'Oseberg' Viking Ship (v3) by James H - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1/25

[James H]

Well, I needed to build something, and plastic wasn't thrilling me too much.

 

 

So, as this kit arrived fairly recently, I thought I'd jump straight in and build it. I always wanted to build a viking 'longboat' or drakkar, and this ticks all the boxes in terms of design and possibilities. I'm also planning to use the antique stain set too, but maybe leave the outer hull a little darker to semi-represent how these looked. Not sure yet, so I'll play it by ear and do some reading as I go along. 

 

I recently reviewed this kit HERE, so you can get an idea of what's in the box. 

 

The first job with this kit is to build the cradle. You really get a sense of the size of the hull when this goes together. The cradle is assembled from a few of those thirteen sheets of MDF. Construction is quite easy, but of course, it pays to take things slowly so you can ensure everything is aligned and absolutely flat on your bench, so there won't be any twists in your hull. I used a large cutting mat, sat on top of the totally flat kitchen worktops I have in my workshop. 

 

Some of the dovetail joints on the horizontal sections, were a little tight, but gentle tapping with my Amati hobby hammer with plastic head, made short work of those. I also found it necessary to remove a little char from slots. With both of these, the whole thing came together perfectly. 

 

All joint are assembled first, and then glue painted over them in the same way I do the VM hulls.

 

 

My Viking overseer, Harald, has made an appearance. Ideal to show him from time to time for you to get a sense of scale. This is the figure that comes with the kit. Two heads are provided. The other has a helmet, but I didn't want that whilst he was on his ship!

 

 

[gsdpic]

I was just looking at your review of this kit earlier today and was quite impressed.  I'll eagerly follow along to see how it all goes together.

[James H]

I've spent a few days beavering away on the keel and bulkheads. 

 

The keel is made from alder, and you need to ignore the colour variation in this as you won't see it when it's all faced in quite pale walnut. There was a small variation in the length of each side, strangely, so I built the side which was more to the plan sheet and they built the second layer directly on top of that, pinning with the walnut pins as I went along. The last piece in the centre just needed a little rework at either side and it then fit in with not much of a problem. I spent a whole lot of time cleaning up the char, just for aesthetics, as you really won't see much/any of this when complete.

 

 

 

The bulkheads, as I said, are walnut. I've never worked with walnut this pale, so that was surprising. it's like a slightly off-golden colour which doesn't really show up here. The parts fit together nicely. Some bulkhead parts just needed a little kerf removing from the joint faces, while others didn't. On parts where I could flip them over to compensate the kerf, I did so. Where I couldn't due to bevelling marks, then I used a file to reduce the kerf and make them fit. I do have to say that you barely need to remove any material to make anything fit perfectly. It's more or less just the char.

 

[TJM]

Very interested to follow this build. I have version 2 of this kit for a (far...) future project, and while I understand that there are significant differences between version 2 and 3, especially on the rigging, it will still be a very nice reference to have your log to look into!

[James H]

28 minutes ago, TJM said:

Very interested to follow this build. I have version 2 of this kit for a (far...) future project, and while I understand that there are significant differences between version 2 and 3, especially on the rigging, it will still be a very nice reference to have your log to look into!

I really should take a further look at V2 to try and see the differences in the parts and construction method.

[James H]

I decided I didn't like the workshop photos on the blue cutting mat. They were too difficult to see things clearly, and they gave me a headache just looking at them. So, I'll revert, for the majority, to my VM-style photos.

 

This last week has seen me torn between various things, such as looking for a job, guitar playing/learning, and playing a fantastic new RPG called Deliverance 2, on my PS5. 

 

Anyway, that aside, I do now have all the bulkheads ready for installation. I ned to clean a few keel slots up first, and then these can be dry fitted. You'll see there's various other things to do before I commit glue. 

 

In these photos, I carved the bulkhead plank runs as I felt it better than wielding a file and ending up with uneven and curved plank surfaces. Tedious, but I can adjust once on the model. The upper deck sections are only taped in place at the moment, for reasons you'll see, as the log proceeds. Anyway, I'm off for a chippy tea, so catch you later!

