This build must come under the category "ancient warships" I guess
I started this build one month ago as a Birthday present for my son, and, during the way, found some terrible flaws in the kit which is the main reason for this thread - in case someone else would like to try it.
The ship is symmetrical at each end, so a mod needed at one end automatically leads to the same mod at the other.
Laying the keel and attaching the frames went without too much drama, but be aware that the instructions included in the kit, or rather the lack of them, makes it easy to make some major mistakes.
Anyway, now for the build:
Here is the start with keel laid and frames attached
When I started the planking, the first thing I noticed was that frame no. 2 and 8 needed some padding for the first two planks next to the keel. Trying to make the planks follow those frames made the bottom of the ship's otherwise beautiful lines look completely wrong - like it was dented
Here the planking is nearly finished and the crew ready to inspect.
(The captain is Sweyn Forkbeard (Svend Tveskæg aka Sven the Dane) with his vikings - Harald, Canute, Erik, and Thorkell - getting ready for a trip to England to battle King Ethelred and collect Danegeld. So, UK watch out )
The next problem I noticed was the carvings included in the kit. The front and aft is supposed to look like a snake with the head curled up at the front and the tail at the aft. The carvings were both of snake heads and needed some serious cleaning as well.
The delivered (top) carving is shown here
And the mods I had to make
There was also a problem when I came to the shaft for the rudder. The shaft is supposed to be carved from some of the timber included, but the quality of this timber makes it unworkable. I splits far too easily.
So, I decided to scratch build it from a 6mm hardwood round (using my drill press and a file to shape it)
Then it was time to start the decking.
The first thing I decided was to avoid the thin, dark, timber strips across on top of the planking where the frames are, and instead put in proper frame separation to break the deck planks.
I then noticed that the kit came with four small "frame" tops for the middle section, around the mast, to create the illusion of two extra frames in place. This did not look very good with full length planks, so I put in two proper false frames, and thought I had solved the problem.
(As shown later, this was not the case).
Here is the middle section planked with the deck plank separators over the frames and the two false frames in between with - Sweyn Forkbeard inspecting
More problems
The whole mast arrangement was 2mm too narrow for the mast
I modified the bottom part (the part under the deck) by adding a 2mm scrap piece of timber in the middle, but the top part (the "fish") could not be modified without loosing its nice look.
So again, I decided to scratch build a proper "fish" using pictures of the original ship in the Viking Museum, Oslo
Here the "fish" is in place
The way Billing recommended to assemble the ship, made the bow and stern look far too bulky when the carvings were added. I therefore removed the tapered lining from the curved part of the bow and stern and tapered the plywood down to 2mm at the front.
That mod took quite a few days, but it looks far more elegant after the mod.
Looking at the port side
The front of the ship
The aft of the ship.
(The ladder/boardwalk - I don't really know exactly what it is - is scratch build since it features on the original ship in the Viking Museum, Oslo)
As you have probably noticed from the above pics, the ship just looked a bit ridiculous with another 4 frames left out (this is a major flaw in the Billing kit), so I decided to put in some false frames.
This was made a bit difficult as the deck was already in place.
I cut some 0.5mm thin planks on my Proxxon saw, the width of the frames, and cut a shallow groove across the deck with a scalpel and then glued the "frame" in place.
I also scratch built the "frame" tops for the false frames.
Finally, a pic of Oseberg nearly completed.
There is a contrast between the top planks and the lower planks due to different timber used on the original ship, but I have overdone it by a mile.
I will darken the top planks a bit tomorrow
Still the sail and rigging to be finished