im interested in this. let me do a little research into the scope of this so i can give an estimate/accurate time frame. honestly, this may be beyond my technical expertise at the moment (I typically carve hair toys for my fiancee as a labor of love, few other larger projects) but have a buddy with extensive access to tools and quite a bit of personal experience. want to run the whole thing by him; have a few questions for clarity:
do you have desired dimensions? (possible oblong/irregular objects to fit inside of it)
preferred materials? an extremely light wood, but fragile, like balsa, or a sturdier wood that will persist but is much more expensive and much, much heavier (intl shipping), like oak?
any particular longship? they vary a lot between the cultures that utilized them
will it need to be painted (not a simple stain and clear coat, will it need bitcoin logos painted on the side?also, the final coat might need to be applied after the detail paint work, ie after shipping)
will it need additional carving/ crenellation on the outer surface? (such as a carved or embossed bitcoin logo). this restricts the types of wood
will any logos/symbols need to be burned into the outer surface (think ammo crate lettering). same wood consideration.
are we reproducing the benches? are we reproducing the oars? the detail work eats up the hours.
does it need to be seaworthy?
and finally, the missus can sew or knit the sail if you have problems finding someone for this.
sorry for the info dump, but this sounds like a fun project to get wrapped up in, will try to see if I have the time for this
and, I will have to say, you will probably get away cheaper trying to find a product like this that already exists in the wild and modifying it to your taste. I will be on the look out for wooden toys and or models that might accommodate this.
Green
Yay - thanks. I was starting to think it'd never be done.
Dimensions - I haven't found exact dimensions of a ship, only length (which I guess is all anyone cares about in excavating the Norse longships). I'm trying to get in contact with someone knowledgeable on it, now. From eyeballing it, it looks like the "scale" of a Skeld is roughly 10 units long, 1 unit wide, 1 unit "high" (they're very "shallow"). It should hold right around two gallons of loot, though the loot is TBD - probably smaller items (like candies) which shouldn't have issue fitting in an irregular container. The shallowness of the boat may prove to be an issue (meaning it'd have to be freakin' giant) since they seem to be built for speed and maneuverability, not large cargo space, and I don't want to sacrifice authenticity just to put a few more trinkets on the ship.
Preferred materials - I don't imagine balsa holding up in shipping. Something like poplar, cedar or a light elm might be a good compromise in density, though I have no idea how hard or easy they are to work with. Oak looks like it'd be the most authentic, though (specifically, Irish Oak, which looks about as easy to obtain as a BFL Monarch). I think it has to be wood, though.
Longship type - A Viking Skeid is what I had in mind.
Paint - I don't see it needing paint, except on the sail. Maybe a darker stain could be used on the bottom to try indicating the iron botton.
Woodworking fanciness - Feel free to get carried away and bill me for it if you're feeling inspired (uh, within loose reason -- five-week project for one unique feature might be overkill). Oars would probably compromise its ability to be sent intact. I have no idea how long it'd take to put benches in, but maybe they could be used as structural support, with a significantly reduced number of them (full number might compromise cargo space too severely). No burning or logos of any kind are needed on the ship unless maybe you want to burn your signature somewhere.
Here's an example model I'd be absolutely thrilled to see:
Another example (thanks, Phin):
^That's actually a mass-produced model, though made of plastic
Seaworthiness - Hrm. Well... It doesn't need to survive a sea - but if it'd only take a couple coats of sealant on the final design to float around a pond, that'd be pretty cool. I don't imagine reason to design it as a seaworthy vessel, though.
Sail - Yeah - if she's up for sewing it, that'd work out well. Less work put on my grandma, the better -- she's getting well up there in age with shaky hands and fleeting vision, but still loves to paint and does it really well, somehow.
If you can give me a really rough guesstimate, I'll see how much it makes me cringe and maybe be less tight-fisted.
ETA: Requirement for shipping costs and its ability to ship intact -- the mast (and sail) need to be able to be easily attached and detached from the ship. Something like a screw-on mast would work well, I'd think.
