Jeff:
Currently working on the HMS Victory of the same scale. Started the bow a long time ago. Still about where you are including the same clamp. The bow of the two models do not match. Not even close. I am using The Anatomy of Nelson's ships to try to figure out which is correct which seems to be a little of both. I am modifying as needed. They need to match. The planking is now using thin boxwood and cut with my wife's paper cutter. She's a scrape booker. Don't tell her that's where the cutter went.
I also added the kurfed planks at the wales. Being a structural engineer I know that was a structural component of the ships at the time. The USS Constitution used interior horizontal braces under the main guns to achieve the same thing. Someone took them out in a refit and the ship had major hogging issues until someone got access to the admiralty plans made of the USS United States the Brits captured and used as a guide for their future frigates. The Constitution's plans were burned when the Brits burned Washington. It was a puzzle since the captains of the day thought she was real structurally sound. Now the ship is stable again and can actually sail out of Boston Harbor every year. The admirals are on the edge of their seats every time she goes out I would imagine. Dry dock has it's advantages.
Anyway I want to complete the full Victory and also the bow section and put them in the same case. I bought added barrels for the project as well. Using o-gauge railroad ballast for the ballast. Might put some cooling wine bottles in it! The officers need their wine.
The work is slow but I am getting along. The Covid 19 has meant less work and more play.
Model on!
Jim
