1/72 Scratchbuilt Viking longship - my Barque is worse than my Bight.

[Black Knight]

Images of the Ardglass Vikings. This group keeps to historical accuracy (except for modern life preservers when necessary) and have appeared in numerous films & TV programes

You can see the shape of their oars

 

 

 

The longer oars do go at the ends of the ship, but not to have all the oars aligned. The oar line forms a slight semi-circle, curving in towards the hull. This is so each oar is dipping and pushing on its own water not on disturbed water made by other oars. It leads to the ship going faster over the water

 

In these photos you just may be able to make out the egg-shaped oar holes in the hull

 

 

[Marklo]

Thanks for that. Very good reference material. 
 

Once I have the first pass completed on the oars, ie roughly shape them fill any gaps between the rod and sheet, trim to length. I’ll probably make a template ( I should have done 1mm brass sheet knocking around) and then sand them down to the final shape. Then I have thirty shields to cast and paint, just need to finish the pattern for those. Then fit the oars, the chests and the shields. 
 

Actually my biggest niggle is the sail and the rigging. I have some aluminium rod that might be usable for the mast and crossmember. I’m trying to figure if they should be cylindrical or tapered?.  If tapered my fallback is to use some larger paint brush handles. Making and attaching the sail will need a bit more figuring…

Edited March 26, 2023 by Marklo

[Black Knight]

afair the mast has a slight taper and the spar may be either tapered or not

The shield edge is raw hide leather not iron bound as a lot of re-enactor's shields are

[Marklo]

An experiment. An old linen teatowel varnished then painted. The snake/dragon is paint marker outlined in sharpie. The masking tap is to see if I can mask a straight line. I may fit the sail furled so I might run with this one. Although I may go again and do a neater  job  and a white fabric wouldn’t be any harm.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Marklo

[Marklo]

Experiment actually worked so time for some artwork and masks, might be a bit over ambitious but what the hey…

[Marklo]

First attempt with a rattlecan. Sort of worked but the edges bled quite a bit.

 

Second attempt with a mask as a guide sitting the black with a sharpie. Quite happy with that.

 

The mask for the red bands. I have a red paint marker I’ll use for this. Then give it a few coats of clear varnish. Not sure if I’ll paint the white or leave it natural linen ( yes I’ve run out of plain tea towels so an old linen shirt that doesn’t fit me anymore died for the cause) 

 

Making progress with the oats too. Just the pattern for the shields and the casting to do and that’s all the major components done. Should be ready for most of the assembly by the weekend. 
 

[Marklo]

Some red, getting there. I may cover the whit bars too as that way I’ll lose sr the obvious pin stripes. Depending on how that works this is either the Sauk I’ll use or an advanced proof of concept. Hmm must see if I can find some white in textured linen…

[Marklo]

Dis a second one on the teatowel material

I think I’ll use this one. 

 

[ColonelKrypton]

That really does look good.

 

Your Viking longship has turned into quite a challenging build which you have tackled with your usual enthusiasm and creative skills.

 

cheers, Graham 

[Black Knight]

For information; the sail strips widths were about 20 to 24 inches wide. The material was woven on vertical looms of maximum width of 20 to 24 inches. When larger areas were needed, eg sails, then the strips were sewn together in a certain way

Depending on where your ship hails from; if from Scandanavia / Shetlands & Orkney/ Yorkshire the sail cloth was wool, From Hibernia / Mann / Outer Isles the sail cloth would have been linen

You can buy fine woven linen/cotton mix cloth

[Marklo]

Well I’m Irish and my surname literally translates as Viking so this lot could be settlers from Dublin ( or Dubh Linn as it would have been known in 800ad  )

I’m getting to the stop fiddling with it stage  

 

 

[Marklo]

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

The material was woven on vertical looms of maximum width of 20 to 24 inches.

Seems (seams ? ) very narrow, that would give a scale width of only 8.5mm my stripes are closer to 25mm ( which is three times 8.5mm more or less)

[Black Knight]

It is very narrow. The 3ft wide loom didn't appear until around the 1250s or so. And then it was variable between 30 inches and 36 inches. Hence the later description of the English Long Bow arrow as a 'cloth-yard long'

Even modern cloth is only made in 44 inches, 48 inches and 60 inches wide. Those are made on horizontal automatic looms

As I said; 'for information'

[Marklo]

Oars fitted to one side. I’ve trimmed them a bit but they’re still possibly a little wide. I’ll snip the ends to length once the glue sets. Then the other side followed by the chests.
 

