VIKING SHIP DRAKKAR By Jerry - FINISHED - Amati Scale 1:50

[Jerry]

Hello Popeye..

Good observ ation...The rise you speak of is where the rudder is mounted.  Check out the following pictures.

And have a great day,

Best

Jerry

Edited May 15, 2015 by Jerry

[popeye the sailor]

that's the bow of the boat.......isn't it?   looks really cool     actually,  it looks like a leeboard.

Edited May 15, 2015 by popeye the sailor

[Jerry]

Soryy, Popeye....It's the stern of the boat, not the bow.

Jerry

[popeye the sailor]

i figured the fancy stem was for the bow........see what I get for thinking 

[Jerry]

Well you know what they used to say about Popeye, Don't you?????

[Jerry]

Good afternoon everybody.

 

Well today was a nice productive day in the drydock.  The anchor was completely riggged and set into its sailing position.

 

All 12 cleats were shaped and glued where they belong.  Most of them were drilled for a short wire stub which was inserted into the wood where they were positioned to give them additional strength.  

 

The mast and jib were shaped and also temporarily mounted in place.  The jib, however is permanently fixed to the mast but is able to move up and down the mast by manipulating the halyard tied to the mast cleat.  

 

The sling is made with kit supplied thread but seized to make it stouter

 

 

 

I'd like to add that I seized the rope that was used to make the yard sling.

 

Next will come the shrouds, stays and other standing rigging.  Looks like this build is coming along fine in spite of what I wrote below....

 

I do want to comment once again with respect to the quality of the kit.  Some wooden pieces were completely missing and other were badly lasered so that a few of them completely broke when carefully removed from the wooden sheet.  Some 1x3 mm walnut strip wood was completely missing as were the wooden pieces to connect the spinniker booms to the mast.  I guess I'll try and shape these out of some dowel stock.

 

I learned a lot about the quality of the Amati kit and I feel sorry for the Admiral who's slowly attempting to build an Amati HMS Bounty.  I hope she has better luck than I have so far.

 

Best everyone for a great weekend.

 

Jerry

Edited May 17, 2015 by Jerry

[Glenn-UK]

Hello Jerry

The HMS Pegasus kit quality, which is essential an Amati product, is very good. I suspect each manufacturer has good and bad kits. Not withstanding the quality of your kit you seem to have made a Stella build so far.

[Jerry]

Hello Glenn..

Many thanks ffor your compliment and....I guess you're right.  They also make lemons with some of the  automobiles too.  But I also remember Keith remarking about the bad quality of the wood.  Not much more left and I don't believe that Amati can screw up the thread for the rigging.  LOL

Take care,

Jerry

[gjdale]

Nice work Jerry. Pity about the kit quality disappointment, but you're making a fine job of her regardless.

[Jerry]

Good morning, Grant..Many thanks for your kind words.  

At this stage of the build the kit's quaility is beginning to fade from my mind.

 I'll use extra wood to fabricate any missing parts.

Have a great day

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry]

Good evening everyone...

 

Today was a mixed day as far as things running smooth.  The bottom line is that the shroud cleats were prepared and installed in place and the mainstay was also completed.  Now for the in betweens........

 

I decided to do the fabric work on the sail to prepare it for rigging but I ran into a "mess."  I had already dyed the white cloth by dipping it in a pan of brewed tea which I followed with a soaking in a solution of 50% white glue and 50% water.  Everything looked great.  The admiral ironed the cloth and its consistantcy was perfect.  It had just about the right texture to make a good Vuiking sail.  So today I laid it out and cut it to size and folded over 3mm hems all around.  I decided to iron the hems to give them a permanent crease and that's when things went bad.  As soon as I touched the iron to the fabric I soon had a sail about 2/3 the original size.  Obviously I had the iron too hot and the fabric shrunk and I was out one sail.  I should have left the ironing to the admiral but she was at work so I stupidly tried it myself.  Fortunately I have some very good cotton fabric in the scrap pile so I'll just start all over again tomorrow.

