mtdoramike

Beautiful, I love the cannon that Constructo uses in their kits. They really spare no expense on their fittings most of the time. You will have a tone of work installing them.

mike

I built the Artesania Latina Victory and if you can't afford the $1200.00 for the Caldercraft, then the Latina version In my opinion would be the next best thing. One thing I liked about the Artesania Latina was their wood choices so if you chose to build it natural, the wood included in the kit would turn out beautiful and the pre-made sides of the Caldercraft kit turned me off. The Latina kit you have to make your own with planking. Finally the big difference was the price which was about half the price at about $600.00. The price was a big factor for me since I built this model as a donation to my local library. So the less money I had into the kit the better for me. If I had it to do all over again, I would still build the Latina version, it was a beautiful model when finished. I also did a bit of bashing on her as well and used the "Anatomy of the Ship Victory" as a reference guide as well as other materials. I also was lucky enough to have found a source in England that had a certified piece of Victory wood that I got from them and used it to make several things on the Model such as anchor davits, anchor collars and numerous other items that was left unpainted in their natural wood form to show the beauty of the Victory wood.

The Mantua Victory version was touted to be the best and most accurate of the Victory kits back in the late 70's and 80's if I remember right. But that was a lot of years ago and kits have come and gone since then. What is your skill level Chris, the Victory is one of the most challenging models on the market to build and the investment in time alone which is on average 2-10 years to finish her depending on time spent working on her. I finished mine in a year and a half. But I was really moving on it and would spend 40+ hours a week at times working on it.

mike

I like the color of the deck planking.

mike

She is looking really good Mike, I was looking at this kit also on Ebay, but it was sniped out from under me. So you won't get any sympathy from me on the taxes and postage. But it looks like a great build so far.

mike

You are off to a great start. You will just have to sand real carefully.

Mike

Thanks Bill, I was sure the hull lines were on the plans some where to help fair the hull. I checked but I got rid of the plans I had years ago.

mike

WOW, your gutsy to apply all that decorative items to the upper hull before actually applying the planking and sanding and sanding. But she it's looking splendid.

mike 

You might need to watch sanding with the dremel
My brother used a dremel sanding the first layer of planking and had the hull so thin in some places your finger would punch right through the hull. He then gave up on it and turned it over to me. I replaced most of the planking, finished the model and gave it back to him.

Here is a awful attempt at a drawing of what I did to the stern section of my Sea Witch in order to get the rudder to set in even with the stern because I actually used a stern or rudder post, which I'm not sure they instructed to do. So I removed a bit more wood than just where the notch was. I also used some mahogany wood strips that I had laying around from previous kits, laminated them together to make the rudder and rudder post because my intention from the git go was to finish her in natural wood finish, which helped sell her to a lady for her sons room. As you can tell from the drawing, I have no artistic ability at all so when I say a monkey could do what I do if he has enough patience, eye for detail and stick to it mentality he could do the same thing.               


Mike

Yes, that notch serves the purpose of how much wood needs to be removed in order for the rudder and post to attach to the stern and then taper the hull to match the thickness of the stern post, which should also be the thickness of the stern post, while the hull will flare up to the transom. It shouldn't take a lot of sanding from where you are at now.

mike 

Also, now that I look again at your picture of that notch on the stern, this should be your guide mark as to HOW MUCH WOOD TO REMOVE from the stern to that your rudder and stern post will be set into the stern and not sticking out. So you will not only have to remove from the notch towards the deck, but also on both sides of the hull to match the width of the stern post and rudder. So don't fill that in, remove that wood.

mike

Now as far as what the kit supplied you with to attach the rudder to the stern post, I opted to replace it with some brass strapping that I had laying around and used small nails for the pins between the rudder and stern so that the rudder is moveable and not stationary, which it would have if built their way.

Since this is your first wooden ship model, let me say a few things here, a ship model kit is only the starting point for you. It is up to YOU the builder to make the best representation of that particular model as you can. Most times you will have to chunk some or a lot of the kit away if you want an extrodinarily nice model. You may also need to do a bit of research on that particular model or style of model to help you accomplish this. A kit manufacture can only give the basics, but it is up to the modeler to supply the patience, eye for detail, persistence and skill level to make a great model with what they have supplied you with. I have built numerous ship models from kits and I have NEVER come across a bad kit from any manufacture because the above is the mentality that I use with each kit I build. If the model doesn't turn out the way I had hoped, it is NEVER the fault of the kit, it's my fault for not doing the best that I could have or should have.

