BLACK VIKING

Thanks Steven!
 

Before lining off I had to mark the shear. I clamped a wide plank to get the line as straight as I could.
 

I have seen people use this kind of template for lining off and made my own to get the different strake widths correct.
 

All frames lined off.
 

I made templates for the planks using masking  tape.
 

Planks held in place with lots of clamps
 

Treenails made from bamboo toothpicks corrected in size using my home made drawing plate (fancy name for a hole drilled in a steel plate). They are functioning and sticks out on the other side.
 

The inside will look like an inverted hedgehog when the planking is finished.
 

Gardboards are done! I try to mimic the placement of the joints of the planks in the strakes with the original's. They were sometimes placed between frames, but I will have them all on top of frames to make it easier.

Working on the upper stern structure. Pierced the last of the gun ports and the four cabin windows in the office quarters. I had to adjust those two down as the drawings showed them in the middle of the poop deck. Also setting the poop deck beams and cutting channels to run the wires for the lights. 
 

A little progress!
 
Slow but deliberate, I like to think.
 
I have also decided that The Oseberg ship (needs a name) IS the personal ceremonial conveyance of Queen Asa and that the aforesaid lady is a Good Thing, and appreciates her Ship.   
I am aware about the debates, and I have decided that academics are doing what they do - arguing: and I will do what I do  - imagining, building and learning!
 
And one step backwards!  The prow bend has returned!  It will not be tolerated and will be heated/counterbent out of existence.  In normal circumstance I would proceed smartly to Float-a-Boat (this is a wonderful name, especially when pronounced if rich Geordie - the dialect of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and buy some 4mm birch ply and remake the offending part.  
After a lot of thought I am fairly certain that the distortion of this bit of ply is the cause of the "non-laser-cutting " of the end of the sheet where it resided.  Probably this end of the sheet was jacked away from the platen by the bend.
I will sort the bend, and NOW is the best time to do so, as the ply is now stripped of doublers and available for massage.
 
Staining
A bottle of stain in the hand is worth 64 theoretical stains on a shade chart, so I have proceeded to stain the faces of the frames.  I have also covered the exposed ply edges of the end frames with pine veneer using my hot-melt technique.

 
because some of the radii are small  - in both directions - I have wetted the veneer, draped it into place and tacked it down with the "barrel" of the soldering iron - set to 200 degC.
Then the veneer was applied over the whole area by mostly rolling the iron along so that the veneer followed the curves
In the photo the rear frame was veneered with unstained veneer, and the front frame with pre-stained veneer.  This may account for the colour difference where the veneer is fixed to the cedar insert.  I have not tried to even the colour out yet, but I would not be too upset if it remained like that.
 
Frame stringers
I have decided to follow (faint but pursuing) the examples of Jack P and Von Kossa.  They insinuated a frame between each of the kit frames and thus made the hull structure above the floor look a lot more scale.
This is also essential if the floor is to look anything like the actual ship.
The kit provides long Obechi planks 1.8mm x 12 for decking, and they are supposed to run the full length of the deck.  They  are supposed to rest on the tops of the frames, and be cut out to fit around the frames.
Easy decision - NO! 
How would we bale when the Queen's picnic party was hit by a squall and shipped a lot of 'oggin which is then sloshing round in the bilges and making the ship terribly mushy? 
Have YOU ever carried a full baby bath after bathing your little darling on the floor in front of the fire? 
You have?   
Then you know EXACTLY how the ship feels when she needs baling, and your feet were warmer and better-smelling than the crew's!
 
So we will have scale (ish) floorboards fitted between the frames.
SO
Floorboards level with the top of the frames means that the floorboard thwartships bearers have to be 1.8mm below the frame horizontal parts
So
The longitudinal 4 x 8 battens which stiffen the frame assembly before planking will have to be lowered by 1.8mm.  I considered deepening the cutouts in each frame - but instead have marked and cut out the battens.  I am now searching for my diamond needle files to tidy up the cutouts.
Tonight I will read my Guru's build logs (again)  to find out what they did to sort the floor levels.  I suspect that JackP used thick enough oak veneer on the ply frame to raise the frame level, and I KNOW that he made the floor from thin white oak planks.
 
