NMBROOK

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 !!!!
 
 

Finally ready for a quick update , work time has been scarce but i have been working at the galleries and hope it has been worth it .My resent obcession with buying a new saw was partly brought on by trying to cut the strips for window frames ,it,s hard to get them even cutting with a blade !!! So finished my last one to-night although looking at the pics i may have to redo a few but will decide after cleaning up and varnishing , it,s been like a small model on it,s own , Think i might order brass scrolls etc as those provided are crap ,if they had been anything only ply i could maybe have done something with them but you get what you pay for !!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Winter arrives this weekend so hopefully more build progress 

Out with the old and in with the new  . As with so many parts of my build i usualy do things more than once and the latest casualty is my gratings and stairs which was my first attempt at scratch building ,the more i looked at it i knew i could do better and it looked stained or badly painted and just not right .So as a change from gunports i removed one of the gratings and replaced the stairs using different wood but using the same basic method ,Before doing the other one i took a pic just to show the difference ,i think the colors blend in better with the rest of the build and although it won,t really be seen it gives me a better idea of what i want for more visible stairways 
 

 

 
New one on the right !!!
 
While i had camera in hand ithought i,d show progress on galleries ,i managed to realign the decorations and although noticeable close up was the best i could manage ,will be more carefull on other side 
 

 

 
Can,t do the bottom windows until i finish the other side as some of the strips run the whole way around and may need to be line up
 
Can anyone enlighten me as to what kind of door would been fitted and was it flush with the hull or stepped in slightly ,any pictures i found showed a dark void which made me think the door is further in than i have it shown in the pics 
 

 

 
 
 
 

Been lining gunports and decided i needed a change , so thought i would give the windows another try and this time i figured i,d give the quarter galleries a go . Previously i had thought that thread gave the best results  stuck on top of a thin layer of cellophane and then i saw some people on the site had great results with Microglaze . I ordered a bottle of Clear FIX which i assumed was the British version of the same product  Results were not good .to many bubbles and the thread didn,t look right either 

 
I returned to the sheet of acetate provided but no matter how i tried it was to thick and glassy looking so i finished up using if to cover the rather large hole on the base of my cheap saw 
 

 
Now what !!! I found a picture of the galleries on the real Victory and decided to use it as a plan to try and simulate it
 
 
 
The parts supplied with the kit are for painting and therefore of no use so i decided to attempt building the whole thing from scratch and after a lot of trial and error  not to mention swearing and floor searching i came up with something that is at least a basis to work from . I have already decided this will be the wall side so hopefully i can make a few more improvements as i progress 
 

 
 
 

 
When i trial  fitted the decoration provided for between the windows which i considered using as i have no way of making them i found that the spacing top and bottom was  very uneven so unless i can find a way around this i may just leave them of 
 
                                  
 
 
Just had a thought maybe i could cut them up and make them fit .
If i decide to continue with this method for the windows i will post a more detailed account of the process if anyone is interested. Have Fun !!!!

It will come as no suprise to anyone who has been looking in on my log that i have changed my mind again  .I had one side of the hull close to completion and when i started the other side . {i still don,t know my port from my starport } i thought i would try something different as the timbers between the wales were put on first and so didn,t run in line with them . I used maple the same as the decking and thought why not try caulking the same as the deck and was pleasantly suprised with the effect  .It may not be everyones taste but i think it gives a very solid look to the hull . my caulking leaves a lot to be desired but it,s the best i can do at present ,of -course once i was finished to-day i read Nigel,s article on using black tissue paper but will still give it a try when redoing the other side   . One thing i have learned is to be more carefull about  choosing timber , the variations in color when varnished caught me out ,even the maple has different grains and the two sides of the plank can look completely different  . I had thought originally that this might add to the look but now im not so sure . will be more carefull next time  I look forward to any comment s but i can assure you i will not be re planking again ,there are some parts of my hull now over 6mm thick and apart from that i must try to move on to the next stage or i,ll be at this build for ever  . Continuing good weather leaves little build time at present , i,m a ploughman by day and a trainee shipwright by nite  Here come the pic,s and don,t hold back on the opinions im a big boy i can take it Have Fun !!
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
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Hi all , after a brief panic about springy planks i finally got them sorted hopefully and although i might have to replace a few planks i decided to go ahead and varnish in the hope that sealing will possibly help prevent any more . Plus im impatient to see how a coat of varnish will affect my color scheme . thankfully it seem alright to me you all can make up your own minds . Itook the pic under lights and dosent really show the correct color but close enough ,might try tomorrow in daylight  .It,s funny how the varnish hides some things and highlights others , brings out the individual planks but also highlights glue stains etc ,but will clean up further before second coat 
 

 
i only varnished to the third wale as still have minor repairs to do above
 

 
Not a springy plank in sight ,,,yet ??
 