 

[James H]

I have had to use my cutting mat photos here as it's difficult to get that huge jig into my photo area at the moment, but I have done some detail shots in my usual; style. 

 

Work resumed by thinning the top of each keel end. In the manual, this is supposed to be only 20mm down from the top edge, but the videos for this show it to be 60mm, meaning that the top of the prow and stern will taper in nicely to incorporate the carved head design. I wasn't supposed to do this at this stage, but it would be harder to taper these areas when the bulkheads were fitted. I tool the risk and it was fine. Here you see the mast foot assembly and also a temporary double for the thinned areas. I didn't fit these just yet.

 

 

The keel is first slotted into the jog and before the two-part longerons are inserted to the bulkhead slots, an MDF 'clamp' is slotted onto each side of the bulkhead. All the bulkheads are now glued into place, and the longerons are inserted. I didn't glue the longerons themselves as I felt some lateral flexibility would be useful when the model is placed in the next jog for planking. Two photos here show the mast foot in place, but it's only a temporary fit.

 

 

Here you can now see the clamps being used in conjunction with the small series of wedges. These hold those top sections of each bulkhead, which are now being reinstated. 

 

 

One of those top sections, for central bulkhead #0, has another block attached to it which is a part of the visible mast foot on the deck. A supplied paper template is attached to the top of this using Spraymount adhesive. A Dremel is then used to shape the part and cut the partial mast hole. This is then fitted to the model as per the others. I left a photo here showing what this looks like on that bulkhead before I fitted it.

 

 

With all the bulkhead tops glued and set, the hull is removed from the jig and the clamps removed. The hull is then returned to the jig for the next stage. This is fitted the shelves onto which the floor sections will fit. These are now installed except for one side of bulkhead #0, as that needs to be laminated and shaped.

 

You can never have enough clamps...

 

 

That last floor beam is now laminated with three parts and then popped into place to mark a ledge and also the mast position. These are then shaped with a Dremel and the part fitted to the model. The mast foot is now glued into position. 

 

I mocked up a 9mm diameter down section which is representative of the final shaped part, to make sure that everything aligned vertically. All was good to go.

 

Oseberg was now removed from that jig for the very last time and readied for the next stage of building, which requires another large jig.

 

 

[grsjax]

Not trying to hijack this thread but I do have a serious (maybe dumb) question about these kits.  How does one tell the difference between v.1, v.2 and v.3 kits?

[James H]

9 hours ago, grsjax said:

Not trying to hijack this thread but I do have a serious (maybe dumb) question about these kits.  How does one tell the difference between v.1, v.2 and v.3 kits?

 

They are very different. Entirely. This is my review of the V2:

 

 

Look at the parts shapes etc. Compare that with the V3:

 

 

The V2 isn't available now, so any purchase will be the V3.

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  It appears that Nitkin's V3 Oseberg is a 'light year' ahead of V2, the Billings kit (or any other that I've seen).

[James H]

25 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  It appears that Nitkin's V3 Oseberg is a 'light year' ahead of V2, the Billings kit (or any other that I've seen).

I've never seen the Billings up close but know that it can be difficult to build, plus the planks are ply. There are some very nice renditions of it though, and I'd be proud to have built a number of them. Pavel's V2 looked like the ultimate at the time, but this has lots of clever quirks, a much better design, and of course those extras like resin viking and galley. Vanguard Models will have a number of these in a few weeks, and I hope we see a few more build logs here.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Ahoy, James !   I happen to have the Billings Oseberg and Roar Ede in stash (both 1:25), and thought to examine the Roar Ede closely first (with an eye to building it) as a 'warm up'.  Looking at several build, builders had fitting problems with some of the planks building it 'out of the box', and most of the ribs (to be inserted after planking) didn't fit right.  The building jig frames have 'tick marks' laser-burned at points where each successive plank (ostensibly) should be aligned to ... but something appeared to go awry in the builds I saw.  There are a few cross sections provided in the instructions (but not to the scale of the kit), and they appear to match cross sections available from public sources.  BUT ... when copied at a scale that would yield a true 1:25, the building frame corresponding to the center of the boat isn't wide enough.  The pre-cut ribs DO match up with the lapstrake in the true 1:25 scale cross sections available, but do NOT line up with the laser marks on many of the build jig frames.

