Viking Ship Drakkar by End Of The Line - FINISHED - Amati - 1:50

[End Of The Line]

I'm not sure how much appetite there is for another Drakkar, but here goes.  I chose this model because I thought it would be a manageable first ship build, and I've long been interested in Viking history and lore.  

 

I do plan some modifications.  Looking at the Oseberg Ship and other surviving examples, the rib spacing appears to be too wide, so II'll be adding ribs above deck to make the spacing look more historically correct.  I also plan to make some changes to the rigging.  The cleats riveted to the hull planking, to my eye at least, aren't mechanically sound, and don't appear historic.  I'll most likely go with attachment similar to that used on Draken Harald Harfagre reconstruction with shroud pins for the standing rigging.  I'm sure there will be other small mods, but perhaps a bit controversial will be replacing the dragon figurehead. The included figurehead looks a bit cartoon-like for my tastes, so I'm thinking of carving something up based upon a Viking era dragon head pin.

Edited July 4, 2021 by End Of The Line

[End Of The Line]

I had some scrap MDF, so I cobbled together a Jig, and glued the ribs to the keel.  While I waited for each ribs to dry, I started planking the deck sections.  Since, I'm adding more ribs, the staggered planking posed questions: Should I stagger the planking between the added deck beams too? If I didn't would it look wrong?  In the end, I decided not to stager the seems and to plank the deck sections before assembling the deck to the hull.  It made planking simpler, and allowed me to trim the planks to the sub deck.  One downside that I discovered when I dry fit the decks was that the fit around the ribs is a little loose, but I think the gaps will get lost in the dark tar-stained hull color.

[Balclutha75]

Cool, I'll be glad to follow along if you don't mind, looks like she's coming along very nicely. Perhaps you have seen my stumbling efforts at building this kit, so I'm always glad to get pointers.

 

I had the exact same thought about the dragon head, it looks a little corny. I haven't decided what to do but I have several pictures of various replacement options kind of like the one you show, but I'm uncertain of my ability to carve one.

 

Your thoughts on pins vs cleats for the rigging has me thinking. Thanks.

[End Of The Line]

Planking has been an adventure.  Each plank, and even the same plank on port or starboard, presents its own unique challenges.  I followed the directions and brushed the planks with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water.   I wanted to keep the ribs and keel in alignment, so I clamped the main deck pieces in place for the first 3 rows.  

 

The garboard strakes are in place.

 

 

I kept the deck pieces in place until they interfered with clamping.  That was 3 rows.

 

It helps to have lots of clamps.  I also chose to follow the directions and score the wood for the upper planks.  This was a bit intimidating, but I dry fit the plank and used a pencil to mark a line at the point of overlap.  I scored the inside of the plank approximately 1/16" above my pencil line applying light pressure with the knife and repeating multiple passes until the score depth seemed right.  I applied light bending pressure to curve each plank.  There would be light cracking sounds, but most did not break through.  Any minor cracks were covered by the next plank.  By the time I got to there last plank on each side, I had developed a feel for it, so they shows no cracks. 

 

There were some problem areas that required some extra finesse.  For some areas, I used a strait pin chucked in my Dremmel tool to pre-drill holes for pins to hold things in place.  I tried to position the holes in a location where the next plank would cover the holes.

 

I also discovered that for the upper planks, and especially the shear clamps, it was best to glue the plank, but leave the ends unattached.  After the glue ad dried, I could manipulate the ends into place.

 

Now, the problem:  As the planking progressed, the bow developed an unfair curve.  Trying to pinch the bow strakes all the way into the form produced a pinch and a bulge.  I decided that fair curves were more important than hitting the form, so I steamed the planks with a kettle until they were soft enough to manipulate into a fair curve.  It took multiple tries, but the heat and moisture softened the glue and allowed the planks to conform to a more pleasing shape.

 

The stern was no problem, and I think that copying form number 2 for the bow, may produce better results.  

 

After the steam, the bow was fair, but the deck and ribs no longer lined up with the hull.  I cut the ribs off the form, and fitted a new deck. When I fit the extra ribs, I'll fit a set for this location too.

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by End Of The Line
typos

[Balclutha75]

Great job and log entry.

 

5 minutes ago, End Of The Line said:

I also discovered that for the upper planks, and especially the shear clamps, it was best to glue the plank, but leave the ends unattached

 

I discovered that as well, but a little too late in the game. Nice idea using the pins also. I had trouble in the area too and came up with various clamping ideas, but pins seem like a good solution.

 

There is a new MSW member, Stickman, he has about exactly this. Hopefully he sees your log.