 
Although it can,t really be seen here ther is now a yellowish tint to stripes between wales
 

 

 
the wales and the keel are made from the same wood although it dosn,t look it but there is a big variation in the color of the strips and some strips vary greatly even over there own length  ,Sorted a few but then decided the variations would add to the look ,could be proved wrong ??
 

 

 
Relieved to be close to finishing the main hull although still a fair way to go before installing the main deckand there,s still the windows to sort out ,but have a few idea brewing 
 
 
 
 

Just posted on a discussion on wheather to paint or not to paint a Victory  and made me think about some of the problems of not painting so i thought i would point out my latest. Plywood is ok for painting but when stained it can cause problems so many parts have to be replaced or venered , the keel was one of these areas . I wanted to do it the same wood as the wales but could only get 1.5 x7 mm in that wood  ,this meant i had to trim the plywood keel by 1mm either side to keep it a realistic thickness and then cover  sounds simple but getting around the curves proved a challenge  .my first attempt failed and i then went on the theory of some thing similiar to how i thought it may have been done in real life , i have no proof if this is any
where near correct but im happier with the result 
 
      
 

 
Dispite my best intentions work commitments has interfered greatly with my building time but only temporarily i hope so when i get the jigsaw finished i will show the outcome .Have Fun .

Finally got port linings finished on one side ,very tricky but after my previous statement i decided to give it my best effort .Im happy but not really looking forward to the other side although im waiting on more wood before i start so might make a few gun carriages for a change .
 

 
Would love to try a coat of varnish on the finished side to see how the colors come up and for protection but have read so much about glue not sticking on varnish im afraid to as i still have plenty to glue on the upper hull , i think i better hold of a while longer!!!, plus i discovered an odd springy plank and a few minor repairs needed on upper bow planking 
I redid my gun carriage to get it sitting at a better level and think the mark 2 will probably surfice 
 

 
Was tempted to order chucks carriages but thought i,d give a go myself and now that i have a design im happy with ill make up a few jigs for mass production , i think i need 20 odd thankfully much less than the cc kit 
 

 

 
the rings and cannon etc will be blackened but not sure how yet ,i bought a kit for this but  can,t find it . will try it out when i do   . might change the rings as i think they look slightly big ?? these are bought ones and i can make up smaller if i need to , any opinions welcomed !! when wood arrives i will try darker wheels although the pine ones don,t look to bad .
 

As you will know from my previous post i made a bit of a horlics of my gunport openings and this was one part of the build i had been determined to do properly as i have seen a lot of pics of finished models spoiled because the gunports were all over the place . (Im setting myself up for a fall here) .Because i stupidly decided to roughly cut out my openings before fitting the wales, and then changed the position of the wales i finished up with high and low ports plus ones that were to big when properly squared . At one stage i considered ripping  out the strips between the wales and cutting all the ports again ,but thought before going to this extreme i would try to fix them and if i couldn,t i could still resort to this drastic and time consuming solution .I then concluded that i probably won,t be the first or last to make this mistake and so decided to show how i think i solved the problem ,as usual all views are welcome and any suggestions willingly accepted 

This is what i started out with having removed  0.5mm strips of stained cherry which i experimented with first, as you can see the timber surrounding the ports is 0.5 ,brittle and doesn,t have a shap edge ,chipped very easily when filling. I used it because when varnished it seems to turn yellowish and i had it in stock ,in hindsight i probably should have used Lime or similiar    . This time i carefully squared the holes especialy width wise as i can correct the height later on 