Anyway, good luck with your build, it's a decent kit that will make into a nice model

mike       

You can make this kit as nice and as detailed as you want by adding after market scaled parts to it. I think I replaced what they supplied for deadeyes and used some extras that I had laying around. By the way, the notch you refer to at the stern or back end of the model should not be there. It seems that it was knocked off. When I started this kit, there were chunks of wood left over from the carving of the hull on both the stern section and the bow, which had to be carved off and faired to match the lines of the hull. The notch is no problem, just fill it in with a spare piece of wood or wood filler depending on how you intend on finishing the hull.

mike

Slow your roll player, I know this is your first wood ship model, but you need to slow it down a bit and not attach to much to that hull. The hull needs to be faired or sanded smooth. I built this same kit many years ago and it will make into a nice model that you can be proud of as long as you take your time with it. I thought there were some fairing stencils on the plans to give you an idea of how much to take off of the hull in various places. But I could be wrong since it has been quite a few years since I built this model. The Scientific Sea Witch that I built also came with the stickers and the heavy paper sails that I used. The stickers actually turned out rather nice and the sails, I used some diluted white paint and covered them with it to help stiffen then and bleach them a bit since they were pretty well stained from age. I then took some fine wire, which I glued and  sewed along the outside edges of the sails which helped them hold their shape with a bit of a billowed effect. I also has some very thin mahogany planking from a previous kit that I used to cover the solid hull, which turned out nice with a natural wood finish.

I was able to find a picture of mine that I had built, which was later sold. I bought the kit from someone who found it in a basement where it had been sitting since the 1960's I believe.

mike     

Did a little more work on the cannon doors and have them all fabricated and some installed. I had ordered some of these 4mm nails from a doll house source I think on ebay a while back and after receiving them I wondered what in the world would I use such small nails for? I shrugged it off to an impulse buy, but then when I started applying the strapping to the cannon doors, I quickly realized that the 4mm nails were the perfect size for this job. A fellow whom I have done business with in the past and had purchased a few of my models was in the neighborhood and stopped by to see if I had anything available and asked to see the progress of the Monte. He fell in love with this model and asked me if it was for sale. I quickly replied nope and he threw out a figure that he thought would seal the deal and I told him again, it's not for sale for money, marbles or chalk. He couldn't believe that I was also building this model as a donation project as I did the Victory, which he also had wanted to buy, but not as much as him wanting the Monte. I told him If he liked and was wanting to throw money around he could offer to buy the display case for the Monte when it is finished. He wasn't to keen on that. But it's nice to know my efforts are worth a bit more than they used to be hahahahahahaha.

mike     

working on the side windows and cannon doors.

mike

Got a little work done on the Monte in the past few days. Getting started working on the stern side windows.

mike

Hi John, there is nothing like a good old distraction when you hit a dead spot on the build and it seems like progress is slow. If you can get back to the build after such a long absence, you are a better man than me. I have to stay with it. I might take a break for a couple of weeks, but if I stopped the build for a couple of months much less a couple of years, I would never finish it and it would be one of those half finished models being drug from pillar to post only to either be offered on Craigslist or ebay by my widow. I have a rule, to either spend an hour a day on the model build or research on the model in question, or laying out parts for future add on's. Most start a build like the Victory or Santa Ana, which is about as close to the Victory as you can get not realizing the Santa Ana like the Victory requires a commitment of at least 5 years. Some can build it quicker, but most either take the 5 years or never finish it at all. I hope you don't become one of those never finishers and get to crackin on that model, she deserves to be finished.

Good luck,

mike   

Thanks JP, I've taken a few days off due to honey do's and will be getting back to the Monte shortly.

mike

I also miss a bit of skin from my fingers due to them getting glued to the planks at times.

mike

Wow, beautiful work.

Trying to fit the stern plate on. I HATE these metal stern plates. They are a real pain to fit on and try and get them to stay in place while the glue or epoxy dries. There's not much fudge factor here either with the way the windows on the stern fit. So it has to be pretty close. So what I'll do is place the stern plate on with nails and nail it to any wood that I can find, then leave the nails a little loose so that I can pull the nails back a little in order to get some epoxy in between the stern plate and the wood. But I will only glue it once I get the windows on the sides positioned to see if it looks correct or not.  

mike

Thanks Tom.

A little extry work done on the Monte today. Mainly railings, ships bell.

Built and installed the transom deck house as well as built and installed some more combings and such.

mike

A little extry work on her.

mike