Glenn-UK

Work resumed on HMS Victory after my weekend break working on HMS Pegasus.

Feeders and Chesstrees have been fitted and painted.

Following my visit to Shipyard Sid last week I have taken his very sound advice with regards to dry fitting the channels in order to fit the brass profiles. I have also used Shipyard Sid's method of cutting a diagonal cut in the channel for the dead eye strops.

Brass Profiles

Channels Dry Fitted

Strops fitted with diagonal cut

Finally I have started work on painting the first set of gun port lids as I plan to complete the work on brass profiles, channels, chain plates and gun port lids in small sections, working from stern to bow.

Great set of pictures which clearly show what has to be done to those who follow in your wake and very informative

Pegasus is back in the dry dock and I will start on my Victory channels tonight. I plan to make the same diagonal cut as shown by Shipyard Sid to secure the deadeye stroop in the channel. I have prepared a test piece to perfect the technique.

Have a great day.

Hello David and Jerry

Many thanks for your visit and comments.

I will consider further attachments for the dremel tool, but not for a while as I'm spent up for the time being.

I wish I had bought one months ago as it is a very nice tool to have.

Tomorrow I return to HMS Victory build, starting with dry fitting the channels, although I did drill and test fit one cannon today.

I also experimented with a brass blackening solution;it worked very well after proper cleaning.

I have also added some additional photo's to my last post

Hello Spyglass

I'm not sure about the planking just yet. I was planning to plank to keel edge, and the sanding back to width of 5mm, as I did on my Victory build.

I think I will drill a 1mm hole in keel. through keelson (dry fitted) for the final supports. I will then enlarge once the keelson has been glued in place. I will not be adding bolts to the keel, but will add adding support strips.

Now I'm happy with the method for the beading and rabbet I have added the cut guidelines to the actual keel and prow.

I have also spot glued two x 3mm strips to the keel. These will act as the stop point when removing the waste wood, i.e. these strips will ensure I don't take too much wood off.

Rabbet Cut; it was much easier than I first thought it would be with craft knife and chisel.

Beading waste wood removed; the dremel sander made the initial removal of waster very easy.

I used a slow spin speed and took my time. Completed the task with a chisel, needle file and sandpaper.

Can't work without them. I use my normal reading glasses for general work and the headband with 4 interchangeable lenses for the detail work which I bought on Amazon. The internal light is no use, but I do  have a powerful adjustable white LED lamp, normal used for runners, bikes) with a head band but rarely have to resort to using that.

Beading Line and Rabbet

Second test for beading line and rabbet on scrap MDF.

First task was to draw the beading and rabbet lines (this is an exact repeat as required on the actual keel.). I drew identical lines on both sides of the MDF sheet. I then attached 3mm wide strip to the edge of the MDF using a few spots of CA which will act as the stop point.

I started removing the waste wood using the dremel sander around the edges leaving it well above the stop strip. I then used a chisel and needle file to remove the remaining waste wood making sure I got a nice slope from the beading line to the edges. This was checked with my micrometer, 3mmW at edge, 4mmW at half way point an 5mmW beading line. Finally sanded smooth. Not very clear on the photo but I think if you look carefully the beading cut can be seen.

The rabbet was cut as per my prevoius post, using a craft knife to cut the depth and then used a chisel at right angles to the cut to remove the waste wood, then used a needle file to file away the rough edges. Finally removed the 3mm strips and checked the width of the keel below the rabbet cut and it  measured 3mmW. I'm very happy with the end result.

Having proved the method works I'm now totally happy remove the waste wood from keel and to cut the rabbet. But before I do this I will perfect the method to cut the rabbet on the walnut prow, using a scrap bit of 5mmw walnut to prove the method.

Treated myself to a new toy this morning as I thought it may aid with the work with reducing the keel width at the stern end from beading line to edge.

Rather than try it out on the model I decided it would be best to test drive the tool first.

Took some scrap MDF and marked the lines and the used the dremel sander to reduce the width. Glad I did it on a test piece first as I got a bit carried away and went a bit too deep at the edge.

Was simple enought clamp the ruler to the material whilst I cut the rabbet line with a craft knife.

Then was able to use a chisel to finish the process, which I then tidied up using a needle file

I learnt a lot from this first attempt and will try a couple more time on scrap wood until I'm happy with the process before I move on for doing it for real.

Not sure how deep I need to make the rabbet, Given the MDF is 5mm thick I'm thinking a depth of 1mm will be OK

1. Pre Work - Dry Fitting Of Bulkheads

Made an easy start tonight, released the bulkheads, keel and lower deck from the sheets and dry fitted.

It was nice that the parts were held in the sheet by a very small slither of wood which made releasing the parts very easy.

The parts all slotted together very nicely. I also I dry fitted the cradle. It will be some time before these parts are glued as I will have to do the keel beading work at the stern and the rabbet along the bottom edge. Also I plan to fair the bulkhead as much as possible so that when the bulkheads are glued in position a minimal amount of fairing will be required, well thats the plan.

Onwards and upwards must soon be time for the masts and yards. I'm just starting work on channels and hull brass work. I think I'm going to work my way down the hull fitting brass profiles, channels (and fittings), gun port lids and dummy barrels in sections so as to break up some of the repetition. On Saturday I plan to start work on Pegasus.

I agree the coaming will actually be fitted at 90Deg to that shown in the pdf file.

The drawing was to show if I should offset or not offset that parts and thought it was better illustrated as shown.

Hello

I have enjoyed reading through your build log and I think you are doing a really great job.

I have received my Pegasus kit this week which I plan to build alongside my current HMS Victory build.

