Oseberg Viking Ship by Jack P - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1/25 Scale - 9th Century - (Modified)

[pete48]

Nice work Jack, She's coming together

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[ScottRC]

Hi Jack,

 

I just came across you build as well and read all 11 pages.  What great improvements to this model.  I also like your shop and was very interested in the steamer. 

 

Kudos on on your craftmanship.

 

Scott

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi David B, Keith, Vivian, Grant and Pete,  thanks for dropping in and all the kind words and encouragement.  Also, thanks to all the "likes".

 

Sam, I have started laying out the nails on the hull.  I did a rough scale off the museum photographs and they end up way too close together for this scale so I will do a test piece before I go too far.

 

Grant, I have not forgotten the photography tips I promised.  I will get to it soon.

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Scott,

 

Welcome to the party.  Thanks for reading the log.  This ship is a lot of fun to build and the bashing is helping me develop my skills.  I really enjoy the wood work and solving problems.  I don't think that I would be doing half as well without the truly incredible amount of help from this forum.  The experience and artistry here is amazing.

 

The steamer is a great toy.  It came from Rockler here in the US.  http://www.rockler.com/steam-bending-kit-w-free-bentwood-carryall-plan-download

 

 

Their plan for a wooden steam box was not very realistic so I used 4" PVC with wooden end caps.  That was not a very good idea either.  I did a long overdue and much needed re design this past weekend.  The version 1 leaked and split the wood ends.  The blast of steam when the door opened required wearing barbeque gloves.

 

 

The new one has a solid PVC cap on one end with a hole drilled for the steam input hose.  The condensate drain is in the bottom of the pipe near the back.

 

 

The front is a clean out plug that is much easier to open than the previous hinged gate.  The front is elevated to allow the condensate to drain.  There is a steel rack to keep the wood out of the muck,  I may want to change to some sort of plastic rack later but the steel rack has not marked the wood so far and it was carried over from version one with many hours of use.

 

It really makes bending easy.  Thanks for looking in.

[Jack Panzeca]

I said that the simulated iron rivets were next but I lied.  I could not find any brass nails locally so I had to wait for them, they just arrived.  I will do a test layout and decide on the spacing. I also played with the oars.  As usual I will do them from oak.  For the test I cut a strip of 3.5mmx3.5mm oak and routed off all four corners to create a round dowel.  It worked well enough but I need to figure out some sort of jig since working on something that small freehand put my fingers way too close to the router bit for comfort.  The oar blade was cut out using a scroll saw.

 

I had a crisis of confidence when I started to work on the oar holes.  The realization that I was about to drill 30 holes into my ship was nerve racking to say the least.  I laid them out and checked them many times.  The are positioned mid way between each bulkhead.  I did find that the spot where the top planks on the port side come together had a little hump (about 1mm by 150mm) which I sanded off to make it level.  I put masking tape behind each hole to help prevent splintering. 

 

 

The shield rails were next and they are made of oak pieces at each bulkhead covered with a strip 1.5mmx4mm.  

 

 

I had a board long enough so I made them out of a single strip on each side.  I installed the rudder support to give the strip a place to land where it meets the rudder.

 

 

The shields just drop in.

 

 

Nails, oars and shield decoration are next.  I am still looking for a proper center piece for the shields.  The bead supplied with the kit is both too small and too ugly.

 

[Vivian Galad]

Jack, as I follow your build, the will to buy and build this kit only increases - part of it I devote to the ship´s curves themselves, it´s a marvelous longship - but your work is inspiring enough for this increasing sensation. Good work!

[Dee_Dee]

Jack,

I enjoy reading how you work through each problem.  '....about to drill 30 holes into my ship......'  And I was sweating drilling one hole into the transom.  

What did you do with all the decking pieces?  Is each piece numbered?

Dee Dee

 

 

 

 

[NAZGÛL]

Nice work Jack! The added strip to the keel works very well. Well done!

 

 

/Matti

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Vivian,

Thanks for checking in.  I agree with you about the lines of the ship.  It is very beautiful and a lot of fun to build.  The Oseberg was a burial ship and was found with a decorated sleigh, four wheeled cart, wooden chest, a bucket and other things.  With your skill as a miniature furniture builder you should have a great time and create a very unusual model.  Thanks for all the kind words.

