Oseberg Ship by KrisWood - 1:25 - Vibeke Bischoff Plans

[Roger Pellett]

Kris,

 

If you are a modeler in the USA, 1:32 is an easy scale to work with as common scalar fractions directly correspond to full sized measurements, ie; 1/32 in corresponds to 1 inch on the full sized vessel.

 

Roger

[KrisWood]

@Louie da fly, I forget the search terms I used to find them before, but amongst the drawings of the excavation finds from 1904 there are multiple shields of various designs. There is also a rail along the top wale (I dunno if it's called a gunnel when there's no guns) for shields to fit in.

[KrisWood]

Oh also, I've ordered a copy of the Saga Oseberg book by the master boat builder of that ship:

 

https://mindzone.dk/saga-oseberg/

 

This should help immensely with the project. It looks like it has far better plans than anything I've got so far.

[Louie da fly]

Kris, the presence of shields on the Oseberg ship i news to me. I'd never heard of that before.

 

A rail for shields is called a pavesade. And yes, the gunwale got that name in the 15th century when the only guns in use were relatively light and were placed on the top wale. As they got heavier, to keep the ship stable they had to be placed lower down but the name continued to be used. Of course I found the same applied to my dromon, from well before the invention of guns - if you don't call it a gunwale, what do you call it?

 

Steven

Edited December 14, 2019 by Louie da fly

[Bob Cleek]

Happened across a Viking ship monograph while doing some quick research on an unrelated ship for a friend.

 

The Frigate Constitution and Other Historic Ships, by F. Alexander Magoun, S.B, S.M. written in 1927 and republished by Bonanza Books is a book of ship modeling mongraphs of historic ships by a professor at MIT. It's somewhat hard to come by in it's original printings, but there have been many reproductions, some of poor reproduction quality. Get the original edition or the Bonanza reprint, if you can.

 

One of the featured historic ships is the Gokstad Ship, a Viking vessel excavated in Norway in 1880. The book contains detailed high quality drawings, including construction details, taken from the vessel itself and instructions for building a model of it. There is also a long and detailed description of a "Viking funeral" as found upon the excavation of this vessel. You'd probably find it fascinating and a helpful supplement to your research and plans collecting. 

[KrisWood]

@Bob Cleek I’ll look that up, thanks!

[KrisWood]

I looked it up and couldn’t find a copy I can afford. The originals are very expensive and the reprint available have terrible reviews saying they’re badly photocopied and some of the plans are missing.

 

 If anyone has that book and wants to send me a scan of the Gokstad chapter I’d love to read it!

[Cathead]

Interesting project, Kris. I'm of partial Norwegian descent myself, from a grandfather who was very proud of his heritage (and claimed direct lineage to Erik the Red, though who doesn't?). A proper Viking ship is on my wish list as well and I'll be interested to see how your project goes. I, too, am a "learn it yourself as you go" kind of person and have the mistakes to prove it, so wish you success on this difficult but fascinating choice of build.

 

For what it's worth, MSW has a lot of good tutorial articles in the help section that may answer many of your questions regarding specific aspects of ship modelling.

[KrisWood]

@Cathead, I'm of Swedish and Norwegian descent on my father's side. My grandfather had a lifelong passion for sailing. I've never been on the open ocean myself but I've always had an affinity for wooden sailing ships.

 

This project is a mix of symbolism, heritage, and meditation for me.

[reklein]

My funeral Viking ship was generic in design. Just looked like a Viking ship with high ends and wide shallow hull. It floated quite well. Looked really cool with the sail burning. All the oars made great kindling. Ill try to find some electronic pics.

[Cathead]

14 minutes ago, KrisWood said:

This project is a mix of symbolism, heritage, and meditation for me.

Although all the advice given here is good and well-meaning, it's also the case that the value of a build lies ultimately with the builder. We're not all shooting for pure presentation or accuracy; most builds are about the process as much as the product. So I think it's pretty cool that you're taking on (and sharing) this project as a personal journey. Case in point, I built a simple Maine lobster boat for my mother's 70th birthday as she's loved coastal Maine for a long time. She didn't care one bit that it wasn't museum quality, I loved building it for her and she has it proudly displayed in a little Maine shrine in her home with an Acadia poster behind it. So I hope this project serves you well for the purposes you desire. And if you learn some things about ship modelling from the experience (and the advice), all the better.

[reklein]

Heres a sideview before the sail was added

 

[reklein]

Edited December 16, 2019 by reklein
want to add dialogue

[reklein]

Keep in mind this was to be burned. The figure head was removed and given to the deceased 's widow before burning.

