jablackwell

To hang the jolly boat from the rear davits a few steps are necessary: I need to get the rudder pendants out of the way, close the gun ports, hang the jolly boat from the davits and relocate/ re-tackle the long guns. As a first step of course a lot of destruction is necessary . . .
 
Img 1 shows the initial solution for the rudder pendant. With this solution on my Syren the rudder pendants and the tackles for the jolly boat would have touched each other where they crossed (img 2). To avoid this I used a slightly different solution for the rudder pendants, which can be found on a lot of models and follows in general the guidelines from Steel (img 3). This solution moves the crossing points of the rudder pendants to a part of the davits, which has a stronger slope and which allows to have the ropes cross each other without touching: the rudder chain is moved outward and hung from three hooks on each side of the rudder (imgs 4-5). Each rudder pendant is attached to a ring at the end of the rudder chain via a moused hook with a ring splice and a thimble (img 6). Imgs 7-8 show details of the implementation.
 
Thomas
 
 

 
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John between you and Mike Dowling I have gotten to this point thus far. I ended up using gap filling CA on the motor parts and it has seemed to work nicely. I did do a black wash on the engine to take away some of the "brightness" of the metal. 
 
Best regards,
Ray

Ray - happy tp help out. Enjoy the build! It's a good one, and the results are great to look at. Be sure to see Mike Dowling's build here, too. He also did the Fokker Dr1
~john

Oops, sorry John I have done it again!! It was my propeller that was rubbish, not yours.

Ray - happy tp help out. Enjoy the build! It's a good one, and the results are great to look at. Be sure to see Mike Dowling's build here, too. He also did the Fokker Dr1
~john

Ray - happy tp help out. Enjoy the build! It's a good one, and the results are great to look at. Be sure to see Mike Dowling's build here, too. He also did the Fokker Dr1
~john

Thank you sir for having this build log on here. I just got my kit and I will be referring to your pics and words throughout the build. Nice to know that 3 years later you are still helping a fellow modeler. Wonderful job and beautiful work. Thank you for taking the time to record and document your build.
Thanks very much,
Ray

Well, this one has been a LONG time coming. 
 

 
I mean, this lockdown seems to have lasted a lifetime, so the original notice of Amati's now almost mythical 1:64 HMS Victory seems to have been such a long time ago! A lot of water has passed under the bridge since 2013 when Chris drove to Italy with the original design model in late 2013. Amati had enough general interest about their Victory from modellers to warrant then asking me to build a production prototype for the new format instruction manuals they now use. There were a few changes from Chris' original kit too, and Amati wanted those incorporated in the new manuals. 
 
Those manuals (yes, plural!) will contain (tentatively) around 1500 build photos, and be perfect-bound, glossy productions. I've already broken down Chris' construction into a multitude of chapters, with each depicting a specific sequence/task. For example, there will be a chapter for building each size of gun, each of the launches, the stove, first planking, but also for fitting out whole decks. 
 
For this build, I will use the existing manuals that Chris made when he finished his kit.
 

 
Since Chris designed the model, Amati's laser manufacturer had changed the specs on sheet size that they could cut, so the sheet layouts needed to be rehashed for the new sizes. That was done earlier this year, but just when everything looked like it was going to plan (again), Italy, then the rest of the world, went into lockdown. So here we now are on the other side....just about.
 
DHL delivered the HUGE box not long ago, and it is fantastically heavy! What is omitted at the moment are some first layer planks that they will ship when back in stock, and the cannon and figurehead. They won't be needed for a long time. They are also waiting on the copper PE, but I do have all the sheets of brass PE here. So, we have bags of laser-cut material (MDF, ply, timber), sleeves of strip (lots of them!), bags of PE and a whole bag of various fittings. I already have the thirty-one sheets of plans. 

Remember, this isn't a review, but just a build log. I cant review something like this which isn't quite complete. That's not the purpose. 
 

 
 
Inside the box, all the laser cut parts were bagged into two thick poly sleeves. These packs were of course the real weight behind this delivery. I'll open them later to look through them but I've included a few images they sent me of the parts before they shipped out.
 

