NMBROOK

Managed to get hold of some diamond shaped Tulle , thanks Grant ,i now also have a lifetime supply for £3.00 .i wish everything was as cheap ?
Used as fine a black thread as i could find and threaded the tulle in place .finished with the desired effect although my work was not as neat as i would have liked but will do better on the other side .
 

 

 
Before fitting the netting on the other side i spent some time trying to figure out what to do about the gun port lids . I had previously made a few samples from strips of the darker wood but decided that they should be made from a lighter wood and as i had  10mm beech available i took the easier method and made them from a single piece . I shaped the sides and will fit them with a small pin to hold them in place untill the glue sets 
 

 
I have tried several different sorts of hindges and rather than spend £50.00 on fancy brass ones i looked at the ply ones supplied and decided that by spliting along the ply lines i could finish up with something slimer and more realistic . i will however have to paint them . 
 

 
last pic shows the painted dummy guns yet to be fitted 
 

 

 

 
the lids in the  pics are not glued and held in place by the pin ,i won,t glue untill hindges and rings etc have been fitted  but gives some idea of the finished look .
 

 
 

Although it,s a long time since i posted i don,t have a lot of progress to show due mainly to wasting a lot of the limited time available trying things that in the end didn,t work out , but that,s life . 
My intention had been to fully rig the cannons on the top deck and show them pulled in , that is with the breeching rope fully extended , just for a change ! After several failed attempts  i could not produce anything that looked the part so returned to a simpliar version of a pic i seen somewhere and decided to forget about the side and train tackles ,although i may return to them at a later stage ?? 
 

 
In attempting to save time i also simplfied the cannon on the forward deck ,i may regret these shortcuts later but if i,m ever to finish this build i can,t keep getting bogged down in detail that even if seen may not be noticable ,hence my topic on how much detail is too much . My intentions sometimes exceed my abilities and frustration kicks in !!!
 

 
Next i tried the fire buckets and again after much time wasting decided i could probably live without them ?? But don,t rule them out just yet . 
On to the hammock netting and finally after a couple of false starts i produced something i,m happy with . I even checked the instructions but they just vagely suggested that they were made from wire strip  .
 

 
The simplest way i could make was from 0.75 brass wire .Once i had the basic shape i flattened the ends and the base ,then drilled the ends and a pin hole in the base to attach it to the caprail . then threaded wire through which hopefully i will be able to attach the netting . The netting provided was green and i thought to heavy so will be replaced with i think it,s called troule ,can be seen in pic 
 

 
Hope my next post on progress won,t be as long and that my new more simplistic view to the build will not come back to bite me ???????
 
 

Dispite an earlier comment that i would leave the final run of the chainplates until i had the masts fixed i decided to go ahead and finish them at this stage and hope that my calculations are at least near correct , Time will tell ??  I went with the homemade straps to finish the chainplates and so far am happy with the result .
 

 

 
Finished 1 cannon just to figure out the process , very similiar to the previous ones with a few simplifications 
 

 
last pic shows prep work for the gun carriages 
 

It,s been a while since my last post . Work ,life and if i,m honest a bit of a lull in interest has meant progress has been slow .
Excuses over ,i have finally sorted out the chainplates ,after waiting 3 weeks for an out of stock strap i decided to make my own ( thanks Paul ) . After a couple of attempts i used the straps provided , the pic will explain better than i can 
 

 
I,m happy with the result and think i might leave the brass pin heads as they are rather than blacken them as was the plan ?
 

 
Also fitted a few strips ,rails ,not sure of correct name , I tried to make the currly bits without success so made it up as i went along ,they aren,t that noticable anyway ?
 

 
A couple more pics to show anything i forgot to mention  
 

 

 

 
As a change and prep for the next stage i started making the mast platforms ( again not sure of correct name  ). I sanded the ply provided covered it with 0.5 cherry and then scratched everthing else from Dibetou , i think the contrast in these 2 woods works ?
 

 

 

 
I,m beginning to think 3 years for this build was being a bit hopefull but after every low comes a high so maybe progress will improve soon ????

