egkb

Finally HMS Victory long voyage comes to an end. I have posted a few photos but first of all I would like to thank all those who in any way contributed to my build, those  who posted directly into my log, those who's logs I visited and took countless ideas, my log's followers and those who contributed with their encouraging comments and likes.  I hope that my build would be of help to other builders,  like so many others have been to me. Now I have to order an acrylic case to cover it and a table.  I will post an image of it when I have it ready.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Images with the lights on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Robert
 
 

Hi Don, I will make a display-case similar to the one I made for my HMS-Unicorn model.
I have got same pear-wood for this wich I plan to use.
Here you can see the case I made and the drawing for the new one.

 
 

 
 

I will post pictures, when I build it.
Matthias

Hello everybody and thank you for the kind words and the likes.
At the moment I am working on finishing the last parts of equipment. Guns, swivel-guns and the stern lantern.
The model is a bit dusty, but here are some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The stern lantern will be the last step. I will make it from ivory again.
 
Matthias
 
 

spritsail yard and sail
 
A by 30% reduced and furled spritsail was bent onto its yard. Without the spritsail topsail yard the rigging could be a bit simplified. On the other hand I did add the guys according to Lees' description. The yard was triced up by about 20°, as on the painting above.
I rather like the dynamic impression Bellerophon gives with this arrangement.
 
 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I dunno, given that this appears to be a ship designed for a specific task/roll, (get a lot of guns into shallow waters, close to shore), it’s quite possible that some of the conventions that we’re familiar with don’t apply.
 
Just my observation.
 
Andy
 
 

I have been progressing with a small/medium kit before plunging into another long term development.
 
All designs/laser cut files are done, including three PE sheets, and now I am working on drawings. Once all drawings are complete, I shall start building the model for the manual, and may do a build log.
 
This is the gun brig Adder, of the Acute Class of 1797. My two main sources state it is a 14 gun brig, 12 x 18 pounder carronades and 2 x 24 pounders in the bow - but they may have been 12 gun brigs, as the only way to get the extra two carronades in position is to fill the stern chaser ports.

I’m so in tune with that aesthetic Chris, 17th/18th c is my favourite period.
Love your idea of a Royal George.

One of my most cherished watercolour prints by Derek Gardner, a great subject for a model.
 
B.E.
 

My 'Future Projects' Folder, what I would very much like to do for main kits before I die. (not included are smaller subjects) - all 64th
 
Amazon (32 - 1770's)
Amphion (32 - Hoste's command)
Phoebe (36 - 1790's)
Arethusa (38 - 1780's)
Imperieuse (38 - Ex Spanish Medea, Cochrane's command after Speedy)
 
Bonne Citoyenne (20 - Influential captured French large flush deck corvette)
Royal Oak (70 - 1740's)
Centurion (60 - Anson's)
Bellona (74)
Spartiate (very large 74 captured at the Nile)
Foudroyantt (80)
 
Royal George (100 - 1750's)
Calendonia (120 - 1800's - if only to see the look on my wife's face when building up the hull on the dining room table...)
 
Restoration warship (1670-1690)
 
Constitution (US)
 
If I live to do even half of that list, I shall be somewhat happy.
 
 
 

I thought I had better post on this thread, Trial Cutter is now available and in stock:
 
HM Trial Cutter – 1790 – VANGUARD MODELS
 
There will be a couple of days delay in shipping, due to both being very busy (just finishing a couple of large distributor orders) and packing the kits.
 
There will be one more kit release this year (making 4 new releases for 2023), and then a much longer break for the 16th kit, Bristol, which will be released next year, all being well.

I'm still making eyelets and rings, dozens and dozens of the things! I've upgraded my tools for this with new round needle nosed pliers and a decent pair of flush cut snips
Oh and I also got a couple of Vallorbe needle files.
Thanks to everyone who's looked in, commented and hit the thumbs up.
Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait until Christmas time before I can start arming Winnie, this year's list is cannon and more cannon, and maybe chapter 7 parts.
Cheers

Over the past few days, I've made good progress on the bowsprit rigging, including making the "whiskers" on the catheads, which were soldered from 1mm and 0.5mm brass rod, and then sprayed with white primer. The topgallant shrouds were also set up. 
 
I wanted to use black card for the strapping on the cathead whiskers, but also wanted them to be strong enough to withstand knocks and bumps, so rather than simply stopping them at their inboard extent, I have them bending 90 degrees, and fitting into a hole drilled into the cathead itself. This provides lots of strength, and I'm confident they'll withstand gentle knocks... Hopefully I'll avoid anything more dramatic.
 
Adding the "hooks" for the rigging first...

Then bending them to fit... and trial fitting them in the holes drilled in the cathead.

They were fitted before I bent them vertically up, so that I could ensure they both bent up the same amount... and black card was added to simulate the metal straps...