 








 
The sheer quantity of strip and dowel in this model is bewildering. The only time I've seen as much as this is when I've been in a hobby shop!

 
 
Fittings. Usually Amati pack these into trays, but for this purpose, all the stuff is in little bags and sleeves and bundled into this substantial bag. You name it, and it's in here...
 

 
Photo etch: Here's all the brass sheet stuff. I am waiting on the copper parts yet, but thought you'd like to see these.
 

 
 
 
 
As I've been promising this kit arriving for a long time, I felt the need to stick my flag in the ground and start a build log showing the stuff that I now have.
 
I won't be actually starting this until after 3rd August as I'll be away, plus I also have a project I need to take care of before that (written article, not a build).
 
So....there we have it!!!
 
**Apologies for phone camera pics too. The build will be done like my typical studio photos**

Worked on establishing the water line today. It turns out that a old fashioned #2 pencil is a perfect object to lift the bow to the right angle to make drawing the WL an easy task.  I used a level table as a base, then a level on the hull to make sure things were aligned properly. First try? No - that was not quite right. Second try? Yes indeed. All is well.  A pencil strapped to a machinist square was my drawing jig, and it worked just fine. Keeping things simple around here ;-)
 
The next phase will be to paint down to the waterline black and from the waterline down use a poly to smooth out the wood and get it ready for coppering. Once painted, I'll add the planksheer and wales, then onto coppering.
 
~john
 



 
 
 
 
 

Hull shaping is complete and keel in place. Now to mark the water line, add the outboard planksheer, and copper the hull.
 
 
I have been scouring the web a little and found a couple of good references to hull coppering (here, in fact!) and then found myself needing to reconsider the order of building:
 
I am going to mark the waterline now.
Next, paint the region above the waterline black.
Add the outboard planksheer, which is pre-painted white.
Then copper up to the waterline.  
 
One thing that has me a little stumped is the location of the gore line. Copper plates are added from stern to stem, bottom to the gore line, then added in a second belt from the gore line to the water line. This all looks very nice in the hand sketches, but I can't find "gore line" defined or described in enough detail.... more web hunting, unless one of you marvelous readers knows the answer    
 
Here's where she is as of this afternoon....        

Here's to a new log!  I am starting the Kate Cory now, a solid hull 1:64 scale model from Model Shipways. The hull came in excellent shape with only minor re-shaping to get down to the final measure. The hardest part was the bulwark thinning, which they recommend a chisel to carve down. I used a Dremel Tool.... Wear a mask if you try this, as basswood in the lungs is a bit unhealthy ;-)  
 
The sterm of the ship needed the most wood removal and reshaping. That also prompted me to use a Dremel sanding drum, which worked swiftly. With some hand sanding afterwards, the whole thing is coming along nicely.  I used a smaller chisel to square off the deck levels and trim the bulwarks closer to the deck. 
 

 

 

 

 
Next I am going to work on the deck bevel and do some fine sanding to the exterior. I want to add a shiny coat of varnish or something to make the coppered portion stick better... raw wood is a no-go for self adhesive copper tapes it turns out, as a simple experiment shows that smooth wood just lets the tape peel off. Testing is good.
 
~johnb

@Louie da fly
Thanks for the kind words. That motivates again and again.
Thanks to the others for the LIKES.
 
I am currently preparing the futtock shrouds.

 


The front futtock shrouds were served. The others only in the area of the splices.

Source: Atlas du Génie Maritime
 
 

 

Thanks for the likes guys. A little update on the progress of the fore course. After drilling the sheet sheaves, painting, and adding the iron straps, and multiple eyes, it was time to work on how this truss was going to hold on. Small plastic discs with pilot holes proved to be  a futile endeavor. I decided to try  making 4 eyes with 24 gauge steel wire, and the truss could slip in between them, and get secured with a brass pin through it and clipped flush. 

I made another half a dozen before finding 4 I liked and the brass pin slipped through easily. Next was to drill pilot holes for these eyes. I put the yard in a vice, and taped 1/32" square strip of wood on the yard to keep an even spacing between the eyes. 

 
This ended up working OK, and it was time to test fit the yard. To my amazement, it seems this will work!
 


