BLACK VIKING

Cheers for the comments guys and the likes 
This is going to be the last update on the SR as she is now complete.
This has been a pleasure to build and I really like the way she has turned out. All the sails have now been finished and I am pleased with the result as this is the first time I have tried furled sails and it shows the deck of well . The crew have been placed on the decks and rope coils on the belay pins and knightsheads.
Thanks again for the brilliant comments and the likes. See you next time with my next build .
Martyn 

May I say thank you for all the brilliant comments Guys and the likes 
 
I have been scratching my head on how far down to paint the blue as there seems to be a lot of debate on where it stops? 
So I have gone down to the top of the middle gun deck just to see what it looked like and I must admit I like it so have fitted the first whale. The instructions say just to butt up the joints but I have done them with scarfs as it looks a lot better.
 
Thanks for following 
Martyn

Hi all thanks for the likes and for looking in
I have now finished the second planking and have sanded and put a clear silk varnish on the hull 
Next job deciding how far to paint the blue down the side? 
 
Thanks for looking Martyn 

Thanks for all the likes 
More planking on the SR very slowly getting there and boy this is a beast to plank , but really pleased how it's going.
Next job after that fitting the rubbing strakes.
 
Thanks for looking rgd Martyn 

Hi all a bit more done on the SR 
I have started planking the the lower hull and the first stealer has just gone in to help keep the planks in line. Looking at the way it's going I might need one more but we shall see 
 
Martyn 

Thanks Lou  Welcome aboard . 
 
I tried my hand at weathering the plaster. First I coated it in Tamiya Fine Grey primary, then I applied a coat of Floquil Cement color paint, then a wash of Floquil Engine Black.  Followed by a few more alternated coats of acrylic Mars Black and Floquil Mud.
 
Grey primer coat applied

First pass at weathering

I put it aside for a while until I get the half track vehicle assembled and painted. Then I will revisit the weathering of the church ruins once I decide on what other accessories I will add to the diorama.

Just a small update.
 
All of the innards are in and tested. Batteries are fully charged.
The clear acrylic hatch needed to have the corners rounded slightly in order to seat in the recess fully.

The ESC power switch did not have a means of through mounting so I filed a small notch in the hatch so I could have access to it. I will finish taping the hatch prior to going to the pond.

 
Here he is ready and waiting for his first swim. Now if only the weather would cooperate! It was blowing 18-20 yesterday and more of the same is predicted for today. When I let the dogs out this morning it was blowing pretty good so we will see. Maybe it will lay down enough by this evening to get him wet.
 
Regards

You mean you don't want him to set off for Cuba looking for his mate?  Would that be called a maiden voyage or a mating voyage??

Thank you everyone for all the likes and the comments!

All guns that require breech ropes, have them:

The first set of guns have their tackle (inhaul anyways, the outhaul wouldn’t fit).

I had a build log on the now apparently defunct "HMS Victory Modeller's Knowledge Repository..." by Pete Coleman, but all this is gone now. I thought I'd just show a handful of progress shots, and the completed project.  I never could have built her like she came out without that web site; it's a shame about it. For any readers contemplating a build, know that there are now available seven sheets of brass etch to enhance the kit. Everything from accurate shroud chains to nice stanchions to trigger locks for the cannon. They are superlative, although I only ordered two as this was my first model in decades and I had never seen brass etch to that point in time.
 
You can find the brass etch here:
http://www.dafinismus.de/plates_en#anker2
 
Never served thread before.  After reading about serving machines I made one out of my old meccano.  Here are the first served shrouds around the foremast head.  The deadeye strops are brass etch. I later changed the jeer block lashings to natural colour, just to make them jump.

 
My serving machine.
 

 
I bought this kit in the early 80's.  The decals crumbled to bits when I wet them, so I ordered adhesive vinyl lettering for the figurehead. I painted the false panels blue instead of black because I liked the look with all the other blue trim.

 
The brass etch binnacle, with (barely visible) lantern and compasses. Home-made post and rails at the poop deck ladders. Syren 2mm blocks on the cannon tackle. Larger brass rod belaying pins so my big clumsy hands could tie off to them. Notice the brass etch boarding pikes on the mainmast. Hammock netting from HobbyLobby, on brass etch stanchions. Added brass handrails down the main companionway ladder. Ready to proceed with rigging.

First look at masts plunked in dry assembled. Looking like a ship!

