dafi

Hello again, looking for the set of Victorys bobstays. Especially then foremost one. The two inner bobstays are lead into holes in the knee of the head and then spliced. For many years the Vic in P had the foremost bobstay - officially allowed from 14th May 1800 on - with long legs, equal in length. A round seizing holds the legs together where they touch the foreside of the knee of the head. They then diverge. The ends have a thimble and hook spliced in by which they were attached to exye bolts inth bows just below the lower deck. (Longridge) This con be seen on the reverse sleeve of Longridge´s book "Anatomy of Nelson´s ships" Here the picture that Longridge uses and the same on the Vic in P. Since the last restauration, the long legs were skipped for a third hokle for the stay just underneath the other two ones. Also this is shown in ZAZ0513 with is indicated to show Victory in 1803 but where I strongly believe this was HMS Union of 96 guns. Netherthekless, this model is giving good hints for the Victory of 1803. Which is the more plausible version for 1803? All the best, Daniel

And the adventure continued. Many attempts were made to dress the thin ropes: first rope wrapped in the classic way, various diameter combinations, resulting in extremely high workload, extremely high rejects, when bending around the blocks the tapes broke open and above all: it looked like crap somehow ... I also wrapped the thinnest wire with copper thread and blackened it, the same result, but it looked even crappier. After many attempts, I decided to use an imitation with 3 layers of white glue and black paint for the dressing of the thin ropes. Then it was on to the impressive head gear. First comes the collar for the bobstay, then starboard and then port shroud and in front of that the stays of the foremast. Three of these rows of cleats have to be filled. The hearts were tied into the stays using the same binding principle as the thimbles. I still had to feel my way around the first one ... ... and the next ones went very quick 🙂 The tying of the collars was again a good fiddling job, because the tying does not slip or even out. You just have to get it right from the start. But when I thought that was fiddling, open-heart surgery was performed, even though these hearts were closed: The tying of the lanyards into the hearts. Because the hearts only have one big opening with 4 grooves and no separate holes, you have to secure the rope with glue after each new loop so that the lanyard doesn't jump out of the groove again. But once you've done that, the sight is just sha 🙂 This was the first of the 3 collars, two more to go 🙂 XXXDAn

When I was working on the main yard, I noticed that I was missing good jeer blocks. So I programmed and printed some right away. And the hearts for the stays and the head gear also came with them. And since that went so well, the other special blocks were also added, here the shoulder and sheet blocks. In the past, I had made the thimbles from pierced and drawn sprue at great effort. Printed is quicker and cleaner and above all more true to size. Then the moment of truth: Binding the thimbles, here the 1.75 mm size: Apply a drop of superglue with an applicator to the back of the thimble in the groove ... ... and hook the rope into the groove at the back of the thimble and pull it forward. Then I pressed the rope together at the front with some glue using tweezers and pinned the thread for the splice imitation at the desired distance from the thimble and fixed it with slow super glue. Then knot the two ends alternately at the top and bottom, always moving the knots in the direction of the thimble until the gap was closed. Then the final knot was secured with glue and cut off the excess lengths. With the pointed tweezers it goes really fast. Using an almost dry brush, brush on some black paint to cover up any light glue residue. Then cut open one of the hooks from my etched parts set at the eye, bent it open and inserted it, ... ... bent shut and that's it. Here are the patterns for 2 mm, 1.75 mm and 1.5 mm. They are also used in a not entirely uncritical place, the bumkin shrouds. It is difficult here to produce the right lengths so that it fits on both sides and also looks the same. Here, the shoulder block for the foresail's tack is tied in. This is then the set. And this is how it looks in place. XXXDAn

Somehow I always like screwing myself. Like when I enthusiastically ordered the crew to the heads for their relief. I had simply put aside all the heads gear :-0 So I put the sling for the gammoning over the bowsprit and threaded all the lashings with the 50 cm long and still quite balky rope through the crew like this ... ... so that no one felt inconvenienced in their businesses or even knocked off their thrones. Somehow I actually managed without any accidents. Afterwards, I had brushed the gammoning minimally with white paint to match the colour of the rest of the appearance. When I looked at the lower edge of the gammoning, I noticed the hawse pipes. I had already had the pleasure of looking at an original of the St. George in Thorsminde. These were made of lead with a nice bead around the outside. It took me a few attempts to find the right material for it. I ended up with 0.4 mm copper wire, which was hammered flat to lose the wire character. Fitted, glued on ... ... and painted. XXXDAn

