Twahl

I'm a Deputy Sheriff. If you take the route from Jackson to Salt Lake you go through our county. We go from around 2500 full time residents in the county to between 40 to 60 thousand in the summer months. And there's only 3 deputies and a Sheriff so it's crazy.

I really appreciate all of your help so far. Especially the words of encouragement. I ended up ordering the gun tackle set and standing rigging blocks from Hismodel. I'm waiting for those to arrive so I'm kind of stuck at this point. I'm heading to Hawaii next week with the family and when I get back it will be the start of our busy season here with the tourists so I might be slowing down until fall.

Yes it shows the same. It only lists two different sizes of thread though and doesn't specify if it's running or standing rigging which would have been nice for a nauti-clueless type like myself. I still am cross referencing the Heller plans with longridge and all of the other recommended books. But I really think the new plans are worth the cost.

Thank you Ian. I appreciate it.

I have a question. I need to order some ropes up from Syren. What size should I order for the anchor rope and for the main stays?

Got a fair amount done this weekend. It was rainy and cold so I was able to get a bit accomplished. Got the launches assembled and painted up. I still need to weather them. Painted up the bow decorations as well. Just like the stern the moldings aren't very defined so had to improvise a little. I wasn't able to make it match the real ship as it's not an accurate mold, but I can live with it. I joined the hull halves and painted the bottom. I'm still not certain how I'm going to mount it on the display board so I epoxied in a block to be able to drill into if I decide to go the turned brass pedestal route. Mounted the first two gun decks with cannons and am now up to the third gun deck. That's all the progress for now.

Finished the stern and side galleries. At least as far as can be before installation.

Got the new instructions today. They are night and day better. It actually makes the model less daunting. They appear to follow a more logical build path as well. The rigging instructions are much better. The lines are all labeled as to where they go but some of them cover multiple pages of instruction. Overall I think it will be much better.

I've been working on the stern the last couple days. I started by spraying it all in the yellow ochre. I figured black would cover the yellow better than the other way around. I painted it all freehand with a 00 tip brush. The mold from Heller wasn't as crisp and precise as I would have liked but I guess it's a good as can be expected. I added Dafi's resin balusters and sealed it with Alclad. I still need to add the name and window glazing from Dafi's etch set and then do some paint touch up.

Thank you Rob. I really appreciate it. This last week or so progress has been slow. I've had to put in a lot of overtime at work for a case we fortunately don't get very often around here. I got my copy of McKay's book in the mail to add to my collection. Thank you Bill for the lead on the new instruction manual. I got that ordered up and it should be here this week. I got the hull halves painted in Vallejo Yellow Ochre and Vallejo black gray. I sealed it with Allclad flat clear lacquer. The red was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. I forgot how hard it is to make red look good. In the end I think it came out okay.

Thank you for the replies. Last night I tried painting one of the gun carriages with the new color and my little girl came up and asked if it was silly putty. That settled that. It will for sure be the yellow ochre now. I just need to wait for it to get here in the mail. Ian I would greatly appreciate the spread sheet. I am no good at math so it will be a life saver. I'll PM my info. I'm planning on painting the rigols with the normal painting of the ship so as to appear as normal. I'm probably going to do a little weathering around them, like salt water runoff like I've seen on some pics of the actual ship. The plans it came with are the crappy hard to read ones. I wish I could find a source on the new wire bound ones. They look like they would actually be a good set but from what I've found they aren't available in the US. Thanks again for all the kind words. Oh and my name is Tom.

After all of your encouragement and confidence I started my own build log. I really appreciate all of the advice and help I've already received. I just hope mine turns out even a fraction as good as yours and Ian's.

So that's the progress so far. Now for the questions. First is what color do you think I should go with? I haven't seen a completed model in the new colors yet so I'm not sure how it will look. My intent is to make the model appear as a working ship with light weathering and such. Second I'm ordering the Amati rope kit from hismodel along with his gun rigging kit. I'm planning on ordering the other ropes such as the anchor rope and stays from Syren. What sizes are appropriate for this kit? I'll post further when I make progress. Thanks in advance for the help.

I got the rigols installed and am now stuck on whether to go with the "old" Victory colors or the"new" ones. I tried a test spot with Vallejo Flat flesh and Revell aqua African brown which I had read somewhere was close to what the new color is now. I'm not sure I like it so I've ordered Vallejo Yellow Ochre to try as well. What color do you guys think? The Africa brown looks like the molded plastic and is hard to see. I think for the black I'm going with Nato black or Vallejo black Grey for scale effect.

