Vane

HMS Snake - 2nd build After picking up my modelship building hobby again (after many years of dorment) I decided to buy my second kit to have something to alternate with when doing the rigging on my first build Corel's HMS Victory in 1:98. It took a while to go through various brands and to decide which one to invest in. My first choice of doing the Victory was kind of naive and a typical newbie mistake. Dont get me wrong, I really love it and it has turned out ok. But I never finished it and modelling is learning by doing and everyone should start more easy is my recommendation. After discovering Caldercrafts Nelson Navy series it become a choice between several ships I found very beautiful. First I was tempted to go for the Diana or even the Agememnon but eventually i decided not to do the same as before and doing something too advanced. In the end it become a choice between the two mast HMS Cruiser or the slightly more advanced HMS Snake. I settled for the latter. It is basically the same model but the Snake is some kind of "special edition" of the Crusier with 3 masts and carronades. History According to Wikipedia, HMS Snake was launched in 1797 as the only member of her class of 18-gun brig-sloops. She captured or destroyed two French privateers and one Danish privateer. She also captured numerous small merchantmen, but spent time escorting convoys to and from the West Indies. She was sold in 1816. The Snake was the sole vessel of her class. This class was very business like with a flush deck and nine cannons or carronades each side, they were very fast and seaworthy. As originally built Snake had a full ordinance of 32 pounder carronades. Carronades replaced the carriage guns because at close quarters the short range carronades proved devastating to their opponents. Class dimensions were: length 100’; breadth 30’6”; displacement 382 tons with a crew of 121. Her designer was Sir William Rule. He produced two designs, one for a ship-sloop (Snake), and one for a brig-sloop (Cruizer) that differed only in their rigging. His designs were in competition with those of John Henslow, who produced the ship-sloop Echo and the brig-sloop Busy. Rule's brig-sloop design won. The Admiralty ultimately ordered 106 Cruizer-class brig-sloops. In 1811, the Navy converted Snake to a brig-sloop, making her indistinguishable from the Cruizer-class brig-sloops. The kit I order it from Cornwall model boats who shipped it quickly to Sweden. My first impression of the kit is really Good. Lots of details and pre fabricated wooden pieces. Caldercraft seem to have quite alot of different design solutions than Corel. The plans where more detailed but at te same time they come in huge size making them abit difficult to handle in my small kitchen "workshop". Two things on the negative side. The box was full of sawdust, perhaps not a major issue but it kind of gave a non quality impression. The second issue was that some of the Wood especially the walnut was not great. Very rough and edgy. A couple of the sticks were basically 50% of the material they should had been. This comes as a surprise considering that Caldercraft seem to be at the high end of kit manufactureers. The rest of the material seem to be fine.

I have been looking into the buildlogs for inspiration for my upcoming rigging work. There are a huge number of Victory models being built. But unfortunately, there are not many of the Corel version and most of those seem to have died during the build process. Anyone know where i can find lots of photos of the rigging and mast/yard details on a Corel HMS Victory 1:98?

A few thoughts on the kit itself. I bought it in the 90s so it might have been changed since then? Anyway, first the scale...1:98.. i would probably had prefered something much larger which could give Victory the details it deserves. However, then it would had been an enourmous model just to place in a room. Now its slightly longer than meter which is quite reasonable. But you miss out on the details and its trick to handle everything when building it. The plans are quite Good. Nicely drawn and I really like that they are many but not oversized. But there could had been more details and explanations in them. Especially regarding the size of things. Excellent quality of the wood. Lots of pre made stuff making it easy to build. Well besides from the masts and yards which is totally made from scratch. Mtrl... the pressed wood/paper solution brings out lots of details but it also looks kind of fake. Rope... Well if you want to paint your ship (which i think would be the first option) you dont get anything in Black. that sucks. Missing pieces, most things were in the box. I missed a bowsprit Cap. Now at the end I also realized that i am running out of some things. some walnut sizes. Also rings and eyebolts. I am overall happy with the kit but there are s few things that should be upgraded.

I am truly sorry for the absence of updates. Work has progressed, but I havent had the time for writing about it. I have been mostly into the masts and the yards. Basically all of the wooden work has been finished. I also decided to pick it up a notch... with two additional builds that will get their own buildlogs soon. Anyone that can identify them?

This is how the ship looks today….

HMS Victory - 1st build 25 years ago I bought this kit from Corel as I have always been curious on modelships. The first couple of years I managed to build the hull of the ship and but when I when it was time to start with the masts I lost interest in the project. I picked it up a few times over the years but it was always just for a few days. Probably I should have started on a simplier first build but when you are young and naive you tend to aim for the sky. Now I am destined to complete this build and I have also started on another ship to give it some variation. I just recently found this forum and maybe you guys can inspire me to ensure I complete it. Since its my first ship I am far from the skills of what I have seen here. History According to Wikipedia, HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. She additionally served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship. In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission, with 241 years' service as of 2019. The kit This is one of the cheaper and smaller Victory kits. The wood was very good especially the walnut. Lots pre made stuff in the box. Some of the details are made in some kind of pressed woodenmass/paper which makes Nice details but kind of not the buildquality you want. Canons and gunports are pre made and may not look perfect but is easy to assemble for the beginner. Very few pre made parts for the masts and yards. I like that there are many plans and that the are reasonable in size. But the manual and instructions are quite bad.