dafi

Here is a small excursion into the interior life of the Victory around 1900. The difficulty is that there are far fewer pictures and it is much more difficult to put them in chronological order. The first picture is of the upper gun deck, the photographer standing at the level of the foremast chains and looking aft. So far this is the only picture showing the signal guns on the inside. All the supports for the deck beams are from iron. The space is empty so far, which seems to be the case in other interior pictures. A picture further back in the ship - from about the middle of the waist - shows the 12-pounders. The structure behind the gun racks is interesting. My interpretation based on the shadow on the deck is a cabin in front of the red outlined window, the light area behind it could be 2 windows with the other guns, and then the partition to Nelson's cabins behind. Plans of 1830 show a bulkhead with doors at excately the same place, and as in the pictures the doors open to the head. So the shadow should not be the door´s one. The chute outside should be between the last and the second last gun, but I can't find any indication of it on the inside. Possibly the small bend to the aft is a sign that a pipe comes from the direction of the window and the cabin, which could indicate sanitary rooms. Another image concerns the two heavy Tarfalgar guns in the mid-deck, recognisable by the two-piece window and the larger angle of the ship's side, marked on the outside picture in the green frame. Whether the view is aft or towards the bow is not yet clear to me. Either the structure behind is the bulkhead to the officers' cabins or a booth of the entrance hatch. But you can see that the gun carriage sits very low and that the gun therefore rests on the port frame below. On the other hand, on pictures of the upper battery deck you can see that the carriages there have significantly higher proportions, which also makes the gun barrels sit higher in the port. Here are two more pictures that I think are from the upper battery deck: One is probably the oldest picture of the series, showing Nelson's cabin, and the rooms in front of it ... ... and once probably also mid-deck with the heavy Trafalgar guns, judging by the slope of the ship's side. It remains exciting 🙂 XXXDAn

Thank you for the hints Kevin, I will have a look at it! Those bars are 0,36 mm, I know that I was going to the limits, as I always do. For a short distance even thinner bars are possible, I realised 0,2 mm is even under best conditions a realistic limit 🙂 This was the white Resin from Anycubic. That is not as good as the black one from Anycubic, that I usually take. The black one has almost no failures, whilst the white one sometimes (rarely) loses the parts from the building plate. Also I have the feeling that the black prints are sharper in the details like corners etc., but that could be a visual desception. In the very start I used the grey eleegoo standard resin and had big trouble as nothing wanted to stick too the building plate, then I tried the black Anycubic with the same settings and never had troublke again 🙂 I do only take the resin out of the tank if a part got lost, otherwise I leave the stuff in and have dozens of prints without any maintenace, even I left the resin in the tank for 2 months without printing, buildingplate down and machine well covered from light, and did not have trouble, just put the plate up and down several times to mix up the color particals well again 🙂 All the best, Daniel

In the meantime, the white parts are also finished. And always these brain pictures. These were the two Trafalgar guns in the first attempt ... ... but when I checked the window dimensions again ... ... crap, the panes only have two parts. Three parts were at the guns in the upper deck. Then glued in the frame as before ... ... filler pieces glued in for better support ... ... and filled with putty:-) This deck is also only inlaid, because I will have to to take it out again and work on the inside later to put the window panes into the frames. For this I will trim back the carriages. That's why I made the new triangular cut-outs on the frontside of the carriage. And I also did a test print. The foremost window in the lower deck had window bars. These are very fine. And they are to be fitted into the already fixed frames. You can see, however, that they are so fine that slight distortions occur when printing - since no supports can be used. Since the frame has too little undersize for its hole, this is of course exacerbated. And then again AAAAARGHH! With the dimensions of this bit, I got the first rectangular version and not the frames with a lower height that were used in the end ... ... ok, can be corrected with the next print, maybe the distortion will be better too. XXXDAn

