HMS Victory by Morne Louw - Scale 1:38 (First wooden ship build)

[monello]

So I've done enough lurking and stalking of all your wonderful build logs... the time has finally come for me to start my own.

 

I have never built a model before and have attempted to start this particular one a few times over the last decade. Every time I start a soon discovered I need something more; a better set of plans, better tools, more patience etc.

 

I do believe I am now finally ready to take the plunge and start.

• Proper set of plans, bought from Mr John Mckay - check
• Proper tools (no need for make shift tools) - check
• Proper planning - check
• Proper work space - eh... almost there
• Patience - check, check.

 

So wish me luck, as I hope to start this coming weekend.

 

M

Edited May 29, 2014 by monello

[mtaylor]

Good luck, Monello.   You've picked a rather large and complex model to start with.  I'm pulling up a chair and looking forward to your build.

[cpt. Tom]

And the next chair is there :) good luck and let the pics comming

Edited May 28, 2014 by cpt. Tom

[monello]

Thank you guys.

 

Well, I got all my tools delivered today, so needless to say I'm very excited about that. A few of them require some assembly, so this weekend ought to be loads of fun.

 

Hopefully by the end of this weekend I will have my workbench done. I am a tad limited in space so I had to construct a workbench which I can hoist into the garage roof, between the roof beams. That part works well, but I have to make the entire set-up a lot more sturdy when lowered to working level.

 

I have now also scaled all my plans to size (1:38), which I did from a set I purchased from Mr. McKay at scale 1:96. So there alone I have already clocked around 150 hours just scaling and tracing these. I originally tried doing it from the Anatomy Of The Ships book, but found it really tough to get the scaling perfect on all the drawings... by no fault of Mr McKay's work! It's just that during the printing of the book lots of detail has unfortunately gone lost and also, enlarging drawings from scale 1:192 up to 1:38 means all lines are 5 times thicker so it just did not give me the results I wanted.

 

Anyway, I hope to be ready to start the actual build during next week. Some pictures will then start appearing very soon...

 

Which tools have you found the most helpful? What are your cannot-even-think-about-tackling-a-scratch-build-without-these-tools tools?

[monello]

Good luck, Monello.   You've picked a rather large and complex model to start with.  I'm pulling up a chair and looking forward to your build.

 

Yup, indeed, but I believe I've done my homework (this time  ) on this. Even though I only start the actual build now, I can assure you that many, many hours of research and planning (and test building some parts) have been done. 

[mtaylor]

Well, hopefully you'll have lots of fun and I'll hang around to watch...    You've already used the best tool... your head.  You're thinking things through. 

[AntonyUK]

Hi Morne.

WOW that is gona be one big model ship.

I an building a 1/36 cross section of the Victory and that's big. But yours will be enormous in size.

One nice thing on building at a large scale is its easy to put in fine details that would have got missed due to being sooooo small.

you will need lots of timber for your build. Any idea of the type of timber you will use ?.

 

Got my chair booked.. Glasses on and ready for your build.

BTW Adobe Illustrator is a brill tool for scanned images and enlarging the scale.

 

Regards Antony

[pilidk]

Good luck on this project !

I will be following you with great interest

Best regards

Philippe

[shihawk]

Sounds like a big project  remember once you put the masts on you may need a roof extension  .but the raising workbench seems a great idea . almost got caught in a roofspace with a small door opening ,but you seem to have everything well covered .Good luck with your build i will be following Have Fun!!

[jud]

Build her a bit larger and you will have a place to go when things get stormy in the house. 

Good Luck on the build. I must ask, what are you going to do with her when completed? 

jud

[monello]

Well, hopefully you'll have lots of fun and I'll hang around to watch...    You've already used the best tool... your head.  You're thinking things through. 

 

Haha, true. I do tend to "over-think" things at times but I'm in no rush and want to do it properly.

[monello]

Hi Morne.

WOW that is gona be one big model ship.

I an building a 1/36 cross section of the Victory and that's big. But yours will be enormous in size.

One nice thing on building at a large scale is its easy to put in fine details that would have got missed due to being sooooo small.

you will need lots of timber for your build. Any idea of the type of timber you will use ?.

