Balclutha75
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Everything posted by Balclutha75
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I happened to see this build and think you have a beauty shaping up. Cousteau was a high-school hero of mine (mid-1960's) and I owned copies of both The Silent World and The Living Sea by the time I was 15, kind of weird for a kid. In 1971 I spent a year working on a boat called the RV Fathom II, that we outfitted for salvage work in the Caribbean. It was a YMS minesweeper and at the time we thought it might have come from the same shipyard as the Calypso, though I'm not sure of that now. But I can say with certainty that it had 4-bladed props. Here's a couple pictures if you are interested. Of course, Calypso may be different. R/V Fathom II in the harbor at Puerto Cortez, Honduras. Good luck on your build.
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Making progress on the deck now, the planks are all glued. I've started experimenting with stain colors, and perhaps even learning some weathering techniques. (This is different than just doing a poor beginner's job so that it kind of looks weathered, although that may yet be the outcome!) For now I'll share this one photo from last week of the sub-deck being glued into position. Captain Aegir came aboard to inspect his cargo of precious stainless steel ingots.
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Thanks Eric, much appreciated! For me it was the right decision to get the second kit, even if it's still not going to be a masterpiece. But I'm having a lot of fun and learning all the time. The shield rail is part of the Amati kit. Working on the deck planks now. Coincidentally I just finished scanning something that I'm going to send you regarding your rigging question from your log. It's from an Osprey book I have "The Viking Longship" by Keith Durham. It might be useful. I don't think I can post it here since it's copyrighted.
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I'll admit to being confused for a moment, but then got straightened out. I confuse easy in any case. Thanks for posting this information. Some of it has gone over my head, but it's pretty interesting. Seems like CA is a good tool to have around and use in the proper situation.
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Thanks guys, this is what I learned by trial and error. I have to glue some small parts to an already stained surface but will sand the stained piece beforehand.
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Xtreme newbie modeler here, with a question for you guys. I just used some CA glue on my model for the first time. It's the DAP RapidFuse, one of the thicker varieties, with a 30 second set time. Based on my observations, it seems CA glue will bond, at least to some degree, on painted, stained, or sealed wood. But PVA glue will not bond in these situations. Is that accurate? Apologize if this is covered above, but I didn't see it.
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Nice work Eric. You have given me some inspiration for my much smaller and rougher kit. Thanks. I also decided rivets were not worth the effort, but might reconsider at some point. I'd only need about 200 if I did along the frames only, and maybe 800 if I did all of the hull. Less than 1/4 of what you need. They will be largely invisible when the model is on display.
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Thanks for the likes guys, appreciated. Nice thought Steven, but getting impossible. The first hull has been used for a variety of experiments including stain colors, varnish, plank bending with heat, gluing the cap rail, and most recently installing rivets. The brass rivets that come with the kit are too large, I think. The heads are 1.6 mm diameter or 80 mm / 3 1/4 inches to scale. Seems oversize. But I did use a sanding drum on a Dremel to make them smaller and flatter. Also tried #8 sequin pins, which have smaller heads. I blackened them with Birchwood Casey Brass Black and installed about a dozen on the old hull. I decided I could possibly pull it off successfully, but also that it's not worth the effort. Most of the rivets will be hardly visible when the ship is displayed, especially given how dark the hull is. There are some Tichy Train Group plastic rivets in smaller sizes that may be worth looking at, potentially easier to work with. But at the moment the plan is to skip the rivet step. Coincidentally I just now saw cathead's log and see he arrived at a similar conclusion. Thanks for the comment. - Nelson
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However, strake 9 still resisted this technique. After several tries I decided to install a boxwood strip as a shim. This solved the gap problem but the boxwood looked terrible on the inside of the gunwale. Since I have the two kits I decided to take some deck planking from the first kit and use it to line the gunwale, hiding the boxwood. Somewhere I saw a photo of a replica Viking boat that had apparently done this. If any justification was needed, that was good enough for me. Finally, the hull was complete. I stained it with a mix of cherry and walnut, added the cap rail, painted the yellow strake, drilled the oar holes, attached the shield rail and the rudder block. All of this went smoothly. The shield rail standoffs were my first use of CA glue and I was impressed. I can see its value in the right situation. I used DAP RapidFuse which is thicker that regular Super Glue and has a 30 second set time. Next, on to the deck and more new territory in my modeling education!
