Charter33

Hi,
Finally managed to get the all clear to get back to the workshop after five months of convalescence. My Triton build is now in the process of being resurrected - just breaking myself in with some more of the more straight forward frames from mid-ship while I try to get my head around the convolutions and challenges of the hawse and bollard components ..........
 

 
Graham.

Hi and good luck with the build,I also have all the plans but I have not build ship like this yet,
so I May have to wait a bitt😲
I wil follow this build
 
Svein.erik 

Hi,
Finally managed to get the all clear to get back to the workshop after five months of convalescence. My Triton build is now in the process of being resurrected - just breaking myself in with some more of the more straight forward frames from mid-ship while I try to get my head around the convolutions and challenges of the hawse and bollard components ..........
 

 
Graham.

Did a bit more .
Too much is getting in the way for the ship. LOL... Do you think there is anyone else in Calgary who would like to have coffee with us. We have a model ship world sub-group of two! LOL
Just finished messing with the beakhead bulkhead decoration. Even have them mounted -- have to drill one more hole in a roundhouse.  Have so much more detail to finish up on the deck though. Getting there ever so slowly!
 

Good evening for everyone, because next week I will go to the national championship class C in Constanta, Romania, I made for my ship a protection case. It will not be my only ship in the contest, I'll see how they will fit in the car.
All the best I wish for you and a beautiful evening still I wish you.


Adrian

Got sick and tired of removing all tools etc just to access the sawdust, shavings, etc for cleaning.
When I was in the RAAF, we (Avionics Technicians) had a vacuum inlet on the workbench. A small diameter hose was attached for sucking up small foreign matter. We made our own traps at the inlet. These would stop anything we accidentally sucked up, like a small screw. Today, I made myself such a device. It attached to my vacuum cleaner.
 

 

 
Tested it on kitchen breadboard. The bread crumbs are collected in the jar.
PS: the smaller hose is really for small dust particles, especially for hard to get into places.

Hi,
The workshop is a school workshop. On a typical day I can share it with approximately a hundred students, in groups of about twenty, ranging in age from 11 - 18. This particular corner I claim as my own, the bench is mine and will be leaving the school with me when I eventually retire, as will my Poolewood wood turning lathe which also graces the room. I will, however, need to sort out a workshop of my own, when that day comes, that will be big enough to accommodate this equipment and all the other bits and pieces that have accumulated over the years! 
My other project, HMS Victory, is being constructed in the 'spare' bedroom at home, much smaller and 'cosy', to put it politely. 
I get to work very early to avoid travel congestion - the workshop is quiet, there are no students around, for almost an hour my time is my own ........... is there a better way to start a working day?
.... and at the other end of the day, when they've gone home, planning and marking is up to date and any meetings are finished ........... 
 
Thanks for the comments and 'likes', the feedback is much appreciated.
 
Cheers,
 
Graham
 

Thank you Michael,  and thank you for the likes.
 
Another small update.  I started work on the canons for the Upper gundeck, but I decided to add the breach at the back of the canons, tried one of the eyelets supplied with the kit, but I think they are just a bit too small.  I ordered some eyelets, just a bit larger to try them.  I will put up photos when I receive them and fit them.  Whilst waiting for the new eyelets to arrive I started some work on the lanterns I am putting on the same gundeck. 
 
This is the way I am making them. I am working them on my Proxxon drill and stand I bought lately, found it really good.  I had put up a post about this lantern earlier, but at that time I did not have the Proxxon drill and stand, I had cut the slots with a saw blade.  This way it is much quicker and more accurate.
 
First 'cut' in the brass tube

 
 
Second 'Cut'

 
 
Third 'Cut'

 
 
Fourth 'Cut'

 
 
Cut Off

 
 
Clean

 
 
Try Fit

 
I will make a few more of them, quite quick to make, then I will paint them black, seal the bottom and finish the top.
 