[End Of The Line]

On to staining the hull and deck!  I used Minwax water-based semi-transparent stain in dark walnut for the hull.  I applied two coats wiping after I allowed the stain to penetrate the wood.  This left the hull uniformly dark except for the bits of glue that I missed in preparation for stain.  Oh well, it was all part of my plan. 

 

I cleaned up the glue that I had missed in round one. I sanded the hull to create light areas that will be highlights on the finished hull.

 

I finished the hull color by wiping on a layer of the stain.  

 

For the deck, I started with the dark walnut stain, but warmed it up with some burnt sienna acrylic paint.  I thinned with acrylic airbrush medium and a bit of water.  I applied one coat and sanded it to create highlights, but with the stain emphasizing the planks and grain. After a second round of stain and sanding here's the result.

[Cathead]

Nice progress and problem-solving so far!

[Louie da fly]

This is looking very good. You've made good progress and obviously mastered the clinker planking.

 

Here are some more (genuine) Viking dragon heads (none of them from ships - none have ever been found) -  but all from real Viking artefacts:

 

 

   

 

 

 

Looking forward to the next progress.

 

Steven

[Stickman]

23 hours ago, End Of The Line said:

On to staining the hull and deck!  I used Minwax water-based semi-transparent stain in dark walnut for the hull.  I applied two coats wiping after I allowed the stain to penetrate the wood.  This left the hull uniformly dark except for the bits of glue that I missed in preparation for stain.  Oh well, it was all part of my plan. 

 

I cleaned up the glue that I had missed in round one. I sanded the hull to create light areas that will be highlights on the finished hull.

 

I finished the hull color by wiping on a layer of the stain.  

 

For the deck, I started with the dark walnut stain, but warmed it up with some burnt sienna acrylic paint.  I thinned with acrylic airbrush medium and a bit of water.  I applied one coat and sanded it to create highlights, but with the stain emphasizing the planks and grain. After a second round of stain and sanding here's the result.

Hi,  I will be starting this build shortly so I’m happy to find your build log.  It is interesting that the stain penetrated despite the fact that the planks were soaked in thinned glue.  I would have expected poor stain penetration.  However, It looks fantastic.  

Ric

[End Of The Line]

2 hours ago, Stickman said:

Hi,  I will be starting this build shortly so I’m happy to find your build log.  It is interesting that the stain penetrated despite the fact that the planks were soaked in thinned glue.  I would have expected poor stain penetration.  However, It looks fantastic.  

Ric

Thanks. It is important to note that it was a water based stain over a water based glue, and I did lightly sand the surface before applying stain.  Fair warning, no water based stain will provide the penetration of oil or alcohol based stains, but I don’t have a problem with that.  My attitude toward stain is: if you stain cheap wood it looks like stained cheap wood. This is especially true with plywood. So I prefer to choose where and how much of the grain shows through.

 

Back in the day, like 17th and 18th century,  it was not uncommon to bleach away the color and grain of walnut and mahogany on fine furniture and use transparent glazes to paint on better looking grain.

[End Of The Line]

Since, I mentioned cheap wood in my previous post, I’d like to comment on the wood quality of this kit.  I was pleasantly surprised.
 

Perhaps because of some of the negative comments about wood quality on some other threads, I had low expectations.  I found the plywood for the keel and ribs to be good quality with three equal thickness veneers and good hardwood density.  I couldn’t dent it with my thumbnail.  The planking is thin basswood plywood, but it flexed well and showed no signs of separation between veneers.  

 

I didn’t recognize the species of wood used for the deck planking. It was a reddish open grain hardwood.  The pieces supplied for the shield rail appear to be a type of walnut, and the round stock for mast, yard and oars is fairly standard hardwood dowels.  I haven’s separated the small parts from their sheet yet, but the wood appears to be a dense chocolate colored hardwood.

 

Long story short, the wood all seems excellent for it’s intended purpose. Was it hand split oak as used on the originals? Of course not, but at least for this particular example of this kit, it seems to be of good quality.

[Stickman]

Thanks for the additional information.    I did not realize the difference in in the stains.   The learning curve has started!

[End Of The Line]

Here goes with another update.  The Oseberg and Gokstad Ships both have closer spacing for ribs than this kit, so I decided to add more ribs to make the model appear closer to the historic ships. The existing ribs were a good starting place, so I printed the plans, and glued them to scrap plywood from the Keel and ribs.  Working my way from amidship toward the bow, I used forms 6, 7, 8, & 9, and 6, 5, 4, 3 toward the stern.

 

 

I used a bandsaw to rough cut each rib. 

 

Then I used a disk sander and spindle sander to bring the parts to profile.  Power sanding such small parts is not for the faint of heart.  I clamped an MDF surface to the sander table, so the small part wouldn't be thrown down into the gap between disk and table.

