Gokstad Viking Ship by jack.aubrey - FINISHED - Dusek Ship Kits - 1:35 Scale

[Fam]

Hi JA

may I suggest you not to bevel all the teeth in the frames?

The teeth have been designe to house the precut planks, of course they MUST be beveled but as you already understood the frames are very fragile. Nonetheless the amount of bevel is not large and, mainly, it is very confined in a small space...the height of the tooth itself. So you cannot use your usual sanding sticks the way you are accostumed to.

 

I suggest you this aproach, which I already successfully tested in my Knarr (also by Dusek):

- bevel just the first tooth, the one close to the keel

- glue the first plank (the "garboard" in the later ships) on port and starboard

- with the first plank glued, the frames are already a little bit stiffer and able to sustain the tools pressure for beveling the second tooth from the keel

- and so on

This way you are strenghtening the frames at the same time as you work your way down from the keel.

 

Another warning for you...just in case: the planks are already precut with the required shape, in theory the should be just removed from the sheet, sanded and immediatly glued.

Well, this is just theory! Don't know if it was a defect of my kit, but the fit of the planks was very poor, with errors up to a couple of millimeters, sometimes the curvature was incorrect, some other time the amount of planks overlap was unsufficient .

I only could use them as templates to cut new ones out from a 1mm thick sheet of wallnut...had to re-build 3/4 of the planks! Nonetheless it was a very good excercise for planking, and a beautiful experience for the klinker type planks.

As I've seen that Dusek is going on in this philosophy, I hope they have improved their design or the appreciation for their kits will sunk in very short time!!

 

Cheers

Fam

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Really nice progress and very clean work.

 

The only thing I don't like are the very old styled sterns, which are part of the kit.

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, January 17th, 2016

 

- Preparations for the second building board -

 

A negative feature of this kit is the lack of some drawings that, at least in my case would be very useful. For example the drawings of all the individual pieces of plywood (keel, frames, etc) are missing. For this reason I have jealously kept, without altering it in any way, the plywood table where there were the laser precut pieces so that, if necessary, I can redesign them simply passing a very thin pencil tip inside.

 

During the preparation of the keel, provided in two separate parts to be joint, to make sure to fit them at the right angle, I had to build the first building board properly. But later I continued my work forgetting to draw on paper the resulting shape of the entire keel.

 

During the study phase for the second building board, I unfortunately had a need to detect the internal shape of the entire keel and, in absence of drawings from the kit and having lost the right time to get it when the piece was still traceable, I had to find a way to get this shape. I had two options, one of which was to obtain a complete picture of the keel on my computer in order to draw the piece to be cut out for the new building slip. If this system didn't work, I had an alternative but in practice I had no need to use it.

 

I basically redesigned the two pieces of the keel copying them from the plywood frame tablet, then I scanned them with my computer and imported the files into AutoCAD. From there I started to work on their match. The result is the design reproduced below (bow at right and stern at the left) that, I saw later, proved perfect in all points . . computer power . .

 

01 KeelDesign.jpg

 

From this drawing I could then derive the key element I need to build the new building board, board to be used for the installation of the planking. Monday afternoon I cut the first pieces of the board and today I will proceed further.

 

Stay tuned. Regards, Jack.

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

The only thing I don't like are the very old styled sterns, which are part of the kit.

Hi, what do you mean "old styled sterns" ?

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, January 18th, 2016

 

I started to assembly the basic elements of the new building board . .

 

The first element is the usual poplar plywood table of suitable thickness (18mm) that will become the board base. In the following image a preview of how the skeleton, overturned, will show once the building board will be completed . .

 

01 19012016 P1100427.jpg

 

The famous component that reproduces the internal shape of the keel, made in playwood obviously of the same thickness of the keel of the model: 4mm . .

 

02  19012016 P1100430.jpg

 

The lower part of the base, where I added two elements to keep the basement raised, allowing the bow and poop tips to stick out without protruding from the base, avoiding to touch the working table.

 

03  19012016 P1100428.jpg

 

The element shown in picture 02 mounted on the basement, perfectly perpendicular to it, while the glue is drying. .

 

04  19012016 P1100431.jpg

 

To be continued . . Cheers, Jack.

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[Canute]

Very well thought out building bases, Jack. Ciao!

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, January 21st, 2016

 

Second building board completed . .

 

Finally, after a couple of days that I could not stay working in my workshop due to a cold weather, yesterday I found the right conditions and I finished setting up the building board, board that will be exclusively used to apply the planking.

