Ship Building returns to the North East.

Early last year I saw in one of the many catalogues my wife receives,some cardboard press- out Viking ships,priced at £5.99-too much I remember saying!!-however,later on,June I think,they were selling the same ships at £2.99-a much better price,so I bought 4,on the strength of getting a Viking army to go with them!!
Anyway,it's taken me until now to have a go at making them.On first examining them,it was obvious that,at 16.5 inches long,they were too big for wargaming purposes,so I decided to alter them to a more manageable 8.5 inches,however it meant a lot of alterations and the abandoning of the decks etc.however I have persevered-see what you think............................

This is how they come packaged,from the British Museum,and this is what you get....

Deck,Hulls,sail and even crew!!

These are the component parts I am going to use-I cut down the hull and sail,and used a Bar-B cue skewer for the mast,and Canape Skewers for the oars,with an MDF base for the mini-deck.

I cut "V's" out of the hull to take the oars.

Oars would be positioned like this when that stage happens in the process.

This is how the mast will be stuck through the MDF base,which will then be inserted between the hulls.

The hulls have been glued at both ends(very nautical terms are being used here!!) and the base "jammed" in between them.

This is how it looks prior to the oars being added.................

Oars added to the "Port" side-the same is done to the "Starboard"side,and almost complete.

Taking shape now,I thought that the mast and oars stood out a bit,being just white,so I coated them with Mahogany varnish-what will all four look like??

The Viking "fleet" sailing majestically up my kitchen table....................

All four only took me an afternoon to complete-I hope my Viking Army(not yet ordered!) takes as little time!!
Any comments would be welcome.