Lower shrouds complete.

Psychedelic mizzen ratline guide from cereal box.  Why not the blank side, you ask?  I have no idea now.

Home-made topsail yard parral.

The main top. A good look at the futtock shrouds, the mainyard sling, and the jeers timber hitched to the yard. Catharpins visible aft of the mast. Also seen are the foreyard braces and blocks. The mainstay and preventer mice were made by gluing beads to the stays then wrapping in thread. I did not attempt to actually stitch the cross threads on the mice. Note also the serving on both stays around the mast. The bullseye pairs lashing the ends of the topgallant shrouds are just inboard of the topmast shroud deadeyes. As I mentioned before the jeer block lashings are natural to enhance the aesthetic, at least in my eye. Amusing story - when I ordered the large wood blocks for the fore and main jeers, and the cat blocks, I ordered six from the supplier. Unfortunately I did not read closely enough and received six packs of multiple blocks which I am unlikely to ever need in the future. It wasn't worth the postage to send them back to the UK and pay their restock fee. 🙄

After-market stream anchor lashed to port sheet anchor. Anchor buoys, one of which is attached to the port bower anchor, lashed to shrouds. Brass etch chains replace Heller's ridiculous proposed scheme using thread and over-sized strops on the lower deadeyes. Note the evergreen lining inside the gunports to give the plastic hull a more realistic thickness. Each gunport lid received four brass etch eyes, one pair inside and one outside for the lanyards.
 

A good look at the brass etch futtock hooks. I cheated on the futtocks/catharpins by forming each set from one continuous thread running from hook to hook. Tying the true-to-life knots was just beyond necessary, for me.

The stern. What a pain to paint the not-very-precisely-defined decorative elements especially the ballusters (and those lanterns) !

Decided to use evergreen strips to enhance the ships boats, whose hulls are rather bare as supplied. For example the launch. Speaking of which, Heller supplies fewer boats than she had, mostly at wrong lengths. I shortened one of the supplied hulls and augmented the set with others from my parts shoebox.

The set. The pinnace and Admiral's barge are painted according to the whims of the officers and the Admiral respectively. Other "working" boats are all the same colours. The blue pinnace was fun to do with its additional trim at bow and stern.

 
Nearly there!  Decided to rig bowlines too, hitched to yards.

Copied Blue Ensign's idea to make little Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy figures. Faces aren't very good but ok to naked eye. Nelson's legs were broken and a slice removed at the knees since he was a relatively short man whereas Hardy was tall. Hats fashioned from Evergreen. The donor figures, again out of the old shoebox, were left over from the Revell Constitution I made in the 70's.

Had a cast acrylic case made for her, atop a cherry cabinet I made for the purpose.  Sat three of the boats on the shelf to allow viewer to see down to the upper deck through the skid beams, but really you cannot see even the cannon rigging on quarterdeck.  At least my eyes cannot.  Print hung above is Geoff Hunt's "England Expects", depicting "Victory" among the British fleet approaching the combined fleet, at walking pace on a near windless day, on the morning of Trafalgar.

14.6 Rope fenders
I want to have four rope fenders on board of my boat. I make first some wooden tubes (Ø 8 mm and length 3 cm) and some copper rings (inner Ø 4mm).

Then I pass the rope four times through the tube, in this way I have at each side and end of rope and a loop of rope. I stick the copper ring through start to make half hitches around it.

When I am fully around the ring, I continue to make half hitches, but now in the loops of the previous half hitches.

 

And that continues downwards the tube.

 

When all the half hitches are made the loose end goes through the bottom rope loop. Then the loose end has to be pulled tight until the top loop has the desired size and the bottom loop disappeared in the tube. Before cutting the loose end I fix it by injecting wood glue in the tube. When that it dry, the loose end can be cut off and there is no more risk of pulling out the upper loop from the fender.

I soak the fenders in dark stain to give them a more realistic look.

Two of the rope fenders hanging outboard.

On this last picture you can also see that meanwhile the main sail is hoisted, but that is for next week.
 
Thank you for reading
Thank you to follow
an thank you for the likes
 
Till next week!

14.3 The life belt
To make the lifebuoy, I start with making a wooden ring.

To give it a canvas look, I wrap and glue the ring with a strip of cotton.