Would you believe that i have still not finished the deadeyes and chainrails . My indecision is beginning to worry me !!! 
 


 
 
I had one side almost finnished and couldn,t figure out why i didn,t like it .I think it,s the fact that my hull is a light color and when i looked at the brass chainplates they don,t stand out enough ?? Anyway i decided to try the other side with the  black wire i had first used and have come to the conclusion it looks better  . A long the way i found a simpler and possibly stronger method of securing the deadeyes to the channels 
 

 
I made the strop the same as before but instead of cutting a slot in the channel i drilled the existing hole bigger so that the ends of the strop were a tight fit 

 

 

 
This left just enough room to hook the top chain link into it and then i drilled through the hole just above the link and put in  a 0.5 x10 mm pin which will keep the deadeye secure and take the pressure of the chainplate.
 
a .5 strip will cover the pinheads and the edges of the ply
 

 

 

 
the links were made by bending the wire around a nail file , i found them easier to form on this than on wood .
 
I needed a break so fitted the steps and fenders . The steps were shaped on the mill , glad i finally found a use for it !
Now all i have to do is replace the brass strops and chains i spent the last 4 days fitting , it,s a good job i,m getting paid by the hour ?????????
 

Been trying out numerous versions of stroping deadeyes and chainplates . Soldering the links just didn,t work for me by the time i filed them down there was no solder left and tried painting over the solder but still wasn,t happy.  Fussy or what !! Forgetting the solder i tryed upping the thickness of the wire to 0.75 which held it,s shape better but looked big to me and was more difficult to bend and shape  .  The following pic shows what i have come up with and would welcome any improvement suggestions ,sometimes when i get a idea in my head i miss the obvious solutions ?? The aim is to strop a deadeye without soldering and still be certain that when rigging the deadeyes don,t start poping  .I could buy them but many of them also need soldering or are etched and squared . Now working with 0.5mm brass wire .
 

 
Click on pic to enlarge . I tested the strength of the strop and think it is strong enough and will be even stronger when wedged in the channel . Because the pin holds the deadeye there is very little pressure on the links so soldering should not be necessary also rather than split the link half way i split it near one end which means the join is less visible and also by closing the end of the bottom link the join is covered by the bottom plate . I,m not happy with the bottom plates and may buy more rounded replacements . What i,m thinking now is i will fit the deadeyes and leave the chains unfitted utill i get the precise line of the shrouds ?  Next pic shows a few fitted and also   shows another reason for leaving the chains till later , if they are out of line the drill holes will need filling !!!!  the strip along the edge of the channel will hide the pin and keep it from coming out , I did try soldering a few of the first strops but now don,t think it,s necessary .I did cosider cutting the pin down to 5mm but thought the longer the stronger ? The bottom plates don,t look right and are a pain to drill so will probably change them . I,ll be building this ship for ever ??????????????????????????????????
 

Some progress made on the chainplates  I thought i had it all figured out in my head before i even started ,but putting it into practice has been a different story . 
 

 
the thread theory just didn,t work out when painted and my link soldering couldn,t take the strain ,So then i considered using the plain straps provided with the kit and to be honest with the pin into the channels to hold the deadeye they didn,t look to bad , but because i was using the same ones for the straps under the channels i felt it might not look right .
 

 
Bought a new soldering iron !!!!! Keith suggested that the links might not need soldering and as i prefere to keep the brass color this got me thinking that if i could at least form a strop that the pin into the channel would hold it would take the pressure of the links .
 


I think with a little tinkering this method may work ,the trim on the channel will hide the dodgy soldering and when i get some 0.75 mm wire the links may hold their shape a bit better,at present i am using 0.5 ,tried 1mm but it was to thick looking 
Thanks Keith !!
 
I figured i should fit any of the gunport hatches which will be covered by the chainplates so as a distraction from the soldering i tried making one using bought brass hindges .,also ordered a few walnut deadeyes to see how they look ,might come to-morrow . 
 

