Drakkar, Oseberg

The box art. Not very inspiring. The model is well packed in a flip-top box. There was no visible damage to the parts/materials. The plans and notes are clear and concise. The quality of material is good and the intricate laser carvings are impressive. 

09 February 2021: Laying the keel. At 865mm it will be an impressive model ship and at scale 1:25 the ship promises a lot of detail. 

09 February 2021: Glued the main parts of the ribs (x17) together. 

15 February 2021: Notwithstanding me placing the keel on a flat surface to dry, a wobble is spotted. Before planking may start, I will have to address this issue using a spray bottle and a clothes iron perhaps. 

15 February 2021: Placing that little part which will eventually hold the mast felt like a major accomplishment! 

16 February 2021: Started work on the center rib, Rib 0. 

 

Materials needed. This was the first time that I will be shaping parts. 

Using low tack glue, the paper template was glued to the rib and traced. Using first a triangular file, I made a groove which was progressively enlarged with a round file, the channel in which the mast will eventually lay matching the template’s profile. 

The rest of the profile traced, after which I removed the template.  

The back side of rib 0. 

Glued the support for deck plank in place. 

After dipping the support for the deck plank in warm water for a minute, I gently shaped it on the shaped end of the rib and clamped into position. After the support dried, it was glued into place and clamped until the glue dried. 

After the glue has dried, the support plank was opened and enlarged until it excepted the mast.  

 

Dry fitting the deck planks and mast. 

17 February 2021 until 19 February 2021: The construction of Rib 01 to 04 (a total of 8 ribs) are the same. 

19 February 2021: This feels like another milestone! The completion of Rib 05 to 08 (a total of 8 ribs) remain. 

08 March 2021: The shaping of Rib 05 and 06 have been completed. 

 

10 March 2021: The laser marks are clear indicating where the surfaces of each Rib meeting the planking should be chamfered. On Rib 07 and 08 where chamfering are the most pronounced, a scalpel should be used to remove most of the wood. 

Use the drawing on plan 01 to mark the location of the eyebolts, as well as the orientation for the bow and the stern. 

Use a pin vise to drill the location holes for the eyebolts. 

Mark the bow after consulting the plan 

Mark the stern after consulting the plan 

Use the profile on plan 03 to mark the profile required for the bow and the stern. 

 

All the ribs (17 in total) have been chamfered and dry fitted. All the ribs touched the witness line on the keel. 

I could not resist placing a few deck planks 🙂 

Using the profile provided on plan 03, I marked the limits at which the chamfering start and end on the bow/stern. 

 

Using a pencil, I transfer the profile to the bow and stern post. 

The bulk of the material was removed using a rotary tool fitted with a sanding paper disk. The final adjustments was accomplished by using a sanding block. 

Parts required to plank the keel. 

Using a pencil to mark the location of the center most part to be laid on the keel. 

12 March 2021: Planking the keel. 

Again dry fitting and clamping the parts required to plank the keel and and to ensure that the profile will conform. 

Gluing the centermost part into place, using the witness line (horizontal) and the pencil lines (vertical) drawn to establish the center. 

 

Because there is only a witness line on one side of the part, I used keel sheathing to transfer the same line on the opposite side. 

The required profile of the tops of the bow and the stern. 

Using the keel clamp, it seems the wobble worked itself out. 

On Rib 08 which is at the stern, the top "horn" was modified. Towards the end of the build, the ships rudder will be mated to this part. 

The modified Rib 08. 

11 March 2021: I started a few sub-assemblies of smaller parts which will only be needed near the end of the project. 

As soon as the glue has dried, these assemblies will need some shaping/chamfering. 

13 March 2021: Temporarily placing the ribs on the keel. 

Dry fitted all the ribs. After planking the keel, the ribs will at least be seated at an equal depth. The ribs will only be glued into position, should no further work on the keel be required. 

Working on sub-assemblies continued. Started on the Viking sea chests which also doubled as seats for rowing 

Materials needed. Each sea chest is made up from 5 parts. It is important to dry fit the parts (the planks comes in two sizes) to make sure that the right sizes is used at the right order. 

15-16 March 2021: Continued shaping the crutches for oar storage and parts necessary for the rudder. Laminated the parts required for the main support to the mast. Assembling 14 of the 30 seaman chests. 

19 March 2021: Gathered the parts required for the initial shaping/carving of the main mast support. 

Glued the template with a low tack glue to the wood and traced the outline. 

