SAGA Challenge

While my son finishes off his wee army (It’s coming along nicely now), it incurred to me that they can’t walk to “Merry Olde England”. So putting aside my frustration with the tower, I thought they need a boat!  Or to be more exact, a Viking Longboat.

So, here goes!

I started with a piece of Balsa wood and drew a rough ship for a “representation” of a Viking longboat, and after cutting out the basic shape, went to work with a craft knife and sandpaper to make a kind of boat shape.

Initially I drew some “planks” on the balsa, but later changed my mind and stuck down planks running stem to stern as this seemed to be the way it was done looking at pictures.

I stuck a block of balsa in the middle to support the mast, which will be a rod of dowel with a crosspiece made of the same material.  This was also shaped to reduce the size and to be more in keeping with the reality.

The mast cross piece I sanded down at the ends to give a more rounded shape, and cut two “guide notches” in both pieces before gluing them.  I wrapped some yarn around the joint, both for some additional strength, but also to simulate rope.

The picture above shows the mast temporally in place and the “wooden planking” made with strips of thin card.  I stuck them glossy side up as I read that this side takes paint better. I guess we will see, I normally stick them “paper” side up.

I cut some stern and aft shapes out of balsa to represent the traditional look of the boats.  Not sure how well they’ll stand up to play though as balsa is rather flimsy.  I’ll think of a way to reinforce them, maybe just PvA and paint will be enough?

Next up was the sail.  I didn’t want it fully open, as this longboat represents them just after landing, so I wanted it partly furled.  I found an old piece of material which has a fine weave, and cut a roughly right sized piece.  This I soaked with a PvA/Water solution (I guess about 50/50) and then roughly stuck it down on the mast.

I used some of the yarn to “scrunch” up one side of the sail and also to begin to indicate ropes etc.  (I will NOT be trying to make a full set of tethers for this boat!). The image below of the boat/sail is not yet find. I will glue down the sail only after finishing the planking on the sides of the boat, which I’m not yet fully clear on.

So, time to become a shipwright.

Happy Gaming