During the "notching" process (razor saw and no 11 scalpel ) I discovered again why Obechi is off my Christmas list

Huge and wavy grain - nearly impossible to make any sort of exact shape
However these obechi parts are used in compression , and only functional in the early parts of planking to stiffen the backbone. 
 

Apologies for the messy picture.  This is where and how they go.  You can almost see (if you stand on tiptoe and squint) that the stringers are recessed below the horizontal parts of the frames.
Nothing is fitted yet or glued, so the stringers are being retained in the frames by faith and friction.
 
Scrollworks!
I have commenced thinning the supplied 3-ply laser etched scrollworks.  As supplied (3-ply) is 2.1mm thick.
I have winkled chibbled  gnawed  delicately chiseled the rear ply off and sanded the back.  Fairly successful once I discovered that
A) the best weapon is a narrow chisel
and b) sometimes I can find the joint line of weakness, and a lot of the ply comes off with zero force
C) Not easy to hold the increasingly weak part while keeping all the fingers behind the chisel
 

This is the favourite tool for this process
I broke off one head by being hamfisted, and have therefore glued it back on - hence the greaseproof paper and weight!
 
Australia and solvents, eh?
 
Louie da Fly has a LOT to answer for!  He sent me hi-res images of the actual scrollwork - which is actually beautiful intertwined supporting beasts and a dragon's head - and now I NEED to do something about this!
The carvings are now a goal.  Maybe not for this build, but perhaps the next!  

You can blame me for any 'muddiness', as I wrote it. 
 
Thankfully, you have a nice set of photos which helps to negate any slight numbering errors  
After all, you'd struggle to put those parts anywhere else 🤣

Excellent tip, Dan!  I will look into it, as this yellow ocher color I mixed is exactly what I want.  It would just be nice to not have to waste so much paint, in the process - overloading the brush, wicking off the excess and trying to apply before having to rinse, etc.
 
Welp - at long last - SUCCESS!

https://cafmodel.com/products/la-salamandre-full-rib-life-boat
You can choose this boat. Its hull is also in the shape of tiles
Now the price is 23$
He needs to be very careful when making. He can't use liquid quick drying glue, which can easily bond the hull and the resin mold inside
We can use latex or jelly like glue。
We have improved the resin mold, now we use a whole, so its accuracy is better than the original use of splitt

Very interesting -- not the usual kind of cross-section we see!

Hi.
Hi Robert. Did not check the post since October. 
Its been a while but she's all finished and turned out as I expected. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Just a little tidying of the edges and clean the dust off and she's ready to go.
Been a interesting build with Help from a lot of people from all over the globe.
 
Thanks for looking in.
Regards Antony.
 

Hi all,
 
Working on the first planking as well as fixing a stern stem post and the keel filler. 
Next, as you all know, will be sanding, sanding, filler and then sanding.
 
Thanks for your visits always much appreciated.
 

 
 
 

Time for a weekly update. First of all thanks for likes and supportive comments. Thanks to Stuglo for the tips about Longridge "The anatomy of Nelson's ships". I will order the book as soon as possible. Thanks also to Axel for the information about "The introduction and use of copper sheathing - a history" by Mark Staniforth. I will check that out as well. Copper sheathing is going well (I think). So far I have made two gore lines at stern and one at the bow. The bow now needs a gore line to straighten out the last rows of sheathing but that's for another day. For the moment I feel exhausted or "knackered" as they said in Cumbria (Northern England) when I lived there twenty years ago.
 


 
Regards
Henrik

Ok after experimenting with the different sail making techniques, both paper and cloth, I settled on cloth. I drew out and cut paper patterns for each sail on the plastic form including the lines. I found an old cream colored bed sheet and stretched it out tight. Next I drew in long rolls of lines On the sheet with pencil matching the spacing on the patterns. For a bit of simplicity I spaced the lines a bit further apart then the molded forms. Next I drew all the patterns on the sheet matching the paper and cloth lines and included the sail number on a side tab. Then in a time consuming process I hand stitched all the lines within each pattern. After I finished sewing all the lines I cut out each sail. Using a 3 to 1 dilution of water and white glue I painted each sail formed over the plastic molds. When the glue dried I had a perfectly molded sail. I waited 24 hours to make sure sail was solid. I will now come up with a satisfactory color to lightly hit them with my airbrush. I think I will reinforce the bottom corners for rigging before I attach them to the yards. I am happy with them. As a purest I know the stitching is out of scale but I am willing to except that. 