Next, the support beams for the deck planking on Rib 08 (bow and stern) will be glued on. 

Inserting the eyebolts on the bow and the stern. The holes were already drilled yesterday using plan 01 to establish the exact location. 

Using the outline of the template, a rotary tool was used to remove the most of the superfluous wood, after which the remaining were removed using a verity of files and finally sandpaper.  

All the ribs were glued into place. Rib 0 and Rib 01 (x2) was placed at a right angle to the keel using a right angle to position. This was left to dry for four hours. Rib 02 thru Rib 08 (14 ribs in total) were then glued into place. I fitted all the deck planks to ensure that the rest of the ribs dry at right angles to the ribs at the center of the model. Before the glue set, I ensured that the first plank will fit flush with the keel and follow the c 

20 March 2021: I have enough courage to start the planking. Planking start from the keel, and as the profile indicate, there is a overhang of approximately 1mm. 

The first plank is dry fitted and clamped into place. The area where the plank makes contact with the rib is marked with a pencil. That specific areas where the first plank touched from bow to stern were sanded leveled, to ensure the best possible contact area. The curve is very gentle and it was not necessary to soak the planks in water, prior to gluing the plank to the frame.  

To secure the planks without causing damage, clamps were fabricated using paper clamps. I saw this on YouTube and do not take credit for this idea. 

This is an image of how the clamp is used. 

The planks toward the bow and the stern were glued and clamped into place. Again, it was not necessary to soak the planks in water, prior to gluing and clamping the planks to the frame. 

Elastic bands are used to place pressure on the places where the planks meet. This ensure that the full surfaces properly meet the surfaces of the frames. 

23 March 2021: I decided to remove the planking, and start again. 

The beautiful lines are slowly taking shape. The surface where plank 01 meets plank 02 will be chamfered for the entire length of plank 01 and for a width of 1mm. 

 

Using alcohol, white glue can be soften which enable you to remove parts glued together using wood glue. 

To prevent warping/twisting of an unsupported keel, I decided to insert pieces of wood (inserts) between the ribs. These inserts will be removed on completion of the first nine belts of planking. 

The distance between each rib is a uniform 40mm.  

Nice and straight. 

24 March 2021: Materials required to lay the center planks of the belts on both sides of the keel. 

I prepared the center planking for the first three belts and clamped the planks into position. This is the first three planks each side which will be glued into place tomorrow. 

I laid the first three belts of the center planking. 

The wood is extremely dry and removing these thinner parts from the sprue result in pieces breaking off. I decided to improvise by using a plastic container as a humidifier. 

Throughout the day I ensured that the ribs (the center eight) remain at a right angle to the keel. 

08 May 2021: The external planking completed. 

The stern, showing off the clinker style planking 

From above showing the mast and mast support in place. 

The stern with the rudder attachment glued to the hull. 

Some "surgery" where repairs had to be blended in. 

Side profile 

Showing off the blocks installed where the shields will be inserted. 

While the hull planking took place, the following items also enjoyed attention:
1. The main mast and yard were shaped;
2. The mast support was completed and stained;
3. Rowing benches x 30 were completed and stained;
4. The bow and stern carvings were completed and pins were inserted;
5. The eyes x 7 and blocks x 6 (4 remain) were shaped;
6. The rudder was shaped, completed and stained, and;
7. The cradle was completed and stained 

Laying out the deck planking 

05 June 2021: Overview of the progress so far. The staining and varnishing of the hull has been completed, and where necessary sanded and varnished again. The standing rigging has been attached to the hull in the bow and midship. The running rigging has been attached to the stern. From midship to the bow the deck planking has been finished. 

Standing rigging in the bow. I will have to do some adjustments to the wooden decorative piece though.  

Running rigging in the stern. This will ultimately be attached to the yard.  

Standing rigging midship. The rope's length must still be adjusted. 

15 June 2021: Deck planking completed. I made two jigs from wire, which is visible on the deck, to ensure that the anchor points on the ship is mirrored (the short jig), and to make sure that the lengths of ropes which will secure standing rigging to anchor points are mirrored all-round (the longer jig). 

Anchor points for the standing rigging has been attached and adjusted to the same length. I made a jig from wire to ensure that the length of the ropes are mirrored all-round. 

The standing rigging temporarily pinned in place.  

View from the top. I have also stowed the oars. 

I strung lengths of rope between the bow and stern to make sure that the mast is in the center and that when the rigging of the mast is done that the mast remain centered and is not accidently pulled askew. 

