Gokstad Viking Ship by jack.aubrey - Dusek Ship Kits - 1:35 Scale [COMPLETED BUILD]

[jack.aubrey]

Friday, April 23, 2016

It's now more than seven days that I put the steel wool in the vinegar but the solution does not seem yet ready: the color looks roughly the same the vinegar had the first day and the steel wool does not seem to have rusted or oxidized at all.
This makes me tempted to say: it is no longer the steel wool than once. . . or it is not the vinegar than once.
Really I don't understand what is happening. I tried to reduce the amount of steel wool in the solution and I put the discarded wool in a solution of apple vinegar . . . so now I have to tests pending.
Maybe it's ready and works perfectly but at the moment it is not known whether this is true.
Vinegar of bad quality or incorruptible steel wool (such as stainless steel)? Or maybe that it will take some months as the cited website article wrote ?

Regards, Jack.

Saturday, April 24th, 2016

This morning, after nine days, the situation is as follows:
- image 01 shows the solution just after its preparation on April 16th;
- image 02 as it is today, after I removed some steel wool and added some new vinegar,
- image 03 shows the second sample I made with the discarded steel wool from first sample and using apple vinegar (remember that the color of this vinegar is darker).
Something seems to be happened, the solution is not darker but is more cloudy, but it will be enough ?

In a few days I'll try to stain some wood . . may be it works.

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[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

After a wait state of more than a week since I prepared the vinegar/steel wool solution and having not seen any significant change in color, rather discouraged, I come to the conclusion that, before archiving this experience, it would be worth to make a couple of tests . . just to understand better this strange situation.

So I took the two solutions I prepared, one with classic vinegar and the other with apple vinegar and, as instructed, I filtered them with a sieve for tea and let them decant for +/- one hour while I went to get the same timber used for the Viking ship deck.

The amazing thing is that after about an hour since I filtered the solution and thrown away the steel wool, the colour of the two solutions "suddenly" became much more dark . .

So I proceeded to brush the two solutions on the wood samples and, after a few minutes, just long enought to let the wood dry, I realized that the solution was properly working . . and very, very well !

Encouraged, I continued with the tests. Between the two different acid solutions there were not much differences, the one with apple vinegar gave a slightly lighter color after drying. However, both seemed too dark, although realistic, for my mind.

I then diluited a part of the solution (the one with the classic vinega) with water in proportion 1 to 1 and made another test: slightly lighter result but still too dark . .
Another dilution with water and another test. I repeated this process for 6-7 times always adding water.

At the end I found the concentration that was working for me: say about 1 part of the original solution, and 9-10 parts of water. With these proportions I got a color that I felt was fine for the type of timber used. So, at this point, I decided to do the "real" work on the ship deck. The result can be seen in the two images below. The images, especially the colours, do not give totally the idea of the result: with natural light the weathering is more evidently highlighted.

Among other things, I noticed that the samples used in the tests over time tend to darken further, so what you see may change slightly tomorrow, presenting itself a few darker pattern. We'll see. I still have an additional option, if necessary: a second coat of the liquid, which will darken even more the wood, highlighting the gray tone. But I prefer to wait until tomorrow to decide . . just to see the stabilized result.

Finally, after this satisfactory result (at least for me), I want to thank all the people who participated at this discussion.

Greetings, Jack.

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[jack.aubrey]

Here some new images . .

On the terrace, cloudy weather, no flashlight . .

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Inside home, with flash and artificial lights . .

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[jack.aubrey]

I believe it's the strenght of this kind of software applications, such as forums, to simplify and favour the exchange of experiences and ideas between their members. In our case modellers. Another positive effect is to encourage potential new modellers to start, being sure that they can easily find support when needed.

Without the motivation coming from your suggestions I'd probably followed another method . . may be better or not, who knows.