 

Got my chair booked.. Glasses on and ready for your build.

BTW Adobe Illustrator is a brill tool for scanned images and enlarging the scale.

 

Regards Antony

 

Yes that is mostly the reason for the size. I want to do as much detail as I can and the smaller, the more difficult (as you said). I have purchased a few Whisky barrels (Oak) so am going to use the timber from that to do the main structure of the ship, Keel and Frames (Forgive me if I use the wrong terms, still learning)

 

When I get to the planking I'm going to pay a place called "Rare Woods" a visit. Another Cape Town based modeler on this site recommended them. 

 

Adobe Illustrator is still a bit of a mystery to me. I know Photoshop rather well from having done quite a bit of photography (since waaay before Adobe Lightroom) so just stuck with that, and it worked well, but I really should take the plunge to learn Illustrator. Photoshop has the option to enlarge/scale in percentages, so I set mine to 250% from the 1:96 scale.

Edited June 27, 2014 by monello

[monello]

Sounds like a big project  remember once you put the masts on you may need a roof extension  .but the raising workbench seems a great idea . almost got caught in a roofspace with a small door opening ,but you seem to have everything well covered .Good luck with your build i will be following Have Fun!!

 

Hmmm, good point. I am now FINALLY done prepping my garage. I'm posting pics of all this later tonight. So I hope that when I get to the masts I'll have moved to a bigger place 

[monello]

wow, that must have a hull length of 1.5 metres without the bowsprit.

 

Here are some measurements of the model.

[monello]

Build her a bit larger and you will have a place to go when things get stormy in the house. 

Good Luck on the build. I must ask, what are you going to do with her when completed? 

jud

 

Teehee. The best plan yet! Now... don't think that I haven't thought about it yet!

I will have to see when  get there I guess. I will need a special place for it, right now I just need to get building first, prep is taking longer than I thought.

Edited June 27, 2014 by monello

[divarty]

Pulling up a chair to watch as well, sounds like you have quite the plan going, I can't wait to see it come alive.

[monello]

I see now why it is so important to start the build log on this site...

 

Over the last month since I started my log I felt a bit of pressure to keep going, because all you kind people are now commenting and following to see my next move, but alas I have not started the actual model yet... that doesn't mean I have not been doing anything.

 

I did some tests with the tools I bought and soon broke the one and found that the other will just simply not do the job I was hoping it would.

 

Here are the tools I (initially) purchased:

 

Now the Sanding machine you see there has a little platform/table attachment you use to rest the piece on that you are sanding, I guess I applied a tad too much downward pressure, as the hinges broke off within a minute  

 

Many compliments and thanks to Andre at Adendorff tools (http://www.adendorff.co.za/) who replaced the machine, no questions asked.

 

The scroll saw was just a big disappointment. It just couldn't handle the thickness of the wood I was trying to cut, it was virtually impossible to make accurate cuts and the overall build quality of the machine is really sub-standard.

 

Again Andre at Adendorff tools felt my pain and refunded me in full... no questions asked. I replaced the scroll saw with the Dremel Moto-saw and it works like a dream.

 

Apart from playing with all my new tools, I also had to finish up my work-space and this took a surprising amount of time to do. You know how you sometimes have some plans in your head and when you build it you realize that you missed some things.... Well my modeling table, I mentioned in a previous post, was simply not solid enough. I had to reinforce the table-top and had to add legs to it that can fold in when raised to the roof beams. I was going to rest it on a smaller fold-able workbench, but in practice that was VERY unstable!. I'll post some pics to show my solution.

 

So this time I hope I am truly ready to get to the good stuff... building a model ship!

[monello]

Another look at the scale of the model.

 

The image below shows the size of the drawings (1:96) I purchased from Mr. McKay, the top shows the scaled up version at the size I'll be building it (1:38).

 

[monello]

Oh and just for fun here is a signed copy of one of the drawings! 

[monello]

And here is the table I will be building the ship on.

 

It can be hoisted up to between the roof space. I need to do this as my space is limited and the ship will be large 

[hamilton]

This is a really ambitious project! Looking forward to watching it come together - will you be able to get it out of the workshop when it's done? 

hamilton

[HIPEXEC]

I'm jealous of all your Dremel tools! Good luck! You've selected the hardest model there is to build. Take your time and ask a lot of questions. Like they say....How do you eat an elephant?......You start chewing on the toe!