 
I then cut strip of the same wood to line the holes . Started at the bottom and depending on the hole it took 1,2 or 3 strips to finish 1mm above the level of the wale  ,i then measured up from this 13mm to give me the top of the hole ,again depending on the hole sometimes i had to file more of and sometimes i had to add a 0.5 strip if the hole was to big  Didn,t always add a strip at top cause i could get a straight edge filled with the run of the plank 
 

 
this shows the angles on the strips , by cutting them to big but at an angle it meant i could get a good tight fit easily an by leaving 1mm or so proud of the hull means that when carefully trimed of i finish with a reasonably straight edge flush with the hull This would also mean that anyone painting the inside of the ports could prepaint the strips and still have a clean unpainted edge to match the hull
 

 
This paticular port was far to wide and needed 2 strips up one side ,i would have used 1mm strip but only have 0.5 
 

 
I then lined the port properly with the same wood as the wales 1mm which has a good sharpe clean edge  These strips were cut with a small angle also and some fitted so tight that i only glued the top and bottom ones 
 

 
I then carefully trimed of the linings flush with the hull and gave a run of fine sandpaper 
 

 
And heres the finished gunport ,still might need a little sanding here and there . Maybe this will be of some use to some one sometime and if not i may need reminding myself the next time i start lining ports . Will show all when finished and you can tell me then that there still all over the place??? Have Fun 
 

As i mentioned in my last post i wasn,t happy with the gunport linings ,have now come up with a combination i find more suitable . I first lined the port with same wood used to create the stripes 0.5x5mm  which gave a good clean hole which i then lined with the same wood as i used for the wales 1x3mm . I remember reading somewhere that when going for a non paint finish it,s best to stick to only  2 or 3 different wood types and think i now see the reasoning for this ,rather than trying to paint with wood ,certain shades and types seem to work together  ,of course this is in my eyes others will have different preferences


When seen together ,new on top old on bottom ,i,m sure you will agree ,any opinions welcome .Just a pitty i lined so many before i decided they were wrong!!! As im sure you realise by now i change my mind more often than i change my soaks 

few pics of my atempt at Victory stripes and before anyone points it out i know the wales are not exactly where they should but it was the only way in my limited experience i could figure out how to do it without paint . Im happy with the overall result except for the gunports ,in hindsight i should not have tried finishing them before fitting the wales as quite a few now need realinement and i don,t want them to look patched up  
                   
i rubed a small sectionwith damp cloth to show nearer color when varnished  
   
 Not happy with lining for gunports  ,they aren,t definite enough so may change to a different better edged wood , more experimenting necessary  

 
 I think i asumed that it needed to be a redish wood but may now consider a different color as the rest of the build isn,t the proper colors anyway ,In a way its very liberating not to have to follow a set of strict plans or color schemes!!!                                               

Hi all seems a long time since my last post but second planking is taking longer than i thought  , still have upper half of one side to finish but thought i,d experiment on one side first  After much consideration i decided a Victory would,nt be a Victory without strips so planked from the lower wale up in Mukaly strip  which when varnished has a yellowish orangey color ( i only had a limited supply of this so attempted to fill under the wales with other wood which accounts for the zig zag strip) but got worried that my calculations for wale location could be wrong or change so may yet have to remove and replace those couple of timbers .   
 
 
 
 
 
Have been trying different methods of lining the gunports and have decided on a double lining which although not entirely accurate hides the fact that my second planking is only 0.5 and with a 1mm instep would leave a noticeable edge ,plus i think the 0.5 lip is more realistic looking ,(my opinion others welcome???). It,s simply one strip of 0.5 with another stuck on top but steped back about 1mm ,still have a bit af cleaning up to do and the gunport lid is not glued yet as im still undecided about how to make them ,probably keep inside and out all
 
one wood as experiment with inside dark and outside light didn,t look right
 

 
The plasticgun carriages would probably be alright below decks but unlike the CC build Billings have very few that won,t be seen so i decided to replace them all and use my experimental ones below deck. My first one turned out ok but when trial fitting seems a bit low to the deck and i would prefere a darker wood for wheels so back to the drawing board!!!
the actual cannons come partly drilled but to far back and when fitted were top heavy as can be seen i redrilled further forward ,it payes to dry fit as far in front as possible !!
 