 

Hello Dee Dee,

The problem solving is my favorite part.  It has gotten easier since joining this forum.  The experience and information available here makes everything easier.  I stacked the deck planks port to starboard, by row, wrapped with a rubber band and labeled.  That does not mean that it won't be a jigsaw puzzle when the time comes to finally assemble.  One row has already come loose and scattered in the bottom of the storage  tub.

 

Hi Matti,

Thanks for checking in and the gracious words.  The oak additions have worked out so nicely that it makes me wish that I had recut the entire hull from oak.  Too late now.

 

Thanks all for the "likes".

[Jack Panzeca]

Time for another update.

 

The kit makes no mention of the iron nails that hold the overlapping planks together.  I felt that the ship would really be incomplete without them so I decided to spend a few weeks and do it.

 

 

The nails are about 200 mm apart on the Oseberg but do show some randomness.  That scales out to 8 mm.  I did a couple of test planks 1 at 8 mm and 1 at 16 mm.  I was hoping that the 16 mm spacing would look great and save me about 700 nails.  Oh well, no luck.  I did widen the spacing to 10 mm.

 

 

 

I bought the smallest brass nails that I could find and blackened them using the method sited in various places on MSW but I specifically read it in Augie"s Confederacy log (great log by the way!).  I marked the holes with dividers and patiently drilled the 720, ½ mm holes.  It took over a week to mark and drill and insert all those nails.  I broke several bits in the process.  I forgot to mention that this is only the port side.  

 

 

I will place a drop of CA at the base of the nail forest and cut them off before I glue the deck in place.

 

 

I decided to go ahead and stain after the holes were drilled and before the nails were inserted.  I spent some time cleaning up the glue that was left where the planks overlapped so the stain would go on evenly.  I had cleaned up carefully when the planks were glued but the best laid plans...

 

 

I still have some touch up to do on the stain and I will add the wipe on poly at the very end.  I have taken a couple of days off to decompress after the first half and it is back to work tomorrow.

 

[gjdale]

Fantastic work with those nails Jack - they really make a difference!

[dgbot]

Fantastic work and patience Jack.  With all those hole you could be a candidate for sainthood.

David B

[Dee_Dee]

Your nail pattern works, it's a blend of symmetry and a touch of chaos!  (That's good!)     

720 holes on the port side --- and I was worried about drilling one hole in the transom. 

 

Fantastic and dramatic photos against the black background.

 

Dee Dee 

 

[Keith_W]

Jack, those little nails really make the ship. Congratulations on your build, you must be so proud.

[pete48]

Nice work Jack , those nails look fantastic , she's really looking good

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Vivian Galad]

Nails really gave her a presence. I love the stain - a ship always look amazing when aged.

[Ian B]

As others have said 'the nails really make it'  what a transformation a little detail (even if it took weeks to achieve) can make. love it

[Jack Panzeca]

Thanks Grant,  the nails were definitely the right decision.  Real life, not to mention all those nails, has intervened lately so I am still late on the photo tips.  I am working on them, just not as fast as I intended.

 

Thanks Davit B, sainthood would certainly be a stretch.  The process was tedious but the result was worth it.

 

Hi Dee Dee, thanks, the chaos is semi intentional.   The real Oseberg pattern appears sort of random.  I think that it has to do with the different curve rates of the planks throwing the spacing off.

 

The photos were done with a set.  The umbrellas are white on the inside to bounce the flash onto the ship in a diffused, soft manner.  The black outside also has the function of blocking the awful fluorescent light from the ceiling.  The shipyard was originally a garage.

 

 

Thanks, Keith, I have to admit that it is turning out better than I expected.  Now all I have to do is not screw it up.

 

Hi Pete, thanks for the kind words as well.  I did the wall side first in case it did not look good.  The Oseberg has a definite wall side because of the rudder.

 

Hello Vivian, thanks.  The stain is Minwax Aged Oak (one of the samples shown previously).  I was nervous before I started but I applied it inside the storage compartments at the stem and stern first knowing that I would cover most of it up if it was ugly.  But, as you can see it looks very nice.  This is a gel stain and although it looks good it is a little unpleasant to work with.

 

Thanks to all the likes.  I may play with the shields a little bit and take a little longer break from the nails.

