Ian_Grant

Yes, I can see those numbers on the internet too and no wonder Bill is confused. I can assure you both that Victory is more than 6" wide. That might be the hull itself, maybe (?), but the main yard with studding sail booms is much longer. The width I gave was for my model which is "bare sticks" with booms stowed. If you want to rig it sailing with studding sails set it would be much wider. As for the 44" long I don't know where that comes from either. That value exceeds the length of my case which has 1-1/2" to 2" of space at each end of the model. Perhaps if one had a large flag streaming aft on the ensign staff?

I built a rather larger motorized German Panther tank when I was a kid. In my teens I got into RC boats, then RC sail. My peak came when I scratch built an RC schooner. Needing a winch to control the braces of the square topsails, I ripped the drive assembly out of the Panther and mounted it under the main hatch, as here: This photo was taken a while ago, after many years of dust-gathering by the "Charlotte Rhodes". The model would not tack properly; I decided I had placed the fin too far aft; I then left for university and the model never got wet again. By the way for the fore-and-aft winch I used my monstrous sail winch from the 80's which generated about 21 lbs of pull but was about the size of three hockey pucks. How times have changed! Here is the whole boat. It was clad in 1/32" plywood soaked in water, my mom made the sails. Not bad for a teenaged kid. Good times!

Kevin that's pretty amazing looking for TinkerCAD, love all the leafy greenery and I have no idea how you did that. Funny you should mention the SR. When I finished Victory I had a stash of two ships to choose from: Soleil Royale and Preussen. The SR is beautifully engraved but there are as always it seems with Heller's ships some big problems. The underwater hull is hard to believe; there seems very little "curve of the bilge" near the stern meaning there's no buoyancy right where the hugely tall and presumably heavy stern juts up. The topmasts are too long, and the crosstrees are an odd construction to my eye. Anyway I decided I couldn't face another 5-year build so similar to Victory (100 guns, deadeye rigging, mods required) so I started on Preussen. It will be another beauty when completed. As for the SR, when the time comes, I'm torn between her and building an RC square rigger. I would love to have one, I still have my 50/800 sailboat I sailed in my teens. If the SR it will be a waterline build, or I'll cut the underwater hull off and add a "strake". I may not have enough years left to do both 🙂

Hello Kevin! You won't remember me, but we joined Pete Coleman's website on almost the same day and exchanged a few messages. Glad to see you're back on the build; I had wondered where you had got to! I was just finishing my Victory as Pete's web site disappeared so I put a few build log pics on here. She took me 5 years so you are not far behind ;-) Your printed entry port looks great! I am currently working on a Heller "Preussen" and trying to get some 3D printed parts too. In my case my brother is the one with the printer, albeit 400 km away. In this kit the ladders are deficient plus my stern railing was bent and broken so I used TinkerCAD to draw some replacements. Hope they turn out as well as yours! I suppose you're using more advanced mesh software? You're bringing new ideas to the Victory kit. Will be interested to see what you come up with next. Best Regards, Ian

Bill, I have built one. It measures about 38" long, 28" tall, and 14" wide. I say "about" because it's a bit hard to judge exactly as I have it cased. To give you an idea about displaying one, its case measures 43-1/2" x 29-1/2" x 17".

Just for laughs I worked on a Jarvis brace winch in TinkerCAD. The supplied Heller winches seem too low down to me; it's as if they forgot that sailors need to crank them around too. I drew a winch which provides a crank at the same height as the wheel on the halliard winches, and made the overall assembly about 1.5mm wider (viewed from the sides) after first ensuring that there is clear deck space for this slight enlargement. I kept the width athwartships the same so as to use the same two mounting holes in the deck. Here is a screenshot. It is sitting on a 1mm grid so you can appreciate how tiny it is. The different colours are components I envision as separately printed before final assembly. The yellow represents some 0.6mm OD brass rod. Of course it's one thing to draw it and another thing to successfully print it. Opinions on odds of success, anyone? Haven't shown it to my brother yet as he's a busy guy and I am already waiting for the railing print 😉 God knows how the gear teeth would turn out. And before I receive a flood of messages, yes I know the gears could not mesh with their flanges as depicted; I wanted a circular base on which to print each toothed gear. I could have flipped the central large gear by making it another distinct part, but at this scale why bother? And they may prove to be totally unprintable anyway. I messed around for pretty much an entire day on this, more than I wanted to but the CAD brings out the ex-engineer in me. Gears are none too easy to draw in TinkerCAD as I couldn't find a "primitive" for them. Perhaps there is one in there somewhere but mine are a manual effort.