 

The next stage is one i have been thinking about for some time , the channels and chainplates . As usual i will dry fit as much as possible and was glad the channels are a tight fit as i don,t want to glue them until i have to ,just in case . In my last post i had lined the ply edges to cover them and i still intend to go this route ,however i removed the outer one and trimed the channel back a couple of mm and then cut into the holes premarked for the chainplates  .At this stage i checked to see if my messing with the gunports had distorted my alignment for the chainplates and thankfully they seem ok . 
 

 
I have never soldered before and after a few tries was searching CMB for some ready made ones , but i couldn,t find anything that i could use . So back to learning to solder and finally managed to make a succesfull link . I mentioned before that i read on some ones log about making the top link from thread the advantage being that the whole linkage can be tightened with the deadeyes . A pic will explain better than i can .the brass link will be blackened and the thread painted to look hopefully more like metal .I hope to fit a fine nail into the channel between the chainplates and the deadeyes , the intention is to spread the pressure when rigging .When the trim is added it will cover this pin and the knot in the thread . thats the plan anyway ????
 

 
For all you non Billings builders i thought i would show the supplied parts 
From what i can figure out ,and i could be wrong the wide brass strip on the left is the main strap under the channels .To big me thinks . The fine strip in the middle is the chain plate . To plain me thinks . The piece on the left is is the chainplate cut down and will be used to replace the wide strap and the piece cut from will be used to secure the bottom of the chainplate Waste not want not!!
 

 
Now all remains to do is make another 70 or so links by which time my soldering should have improved .

Finally got round to finishing the main parts of the deck furnishings . The poop deck skylight took a fair bit of time ,most of it spent figuring out the best way to make it . I still think if i was building this again i could do it in a quarter of the time ,when i knew what i was doing  . I finished up doing the top like gratings and the side windows in a similiar way to the gallery windows,piece by piece . i also messed about with the flag lockers and finaly settled on a trimed version of the grates provided . I keep forgetting that the parts  supplied can sometimes be used !! i used Clearfix for the window pains ,with care it works . No flags in the lockers yet . 
 
 
 

 
 Now i can move on to the channels ,and again thought on making my own but i was worried about joining 2 strips of 7 mm in case when i put pressure on from rigging i could have problems ,so i decided to use the ply parts but covered the edges with darker strips . A coat of varnish shows they blend in ok color wise , i think ?and saves a lot of work !!
 

 
I try to look in front of myself all the time so am now wondering if the fact that i messed about with the gunports so much will it affect the run of the chainplates , I will have to spend a bit of time lining them up before i commit to anything . Can,t decide yet how to make up the chainplates ,i did see a method using thread for the last link to keep everything nice and tight ,but will see how the soldering goes ?

Decided to go ahead and change the staircase surround ,maybe if the brass was painted it would have been ok but thats against my rules 
 

 
when i see it finished i,m glad i changed it ,fits in better with this type of build ?
 

 
I filled in the slots i had stupidly cut through and although not invisible i think by the time the rigging is on they won,t be noticable  . Thought on replacing the plank instead of filling the hole but matching timber was a problem so i took the easy route !!
 

 
Just a couple of pieces to fit on the poop deck,the skylight and flag lockers and as usual i will use the ply pieces as guides to scratch build them  and then i hope to move on to the channels,chainplates etc  might need to practice my soldering ,again something new !! 
 
Knotty74 , my apologies for saying that the roundhouses were on the poop deck ,( i assumed that was what it was called for obvious reasons ) i hope my lack of knowledge did not cause any confusion. Is there a name for the small deck at the bow where the roundhouses are ???

I,ll start with a couple of pics i forgot to post the last time , the 4 ladders to lower deck 
 

 

 
simple enough to make and i think the brass handrails blend in ok . I,m not fond of the rope handrails as i find them clumsy looking if not done correctly so will try to avoid !!
I then moved on to the steps up to the quarterdeck (i think that,s what it,s called )and as usual i used the supplied ply parts to assist the scratch building of the new ones 

 

 

 

 
What i finished with , but again the rope handrails didn,t please me even when i drilled the posts to avoid oversized knots and i thought the wooden handrail looked oversized as well . I know i,m beginning to sound a bit loopy ,maybe i am but too many times i have looked back and said i could or should have fixed that at the time ,but it,s to late ?
 
