Scale viking ship circa 1070 AD, wooden model
Specifications
• Scale Size 1:25
• Measures 22.44" long x 5.43" wide x 15.35" tall
• Skill Level - Advanced Beginner model builder: This skill level is for those who have build models before including plastic models. These models have a simplified construction, but offer a number of challenges
• Add a water proof varnish if you plan to float this model
Set Contents
Wooden hull, laser cut wooden parts, wooden strips, detailed fittings, cloth sail, rigging thread and instructions.
Recommended Accessories
The 12 Piece Boat Building Tool Set item number PTK1012 sold separately, is recommended if you do not already have your own tools, or if you plan on giving this model kit to someone as a gift.History
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde is the Danish national museum for ships, seafaring and boatbuilding in the prehistoric and medieval period. Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important fairway and to protect Roskilde from enemy attack from the sea. These ships, later known as the Skuldelev ships, were excavated in 1962. They turned out to be five different types of ships ranging from cargo ships to ships of war. The Roar Ege ship, also know as the Skuldelev 3, was the best preserved vessel among those found at Skuldelev, around 75% of the hull remained. The ship was a trade vessel used for commerce and freight carrying in Danish coastal waters and the southern part of the Baltic. This vessel is very strong and at the same time very light with outstandingly beautiful lines, in that all wood that imparts weight to the ship but not strength is hewn away.
The Viking Ship Museum in Denmark overlooks Roskilde Fjord and was built in 1969 especially to exhibit the five newly-discovered ships. A reconstruction of Roar Ege was built of oak at the museum boatyard in 1982-84. The reconstruction is frequently sailed giving boat tours. The hull of Roar Ege was built using the technology of the Vikings, i.e. completely without the use of saws of any kind. Research into the traces left by tools in the original wood confirmed that the most important tool for cleaving tree trunks, and hewing planks and all other ship's parts, was the axe.
The raw material for the ship was sturdy oak logs of around a metre in diameter. These were cloven and hewn to the shape required while they were still fresh and moist (not stored/seasoned). Planks so produced are soft and pliable; they can easily be twisted into position without boiling or steaming. The planks were caulked using tarred, three-stranded wool thread the same as that found between the planks of the original ship.
The surface of the wood was treated with amixture of wood tar and linseed oil that gives the beautiful dark brown colour. However, some depictions indicate that the ships of the Vikings, especially their warships, could have had sides and sail painted in strong colours.
Building the reconstruction consumed about 20,000 working hours, but it has to be remembered that everything was made by hand, like the 2000 iron clinch nails fastening the planking together. The ropework and the hand-woven woollen sail alone accounted for 5000 working hours and is the ship's main source of power.