A completely different construction project that I've been sneaking around for a long time: I finally got to work on the main yard. All fittings were better articulated ... ... the lunettes for the stun´sail spars come from my etched parts set ... ... and as always: The colour makes the difference 🙂 According to Lee, in wartime the rope hangers were replaced by a chain. I think 1803 to 1805 might count as wartime. I still made the chain hanger the right length and added a shackle to make it easy to hook and unhook the yard. And only in the sideways position you can really see what a big hulk it was :-0 Our little dreamy midshipman has also returned to his favourite spot. XXXDAn

Why noble? Just a hard working englisch officer 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pasco XXXDAn

Thank you Gentlemen for the likes! In our German forum there was a serious reference to the uniforms of the two gentlemen. Both gentlemen without headgear? A "Ça ne va pas" as the Italian would say. The headgear was an integral part of the uniform and could officially only be removed indoors. And the laps of the uniform were too short, or the slit not high enough. Well, let's make Lt. Pasco happy :-) In the meantime, I've had enough practice building those little hats. Then I extended the laps upwards, removed the white border at the bottom and both men are well behated. Instead of the detached hat on the flag box, a flagbook or notebook ended up there. I hope that Lieutenant Pasco can now go about his duties with peace of mind :-) XXXDAn

In the meantime, Lieutenant John Pasco and his assistant have also arrived at their workplace on the poop deck. The canvas curtains in front of the flag lockers have been drawn back ... ... but oh horror, they are all empty! So quickly placed a bulk order of the current signal flags, 64 pieces, carved from 1.5 x 1.5 mm plastic strip, about 2 mm long, in the colors of the 1803 signal flags. Then covered the hull so no one would get hit by falling flags in the gunroom ... ... and generously assisted him in filling it. One more brief inspection of the result ... ... the flags at the top of the locker secured with weight bags to prevent them from flying away ... ... and he can prepare his flags well ... ... for, after all, it will be him who will translate Nelson's pre-battle greetings to his fleet into usable signals: "England expects that every man will do his duty." XXXDAn

dafi Post subject: Re: To HMS Victory and beyond http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/styles/subsilver2/imageset/icon_post_target.gifPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2023 3:21 am http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/styles/subsilver2/imageset/en/icon_user_online.gif http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/avatars/gallery/MW-custom/shipyard%20worker.gif Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:13 am Posts: 865 Location: Ludwigsburg/Germany It went meanwhile to the hammock tinkering. I rolled the hammocks as already seen of my cut versions with spacers out of Fimo into the right diameter and rolled in the structure with a rake, folded and baked them. A little color ... ... and shading ... and whoopee into the hammock cranes ... ... and ready it is. From the quarterdeck it looks like this. Maybe I'll send the guys to wash the hammocks some more, the washing is a bit heavy, but how clean were the mats actually back then, so before the days of washing machines and chlorine bleach? XXXDAn

Nowadays at the Vic in P., the rudder pendant goes up to the mizzen chains and is secured there with a toggle. There is an interesting detail on the contemporary model SLR0512 of the Victory: The rudder pendant goes up through the channel board to the poop deck, is routed aft at deck level, and is tied to a cleat further aft. This way, in an emergency, the line is quickly ready for use and does not have to be extended as it is today. A detail I wanted to install for a long time, now it was finally done 🙂 XXXDAn

And it was time for the next deck. A long time ago I had already prepared a poop deck. Even then I had reported the phenomenon that the decks slowly warped over months, always concave in relation to the wood, virtually hogging at deck level. Theoretically this is certainly appearing, but it was too much of a problem. This has happened to me three times now. Each time the original Heller part with superglue and 0.4 mm planks. And the thick plastic decks can only be straightened with extreme force. When trying to help with heat, the bending radius shifted to the middle of the plastic, which then led to bulges in the wood. Conclusion: (original) plastic decks that have been covered this way must be glued in immediately and really well, possibly secured on top in a different way. The other method is to mount the new parquet on a carrier medium and glue it down. I have often used paper or cardboard for this purpose, which can also be critical, as this carrier material has already split in its core, i.e. half adhered well to the subfloor and the other half well to the planks, just with a little distance to the original fixing point ... It wasn't so tragic after all, as this deck would have covered too much of the inside views anyway. So I built a new deck cut-out. A long time ago I had also made the railing of the cabin deck to look like Turner's drawings. Now it can finally be installed 🙂 Here are a few test hammocks, the real hammocks are still to come, the ones folded in the middle should fit in. And then the rear end, everything was already there 🙂 The stern can be removed via magnets for a better view. Something done again! XXXDAn

