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

[End Of The Line]

I lost a week traveling, but I'm back to the Drakar.  I'm going with shroud pins instead of the flying cleats, or whatever they're called, that came with the kit.  I decided to laminate up some blanks, so the grain would follow the curve of the pins.  My original plan was to build a mold for the curve, but it would have been time consuming to cut and mate such a tight curve for male and female halves.  I decided to go the quick and dirty rout and it worked out.  I steamed thin walnut veneer and clamped it into a tight U.  After the curve was set, I applied glue and clamped everything together.  

 

 

Things dried up into a u shaped walnut block. 

 

 

The block was ripped into individual blanks. 

 

A little carving and sanding, and this is how they turned out.

 

Hopefully this week, I'll make some good progress on the rigging. I'm looking forward to seeing her finished.

Edited April 19, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Louie da fly]

Nice work, mate. The only other way to do this without splitting would be to source your wood from forks in tree-branches. You've done a good job.

 

Steven

[Balclutha75]

On 4/19/2021 at 7:34 AM, End Of The Line said:

 I steamed thin walnut veneer and clamped it into a tight U.  After the curve was set, I applied glue and clamped everything together.  

Interesting idea to construct laminated shroud pins like that. They came out quite nice looking, and should look great in the rigging.  So far I'm still using the flying cleats that came with the kit.

[End Of The Line]

Funny story, I thought that I’d be able to bang out the rigging in a week or two, but the universe has a way of slapping you down. While trying to put our cat in a crate for a vet visit, I was on the receiving end of her displeasure. Though I cleaned everything well, the bites on my right index finger became infected. After a few days of worsening infection, I sought medical help. Long story short, after two rounds of antibiotics, a trip to the ER, and a surgery, the wound has been drained, and I’m on my way to recovery.  Unfortunately, it is likely to be a while before I’ll have the dexterity required for rigging.  I do have two kits on the shelf, Gokstad and Hemingway’s Pilar, so I may get a start on one of them while I work the finger back into shape.

 

Warning, the following image is not for the feint of heart.

Edited May 11, 2021 by End Of The Line

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

OMGosh, your sutures make my hand accident seem trivial (just a few ties in two places hurt when re-doing a fence section).  With care and patience healing will occur, and I found that over time (some years) the scars became a lot less noticeable.  God bless you.

 

Johnny

[Ian_Grant]

My God!!!  Cat bites are always potentially infecting but your cure looks much worse.....hope it heals quickly. A few years ago I just shaved the skin off the end of a finger tip on a table saw; it took years for the nerves to feel normal again. (Amazing how the fingerprint whorls regenerate!)

[Balclutha75]

Bummer for sure. Good luck with the healing process. Look forward to seeing you back up in the rigging. Take care.

[End Of The Line]

Who knew fingers were so complicated?  Anyway, I still have 6 weeks of PT to go, but I've regained most of the use of my finger. So, I'm back to the standing rigging.  The shrouds are tied with the shroud pins lashed into place.  

 

The shrouds installed.  It took a little trial and error, but I figured out an approach that looks clean and allows for tension adjustment.  It kind of functions like a trucker's hitch with the shroud pin acting as a quick release.  I can't speak for the historical authenticity, but it's how I'd want things rigged if I was sailing her.

 

Here's a longer view of the aft rigging.  Though the plans didn't call for one, I added an aft stay.  It just made sense to me, and I like the look.

 

Here's the rigging for the forward stay. I decided to go with my first carved figure head.  My initial reaction was that it looked a bit too much like a fantasy dragon, but it kind of grew on me.  I have a Gokstad model on the shelf, and I'll go more primitive and stylized on that figure head, probably based on the Gotland stone.

 

The standing rigging is complete.  Next I'll move on to the running rigging and stage the oars, rudder and deck details.

 

On to the running rigging! As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I didn't really care for the cleats provided in the kit.  I did use one at the base of the mast, because that application made sense to me.  Cleats riveted to the hull planking did not make sense to me though. Contemporary reconstructions appeared, at least in the ones I looked through, to take 4 approaches: tying the lines to thwarts, tying to holes in the ribs, tying to an inwale or tying to a partial rail attached to the ribs for and aft.  There are no thwarts on this kit.  It's really difficult to drill holes in the ribs of the assembled hull. A full inwale seemed to be overkill. So, I went with the latter approach.  I shaped and bent rails securing them where they would provide secure tying points but not interfere with deployment of the oars.

[Balclutha75]

We are left to wonder how nice it would look if you had ten working finders.  👍

[Brinkman]

I missed your previous post about your injury! It looked painful and I'm glad it has healed enough for you to use the finger again. And nice work with the shroud pins.

[End Of The Line]

She's rigged and ready for her maiden voyage.  Overall, I'm pleased with the way she turned out.  I think the choice to go with closer rib spacing and the carved figurehead help the look of the kit a lot.  The rigging changes make sense to me, and I hope are consistent with both historical authenticity and practice engineering.

 

[Cathead]

Very cool model. I particularly like the consistent and muted color palette that ties the whole thing together, and the extra thought and detail you put into making it your own. Thanks for sharing and inspiring me to reach higher in my own work.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations! Well done!

 

Nicely done on the figurehead!

[Stickman]

Very nice work!  I love your modifications!  I am building  this kit as well.  One thing I would like to know... after you stained the hull did you give it a flat clearcoat afterwards to seal the stain?

[End Of The Line]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:01 AM, Stickman said:

Very nice work!  I love your modifications!  I am building  this kit as well.  One thing I would like to know... after you stained the hull did you give it a flat clearcoat afterwards to seal the stain?

Thanks for the kind words. For the deck, I mixed the stain with some clear flat acrylic, so the stain and finish went on as one.  For the hull planking, the water based  stain Seemed to have pretty strong binder, so I didn't.  If I had used an oil based stain, then I would have topcoat with polyurethane or another comparable clear coat.

Edited March 16, 2022 by End Of The Line