I plan to work on the Victory in the evening during the week and the Pegasus at the weekend, staring this coming weekend

A tall order maybe but given the way the Victory build is going I think a second build will help break up some of the very repeative tasks required for the Victory build (104 gun port for example!!!).

I have decided that I will start by making up some smaller deck items first, such as the grating assemblies and will leave the keel / bulkheads, assembly for the time being as I want to experiment with construction methods adding a Rabbet in the MDF

I understand the correct build method for gratings is butt the deck planking up to grating coamings

With my last grating I did use the standard mitre joint for the coaming but I wish to use the proper joint for this build.

I have a question related to the correct method with regard to the way the four coaming sides are assembled.

I have shown the two methods in the attached pdf file, and I tend to think the 2nd (offset) method is correct.

Do you have any thoughts on this matter?

Revised Grating.pdf

Grating.pdf

Thanks David, and that is a great picture

You'll soon be working on the masts and yards in no time at this rate

Thanks Jerry

I just put the steps where I thought look right using plan 5 as a reference and they all went OK. The hardest job was filing the steps once I released them from the walnut sheet. I lost count of how many times I dropped the small steps on the floor, but thankfully was able to find them again.

I had a real treat yesterday as I paid Shipyard Sid a visit, a really nice and very helpful man as is his good friend Glenn who I had the pleasure meeting yesterday as well.

His completed Victory build is very impressive and all I can say is WOW.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

Anyway back to shipyard tonight and the first side enrty port and steps have now been installed.

Same again tomorrow night on the other side.

Trying to show some of the detailed painting of the entry port.

I'm now in procession of the HMS Pegasus kit, and I'm now going to spend some time reading through the instructions and plans.

My first impression is it all looks very good and I'm looking forward to making start in the next few days.

I cant make any comment of the quality of the material at the moment, but generally what I have seen looks very good, certainly compared with the Victory kit.

Now you're just showing off, and why not it's an impressive bit of woodworking.

Nice work, The key is finding a method that works well for you.

I found rigging the gun deck cannons really hard work and I didn't do it to well.

I had the same sort of problems, big hands, small cannons, lack of proper tools and poor eyesight.

I found a method that worked well for me for the quarterdeck cannons. I also invested in small additional tools, such as a helping hand tools and magnifying glass which are a godsend for the blocks.

I also tried and added coiled ropes which I was pleased with.

Build Index - hyperlinks to different sections of build will be added as the work progress on this build. I will probably reformat the index as the build progress as well to reflect the build tasks.

1. Prework - dry fitting bulkheads

2. Beading Line and Rabbet

3. Lower Gun Deck Fittings

4. Grating Assembly

5. Dry Fit Main Gun Deck and Fitting

6. Gun Deck Fitting  Prework

7. Lower Gun Deck Glued and Pinned

8. Pre Gun Deck Planking Work

9. Start of Gun Deck Planking

10. Gun Deck Opening Cleared During Planking

11. Gun Deck Planking Work In Progress

12. Gun Deck Planking & Fairing

13. Main Deck Fitting Painting

14. Fitting Basla Inserts Bow

15. Fitting Gun Port Strips

16. First Planking

17. Second Planking

18. Bulwalks

NIce cleat work, enjoy the game. I'm guessing your routing for the Sea Hawks.

Finally completed fitting the fire buckets.I did come up with an alternative build method after I had rigged 15 of the buckets which would have resulted in a much more uniform build, but decided I would leave as is. They are not straight, neat or tidy looking, but when the ship is fully rigged it will not be too noticable, well thats the theory.

I may add a brass profile strip under the fire buckets after looking at pictures of the real ship.

Deck hands need to clean under the poop deck.

Can you spot the mistake I made with the cannon rigging. I only noticed this afternoon!

Next task is to fit the side entry port and steps, which will take a 2 or 3 day to complete as the entry port castings requires some detailed painting. The actual casting were not that good a quality but will look ok when painted and fitted to hull. I have already added the black background colour, and will add the other colours over the next 2 or 3 days. It will probably take a nights work to remove the steps from the walnut sheet and file off the rough edges.

The next big task after that will be the assembly and rigging of the gun port lids. I'm not sure if I should pre drill the gun ports first in readiness for fitting the cannons (which will be fitted later on) before I fix the gun port lids

I may stay up late and catch some of the super bowl. Lets hope they have enough air for the balls this week!

Next week the 6 nations rugby union competition starts and I'm hoping England can win the Grand Slam this year and then do well in the world cup later in the year, but I think the All Blacks will lift that trophy again.

Happy February Jerry

I can't believe the progress you've made over the last 6 weeks or so and built to such a good standard.

I thoroughly enjoyed my full English breakfast yesterday but didn't get any time in the shipyard. I will commencing on a parallel build project, HMS Pegasus very soon. This will be done in slow time, perfecting build methods, such as a rabbet, prior to installation. There are some great build logs to follow by Blue Ensign, Spyglass, etc.

I'm toying with the idea of buying HMS Pegasus from victory models as a side project, one where I can take my time to fill in time when stuck on some of the repeativite tasks. I'm also reconsidering doing another Caldercraft Victory build once I have completed my current build trying to reduce many of my build errors second time around. I say go for it David

The deck work seems never-ending. I should have followed Gil's build method for the fire buckets with a strip as you suggested. But, as Frank said, I did it my way. I hope to have all the deck work done within the next week or two. It's a Morrison's Big Breakfast as its only a 5 minute drive, a nice treat as I follow a srtict diet during the week so I can eat what I please on Saturdays. This has resulted in a 3 stone weight loss.