Edited December 16, 2019 by reklein

[reklein]

Don't mean to hijack your thread if you like I will delete these after you see them.

[KrisWood]

@reklein, no worries, I don't mind that you posted a few pictures. It means a lot to me that you'd share something so personal. Thank you!

[KrisWood]

Hi everyone,

 

I’m finishing up drawing my parts to cut out for the keel, stem, and sternpost. On the actual ship this adds up to five pieces to cut out. What I’m wondering is, is it easier to cut the multiple parts and scarf them together, or is it easier to cut the whole thing out as one piece?

I know across the grain for the stem and sternpost will not make as strong a ship as cutting along the grain for each part, but I don’t know if it’ll be any harder to cut out the parts by hand one way or the other.

[KrisWood]

Here's my re-drawn keel, stem, and sternpost (combining elements from multiple plans) ready for cutting out. I'm thinking maybe I should mark the station lines first so I know where to put  the frame templates.

 

Edit: It occurred to me that at 1:32 scale my keel would be 0.29" but my thickest basswood is 0.25" so I re-scaled it to 1:36 scale. I think this is what I'll go with unless the nearby hobby shop has any wood thicker than 0.29". This makes the final plan about 2ft long. I've replaced the image here with the one at the correct scale with station lines included.

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by KrisWood

[Cathead]

Kris, looks like your photo didn't load properly. Can you try again?

 

As for your previous question, depends on what tasks you consider easy. A single-piece keel will be stronger and potentially easier than ensuring that five different pieces are all glued together straight, but it may also be harder to cut out properly. If you screw up on a smaller piece it's easier to redo. The multi-part keel is more authentic, but whether you care about that is your call.

[KrisWood]

@Cathead, I was in the process of re-uploading the image at 1:36 scale with the station lines included. I'll check the local hobby shop today after work to see if they have wood that will work for a 1:32 scale keel.

[Putte]

Hi, my namn is Patrik and I’m from Sweden. 
I saw this post and remembered that I built oseberg scale 1:15 for my sister about 2 years ago. This is a link to a Swedish forum where I posted my build. Hope it will help you. 
https://modellbygge.ifokus.se/discussions/5710ddad8e0e747d31002d3a-oseberg-vikingaskepp-115-scratchbygge

 

[KrisWood]

Hi Patrik!

 

Thank you for your reply! I'd already bookmarked your build when I first started this project. I noticed you worked from the same plans I started with. 

 

Kris

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Hi Kris,

 

here a link to a beautyful model of the Oseberg ship on the webpage of Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau.

I think it is a lot easier to draw your model in scale 1:1 and make only the prints in the scale you will build your model. In 1/32 a lot of details will be very fragible. I think 1/25 or 1/20 are much easier to build.

Most measurments you will find in books from good old Europe give metric measurements.

[KrisWood]

@AnobiumPunctatum, that’s a great idea! I’ve been working with my plans at 1:100 scale and having a hell of a time doing the math to get them to 1:36. Doing them at 1:1 would make that much easier. Most of the plans I’m working from are indeed metric so you make a good point there, too.

 

I cut my keel out at 1:36 last night. I had to do it without the stem and stern posts because I couldn’t find any 1/4” basswood wide enough to do it all in one piece at the local hobby shops. It looks like I’m going to need to learn to scarf joints no matter what I do.

 

 I’ll see if I have any basswood long enough to handle 1:25 or 1:20. I agree that 1:36 will make the detail work much more difficult.

[KrisWood]

On that note, does anyone have a good how to on scarfing? I have no idea how I'm going to make cuts exact enough that the parts will be straight when glued together...

[Cathead]

Cut one side, trace it onto the other, then cut the other with a bit to spare so that you can file/sand it to its final configuration. Practice on some spare material to get the idea and figure out any details that might not be obvious.

[KrisWood]

I finished roughly cutting out the pieces of my keel today at 1:25 scale. 😁

 

I'll practice scarfing on my smaller scale attempts before finishing the edges and scarfing these together.

[Louie da fly]

Don't forget to allow for the overlap in the scarph joints! I've found myself having to remake items because I did and they turned out too short.

 

Steven

[KrisWood]

My first attempt at a scarf, practicing on the too small version of my keel. I can't figure out how to do a straight vertical cut. The saw always angles to one side or the other. Any suggestions on how to do this better?

 

 

[mtaylor]

What type of saw are you using?