Patrick Haw

Hello David,

Grat pictures.  Doesn't going to museums like that inspire you and make you want to rush home to get back to your build?  I go over to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland everyso often just to tour their model ship collection.  Wonderful stuff.

Patrick

Been making slow progress but it's time for an update.  First I finished painting the inner bulwarks and removed the "carpet".  The stringer and waterway can now be seen better.

Then I started prepping for coppering.  First I realized that the hull was not nearly smooth enough for the plates to lie smoothly so I primed the hull to reveal all cracks or depressions that needed filling and filled them and sanded it down again.  Then more primer and drew on the waterline.  Following others' advice here I placed a 1mm x 1mm styrene strip along the water line then painted the strip and its surroundings black.  I'm now ready to begin coppering.  Oh joy!  I plan on coppering down from the waterline 12 rows as per Longridge and many on here, then coppering up from the keel to a gore line, forming two coppering "belts".  Wish me luck!

I haven't figured out how to add text to each picture, so you get the blurb followed by the pictures!

Cheers

Patrick

Hi Daniel,

Just catching up on your log again.  Fantastic detailed work on the gunport lids...really impressive!

Patrick

Hi Jerry,

Good idea on the air compressor for cleaning away the compacted laser saw dust.  For those without an air compressor, here's what I use.  It works pretty well and is also great for getting sanding dust out of hard to reach places.  You can get it at Office Depot, Walmart, etc.  If you buy it in a 3-pack it works out at around $4 a can.

Cheers,

Patrick

She's looking really, really good Sjors.  Fantastic progress and great photos.

Cheers,

Patrick

Ooops!  Sorry about that.  I was playing around with adding pictures/text.  Thought I'd cancelled it, but apparently not!

Thanks Dan and David,

I think the carpeting will go very well with the jacuzzi and massage spa I'm installing for the crew!

Patrick

Hi David,

Fantastic progress my friend and your mast building is beautifully detailed, well done!  It must be quite a feeling to be done with the hull and fittings after so much time spent on it, and to now be sending up masts.  You're well on your way to having a very fine ship there.

Patrick

Hi Kevin,

Sorry about Lewis the other day, but at least we were spared yet another Vetel win! Your progress is fantastic and your stern galleries and poop deck look really, really good.  So many ways to display the ships boats.  I have always liked the displays with the boats simulated as being towed (possibly secured with a clear acrylic rod as Andy suggests)  Here's a picture of Geoff Hunt's painting of Victory and Temeraire racing to the line at Trafalgar, it shows the boats being towed.  (I have this print at home, got it in Portsmouth during the Patrick O'Brian weekend in 2002 and Mr. Hunt personally signed the back and the certificate for me!)

Patrick

Not a lot of progress since my last post (house full of in-laws for the weekend), but I thought I'd post some pictures of where I'm at.  The first three show upper gun deck bulwarks planked and painting under way,  I added stringers and waterways and used a combination of Tamiya and 3M masking tape to protect the deck from my shaky painting!  Second two show the "shelves" placed inside the lower and middle gun deck ports to give backing to the gunport linings.  Final two are of my version of a tool to place the "shelves" and the gun port linings...made from two paper clips and electrical tape.  I used balsa for the shelves as it's easy to carve it flush with the gun port openings if any of them are slightly out of place. (Apologies for poor photo quality.  I'm going to have to invest in a decent camera one day)

So, next is to finish painting the inner bulwarks and tidy up the paint on the lid-less gun ports, then pant, fill, sand, paint, fill sand the hull above the waterline and then line the gun ports.  Then I suppose it's on to coppering...I know, I know, at some point it's unavoidable so I will just have to buckle down and get it done!

Cheers,

Patrick

Thanks Sjors.  Ate so much pizza and pasta...and drank a lot of wine! Need to go on a diet to get back in building shape!!

Patrick

It's been ages since I've posted.  Had a fantastic vacation in Italy...the week on the Amalfi coast was amazingly relaxing and we didn't want to leave.  So, back home now, had to attend to lots of chores after vacation, including putting an air-conditioner in the garage/shipyard (It's Maryland in the summer - temperatures in the 90's and really humid). Finally got back in the shipyard yesterday.  Inner bulwarks are lined and first coats of paint done and I've started putting the "shelves" in the lower and middle gun deck gunports preparatory to lining them.  Hopefully will get them lined in the next few days and then keep going.  We thought having a pool built last year was a good idea...and it was, except that we suddenly have family showing up on weekends in the summer, which puts a dent in shipyard time!  I've been following all the other Victory builds and you guys are an inspiration to me to get my a$$ in gear and get on with the build.  I'll post new pictures soon.