 

As you can see from the pictures below, with this building slip the keel and frames assembly is rigidly fixed to it so that all the pieces are firmly stuck in the (hopefully) correct position and unable to move. I believe that with this method it should not be difficult to avoid any kind of deformation on the three main axis of the model.

 

Starting from now I can proceed with the planking, obviously after beveling where necessary.

Now comes into play the quality of the kit builder project. My aim was to put the pieces so far mounted in the best position to apply strakes, which, as you can see the first images back in this topic, are already pre-cut to the correct shape, as they are not the usual straight strips. If the Dusek kit project will be good, then it should be a simple walk (just to say), otherwise. .

 

Also for the planking there is the problem to dye the wood before its application, as for the keel and frames. We will see how to proceed along the way.

 

Now, however, I expect a few days of other commitments and probably I will produce few interesting thing for a while. Here follow a batch of images showing this new building board in detail. I hope its architecture sounds clear. If in doubt, just ask to me.

 

Regards, Jack.Aubrey.

 

01 21012016 P1100447.jpg

02 21012016 P1100445.jpg

03 21012016 P1100450.jpg

04 21012016 P1100446.jpg

05 21012016 P1100444.jpg

06 21012016 P1100448.jpg

07 21012016 P1100449.jpg

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[md1400cs]

Jack,

 

Just found your new build log. Great project I will follow along.

 

Michael

[amateur]

Here is a thing I don't understand: the building instructions as you showed them, tel you to first attach the deck to the frames before you start planking. This would immensly strengthen the frames. Why do you go into plakning before installing the deck?

 

Jan

[yvesvidal]

Brilliant building stand jack. You really put a lot of care into this part of the construction.

 

With such tools at your disposal, you could start producing this hull in small quantities.... :-)

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Here is a thing I don't understand: the building instructions as you showed them, tel you to first attach the deck to the frames before you start planking. This would immensly strengthen the frames. Why do you go into plakning before installing the deck? 

Jan

Jan, you are right: the building instructions tell us to fix the deck to the frames before planking. As you say this will stregthen the structure. But, this strength is only applied on one axis and in my opinion, for this model this is not enough . .

 

I try to explain better: considering the relative small height of this keel, also with the deck installed you probably may not assure the required rigidity of this assembly. In fact this is not probably enough to ensure avoidance of torsion movements of the hull and keep held the prow and the poop.

 

So, all my infrastrucure is finalized to avoid any kind of torsion of the hull over its three axis. The deck can be installed after the planking when the hull will be detached from the board. In addition this method allows me to enforce the internal side of the hull below the deck if necessary.

Keep in mind this is my first experience with clinker planking and I'm trying to achieve the best result with minimal risk . . think for example to the process of beveling the frames: with my method you can sand the frames without major risks to broke them because they are firmly locked and consequently, more safe.

 

To conclude, always remember the mission of a building slip: keep the hull structure in the perfect shape until planking is sufficiently strong to avoid distorsions. You may avoid to use it only in few circumstances and, believe me, this is not my case . .

Cheers, Jack.

[mtaylor]

Nicely done on the building slip, Jack.  I was wondering how you were going to solve that problem.  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build process.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Sorry, for the late reply, Jack.

 

I add a picture from a reconstruction drawing of Werner Dammann. It shows a possible viking style figure head for the Gokstad ship.

 

 

If you have a look at the original in the Oslo museum, you see that stem is also a little smaller than in your model.

Werner Damman shows in his wonderful book about the ship also another solution that as far as I know is the most common interpretation

 

 

[jack.aubrey]

Friday, January 29th, 2016

 

In the last days, I proceeded to apply planking with the famous method called "clinker": I was a little worried, however, so far, it has been going pretty well.

 

The pre-cut strips, already shaped, until now worked in an excellent way. The only flaw is that each strake is composed of two strips, one long and another shorter. And this fact required a joint and only after some time I finally realized that the shorter strip had exactly the same shape as the initial part of the long one and then I could put alternately forward and aft as desired with, in my opinion, a better result.

 

The poop is smoothly evolving, except for some points to be finished after the stern wheel, while the bow is much more tricky: its evolution is different than that of the stern and the strips must be forced a bit more to follow the water lines.

According to me the prow strips had to have a different shape for this zone, not equal to that of the stern. But for now that's fine too.

 

After have installed a pair of strakes I should be able to detach the model, it should not move anymore, from the board so I'll can install inside the deck and then proceed with the sides with the hull upside right.