Robert
 
 

 

Hi. Just did a quick search for Sinagot out of pure curiosity - seems Amazon.fr have the Heller kit for just over €18, free delivery, if my French is up to scratch. Any good to you?
Cheers,
Graham

The learning process continues , a few pics of the process , nothing new as i have used the other excellent build logs as a guide  . a few lessons learned , at this scale 1:48 the pencil method of caulking i think is not thick enough and will experiment on the upper deck for improvement , and may even consider treenails ?? although the chances of building a full ship at this scale are small, learning new skills was the whole idea , and would like to thank those involved in it,s planning and conception ,it certainly has opened up a whole new side to the hobby !!    Next lesson learned is to keep everything as square and even as possible from the beginning to save time and work later on !!!  Next is unless u have the proper tools and skills buy your wood as premilled as possible , in my case i,m having a few probs continually resetting saws and remembering settings , but maybe thats just me . On the subject of wood , i have found pear and cherry a real pleasure to work with compared to some of the kit stuff which i was used with , and will deff use them in future  . One other point is i changed my glue type to a fast setting variety but think i have overdone it and will change back to a slower set , 
last pic shows a simple way of shaping  the wales , worked fairly well but needs refining . As usual my report would read , doing ok but could deffinately do better , all i can say is i will try ???

Thanks Mobbsie and Druxey - the storage cabinets certainly make life a little easier in the "big" workshop.
 
On with the build....
 
Wing construction begins with making formers for shaping the wing ribs. Paper templates are provided for two shapes of rib. The templates were applied to some scrap 12mm plywood, cut to rough shape on the scroll saw and refined on the spindle sander. To speed up the process, I cut four of shape ‘A’ and two of shape ‘B’. The completed formers were then covered in packing tape to prevent glue adhering to them.
 
The wing ribs are each formed by laminating two pieces of 1/8” x 1/16” and cold moulding them on the plywood formers. This simply means applying a thin bead of glue between the two laminations and then clamping them to the plywood formers. It is a very simple, yet very effective way of achieving the curved shape for the spars. Once the glue has dried, there is virtually no spring back. In the photo below, you can see the two different former shapes, one rib being moulded to the former, and two completed ribs after moulding.
 

 
In the second photo, are the complete set of ribs: 30 of shape ‘A’ and two of shape ‘B’.
 

 
The ribs now all require further shaping dependent on their final location on the ribs. This will be a slow process......
 

After a bit of practice marking out and cutting the joints .........

 
......... the gratings have been fitted with coamings.
 

 

 
Cocktail sticks covered with double sided tape held the shot garlands off the surface but firmly enough for varnishing.

 
Cannonballs were placed on each one as soon as the varnish had been applied. A second coat was enough to fully bond these in place.
 

 

 
 
Construction of the ladders was straight forward. The stanchions were coloured with Birchwood Casey Brass Black. Handrail ropes were added before these were glued to the front of the ladders.

 
This solution was also used to black the copper eyelets I intend to use to fix the breeching ropes to the inner bulwarks and to take the hooks of the tackle ropes on the gun carriages.

 
The gratings, garlands and ladders are now all fitted in place .......
 

 
.... together with the four large cleats.
 

 
Next task - 30 x 12 Pounder long guns and carriages, plus rigging ....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

After a bit of practice marking out and cutting the joints .........

 
......... the gratings have been fitted with coamings.
 

 

 
Cocktail sticks covered with double sided tape held the shot garlands off the surface but firmly enough for varnishing.

 
Cannonballs were placed on each one as soon as the varnish had been applied. A second coat was enough to fully bond these in place.
 

 

 
 
Construction of the ladders was straight forward. The stanchions were coloured with Birchwood Casey Brass Black. Handrail ropes were added before these were glued to the front of the ladders.

 
This solution was also used to black the copper eyelets I intend to use to fix the breeching ropes to the inner bulwarks and to take the hooks of the tackle ropes on the gun carriages.

 
The gratings, garlands and ladders are now all fitted in place .......
 

 
.... together with the four large cleats.
 

 
Next task - 30 x 12 Pounder long guns and carriages, plus rigging ....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

Thank's for your generous comments, Michael and Nigel - much appreciated.
 
With the plating complete I've moved onto the gratings.
I found that a sharp chisel and a cutting mat was my most successful method of cutting the individual components to length.
A simple assembly aid held the pieces in place while the watered down PVA glue dried.
 

 
 
 
Gratings removed ...

 
 
...and sanded.

 
Coamings next. I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the 4 x 3 strip provided. It had a more pronounced open grain and is a much more red colour compared with the other walnut in the kit. 
 
I made the decision to convert the remnants of the 5mm sheet that held the rudder etc. into a suitable alternative. The original strips are at the top of the picture.
 

 
Inspired by having seen Paul B's recent posts and his photographs of these gratings I'm tempted to try his method of dealing with the joints rather than the mitres shown on the plans. Time to 'play' 
 
Graham.

After a bit of practice marking out and cutting the joints .........

 
......... the gratings have been fitted with coamings.
 