While the printer was finally processing white resin again, some more planning and work preparation went on. The bulwarks of the open decks will have to be built. This has to be placed on top of the plastic hull shells, so construction, positioning and stability are a challenge. That's why I first filed gaps in the deck support for supports of the bulwarks. Then the supports are glued in place and a 2 mm polysterol plate is put on top. Clamps to press the plate to the support and wire to press the plate down to the hull. Then in the deck, slots for the supports were cut ... ... and the interior panelling added. But it looked too thick compared to the photos. That's why I removed the panelling and the supports and it still holds perfectly. I sanded the cut edge again to get an even gluing surface. Since all my big files have a very distinct convexity, I took a stable piece of wood and glued it on with sandpaper 🙂 XXXDAn

Thank you! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Since I have to print with black resin paint at the moment and thus can't easily put my white parts in between, here is a bit of preparation for the next steps. Sometime around 1860 to 1880 the Victory got a small booth on the cabin deck. This probably served as a shelter for the watch and was small in the early years ... ... but was quite quickly converted to a more comfortable size. Therefore, here is the determination of the approximate dimensions and position based on the available photographs. Here is the approximate relationship between the distance between the mizzen mast, the booth and the stern. It was easy to measure in some of the pictures and the values were always approximately the same. You have to compensate a little for the perspective shift, but the basic dimensions seem to be right. On this view you can determine the width of the booth at its aft end, this point was already defined in the first step. Practically, the width of the booth is equal to its height. The two flag lockers could also be determined by the iron supports at the bulwark. With this I have been able to draw a plan of the quarterdeck that is good enough for my purposes. The measurements are 1:100. And the height of the bulwark could also be roughly determined via the sailor's belly button. On the outside view I could also determine the foreward end of the bulwark by means of a port. So far it fits. XXXDAn

Somehow I still have some sanding to do and somehow I'm afraid that I'll get a lot of dirt behind the windows ... That's why I temporarily put in the decks ... ... and opened all the window ports so that the inserts fit well. The front 2 ports are also being closed right now, because ... ... around 1922 they were also closed 🙂 A wonderful picture*** from 1922! You can see how the Victory was still lying on the water shortly before :-0 The bolts in the holes and especially the detail I'm looking forward to building the most: the support of the chimney pipe! The port/window at the very front was still open for many years, but judging by the sequence of photographs it was planked over sometime between 1900 and 1920. Best regards, DAniel PS***: The historical picture is mirrored to match my construction pictures.

Come to the dark side. You want it too! Do you feel the force getting stronger? The more you look at the windows, the more you notice how unevenly the sizes are distributed. At the beginning, I assumed a standard size - limited by the profile bar at the top and bottom - but the variety has become greater and greater. Nice to see here in the midship area. The two historic Trafalgar guns have distinctly different widths. The lower deck windows are the largest and reasonably uniform, in the middle deck I have been able to reduce it to 3 sizes but with 3 types of window frames, in the upper deck there are again 3 sizes with 2 types of frames and below the hut deck another size, these are the smallest windows. I have made an excel sheet to help me get through it ... ... and had the sizes printed on the window inserts and the corresponding pane holders 🙂 Type height approx. 2 papillary strips*** 😉 XXXDAn *** Also called dpi: dafi papillary strip index

Nice barrel, yes, but just consider to do the carriage too 🙂 The kit´s ones are also "special" and I do believe that with the knowledge and ability you have as a modeler one should give it at least a try, be in print or even better in wood 🙂 🙂 🙂 All the best, DAniel

Then came the window panes. PVC film and matt transparent sellotape on the back ... ... gives exactly the right opacity against inside view while ... ... the outside reflects well, to be seen on both pictures on the right side window. And then the special windows for the four old Trafalgar guns on the middle deck. The guns sit almost on the bottom edge of the port, an indication that the windows sat higher than the former gun ports. The interior view is also funny 🙂 Then one of the 6 signal guns for saluting. But I still have to do some work on both of them, the half ring above the old gun and the middle window bars on the signal guns are too narrow. The "chasing" windows at the stern are also in now, ... ... and even better with paint. XXXDAn

Thanks Marc and JAn. No it will be an 'exterior only' model. So far I have too little - or better almost none - information about the inside. If someone has sources about that, you are more than welcome. The outside is very well documented, there I have basically all I need, the quarterdeck too. Still missing good sources with details about the small booth on the poop deck and the forecastle with its new "top-forecastle". I most possibly will reduce the carriages still for that the 45° parts of the sides won´t be visible. But all according to the order: "with safety to the masts windows" XXXDAn