 

However I need to proceed quite slowly, maximum a few strakes per side each day . . but it is better than I thought.

Regards, Jack.

 

01 29012016 P1100451.jpg

02 29012016 P1100452.jpg

03 29012016 P1100453.jpg

04 29012016 P1100454.jpg

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

Beautiful work Jack. And you got the books to know exactly how the Vikings built these boats.

It is going to be a masterpiece....

 

Yves

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Nice progress, Jack

[Overworked724]

As a newcomer, I can't add much in the way of advice, experience, or historic opinions....but I can say that your build is one I could see myself taking at some time in the future. Beautiful choice of kit...good luck and will be watching from the sidelines with awe as I try to consider the skills needed to build wooden ships.

 

Enjoy and I hope the weather treats you kindly!

 

Pat

[jack.aubrey]

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments about my work, greatly appreciated. Jack.

 

Continuation . .

 

Further images of the clinker planking . .

 

01 29012016 P1100455.jpg

02 29012016 P1100456.jpg

03 29012016 P1100457.jpg

04 29012016 P1100458.jpg

Regards, Jack.

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[gjdale]

That's looking really nice Jack. Clearly your painstaking preparations are paying off.

[mtaylor]

The planking looks wonderful, Jack. 

[Fam]

Wonderful results JA!

Have you considered pre-staining the strakes before installation?

Fam

[jack.aubrey]

Wonderful results JA!

Have you considered pre-staining the strakes before installation?

Fam

Yes FAM, I really considered to stain the planks before installing them as i made for the keel and the frames . . but at the end I decided that it was a painful task to be done (stain, wait to dry, fix the color with diluted glue, wait to dry and finally use it) and in addition the dark color would made the work much more difficult, adding visibility problems to watch what I was doing . . in place of it I made a lot of care to remove as better as possible any trace of glue during the process. Rgds, Jack.

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, January 30, 2016

 

After having applied a few more strakes it's now time to remove the hull from this building slip because I can no more effectively use the standard clamps to hold the strip while the glue dries. But I am sure that it's unlikely, at this point, the hull will be deformed. . And soon we will also see how she looks like inside . .

 

01 31012016 P1100459.jpg

02 31012016 P1100462.jpg

03 31012016 P1100463.jpg

04 31012016 P1100460.jpg

05 31012016 P1100461.jpg

 

 

 

Regards, Jack.

 

PS: do not pay attention to the different lengths of the strips at the bow and stern; some were long, some even almost short, when I'll finish the planking I expect a little extra work to fix these two areas. .

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

She is a beauty Jack. Wow, you can be proud of you.

I absolutely love that long planking.

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, February 1st, 2016

 

The photos here below are obviously not so great, being them shot using my smartphone in low light conditions, but still give an idea of how the hull looks like when the model was detached from its building board.

 

01 20160201_165033.jpg

 

From this moment it's possible to reuse the first building board I made, although theoretically the hull does not deform anymore, but it makes easier working inside. Later today I finally installed the internal deck, after having applied a coat of glue inside the shell. With the deck installed this coating cannot be seen and then I took the opportunity to further strengthen the planking of the hull.

 

02 20160201_164938.jpg

03 20160201_164930.jpg

04 20160201_164923.jpg

Regards, Jack.

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[dashi]

A very tidy build Jack. Don't know if its just the angle but there appears to be a dip in the strakes at the rh end in pic? Is this where the frame is that you say should be different?

[jack.aubrey]

A very tidy build Jack. Don't know if its just the angle but there appears to be a dip in the strakes at the rh end in pic? Is this where the frame is that you say should be different?

 

Hi dashicat,

what you highlighted is a small imperfection of that frame, that I corrected when applying the next two planks, but I did not refer to it when I wrote:

 

"The poop is smoothly evolving, except for some points to be finished after the stern wheel, while the bow is much more tricky: its evolution is different than that of the stern and the strips must be forced a bit more to follow the water lines.

According to me the prow strips had to have a different shape for this zone, not equal to that of the stern. But for now that's fine too."

 

This sentence had a different meaning: the bow is much more high than the stern and in my mind this means that the strakes in the bow area should have a different shape the the strakes in the poop area.

But in the kit they are exactly the same and this fact makes more difficult to apply the strake in the bow area, forcing you to curve the strip in an "non-natural" manner using a totally different process used for the poop.