I added an eye at the end of the sling chain which I cut to it's proper length, and drilled a corresponding hole on the top side of the yard on the center band that will hold the sling chain. 
 
I took the yard off, and added the blocks for the reef tackle, lifts, braces and clew lines.  Then it was time to attempt that sheet block for the chain topsail sheet. I cut the rough shape out of a piece of styrene plastic, and then another to make the front and back plates. Then I took 2 - 2.5mm metal bullseyes I had laying around, filed them real thin, and glued them to the plastic to resemble the pulleys in the block. I let that dry, and then filed the plastic to it's final shape, as best as I could. Then I added two very thin strips of wood to the front plate to get the look like the one on the Lagoda. It's very small. It measures 10mm across, 7 mm deep, and about 2mm thick.  I drilled a small hole top center of the block, and added an eye on the bottom side of the yard. A pin will be inserted through the front plate, through the eye in the yard, and through the back plate to hold the block in place. I tested it's fit on the yard to make sure I had the eye on the yard the popper distance away from the yard so the block holes for the pin and the eye on the yard lined up.
 
It's looks a little rough, as the camera picks up every little detail, but I'm happy with the result. 

 
Once again the "real block"
 

 
I blackened the sheet chain, and wove it through the block. And here it is pinned to a piece of Styrofoam, waiting to get installed on the yard. It will go on last, after the lines I need to put on like reef lines, footropes, stirrups and flemish horses. 

 
Added the jackstay, bunt line and leach  line blocks, and stirrups. Coated the stirrups in diluted white glue, and they're hanging straight to dry. 

 

 
I again tried to replicate some detail I saw on the Logada. The stirrups were lashed to the jackstays with manila rope.  

 
..And my attempt. Not exact, but I think a decent facsimile of it...🙂

 
A few more details and it will be time to get this yard on the ship. 
 

A little thinking out loud as I get ready to start the yards. These are "new" for me. I made the Model Shipways Taurus and Benjamin W Latham eons ago when Model Shipways was in Bogota, NJ near where I grew up. So I'm trying to lay out a plan in my head for the yards.
 
 Rig as much as possible off the ship first. I want to add the reef tackles. Again, I want to get as much on here as I can. A block with a stopper knot at the ends of the yard run to the mast and down will suffice.
 
The sheet for the lower yard is chain. I want to have this trough the sheave, with the clew line block attached to the upper end, and the bottom rove through the sheet blocks under the yard at the mast and single block with the standing end of the topsail sheet tackle all together before the yard gets attached. The plans say the sheet went though blocks at the mast. I've seen the iron sheet blocks that EdT made for the Young America, and I saw a similar sheet block on the lovely 1/2 scale Lagoda in New Bedford. I don't think one would look out of place on the KC. 
 
I'm not ready to try and make one out of metal as Edt did, but I think I can fashion one out out of a combination of styrene and wood. 
The Truss holding the lower yard is also something I need to figure out. Right now I have the truss pinned to the mast, between two syrene plates with holes in them epoxied to the mast band. 
 
Here's what the truss looks like on the Lagoda. You can see it below, in the upper right of the picture.  

Here's mine, pinned to the mast.

I'm hoping I can make the same sort of fixture with syrene on the yard bands and wedge the truss between them and pin it. Attaching that sling chain to the mast is going to be a challenge as well. That's straight forward, but it sure is a small space to be working in. 
 
Jackstays, lift and brace eyes and blocks, reef tackle eyes and blocks, Flemish horse eye in the ends of the yard, stirrups, footrope, bunt and leech line blocks attached to the jackstay...I think that about covers everything needed on the lower yard. 
 
Time to get busy. I guess I'll start with some sheave holes and all the eyebolts. Then the jackstay and then some paint. 
 

A few looks at the gaff and boom now complete. Special thanks to @michaelmys for explaining how that peak halyard rig works. Both ends belay to the pin rail on opposite sides, starboard side directly  the the pin rail, port side with a take up tackle. It appears that the hauling end was used to raise the gaff to certain point, then made fast, and then the take up tackle side was used to further raise the gaff to position, the tackle giving it that added power needed. 