[flying_dutchman2]

Hi Jack;

I was perusing the site for different built logs and saw yours. Great looking built. Lots of very fine detailed work. Excellent work. Love the uniqueness of how the planking overlaps the next plank. The Vikings knew how to built their boats.

 

Thanks for the link of the steam bending kit. Using a PVC pipe is better than the wood box. The wood would warp with all that water.

 

The nails always make a ship look more realistic and I like the way you did this and you are using a divider? Unique tool for that.

 

btw. As usual your nature photography is superb. The Atlas moth is awesome. Pristine and looks like it just emerged as the wings are not yet frayed. The cucumber beetle on the daisy is nice and crisp as well.

 

Marc

[Jack Panzeca]

Hey Marc,

 

Thanks for dropping by.  I see you have a new name and a new hat.  The name is perfect for you and the hat looks great.  Is your peak season winding down? This is the beginning of "brown" season in Texas.

 

Happy that you found the log, this is a fun ship to build and a very pleasant group of watchers.  I just joined the Nautical Research Guild in honor of the new  merger.  

 

I used a divider with one pencil point to mark off the 10 mm spacing starting where the planks join together and working out to the stem and stern.  Then change the spacing to about 1.5 mm and run the metal point along the edge of the plank and mark each of 10 mm points.  Easy!  

 

Originally I used wood doors on the steamer tube and that was a bad idea.  The all PVC version works much better.

 

Glad you like the photos, I am going out chasing butterflies and moths on Saturday.

 

Thanks again for dropping by.  Are you building anything now?  I really enjoyed your "Mary". 

[NMBROOK]

Hi Jack

I have to concur with what others have said,the nails look fabulous and looking back at the older pictures,the ship just looked bare without them.I know you will have no regrets joining the NRG,I find some of the articles in the journals a mine of information.Sadly distance prevents me from attending any of their gatherings,at least for the time being,but one day

I do agree with Vivian,you are certainly helping promote Billings' kit.It took me all my time not to pull the trigger on one this week on Ebay

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Nigel,

 

Thank you for looking in and all the kind words.  I was amazed how much difference the nails made as well.

 

I actually first bought the Amati kit and upgraded before I started.  The Billing Boats kit was larger and the only kit out there with the scrollwork provided.  The thing that I like the least is the large amount of plywood used and all the exposed ends.  I had committed to covering these early on.  Adding bulkheads to get the deck planking the right proportion was not something I planned on but with the urging of Von_Kossa I am really glad that I did it.  When I purchased the kit I liked that it had wooden shields but they are really sad so replacement was a given, again the inspiration came from Von_Kossa.  I was spending a lot of time wishing that I had cut all the hull planks from oak but now that the nails are there that is no longer a problem..

 

Thanks again for dropping by.

[flying_dutchman2]

Hi Jack;

 

Season is always slow as parents buy stuff for kids for school, family vacations and parties. People have less money until September. I like your phrase of the "brown season".

 

I am building the Utrecht. Have taken the pictures of cutting out the frames, also the many boo boo's I made (but basswood is cheap) and need to post them. I am using several methods, POF and the typical 17th century Dutch ship building - keel, a few frames, build up hull planking and use a template to add the rest of the frames.

 

Presently lots of clearwings (hawk moth family) on all the red flowers in the yard and I saw the first Luna moth. They are becoming rare in this area. They are attracted to the mercury lamps in sports fields.

 

Joining the NRG is a good thing. Having these two organizations together (NRG & MSW) is a win win situation for everyone. It creates a powerhouse in many areas of ship modeling. All that talent together under one roof, so to speak.

 

Regards,

Marc

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Marc,

 

This is the best result of my "bug and flower" hunt last week.

 

 

I am trying to work out attending the NRG Conference.

 

Good luck on your "Utrecht" I will follow along when you start the log.  I finished the Oseberg nails (unless I decide to nail the deck planking).  I am working on the deck planking now.  I should have an update soon.

 

Thanks for dropping in.

[gjdale]

Fabulous picture Jack - you certainly are a very talented photographer. I showed my wife and she had only two words: "Oh wow!"

[Von_Kossa]

Time for another update.

 

The kit makes no mention of the iron nails that hold the overlapping planks together.  I felt that the ship would really be incomplete without them so I decided to spend a few weeks and do it.