And then finally I was able to start. Open the gun port ... ... check from the outside that the width of the frame fits ... ... from the inside, that the height at the top is correct ... ... and finally clear the lower edge. The frame should touch the hull only on one side, the other side and top and bottom must have a minimum of clearance, otherwise the frame body will bend quickly. When glueing in the frames, you could also see nicely on the inside of the hull if the long "carriages" are properly aligned. Then the whole appearence looks even. Then cut the outside to the right length with a bit of excess ... ... fill ... ... neaten ... ... and that's how I had imagined it 🙂 Now just find the right window pane. XXXDAn

And then, once again, came catastrophies, confusion and bewilderment. In some places the filling of the whales had come loose, so large-scale surgery. But it got even more irritating when I only wanted to check if the front and back port windows were parallelogramming like the corresponding old gun ports. Only to find that the windows are not square at all ... ... mot de Cambronne ... ... and that they did not even sit on the top and bottom of the moulding as I believed before. So I measured the different windows again and checked different ratios, as a model maker has to have reasonably reproducible measurements for the planks later. This attempt was too flat ... ... after another attempt, the size for the lower deck was finally better defined.

Thank you druxey! Pictures from 1900 show exactly that all the whales had been removed. The middle middle whales of the kit can be easily filled up, only the lower ones stick out. So out the coarse file 🙂 The black sharpie line above and below the whale is for height control. The copper plates are protected with duct tape. Then make a notch with the edge of the file to the required depth, i.e. to the black. If the notch is nice and even, then you have a nice depth control. And then the next notch next to it. And then blacken the notches and sand away the ridges between the notches and ... ... smooth as a child's bottom 😉 After filling in the spaces in between the whales, I did another installation test. Gluing in parts from the inside ... ... then trimm with a little excess. You need fast and sharp cutting disc, because the resin is quite brittle. The excess material makes it easy to fill in and doesn't mess up the inside. Cleaned up with the sanding tool and primed, it's already close to what I want. And to make the whole thing easier to paint, now printed in white resin 😉 The matching frames for the window pane holders are also included and you can see the "gun carriage" well 🙂 XXXDAn

😂 😂 😂

Thanks Kev, how the hell did you guess? With the possibility of printed parts I finally saw the chance to mass-produce the window crosses in a neat ship shape fashion. To get the vertical alignment of the window panes, I had the idea to link opposite windows over a wooden rod. Therefore I constructed a window frame with an adapter behind it, so that you can pull out the stick trough one side and cover the hole with the square window pane in front. Inside it looks like this ... ... and outside like that 🙂 Rods pulled out, gaps of the frame filled and trimmed, it looks good for now. Instead of the polysterol sheet I used 300 gram paper cut in single planks. That could look like this. You can also see that the window crosses are difficult to paint. The window panes are also still intransparent black. But above all, the windows are difficult to align at an horizontal angle. Therefore a new system. Window frame with cross on a "carriage" that stands on the deck and thus guarantees height and angle. The window pane can then be added from behind and be secured by a small frame. Since these windows were square, and the decorative strip had to sit exactly at the top and bottom of the window, I put a piece of round rod in to align the decorative moulding. And it looks very cute 🙂 XXXDAn

A short look back: More than 5 years ago I started a 1910 Victory. The starboard side was already prepared, the test piece was already made, but then a slow full stop: it didn't work the way I wanted ... I wanted to glue the whole hull with 0.3 mm sheet plastic and engrave the plank edges. But the thin sheet becomes so wavy because of the glue that it had to be taken off again. I also wanted to make the decorative strip out of brass, but that didn't work either ... When I was building the cutaway sections, I also noticed that it is elementary for the whole appearance that the windows are properly aligned and the crosses are neatly mounted, both of which could only be done with extreme effort at that time. Aim was for that the rest should look as neat as this. So go back to start ... In good german tradition: Take a hammer, chisel and a rough file and start over again! XXXDAn

Nice, thank you! Is this another view of #16? Origin http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/63401.html XXXDAn

At least one thing that I am good with - the mess - says the best wife of all too 😉 XXXDAn

There always needs to be hammer on cliché pictures of model ship builders. Even when they're rigging. They're not that far off. Or to paraphrase Schiller, "What wilt thou with a hammer, speak!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp1z8EzZ5Hs XXXDAn *** I think we had that here on the forum once: Old picture, grandpa building the rigging of a cutter, grandson watching. At the table supporting the rigging work: THE HAMMER!