So with my new found skills on the lathe ,lol, i made 2 more posts and replaced the rope with wood . Happy days ,im satisfied this time  . I,ll be building this Vic for 10 years at this rate ?
 

 

 
Moving on i have discovered another mistake i made . When planking i assumed that the all the slots in the upper hull were for external fittings and so carefully cut them out as i went along and then planked the inside covering them up ,BUT  it turns out that the 3 upper most were for the belaying pin rails and the small vertial one is to attach a post which i must assume will be under pressure from rigging as it needs to be so well secured . So i had to cut the slots through from the inside and will now have to patch the holes on the outside  . Maybe if i had paid more attention to the plans this botch could have been avoided !!!?
 

 
While i am in redo /repair mode i still don,t like the brass posts and rails on the main staircase and think i should replace them with wooden ones , more practice on the lathe ,Don,t know why they annoy me cause i like the brass in other places .Can,t wait to start the rigging ,possibly next year       
 

 
 

Had diffs picking replacement strips for deck ,had used all the best in first attempt but after a couple of false starts i found the only way was to varnish the strip before commiting . Still not perfect but will have to do ,hopefully deck fittings will cover any differences 
 

 

 

 
Just as a matter of interest is there a simple way to decide the grain direction or is it just hit and miss  ? I read how some one else had similiar problems but had mixed the planks more randomly which i think i could have lived with , or as i suggested earlier do i need to change my wood supplier ??? .Has anyone had the same problem with Lime or Holly ??? 
 
While i was waiting for the varnish to dry i made the 4 ladders down to middle deck  I used the brass freestanding handrails ,which  i think i seen  used by  somewhere else . Maybe not authentic but practical .

In an earlier post i mentioned the color or shade difference which showed om my lower deck after a coat of varnish . I went to great pains to try and prevent the same thing happening on my top deck choosing the strips carefully,and marking them to make sure i kept the grain running the same way etc , 
 

 
I could live with that ,but 
 

 
and
 

 
I can,t figure out what i did wrong , i purposely picked in daylight and wet them to make sure they were all the same shade yet from a certain angle they look like two different woods , I won,t be changing them it,s too much work but i don,t think i will use Maple again !!!!
 
 One other minor thing i would mention to anyone else building this kit  ,Parts 42 A and 42B are numbered incorrectly and should be swapted   .Part 55 i can,t find and still can,t figure what it is , i simply replaced the proper 42A with hand made posts 

few pics of resent progress on caprails etc 
 

 

 
one in the middle a bit wonky, will have to get the hammer out
 

 

 
Curves caused a few problems ,after a few bending failures i carved them from box section 
 

 

 
Probably should not have varnished so soon as there are still some posts to go on the rails ,but these will be pinned anyway and i wanted to see the finished color before i went any further, never sure of what i will finish up with . Happy . 

Hi all , progress has been painfully slow ,to much else going on . I think that Christmas every 5 years would be often enough . I found it difficult to get more than a couple of hours at any one time on the build and with some of the finer work it takes that long to pick up where i left off ,if that makes sense ? Have managed to finish planking the quarter deck and cut a few corners on the widows etc below it , everything is there but just didn,t be to particular as it won,t be seen . All the fittings have been scratch built using the ply parts as a guide ,it,s a good way to learn scratching and although some parts aren,t perfect i,m happy with the most of them ,learning all the time . The brass rails etc around the staircase were a suprise after the lack of brass for the stern decor and i,m not sure that they don,t look a bit out of place but i think i can live with them . Not that much new in the pics but at least every thing is covered up now and once the cap rails are finished no more ply will be visible 
 

 

 

 

 

Main deck planking complete and am fairly happy with the color ,however i won,t know for sure untill the first coat of varnish and by that time it will be to late to change so i think i will have to be satisfied whatever the result  .So long as the shading differences are minimal deck furnature etc will break it up.
 