 

But all was not lost because I did manage to get some standing rigging done which included the Mainstay and it's flying cleats...and the anchor cleats for the shrouds.  The cleat that secures the Mainstay is also used to hold the anchor line so please don't be confused by the abundance of lines.

 

There are no directions as to how to anchor the shrouds in the hull but upon internet research I learned that the shrouds tie down inside the bulwarks near the deck of the ship.  The plans do call for small holes to be drilled in the side of the bulwarks at exactly the place where the shrouds come to the hull.  This is called out right after the lapstraking is finished.  So I decided to use these holes to anchor the shroud cleats by securing them with a knot as they enter the hull from the outside.  The knots will not be seen as the shields will happily cover them.

 

Here are some pictures which I hope will explain what I mentioned above:  Please remember that placing your mouse over the picture will reveal its caption.

 

Hope everyone has a great evening.

Best,

Jerry

Edited May 18, 2015 by Jerry

[Glenn-UK]

I never do any ironing I tried it once and The Admiral took pity on me. Am I right in thinking your team won 2-1 at the weekend, if so congratulations. The progress you have made today looks good also

Edited May 18, 2015 by Glennard

[Jerry]

When the admiral arrived home from work I got chewed out and thankfully she wasn't upset enough to say that she'll do the ironing from now on.  So that's the way it's going to be.  Best,

Jerry

[popeye the sailor]

I have to do my own sails.........got a complete tutorial about sewing machine operation and everything.   I already know how to Iron         you've made some really stellar progress Jerry!

[Jerry]

Hello Popeye...

I believe I finally got the sail correct and will furnish some pictures soon.  I did the diamond application using strips of fabric as instructed.  I willm paint the sail next and then apply the edge roping and finish the rigging.  

 

Many thanks for your visit and much appreciated comments.

Best,

Jerry

Edited May 19, 2015 by Jerry

[Jerry]

Good evening everyone..

 

Well, today seemed like a long day at the drydock.  I spent much of the day running errands, etc. but still managed to have a few hours left to work on the Drakkar.  

And today was sail day, AGAIN!   So a piece of linen was dipped in tea once more and swirled around in the glue and water mix and then, when dry, finally ironed VERY CAREFULLY AT A LOW TEMPERATURE.before beginning the applique process.  I marked the 45 degree lines on the sail using a pencil and a large 45 degree triangle left over from engineering drawing days; then I cut the 2mm. strips, using a very sharp blade and a straight edge from the remaining fabric after the sail was cut out.  I used white glue very sparingly and glued the strips onto the sail carefully following the 45 degree guide lines mentioned above.  When this was done I folded all 4 edges back over and glued them back to the sail to form the hems.  When laying out the sail for cutting I allowed about 3mm. extra to each dimension to allow for the hems

I lightly penciled guide lines on the front of the sail for the painting which will come next.  This will be done freehand as masking tape surely is useless on fabric.  Although I'll test the tape on a piece of scrap fabric.  The results will be known tomorrow.

So that's it for today...Goodnight and sweet dreams..

Best,

Jerry.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Jerry

[gjdale]

Very nice work on the sail Jerry. I take it that the Admiral has resumed ironing duties?

[Jerry]

Hello Grant..

Yes, indeed she has.  

Sometimes I say something right.

Enjoy the day

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry]

Good afternoon everyone...

I have made some further progress which includes finishing the sail and mounting it to the yard, completing the shroud lines and rigging them.  There's not much to say except that the work went well and was trouble free.  The following pictures should tell what I have done and that I am now ready for the final rigging which I hope to accomplish tomorrow.  Many thanks for tuning in.

Best,

Jerry

Edited May 21, 2015 by Jerry

[Glenn-UK]

The rigging looks alot simpler than your last two builds. I like the red and white sail, seems to add another dimension to your build. I'm still working the masts, currently shaping the main mast. Whilst I know the instructions tell me to full assembly each mast before starting the standing rigging it seems to make more sense to me to part assembly each mast and build up after each shroud layer has been added. This means I can fashion and size each shroud pair before final installation.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Glennard

[Jerry]

Hello Glenn.