The finished article, once rigged... (rigging required that I make some 0.5mm rope, and then stained it... For those interested (and as an aide memoire for myself, it was made with #100 DMC Cordonnet crochetting thread, 1x thread per strand, 3x strands). The rigging was fastened using #50 DMC Cordonnet thread, and fixed in place with watered down PVA.

And as mentioned at the beginning, I've also rigged the top gallant shrouds... Rather than adding deadeyes, I've copied the way these were rigged on my Ethalion... 

It's nice to feel that progress is being made.
 

Honestly thanks for the very nice comments and the likes here - I won't lie I have found these particular parts very difficult to make and get a good fit.  You have very much helped me through this particular part of my build.  If anyone else is building Le Rochefort you don't have to cut the dove tails if you don't want to.  You can simply cut a slot the width of the beam and it would be so much easier.  I did it this way as I just want to make it as true to the drawings as I possibly can.  However once done how satisfying is that feeling 😀
 
So I carried on cutting out the dove tails and also roughing out the bevel
 



After a little fettling they did fit





As always I've learnt some new skills and overall I'm very happy with the way these parts have turned out.  You can see that I have also rough cut the scuppers too.  My patience is definitely improving too which I like.  So now that they are installed I can now start on the inner waterway.
 
Cheers Mark

Topmast shrouds and ratlines are complete. I've been doing a little work on the bowsprit, adding the inner and outer bobstays using the kit supplied chain, which was chemically blackened. The chains were attached using black thread, which will be trimmed one I've put some glue on it to stop the knots coming undone.

Some more detail to the Main Stay tackle Pendants.



 
 

 
Robert

The main stay fore tackle need some more tensioning.
 
 
Robert

Just a quick update - I've now rough finished and loose fitted one of the parts.
 
I cut the dove tails on the mill and they needed just a little adjustment to fit onto the beams
 

I also roughed out the inner bevel partly to make the piece slightly more flexible to fit the curve of the deck.  It actually fits ok and pretty much just clicks into place but it will fit a lot better once clamped and glued.  It will require a little blending into the adjoining pieces.
 


The bevel will get its final shape once the inner waterway is made and fitted and also the bulwark plank above.  So far so good -  and it's nice to be moving forward again.  I'm starting to feel a lot more positive regarding these parts.  I'll update again once the rest are completed
 
Cheers Mark

I'm actually starting to get there - One of the pieces took me four goes to get right.  I discovered that if the bevel angle between the beam and frame is wrong the dove tails on the beams will not line up to the tune of about 2mm out.  So after much sawdust I've now got the roughed out pieces to sit right on the beams.  This actually doesn't look like much but I've found this difficult  - Its like working upside down and I think it's one of those parts that you need to make to see what I mean.  So a couple of pictures.
 


I think these pictures give a better idea - here's the transition of one part from one end to the other
 


So I've now marked out the dove tails as best that I can and that will be my next job of cutting them out.  I've also cut the holes for the scuppers which was not a great success  - I've drilled them at a very shallow angle and also burnt the wood in the process.  All is not lost here though as they will need lining with pewter in the manger so I can hide my mistakes then. As always you get the successes and the errors with me!
 

So the milling machine is coming out tomorrow and hopefully they will fit ok.  If you think that my marking out is a bit rough I kinda have my own method that I understand once I get cutting. 
 
Cheers Mark

Thank you Ron, glad my build log is of some help to others like other build logs have been of great help to me.  Case in point flying the pennant flag.
I was wondering how to fit the pennant on the main mast and couldn't really find any details on the internet.  Then I remembered seeing something on Gil Middleton's great build log.  Gil had details how pig sticks were used and I used the same idea. The pig stick is hoisted above the mast head so that the flag is not fouled by the stays.  The hoisting halyards are secured to the top.
 



 
Also secured the kedge anchor on the starboard mizzen channel.

 
Some more finishing touches to go.
 
Robert
 
 

A few days late for this one, but I only just discovered it.
 

fore topgallant yard and sail
 
The fore topgallant sail was again a reduced and simplified one as it was to be furled. Similar to previous sails all the lines were attached and then yard and sail hoisted and fixed with tie, lifts, braces and parrel rope.  However sometime during that process I found that the main topmast stay was broken. The eye around the mouse had somehow parted. After pondering about repair possibilities I had to admit that the cleanest solution would be to make a new stay. All this promoted of course the use of some creative language...
 
Fortunately my running rigging's belayings are fixed with diluted white glue which may be dissolved again with some water. The fore bits are quite crowded with rigging but most of the time I was able to untie the correct lines and other times I had to revert again to creative expressions. The new stay was set around the masthead and then threaded through the robands of the topmast staysail and led to the point above the bits, where a new block was spliced into its end. Now after re-belaying a zillion lines I could finish the topgallant yard.
 

fore topgallant yard with furled sail in place
 

 

 
 
 
 
hoisting the flag
 
Sometime during all that sail work I also made a flag to hoist at the mizzen gaff. I wanted to have a red ensign with the pattern after 1800, the one Napoleon might have seen, when he was aboard. Trials with an inkjet printer didn't work. It was not possible to print congruently on both sides of the fabric and, worse still, the ink would run with any liquid including something to seal it.
 