 

  Something went off in the design phase, and was never corrected at any point in kit production.  Of course, the solution is to make correct width center jig frame, as well as to measure all the pre-cut strakes (and they appear to be correct  (again by comparison with publicly available images/drawings)  near the points where they should fall on the build jig frames.  Then, the proper overlap and positioning is noted on the sides of the build frames by making my own cross sectional drawings of them, which will be used to judge plank position INSTEAD of the provided 'tick marks'.  This was an exhausting exercise, but in the end I had corrected the build jig parts so that the planks will fit properly and the ribs will go in later without leaving gaps (or having to remake them).  At this point I put everything back in the box to tackle at a later time, because of the various other irons I have in the fire.

 

  I'm tempted to order a Nitkin V3 Oseberg and sell the Billings.  The Roar Ede I'll keep, having invested some re-design time into it already.

 

Fair sailing ...   Johnny

 

[James H]

 I did say there was another jig to build, and this one takes up 8 sheets of MDF. There's more in work involved with this one too, and just make sure everything is absolutely flat when assembling it. To help, I used a 1kg weight to hold things down when installing the various assembled plates. An engineers square also comes in very handy.

 

 

 

This shows the hull turned upside down as a test. What I did need to do at this point was to fit those temporary prow/stem doublers as they not just protect those thinned and vulnerable places, but they also help align the hull properly. To aid this, I added a couple of pieces of spare MDF to hold the prow/stems at that point. You can see these in the third photo down from here.

 

 

The first plank is applied after sheathing the keel sides in beech. This creates a nice uniform colour to the mix'n match colour of the alder keel. The first plank is supplied in 3 sections. The middle section is fitted first.

 

Now the outboard sections are fitted, to the ends first and then trimmed to the middle plank.

 

Then it's onto the second plank, supplied in four sections. 

 

I'll do another update when the hull is planked. 

 

 

[vossy]

I am seriously considering buying this, but now Pavel has posted on FB that the V3 comes with new "improved" oars after April. Sort of makes me wonder when to buy as maybe other stuff will be "improved" in the future?

 

[James H]

1 hour ago, vossy said:

I am seriously considering buying this, but now Pavel has posted on FB that the V3 comes with new "improved" oars after April. Sort of makes me wonder when to buy as maybe other stuff will be "improved" in the future?

 

 

As far as I'm aware, it's only the oars which will change as these were originally being designed for the Nef kit. 

[vossy]

2 hours ago, James H said:

 

As far as I'm aware, it's only the oars which will change as these were originally being designed for the Nef kit. 

James, Pavel did say that the kit is a bit of a constant evolution and may even be upgraded further down the track. Now this is all well and fine but given the postage alone to Australia is almost $200 AUD and the wait time is for delivery is 2 months (both figures quoted by Denis to myself via email), I am sort of loathe to purchase a kit only to find it has been improved whilst awaiting delivery. I understand the current situation in Ukraine and the time and money constraints. Yours is looking awesome btw.

 

Chris.

 

[James H]

3 minutes ago, vossy said:

James, Pavel did say that the kit is a bit of a constant evolution and may even be upgraded further down the track. Now this is all well and fine but given the postage alone to Australia is almost $200 AUD and the wait time is for delivery is 2 months (both figures quoted by Denis to myself via email), I am sort of loathe to purchase a kit only to find it has been improved whilst awaiting delivery. I understand the current situation in Ukraine and the time and money constraints. Yours is looking awesome btw.

 

Chris.

 

In that case, you'll always be waiting to see what improvements are made, while never allowing yourself to actually buy it, in case more improvements are made  

 

Thanks for the comments. It's a lovely model to build. I'm currently assembling plank runs in between learning guitar.Two full strakes are on each side now and I've just made planks 3 and 4 for both sides, and waiting for glue to dry.

[Chuck Seiler]

19 hours ago, James H said:

these were originally being designed for the Nef kit. 

Nef kit?  When will that be on the market?