Thanks Tom! Small intermezzo, aka news from the shipyard: "Ouops, I did it again" ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CduA0TULnow XXXDAn

Thank you all for the kind comments! Very appreciated! After finishing the lower deck project, there was a short breather - the exhibition stood still for about 0.035 seconds - I immediately took advantage of the nice momentum and continued: New adventure: middle deck and beyond, projected construction time approx. 12 years (experience value) . The coamings of this area off site ... ... and on site, first fitting samples ... ... and for retrofitting for the folds so that the gratings don't fall onto the lower deck.... And then glue was put underneath the coaming and another public wait for the glue to set. Model making is soooooo exciting 🙂 ... and waiting ... And then it came, as it had to come, the public open heart surgery ... The stairs had to be lifted from below as for the fold of the coaming, the thread was to lift it up ... ... and the whole thing quickly-quickly ... ... without bumping into anything, because ... ... there was superglue at the bottom of the ladder. And then just let go of the line and done we are 🙂 Finally the coamings around the main hatch ... ... and some impressions of the finished area. Well, now I have to cut some more deck planks ... XXXDAn

In the meantime, all the deck beams were in place and the stove could be provisionally adjusted. The next stage was the area between the stove and the fore capstan. First, the capstan was removed and the bottom plate from the 1788 plans was added. No one has yet been able to tell me its purpose ... And then glue it in and press it ... ... and public waiting, oups, the life of a model maker can be sooooo exciting ... And with that, something had happened that no one had ever dared to dream of, that no one had thought was humanly possible, something earth-shattering: This was the last piece to be fixed on the lower gundeck. Herewith I call this adventure finished 🙂 It was only 12 years since October 2009 for the lower gun deck 😉 Respectfully, with kind regards, Daniel Fischer (out of town after dictation)

Due to the stress of the end of the year, I never found the time to record what has happened in the meantime ... The last work with the deck beams was only the prelude, the overture, even the prelude to greater things! So read and be amazed, truly unexpected things were going to happen! For the force was with me! But first things first. In mid-November the stupid virus got me, but thanks to vaccination only a mild course. Thus "boosted", it was an easier decision for me to help the colleagues from the club at the booth during the games fair in Stuttgart. As those were public handicraft lessons, my small one with the yellow and black lines that make her look slim was supposed to look pretty. With all the battle damage removed, into the car with all my other children - "Are we there soon?" "I feel sick" "I'm hungry!" "I have to pee!" and so on - and otherwise uneventful drive to the fair to set up 🙂 The booth of the [i]Arbeitskereis historischer Schiffsbau[/i] ... ... and the corner with all my bits and pieces. Because remember, fun is the fair life if: - you can send the offsprings to the "Reeperbahn" ... - and there is enough food for the fight 🙂

Thanx Tom, a man has to do what a man has to do 😉 XXXDAn

But also bigger things happened, but never had the time to report. The force was with me! But before it was back to the model again 🙂 Repairing battle damage. I had simply installed the first beams without pre-bending but under tension, the correct curve was so automatically achieved, and it had worked quite well. At that time. What was not considered: Wood works, and in the meantime the beams had simply become longer and they were suddenly 2 mm higher and had even taken the supports with them :-≠ Removal of the whole beam was not possible without too much collateral damage, so a cut was made in the middle with the resin saw ... ... and sawed out the overhang and ... ... it fits again 🙂 Accordingly, the coamings of the middle deck could finally be continued. Also the small kitchen could finally get its foundation. And the tiler was also there. So things are happening again in the state of Victory 🙂 Greetings, DAniel