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So let the story unfold :-) First of all is a good research, changes are based on the usual suspects: "HMS Victory" from Alan McGowan," The 100-Gun Ship Victory (Anatomy of the Ship Series") by John McKay and lots more books. I had three visits on the ship, one guided tour with a handsome officer who had to answer all my curious questions: poor bloke ;-) Therefore I have tons of pictures in the various stages of the presentation of the ship: sterndavits yes-no, namesign with cartouche and without, hammok nettings natural or black, chainplates yellow-black and pure black and so on ... I tend not to be a rivet counter and take my artistic freedom on what I call "my" interpretation of the model, but I usually try to research facts as best as I can and be able to relate onto reliable sources. But you know it is easy to build a Victory that is close to the original: one just has to know what day, best to know the hour as things sometimes change fast ... The changes of the pre 2008 period were: Side entry and first version of the steps The painting was done with Humbrol/Revell and not really cleand up yet. To get even distance I used a Dremel in a stand with a 1 mm milling cutter The painting was done with Revell/Humbrol but not cleand up yet. Then came a break that I took to reconsider a lot of details.

Once upon a time ... Better saying in 2002 I started my Victory as a side project to my Soleil Royal. The next years I finished painting the sides, fixed the Stern and the galleries fixed the lower gundeck and worked on the side entry ports an the steps – even though I personally believe they weren´t there at Trafalgar, it is s toooooo nice detail to skip :-) Also fixed plenty of small details that I will still show here. Came start of end of 2008 and I got my Soleil mostly finished and – more important – got my working space right. and this is where the craziness startet. So please give me some time to slowly catch up and put you up to the story: This was the state in end of 2008: This is the state a mere 2 years later. And now in 2013 ... still working on the lower deck ... What happend before, in between and what is still to come will be part of this story ... Greetings Daniel

Late summer 1805, the sun is burning inexorably from above, the wind is completely asleep, the sea is smooth as glass. The dispatches have already been exchanged. The master of the small cutter has just returned to his tiny vessel. Behind it there is towering the enormously massiv silhouette of the huge black and ocher striped three decker. Through the open gunports the lashed up guns can be seen. Also the officers' cabins ports are wide opened by the order of the Captain's to ensure an optimal ventilation of the hot and steamy lower decks. Clatter of activity on some guns being ran out cuts through the silence. The rumble of the heavy guns rolling over the decks and the trampling of countless bare feet and the short shouted commands supported by a multitude of hand signs originate from the ordered gundrill for new gun crews and their officers. In competition between the three decks they are fighting for the fastest rate of firing. The rest of the ships crew is occupied with cleaning and mending duties. The holystone are scratching on the decks. Above all the sails hang slack in their yards. No breath of wind moves them. They are nestled heavily over stays and fighting tops. The captain took advantage of the hot calm to put up all the canvas possible for airing. One of the studdingsails is taken in, the spar tied up with its inner end against the shrouds, in order to mend something on its fittings. Sitting on a swing seat pendent from the fore top, a crew member just is finishing painting over with ocher the originally black coloured mast loops. On the poop Captain Hardy monitors the young cadets´ training in navigation, supported by Lord Nelson, who uses the opportunity to entertain the cadets with stories of his actions and the ideas of his tactical concepts. But in the back of everybodys mind there is just one question - When will there be wind again ...