If you look closely at the above photo, you can see somehow I managed to rig the throat halyard and bring the hauling end down on the wrong side. 😣. I don't think it will bother me enough to go in and re-rig it.  It will probably cause more harm than good trying to get in that tight space now. At the end of the gaff, you can see I hooked the sheet to the gaff topsail halyard.
 
Completed boom and gaff

That brings me to here....

Long way to go, but it's starting to feel like I can see the finish line.  On to the yards!!

Thanks John. I wish my work was a clean as yours. Plus I have zero photography skills as all these shots are just from my i phone. Your photography is always top notch.  As for the whaleboats, it was fun deciding on the color scheme. I've looked at so many pictures, trips to Mystic, and New Bedford...The only constant seems to be pick any color scheme you want! Want to paint the rail a different color than the topsides? go ahead. Want to paint the cuddy board the same as the rail. or the maybe the bulwarks? I've seen both. Paint the thwarts, or leave them wood stained? Go right ahead. The hardware will come last. Right now it's time to move on to the yards.  I've been doing a lot of contemplating on how I'm going to secure that fore yard truss and sling to the yard. The gaff is up and rigged. I'll get some pictures up soon. 

Your K Cory is looking absolutely lovely - good solid work there. A case will really be a nice touch, as mentioned above.  Oh, and I really like your whaleboat color work. Good job there. Such fun!
 
~john
 

Couldn't resist putting the boats on for a quick pic. 

The boom is rigged and in place. I'm not sure those reef tackle blocks would be there with no sail, but I wanted to get as many lines in as I could. I just knotted the line at the block, then ran it to it's cleat. Same with the outhaul. Knotted at the sheave, single block tackle, and belayed to a cleat. Boom tackle was stored under the boom, and lashed to the boom near the jaw when not in use. 



Next up, the gaff. This is going to present some issues, I believe. I neglected to drill a hole in the main mast to try to "pin" the gaff to the mast. That seems like too risky an endeavor at this point. Hopefully the rigging, and a little CA on the jaws and the clapper will be able to hold it up.  

Thanks for the likes and looking in.
Paint and ironwork on the boom and gaff is underway. The hoops are thin slices of electrical tape with a drop or 2 of CA on the back to make sure they stay in place. After drying, I added the brass eyebolts and painted them black. As I mentioned earlier with the masts, the ironwork on the KC was all painted white, but I like the contrast. A little artistic license. 


 
Next up is trying to get as much rigging on the boom as I can before I mount it. Footropes, Boom tackle, topping lift hardware. I want to show the outhaul, and the reef tackle even though there will be no sails. I'll knot the outhaul at the sheave, and rig it's tackle under the boom, and I'll knot the reef tackle at the block on the boom, and run it to the cleat. Footropes first. Definitely a challenge to get a  natural looking hang on them...diluted white glue and a little weight in the right places, but the curve keeps changing as the line dries.  I've got a few toothpicks strategically placed to try to coax the curve.  We'll see how this looks when it dries, then I'll trim the ends. 

 

Finished lifts and cranes.
Removed them when I discovered that they were at the incorrect height and whaleboats could not fit(!). Measure twice.... yep. 
Re-installed them. Tested. Phew.
Got the bowsprit and jibboom completed along with the martingale. 
I am thinking now about masts. 
 
~john
 

Two whaleboats completed and two to go. Finished them off with a colorful paint scheme for one (an active, in-use boat) and a dull grey and tallow for the stand-by, extra boat. Also got the tail feathers shaped and installed. I had some searching to do to figure out just how far forward the tail feathers' cantilever should go, but some plans from New Bedford got that solved. 
 

 

One whaleboat nearing completion (3 to go). It's amazing just how much detail one can pack into s small thing like this. I am looking forward to learning more each day.  The figures are to-scale.   
~john
 

and a closeup of the brick work.  All wood.  Yeah - it was fun! 
 

 
 
 

Spent this last week on the try works. I was really stuck on the brick facing. I figured I could just use some HO or N scale brick wall, but nope - wrong look and feel. Wrong scale. I decided to make bricks with 1/32" square pieces. Slow going, but a really nice turn out.   Here's the construction series below,
~john