I've been quiet for a while due to reno jobs; one lady hired me to make her a dresser which was quite fun as furniture commissions are rare for me. I have been working on solving two nagging Preussen problems i.e. Heller's unsuitable ladders, and my ruined stern railing. I've emailed Heller four times about a railing replacement without any reply. The ace up my sleeve is that my brother has a 3D printer so I decided to try to create CAD drawings for these parts. I used TinkerCAD which is a free online CAD tool. After watching a few tutorials (not those provided by TinkerCAD which are useless for a neophyte) I was able to produce some .stl files which I sent to my brother to print. He says the ladders came out clean, though he was laughing at the tiny amount of filament required (3 cents worth for a dozen ladders), but I only just sent him the railing file. Here are some screen captures of the 3D drawings. This is a modified Heller ladder in which I just added some triangular wedges at the ends to orient the miters in the correct direction. This is a ladder inspired by those in the pictures of the Preussen model Miki sent me above. I drew it after measuring the total rise with calipers since Heller's ladders seem a tad short. The upper step is meant to be flush with the upper deck it runs to as in the model. Here is my rendition of the stern railing. Unfortunately I could not get the "torus" shape to work for my tubular rails because when I stretched the torus in x and y to match the non-circular-segment curve of the railing, it distorted the diameter of the actual outer ring; in other words I hoped to enter the desired rail diameter and it would just stay at that as I stretched the torus but the diameter too scaled in weird ways. As you can see I ended up creating the rail segments as individual lengths of cylinders, suitably rotated. Fortunately it was easy to duplicate them once I had one fitting between stanchions. I had to add sphere shapes at the tops of the stanchions to fillet out the butting cylinder ends. I know nothing about 3D printing, not sure how Andrew will print this with supports after slicing. I'm hoping the supports are relatively easy to cut off as the part will be delicate. Can't wait to see how it turns out, and how accurate I managed to be. Not to be overly cocky, but now I'm wondering about making some better looking Jarvis winches 🙂 Other than that I've just been painting some future parts. Anything to put off trying to fashion brass trusses.

Thank you Miki for the pictures of the other model Preussen. Looks nice! I'm not looking forward to tying all the clove hitches for ratlines on five masts! Do you think the lower mast stays shown are accurate, with both sides running separately as opposed to being seized together at each end (more like the topmast stays)? I see this modeller installed chain futtocks whereas I depict solid bar. Wonder what they really were? Wonder how this modeller ultimately routed the lower braces to the winches? Speaking of which, look at the detail on those brace winches! I love the wire railings on the after storm gangway, and I see the auxiliary bridge lacks those mystery "buckets" Heller molded in. Perhaps I will just cut those edges off. This model's deck furniture is painted in the more sombre tones recommended by Heller, not "flashy" like mine 🙂 Are going to put a "Pamir" build log on the forum? I'd like to watch your progress. Speaking of which, does your kit have the same problematic ladders as mine? (See my earlier post).

Welcome Miki to my large group of followers! 🙂 😉 And thanks for pointing out the differences between Pamir and Passat; interesting! Nice to have a flying-P expert at hand! I'd love to visit one of these museum ships someday, perhaps in a trip also including the Wasa. I know Viking is now a hotel in Gothenburg, and Moshulu is now a (shudder) restaurant in Philly. Have you read "The Last Grain Race" which is a first-hand account of Moshulu's participation in the 1939 grain race from Australia to UK? Very good read!

Things are looking up! Marten has very kindly replied to my P.M. with the information that those little rails on deck were for the sailors to brace their feet instead of sliding into the scuppers when hauling ropes, and that the brace winches were definitely in front of the masts. No ropes are looped under the rails, that is a Heller-ism. Thank you Marten! So I will rig the braces according to Underhill, with the exception that lead blocks will have to be under the mast top in order to pass down to the brace winches in front of mast without interfering with course or its yard or truss. Also found nice shots of "Preussen" model for those interested: http://www.steelnavy.com/Preussen48.htm Some nice deck shots here. Heller badly mis-shaped the capstans but at this point I will just leave them.

Speaking of those great photos, now that I am nearing completion of deck furniture and thinking ahead to prepare for rigging, I've suddenly noticed that the Jarvis brace winches on this model are placed in front of each mast, which is contrary to Underhill's brace routing diagram ("Masting and Rigging: Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier". Note: the mizzen has a brace winch both in front and behind, to handle braces for the main and jigger. The "Passat" photos, and another I found of "Pommern", clearly show the brace winches abaft the masts, in agreement with Underhill. In my 1st or 2nd post I mentioned a site with Preussen's belaying plan; this shows the winches ahead of the masts, as on the model. Concern is that after the braces pass through leading blocks near the mast top above the winch, they pass more or less vertically down to the winch. Would they not interfere with the courses, if winch is ahead of mast? I don't know whether to modify the deck plan or not. Can anyone advise? More investigation/help required. Maybe I do need to buy that German book on "Preussen".