As the shape of all the strakes is probably obtained by a 3D CAD software, I think the result should be different. About this last matter I'd like to know the opinion of Daniel Dusek, who seems to follow this build log, to define if my assumption is right or not.

 

Rgds, Jack. 

 

Sunday, February 21st, 2016

 

Just a brief update on this build:

when I installed the deck I made a small but unrecoverable mistake, that anyway most probably will be corrected more in advance.

But this fact had a negative impact on my enthusiasm with the result I did nothing for a while.

When I was ready to resume I got a problem on my right shoulder that stopped me for another week.

So I restarted only yesterday, continuing with the planking. But I cannot proceed as fast as I'd like and I can install only a plank per side each day. As soon as I'll have something showable 'll resume the log with new comments and images.

Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey.

 

[dashi]

Hi Jack, hope your shoulder recovers soon.

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain what you meant here. When I was building the Amati Viking ship I came across the account and drawings of the Gokstad discovery. It's got some very detailed tech drawings of the ship. I had a look at it last night and the sheer plan does show the bow as narrower than the stern. Thinking back now my Viking build might have looked a little pinched at the bow at that stage too so it might just sort itself out.

 

I'll be following your build as I've wanted to build the Gokstad ship and didn't know there was a kit for it. Some things I noted from my research was when they found the ship it had small boats complete with masts. The book makes the point that up until that discovery they had assumed the tye passed through a sheave in the top of the mast. But none of the masts from the small boats had sheaves through their tops? Maybe they used jeers but to my knowledge no blocks have been found, but there were references to 'worn tye holes' in some of the saga's.

 

Another interesting point are the booms and boom footings. All the stone depictions of these ships show a broad low sail on a short mast that can be lowered without interfering with the stern peak which is how I bashed my build. With this rig then I found the use of a boom is critical to the set of the sail and I'm guessing, as I'm not a sailor, allowed for the ship to efficiently exploit the coastal winds using one boom in the clue.

 

take care dashi

[Daniel Dusek]

Hi Jack,

I am not sure if I understand correct what you mean but the bow should be little higher than stern but not a lot. The good way is draw position of the planks on stem and stern and alternatively adjust it. I can make some photos of build model but I think your model look very good now and it is on good way.

Best regards

Daniel

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, February 22nd, 2016

 

After twenty days from my latest update, I'm publishing, more due to desperation than anything else, the photos of this Viking ship model, stressing the fact that during this time I have not made much progresses. The reasons were many, but certainly one is mainly related to the greater complexity of the planking with the clinker system. Now I nicknamed it as "Klingon" system, named after the alien race in the Star Trek saga, so much hard and "time consuming" this system is: between the installation of a half plank and the remaining half (remember that a strake is made of two pieces, one of about 2/3 the total length and the other the remaining 1/3) it's necessary to wait that the glue will dry very well before to proceed further. Due to this fact I'm more or less forced to work with short sessions of one hour or less at a time and it may happen I can not always apply an entire course per side during one day. Hence the long lead times which certainly do not stimulate the wish to continue.

 

At the time, I reached the point illustrated by the pictures below: three courses per side are still needed to finish the planking, but before their installation it's necessary to clean the top of the frames, over which there is some waste material coming from the removal of the hull from the overturned building board, and apply new elements to complement the existing frames.

 

Let's begin with a vertical overview image, where you can see that the hull curve trend is pretty straightforward, with some few exceptions still remediable: with the "Klingon" system some advantages also exists and one of them is that if a course does not fit perfectly or has a bad curve trend, you can easily mask it with the next course, provided it is correctly installed.

 

01 25022016 P1100465.jpg

 

A detailed view of the bow area . . here I have not yet fully completed the installation of the last course: it remains to glue the plank on the last three frames and on the stem, but because of the curve that takes up rather strongly, I prefer separate the work in two steps.

 

02 25022016 P1100466.jpg

 

An overturned hull view of the midship area . .

 

03 25022016 P1100477.jpg

 

Overal view of three-quarters and detail of the stem, where you can watch the significant mess I made with the length of the individual strips; and this happens also at the stern. An issue I'll pursuit when the planking is off . .

 

04 25022016 P1100464.jpg

05 25022016 P1100468.jpg

 

 

Finally, the stern area, definitely resulting better than the bow . . here the curve trend of the strakes is much better and did'nt create any problem . . instead the bow was, in my case, very different !!

 

06 25022016 P1100470.jpg

 

To the next step, Jack.

Edited August 6, 2017 by jack.aubrey