 

 
Cocktail sticks covered with double sided tape held the shot garlands off the surface but firmly enough for varnishing.

 
Cannonballs were placed on each one as soon as the varnish had been applied. A second coat was enough to fully bond these in place.
 

 

 
 
Construction of the ladders was straight forward. The stanchions were coloured with Birchwood Casey Brass Black. Handrail ropes were added before these were glued to the front of the ladders.

 
This solution was also used to black the copper eyelets I intend to use to fix the breeching ropes to the inner bulwarks and to take the hooks of the tackle ropes on the gun carriages.

 
The gratings, garlands and ladders are now all fitted in place .......
 

 
.... together with the four large cleats.
 

 
Next task - 30 x 12 Pounder long guns and carriages, plus rigging ....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

After a bit of practice marking out and cutting the joints .........

 
......... the gratings have been fitted with coamings.
 

 

 
Cocktail sticks covered with double sided tape held the shot garlands off the surface but firmly enough for varnishing.

 
Cannonballs were placed on each one as soon as the varnish had been applied. A second coat was enough to fully bond these in place.
 

 

 
 
Construction of the ladders was straight forward. The stanchions were coloured with Birchwood Casey Brass Black. Handrail ropes were added before these were glued to the front of the ladders.

 
This solution was also used to black the copper eyelets I intend to use to fix the breeching ropes to the inner bulwarks and to take the hooks of the tackle ropes on the gun carriages.

 
The gratings, garlands and ladders are now all fitted in place .......
 

 
.... together with the four large cleats.
 

 
Next task - 30 x 12 Pounder long guns and carriages, plus rigging ....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

Hi,
Just finished the copper cladding!
I was struggling to see and apply some of the smaller cut plates needed to fill in gaps along the keel and waterline on the first side of the hull so I decided to invest in an illuminated head loupe.  I wish I'd bought one earlier as using it for the first time resulted in me having to re-work several areas as I was not happy with the gaps between some of the plates already in place.
 

 
Also in this picture is the most useful tool I found to hold plates in position for marking out and then positioning whole and cut plates when gluing - Blue Tack on the end of a short length of brass tube.  Even the tiniest pieces could be located accurately although the tip of a scalpel blade was needed occasionally to apply final pressure until the c.a. glue had dried. 
 

 

 

 

 
I followed the kits instruction's and the guidance in The New Period Ship Handbook for the layout rather than more historically correct patterns. I also went with Keith Julien's advice in this book about getting a cleaner looking edge at the waterline by adding 0.05 x 1.09 mm polystyrene strip pre-painted black.
 
The rudder, made from oak from Victory, was the last piece to be tackled. Rather than paint the top, unclad, section I 'ebonised' it using the wire wool and white vinegar technique I described on another thread. This was followed by a couple of coats of satin varnish. The result is a black finish that still allows the grain of the oak to be seen.
 

 

 

 
The three 'Victory' copper plates on each side, just under the entry ports, can be seen in these two views although they are actually less conspicuous than the pictures suggest. There is a little c.a. residue still to be carefully removed with acetone and cotton buds. Fears that I'd run out of plates proved unfounded - just.  Mistakes, re-worked sections and experiments with forming plates to fit around the keel took their toll. Got to the end with about half a dozen whole plates left!
 
I'm happy to have completed this aspect of this model - but you can have too much of a good thing and at this moment in time I can safely say that any kit I attempt in the future will be copper plate free, probably cannon free too.
 
This site is full of pearls of wisdom and two of them that are lodged in my mind at present are:
'Buy your toys before you retire' and 'it's probably best to seek forgiveness than permission'
... just maybe there's room in the 'stash' for a different type of vessel, possibly one rarely found 'outside the Straights of Otranto' ..... waiting for the day when Victory is finished - no rush!
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.
 

Hello Friends,
 
It’s been a long time since my last post,  some work had cropped up which took priority over my hobby.  Here is an update of the work I managed since then. In the meantime I also did some changes to my hobby room.
 