 

Oseberg -04-19-2014 124.jpgOseberg Rudder.jpg

 

The nails are about 200 mm apart on the Oseberg but do show some randomness.  That scales out to 8 mm.  I did a couple of test planks 1 at 8 mm and 1 at 16 mm.  I was hoping that the 16 mm spacing would look great and save me about 700 nails.  Oh well, no luck.  I did widen the spacing to 10 mm.

 

Oseberg -07-16-2014 315.jpg Oseberg -07-16-2014 316.jpg

 

I bought the smallest brass nails that I could find and blackened them using the method sited in various places on MSW but I specifically read it in Augie"s Confederacy log (great log by the way!).  I marked the holes with dividers and patiently drilled the 720, ½ mm holes.  It took over a week to mark and drill and insert all those nails.  I broke several bits in the process.  I forgot to mention that this is only the port side.

Good day,

May I ask, exactly what brand, article number, lenghth, and diameter the nails are?

A wild guess, Amati, 4134/10 brass, 10 mm, 0,7 mm in diameter?

 

First time i log in here in 2 months, i can see you have been busy lika a bee. Good work, good progress. I hope everything is well with you.

I have not touched the boat since beginning of june, thinking about starting again.

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful work Jack,

 

you have done an outstanding Job on this viking ship, it Looks great

 

Nils

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Grant: Thank you thank your Admiral for me.  I will send you something about exposure and depth of field as soon as I get a chance.  Where do you think I should post the photography tips?  

 

Hello Von_Kossa:  How are you my friend?  Happy to have you back in action.  The nails are Constructo 80022 12mm long and 0.59 mm diameter.  What did you use for your shield center ornament?  I have been scouring the craft shops but nothing that looks as nice as yours.

 

Hi Nils,  Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.

 

Also, thanks to those "likes" out there.

[Jack Panzeca]

This update has been a long time in development.  Since the last update I finished the second 720 nails, planked the deck and stained the deck and cavities at the stem and stern.  The second set of nails went more quickly as usually happens after all that practice.

 

The kit plans call for the planking to be in line from bulkhead to bulkhead but the book I have been using calls for the planks to be staggered.

 

 

I had cut and tapered the planks back months ago and packaged them up to hold until I finished the nails.  Well the "best laid plans" rule applies here.  I picked them up in order and put rubber bands around them with nice little labels.  The rubber bands in the shipyard are at least 10 years old and a large number of them gave up and the planks got jumbled in the plastic bag.  Dee Dee: this photo is for you.  You knew I was going the muck this up.     It took longer to complete the filler planks at the end of each row than it did to straighten out my pile of unlabeled planks.

 

 

I set up the center line and glued one than two planks down the center and then worked my way out to the edges.  The image below has the stain on the left and just pre stain on the right.  The pre stain sure shows off the grain.  I love oak.  The curved and wedged planks at the mast foot came from Von_Kossa and looks really great.  Thanks Pal.

 

 

I still have some cleanup to do on the stain (glue spots and such) and then I will add some wipe on poly.  The mast and foot are just loosely placed.

 

 

Oars, shields, rigging and sail are next.

 

Thanks for looking in.  This sure is fun.

[Von_Kossa]

Hello Von_Kossa:  How are you my friend?  Happy to have you back in action.  The nails are Constructo 80022 12mm long and 0.59 mm diameter.  What did you use for your shield center ornament?  I have been scouring the craft shops but nothing that looks as nice as yours.

 

Up and down as with everything in life.

My one action so far is one drilled hole for the rudder, and i did it wrong, so it took over a hour to correct it. I suck at this.

 

Nails for the shield? Amati 4134/57, they had a diameter of 0.8 mm and therefore had horribly large heads, totally unusable. I didn´t know that you could blacken brass, so maybe i will try this nail thing again. How exactly did you do the blackening? I have found four billion different ways on the Internet, rather confusing... You did good by the way.

 

The spacing between the nails you name on the original ship to be 20 cm, were did you find this information? I have a vague memory about it being 40 cm, but i am probably wrong.

The head size of your nails, they are usually not printed, do you know it? 1mm or something like that?

 

Lots of questions, i hope i am not pestering you too much.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Von_Kossa