 

 

 

 

 

The fixed rigging is in place and adjusted. The bow and stern ornaments have temporarily been pinned into place. 

The veneer carvings that have to be installed on the bow and the stern 

A close-up to show the intricate nature of the carvings. 

Clamping the carvings in place and left to dry. 

Secure in position and ready for varnish. 

Varnishing the deck after sanding and removing imperfections. 

 

28 June 2021: My wife being press-ganged into ironing the silk provided for the main sail. 

Materials required 

Staining the silk using an epoxy based stain 

Removing access stain after both sides were covered as well as removing any wrinkles 

Using white paper to blot the access staining fluid 

 

 

Pinning the silk on cork. 

The materials required to create the main sail. 

02 July 2021: I have cut up the silk to simulate the panels. Checking the width on scale drawing of the sail indicated a with of 25mm. To that I added a 3mm overlap. 

View of the assembled sail. I am not happy with the glue marks. 

22 October 2021: Fifth effort. 

Tinting the threat using bitumen tint. 

 

Winding up the tinted threat on the spool. 

Simulating the vertical panel lines. 

Ironing the sail prior to sewing on the reef bands. 

Cutting the strips for the reef bands. Ten millimeter wide, covering the entire width of the sail seems right in this scale. 

Using white glue to secure the reef bands in position. 

Lining up the reef bands on the front and back of the sail. 

Sewing the reef bands, front and back down. 

Bowlines 

View from the back, reef bands and hem completed. 

Colour variations on the individual panels are achieved using sandpaper (gently used), pencil eraser and white chaulk to distress the tint used to tint the sail. 

View from the front, showing reinforcement panels at the bottom and top corners of the sail as well as the reef bands.  

Checking the effect paint has on the material 

Drawing the design in pencil 

The artist, my wife, in action. 

To prevent excessive saturation of the paint, the best option to get the desired effect is to paint the design with diluted wood glue. This has the effect of not allowing the paint to saturate the back side as well.
The primary object painted in red acrylic paint. 

The final option. The round circle signify the shape of the round shield. 

Pedestal options 

Shield options 

The bolt-rope (⌀ 1.0mm) and the four clews completed. 

The reef-lines (⌀ 0.5mm) have been completed. Two per panel as the reference material suggested. 

The bowlines (⌀ 0.7mm) and sliders has been attached on both sides of the main sail. 

The sail has been sown (⌀ 0.7mm) to the yard. I deviated here from the instructions. Rather than lacing the sail to the yard in a overhand stitch pattern, I used a running lacing technique.
A closeup view of the stitching method used to attached the sail to the yard. 

Test run: Pinning the sail to the sides of a cardboard box. While the sail is suspended, an object (approximately 0.5kg) was used to form the sail. As soon as I was happy with the shape, I applied several thin layers of Tamiya matt varnish straight from the rattle can after which a I again place the weight and left it to dry. 

The yard has been raised and temporarily secured to the mast. 

 

A special tool was needed to bound the ropes that will be left on the deck at the cleats. 

The yard has been raised and the halyards secured with clewlines on the deck.
The two braces has also been secured to the stern.
The running rigging at the stern has been installed and adjusted. 

 

 

Installing the running rigging in the bow. 

Work on the running rigging continue. 

Constantly adjusting the running rigging in the stern and the bow in order to creeate some balance. 

The angles at which the running rigging is set, places a lot of stress on the shape of the sail. The bottom of the main sail was reinforced by feeding through a piece of brass wire. 

The static rigging and running rigging in all its glory. 

 

 

The different parts required to build up a single shield. For this model, thirty shields are required. 

1. Thirty shields secured with masking tape. Ready to be painted.
2. Red applied with airbrush. Next will be a green line running the entire width in the center.
3. Masking completed.
4. The green center lines airbrushed. The masking was more effective than expected.
 

Ten of the thirty shields completed. 

The shields: Earlier during the project we briefly entertained the idea to paint each shield with our family crest.
The shield on the far right is the final version. The boss will be painted with natural steel. 

The front. This side still need to be painted with semi-gloss varnish.
The back has been stained. This side still need to be polished and painted with semi-gloss varnish.
The sides has been painted to simulate the metal around the shield. 

The chamfering and shaping of thirty oars have been completed. The staining using Antique Varnish Bituminous has been done. Awaiting the varnish to dry after which the oars will be polished, varnished, lightly sanded and varnished again.