So when i got back into modeling I told the wife that it would be a lot cheaper than my other hobby of collecting firearms. In the last month and a half I've spent over $800 USD on this hobby including the kit, photo etch, paints, and books such as Longridge, rigging period ships and HMS Victory first rate. My wife is a CPA that owns her own firm so she's extremely busy with tax season right now and luckily has not been tracking what I've been up to. I need to hurry up and order blocks and ropes before she gets back to tracking me. The photo etch arrived in the mail yesterday. This stuff is absolutely incredible! I did quite a bit of photo etch on the Gato and Dafi's stuff is far superior.

I was excited to get started so I did like most others and set to work building the cannons. I spent two nights building the cannon and bases. After the second night I realized it might be time to get some reading glasses. Especially before I get to things with real detail. I got in touch with Dafi and ordered up a set of photo etch and a few resin pieces. While waiting for that I got to work prepping the stern and cutting off the rigols. I also thickened the gun ports with evergreen.

When the kit arrived I was anxious to open the box and examine what I was getting into. I was surprised to see that it was all molded in a single color, not the multi colored molds I've seen.

So at the encouragement of others on this site I have decided to start my own build log. I've been a lurker on other builds for a while now, especially Dafi's and Bill97. I'm going to have a ton of questions and need a lot of advice so as to avoid hijacking those threads I'll ask here. I'm hoping to provide enough of a step by step on this build to help others, as others have already helped me immensely. I'm not certain my work will be as good as theirs though. Before I begin I'll give a little background on myself. I've been out of modeling for over 30 years and just recently got back into it to spend more time with my teenage boy. We started building the Revell 1/72 Gato together and it accomplished exactly as I was hoping, much needed quality time together. His interests quickly turned to airplanes so he abandoned me to work on his own projects leaving me to finish the Gato by myself. We sit together though with him on his airplanes and me on my boats. When I was a teenager I started the 1/96 Uss Constitution and got to the point of rigging when my little brother and his friend decided to take it outside and use it for a BB gun target. In my memory I remember the build being museum quality. In actually it probably looked like it was built with construction adhesive and crayons. I've always wanted to try my hand at building a tall ship again and after finishing the Gato I was looking for another kit and came across the Heller Victory. I watched a ton of videos on YouTube and decided to give it a go. I live in a rural part of Utah in the U.S. so everything I do has to be mail order. The kit arrived in the mail and I quickly thought I might have but off a bit more than I can chew. Especially after looking at Hellers instructions, if you can call them that. I definitely want to make the best model possible so I immediately ordered the Dafi etch set. I ordered all except the grates. It arrived in the mail yesterday and it is absolutely amazing. I'm not necessarily worried about making an exact historical replica. I just want it to be close for the casual observer and look good. I've begun the kit now and will post pictures in the next post of my progress. I'm still working full time as a law enforcement Officer so I won't be able to work on and post a much as others, but by little steps I'll finish the kit. I look forward to all of the help, advice and especially encouragement that I've already seen from this group.

Thank you for the replies. I ordered all of the Dafi etch sheets except for the grate one. I also ordered a few of his resin pieces. I'm planning on ordering wood dead eyes, I think I would need 3mm and 5mm. Does that sound correct? I was going to order the Amati rope kit from hismodel and the larger ropes from Syren. Would those be good options? I've picked up Longridges book, HMS Victory by Eastland, and rigging period ship models. I've never rigged a model ship before so this is all going to be new to me. But I'm looking forward to the challenge. I haven't started a build log yet, I'm not really sure how to and I think it would be lacking compared to others I've seen here. I'm still working so I'll only be able to devote a few hours a week to the hobby. It's been a nice respite from the stresses of my job, especially the research part such as reading build logs, reading books, and watching YouTube videos. I look forward to any advice you can offer and if there's anything else you think I should pick up or suggestions you have I'd appreciate it.

This is beautiful work! I've spent many hours studying this thread and I thank you for all the detail you show. I've just got back into modeling after 30+years and have started this model. I'm waiting on Dafi's photo etch to arrive and have assembled the cannons and today painted and weathered the deck. I've got a question I would like your opinion on. I was planning on ordering wood blocks to rig with until I watched RJ Scaleships video on YouTube on how to modify them. I had a friend give me a few wood blocks to try and the quality doesn't seem to be as nice as the Heller blocks, at least once modified. In your opinion would you still recommend wood?