Thank you Sirs, very appreciated! It's been a long time, in 2016 I had already discovered the axionometer on the 1765 model of the Victory with the help of my forum colleagues. Since the display can be discovered on Turner's afterdeck view and can also be seen on other contemporary models, I had already installed the display on two of my models back then. Now that Nelson has arrived on his Victory, it was time for me to take care of it again. If you look at the contemporary models with axionometer, only a version with a rope transmission comes into question. In the front area of the rudder wheels, there is no additional drum visible on English ships, so I put it in the back. The rope transmission is analogous to French systems, from which the system was originally copied. I have calculated the diameter of the drum and it kindly agrees with the French systems. For simplicity, I took a virgin steering wheel for pre-assembly. The display with its markings was also quickly built. For the rope guidance I misused the wheel holder of my carronades. So that the sheave also has air for the rope, I made a spacer from 0.3 mm wire. Some paint on it and the rollers were finished Then as usual put my cotton pad underneath so dirt and parts don't disappear into the depths. But I should have packed the whole room in absorbent cotton, because one of those dark 1 cubic millimeter pieces jumped away, of course, because I took the wrong tweezers with flexible jaws. With a flashlight held flat, I was actually able to quickly retrieve the part. All the well-meaning gods involved were praised and lauded! The ends still properly trimmed and everything is ready http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif XXXDAn

Brief review: 21 November 1805: Nelson falls in an encounter with the French, famously off Trafalgar 21 November 2018: Nelson falls again at an encounter with the French, this time at Rochefort, falling into the hands of an unknown man who pressed him to an unknown destination. Here is the last picture just before the loss. But first things first. This was the last stand of the too small steering wheel planking http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif In the meantime, a larger piece of planking had already been built. Also more deck beams were already in place. But the beam to which the steering tackle is attached was pressed down a bit by the planks and the tackle became slack as a result. So once again entering deep into the guts ... ... and fixed the tackle so that I could be tightend after gluing the planking into place. I even shortened a brush to be able to put the paint in the right place http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif The stub is there as the tackle doesn't run parallel due to the rudder drum. And now it's time to be strong. It was the turn of Nelson and Hardy's new build. Nelson is a cross-dresser, as you can see. Surgically altered a bit, as they say. The other guys have also arrived, the lieutenant with his speaking trumpet and the two helmsmen, dressed a little more formally than the rest of the crew. As we have very calm seas right now there are only 2 present. And then they were already allowed onto their playfield. And this time he came to stay, brave little Horatio! XXXDAn

Thank you druxey, very appreciated! I found in my notes that Implacable´s capstan was build around 1820/1830 following some sources out of the Meseum in Rochefort. Unfortunately the source/link that gave the information has vanished. I added this detail in #9. XXXDAn

As for the bars: Goodwin´s Construction and Fitting tells: "one third of the vessel´s extreme beam" I think that is too general, because on different decks the available widths for the bars were different. This is the lower Deck, 10 sailors easily fit plus 2 on the swifter. The length is tetermined by the guns arranged flat against the hull. This is about the 1/3 of the extreme beam. On the middle deck the bars have to be shorter, only 6 sailors fit plus 1 on the swifter. The number corresponds with the famous drawing of the NMM. Also a point in consideration is the placement of the pillars on the deck. How many of them were to be taken out to allow the bars to rotate? So the pink circle is mandatory. The green circle is 2 more and the blue one 4 more to be taken out. The red one is the maximum considering the guns. As well known, this was more complicated on the british ships, as the beams needed to be lifted with the help of a jack. 🙂 Blaise Olivier was joking about that as the french had iron pillars that were hinged and could be swung up. I looked at all available contemporay models showing the capstan bars. All of them kept clear the guns and followed a pragmatic solution, considering the circumstances. That is how I defined the length on my model. XXXDAn PS: And some small views, how cramped and claustrophobic the situation was once beams and knees were added.

Here is the capstan from Implacable, as seen in the Museum de la Marine in Rochefort 🙂 Fits quite well with drawing Gregory shows. It is the one the british installed after the capture of the french ship. I have one note that it was about 1820/1830 but the source vanished (https://www.patrimoine-histoire.fr/Patri...e-la-Marine.htm). It was retrieved before the demolition and scuttling of the ship. XXXDAn

That was from Kiel to Denmark and strolling around the area for about 5 days 🙂 XXXDAn

After some questions came here a few quick shots 🙂 YES, the view from up there is gigantic! Downwards too 🙂 But most of the crew were just looking up 😉 But there in front it is not bad either. Especially when the Bonnie has gone into the net with you - nice play on words 🙂 Because it's homey there too, the waves dance below you and you can see the whole ship. By the way, this is the old lady we were on. And when I say "we", I mean us 8 mates from our german forum www.Segelschiffsmodellbau.com ... ... and we had 3 of our wives with us as well, so a third of the crew came from modelers' stock :-) Dear greetings, Daniel