I think I’ve figured out how to hang the sail so it’s the main mast and a spot of rigging next. I’ll start working in the shields on parallel. I’m hoping to get it finished by next week, then I can focus on my other SSD builds, the Sablatnig, the Friedrichhaffen, the hovercraft and the attack boat….

[Black Knight]

Lookin good there

Is your Long Ship just a river trader?

You don't have the fore & aft decks or the fire stone

[Marklo]

Oars fitted.

 

 

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

Is your Long Ship just a river trader?

You don't have the fore & aft decks or the fire stone

Enlighten me ?

[Black Knight]

Fore and aft decks, very similar. Fit into the triangle formed by the hull sides and the fore/stern post. About 2ft above main deck and about 1.5 to 2ft below upper edge of hull side. In the photo above; if the lower part is the rear, the deck would extend to that first cross member. The aft deck was for the steering-oar man & the vessel commander to stand on, so they could see where they was going. The commander's personal gear, including his wife, and extra rigging tackle were stored underneath. The commander also slept on the top of the deck. There was material which could be attached to the hull sides and the stern post to make a 'tent', The aft anchor with its rope was stored on the leeward side of the deck, as were barrels of fresh water and salted fish

The foredeck was similar but a bit shorter. The look-outs stood on it, extra rigging tackle was stored under it. The fore anchors were stored on it with their ropes. The ship's boy lived under it

About 1/2 way between the mast and the forward edge of the aft deck was a big block of soapstone, about 3ft by 5ft and about 1ft thick. A wonderous rock. It can be carved with a knife and used for cooking. This block of soapstone had a hollow carved in it and a fire was kept lit in it. Cooking was done on it, drying clothes et cetera. The nature of soapstone is none of the heat from the fire reaches the wood deck

River trader long ships found in Hibernia generally don't have all this as they are only going short distances and can cook meals on river banks

[Black Knight]

I just spotted these on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284232571691?hash=item422d94db2b:g:16wAAOSw4W5gV0xm&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4PvjuB3nJkw%2ByIHXR98HnF7su2qLb1maPo00DexN99L1l4mypkM%2ByFtiheYajpJqRJuBWs5uMHBbJd%2F1F5uV2NdKp3KJz6xdFmr6xT%2BwIta8%2BJuNQpYsuwbNY2Nye5r9g42v58Mgv0onmDkjPTMUTWLNZVB5GLWLTBj%2FqXHmjTHUbcEg2Ur%2FHb1CwrNQHaPFHJGviL26NPzIkRCx60JDg33bLvrkPBWYI9afR6KnDWo2q%2FOco1UeCLbciAvPGufqypVsqIAejEp2Een8q5vqADuafI7Ou5Z4%2BCxDYv6cRU3k|tkp%3ABk9SR-rwh7foYQ

 

They are for 28mm. 1/72 is sometimes called 20mm or 24 mm

[Marklo]

Very nice but €15 a pack and I’d need three and half the reason I scratch build is because I’m  on a budget..

 

And I’m already on the shields

 

[Marklo]

Having a bit of fun with the shields, I did make more than thirty but somewhere along the line the carpet monster has gotten a few. Still that’s twenty seven so I only need to find/make a few more.

[Black Knight]

Don't forget the boss in the centre of the shields. If you have any Milliput, just roll tiny balls and press these onto the surface of the shield

Here are photos of a replica shield I made, full size and based on one from a viking grave

 

 

 

A challenge for you, and anyone else, translate what is carved on the inside of the shield. A clue; use Elder Futhark. You'll have to guess some of the letters hidden by the strap. This shield went to a new owner several years ago so I cannot take another photo of the writing

Another clue; viking could be written, left to right or right to left and sometimes in both directions in the one text!

 

[Marklo]

Love the shield. Already on the bosses

 

Polymer clay mould using the end of a paintbrush. Baked and then two part resin.

 

 The end result, a bit of fettling and some paint. Mental note the resin likes the poly clay a bit too much I probably should have oiled the mold.

The next order of business…

 

[Marklo]

Bosses trimmed, painted and fitted on twenty eight shields, yes the carpet monster has had its share, working in a couple of replacements, before fitting the lot.

[Marklo]

 

Chests added and shields (almost) ready to go. The mast and the crosspiece are cut and painted, as is the sail. So just the figure heads and fire decks left to add and it’s final assembly time. Hopefully done by the weekend. 

[Black Knight]

Steering oar?