shihawk

looking great , What kind of timber are you using for the wales??? i was working on mine last nite ,work meant little done last week ,

if your double planking use the first layer to practice and figure out the best way to run the final planking

Im building the Billings Victory at present and would agree with all above , instructions are useless ,plans are fair ,timber is cheap ,but after a lot of initial complaining i realised i got what i paid for and at less than half the price of the cc version i think it is probably value for money but you need to be prepared to strain the old grey matter and scratch a few parts along the way .Im sorry i can,t help as regards dating but perhaps if you contact Billings with a box number they could help you. Have Fun!!

In my limited experience if ordering Manzonia order at least twice as much as you need as color variation does seem to be a common problem ,but may depend where you buy from .good luck

the only good thing is you realised the alignment problem early on ,i find i wear the magnifiers nearly all the time and can,t work without them ,it,s funny how the camera highlights all the little details we miss but i agree with Jerry you would have regreted not fixing them .I have never coppered and hope i never do cause it looks like a real pain but going by your previous work you will soon master it . Boyd

Keith ,you must be a natural ship builder , rigging looks great ,be carefull starting a new build without finishing your present one . Some people can manage it ,im guessing your probably one of them but i left my Cruiser half rigged to start the Victory and can,t seem to get back to her my latest excuse is ill practice rigging on her before i start to rig the Victory ,but with your work routine i don,t supose this will be a problem . I will watch for your Sark log with interest .Have Fun Boyd

Consider the scale ,i sometimes wonder if anything above 1:75 needs anything .My experience is limited but have used the pencil method a couple otf times with reasonable success , Have never tried thread as most reports i read it,s not always satisfactory .Good luck in your choise !!!

no need to overdo it as we all have to sand when finished anyway

Im realitvely new to the hoddy and am tyring out different woods and find it important that the different woods are identified by name as well as deminsion

Tks mathewp , there is no set plan , im making it up as i go along ,so pull up a chair i need all the support i can get , but make sure its got a soft seat cause it,s going to be a long journey Boyd

Looking great David ,can,t imagine when ill ever reach that stage

Although im building the billings version i think i to would recommend the caldercraft Victory . More expensive ,yes , but i have spent a fair bit on extras and if you want copper plates they aren,t supplied from billings. I don,t know much about the other makers but from the build logs on here the cc kit straight from the box seems a great build . good luck in your decision

doing what you really enjoy always relaxes you , I wish you good haelth . Have Fun Boyd.

Finally got port linings finished on one side ,very tricky but after my previous statement i decided to give it my best effort .Im happy but not really looking forward to the other side although im waiting on more wood before i start so might make a few gun carriages for a change . Would love to try a coat of varnish on the finished side to see how the colors come up and for protection but have read so much about glue not sticking on varnish im afraid to as i still have plenty to glue on the upper hull , i think i better hold of a while longer!!!, plus i discovered an odd springy plank and a few minor repairs needed on upper bow planking I redid my gun carriage to get it sitting at a better level and think the mark 2 will probably surfice Was tempted to order chucks carriages but thought i,d give a go myself and now that i have a design im happy with ill make up a few jigs for mass production , i think i need 20 odd thankfully much less than the cc kit the rings and cannon etc will be blackened but not sure how yet ,i bought a kit for this but can,t find it . will try it out when i do . might change the rings as i think they look slightly big ?? these are bought ones and i can make up smaller if i need to , any opinions welcomed !! when wood arrives i will try darker wheels although the pine ones don,t look to bad .

look at page 4 Which is the best Victory ,same topic debated ,not sure what the conclusion is . Im building the Billings version myself its a very basic model but for someone of your experience should be no problem if you fancy plenty of kit bashing .Bought for less than £300 so less than half the price of cc .

