Charter33

Hi,
Work with the copper plates progresses steadily,  although slowly at times.

I must be close to having completed about a third of the hull and have got far enough to be able to include the first three of the ‘Victory plates’ on the port side,  just under the entry port.



 They appear slightly different in colour compared with the standard plates and this effect varies depending on the way the light falls on them.  I assume this must be due to differences in extraction and refining processes – 18th Century metallurgists did not have access to modern electrolysis techniques.
 
As a break from plating I have been ‘playing’ with the cannons. I wanted add breach rings and after a couple of false starts came up with this method.
The cannon was clamped in a machine vice on a milling machine that had been set up for drilling. Softwood jaws prevented any damage to the cannons, they rested on the pivot and were set at an angle of 45 degrees measured on the bottom edge. Two 1 mm holes were then drilled.

For the rings themselves I decided to ‘roll my own’ from 1 mm dia. Brass rod. This was done with a pair of fine round nosed pliers.
 

The loop was cut with side cutters and after a little tweeking the loop was pushed into place and fixed in place with CA glue.
 

 
Assembling the gun carriages next!
 
Cheers for now.
 
Graham.

Thanks for dropping by Marc, here is yet another jig!
 
Decision made – I’m going to stick with the approach given in the manual and work up from the keel – thanks Steve for the ‘nudge’ that finally swayed me.
After several sessions I have now fitted about 10% of the copper plates. It was always going to be a long haul, but so far it’s been fairly straight forward and surprisingly therapeutic!
 
One aspect that has been giving me food for thought was how to deal with the keel. I wanted to cover the bottom of it with plates folded evenly over the edges. With the keel 5 mm thick and the plates 6 mm wide this means a ‘return’ of 0.5 mm on the side of each plate. Early attempts with flat pliers and then brass soft jaws in a bench vice failed miserably ……
With approximately 60 plates needing to be shaped some kind of simple former was going to be required. This is what I came up with:
 

 
The main body consists of two 60 mm lengths of 5 mm square mild steel bar. The lower part has a shallow recess equal to the length of a copper plate filed into it while the upper bar has two grooves filed in with a ‘three square’ needle file to provide clearance for the raised rivet heads that run across the ends of the plates.  I couldn’t find any small diameter socket headed machine screws to apply the clamping pressure in the workshop so resorted to cutting M3 x .5 threads on the pins of a couple of  plated brass ‘push buttons’ from old 1970’s telephones that were rattling around at the back of a cupboard – knew they’d come in useful one day ….. Clearance holes in the top bar and suitably threaded holes in the lower bar finish the former.
 
The plate is put in place, but first checked to ensure that the rows of ‘rivets’ on the side are equally spaced from the edges – this sometimes varies considerably.
 

 
After clamping the protruding edges are pushed by thumb in the right direction and then a piece of softwood dowel is rolled along the edge to complete the bend.
 


 


... and the job's a goodun...
 
I hope this will be of some use to other builders.
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.
 

Hi,
Thanks once again for the generous comments and ‘likes’ – much appreciated as always. Michael - the Gloucester Javelin has a special significance. My dad worked on their electronic systems when he was in the RAF and I have clear memories of being taken to watch pilots practicing circuits and landings in them - this is probably responsible in no small way for sparking a lifetimes interest in aviation.
 
Meanwhile back in the marine world ,,,,, I need to start this post with an apology!  Throughout my career in teaching I have always been an advocate and proponent of the old adages ‘measure twice, cut once’ and ‘never assume …’  In my previous post I referred to the spigots on the dummy cannons being under size.  I have since found that this applied only to the 32 pdr cannons. Spigots on the 24 pdr cannons were bang on 2 mm. Consequently the holes in their deck have had to be re-drilled (No. series 44). At least they were under and not oversize.
 
Progress with my Victory has been a bit slow over the last couple of weeks. I have just returned to work after an absence of over a year, all be it now on a part time basis, and to be frank I have returned home most days well and truly knackered.  It’s been a long and at times difficult journey but the end is at last in sight.  Modelling activity recently has inevitably been a case of quietly browsing this site (always time well spent).
 
I have now started to add the copper plates to the hull. A strip of micro-ply as wide as the plates and marked with divisions equal to their length was pinned to the hull to help gauge the fall of the ‘part’ plates at the ends of the initial runs and to mark the width of the first line.
 

 
The plates are being attached with a couple of drops of c.a. glue applied before being pressed into place. I am still thinking about whether to follow the method described in the manual ie.  working up from the keel, or to plate some straight runs from the water line down as well.
 



Thirty one plates now in place, so just 2569 to go …..
 

 
Onward and upwards! 
  
Cheers for now,
 
Graham.

Well, drum roll... It is done!
 
I´m pleased with it. It was a fun kit to build. Some processes were difficult, I would not recommend this kit unless you have some experience in model building and working with different materials. I remember that I did not find the instructions clear in the beginning. I take that statement back. the instructions were very good. Read the carefully and follow the exactly and things will go fine. 
 