Still don't know definitively about those rails in front of the pin rails. However, I did come across some nice pictures of Passat's rigging. She does not seem to have the rails. Was also interested to see the shot of the bows, showing the figurehead mostly white with Ferdinand Laeisz's initials in red. Heller instructs to just paint it gold. I may redo it but it would have been easier off the hull. Pictures of bowsprit guys are also helpful since Heller's "instructions" about them are a bit confusing Interesting to see such things as copper domes on navigation light housings, the ship's bell, which Heller does not mention. No evidence of steering cables running along decks but they may have been removed as a tripping hazard; lots of her rigging is omitted too now. I wonder if that's the Heller Passat model cased in the lounge? http://www.jans-sajt.se/contents/Navigation/Galleries/Germany_Passat.htm

Another little update. I keep thinking of things I could do instead of attempting to solder some brass trusses. Talk about procrastination. I decided to use the same micro brass tubing and etched eyelets to form the futtocks and linkages for the topmast shrouds. The lower ends of the three futtocks have the same etched brass eyes, through which passes the copper eyebolt cemented into a hole drilled in the mast. I should have decided how to do these earlier; it would have been easier before gluing the copper eyes and/or the mast tops in place, but it worked out because this very small tube is easily cut and not so easily kinked. Just need to duplicate on the other four masts, and some sort of version for the topmast futtocks and topgallant shrouds. That will burn up another 88 etched eyes I hope I have enough for this model.

For anyone still reading, Heller provides these low metal rails along the deck in front of the pin rail sections where the shrouds and backstays exist, rather like the foot rail on a bar, or so I've heard. According to them ropes come from aloft and pass under these rails then up to their belaying pins. Is this accurate i.e. did these rails exist? I would think it would be hard to belay ropes on the pins with a wall of them going down to the deck just in front. I'll have a look through what books I have on windjammer rigging but if anyone knows definitively that would be great! Thanks, Ian

Bill, I just used 0.6mm O.D. micro brass tube, available from Albion Alloys (MBT06). It comes in sets of three ~12" lengths in plastic tubes. Easily cut with an exacto knife. The etched brass eyelets are glued in to the ends. Available from various model suppliers, for example: https://www.model-dockyard.com/acatalog/Caldercraft_Period_Eyepins.html These eyes are immensely useful, for example I cut all those nubbies off the bowsprit and replaced with some of these eyes glued into drilled holes. I also used many to form the mast stay attachment points at caps etc. Note too the copper eyelets listed below the etched brass at M.D.; they can come in handy too and are almost exactly the same size as the plastic eyebolts supplied with Heller models like Victory, Soleil Royale, and our current efforts. Useful to avoid a plastic eye breaking as you are rigging!

A quick update - I finished the 146 renditions of rigging screws for shrouds and backstays. This photo shows what they look like, passing down to the deck inside the bulwarks. A big improvement, I think, on Heller's suggested small loops of thread passed through the pinrail holes with knots trapped underneath. I'm getting close to some serious rigging. Just need to form brass yard trusses somehow and oh,... figure out what thread to use. I have three sizes of chain too with probable need to order more of whichever I choose. Probably the 42 link/inch at this scale.

Bill, I already did but no reply yet. Maybe they're in a Covid shutdown. Maybe they just whisked a part into the mail without bothering to reply. I don't know. My French isn't up to phoning them. Since it is the stern railing, and accessible at any time, I suppose I can wait.

It's taking less time than I thought to produce my "shroud turnbuckles". Tedious though. Cut 146 short lengths of 0.6mm OD brass tube and glued an etched brass eyelet into one end of each. There are two lengths - the shorter for the bridge and poop decks where they attach right to deck level, the longer for those which pass through a well deck pin rail and thence to deck. Photo below after most of the shorter ones are glued in. For the poop deck I added small strips of white-painted evergreen over Heller's original holes in the deck, because the tubing is undersized for the holes and I didn't want a glue mess flowing onto my deck. Photo below shows starboard side, unfortunately out of focus as my old camera couldn't zoom in well. You can see the brass with eyes, all at odd angles since they ascend to different locations up the jigger mast. I'll be painting them white. The ones on the bridge deck are secured and painted first coat of white. Again, sorry for the focus. I had a little trouble setting them all at the same height while wearing my headband magnifier. Again, all at individual angles which I set roughly by eye but I will be be bending them later which should not be a problem with these tiny tubes.

