Julian-
That is really a beautiful model. I can only echo everyones comments. The wood finish is perfect, if you posted this as a wooden model I'd believe it, but it actually is the best of both worlds, because she's a small ship and left unpainted, real wood just wouldn't scale quite as well in places like where the strakes gather at the stem. One interesting feature of these ships was the extremely thin section of the wood used: the strakes are as thin as 7mm and include very complex shaped profiles. So bravo for styrene.
Is a scale listed ? The box calls her 14 1/2", and the Gokstad ship is 76.5 feet, but she's 16 rooms, and Revell's is 15, so call her 73.25 feet subtracting what seemed to be a meter for a room, which works out to about 1/60 scale. I think it's a nice thing that Revell shortened her by a room, which is the space between a deck beam, and allows a pair of rowers, one each side usually, as it cuts us loose to call this ship our own, since she matches no surviving examples.
To respond to your thought about rigging:
As for the rigging, no examples exist. Hemp would be a good choice, but it could have been linen or leather. Landstroms illustrations show thin rope, his word, so your thread looks thick. Cotton khaki thread, maybe.
It's great that Revell included those wonderful blocks.
It seems to me, that if the ship were rigged following the more recorded examples, the kvars and knorrs, the forestay might have been spliced around a cross member in the base of the stem, on a level with the deck, and have been a set length. And the rear stay was wrapped around a windlass like affair, on the deck just forward of where the rudderman stood on his little platform. The side stays, which look to be two per side, had the block arrangement that you used on the forestay.
Imagine a ship made out of 7mm planks, standing rigging would be a pretty adjustable affair, kind of like laces on a boot.
Here are some thoughts about how this ship might appear in a more pedestrian and less interesting version.
For the stem decorations, no actual figureheads exist, so it's all fancy. Revell looks to have copied, in a flat style the Scheldt figure found in 1934 and now in the British Museum. Unfortunately, it's 4-6th century. Actual Viking figureheads are all legend, as Jarlaskald relates in the eulogy of Magnus the Good - the ships were decorated with gilt heads, "the gold shone like fire in the sun". But thats it. The only existing stem decorations are on the Oseberg find, which are fine carvings as scrolls on the stem itself.
The one Revell copied:
And the bedpost many people interpret as a Viking figurehead!
Oseberg:
My own theory is that the figureheads were either held outright by warriors in the prow, or were bound with rope to the stem as needed.
As for the shields,the ones from Gokstad are really minimal.
They were 5-10 mm thick at the hand and 2-3 mm thick at the edge, barely enough to deflect an arrow, certainly not comparable to Roman or Gaulic or Anglo Saxon or Norman sword fighting shields. The center boss was also the handhold.
There were up to three iron bands on the back to hold the pieces together. The edge is missing of course, but the Gokstad shields have rows of closely spaced little holes that might be stitching for a leather edge, but not a big heavy rim. Here I think Revell fails, even to the extent that the interpretations of the Gokstad ship promolugated the whole myth of shields at the ready. I'm certain that the shields on that ship were mere decoration. And specifically created for that occasion.
The Bayeaux tapestry shows ships lined with shields, but inboard. As though stowed next to the soldier with his other arms.
While the Gokstad ship has a very elaborate and well made system for displaying shields, there is no other ship find that includes that detail. I think it's likely it was added for the funeral.
I do not think Viking ships ever sailed or fought with shields over the thwart.
There's a lot of debate about how the rudder could have worked. I'd guess it pivoted, like on a cog.
That is a really fine ship model Julian. I'd like to own one, but my craftsmanship wouldn't be nearly as nice as you've done.
Sincerely, Bill