A very tricky part was adding the rudder wires through the rollers. Take care when you build the rollers and maybe install the wires before adding the roller wheels. This is the only deviation from the instructions which I would recommend. So instead of finishing the wings with the roller wheels and everything and adding the wiring in the end, install the wiring and then add the wheels. This way you have more space to work with when you install the wiring. So installing the rollers would be the last part you do before the model is finished.
 
The map as I used as a base is from the Imperial war museum. It is a bit "offset" to the frame as I use an old diorama rule that states "nothing parallell to the edge". Technically this is not a diorama but anyway.
 
The medal I put there to make it look a bit more interesting. Also the Red Baron got it, so I thought it would be nice to include it.
 
I will try go get a friend, who is a much better photographer than me take a few pictures of better quality than the ones below.
 
"What ever" you say, we want pictures!  Well here are a few!
 

sonday 07-01-2018 
ad som minor pices in formast and mainmast boom
Jens
 

The hatches into their position on the cross section.

Great news, Zoran. Thank you for resolving the problem.
With normality re-established I can get back to planning a couple of future projects .....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

Great news, Zoran. Thank you for resolving the problem.
With normality re-established I can get back to planning a couple of future projects .....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

Bluejacket Shipcrafters was the topic of "small businesses in Maine" on WAB I TV, which airs every Thursday during the 5:00 PM segment. Here's the link:
 
http://www.wabi.tv/content/news/Maine-Is-Home-To-The-Oldest-Model-Ship-Manufacturing-Company-In-Country-468022253.html
 
If that doesn't work, go to www.wabi.tv and search for bluejacket.

Superb detail and craftsmanship, Jens - as always!
Great to see you back. I'm looking forward to following your build through to completion.
 
Graham

Hi Zoran,
I'm currently experiencing withdrawal symptoms  similar to those I had earlier in the week when the MSW site went down! I'm having problems accessing your website - I hope this is just a temporary glitch - I really appreciate and admire your models of Adriatic sailing craft!
... or is it just my aging laptop playing up?
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Hi Zoran,
I'm currently experiencing withdrawal symptoms  similar to those I had earlier in the week when the MSW site went down! I'm having problems accessing your website - I hope this is just a temporary glitch - I really appreciate and admire your models of Adriatic sailing craft!
... or is it just my aging laptop playing up?
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Hi Zoran,
I'm currently experiencing withdrawal symptoms  similar to those I had earlier in the week when the MSW site went down! I'm having problems accessing your website - I hope this is just a temporary glitch - I really appreciate and admire your models of Adriatic sailing craft!
... or is it just my aging laptop playing up?
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

Hi Graham  thanks , it is also great to bee back
i hope you have pations then , i feel it will bee a waile before finish thisone   ...  
 
Hi Popeye love follow your thermopylae  and you smaller you harder  so good louck. 
 
werry small opdate now im on.
 

 
Jens.

Thank you all for your comments and "Likes"
 
My plan for fairing the frame floors. .
 
I started fairing the inner hull at the toptimbers which was easy enough. As I moved down toward the frame floors, I realized that I had to establish the height of each floor above the building board while getting the overall slope to match the shape of the keelson. To do this, I decided to make the three section keelson, using each section as a sanding block. Each section was left quite a bit higher so I would have something to hold onto. Sticky back sandpaper was adhered to the bottom face. So, after adding a number of frames, moving the block back and forth, in very short strokes, eventually brought the floors down to match the keelson shape. Floor heights were checked above the drawing board as sanding progressed.
 
Aft section test fit

Moving ahead, I added the middle section of the keelson. Sandpaper was added to the middle section and five layers of blue masking tape added to the aft section which matched thickness of the sandpaper. Now I could sand down those frames forward of the aft section without affecting the work already done.

Sanding leaves shallow notches in the floors that are too high.
Test fit with two sections completed.

Mike

Superb detail and craftsmanship, Jens - as always!
Great to see you back. I'm looking forward to following your build through to completion.
 
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.

11.7
The deck is finished with tree nails and then sanding, sanding and sanding...

Hi Popeye  
 
It feels good to be back. and I am now building the masters finished. Today I have built the last crosstree for the mizzen mast.
 
 

 

 
 
 
Cheers
 
Jens

J class Yachts and Thames Spritsail Barge. This was behind glass when I took the photo.
Jim

Hello everyone After a long break, I have found the model hobby again. and to restart softly. I have redesigned the lifeboats. I have sanded them round and then planked them up with paper strips . an idear i got from following  Nenad "s build .

mounting wheels



 
A wash with thinned Black paint

 
some metal parts are made shiny with a pencil

 
Numbered and tagged, finished


 
Thank you for following this build
 

8.21
All the deck beams are made and laid in position. They are not glued yet because I want to divide the hull into compartments first and some of the beams must be shortened to make place for the hatch openings.

For anyone interested in the HMS Victory: I found a half-hour video on YouTube of a walk-through.
It gives one the opportunity to check on details, without having to go to Portsmouth. The bonuses are images of the Captain's Cabin and the Poop Deck, both of which usually are off-limits to the general public.
Disappointingly the flag locker on the Poop, which interests me at the moment, was removed .
The link: 
 

In the end of this presentation, here are some photographs of the finished model ...