We are getting pretty fast at disassembling and reassembling the frames for the Viking ships. We first built the lower half of the ship inside the shop. When we were done this was then taken apart, moved out of the shop and reassembled outside. We then built the top half of the ships before disassembling it all once again to send to the galvanizers. All this was done two times as there are two ships. Now we are finally getting the first of the ship pieces back from the galvanizers and we are reassembling them one last time as half (length wise) ships. We'll tie on the galvanized lath and then sculpt the ship planks to complete the hulls. We'll then carefully crane the upper and lower sections into shipping containers for their long journey to Dubai. One more day of welding will finish off the last pieces of the hulls and we are all extremely glad to be finished this part of the project. It's been nine weeks of cutting, fitting, welding and grinding steel!
Much mast!
Two large pieces currently fill the shop workspace. These are the two masts for the Viking ships. Tomorrow they will get the last bits of glaze and clear coat to finish them off. They measure thirty two feet in length and twenty-five inches in diameter at the base, tapering down to eleven inches in diameter at the top. They appear to be aged wood and rusty steel in keeping with the Viking theme. We are currently working hard to bring up the quality of our sculpted wood grains while still leaving in just a bit of our famous slightly cartoonized style. It's working well!
Musical chairs
It is a bit like musical chairs these days as sections of the ship leave for and return from the galvanizers in the city. Juggling the giant sections of ship is no mean feat, especially within the tight spaces of the driveway between all the other pieces but we are managing. This morning we loaded and sent off the top half of a ship. That meant a bunch of pieces (which we sent off last week) came back this afternoon. All that bright silver steel means the crew can begin applying the lath to the ships and very soon begin the sculpting! We've been waiting for that day for a long, long time!