As you will know from my previous post i made a bit of a horlics of my gunport openings and this was one part of the build i had been determined to do properly as i have seen a lot of pics of finished models spoiled because the gunports were all over the place . (Im setting myself up for a fall here) .Because i stupidly decided to roughly cut out my openings before fitting the wales, and then changed the position of the wales i finished up with high and low ports plus ones that were to big when properly squared . At one stage i considered ripping out the strips between the wales and cutting all the ports again ,but thought before going to this extreme i would try to fix them and if i couldn,t i could still resort to this drastic and time consuming solution .I then concluded that i probably won,t be the first or last to make this mistake and so decided to show how i think i solved the problem ,as usual all views are welcome and any suggestions willingly accepted This is what i started out with having removed 0.5mm strips of stained cherry which i experimented with first, as you can see the timber surrounding the ports is 0.5 ,brittle and doesn,t have a shap edge ,chipped very easily when filling. I used it because when varnished it seems to turn yellowish and i had it in stock ,in hindsight i probably should have used Lime or similiar . This time i carefully squared the holes especialy width wise as i can correct the height later on I then cut strip of the same wood to line the holes . Started at the bottom and depending on the hole it took 1,2 or 3 strips to finish 1mm above the level of the wale ,i then measured up from this 13mm to give me the top of the hole ,again depending on the hole sometimes i had to file more of and sometimes i had to add a 0.5 strip if the hole was to big Didn,t always add a strip at top cause i could get a straight edge filled with the run of the plank this shows the angles on the strips , by cutting them to big but at an angle it meant i could get a good tight fit easily an by leaving 1mm or so proud of the hull means that when carefully trimed of i finish with a reasonably straight edge flush with the hull This would also mean that anyone painting the inside of the ports could prepaint the strips and still have a clean unpainted edge to match the hull This paticular port was far to wide and needed 2 strips up one side ,i would have used 1mm strip but only have 0.5 I then lined the port properly with the same wood as the wales 1mm which has a good sharpe clean edge These strips were cut with a small angle also and some fitted so tight that i only glued the top and bottom ones I then carefully trimed of the linings flush with the hull and gave a run of fine sandpaper And heres the finished gunport ,still might need a little sanding here and there . Maybe this will be of some use to some one sometime and if not i may need reminding myself the next time i start lining ports . Will show all when finished and you can tell me then that there still all over the place??? Have Fun

Did you consider Chucks rope ,it looks impressive and thought i might give it a try when im ready in a couple of years

Keith i think you deserve a holiday,you must be doing your 7or 8 hours every day ,but it doesn,t seem to have affected the quality of your work .I can,t imagine when i,ll reach this stage . You are right about the netting ,first time i seen it i thought about replacing it but i must admit it looks better when painted ,i have a lot of other decisions before that !! Im still lining my gunports you were wise to leave them alone ,im not sure it,s worth it but no choise now. Cheers Boyd

Great log Michael ,will be following with interest

Didn,t anyone tell you that sharp knives are dangerous blood stains are hard to remove from wood ,don,t ask me how i know .Seriously i hope it,s not to serious ,and i like your build board,might try something similiar . Don,t let the loss of a fingerslow the build ,you have got seven others ,at least i hope you have .Have Fun

txs both,sometimes you have to see things done to know they just ain,t right !!it,s going to be tricky getting them all leveled and lined again ,not to mention getting them a uniform size ,i was a bit worried when i cut them out at the begining and it could be coming back to bite me now but slow and sure wins the race ( not that there is a race)Have Fun

As i mentioned in my last post i wasn,t happy with the gunport linings ,have now come up with a combination i find more suitable . I first lined the port with same wood used to create the stripes 0.5x5mm which gave a good clean hole which i then lined with the same wood as i used for the wales 1x3mm . I remember reading somewhere that when going for a non paint finish it,s best to stick to only 2 or 3 different wood types and think i now see the reasoning for this ,rather than trying to paint with wood ,certain shades and types seem to work together ,of course this is in my eyes others will have different preferences When seen together ,new on top old on bottom ,i,m sure you will agree ,any opinions welcome .Just a pitty i lined so many before i decided they were wrong!!! As im sure you realise by now i change my mind more often than i change my soaks

I found soaking overnite and then slowly bending and drying over a hot fan heater ,has the advantage of finishing with a dry plank ready for fitting ,also use a plank bender for final adjustments . problem is different woods sometimes require more work than others eg i second planked with 0.5 cherry and needed no soaking or plank bender but the 1m Didetou wood in the wales required a lot of soaking before fitting . You just need to experiment and find the method that suits you . Your getting on well and now we have the experience of Keith to fall back on !!! so remember if in doubt ask ????? Boyd

Dave ,do you have a build log set up ,thats 5 Billings Victory builds i know off . Sorry Michael for interupting your log . Cheers

few pics of my atempt at Victory stripes and before anyone points it out i know the wales are not exactly where they should but it was the only way in my limited experience i could figure out how to do it without paint . Im happy with the overall result except for the gunports ,in hindsight i should not have tried finishing them before fitting the wales as quite a few now need realinement and i don,t want them to look patched up i rubed a small sectionwith damp cloth to show nearer color when varnished Not happy with lining for gunports ,they aren,t definite enough so may change to a different better edged wood , more experimenting necessary I think i asumed that it needed to be a redish wood but may now consider a different color as the rest of the build isn,t the proper colors anyway ,In a way its very liberating not to have to follow a set of strict plans or color schemes!!!