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Here is a brief recap of some decisions made along the way. One of the problems I had on the first kit was that the frames were not square to the keel. This was because I used some 99 cent hardware store brackets for alignment. For this round I decided to purchase a Hobbyzone Small Building Slip. It gets decent reviews and cost $34 in the USA plus shipping. It’s better than anything I could cobble up. With a minor modification I was able to fashion a poor man’s “jack aubrey style” alignment jig. On to the framing. Interestingly the strake plywood in this kit was quite different from the first kit, lighter colored and more rigid, harder to bend in the narrow direction. In fact, I snapped the garboard strake when gluing it, something that never was close to occurring on the first kit. Breaking the strake was a disappointment, but I repaired it so even I have trouble finding the spot, so it was actually a good learning experience. But as I continued framing I still could not get the strakes to lay flat on the frames, a déjà vu experience. Using scrap pieces, I tried the Amati instruction’s suggestions of soaking in 50/50 glue solution and scoring the strakes so they bent, but had poor results from that. I learned that applying heat with a travel iron seemed to work. However, I had no good way to clamp the hot wood, and it would unbend when cool. Then I thought, what if I glued the overlapping part of the strakes first? The glue could act as the clamp so I could heat and bend the remainder of the strake. I tried this and it worked really well for strakes 6,7 and 8. You can see in these photos where I heated the strake and it conforms to the ribs. I’d make my way down the strake two ribs at a time. It was actually fairly easy and those new Woodcraft clamps helped a lot. I had to get the strake hot enough to bend but not so hot that the glue melted. This was learned from experimentation on scrap.
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In the belief that it’s better to get back on the horse than walk away, I decided to try again to construct the Amati Drakkar model. Of course, it’s better to not fall off the horse in the first place, but that option doesn’t usually exist for me. My first attempt ended when I decided that the hull was not forming along the ribs properly and was pulling too far away as I approached the gunwale. As it turned out I abandoned ship too soon. I have since learned that, with some effort, I could have disassembled the hull and tried again. Live and learn. Here is the hull as it looks today. Kind of a funky and beat-up appearance, looks like it’s had a few encounters with reefs or other solid objects. The cap rail on the gunwale is not part of the Amati kit, but fashioned from boxwood strips. Also, the planking inside the gunwale is not part of the kit, but an addition that I decided to add for reason I'll explain in a subsequent post. I always liked the red and yellow combination and thought I’d at least do my sail that way. So I needed no convincing, but cathead’s log convinced me that the red and yellow was a nice combination. In Matt H’s log I learned of the minor problem inserting the rope for the rudder after the deck is installed, so I decided to take care of that detail in advance.
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Thanks bigpetr, of course I have to get the holes drilled in the correct location when I get to that step! The discussion on shields and other details of Viking customs is fascinating, thanks guys. The lack of solid evidence in certain cases would, it seems, allow some leeway for a novice modeler to chose personal aesthetic appeal over complete historical accuracy, since the latter may not exist. Here is another article, which I probably originally found on MSW: http://www.hurstwic.com/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm which says: "The crew's shields may have been arrayed along the gunwales, held in place by a shield rack outboard of the ship. This kept them out of the way, but also provided some slight additional protection against wind and waves.", ... and "Perhaps shields were displayed only for battle, or to make the ship look especially fine when approaching land. Landnámabók (S.156) tells of Hella-Björn Herfinnsson who sailed into Bjarnarfjörður with his ship lined with shields. Afterwards, he was called Skjalda-Björn (Shield-Björn)." Note they hedge their bets with words like "may" and "perhaps". Personally I think in a heavy sea the shields would not be much use, perhaps (there's that word) even be a hindrance. As Louie says, it would be interesting to see if it's been tried on a replica. Lining them up for display or intimidation does make sense to me.
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Andrew, I'm so very sorry to this tragic news. My deepest and heartfelt condolences to you. It's a beautiful photo of you guys. I have really enjoyed following your build log, filled with your wit, intelligence and humor, and I look forward to your return when you are ready. Nelson
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Larry, thanks for that. There are quite a few discussions here in various Viking ship build logs (binho, liteflight, Jack P, Matt H, among others come to mind, hope I have those right). Questions about if and when the shields might have been mounted. As I recall, your explanation is a good one. Louie da Fly, a Viking expert here, has posted quite a few good links to shield information. I can easily dig those up if you have not seen them. (No pun intended on "dig those up".) One problem with some of the kits apparently, perhaps even mine, is that as designed the kit would prohibit rowing with the shields mounted.
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Cathead, thanks for checking in, much appreciated! The answer to new kit or fiddling with the old one is: both of the above! I did get a new kit and have been s.l.o.w.l.y moving forward on it. There have been some screw ups, but I'm up to the sheer strake now. There still exists the problem of that strake having moved away from the frame no matter what I tried. It's better than the first attempt and I am forging ahead with a possible solution that I think will look OK. The jury is still out. My plan has been to get the hull completed to a point where I'm satisfied, and then start a new build log with a few entries catching up to the current work. With luck that could be in a few weeks. I purchased a pack of #8 sewing sequin pins and will experiment with adding rivets. I have the original kit for experimentation. Bottom line: still at it and still having fun, even contemplating what the next kit might be. I lurk around here several times a week and have been keeping an eye on your ship, which is looking great. Hope the rough times in your life have eased off a bit. Your deck is looking nice as are the crew members, not to mention that bottle of mead! I have a 28mm Lagertha figure on order to keep my Captain Aegir in check. He gets impatient with my progress. Thanks again.