[Farbror Fartyg]

Fair winds to you!

 

I'll be watching this one.

No build like your first.

[michael mott]

It is a complex model for a first build, I admire your pluck, and trust you have the energy to work through until completion, I will follow along.

 

Michael

[monello]

This is a really ambitious project! Looking forward to watching it come together - will you be able to get it out of the workshop when it's done? 

hamilton

 

 

Yup is is ambitious, but will be taking my time. I should be able to get it out of the workshop yes. I fit my wife car in there everyday 

[monello]

I'm jealous of all your Dremel tools! Good luck! You've selected the hardest model there is to build. Take your time and ask a lot of questions. Like they say....How do you eat an elephant?......You start chewing on the toe!

 

Thank you. I hope the Dremel tools will do the thing. I have feeling I'll need more tools as I progress. I work within a budget here and so far these tools were the best I could do within it. Still drooling over some of those Proxxon tools I see some members use, but I decided to start with these and see how things go. The tools in the photo above was just the new tools, fortunately I have a few others.

 

Lets hope my elephant does not turn white!! haha

[monello]

It is a complex model for a first build, I admire your pluck, and trust you have the energy to work through until completion, I will follow along.

 

Michael

 

All I can say is that I am confident that I will see it through. The rest is up to "Time" to prove 

 

I've started and re-started so many times over the last 10 years... each time learning more and more. The most learning was done since I discovered this site and started asking questions here. I believe I am now ready to start on the model that will be the real (Final) thing. I'm just going to have to learn as I go from here on forward.

 

Also since I took the plunge and bought a decent set of plans, I pretty much threw away all my previous work (scaling and tracing on Photoshop) and re-started from scratch...again inspired by the work of the members of this forum.

 

The one thing that really keeps me going is to prove the owner of the Model Shipyard in Mosselbay wrong. (They build huge model ships for movies etc. so he really knows what he's talking about) he said I would never finish it... I felt a bit offended I have to admit, but it inspires me. It's been 2 years later and I'm still plucking away. Friends tend to laugh and joke (in a nice way!!) as I have no physical model to show for all I've done thus far, but that is because I'm under no illusion of the complexity that lies ahead. I believe my planning and prep-work will pay off.

[Stockholm tar]

Monello,

 

This looks like an interesting project!

 

Besides the book by McKay, you will probably find the 'Anatomy of Nelson's Ships', by C Nepean Longridge, most useful. Despite the title, it is about his (rather smaller scale) model of the Victory that he built and now in the Science Museum in London, but not (unfortunately) on display. You'll find a clip or two of it on Utube. Although originally written in the the 1950's, it contains line drawings and photographs – and is still considered almost as the 'bible' on the Victory.

 

Another useful book is 'HMS Victory – Her Construction, Career and Restoration', by Alan McGowan. Lots of detailed drawings and info there too, plus interesting text about her restoration over the years.

 

Regarding your last post, all strength to your arm – or is that your power tools!

Edited June 29, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[gjdale]

Wow! What a HUGE undertaking, both literally and figuratively! Think I'll pull up a chair and come along for the ride. If you're going to invest in some quality tools, I strongly recommend Jim Byrnes's tools. His miniature table saw and disc sander are absolute "must haves" for scratch building (IMHO) - you simply can't buy better quality.

[monello]

Besides the book by McKay, you will probably find the 'Anatomy of Nelson's Ships', by C Nepean Longridge, most useful. Despite the title, it is about his (rather smaller scale) model of the Victory that he built and now in the Science Museum in London, but not (unfortunately) on display. You'll find a clip or two of it on Utube. Although originally written in the the 1950's, it contains line drawings and photographs – and is still considered almost as the 'bible' on the Victory.

 

I agree on the 'Anatomy of Nelson's Ships book. I own a copy of that. I would love to get my hands on a copy of the 'HMS Victory – Her Construction, Career and Restoration' it has been recommended before. Just very pricey. Will keep looking to to see if I can find a good quality copy and an affordable price.