It's now coming the time to come back to my house near to Milan, after +/- six months passed in Tuscany. For this reason I'm going to close the shipyard here but, considering that the main amount of work on this model is over, I'm thinking to pack everything and to continue at home: considering what remains to do, it's reasonable to imagine the completion in a couple of months, also sharing the time with the other shipyard (HMS Guadeloupe) I'm managing there.

Most probably, my next messages will be originated from my main workshop in Milan where I think to stay until the end of August. If I'll be successful in finishing the Gokstad ship in time, my next return to Tuscany will probably coincide with the start of a brand new model.

Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey

Monday, June 6th, 2016

Quote
It's now coming the time to come back to my house near to Milan, after +/- six months passed in Tuscany. For this reason I'm going to close the shipyard here but, considering that the main amount of work on this model is over, I'm thinking to pack everything and to continue at home: considering what remains to do, it's reasonable to imagine the completion in a couple of months, also sharing the time with the other shipyard (HMS Guadeloupe) I'm managing there.

Most probably, my next messages will be originated from my main workshop in Milan where I think to stay until the end of August. If I'll be successful in finishing the Gokstad ship in time, my next return to Tuscany will probably coincide with the start of a brand new model.

Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey

According with my previous statement, here quoted, I've resumed today this shipyard.

I came back to my house close to Milan two weeks ago but I had too many task to take care before modelling, so I can start something on the Viking ship only today.

I'm installing the several shields on the sides of the ship. These shields were a typical feature of these ships. Here below two images of the work done today, just a quarter of the whole.

Regards, Jack.Aubrey.

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[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

The starboard side of the ship is now over, with all its shields in place . . now it's time for the port side.

Is more beautiful the Viking ship or the sage plant in the background ?

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[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, June 11th, 2016

The shields installation is now over . .

Now I'm starting another task: building the oars . .

Thanks to everybody for the positive appreciations.

Rgds, Jack.Aubrey

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[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, June 12, 2016

After a few days of training on the usage of the mini lathe PROXXON DB250, when finally I felt ready enough, I started to build a couple of oars which equipped the Viking ship.

The starting raw material is a 3mm beech dowel. The kit provides rods of the same diameter of lime wood. I preferred to use the beechwood because during the tests the limewood sometimes broke. This problem never occurred me with a harder wood such as beech.

To lathe the handle of the oar (diameter 1.5 mm) and the main part of the oar (diameter 2mm) it takes a lot of patience and care.
Once finished with the lathe, to shape the blade I used the belt sander PROXXON BS/E, much more effective than other manual tools such as files and/or sanding blocks.
Anyway, to build an oar with this procedure I took about 30 minutes, most of them working at the lathe . . . so far so good but the problem is that I have to build 30 of them !!!!

Here below a picture of what the instructions say and two photos of how I interpreted, in my own way, the shape of the oar. Once completed the oar will then be dyed with mordant, even if the idea to paint with dark red or yellow the oar blades is strong . .

Cheers, Jack.

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[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, June 21th, 2016

About 10 days ago I posted my last message where I showed the "first oar" for this ship. The oar was made using a minilathe for wood.

Here what happened during these past 10 days:
- the first two days I was able to build only three new oars as my limited experience with the lathe led me to break many pieces while using the tool in an unsatisfactory way;
- then, slowly and mistake after mistake, I learned the right method and the correct sequence of execution and from that moment I had no more broken pieces;
- however, given the repetitive and boring nature of the task and its relative slowness, I set myself the goal to run 5 oars per session, not more.

Now it remains to prepare the last five oars and this task will be finally over . .

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In the above picture you will notice that, apart from the three oars at the top, the tip (blade?) is not yet shaped. This will be the next step as soon as the last five will be ready.

The temptation to paint the tips with the same yellow color used for the shields is strong. Perhaps, for the rest of the oar, the obvious color should be the same tar brown of the hull but I would prefer a lighter nuance, to add more color effects at the whole model.

Cheers, Jack.