Hobby Room
I made a new 3 meter work top with three drawer units for storage. I share half of the work top with my son who is presently studying electrical engineering. Now I must invest in a more comfortable chair.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inner Bulwark

 
 
 
 
 
I added some more detail to the inner bulwark.  Added the beam shelf and the stringer.  Then I added the waterway which I made from  1mm x 1mm walnut strips, rounded one edge and painted black before fixing.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I made a quick jig to mark the position on the bulwark for the eyelet arrangement for the canon tackle. I drilled all the holes ready to take the eyelets later on.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I also experimented a bit with blackening the brass eyelets.  I bought a bottle of blackening staff, mixed it with water as per instructions, cleaned the eyelets in white vinegar and according to the instructions after 30 min they should turn black.  Nothing happened!!!  I cleaned the eyelets in white spirit and after 30min still nothing happened.  I left the eyelets in the blackening liquid for the night and next day they were black.  Basically, to turn really black I had to leave them a couple of days. Why, I don’t know, maybe the material.  Now I ordered the Birchwood Brass Black and will try that as I intend to do the canons as well.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gratings
Prepared the gratings for the upper gun deck.  The coamings for the gratings which are hardly going to show I mitred the corners.  For those which are going to show more I dovetailed the corners.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
..
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ladders
When I came to the ladders and took out the 2mm Walnut Sheet 3 for the ladder sides I was very disapointed the way they were splintered.  There was no way I was going to use them.  I sent an image to JoTiKa and asked for a replacement.  I immediately received a reply from them confirming that thay posted a replacement and not only that, the new ones were made of solid walnut instead of plywood which were much better.  I received it in just a few days.  Very good service from JoTiKa, really helpfull.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I made a jig to cut the treads for the ladders all equal lengths.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hull
Painted all the gunport linings in red ochre and the hull sides in yellow ochre.  Next step is to mark and paint the black bands.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hope not to take long for more updates.
 
Regards
Robert
 

As you're building the Caldercraft version of Victory, I'd go for the New Period Ship Handbook first. When I purchased my kit from Cornwall Model Boats this was the book they recommended to me.

I totally disagree with these comments. As a relative novice to building model ships, with only one previous model, Le Hussard, my approach throughout my build has been to read, and often re-read, the instructions, check the related section in The New Period Ship Handbook, look at how others have tackled the stage on this site and then to dive in and have a go based in what I've found out. It hasn't failed me yet.

Hi Micheal,
I also recommend the books listed by Modoatman99, all of which are in my collection too - especially The New Period Ship Handbook without which I would have struggled even more than I have with my own build of Victory.
A couple of additions you might find interesting as much for details of the battle of Trafalgar itself as well as the ship are:
HMS Victory - Pocket Manual 1805 by Peter Goodwin
The Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis. Although this book focuses on the Temeraire, which followed behind Victory into the battle (although it was actually planned to lead Nelson's ship!) the description of what happened is explained in a very readable and detailed way in chapter 7. Got my copy second hand on-line, it was originally on the shelves of Baltimore County Public Library.....

As you're building the Caldercraft version of Victory, I'd go for the New Period Ship Handbook first. When I purchased my kit from Cornwall Model Boats this was the book they recommended to me.

I totally disagree with these comments. As a relative novice to building model ships, with only one previous model, Le Hussard, my approach throughout my build has been to read, and often re-read, the instructions, check the related section in The New Period Ship Handbook, look at how others have tackled the stage on this site and then to dive in and have a go based in what I've found out. It hasn't failed me yet.

Hi Micheal,
I also recommend the books listed by Modoatman99, all of which are in my collection too - especially The New Period Ship Handbook without which I would have struggled even more than I have with my own build of Victory.
A couple of additions you might find interesting as much for details of the battle of Trafalgar itself as well as the ship are:
HMS Victory - Pocket Manual 1805 by Peter Goodwin
The Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis. Although this book focuses on the Temeraire, which followed behind Victory into the battle (although it was actually planned to lead Nelson's ship!) the description of what happened is explained in a very readable and detailed way in chapter 7. Got my copy second hand on-line, it was originally on the shelves of Baltimore County Public Library.....

17.7. Mast. mast hoops
The mainsail is attached to the mast with 6 mast hoops. I make my hoops with pit cane (in Dutch: pitriet). It can be bought in a roll in hobby stores and is mainly used to weave baskets and for flower arranging.

I scrape one side of a piece of the cane flat. After being soaked in water for a while it becomes very flexible and I turn it around a piece of tube with a diameter which is some wider than that of the mast, the flat side at the outside.

When it is dry the cane keeps its spiral form when it is removed from the tube and it can be sawn to separate rings.

I file the ends of each ring diagonally. One side at the inside, the other at the outside. They must fit one in another to make a sustained ring.

The rings are now glued together around the mast.

Now I protect the mast with some paper under the rings and stain the rings.

I have made some more rings than the 6 needed. When rigging the sail, I will choose the best of them.