 

 

 
As i mentioned in an earlier post i thought i could have problems because i didn,t fit the false deck early enough ,and although i had to trim a fair bit to make it fit at least it finished up within 1mm of being even at the sides . I used a wide margin plank to make it easier and this ment i was able to try out "joggling", if thats the right word  . Although it was only a couple of planks at the bow i think it looks better than running out the planks  .By the time i fit the cap rail and maybe a "water board or plank " i,m not sure of the correct name ,the extra width of the margin plank hopefully will be hidden .
Is matt poly still considered the best for decks or is there something even less glossy , i don,t want any  crew breaking a leg , i,m already 3 down after the last accident ????
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all ,i came across these few pics of the victory on line .

Spent the last couple of days figuring out the rigging of the cannons , I finaly decided on a variation of the pic that keith sent me 
 

 
It tidies all the rope and a small spot of ca under the front axel kept the whole thing in place , leaving me just enough room to fit the eyelet . I don,t want any of these carriages coming lose at a later stage , when the upper deck has been fitted so i went for a braces and belt method of fixing them in place , As well as sanding the bottom of the wheels and gluing with wood glue i pushed a fine pin through the base of each carriage and with a spot of ca pushed it into the deck  This method seems to have worked well as i had diffs removing one for realighment .!!
 

 
Now for the tricky bit , i have searched the forum for a definitive method of rigging the blocks on a cannon , something that looks right and if possible is simple and easy to construct ,and then attempted a few experiments of my own . Fortunately the Admiral was away to-day so i had sole use of the i-pad to take as many pics as i liked so i took a few of my progress through a very frustrating day . Not all my attempts are covered here only ones i remembered to take a pic off , i went from making my own blocks to at one stage deciding to leave them out altogether 
 

 

 
considered this mite look alright from a distance , but when i looked at the pic decided it wasn,t good enough !!
 
Then tried 3mm blocks with the hooks run through them ,but when fitted they looked to big 

 
The problem is with the cannons run out there is very little room between the blocks and when hooks are added it,s reduced even more 
 

 
Tried using finner thread and filling down the blocks ,but it was to long and thin looking 
 
I remembered i had some 2mm blocks left from the Cruiser build ,and then set about making as small a hook as possible . I wanted the hooks to be black to stand out against the brass eyelets , the following pis show the process i think i will use 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
At least thats the first one finished 
 

 
Quick check for alignment
 

 
To-morrows work awaits me ,hope this post wasn,t to long and boring but i just thought i would try to explain my thought process ,what little there is of it .???

Still workings on the cannon rigging ,decided to go ahead and use the rope provided so i stretched it out and give it a coat o well thinned wood glue as well as stopping it unraveling it took the bright whiteness  of it ,and also did away with the fuss .
 

 
Before and after 
 
I then measured out the required lengths approx 3 times the length of the cannon barrel plus 1 cm either end for serving . Although these will not really be seen i decided to try out Alexy,s serving machine and use them to practice on
 

 
The power supplies have not arrived yet but  for work this delicate i would not have used it anyway 

 
I did add a small hook just to save taping the loop every time and it worked a treat once i trimed it down a couple of times 
 

 

 
It certainly worked well for my first attempt and once set up made a very fiddely process quite straight forward and a lot quicker  Thanks Alexy.
 

 
A spot of watery woodglue and a trim and i,m happy 
 

 
Of course things can,t keep going smoothly ,i now find i have a lot of rope to contend with when i dry fitted a few . 
 

 
But i,ll sleep on it , if necessary i can shorten them ,but only as a last resort???

Next stage has been getting the cannons ready , The plan is to finish the third deck before putting on the top deck ,simply to give myself room to work , the only downside i can think of is that i will have to split the ply false deck to get it fitted but i don,t think this should cause many problems , i,ve heard that before . ??  As you will know i decided to discard the plastic gun carriages provided and after a few trials have finally come up with a design that pleases me  .A fair bit of brass involved but i have decided i like the look of brass with the natural wood so will probably use it where i think through the build . I finished up painting the cannons gun metal , having tried a couple of blacking solutions with rather unpredictable results and i although it spoils my non paint plan i think the result suits the build .
first pic shows how many attach the rope to the cannon ,which according to real Victory  pics was not the way it was done 
 

 
I have never soldered and had to think of a simple method of fixing a ring on the breech , if thats the right word , finally drilled a small hole ,cut a piece of wire and with a drop of ca and carefull fitting found a solution , i think ??
 

