jointed. Each had a rabbet on the bottom outer edge to accept the one below it, and a rabbet on the inner top edge to nestle the one above it. And the connection at each rib, of which there were about twenty for each strake, each side was a tie that  ran through a pair of cleats on the inboard side of the strake, either side of the rib, and through a bored hole in the rib.

All hand tools, no saws, and by the way those pairs of cleats for twenty ribs each side, fifteen strakes high each side, were carved from the back of the strake, in other words left in relief.

Outstanding build GM!   

Jim  

Hey " G "

    When are you gonna build mine ? That , My Friend is a beautimus job of shipbuilding . Bravo !  Tanker - Builder

Very nice GM! I am sorry I have not been following this thread all along. The "finished" in the title caught my eye. We see so little of that! 

Fred

Yes!!! I've really been looking forward to this. Most excellent work GM! 

A response in kind to all and each is forthcoming, and I'll take better photos tomorrow.

First I would say that I built this kit on the advice of Dr. Tilley. He advocates the idea of building ship models at scales where the details matter, and of course anything in the Revell catalogue of worth.

John, I made this model while thinking of the good advice you have given us all over the years, both in the research and in the techniques.

On to the America next.

Beautiful build! Everything you did worked and the end result is just gorgeous. Just a superlative job GM.

Mike

That is one beautiful Viking ship! You have definitely raised the bar on this kit. Hopefully, anyone who is considering building this model will study this thread. Well done.

Steve

Holy Viking Ship GM! That is gorgeous! It should be under glass for posterity.

Hey! I read in another thread that you throw your builds out when you are done building them. Save the space in the landfill and ship that sucker to me.  I'd proudly display that work of art until my last breath. 

She is a beauty...

I finished the ship up this weekend. It was fun to look back three weeks to how she was.

The weekend was spent in part setting up the standing rigging. It's a bit of a guess on a ship that converts from oars to sail. Everything is of the knock down variety. Fun!

The forestay, which would be the main mechanism to raise the mast. The double blocks were called "virgins" and were truly set up to haul up the mast from horizontal to vertical.

Set up of the lanyards for the shrouds. I've decided to set mine up on the point where the deck beams meet the ribs. There's no clear evidence of how shrouds were existant, or set up on the ships found, but they certainly appear in the rock carvings and the Bayeux Tapestry. (More on that later).

The backstay is a guess. I sort of compromised between knowing it has little function on account of the shrouds, but would on the tack. I gave it a lot more line than it probably deserves.

Mighty fine work GM. That is an outstanding sail and did you use styrene or wood for the parrel and blocks?

Steve

Outstanding work GM!  

Jim  

Thank you, and it's mostly due to the others who have contributed.

I finished the major assembly for the month, the sail

Sources would agree that the Medieval Vikings most probably made their sails from woolen homespun, on a loom about a meter wide. The sagas suggest vertically striped sails. No sails survive intact so it's conjecture between woolen fabric found at Gokstad, early 20th C boat sails still in use in Norway, and archeological details.

In that vein, pieces of woolen fabric were found in the kirke (church) at Trondenes on the Norwegian coast in 1994 during a restoration. They were repurposed fabrics used as insulation. On the evidence of sewn in eyelets, first the repurpose and then the fact that they were from a wind structure indicated that these were probably sail fragments.

The red/ white is mentioned in the Saga of the Vestfold Kings, enough to be taken as fact.

My sail is a big one, about 10 meters each way. Tallowed wool , sewn together with big round stitches on the back side, and controlled by sheets on the leeches and bottom.

The forward side.

The back side:

Here's the yard and parrel:

The Vikings were adept at splicing eyes into their ropes. Evidence from Oseberg shows such:

Therefore I've tried to replicate that as well as I can by serving the ends of the lines. Here are the pendants for the braces. I've done the same for the pendants for the sheets.

This has been one of the best threads I have ever read on here. Although I don't know squaw-doo about sailing ship terminology, I have really enjoyed reading through this. Fascinating stuff. Thanks gents. I look forward to seeing this completed. Sail on!

It is all looking good GM. This is an interesting build for sure.