 

[jack.aubrey]

How I made the ship oars with my wood mini lathe

Some days ago I was asked to prepare a tutorial about the method I used to prepare the 30+ oars of the Gokstad Viking ship. During the session I build the last five oars still needed I took, after each important step, an image of the work done. This in order to make (I hope) easy to understand how I worked and the correct usage of the lathe for this task.

Image 01 shows the raw material I used to build the oar: a rod of beechwood with diameter +/- 4mm. The total length of each rod is in my case 18mm circa and each oar has four segments of 13mm (handle, +/- 1.5-1.7mm diameter), 30mm (not to work on), 82mm (to be reduced at 2.5mm diameter), and the remaining (blade, not to work on for the moment). Each segment is marked on the rod with a pencil before starting to work on the lathe.

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The tools used for this task: mini sanding blocks of different grade, chisels of different shapes: everyone will find the better suitable for him or for the task.

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Insert the rod into the lathe clamp after having previously drilled a small hole on the tip close to the handle side. Clamp the rod 20mm after the end of the 13+30mm markers. Block the stable tool support as close as possible to the rod.

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Position the tailstock with the quill travel, center the small hole on the tip and block it.

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Power on the lathe and reduce the diameter of the rod as shown below with your preferred tool. Personally I use first the chisel and later the sanding blocks to refine.

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Poweroff the lathe and extract another 2mm rod from the lathe and clamp it again . .

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Power on the lathe and restart the diameter reduction for the next 20mm segment . .

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Repeat the steps until you reach the end of the 82mm. segment. The reason I proceeded working only of 20mm segments is related to the flexibility of the reduced diameter area (about 2.5mm). If you work on longer segments you risk to break the rod and the complete work done is then lost.

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At this point insert the rod into the lathe, close to the oar handle. Clamp the rod and position the tailstock again.

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Lathe the oar handle. The handle should have a diameter of 1.5-1.7mm.

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Cut the excess tip, now no more useful and refine with sanding block.

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Extract the oar from the lathe; now this task is over and it remains only to shape the blade . .

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All the oars are finished . . although the blade shaped tips are still to be done . . will be a matter for next messages.

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That's all for now . . to the next progress step (blade tips).

Regards, Jack.Aubrey.

 

[Norway]

Thanks for a good demonstration in the use of lathe.

 

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, July 2nd, 2016

Second phase of the oars construction: the blades have already been shaped by a specific processing, using, for roughing, the belt sander BS/E from Proxxon fixed on a vise in a inverted position and, for finishing, a normal sandpaper. Then, when the 30+ blades were over, I went further to stain the wood as its natural color, as you can see in the picture 02, is too light.

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Finally, I painted a) the blades (work still in progress, four coats of paint are needed !!) with the same acrylic yellow used to paint the shields and

the handle of the oar, painted with the same dark red used for shields too.

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Their appearance seem now to much new !! Just left the shipyard . . Thinking to another ageing process.

To next time, Jack.

 

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Today I drilled the hull to prepare the oars housings: holes of 3mm diameter to be carefully drilled. In fact I started with a drill bit of 1mm, then 2mm and, finally, 3mm. Subsequently, in order to let the oar blade to pass in the hole, I run a slight lateral incision into the hole so that it lets only pass the blade and not the rest. Obviously the lat incision is made in the right direction for the force applied during the rowing. The finishing is made with a round nail file to remove burrs and a coat of stain to darken the wood thickness that, after the drilling, is clear.

Display test for the finished model, with oars inserted in their slots. . what about ?

There is a drawback: the greater width of the display case, but on a model of this size this is not a real problem. I'm also thinking that probably it's not the case of aging alchemies for the oars, because the coordinated view with the shields does not seem out of place at all. .

Regards, Jack.

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[jack.aubrey]

A few more photos to show the visual effect of the oars exposed outboard. This time I tried to put the model into a lower position, using another "building slip", so that the tips of the oars now lie on the hypothetical ground of the case. In this way you can better position the oars, with an aesthetic effect that seems much better to me.

