I was planning for a long time to build a diorama at N scale, with a viking small village as a subject. So I constructed some tiny houses out of cardboard and paper - more about them in a different post - but I wanted to have a couple of ships in it. So after a lot of research about the era and a thorough search for a model that would fit my needs ( I would scratchbuild one if I could not find a kit ) I ordered a couple of Smer 's 1/180 Drakkar Osebergs . The molds are very old, ex Heller and perhaps ex Aurora, don't know yet but the kit stands very well when finished. This was my basis for building a merchant ship ( Knarr ) that was used for transportation of goods and people. This was a common tactic for the Northmen as they exploited the rivers and the sea around their establishments for easier movement. First of all I removed all the shields from the sides - they have by the way a very bad oval shape than a round one - and simulated the wood grain with 140 grit sandpaper. For every piece of plasticard I stuck on the model I used the same treatment. A light scrabing with the sandpaper and some humbrol liquid glue to remove any fuzz did the job. The deck was made out of Evergreen car siding sheet and the sides of the boat gained 2mm high to give space for the goods. I made the deck twice as I did not like the 1st one. The bow and stern lost the round tops and thinned with sandpaper.
Some blocks were made out of the kit plastic, the sail from kitchen tissue, the mast from wood and the yard from 0.8 mm brass rod for more rigidity.
At the next post, priming, figures and some painting. Stay tuned....
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