Some patience, textile paint and fiddling with masking tape brought an acceptable result. The flag is hand painted onto the same cotton I use for the sails.
Hoisting it was a bit difficult. Obviously the flag line leads through a block at the gaff but where to belay it at the deck? The kit's plans show a block at deck level with the ends of the flag line seemingly joined into a loop.  But no information where on deck that block was positioned. Information in my clever books and the web was also vague about the lower end of flag lines.
 
As the length of the loop of the line should be adjustable to the position of the gaff I decided to hook the lower block into a free ringbolt at the taffrail, and join the line ends with some spare length coiled and hanging there. I have no idea what the navy way was but that's the best I could come up with my way.
 
 

red ensign with the pattern after 1800
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

Okay - time for a short update... I've added the futtock bars - it took me a lot of head-scratching to work out how to do this neatly, but I ended up using 0.5mm brass wire, with a loop at one end, that was tied to an eyelet in the mast, having hooked the other end through the eye in the bottom of the deadeye strop... They were tested for size, then blackened before final fit.
 
The parts...
 

And the fitting...
 

 
And then I went on to put on the topmast shrouds, and I've begun the ratlines... 
 


 
Progress is being made
 

As before, the ratlines are DMC Cordonnet #20 Ecru thread. The same stuff I use for rope-making. It's lovely stuff to use for tying ratlines - very forgiving, and once brushed with watered down PVA, I've had no problems with knots coming undone. Once the topmast shrouds have their ratlines, I'll need to add the futtock bars for the crosstrees on the fore and main masts.
 
Thanks for looking in and taking an interest.
 
Happy building
 
Rob

Long overdue update.  I had other priorities and things have been moving extremely slow.  When I found the time I was doing the rope coils.  Here are a few images.  I have ordered and received some flags which I will put up soon. So basically a few more coils, the flags, some fine rigging adjustments, a good cleanup and the Victory should be finished. 
 









 
Robert
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you,
I continued with the gratings between the rails.
The triangular gratings in the corners of the bow-area, I made separately with a template. I glued the parts on the template, assembled everything, cleaned it, painted it again an glued it to the model.
 

 

 

 
Then the facilities and false rails were added, 
 
 

 
 

 
and finally the figure-head.
I have been waiting long for this point.
What a lovely figure. I actually like it, that it is not a warrior or something like that, but a musician. Remembering, that securing the peace should alway be the goal for every army or navy.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Matthias
 
 

OK, I have just finished what I need to regarding building up the new Speedy hull.
 
These pics will show what has changed. The old Speedy required planking all the way to the top of the bulwarks, also the inner bulwarks. 
 
The new version is completely pre cut from the main wale up, with spirketting added for the inner bulwarks, plus engraved planking and treenail detail for all surfaces. All channels, inner bulwark belaying racks and cleats now slot and glue into place, in pre cut slots, saving the need for pinning and gluing.
 
Please bear in mind that the model shown has no real finishing, no varnish etc. It was used just to add new pictures to the revised manual.
 
I will now spend the rest of the week updating the manual, ready to send to printers, and next week, start cutting the new sheets, so I hope to have this re released in around 2 weeks.

Am working on Speedy V2023 right now, almost completed the overhaul.
 
What started as a simple 'Careening' for this 'slight' redesign has somehow turned into  a 'Middling-Large Repair'
 
Here are the 4 x 1mm laser cut sheets (old kit had half a sheet in total). I just need to do a final check of these parts..
 
(Still waiting for the photo etched sheets to come from Italy for Trial Cutter)
 
ETA, as the Speedy model will be only half built, to replace build pics in the new manual, the second planking is Tanganyika - I prefer this as it only took me 6 hours to plank the hull 

Hi all,
 
Thanks for the likes. I've completed the main shrouds, and added the mainmast stay. This one had to go on first, as it attached to a pin inserted into the jib boom. (That was my kludge fix for gluing the foredeck down too early!). Having said that it all went together okay, and looks fine. I've finally added the deadeye strops (Caldercraft) and fixed the tops to the masts, now as well.




 
 
 
I've also done some tidying up, gluing down the anchors, fixing the anchor chains, and removing the excess, which was just sat on the deck up till now. I've also added the eyelets underneath the pin rails round the fore and main masts. Not a lot to show, but it is progress  These parts are very fragile, and I can see trouble ahead when it comes to tying things off... time will tell how much of a headache this proves to be.
 


 
Happy building to you all
 
Rob