 
My recent two power tool purchases  ,have only played with the lathe but seems a great tool . The dremel saw is useful and as i get used to it and make a few alterations its a cheap fillin untill decide which proper saw to buy 

tks David i think a couple of years might be optimistic but time flies when your enjoying yourself and i need to take a break sometime and finish my Cruiser                                     pics explain themselves the last one is my first attempt to make gun carriages and after cutting these out by hand i finaly invested in a Dremel Moto Saw which only arrived yesterday so cant comment on it either way as yet but i do need something for cutting and shaping and it seemed a cheap option to start with  ,The ball racks aren,t glued in yet will wait utill hull finished  I  see a lot of mention of Wipe on Poly but can,t source any localy is there a UK equalivent or is it just another name for poly varnish ??????   

Just a quick update ,progress has been slow with better weather work gets in the way . First planking finished and sanded and  thankfully only a couple of hollows to fill. Decided to plank from the keel up and done my best to figure out how some people can manage it without stealers but its beyond me ,might just be possible at bow but finished up using full and half stealers plus a couple of correcting planks at stern No pics of this process at present maybe to-nite !.                                                  I do have a couple of pics of my attempt at cannon ball racks.  Could buy 2mm cannon balls from Amati at £1.70 / 20 but bought a box of No 9 shotgun cartrages for £5.00 and have nearly 3000 2mm balls although they are lead ,apparently any shot of this size will be lead but when painted and varnished hopefully they will take years to deteriate  Rather than countersink each hole for each ball due to lack of percision tools and bad eyes i routered out a grouve and glued them in tight to-gether and seems to work ok Again hope to have pics of result tonite 

Finally got the first planking finished. Reasonably happy but as usual if i were to start again i would do it slightly differently . I started at the bottom and worked upwards then moved to top and worked down partly i was trying to figure the run of planks for the second planking ,and as you can see from the pics this meant i had to use a lot of half stealers (i think thats what you call them) but this was a good way to learn  ,However i would like to avoid these as much as possible in my next planking if only for looks  Am hoping that by tapering the planks from the start and planking from the keel to the lower wale i can avoid most of them , intend then planking from the lower wale upwards using it to cover any change or joints in the run of planks .  Am open to any opinions or suggestions on this plan ,please feel free !!!     As you can see from the pics i have only scraped the hull at this stage and hope to improve it somewhat with sanding and fillers ,but need to move outside for that process.I think some of the soaked planks shrank a little when dryed out (thats my excuse) but fillers will cure that   .The gun ports still need a lot of cleaning up and am trying to figure out if i can line them before my second planking ,again any advice welcome , must experiment before deciding . As you can see from last pic the grating and stairs problem are solved, now need to fit cannon ball racks and scratch my carriages to finish the lower deck before installing the top one ,which i will have to split now to fit in .Still wondering about windows but plenty of time yet . I know i complained a lot about this kit at the begining but its quickly growing on me and from reading other logs no kit is without problems , maybe it was value for money after all???

Decided i would try fitting steps in one grating and it worked out ok so will do the other one as well as a break from planking,     Wood looks a funny color in pic but looks better in real . Had been planking from the bottom but now changed and working from the top down using this layer to try and figure out the best way to go about the final planking ? Been thinking about window frames and how to get something small enough , newest idea is to try thread , havent seen it mentioned before and wonder if anyone has tried it  might do some experimenting to-morrow

just a few pics to update progress Went ahead and planked the lower deck with 0.5 Maple useing the pencil method for caulking , has been scraped but not varnished yet which i hope will bring up the lines a bit more  .I also planked the the insides of the hull although it wont all be seen a lot of it will be .Next pic shows a simple jig i made to cut the planking , also used it to sand the edges by putting 6 in on their edge and then for the caulking . Now another snag , compered to the cc builds i think we have a deck less which at least means less cannons to rig but as the last pic shows the hole in front of the grates where i believe ther should be a ladder bown to a lower deck is completely blocked . Of course there is no mention of this in the plans so as i see it i have 3 options .1 try to find matching gratings and cover the hole   . 2  make hatch doors to cover the holes or     3 my prefered choice is cut out the obstructions and fit ladders which is how it should be ??          Might be best to do this before i finish the hull planking as i still have some access ?

Thank you Ulises,my old bookmark didn't work with the new format.I have redone it now  
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel