"Viking ship 3.0" Topic

The current interest in Saga has stirred up some requests for more Viking long ships. I have probably built 30 or more of these (I have lost count)and I keep refining the details.
s98.photobucket.com/user/grcooley/media/IMG_0900.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

I will never get the wood to swoop up at the bow and stern like the original ships. Light weight bass just does not bend that way in the short distance of a 28mm model. These latest ships have more of that look. Compare it with a 2.0 ship right next to it.
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Here is the start of yet another wooden fleet with some new figurehead designs.

Very pretty.

Sorry, I can't get the 2nd photo to post. Grrrr.

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I like the new ship better. Even if it doesn't swoop up quite the way you want, the new version swoops up some and gives the right general impression. Will you stain or paint it? If you do, I'd love to see photos of the ship when done.

Grelber

Looks great! Keep us in pics when you have it painted or stained. I look forward to seeing it!

Nice work,

just completed a small Viking boat myself, albeit a 16ft full size replica faering for a museum heritage project.

We've taken her out rowing, but I've still, to sort rigging and a sail.

Wow I think all of those you did look really nice.

I'll try again. I think I was trying to upload when the site was updating.

The newest ships are the one with the sail and the one on the block in back. I've added some extra planks to get a better look. Also the bow and stern is carved with a more graceful swoop. The Osberg style scrolled serpent is much more robust than the original ship. These are wargame models, not museum pieces so they have to survive ruff handling.

Very impressed, Aiden. I spend all this time making little models, and you make a real sized thing! I'll be interested in what you come up with for sailing tackle. Details like blocks and where lines are secured would add to the models. I put on a rail over the rib sections as my best guess.

I belong to a society which owns and operates a fleet of Viking boats which serve as all sorts of experimental platforms for rigging (a few of these boats were hired for the US TV drama about the Vikings which I believe is currently airing) .

Oddly enough the largest is on long term hire to the royal navy – perhaps the British defence budget cuts are having an impact?

I've got basic fore and back stays along with shrouds sorted and a halyard for my own little boat, most of which secure with toggle and loop (common in this period) but the running rigging to actually control the sail is the more complex bit I've still to make.

I've done a bit of sailing, and I think about this as I make the models. I have heard that the sailing experience is very exciting, as the ship almost leaps from wave to wave. I have seen some reconstructed ships in photos, so I know they have figured something out for running rigging. Certainly the sail could be trimmed with lines lashed to the rail fore and aft, but I have only seen cleats and simple blocks from original ship remains. No pulleys just muscle-power?

For ease in transport I don't fit out the models with much rigging. A mast and sail can be removed if the ship becomes a platform for hand-to-hand combat. Storing on the "T" shaped posts would not really help get the mast and sail out of the way.