Cheers,

Patrick

Wow Derek.  I just got back from vacation and caught up on your log.  You've made amazing progress.  The masts look great, well done.  Planning on getting back to mine next week.

Patrick

Nothing posted lately, but I have been plugging away as time allows.  Inner bulwarks are planked and painted, lidless gun ports lined and painted.  Won't be any activity for the next 3 weeks as I'm off to Italy for a vacation tomorrow.  We'll be in Rome, Venice, and a week on the Amalfi Coast.  Once my liver recovers from all the good wine, I'll post some pics.

Patrick

Hi Yon,

Just checked in on your build after being gone a while.  Fantastic progress.  I love your flag lockers with the flags.  So many good ideas to store away for the future when I reach that part.  Beautiful work.  Well done.

Patrick

Hello Derek,

Just checked in on your build for the first time in a while, and goodness, what fantastic progress you've made.  She's really looking good and you did a great job with the port lids.  My progress has been slow lately what with spring finally here and lots of garden work and getting the pool open.  Hope to have something to post soon.

Keep up the great work!

Patrick

Kevin,

Your stern is looking very good, real crisp and clean.  Glad you got your flag locker inserts so quickly from Jotika.  I finally got my missing Tanganyika deck strips the other day.  I asked Jotika for them at the end of January.  3 1/2 months!

Keep up the great work.  Nice job on the deck too!

Patrick

David, 

Oops!  It's Page 12, not Page 16 that talks about lining the gun ports.  Page 20 is still about the quaterdeck ports!

Patrick

Hi Jerry.

Sorry, I meant I invested in a good quality breathing mask with filters at Home Depot.  I had to get the Evo-stick from Cornwall Model Boats in the UK

Patrick

David,

Thanks for the reply.  In my manual, page 20 refers to lining the quarter deck gun ports.  I'm not there yet.  Page 16 talks about loning the lower, middle, and remaining upper gun deck ports (not including ports 3 -10).  What I'm referring to is the inner edges of the uppr gun deck ports only.  We're in complete agreement on the outer edges of the ports linings.  Just seems to me that when you plank the inner bulwarks you cover the inner edges of ports 3-10, but by lining the remaining gun ports after planking the bulwarks you leave the innder edges exposed.  Wouldn't all the ports be consistent?

Patrick

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply, but no, I'm talking about the remaining upper gun deck ports...the one's still left to be lined after you've lined the lidless ports number 3 - 10

Patrick

Hi Jerry,

Just catching up on your build and you're going great guns and she really looks good.  Having 5 hours a day to work on her is a luxury...although I did get about 4 hours in on mine today.  You started a month after me and you're pulling ahead, but inspiring me to get out to the shipyard more often!  I'm planking inner bulwarks now, the it'll be the wales, lining gunports and painting, then on to the coppering!  I've decided to go the Evo-stick route for mine and agree with David that good ventilation is a must when using it.  I also went to Home Depot and invested in a good quality mask with filters.  Never was a glue-sniffer and don't intend to start now!

Cheers,

Patrick

A question for my fellow Calderfraft Victory builders.  I've lined upper deck gunports 3- 10 and have completed the outer second planking to above the quarter deck gun ports and begun planking the upper gun deck inner bulwarks.  According to the instruction manual, which we all trust implicitly, on page 10 it staes that you should completely plank the inner bulwarks, cutting out the gunports as you go.  Fine, no problem.  Then on page 16 - Lining the Gunports - it says to line the remainder of the upper deck gunports.  My concern is that for gunports 3-10 the inner bulwark planking covers the edges of the gun port linings but, if you follow the instructions, putting in the remaining linings after planking the bulwarks will leave the inner edges of the gun ports exposed and sitting flush with the bulwark planking.  Wouldn't it make more sense to line the remaining upper gun deck ports after the outer second planking and before planking the inner bulwarks so that the view of all the gunports from inside the ship is consistent?  I realize of course that the outer edge of the remaining gun ports will have to be recessed 1mm back form the outer planking for lids.  Probably a minor point, but someone has to worry about these things!

Patrick

Well done Dan! US Army Ship FS 246, Lieutenant Raymond Zussman, later handed over to US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and renamed Penguin II

Patrick

Give this one a try.

Patrick