 

Each part was hand sanded to fit it closely into its location. These have been drilled for shroud rigging.

 

And here is the finished deck with all ribs and crossbars.  The mast fish is dry fit only. It will be painted to simulate wood.

 

 

Not sure why this image is here.  I keep editing it out, and it keeps reappearing.  Thanks, Steven

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Louie da fly]

That's looking very good, EOL. The fake ribs work well. I hope you still have some skin on the end of your fingertips after that sanding.

 

The extra image is at the end because you didn't allocate it a place in the text, and you have to delete the original picture from the group of uploads at the bottom and the one at the end of the text before it will go away. Don't ask me how I know . . . 

 

Steven

Edited March 19, 2021 by Louie da fly

[End Of The Line]

Got my shield rails installed and drilled the oar ports.

 

One small detail. I used a riflers file to cut the small keyway that allows the oars to be shipped from inboard. It's a small detail but it makes me happy.

 

Does anyone have any insights into the sails on these ships?  I'm thinking ahead to that step, and this model confuses me a bit.  The plans shows  simulated diagonal seams.  These diagonal seams appear to be represented on a number of the Gotland picture stones. I like the look, but I'm having a difficult time figuring out exactly what they represent.  Here's an interesting article:  Viking Age Wool Sailcloth .  Are there any other sources?  What are the current thoughts?

Edited March 20, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Cathead]

I've been contemplating sails as well. No one really knows just how Viking sails were put together, but here are a couple articles I've found interesting.

 

This one suggests that the diagonal striping was made of walrus hide, as a stiffener: http://www.amscan.org/app/uploads/2016/11/SR_Autumn16_Viking_Ships_article.pdf

 

This one has a good background to Viking-era  textile production and mentions a rare example of sailcloth being found:

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/no-wool-no-vikings/

 

And Steven shared these two with me that talk about stitching and clothing making:

https://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/viktunic.html

https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/2019/11/05/needlework-in-the-viking-age/

 

My current plan is to make the sails out of paper, following a method I laid out here:

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15584-a-method-for-making-panelled-sails-using-paper/?tab=comments#comment-484457

 

Hope that gives you a start, I'm sure Steven will weigh in with more.

[Louie da fly]

I don't have much to add to Cathead's excellent set of links, except to refer you to representations of Viking sails on contemporary runestones at https://modelshipworld.com/topic/24335-gokstad-viking-ship-by-bigpetr-148-card-cca-900-ad/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-776214

 

 

Your pavesades (shield rails) and oarports look very good.

 

Steven 

 

[End Of The Line]

Thank you, Gentlemen.  Those are some great resources.

[End Of The Line]

I started working on the small part shaping the oar racks and assembling the trestles. The trestles were cut with the wood grain going across the upper arms.  It would only be a matter be a matter of time before they broke, so I used some of the scrap planking plywood to provide linear reenforcement along the length of the arms.  The additional thickness looks right to me, because they would have been constructed with a mortice and tenon joint to the top arms. The base of the trestle that straddles the mast fish was treated the same.

 

I looked over the parts supplied for the steering oar and decided that I could do better. I carved the rudder from basswood and cut a mortice to receive the steering arm.  The bead provided for the lower attachment point was a little insubstantial, so I added an oval lozenge to make it look more like some reconstructions. I added a reenforcement pad for the upper mount and will use some thin leather instead of the cord recommended in the kit. If course the pin will be replaced with knotted cord when I rig.

 

I took a stab at carving the figure head too.  I like it, but the horns make it look more like a fantasy dragon than I intended.  I may use it or make something a bit more stylized. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Balclutha75]

Looking really nice, sir.

 

1 hour ago, End Of The Line said:

 It would only be a matter be a matter of time before they broke

 

I have two of these kits and managed to break three trestles arms. I reinforced the mast fish trestle, but only with tapered pieces near the stem. What you did looks nice. I've glued that one to the deck, but I'm certain I'll break it off before I'm done.

 

 

 

[Cathead]

You're a far better carver than I am!

[Balclutha75]

22 hours ago, Cathead said:

You're a far better carver than I am!

Ditto that. Looking forward to what End Of The Line comes up with, as I haven't crossed that bridge yet, but I agree the Amati supplied piece looks out of place.

 

There's one on this page that looks nice, scroll down to the second and third pictures.

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/ravensborg2014.html

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Balclutha75

[End Of The Line]

Here's a quick update. I've been focusing on some of the small parts.  For the oars, I built a jig to allow me to cut blade slots on my bandsaw.  Then I sanded the profile in the shafts and got the oars stained and painted.  

 

 

 

The model will be displayed as if under sail, so the oars will be in the oar racks. I assume that on a ship at sea, they would have been secured, yet ready for quick deployment.  My thoughts are port and starboard oars in their respective racks and bundled by length secure, but it would be fast to open a bundle and pass the oars to the correct station.