Then I paint it in white

It has two layers of paint. Between each layer I sand it lightly with sanding paper. On top comes a coat of varnish

On the buoy come four canvas rings at which a line is sewed. The rings are made of cotton strakes of which I ply over the sides to the middle.

 

Next is sewing the line in the rings.

 

I glue the rings on the buoy ...

... and paint them red. And my boat is ready for a 'man over board'.

The wind  is blowing in the top fore  galant.

More rigging done.

Here is the complete suite of laser cut and etched parts for the Zulu, Lady Isabella:
2 x 3mm MDF sheets
1 x 3mm Pear sheet
1 x 2mm pear sheet
3 x 1mm pear sheets
1 x 2mm acetate stand
1 x 0.8mm ply sub deck
1 x 1mm limewood laser etched deck (although the one shown is 0.6mm maple veneer, which may be an option)
1 x 0.4mm PE brass sheet

Good day all,   more work on mossie,  -  I  assembled the other wing  starting by fitting the flaps together, at  the same time I painted and placed the wing radiator in place,  then after cleaning the seams up - the wing was  joined together with the flaps trapped inside.
I also cleaned up and painted both engine nacelles.
 
OC.

I have finish the first deck. I glue it in place and this is the result. I have apply two layers of mat transparent varnish for protection. Now the next step is the planking of the second deck, and that will cover the most part of the first. To be continued.....

Good news.
At the request of my supervisor, Felix, this shipyard has been restarted.

He was not happy with the slow progress...

Not much progress yet. I started with 3 doors, and few halyard blocks.


Detailed explanation of how everything is built will follow.
 
Greetings,
Patrick
 
 

The rigging blocks for the forward guns are installed:

At this point, all she needs are the eyebolts for the breech ropes, except for the bow chasers, which don’t have breech ropes.
Next up, 36 eyebolts!

The Victory has been moved again, and is in her new home.

Yeah, you learn early on that you need to keep a firm grip. I'm surprised that the parachute held up long enough to pull the poor guy out of your hands! The ones I was able to get were so flimsy that they would barely hold up to being thrown up in the air. Some of them even came with a stick and rubber band to launch them even higher. They lasted even less time. Either the chute ripped at the string connections or they ended up on the roof of the house.😫

Ok, some news.
 
The laser and photo-etch parts are now being produced. As around 7yrs had elapsed since Chris completed this, the laser cutting company had made changes to its equipment, meaning the sheets had to be a different size. Some work was done to move all the parts around to fit the new sizes. There were a few questions about certain aspects of the design, but we are now there.
 
Amati hope to have the parts (both laser and PE) with them in around 10 days, so if that goes to plan, I should have everything in 2-3 weeks, and I can start a build log here as I create the work needed for the instruction manuals. There will be at least two shiny, perfect-bound books for this....possibly three. Having spent 7 months pouring over Chris's original manual, I think there will be around 1500+ images needed, perhaps more. That will be interlaced with some extracts from the drawings too. 
 
I know many folk are wanting this kit, so I promise to work as quickly as I can to complete everything up to where masting is needed. Masting and rig will be done via the plan sheets, as is traditional. 
 

Wow stunning job and the lantern looks superb, well done m8 
Martyn

Thanks for all the comments and the likes.
 
Some updates on my progress over the last couple of evenings.
 
First I finished the battery mod.
By covering the exposed ends with a dollop of silicone sealant.

I also connected bound and tested all the radio gear so that it is ready to go when the time comes.

Then I cut a gasket from some closed cell foam I had left over from another project.
 

Then it was time to install the ballast.

I divided it up roughly in half.
Then divided one bag in half again. and placed it in the bilge.

As usual if I think about it long enough I will finally decide to do it the right way. I was going to leave the ballast "loose" (in zip-loc bags and attached with velcro ) so as to be adjustable. But with so little room and limited access once the batteries are in place I decided to make most of it permanent.
 

So after once again removing everything.

I mixed up a little 30 minute epoxy.

Added slightly less than half of the lead shot and mixed well.
 
Then using a tongue depressor as a scoop carefully placed it in the aft bilge.
Then lather rinse and repeat for the forward bilge.

I kept about 1/4 of the shot for final adjustment. Once the epoxy is set I will reinstall everything and that should be about a wrap except for getting it over to the pond.
 
I will let you know how that goes in the next installment.
 
Best Regards

it will be fully published in a magazine, but here's some photos... 🤫