Bill, that's a great idea! I will try to contact them about it although I only know the part number in the Preussen kit. I was thinking of asking my brother if he could 3-D print one for me; not sure of the capabilities of his printer, resolution-wise. I was also going to ask him about making me some "iron" sheet blocks......... Thanks again for your help! Looking forward to your "Potosi" log..... Best Regards, Ian

Bill, thanks for your kind words and encouragement. I remember reading a thread, probably somewhere in model ship world, where the author advocated buying a "Cap Horn" (less popular and apparently much cheaper than Preussen on ebay or whatever) and simply converting the jigger mast to square rig and hey presto! - a Preussen. I was aware of Potosi but I thought it was the only 5M barque ever in the grain/nitrate fleets. Apparently as a barque much more manageable than Preussen. Since you have Cap Horn, perhaps you can help me on something. The photo below shows an auxiliary bridge attached to the after storm gangway. The square hole accommodates a ladder up from the after well deck. The central hole is for a second binnacle. Holes near the edges are for stanchions. Do you have any idea what those bucket-like objects along the two sides, outside of the railing, could be? One final comment: my model kit arrived with the curved stern railing twisted and broken. Broken I could patch, but twisted would be impossible to glue onto the stern properly. I figured if I could heat the plastic to soften it I might be able to undo the twist. Well I put it in hot water (I recall some of my old lego blocks getting distorted when I used to take "submarines" I had made into the tub with me). I put the railing in a pot on the stove. I kept pulling it out and it was never getting malleable then suddenly it just collapsed and melted/distorted. I sent a message to the Heller website for a part replacement but I have heard nothing. Anyone - does Heller still exist? Is there somewhere I can get a replacement part? Thanks, Ian

Let's see, where was I?.......I have the bulwark pin rails attached and painted in the well decks. Here is the model with the lower parts of all five masts dropped in. I spent some time making notes about all the attachment points for mast stays...again....and I need to add yet more eyes for them at the lower and topmast caps. I dry attached the main topgallant mast to check the angles of some of the stays using a brass tube. I plan to cut these brass tubes into short lengths and glue in an etched eyelet to form rudimentary "turnbuckles", if rather one-ended. They'll pass through the pin rails and into holes drilled in the deck to emulate the attachments to hull plating not just bulwarks. For the pictures, I sat the top of the boiler house, which includes part of the forward storm gangway, in place. I actually added a piece of rigging, finally, on the anchor crane. Round the capstan three turns and coiled onto a bollard. I just stuck the hook on the railing. The shiny eyebolts will get some matt varnish later. Thanks to Marten's advice I also rigged the steering cables. I formed some guides from old Revell plastic blocks. I filed one face off a pair to form the guides at the rear of the bridge deck. Another two pairs were filed slightly shorter and attached to the after well deck using short lengths of brass rod. The steering cables pass through the after bulkhead. Here is the lettering at the stern. I added Ferdinand Laeisz's initials on the small shield at the centre for lack of a better idea. That's about it for now. I'll check in again when I have the "turnbuckles" completed. This could be a while; I'm busy working jobs and there are 146 shrouds and backstays on this ship.

I admit it's a while since I posted, but the Canadian summer is too short also people finally became comfortable with having me in their home to renovate as long as I wear a mask. When not working, the cottage beckons: swimming, sailing my dinghy, biking, canoeing, wine, rye and ginger......... I have made some progress and I did get the new camera battery. More coming soon........

I hope you get one rkwz! If you buy all of Daniel's etch sheets you will have a museum quality build. Just be sure to obtain a copy of "Anatomy of Nelson's Ships" by Longridge in order to rig properly.

Dear B.E. --- Thank you so much for taking the time to reassure me on the mizzen gaff!!! On my model the throat lies just above the blocks for the davit lifts, as it does in your photos. So that's great. I found when trying to set the angle of the gaff that the limiting factor was the aftermost catharpin, as opposed to the mizzen top. Even in Geoff Hunt's painting the gaff peak lies significantly higher than mine. Now I'm wondering if I set the mizzen futtock staves too low; I made them equivalent to the length of the doubling as for the other masts. I don't need to think long and hard about changing the futtock shrouds - no way, no how! Thank you again!

Alas! I have come to realize that my driver gaff is stepped too low on the mizzen mast! I recall at the time looking at pictures of how high the gaff peak reached compared to the mizzen topmast and wondering why mine could not go that high - I operated under the assumption that the gaff throat must be below the mizzen catharpins, in order for the gaff to be lowered if necessary. Now I think that it was stepped above the catharpins, just below the cro'jack yard and remained there when at sea unless damaged. If necessary the catharpin lashings could easily be cut to allow the gaff to be lowered temporarily. Fixing this would mean re-rigging the mizzen topgallant braces, the gaff peak and throat halyards, the gaff vangs, and more especially the gaff parral beads. It's easy to say but not very accessible to say the least; yet now that I've seen it I can't unsee it. What to do, what to do??