But with the positioning of the oars in this way the logic would dictate that the yard/sail should not be mounted. . The mast can stay installed erected but the yard should be exposed, only with the inferred sail rolled up, on special supports amidships. They are three in total but the pictures here show only the middle one, placed on the deck.

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Any Comments ? Jack.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Started the tasks to build the display case basement, to be completed, at the end, with a plexiglass cover . .

The basement seen from its natural position: stained with a chestwood colored solution, the groove to hold in the plexiglass cover ready, with the outer frame that will be painted with the same dark red colour I used for the shields.

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The lower part of the basement, with four wooden "feet" already added, to be painted dark red too.

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A detail of the four lower feet (is it the right term ?): I used simple knobs for drawers, easily available in DIY stores. I used a two-component epoxy glue, enforced with an internal metal pin.

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[jack.aubrey]

A complex piece made with hard wood from which I got the two brackets to support the hull. They will be placed over the display case basement.

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With a cut made in the right place, done with the table saw, I got the two pieces shown here below which will hold the keel on the basement shown in the previous message.

Now I have to drill them to accommodate the keel holding screw.

Then I'll paint them dark red (same color of the shields).

To be finally fixed on the basement in the correct position.

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Cheers, Jack.

My personal assistant to check the proper progresses of my work in its strategic role as project supervisor . .

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[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Positioning test to verify if the size of the basement is right . . . Well, the oars are there, then the size is right.

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Today I painted the basement frame, the underlying pins and the keel holding blocks with an acrylic dark red paint.

Finally I glued in the final position the two blocks with a bi-component epoxy glue.

Now only the plexiglass is missing to complete the display case, but I have to wait 'cause I need to install the mast to define the correct height of the case.

 

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, July 24, 2016

My attempt to model the seats for the oarsmen.

In practice this is the famous "sailor's box" where the owner kept his personal belongings with a blanket added over its cover to soften the sit. When the ship run with sail the whole was stored under the deck planking.

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Here below the reference image for my idea. .

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[jack.aubrey]

Monday, 25 July, 2016

A batch of images of the model installed in its case, with all the oars shown. The base of the case is almost completed, except for one thing which will be discussed later. Till now I'll focus on definitely fixing the pieces located on the deck and to finish the seats for the oarsmen.

With respect of the element mentioned above, I have found that if I don't find an elegant way to keep held the oars, they tend to move easily from their original place. So I'm thinking at a kind of guidance with joints where inserting the blades of the oars. Obviously it must be a minimal and simple structure, which must not attract the attention of a hypothetical observer, other the whole may be disturbed.

Finally I think one or more plates with the model name and more.

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[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Another small step forward: I finished the building of the oarsmen's seats and sailor's boxes and, after giving a coat of clear matt paint to the deck, I proceeded to glue them in the same way of the drawing I reproduced some messages ago. Then, considering that hardly the viking warriors were equipped with common uniforms, I thought to paint with different colors the various blankets over the boxes.

An additional note of color most probably plausible . .

Then I continued to permanently fix the other superstructures on the deck: the two lateral mast holders and the mast foot where the mast is inserted and held when the ship runs with sails.

Now the most important, and still missing piece, is the rudder, after which the close of the shipyard is approaching more and more . .

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[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, July 30th, 2016 - Rudder


Today I've finished and installed the rudder . . next steps mast and sail.


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[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, August 4, 2016

The first image shows the devices installed inside the ship to "plug" the hole in the hull where the oars were strung when they proceeded without sail. To the left of the pic the device in the "open" position and to the right the device when closed . .

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Here below my personal interpretation: obviously it was not possible for me to make an exact replica of this device given the very small size (diameter 4mm) of it.

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Begin of the last effort, preparation and installation of the sail and yard . . now the sail (the first I try to sew...) mounted on the yard, and then some details . .

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Cheers, Jack.