There is no doubt that the rigging is a joke compared to the last couple of builds.  It has been interesting though, becuase of the use of a different type of mechanical advantage device.  No deadeyes or blocks but something that looks like it's from another planet and is referred to in material list as a "deadeye."  Perhaps it is but it really looks very different.  Check the photos above.  It is a good idea to do the standing rigging before attaching the second mast section because then you can slide the shrouds over the mast instead of threading it around and through the slots in the platform, if you know what I mean.  Lawrence did his Victory that way; I didn't but think it's a good way to go.

Best,

Jerry

Edited May 26, 2015 by Jerry

[Shipyard sid]

Greetings Jerry

Just read through your log and realized that I have not commented at all. Well it looks good and once again you have really enjoyed yourself. Will you be moving house now, as it looks like you will have fleet soon, with the Bounty also on the way. You also appear to have played safe with no pointy ends, and I like that rolly up sail. Once again well done Jerry. What next?? You will soon be able to do your own tall ships race. DAVID

[Jparsley]

Absolutely marvelous jerry She turned out to be a handsome ship

[popeye the sailor]

very nice progress Jerry......love what you did with the sail 

[Jerry]

Hello David..

So I see you're still around...I never know when you're going to pop up.  All kidding aside. it seems that you must be too busy with your build and that i can understand.  I'm a bit under the weather today; didn't sleep well at all last night and had a lot of pain in my gut for a change.  I am relatively pain free today but am as weak as a knat.  It's not the Drakkar I'm worrying about but truthfully it's the Admiral's Bounty.  The end of the school year is fast approaching and with preparing for our holiday (June 6th) there's no way she's going to give time to model ship building.  I'll have a lot of painting to do...oars and shields and a little more rigging and then it's on to something else.  You are so right when it comes to room in our house...I may have to start giving models away...Please give me the link to your current site so I can check up on you.

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry]

Hello JParsley...Many thanks for taking the time to visit my log and especially for your complimentary words.  It;s getting close to another decision.....What is next?

Have great weekend.

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry]

Thanks for the compliment, Popeye.  I'm actually thinking about leaving the sail rolled up to the yard and setting the oars in place.  Well.....I'm not sure about that; we'll see.

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry]

Hello Everybody...

I'm happy to report that I have finally completed the running rigging and therefore all of the rigging.  Although the Viking Ship doesn't compare in complexity to most other models there were some spots that were a bit tricky due to "balance" and took some thought to finally figure out.  To be specific, there are several pairs of sheet lines emerging from the sail that head toward cleats that have to be constatnly adjusted in order to prevent any particular line from going slack.  So instead of just two lines to consider when tightening or loosening one has to think about 6 of them.  I finally hit stride when I started with the mid-sail sheets and worked my way down to the bottom.  

 

I now have the oars to make and paint and the same with the shields.  Speaking about the shields I made a very interesting discovery yesterday while researching them.  Until then almost every photo or drawing of the Drakkar I have seen showed the shields to be painted with some type of "cross" design.  But according to the "Viking Answer Lady," the shields mostly were of solid color, usually white, blue, yellow.  The hubs were metalic, usually copper colored with a thin black ring separating the hub from the body color.  Apparently, the shields were displayed by alternate color when the Drakkar participated in any type of ceremony.  I plan to follow this method.

 

In the meantime, I am pleased to post some photos that will bring me up to date.  I would appreciate any thoughts from others regarding the shield colors or on any other aspect of my build.  All comments are very welcome.

 

Best,

 

Jerry

Edited May 26, 2015 by Jerry

[gjdale]

That looks terrific Jerry. Sorry, but I can't offer any advice re the shields. I'm sure that whatever you choose will look great.

[Jerry]

Hello Grant..

You mean to tell me that you don't havee the information handy about the color of the shields?  What have you been doing all these years?  I guess I am a little nasty....Oh well, just trying to break up the monotomy of a slow day.  All kidding aside, Grant, many thanks for your visit and i promise not to abuse you any more.  I also posted an additional photo looking at the rigging from above the bow.  Please stop by again..

Best,

Jerry