I’m inclined to agree about the shields. Treating them like either leather or unpainted wood probably would be most appropriate - thoughI suspect the idea of painted shields, like most aspects of this subject, can’t be totally disproved. (I wonder, though, whether those Revell decals, like the ancient Aurora ones, provide for identical shield markings on the port and starboard sides of the ship. That seems extremely unlikely.)
The Revell kit cries out to be treated as an exercise in imitating wood textures and finishes. I did a little reading about the Gokstad Ship a couple of hours ago. Apparently almost all of her components are oak, with the notable exceptions of the deck planks, which are pine. In photographs she looks almost pure black; according to the book I was looking at, she was that color (or close to it) when the archaeologists unearthed her from the burial mound, but they think much of the coloration came from the soil. (She was buried for about a thousand years.) I wonder if, in her prime, her hull was bare, untreated oak, or if it was treated with some sort of oil or tar-like substance for durability. Lots of room for individual interpretation and taste here.
The Gokstad Ship was unearthed in 1880, and the archaeologists spent close to thirty years getting her ready for public exhibition (and, I guess, building the museum in which she’s still housed). The replica that the Revell designers consulted was built, and crossed the Atlantic, in 1893. At that time historians thought it was reasonably close to the sort of vessel Leif Ericsson sailed to from Greenland to North America in about the year 1000. More recent research has led to the view that, by Ericsson’s time, the traditional Viking “longship” (of which the Gokstad Ship seems to be a small to medium-sized example) had given way to a chubbier, bulkier cargo vessel called a “knarr.” But the replica Gokstad Ship had no trouble coping with the Atlantic.
I’ve noted in another Forum thread the sad news that the Revell kit apparently is no longer on the market. Right after payday I’m going to see if I can track one down. It’s really a shame that such a fine kit should disappear again so fast. It’s particularly valuable as a newcomer’s project. I can’t imagine a better way to introduce people - either kids or modelers who’ve already picked up experience with other subject matter - to sailing ship modeling.
Bondoman has sent my senile brain off on a nostalgia trip regarding that old Aurora kit. (Dr. Graham has published a book about Aurora; I really need to get hold of a copy.) If I remember correctly (an increasingly dubious proposition these days), in its original release it was in a very pale cream-colored plastic. At least one later boxing was in the color bondoman accurately described as caramel colored. The original box (dating, I think, from some time in the mid-fifties) featured a rather garish painting that fairly accurately depicted the model inside the box. Later issues had a beautiful painting by the distinguished marine artist John Steel (who also did box tops for Revell - starting with its “Picture Fleet” series). Steel apparently couldn’t bring himself to depict the model accurately. The “dragon’s head” on the bow of the ship in his painting was much smaller than the one on the kit - and his version of the hull looked considerably more like a real Viking ship.
As I remember, the figures included, in addition to the numerous rowers, a helmsman, a character (obviously the captain) with his arms folded across his chest and an imperious expression on his face (as well as a horned helmet on his head), and two or three guys with beards, horned helmets, and spears. I spent many a happy hour in grade school and high school painting those figures - along with the “dragon head and tail” - with my Testor’s glossy paints and the 10-cent brushes my mother bought me at the drugstore. (In fairness to my younger self, by the time I got to high school I was trimming the horns off the helmets - and I think I knew by then that the ship didn’t really look much like a Viking ship. But it was still a fun project.) I remember that red-and-white-striped vinyl sail; I believe there was also a decal, shaped like a bird, to be applied to it. (But the stripes were only printed on the front. The back was all white.) My recollection is that there were waterslide decals for the shields, but I could be wrong about that. I do remember the rather impressive stand, a pedestal-shaped thing with lettering molded in relief. (The Aurora “Black Falcon Pirate Ship” and Chinese junk had something similar, I think; I imagine those kits were designed by the same people.)
Thanks to bondoman for linking us to that most interesting Roskilde site. One of my fantasy vacation trips is a summer cruise to the Baltic, with stops at Roskilde, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm (to see the Wasa). Maybe some day…