[Stickman]

On 3/23/2021 at 8:38 AM, End Of The Line said:

I started working on the small part shaping the oar racks and assembling the trestles. The trestles were cut with the wood grain going across the upper arms.  It would only be a matter be a matter of time before they broke, so I used some of the scrap planking plywood to provide linear reenforcement along the length of the arms.  The additional thickness looks right to me, because they would have been constructed with a mortice and tenon joint to the top arms. The base of the trestle that straddles the mast fish was treated the same.

 

I looked over the parts supplied for the steering oar and decided that I could do better. I carved the rudder from basswood and cut a mortice to receive the steering arm.  The bead provided for the lower attachment point was a little insubstantial, so I added an oval lozenge to make it look more like some reconstructions. I added a reenforcement pad for the upper mount and will use some thin leather instead of the cord recommended in the kit. If course the pin will be replaced with knotted cord when I rig.

 

I took a stab at carving the figure head too.  I like it, but the horns make it look more like a fantasy dragon than I intended.  I may use it or make something a bit more stylized. 

 

On 3/23/2021 at 8:38 AM, End Of The Line said:

I started working on the small part shaping the oar racks and assembling the trestles. The trestles were cut with the wood grain going across the upper arms.  It would only be a matter be a matter of time before they broke, so I used some of the scrap planking plywood to provide linear reenforcement along the length of the arms.  The additional thickness looks right to me, because they would have been constructed with a mortice and tenon joint to the top arms. The base of the trestle that straddles the mast fish was treated the same.

 

I looked over the parts supplied for the steering oar and decided that I could do better. I carved the rudder from basswood and cut a mortice to receive the steering arm.  The bead provided for the lower attachment point was a little insubstantial, so I added an oval lozenge to make it look more like some reconstructions. I added a reenforcement pad for the upper mount and will use some thin leather instead of the cord recommended in the kit. If course the pin will be replaced with knotted cord when I rig.

 

I took a stab at carving the figure head too.  I like it, but the horns make it look more like a fantasy dragon than I intended.  I may use it or make something a bit more stylized. 

That looks fantastic!!

[End Of The Line]

I've been working on the sail, yard and mast.  I sized the fabric with 50-50 white glue and water as the plans directed. then I glued the outside hems. I decided to keep things simple and went with a red and black sail striped as if sewn with vertical seams. The paint is thinned acrylic. I masked the verticals and painted both sides.  The mottled appearance is a result of the paint soaking through the fabric. It does not look as pronounced to the eye as in the photo and adds a bit of texture that I like. I gave serious thought to adding strips for the diagonal reinforcements, but opted out.  I have a Gokstad kit for my next project, so I'll likely include the diagonals on that one.  

 

After paint, I used acrylic mat medium and allowed to to dry on a curved tube, so hopefully, when rigged, it will look a like a full sail .

 

Here's the sail mounted on the yard and mast.  

 

I plan on laminating some curved stock for the shroud pins, so the grain will follow the curve.  I've ordered some thin veneer for them, so the standing rigging will need to wait until it arrives.  Next, I'll turn my attention to painting the shields.

[Balclutha75]

Really nice. So you masked and painted the sail and the paint didn't bleed under the tape? Is there a magic Norse spell required to accomplish that?

 

I'll be crossing this bridge one of these weeks and have been debating on painted stripes, sewn panels of different colors, or simply a solid color. Thanks.

[End Of The Line]

42 minutes ago, Balclutha75 said:

Really nice. So you masked and painted the sail and the paint didn't bleed under the tape? Is there a magic Norse spell required to accomplish that?

 

The glue and water sizing helps. Plus, you want to make sure you press the edges of the tape down well, and peel it off immediately.

[Louie da fly]

Those colours came out really nicely.

 

Steven

[End Of The Line]

Made a bit of progress on the shields.  Again, I'm keeping things simple, to keep the focus on the ship's lines.  I sprayed the shield faces in a deep red.

 

Then I used a leather punch to cut some boss sized holes in masking tape.  Then I masked off the shield faces and sprayed the bosses black with a mist of brown to suggest rusted iron.

 

 

The shields turned out pretty good. I still plan on dry brushing the rim to suggest leather binding.

 

Some of the shield slipped through the openings in the shield racks, so I decided to glue on strips of basswood to suggest handles on the backs.

 

The shield packs and outer rims were sprayed Brown with a mist of black to tome them down a bit.  I may dry brush in some woodgrain, but I doubt it will matter given the small scale of the model.

 

And here they are displayed in the shield rack.

Edited April 6, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Louie da fly]

Nice.