Hey EJ - ‘just catching up with your log.  The stern and QGs are very neatly framed and trimmed out.  Beautiful work on the scarfed wales, as well.

Hello all! I know it it has been a while since I have updated, been a little busy but mostly just needed a break. Back now with some updates to share. 
 

Some more oarsmen, and a nice background picture. It's a reconstruction of the Byzantine harbour of Theodosius (where the Yenikapi ships were found). It would be good to make one of those background pictures big enough to look like it's a real background, but I'll have to wait till lockdown is over so I can get to a shop that does it.
 
 
 
My wife tells me I have to stop making these figures, otherwise I'll go blind. I've decided I'll only do it till I need glasses.
 

 
Oh.

Taking a break on installing ratlines and moved to adding furled sails using silkspan.  I like the looser look on the furled sails and to me it may not be correct, but has a better presentation of the model's sails.
 
   
 
   
 

 
 

Thanks, Steven. Being my first work, I try to do a bit better than instructions say, but I also know there are a lot of things out of my knowledge and therefore I've to study much more...
The last step has been planking main deck bulwark edges using walnut strips 4x1 mm, like illustrated in the AMATI's instructions:
 

 
It has been a difficult work, and I had to build some tools using abrasive paper and wood silhouettes:
 

 

 
        
 
       
 

 
 
Perhaps, using shapes cut out of veneer instead of strips, it would have come a better job ...
Now we've to build the external reinforcements (fenders) for the hull...
 
See you soon...
 
Rodolfo
 
 
 
 
 

I added a few more bulwark planks at the aft end of the main deck, then cut out the first curved portion. I first marked the planks with a circle template then used the Dremel with a sanding disk to remove the excess. I will finish them up with a half round file and sandpaper.
 

 
I cut deck planks for the small bow deck, then removed the starboard planks to drill holes for fake treenails. I wanted to do this with the planks off the deck because it would be harder to drill with the bulwarks in the way. I used some masking tape to hold them together and to use as a guide for drilling the holes. I traced the curve edge of the planks on the masking tape then cut out the guide strip. I drilled two holes at each end and will fill them in with oak wood putty. You can see this on the long test strip.
 

 
Before I glue these in place I will mark the ends and one edge with a black Sharpie. Here are the port deck planks dry fit.
 

 
After I finish gluing these all in I will do the same on the main deck.

Nice to see the hull planked, Christos. That's a very nice shape.

@Louie da fly  thx, it seems am over the crical point of not completing the model. After the framing and planking now its easy to proceed with what it remains in order to rebuilt Homer's ship. I believe the result will be historicaly representable or at least within the frame of Homer's imagination.

Planoing the shell with oak 

After some thought and discussion with forum members in the rigging section of the site, I've opted not to do the crowsfeet for the Victory...
 

 
Moved on to the fore braces, and definitely saved myself a lot of frustration leaving out the crowsfeet as access would have been a nightmare! Unfortunately the blocks on the yard arms for the braces are overscale (2mm when they should really be about 1mm).
 
Since we are under another 5 weeks of lockdown over here in Melbourne, I turned my attention to the anchor rig.
 
 
 

 
The anchor rope should have been placed in the hawse holes waaaaay back in the early stages of the build but impatient me pushed on ahead anyway which I now regret (also it took me some time to source the rope).
 
 
Used 1.3mm natural rope for the anchors.
 
 

 
Seized the rope (I know the seizing thread is also a bit overscale). Excess to be trimmed, unfortunately the rope frayed a little during the process.
 
And now here I am pondering whether it is at all possible to rig a triple block to the cathead on the model? The diameter of the cathead is about 1.7mm... I may have to settle with a simple knot around it.
 
