15.
Just to make it a little nicer,
let's give the endcap a little
edge. Points are already on
hand. Use the inner hull points,
as shown, for this:
16.
Looks ok, doesn't it?
17.
Alright, now for the very
unique Viking "mast-fish"
with its locking block. It's
a device that one of those
bright guys had come up with,
that allowed them to quickly
drop or raise the mast. It
was reputed to have been so
strong, that it could hold
the mast without any rigging.
However, most old drawings
and carvings do show rigging,
nonetheless. The reason they
needed to drop or raise the
mast quickly was strictly
for tactical advantage. Their
lightning attacks required
a maximum of maneuverability.
So, for that reason, whenever
they approached their point
of attack, so to speak, they
would drop the yard and mast,
and start rowing. With 30
oars, the light and shallow
drafting vessel was very rapidly
maneuvered, slammed into the
beach and minutes later, the
raid was on. Any enemy vessels
would depend solely on wind
and sail, and the quickly
rowed Viking ship could outmaneuver
them to keep out of range
of arrows and spears. Over
half a millennium later, the
Venetian fleet and similar
Mediterranean warships were
once more rowed, carrying
a single huge, long-range,
and powerful cannon in front,
giving them a distinct advantage
over the large French and
English sailing ships, that
had to depend on the wind
to bring their broadsides
to bear.
Go
to an empty layer and create
a box with these specifications.
18.
Now modify the box in this
way. Use point edit and select
the section divisions and
slide then as shown <t>
(while holding down <Ctrl>).
19.
If you want to bevel the edges
of this box, a great little
plug-in will be of enormous
help. The KW Edge Smoother is
shareware and can be downloaded
from here, and a single application
to the object resulted in
this. Even if you don't want
to purchase it, have a look
at the site anyway. Big difference,
isn't it? This was done with
the default 50 cm bevel. I
love that little plug-in.
20.
It is already properly located in the
X and Z axes, and only needs to be slightly
moved in Y until it (BTW, name it "Mastfish")
is just barely embedded in the deck
surface. You can just see where the
ribs, that run across the deck intersect
the Mastfish.
21.
Next you will have to cut a hole into
the mastfish. Create a disk with these
numbers and in the indicated location:
22.
Put the object into the background layer
and do a Boolean subtraction. This results
in an unsightly stress line.
23.
Even I, ever so slowly, learn a lot doing
this project, and we know how to fix those
stress lines now. One way is to just hit
<Tab> and the subdivision will eliminate
the stress line. Try it. The other way
is to cut the Mastfish, which immediately
releaves the stress line. Either live
with that, or continue. For even greater
stress relief select that small polygon
around the mast hole and go to CONSTRUCT/Triple.
Triple, as you can see, goes a long way
to minimize any stress problems. Save
your file as ship_tute13.lwo
24.
I just noticed that I already
had included the mast in the
downloadable file. Ok. No problemo.
If you still want to do the
mast, do this. Go to layer 6
where the "stump" we used to
do the Boolean subtraction,
is located and place the mast
in layer 8 in the background.
Select the bottom points of
the stump and pull them down
some. Then pull the top points
up until the mast narrows.
25.
Where the mast narrows, use
the stretch tool, and reduce
the diameter to 80% of the
bottom dimension. Next, do
three extrusions, to taper
the mast as shown.
26.
There is one more thing that
is NOT in the downloadable file.
I decided, since the mast will
be laying down, when the ship
is rigged for attack or landing,
to bevel the bottom. BTW. Speaking
of laying the mast down. The
masts would weigh as much as
800 pounds and were short enough
to fit on the deck in the back
half of the ship. That way the
Vikings could quickly slide
it into the mastfish and set
it up. So, don't stretch the
mast beyond of what I gave you
in the file. This is an automatic
size limitation. Here's what
we've got thus far: We may be
able to eliminate the slight
pulls up front, and don't forget,
horizontal boards are what is
making up the hull. Once textured,
that should be all but invisible.
Also, as I keep telling, each
Viking ship is pretty much unique,
you can extend the keel and
shape it into anything. A spiral
was common, as on the Oseberg
ship, as were figure heads.
I recall a ram's head from the
movie, The 13th Warrior.