Thank you Sirs, very appreciated! I have been absent for some time. This is my favorite picture of this trip 🙂 XXXDAn

And here a scale bigger on Hermione, from their FB site 🙂 XXXDAn

Thank you Keith for the video. This also nicely demonstrates the use of the 2 holes in Constitutions rudder 🙂 PS: Strange the link ends on Page 1 entry #1. Please refer to Page 38 entry #1140 🙂 All the best, DAniel

The ever curious modeler's eye certainly did not miss it in the last picture: Next step were then the crews at the capstan. In my stock of pre-Frankensteiners I still had a pack of cheap copies of Preiser figures that I had once received as a gift. For single figures too sloppy reproduced, in the bunch I thought still quite useful. So once again I broke bones and mixed everything up. Since I quickly noticed that I would have been lost with single figures, I had built a sample capstan bar for the assembly. And it came what had to come: Bones were broken, joints were twisted, heads were chopped off and put on again. Especially that with correct posture the arms were stretched under the bar and that the pressure was transferred with the chest, was a little tricky in the assembly. This posture prevented kinetic energy from building up when the bars struck backwards, the bars could not hit the guys in the chest area with force. So they were simply pushed backwards with less risk of injury. Since the space on the capstan bars is quite tight, the guys were glued together right away in six-packs, because I wouldn't have been able to fit them together inside of the ship. Then the sixpacks were sent to dress. Thereby I remembered again a small detail, which is shown on a contemporary document. The inner 5 men are red dressed Marins, the outer man at the bar is a blue dressed sailor. There is also a bluecoat at the swifter, the circulating rope that stabilizes the bars. This had the advantage as the marines could not do anything else except shoot, turn and pull were stuck in the middle, while the highly qualified sailors could quickly get out and away for maneuvers if necessary. So the inner five guys conjured up short coattails, painted and also provided for the white belts. A few had allowed themselves suit relief, the jackets and belts hang afterwards over the guns shoved to the side. Fit trials outside then looked like this. First test fittings looks still quite fluffy. But you can already see one thing, the expected fiddler sitting on the capstan drum does not fit there because of the next deck. One coan see, it works with the guns, tight fit, but it works. But it gets more claustrophobic once the deck beams are added. But it still gets much tighter, the knees are still missing. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif Once the knees were added, it was a squeeze fit, no more air to press out, but it fits. No more surplus air in there ... XXXDAn

A long time ago, I had once packed the night house and the steering wheel on a small vignette to protect them, but this small deck then broke in the middle. Fortunately without further damage to the important parts. So the thought was to glue the parts back together, put two deck beams into the hull, the vignette on top and all is tidied up and safe. So I reinforced the bottom of the vignette because of the crack and placed it on the deck beams, fixed tiller rope underneath and rejoiced. Then I noticed that the rudder was then no longer moving, especially the tiller was nice to look at so far. So what follows: Demolition of the just built. The plan was to run the tiller rope in a loop under the night house to keep the movability. But the rope was already short trimmed ... So I threaded the old rope back, threading an auxiliary thread through it to thread the new one in. Was tricky, but worked. Then the new rope was in quickly and the loop was laid quickly too. But what a mess. The friction in the system was too high, rudder and tiller could not be moved. FUHUCK! Sewing machine oil didn't help either. Why? The friction just allowed to move the rudder when pulling on one side of the rope, but with the added other side, it was now just too much for the system. So the new rope with auxiliary thread were threaded out again and the old threaded back in ... But it still was a good decision, as the guys in the gunroom can no longer bang their heads against the tiller. Due to the thick skulls down there, the tiller sweep was already limited for a long time anyway. Ok, mobility is missing, but so there are at least no blokes that would have literally been knocked off the their stools. But in the meantime the small piece of deck looked a bit piddly to me, so it followed what had to follow - demolition: dafi is back in the modeler's life.

To warm up and get into the groove, I finally gave the Brodie Stove its colors. Since more than 2 years it stands a bit naked on the middle deck ... ... so I sprayed it a little black and put a touch of graphite on it ... ... and up to the place with it http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif XXXDAn

Here we go again, here we go, here we go, here we go. Awakened from the slumber, she is, my little chubby one with the black and yellow stripes that make slim. She wants to become pretty. Last September weekend, this sweetie wants to go out to party, wants to party in Amsterdam, in the ship museum. She is looking forward to it, and I am looking forward to it 🙂 XXXDAn