 

 

 
 It,s not perfect but when the rope is added it hides a lot 
 

 

 
 Brass eyes are made from wire but i bought the black rings , 3mm  that the rope passes through  
Another night or two should finish the sixteen i need to finish this deck 
 
A couple of questions to anyone who might know  
 On 1:72 scale would the blocks on the cannon rigging be 2  or 3 mm ??
 The rope seen in pic i think is that provided for the cannons , i think it looks alright but wonder if perhaps it,s to big  ???

Been having a few computer problems so took a few pics as i went along .As i thought the most of the bow had to be rebuilt using the ply parts as a guide 
 

 

Afew bits and pieces copied from the ply parts supplied


 

 

 

 

 
the extra pieces shown in the final 2 pics are only dryfitted and will not be added for safety reasons untill later in the build 

 

 
 

As seems to be the norm with this build everything has to done at least twice  .I had thought i was doing well on the bow section and had used the ply  arches and coloumns provided and was reasonably happy untill i varnished and to be honest it just looked like varnished ply !!  So i started again and this time replaced the ply with maple  and changed the hindges etc (, this led to my post on cutting curves  ,thanks for all the likes i hope it will be of some help to somebody ) the first is the ply and the second the maple 
                                                                                                                                       
 
the difference is much greater in real life 
 

 

 

 
 then i moved back to the decor on the stern  , the brass replacements are a big improvement but although very similar in size needed quite a bit of triming and cleaning . the fact they didn,t fit was my fault as i didn,t leave enough room when making  the window frames  the pic shows the ply ones provided ,next the raw replacement and finaly 2 hours of triming and polishing  
 

 
I want to finish the stern before i do any more work up front as the best way to work at the rear end is to stand it upright and hold between legs 

Finally ordered the brass decor set plus some lettering and when it arrives i will hopefully get the stern finished . Have moved on to the bows area and again because i,m not painting most ply parts will have to be replaced ,decided to start with the cat heads and work my way forward ,will make everything and dry fit the complete bow area as it,s going to get complicated getting all the curved wood work to meet up ,been searching other logs to pic up any info possible but still finding it a challange , but enjoyable  .May not finish up like the real one but if it looks good i,ll be happy 
 

 

 

 

 

 
As i said still dry fitting to find where every thing fits best 

Rudder completed  ,tryed caseys brass black and thought i had succeeded but a lot of it seemed to rub off the straps while fitting but the aged effect is to my liking so will let it be . The rudder supplied was sanded down a couple of mm and then vinered , in hindsight i should have completely remade it with 4x4 but again it,s turned out acceptable so i can live with it 
 

 

 

 

 

Finally got a couple of days working on my build though spent a bit of time working out a new timber order and a flexy for my Dremil type drill , might try carving the stern decoration and see how i get on . can always buy them if it dosn,t work out .Finished planking the stern and gave it a coat of varnish to see how it looks and discovered at least one plank will have to be replaced due to color 

 
Got around to trying out my blacking product ,not a great success on the brass cannons but more acceptable on some copper eyelets 


 
All that dipping in vinegar ,washing in de-ionised water and rinsing in baking soda seems a lot of work just to achieve a metal finish especially as the results are so unpredictable,so i stuck on a couple of coats of Tamiya gun metal paint with a brush to see how it would look and think it,s better 

 
finished of one cannon to see how it looks before mass production begins ,Not bad but i ordered some Caseys gun black to-day and will try it before i do any more 

 

 
Spent to-night looking at the bow and i will probably have to replace a lot of the ply parts especially those that will be more noticable . Is ply really that cheap that they had to use for everything  ?? Will sign of now cause i said i wouldn,t complain any more !!!!