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Hi Eric, Nice progress you've made, in spite of the frustrations and issues. In case it slipped your mind, here is killickthere's log entry where he discusses his 2,000 rivet solution using lace pins. Yet another option. I'm wondering what I'll do at this stage, presuming I get this far in my Take Two attempt on my kit.
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A simple congratulations to you, sir. What an amazing journey. Hats off, bottoms up!
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I wondered the same thing. If you look at the photo of the instructions Matt posted above, Fig 15, "Planking Courses Compacted" according to my translation, you really can't see why scoring was necessary. And in fact, here is a build log from Mike Dowling where he says "I felt no need to cut along the strakes, as suggested in step 12 of the instructions". And later he notes, "the bow and stern the steps on the frames are of no use at all. It was impossible (for me, at least) to lay the strakes against the frames. I ended by fairing the the frames and erasing the steps." I also struggled with those frames at bow and stern, as I think you are as well Eric. The steps were only useful to me as a position guideline. Well, I decided to order another kit from Ages of Sail, perhaps a first round defeat, but it makes sense for me.
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Thanks Louie, and I’ve really enjoyed all the Viking history stuff you have posted on various logs. Glad you survived the Battle of Hastings!
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As a newbie modeler all I can offer is it’s looking good. But I just finished reading “The Hard Way Around: The Passages of Joshua Slocum” by Geoffrey Wolff. Highly recommended if you haven’t seen it. Good luck on your build.
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That all sounds pretty reasonable, but they will (hopefully) look cool on a calm bookshelf. 😀
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Matt and Louie, thanks so much for spending time on this. I have seen Matt's excellent log, and he even answered a question for me about a step that I'm not even close to yet. 🙂 I did see the instruction about scoring the wood, but I was worried that I'd break the plank if I attempted that, especially after the step above where they recommended soaking the wood in a 50/50 glue solution first. But clearly that's something I'll have to experiment with and should have tried that on some scrap pieces before forging ahead. Matt, thanks for that clarifying photo as I had not noticed it previously. Much appreciated.
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Thanks for the comments , much appreciated. cathead and liteflight, I've noted your logs, seen that I'm not the only one with this kind of problem, and trust you guys will come up with a good solution. Louie, yes irony is more accurate, as of course no harm was meant or implied, I think I understand what you are saying as a fix, and I do have a couple of small metal C-clamps. But I'm reasonably sure the frame will crack if I attempt that without somehow softening the hull. It's a lot stiffer than I thought it might be. I've considered just continuing as is, winding up with a new length to beam ratio, then shimming the frames and extending the deck area. But the shields would look terrible hanging at that angle, though I could leave them off and consider it a cargo boat. No doubt in the real world that craft's seaworthiness would be compromised, which I might not care about for a shelf model. But I'm leaning towards the Skipper's solution and some small business for Ages of Sail. Then I can use this one for practice: staining, painting, shaping the mast, dying and sewing the sail, tying the rigging. Every step of that will be something new for me, and no doubt I'll get something else wrong. I could construct a better keel jig and a Jack Aubrey style frame alignment tool. Part of the apprentice journey I suppose, even at seventy-mumble! By the way, md1400cs, that was funny. Thanks again. - Nelson
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Thanks md1400cs! I'm actually pleased with how it generally looks, and have had a lot of fun working on it.
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I suspect many of you have been waiting on tenterhooks to see how this build has been progressing, and that you can recognize sarcasm when you see it. I've slowly moved forward in between several large home projects, and have now reached a possible impasse. The hull planks have been moving steadily away from the frames for several strakes. I saw this happening but figured I would come up with something near the last strake. And I think I have: my goose is cooked! As you can see, the angle of the upper strakes needs to be more vertical. I've thought of steaming or soaking the entire side of the boat and bending inward so I can glue to the frames. But I suspect disaster lies down that path (?). The Skipper (she doesn't want to be an Admiral) has said that for "only" $108 I should chalk this up to a learning experience, get another kit, and start anew. There is clearly some benefit to that strategy, and perhaps the next best move. I suppose some solace can be found in James H's build log. He is an MSW Admin who gave a generally favorable review to this kit. But the last entry in his nice log simply says: "Struggling with pre-formed ply planking at moment, so put on hiatus." By the way, I turned 71 last month and the Skipper got me a very nice stylized Viking boat T-shirt. Looks great!
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