 
 

Hello msw, I hope everybody is well.
 
It’s been a while since my last post so I thought I would show some pictures to keep you up to date.
I have not yet encountered significant problems or issues. I have however experienced some annoying setbacks, like having to rebuild and install all posts (on the railing of the ship) because I made the first ones out of a 4x4mm beam while 3x3mm looks a lot better, etc…
The only thing I could not manage to assemble were the messing shroud holders that are attached to the hull. I wasted 3 hours on them and then decided to throw them as far as they could fly. Instead I bought the ones from Amati (see pic below) and they were much better and a lot easier to assemble.  
I also spent a lot of time on the aftercastle but that’s because I made my own version. In total I made about 10 versions of which I have posted a few before. But I’m happy with how it turned out and I think it fits the ship better than the one provided with the kit. It is however not complete yet. But all in due time.
 
I bought the kit at a price of €90, but wit all the extra wood, varnishes, paint, glue, messing ornaments, etc… I have easily spent another € 90. This is not necessary tho, (except for the glue and some tools of course), if you follow the instructions, everything you need is provided. All parts are of oké quality, except for the messing parts, they were absolutely rubbish. Maybe this differs from kit to kit but mine were of poor quality (bended, size off, ….).  
 
You’ll see on the pictures that I tried to bring back the same color as the stripes on the ship onto the deck. This is probably not for everyone but I personally find most of the kits you can buy have boring colors (if they have any at all). I know this isn’t historically correct or what not but I have to look at my model when it is finished and I prefer aesthetics above historically accurate.
 
I still have lots of work. I am not looking forward to rigging the ship but that’s because I’m unsure about it. I have two knots in my repertoire if you will, one for tying my shoelaces and another for my tie. I’m affraid none of those will be needed tho. Luckily rope and deadeyes are cheap so I can practise as much as needed.
 
Thanks for reads, likes and follows!
 
 
 







 These are godawful. (mantua)
Use these instead : (amati)

After missing information on how the covers were fixed, I opted for easy folds and will change that as suitable information comes.
 

 
Still got some netting on the face side and fixed an iron hook.
 

 
After a transatlantic voyage, I suppose the ship to look a bit tattered. So some man are meant to do do a small face lift 🙂
 

 


So the last slice is done. Still need to clean the others up and fix them on the frame. Soon this project is finally to be finished 🙂
 
Titel: 1805 mid Atlantic, return from the Caribbean, ...
 

 

 
Enjoy, DAn

Dear All,
A new House and a new project, Artesania Latina Fulgaro.
This was something that I got off "Trademe" Auction Site, (New Zealand's Ebay), a couple of years ago.
(I looked for this under the A/L catalogue but appears to have been discontinued.)
I am unsure if I have posted in the correct place but the Moderators can correct if not right.
As far as I can ascertain, these boats, "Gozo," are still used.
 
(Sanson will have to take a back seat for the mo.)
 
Two of the three Abyssinian "Helpers" got in the frame, but, as we all know, the Internet was made for cats.... (And Model Ships!!) 🙂
 
Hopefully, this will turn out o.k. as I intend to give this (When complete), to the owners of a Holiday Park in Opunake who were so accommodating giving us a Cabin to stay in before taking possession of the new House at an absolutely wonderful rate!!
 
The Ship Room is now more or less operational so its time to get Farah-Fawcett, and the Ship Plans, on the wall and do something constructive!!
 
Kit Contents:
Usual A/L laser cut wood and something that I haven't seen before in an A/L kit, pre-shaped Hull Strakes, (X6), which go directly beneath the Gunwales. The remainder of the Planking is the usual Lime Strip Wood. Mahogany for the Decking Pre-Sewn Sails Hardware So, it will be an interesting "Smallish" Boat. (It looks like a Happy Boat!!)
 
Cheers....HOF.
 
 
 
 

I somehow managed to finish the middle rails today. If anyone spots any mistakes or sees room for improvement, do let me know.. better to fix it now then later on (especially if it's an easy fix 😄😅)
 
Some photos: