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Hello to everybody. Finally started the long voyage. I ordered HMS Victory Caldercraft from CMB and received it just a few days later by UPS, very well packed. I was a bit busy and could not start on it right away. Apart from that I was still undecided whether to install lights on it or not. In the meantime I prepared a rotating board to build it on and did some research on available led’s. I was also browsing HMS Victory Caldercraft builds on MSW. Very nice builds going on, congratulations to Gil Middleton, Seventynet, Rob G, Heinz746, Robert22564 and Dominic. I enjoyed going through their builds and tried to absorb some ideas. So my first decision to make was ‘lights or no lights’. If I opted for the lights I knew it was going to delay the start of my build as I had to do some planning beforehand. After some research on lights available and on builds with lights, I decided to go for it. I think the end result will be worth the extra effort. I sourced small 3mm yellow flickering led’s, candle effect and ordered some of them together with the resistors to see their effect. I dry fitted the keel and bulkheads and literally spent hours looking at it trying to plan how to put the lights in the lower and middle deck gunports. I don’t want the boat to look like the Titanic lit up for its maiden voyage. I decided to put a led in each gunport. I experimented a bit and tried to put the lights in a position where they give a very subdued light, as of course there is nothing to see in the lower gunports, except the dummy rails for the cannons. I wanted to create the effect of a very dim light where the gunports are still a bit dark but you can still see a very dim light with a candle effect. Finger crossed the final result would be what I am hoping for. I also planned from where to pass the wiring for them and for the upper decks. Another thing which was bothering me was the power supply for the lights. I do not want to use batteries as in the future I intend to put it in a glass case and it would be very inconvenient to have to remove the glass case each time you want to switch it on or off. On the other hand I do not want any cables showing coming out of the model. I decided to take out the cables from under the keel and through one of the mountings and base board of a future glass case. I drilled three holes under the keel, two to take the mounting rods and the middle one to pass the wires through. Now that I have visualised more or less how to install the lights for the lower and middle deck gunports I prepared the holes for the wiring in the bulkhead as it is much easier to drill them at this stage, painted the inside of the bulkheads black, and started gluing the bulkheads in place, taking care to have them all at right angles with the keel. Here goes a few images of my working table I prepared and the start of my build. It is going to be a slow start because of the lights. HMS Victory Kit arrived by UPS very well packed. Prepared a rotating working table for the model. Cut a tick MDF board, fitted a tv turntable to it and fixed to the table. The table is on wheels as well. Glued the walnut Stem and the front keelson to the main keel. Prepared and numbered the bulkheads. One of them was not pre-cut properly and repaired. Drilled the holes in the keel for the mounting studs and the hole through which the power will be supplied to the model. Fitted a nut inside the keel to take the mounting studs, and also reinforced the sides of the holes. Dry fitted the structure, sanding and making sure the joints fit without needing to use force. This is the method I used to bend the dummy barrel strips. I steamed the strip in a pot then put it on a flat surface and while rolling a jam jar over it, pull up at one end, repeating this process until the desired bend is achieved. Immagine there are better ways to do it, but for the moment worked fine. Started work on the lights. I cut small squares from a circuit board on which I mounted a led, resistor and a pair of wires. I drilled a whole in each gun port on the dummy barrel strips through which the led’s protruded from the back. This way I did not have to do all the soldering on the model, all I had to do in place was to loop the pair of cable to the next one. Each time I soldered one in place I checked all is lighting up so I don’t find any surprises later on. On the led’s if you switch polarity, it will not light up. Painted black and started gluing the bulkheads to the main keel making sure they are perfectly square. The middle gun deck is only dry fitted for the moment. I have to do the wiring for the lower gun deck first. Installing the lights. The red and black wires are to supply the upper deck lightings, which I still have to plan as I go along. Will appreciate any comments where I can improve, change or am doing any tasks the wrong way. Robert

Hi Everyone This is my first model of this type and having only just found this great site and wish id done so earlier! I’m at the rigging stage of building HMS Mars, I’ve done the stays and rat lines, ( even found how to do the mouse!) but if anyone can point me towards pics of the yard rigging stages onwards that would be great.The plans are pretty good, but seeing it is so much more helpful, as the nearer the end I get, either I’m getting denser, or its getting more complicated! Right now I’m not sure if I never want to see another model again, or jump straight back in and try not to repeat some of the schoolboy errors I made, there has been more than one occasion when I have sat starting blankly at a mini fail, only to realize that mistakes you make wait a while before they come back to bite you! Any help would be very much appreciated. thanks John

As I'm slowly approaching the end (or at least the beginning of the end) on HMS Snake, I gratefully received what will be my next installment for my birthday. Don't expect much progress as I want to keep working on HMS Snake as time permits, but I wanted to have the kit in my hands so I can start to do some planning ahead, and most importantly, get my order in for some upgraded wood. I also want to take advantage of the warm weather to get the larger sanding jobs done outside if I can. I plan to take the first planking slowly to avoid repeating errors and to hopefully ensure I can get the lines as close as possible to the plans. I had a great experience with my Caldercraft Snake, and after trying to evaluate other kits out there, decided to stay in the family due to the expected kit quality, interest in the subject matter and availability of aftermarket items. I've been vacillating between HMS Agamemnon and HMS Diana for some time, but what finally swayed me was getting a copy of the AOTS Diana book which I'd like to follow as closely as possible as skills permit. Initial thoughts on the kit and approach: I'm going to build her as HMS Jason, the 5th of the 9 built Artois-class frigates. Don't think this will mean any significant deviations, but I have downloaded the plans from NMM, and there is of course the narcissistic additional interest for me . This will require me to change the figurehead, I have thought through options. While not quite a beautiful as the Diana admiralty models with open quarterdeck rails, I do plan to build her as she was when completed with the build up quarterdeck bulwarks. My reading indicates that most, if not all, would have had this feature when actually launched as it was back in fashion. Wood - The supplied walnut does not look great, not a surprise and this seems to be a (sadly) common factor in CC kits. I have decided to upgrade/change the wood, and will probably go with boxwood for the external hull, and maple for the deck as I'll try to replicate the decking in the AOTS book which Ray so successfully handled on his build. I'll keep the walnut below the waterline where possible to save on cost as this will be coppered . Instructions - Poor, but as expected. I hope this won't present too many challenges, and hope my initial experience on Snake will get me through OK. Copper plates - The CC plates get a bad rap, and I don't think they are as bad as commonly perceived when looking at a completed hull. That being said, I would like to try to replace them with Amati ones which look very authentic if finances allow (on a "cost per year" basis, this is easier to justify given my slow pace) Armament - The HMS Jason plans show her with 6 identical ports on her quarterdeck, suggesting the original 9lb'er configuration. The kit provides a mix between carronades and cannons with differences in the gun port configuration and size. I may change this but we'll see. Quality - Overall, I do like the quality of the kit, CC do provide some high quality parts that are correct scale. Where I know the kit provided items will not be up to it, I'll replace/upgrade those (pumps, blocks, rigging line etc). The keel and bulkheads are very solid. I have plenty more thoughts, but will keep those to myself for now. Onwards and upwards! The box, manuals and part identification Frames and pre-cut parts The wood strips Photo-etch All of the really small bits still in box until inventoried

Introduction It’s time to attempt something I’ve been wanting to have a go at for a long time. A frigate of the napoleonic era. Having spent a lot of time looking round, I decided that I had neither the tools, the time, nor the expertise currently to complete a fully-framed scratch build. I was drawn by Chuck Passaro’s HMS Winchelsea, not least because I am sure the instructions when they are released will be utterly brilliant and the builds look beautiful so far, however at the time of writing the prototype is not yet completed. Given these factors, added to the expense and difficulty in sourcing good quality wood in the UK, I came back to model kits. I hope to keep on dabbling in scratch building though, and I have a cross-section of Triton underway for that purpose. I wanted to build a model in 1:64, partly because it would give a good contrast to the boats I already have in the house, which are of the same scale. I looked at Victory Models, however, though there Pegasus and Fly models are very handsome in their own rights, I could not reconcile that they were not quite Frigate enough in my mind to fit the bill. Having built two of Caldercraft’s models in the past (HM Schooner Pickle and HM Cutter Sherbourne), I was keen to come back to the same manufacturer, as I have found their models to be rewarding to build, and to have a level of detail that is manageable, but results in great looking models. Sadly, HMS Surprise, though prototyped, has not been released by Caldercraft so that was not an option, though I am a great fan of the Aubrey / Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. However, Caldercraft do have another Frigate already in their line-up. HMS Diana. An Artois-class Heavy Frigate of 38 guns. Having seen other builds of sister-ships on ModelShipWorld.com, and since I am married to a Classicist, my interest was piqued by the other boats in the class, and I settled on Ethalion – built in 1797. In part because I didn’t really want a scantily clad woman glued to the front of the boat when I finished it, and Ethalion brings the possibility of a dolphin. Once that was decided, it was time to break out google and a some books, and try and track down firstly, who Ethalion was, and secondly some of the history of this particular HMS Ethalion.

Hello, and welcome to my second model ship build. As I wait on the arrival of some additional parts to finish my Jolly Boat, I though I would get a head start on my next project. As normal, There will be a bit of a preamble before the actual build log, so feel free to skip ahead to the next post. I thought long and hard about my next boat build and decided on HM Schooner for a number of reasons. Some of which are: a) It seemed like a good next build as it isn’t too complicated. b) Double plank on bulkhead construction (Jolly Boat is single PoB) c) As a smaller kit I should be able to finish it in a reasonable time frame (kit instructions say 1 month of evening work) d) Has a deck to plank and deck features to build including Cannonades e) Has slightly more complicated rigging but not too much of a step up f) Some other good build logs for inspiration g) Cheap (came in the same as my Jolly Boat) h) I like Caldercraft kits and have two more to build after this Having other quality build logs to follow really helped a lot with my first build. There are several for the Ballahoo that I have been looking at. I will using these as a reference and source of inspiration. I also learnt a valuable lesson building my Jolly Boat. I like smaller boats. I like the quicker build times and I like having room for them. I can built them in my office inside. Bigger boats may mean a move to one of our garages (which is another story...) I also like the look of a bit of paint. Paint hid a lot of my mistakes in my first build! Don’t get me wrong, I still hope to build Caldercraft’s Diana kit some day and maybe even the victory. But I am fully aware that my skills are a long way away from those dreams. Or the 8000 hours it can take to build one!!! So, here we are. Build number two...

Hello All, I've been 'stalking' a number of really well done build logs on the for the Caldercraft Agamemnon (Mobbsie, Henke, Vicnelson, etc.) so I thought I should contribute vs freeloading. This will be my second model ship, but the first in 30 years. My first was a Billing Boats Bluenose (of course I'm Canadian 😄) in 1990. Back then I needed something to do in the evenings while my wife finished studying for her nursing degree. My Bluenose has been on our mantle ever since and survived 7 moves over the years with only one major overhaul to repair accumulated damage. Fast forward 30 years, last fall I decided to jump back in to the water and go big with the Aggie, looking for a long term analog hobby. Progress was slow, but low and behold we seem to found ourselves in a pandemic and suddenly I seem to have nothing but time. A series of catch up photo's are included below to kick things off. Coincidentally, I'm almost exactly at the same point in construction as Henke (who appears to be much more skilled and patient than I am) so I hope to learn together a we continue. In general, I've discovered a few things so far. First, I would/should have spent more time fairing the bulkheads before and after gluing to the keel. I have a few lumps in the hull I would rather have not had to deal with but fortunately they aren't too visible. Second, I will be doing more dry fitting going forward. I made the same mistake Henke made by gluing the port and starboard bulwarks backwards (the etching outward), which I don't think it fatal. Finally, I would have been more patient getting the quarter galleries right. This has been the the toughest part so far. My wife an I will be doing our annual migration back north to central Saskatchewan at the end of this week, so I thought I should post this lump of pictures while I have a better internet connection here in civilization outside of San Diego. Please feel free to offer any constructive criticism or suggestions. I've got a thick skin! 😄 Regards, Trent

HM Brig Supply 1759 Yard Transport / Convict Ship - the ship that, ahead of the first convict fleet, was first to enter Australian waters and what became Sydney harbour. First impressions; a very long, heavy box (the delivery note claimed it was 3Kg!), on opening I was surprised first by the amount of sawdust(!) then the reason for all the weight; copious amounts of 5mm thick ply and walnut panels very much in evidence, not to mention a staggering amount of planking, doweling etc. The quality of the wood and indeed the fittings appears good and that is very encouraging. The instructions; well, the actual written instructions little more than adequate, but the 6 huge sheets comprising the plans do seem very comprehensive and well produced. Time will tell! Construction has already begun, so my next post will be quite soon. Bryan

Hello all Now is the time to start my second build log since I have finished the Americas Cup Endeavour. I am more interested in warships of the age of sails so it feels natural to build Sherbourne as a second kit. The ship is not so big but still has all features of a period ship. The main purpose of this build is to learn as many skills as possible so I can not tell how the finished model will look like. I will scratch and replace many parts in the kit just to learn how to do it. The model will be of darker but better walnut than supplied in the kit. I bought it in a local hobby shop here in Helsingborg and I think it is Amati's replacement wood. As sources for the build I will use AOTS Alert, Rigging period for and after craft and other books that I find fits. I will also pick ideas from Chucks cutter Cheerful and of course from the very nice Sherbournes by Gregor, Dirk, Tony and Kester. I hope you don't mind I follow some of your ideas . Ps, Some of the pictures are to small. You will see the full photos if you click (open) on them.

Hi there everybody! New member from Norway here. Just made an account on this wonderful forum. I have spent many ours reading building logs, and i must say there are some extreme skills around! I have been a modeller since childhood, but only with plastic and R/C cars and boats. Until now. Started this Pickle build several months ago. Work and kids take time and effort so i put in some building when i have time to spare. Posting a few pictures from where i an now. As you probably already have guessed i am from Norway so please excuse my English 😊

Hi, I have inherited a Caldercraft kit of Brannaren Swedish Coastal Tanker from my grandfather after he passed away, but unfortunately there were no instructions included. Does anyone know where I could get my hands on a set? At the moment I am flying blind and not sure what some of the pieces are or where they are meant to go. Thanks in advance Cheers Damian

To get a bit of an order here, and to overcome the 10 image limit, I redid the posts here All the older buildpics can be seen here: https://www.indee.de/gallery#14704013639500 Edit: I could restore a bit via Google Cache, I will edit here the next days: After a three year building break due to some private issues and high workload, I decided to start a small kit out-of-box just to build a bit and have fun ... haha .. not possible, I mean the out-of-box. Because of that and the long break I simply forgot some of my own rules for building: Measuring and Preparation all the time Now as it turned out not to be a "simple" build There are some, visible flaws, I have to live with (unfortunatley I am sure u will get what I mean ;-)). I also forgot lots of the english words for building a wooden build ship, sorry for that, and "help" is always appreciated. Anyway, as the build is allready in progress I will start with a little Photo-Story and some short comments, and will try to update the build regulary: Glueing the main wale made with ebony: Building the Gratings: Building the "don't know the word" Researching the Decklayout based on the original plan: The final Layout: Cheers, Dirk

hi all, this will be my first ship log, so be gentle with me! The reason for the build is a fascination with the ship, which I saw raised from a long distance many years ago and was better to see on tv that evening! Opening the kit, I found an error in packing, two of one sheet and a missing one, (easily done I guess) a quick call to Jotika and Stockton Modeller got me the sheet on the way, excellent customer service gentlemen, despite the kit being five years old apparently! I am building to the volumes published by the trust, and using the Anthony roll etc as further references. Off to Portsmouth for a visit to double check on some of the gun carriages and take a look at the recently raised 'tudor rose' figurehead. Hopefully the kit will not need too much modifying to match the archaeology. One thing I noted during a dry run on the bulkheads and lower deck guns is that the stern ones are angled and appear to go through the rear bulkhead... need to take a look at this before the glue goes on! Forty gun barrels in the kit, the Anthony roll lists seventy guns, so will need to work out if the 'missing' ones are just handguns of some description...or were on the top deck and helped sink the ship! This weekend I will start on the frame and get some photos up... will need some fine wire to add the lifting rings to the barrel, photo shows original parts and (nearly finished) smaller iron gun. The carriage parts have a rounded end, so squared them off and added a profile to the bottom of the carriage as per the book..

Hi fellow builders, After 2 years of trying to build the HMS Victory, using the Caldercraft kit I think it's time to show some of my efforts on this forum. I live in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and I regard this as a 10-year project. Building is the fun part, time is of no essence as the fun is much less when the model is finished (speaking for myself). I chose the HMS Victory for several reasons: - The Caldergraft kit is essentially historically correct, although some research is still necessary. - The kit is technically very good, most parts fit without much adjustment - The "original" 1805 Travalgar version of the ship can still be visited in Portmouth and plenty of photo's circulate on the internet, therefore building a historically "correct" model is easier than of many other ships. - Many books can be found on the subject like Longridge, McKay and others. over time I collected a (very) small library on the subject. - There are some build logs of the Victory on the internet of excellent builders, notably Gil Middleton. In some instances my choices differ from theirs, but I will explain my choices as much as possible. In the weeks to follow I wil show the progress so far, which is as far as the 30 cannons on the Upper Gun Deck. Some basic facts about the HMS Victory: The HMS Victory was (and is) the flagship of the English Navy which defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet during the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Lord Nelson was mortally wounded during battle by a French sniper, but England won the battle. The HMS Victory is the 5th ship with this name and the largest by far. The ship was ordered in 1758. It is a First Rate Ship with more than 100 cannons. The design of the ship was completely devoted to firepower In 1805 (Trafalgar) ther were: - on the Lower Gun Deck: 30 cannons for 32-pound balls - on the Middle Gun Deck: 28 cannons for 24-pound balls - on the Upper Gun Deck: 30 cannons for 12-pound balls - on the Quarterdeck: 12 cannons for 12-pound balls - on the Forecastle: 2 cannons voor 12-pound balls and 2 carronades for 68-ponds balls(!!) The total length of the ship is about 70 meter, water displacement more than 2000 tons and almost 5500 square meter of sail can be carried. Some other numbers: 40km rope in the rigging, 1400 blocks, 300 tons of "potable" water, 50 tons of coals, 20 tons of wood, 50 tons of beer, etc. Index First and second planking Wales Gunports Coppering Upper gun deck, cannons and fittings Quarter Deck Forecastle Bow Poop Deck Stern Fascia Quarter Galleries Hull details First an impression of the progress so far. I will try not to bore you with every individual bulkhead and plank. Details will be provided on request (of course).

HMS Snake As requested by a user on this forum I will show all the contents of this kit, The other snake builds do not have this it seems. I ordered the kit with some extras (cannon balls, Snake paint set) and a few other things. I will start work on it in a few weeks, Just need to finish up the running rigging on the Sherbourne and make her a display case. All of the fittings are good quality and even the blocks seem to be of highers quality that what came with the Sherbourne. The Caronades are rough looking but the cast is aligned they just need a some work. The bag of copper plates is surprisingly heavy! The wood strips are so much better than what I had on my Sherbourne, they are all well milled and don't look like a dog chewed them. The dowels are mostly strait. The Tanganyika strips are a bit weird as in one side is darker that the other on most of the strips so I will have to keep that in mind while laying the deck. The plans are just huge and there are 7 sheets! The instruction manual is just a few pages though as it is one of Caldercrafts older kits, it's not to bad because it makes you reference the full size plans. The cutouts are one of the highlights I feel. The CNC cuts are good they just have a bit of fuzz in them but I think it beats laser cut char any day. The keel has just a slight bend which will be easily adjusted. Everything else is solid. And finally the paint set plus some extras I bought. I thought they would have been smaller given the price so I'm pleased. -c

This is only my 5th build, first bluff hull. I was hoping to not create a build log but have run into some minor problems with the kit. I intend to keep this brief with mainly photo updates and limit comments if any. First problem with the kit are the six 4lb deck cannons. I think they should be 26 mm instead of the 45 mm supplied in the kit. I've contacted JoTika Ltd who posted the replacement cannons out 5 weeks ago, which have not yet arrived. So I'm following up with them regarding this. Also I ordered the Brown Admiralty paint set and the White set came instead, which I've decided to go with and use the replica paint scheme, even though Cornwall Model Boats kindly offered to re-send me the correct paint set. The next problem I had was with the bulkheads meeting flush with the ply at the keel. The keel is not deep enough for the rabbet (there is a conflict on the drawings as they seem to have forgotten to allow for the thickness of both layers of hull planks) so I had to cut the rabbet out of the false ply keel. Do do this I first had to trim around 2.5 mm from the underside of each bulkhead while maintaining the curve because the first planking is 1.5 mm plus the second planking is 1 mm. Then I marked and cut the bearding before glueing the stem, stern and keel on. Then I carefully dremeled a rabbet. Photos coming...

Hi all, Well, this is quite something for me.....the first build log on Model Ship World V2.0. My last work was published on the old version about 12yrs ago. My apologies for being so tardy. Over the last years I've been busy working with plastic models and magazine publication stuff, and whilst I still have some commitments left to fulfil, I thought I'd dust off (quite literally) my 1/80 Caldercraft Mary Rose kit. Thirteen winters and summers haven't warped the old frame and she's still rock solid. I started building this one year before I launched Model Ship World in 2006, along with Chuck Passaro. It's about time I did something. The basic frame is built and the decking is in place under the fo'c'sle and sterncastle decks. It's also under half an inch of dust, so I need to clean this thing up. Glad I bought it when I did. The price is about £100 more nowadays! I don't intend to leave it as plain as shown in the finished model photo. Instead, It'll be full of red, gold and green in the same way that the Anthony Rolls depicted her in the 1540s. Over the next months, my time on this will be very limited, but I'm at least hoping to get the hull planked and sounded outdoors during the summer months. Has anyone else here built this kit?

[This is a rebuild of my original posts] Here is the start of my build log. Have not done anything like this before so please bear with me. Sometimes I have too much verbiage – what do I mean sometimes! A short deviation: Back in ’83, no not 1883, I flew over the pond to visit the Victory as I had just finished a model of her. I brought a piece of the Victory back here to Canada (given to me) and decided that someday I would build another and put that real piece of the Victory into the next model. That time came last October/November 2009, (can it really be twenty-seven years). I started to look at my photos from ’83. Don’t know what possessed me to start but start I did. After looking at my photos and digging out the slides and prints, I ended up scanning about 45 images that I had taken that wet soggy rainy day in October. I know most of you remember we didn't have digital cameras back then. (Do you think the young ones these days could survive without their instant digital images and have to wait a week or two for the pictures to get back after we mailed them to Kodak for processing?) Those pictures I took just weren't enough. And I don’t feel like booking a flight to London these days. So, how could I build a much better Victory with more real reference pictures of her in Portsmouth? The first challenge was more images and books. The internet is here now, I remember when it wasn't! It took a while to figure out what kit to purchase but time and time again from MSW members and other forum sites this Caldercraft kit appears to be one of the best manufactured. I must admit the 1:64 model of Victory with complete details would have been my purchase if it was on the market from Chris Watton and Amati. I really wanted to do all the decks and will be fiddling the Jotika interior with some smoke and mirrors that I hope will work. My quest for new knowledge of course started with the internet. I am amazed at how much info is buried in those bits and bytes throughout the world. Why wasn't this around when I built my first Victory? My internet surfing shows me there is lots of data on the Jotika / Caldercraft Victory and there are many builds of the Jotika kit with extensive photos etc. What is packed in the box and the contents is well documented. I see no advantage to repeating those excellent reviews. As I haven’t built any models for almost thirty years it was like starting over. And where did I start this time-- I started with Google and typed in “HMS Victory”. After visiting many sites, the first one being the official site and clicking countless numbers of those crazy links I decided to buy some books . Ordered these books: 1. HMS Victory Her Construction, Career and Restoration by Alan McGowan 2. The Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships by C Nepean Longridge 3. The Ship Model Builder’s Assistant by Charles G. Davis 4. Anatomy of the Ship The 100- Gun Ship Victory by John McKay I dug out some books I had from way back: 1. Ship Models from Kits by Colin Riches 2. Trafalgar The Nelson Touch by David Howarth 3. Sailing Ships, A Rand McNally Color Illustrated Guide by Attilio Cucari 4. HMS Victory Souvenir Guide Book – bought in Portsmouth ‘83 And went to the library and found these books: (it would have been great to find more but I’m in a land locked city close to mountains. No oceans here so not much maritime information available at the library. Oh well, they got $12 out of me and I got my lifetime library card for these two books: 1. Ship Modelling from Stem to Stern by Milton Roth 2. Wooden Ship-Building by Charles Desmond I can’t believe how much I've read about the Victory, Nelson and the Royal Navy in these past few months. I’m tempted to suggest that building the model is only part of the process. I am stoked to have discovered so much more about the Victory this time around. The internet is a wealth of knowledge and it would have been cool to have it around on the first go-around. Figure I haven’t done so much reading etc. since university! My career path has taken me along the computer highway so I am no stranger to these machines and software. I decided early that I would use the computer to retain the data. I’m sure most of you do too. One very useful internet tool for me has been Yahoo babel fish. This translates an internet page. It proved very useful because one can choose “all languages” in the search engines. When I found a page in a language I could not understand I used this link on a new tab: http://ca.babelfish.yahoo.com and copied the web address onto the babel fish page. Try it, the translation is not perfect but one can get a better gist of the page if you don’t understand the language. This is turning into a book! Back to the pictures! I started to find pictures just with the Google search. By typing “HMS Victory” in the search box, letting it find the sites and then clicking up at the top on images… voila... Image after image. It is truly amazing how many photos are on the net. And what fun it is to go to every photo. There are videos as well. Clicking on the video option lists many videos. Strangely enough, not many individuals have posted a walking tour HD video of the Victory. I’ve only found one good one. Here are the search engines that I use for general items and photos: Google, Bing, Yahoo, and sometimes Alta Vista. I found Truveo.com is great for videos as is YouTube. Just going to their home page and typing HMS Victory brought many videos to view. One of the best places to find photos is Flickr from Yahoo.

The Granado is my second wooden ship build. This follows the cutter Sherbourne which you can follow the link to in the MSW gallery. The Granado was chosen for a vessel offering more than a single mast but still able to be displayed in a reasonable space. Firstly a tribute to all the prior Granados on MSW's former incarnation - they proved immensely helpful and I owe a huge tribute to you all in helping to spot impending difficulties and work around them thanks to your efforts. After wantonly pillaging MSW for help with my first build it's time to add to the basket of knowledge that MSW members have so graciously given to me. This build is by no means complete but hopefully of use to others as I found previous members' posts. So on to the build... The build was started in April 2012 and at this stage I've just completed the second planking above the wales and filed out the gunports. The Caldercraft kit is all the usual business like efficiency with little in the way of complaints. The fittings are top quality with turned brass cannon, limewood for the first planking and walnut for the second. No, it's not a botch. The lens curve making the stem appear out of alignment here. One thing to watch for on this kit is setting the gunport patterns correctly. I thought I was being very clever in measuring the placement from the base of the keel. It resulted in patterns not quite meeting the tips of the bulkhead patterns. As a result at least half of the gunports had to be raised slightly. Better to just fit them to the tops of the bulkheads. Oh well. Another thing to watch for is the sweep ports. The instructions don't mention them until after the gunport patterns have been installed despite the plans showing them as illustrated. From there it's the somewhat more difficult matter of cutting them through from the outside and matching them up with the inner spirketting - no easy task. If your want the sweep ports showing on the inside then tak e gauge of where they should be before installing the gunport patterns and adjust once the lot is installed. It's not difficult but comes down to reading the instructions all the way through before taking any steps. I found it made more sense to skip ahead in the build and install the lower stern counter before the upper hull sides were planked. It allowed the upper stern counter to be shaped to fit and also allowed the wales to be shaped to fit around it. The black used here is probably a bit too dark to see the chase ports to best effect. That might be looked at later. The mortars went together nicely after some cleaning up. The mortars themselves are nicely cast brass that just needs some time with a file to bring out the best. Some brass wire handles were added as per Peter Goodwin's excellent Anatomy of the Sip Grandado book. The example here is the stern mortar - the smaller of the two on board. Following shots show the mortar surrounds in place which are identical for each of the two mortars aboard.

Greetings all, For my first wooden ship build I chose Caldercraft’s 1:64 Ballahoo due to the good reviews of the company and guidance on MSW to choose something not to complex as a first foray into the hobby. Although I am no beginner when it comes to plastic models (usually 1:72 and 1:48 aircraft), as I explained here in my introductory post, I would like to learn these skills so i can one day help my Dad finish his HMS Diana which has been languishing for some 4 decades or more. Secondly and more recently, my wife asked for something nice to put in the windowsill aside from the usual Spitfires! Since its my first model I’ve tried to manage my own expectations in order not to fall in the trap of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and becoming disillusioned too early on. If I can get a result which looks halfway decent to the untrained eye then I’ll be happy! I plan to double plank the hull and then paint her later, probably with a Nelsonian checkerboard but we will see. I received the kit from my brother as a Christmas gift in December 2017. Tools I also acquired included a razor saw; 2 x forceps; square and measuring gauge. other tools were from my plastic modelling workshop. --- Although there is a set of instructions and parts list the planking instructions are not really suitable for a beginner (being just a couple of paragraphs). in any respect, as one of the objectives was to learn about planking from the ground up, I researched as much as I could on this here and via other sources such as Mastini and other books. --- Optimistically, I saw that there were fewer instruction steps than in an Eduard 1:72 scale plastic Spitfire… --- On a more philosophical note, this was indicative of interesting initial observation between the two hobbies. Constructing plastic scale models is more of an engineering type of activity, with art thrown in (usually at the beginning, painting the cockpit interior and at the end, painting the exterior). there is less ‘craft’ in the actual construction phase apart from cleaning up the parts and sanding to fit. With making model wooden ships, on the other hand implies less instructions but more application of craft during the construction. or something...perhaps I’m just babbling. In addition to browsing the forum I have got much inspiration from reading the Ballahoo build logs of @ekgb and @jim_smits of this kit. Over the last twelve months I’ve made rather fitful progress, as illustrated by my post here with questions on the bearding line etc from Feb 2017. After cutting out the main pieces (false keel, rudder post; stem keelson) i discovered very little distortion in the ply & mahogany pieces. I tried to test the symmetry of each bulkhead using paper cut outs (after Mastini’s advice) but in the end it seemed that the differences were largely v marginal (less than 1mm) so decided that rather than get into a situation of losing what the reference should be by filing one side, I left them as they were. I also imagined this would be sorted sooner or later during the hull fairing. ---- The bulkheads were quite easy to fit and seemed to square up without too much trouble. --- I constructed a quick baseboard off a disused bookcase and used metal right angle shelf brackets clamped to the false keel and b/h to ensure they were at right angles, checking with a square. --- Bulkhead 11 (below) caused me some trouble to get flat and square since the slot is a bit loose. here you can see the top is faired to lie flat with the false deck. ---- As I reported here in my previous post, I initially was too quick to glue on the keelson, sternpost and stem, so I removed these using IPA, cut the bearding line (thanks Joe) and then re-assembled them. Since the bottom of the false keel, when sanded for the rabbet, was quite thin (1mm wide) I pre-drilled some holes for pins and inserted them in to keep the mahogany parts in place. After I have completed the planking I’ll remove the pins. After installing the B/Hs I then created some bow fillers out of balsa. I used these instead of the supplied ply that the kit asks to be installed between BH1 and BH2. This is because there was a discrepancy between the height of these parts and the plans, in that they were too short and gave rise to confusion as to where I should have cut the bearding line. Making these blocks took me a while and was quite frustrating as it was difficult to get the right shape. After I prepared the bow blocks, these were reinforced with spare bits of ply as they were found to be too narrow in beam when faired (and even now, later on, I think the port side is not quite right). --- I then spent a few happy hours fairing the hull. I think I did an OK job with this, apart from having trouble rounding off the fwd and after edges. At the bow the BH fairing worked out ok but I think I went overboard on the fairing on the last two BHs. We will see how it goes. I then installed the false deck. Next came the gunport patterns made out of 3mm plywood. These were very difficult to fit and get right, despite being soaked and bent around a mug. I split one above one of the gunports and had to reglue & clamp it. In the end, as shown by @ekgb they did not meet all the tops of the bulkhead horns. --- The placement of where they should go at the bow was also a bit ambiguous so I ended up, after pinning them, ensuring that they were level with the top of B/H 11 and the 6mm hole for the bowsprit. --- Upon final inspection i see that they are not quite level. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable and I can adjust with the planking... --- After a hiatus of some months and after reading a lot on MSW and the various books and guides on the online library here (especially useful was the planking primer and the videos and tutorial by David Antscherl) I recovered some momentum, bought a plank crimper and bit the bullet to begin planking. After measuring the parametric length of each BH and using a planking fan to identify the width of each plank, I marked the width of each plank on each BH. Later, after having read some more and pontificated for a few days, I redid this and rubbed out (mostly successfully) each pencil mark and instead established four planking bands using black cotton thread, checked they were fair and then marked each band with a felt-tip pen. I bought several boxes of bulldog clips to cannibalise for planking clamps, after trying drawing pins and various other techniques to hold the planks flat against the BHs. I tried a few methods to measure and install the planks before settling on an approach that works (at least for me, presently). As has been pointed out previously by @ekgb, the bow on Ballahoo requires quite a bit of spiling in addition to tapering. I estimated that at the bow, the curve would need a plank three times as wide as that supplied by the kit to accommodate the correct curve. As I didn’t want to buy a whole new set of wood wide enough to allow me to spile each plank, I resorted to lateral bending. To establish the right curve for the plank to follow the wale, my first approach was using airbrush masking film, taped over the wale (making sure to get it to lay flat) and then, by running the side of a pencil along, marking the run of the bottom edge of the gunport pattern. I found that the curve was generally between the stem and BH 4. As per the planking primer available on the library here, once I had the curve, and the width of each plank at each BH, i was able to create, on the masking film, the outline of the spiled and tapered plank. This could be used as a template to be placed over the kit supplied limewood planks (1mm x 4mm). --- It was of course necessary to figure out a way to bend the plank laterally (i.e. across its width) and for the first three planks I employed a simple jig I built after some inspiration from others who had constructed jigs using MDF and bits of scrap to act as formers for the end of the plank. --- However, I found that this was rather too brutal and I ended up snapping a few planks so in the end I resorted to a quicker and simpler method. Instead of scribing the curve for the lateral bend on a piece of masking film and then cutting the taper out from underneath it (requiring 1 piece of masking film per plank), I found a quicker approach was to use a card template (port and stbd side) and draw the curve on the wood baseboard. The width of each plank at each BH position was calculated by dividing the width of each planking band by the width of each kit plank. I used four small plastic clamps to get the right curve aligned to the template and this was quicker and easier and so far has resulted in less breakages of the planks (or it could be my skill level is improving, who knows?). --- First plank - this was tapered and spiled using the masking film and jig method thus resulting in a bit of a ragged appearance imho (luckily this is only the first layer). However, I was pleased with how it bit into the rabbet and it didnt need too much coaxing to lay flat against the BH and filler blocks. --- First band of planking done on the port side. To get to this required about four or five attempts of planks with the wrong curve (usually not enough), which, because I’d already tapered them, had to be discarded. Lots of spare bits of planks in the model shipyard. Other issues were me cutting through the plank with the crimping tool, or the plank splitting when I tried to hammer a pin in (I resulted in pre-drilling holes). It looks quite rough and ready, I’ll admit that. These were tapered and spiled using the masking film / pencil and jig method, which probably accounts for their rather rough appearance. In the flesh is not so bad and although it seems on the photo to have a discernible clinker effect in reality is that much. There are gaps between some of the planks, especially around BH2 but nothing that filler won’t be able to fix. You can also see the pen marks of the planking bands. --- On the starboard side its much cleaner (so far). This was spiled and tapered using the card template and pencil line bending method. The cotton thread to mark the planking bands is still attached. --- I also tested many different approaches to steaming / heating the planks. After the lightbulb went on that its the heat, not the water that has the effect, I adopted a successful approach of dunking the plank in a just boiled kettle for 30 mins, taking it out, forming it to the pencil line template on the base board and clamping, then heating it with a hairdryer. within an hour or so its cooled and dry and retains the shape. I can do a couple of planks per night this way … accounting for the important use of the kettle to brew tea, of course! I’ve not done anything to the planks to bend and taper them at the stern yet, I think that for the first strake at least 1 stealer will be required. That brings things up to date (Jan 2019). My plan is to do both bands below the wale (not forgetting the stern of course), install the garboard plank (I bought a specially wide piece of stock of 8mm for that) and then do the first band above the garbord.

Hello everyone Are we re-posting everything from start of the project, or from where we are at present contents http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/403-hms-victory-by-kevin-caldercraftjotika-172/ workshop makeover http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/403-hms-victory-by-kevin-caldercraftjotika-172/page-2#entry7118 beakhead chase cannons http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/403-hms-victory-by-kevin-caldercraftjotika-172/page-5

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build, the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years. Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie). So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself. Thanks, Donn

Hi I acquired my Agamemnon kit from Jotika a few years ago. They are actually only 10 minutes away from where I live in Droitwich, really useful when looking for replacement bits and pieces. John is really good and has helped me out. Quite often taking the time to show me around the factory and the new products and improvements they are bringing in. And taking a look at the completed models in the showroom gives one a feeling of awe. Well initially me not not being totally prepared to be honest the build struggled or should I say I struggled. Now a few years later having a major declutter in my hobby shed I have reinvigorated my initial passion to build a scale model ship. I know it’s not the easiest kit to start with but with perseverance and help I am sure I will finally get there, even if takes a few more years. What has helped is the fantastic members and their build logs, without these the kit would still be in the box. I can only thank the members for their time and commitment it must of taken to compile the posts. I only hope that my meagre attempt might help another builder. Well the sunshine has spurred me on and I have now second planked one side and about a quarter of the way through the other. The hardest part has been the gun ports as you can see I still have a little making good on these. I would like to suggest to Caldercraft that they look at pre formed ply section like the Victory kit. It would make the build a lot easier for us newbies ! Sorry if I have blurbed on a bit but but I hope my log will help someone who has been going through the same issues as me, well here’s a few pics to start. My only hope for the next few weeks is to find the stand as this has disappeared from my shed or no doubt as the norm been thrown out by mistake. Thanks all Chris

Please consider this to be my application to join the Endeavour Builders' Club, although I'm not sure that I'd want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member. (Groucho Marx) I realize now that there are many members of this club with works in progress or completed, so I will start by linking to so of their beautiful work, mainly so I can find it easily when I update my own build log. HM Bark Endeavour by Dashi - Caldercraft - scale 1:64 - 1768-71 - bashed kit HMB Endeavour by Captain Slog - Caldercraft - 1:64 H M Bark Endeavour by Mindi - stopped build resumed (Caldercraft / Jotika) HMB Endeavour by shipaholic - Eaglemoss - 1/51 - Bashed partwork HMB Endeavour by DaveRow - Corel Amati - Scale 1:60 - First Build Kit HMB Endeavour 1768 by Cabbie - Artesania Latina - 1:60 - Kit Fiddle HMB Endeavour by BANYAN - Artesania Latina - 1:60 - circa 1768 - FINISHED Please let me know who I've missed so I can steal borrow ideas from those builders as well.

Hi all I started making the Sherbourne about 4 years ago and wasn't particularly impressed by the swivel guns that came with the kit so ordered some Caldercraft brass ones which appeared to be about the right dimensions as those in the kit. In the last few months I've restarted the model (I'm sure like a lot of other modellers, real life sometimes takes over!) Anyway when I came to construct the swivel guns, I realised that I had only ordered 6 instead of 8. Fortunately I'd kept the original packaging and ordered an extra 2 from my normal supplier. Unfortunately when they arrived they were considerably smaller. When I queried this I was told that Caldercraft had changed the guns following further research to make them more accurate. Whilst striving for accuracy is always welcome, the brackets and handles which come with the kit I bought 4 years ago, whilst not entirely accurate anyway, are now way out of proportion to new sized guns. This leaves me with a dilemma but before I set about the task of making the kit swivel guns look consistent with the brass ones I'm wondering whether anyone has, or knows where I can source two of the original sized swivel guns. The original guns are 17mm long: Caldercraft Part no: 85005A 0.5lb Swivel Guns 1:64 C1790 I've attached an image to illustrate my point. Extremely grateful if anyone can help me.

hello everybody, I've just joined this forum and have two newbie questions in regard to building the keel of the Caldercraft 1:64 HM Schooner Ballahoo. I've read one or two build logs on here where people have left these parts off the false keel until after the bearding line and rabbet has been made. Being a beginner, I haven't done this on mine and gamely followed Caldercraft's instructions and glued the 5mm walnut keel, stem, sternpost together then onto the false ply keel (I plan to paint the keel white so avert your eyes from the glue stains) without a bearding line or rabbet. So, what follows is probably fairly naïve / basic question, should I try to: a. establish the bearding line and attempt to carve the rabbet with these pieces in place; b. remove the walnut pieces and start again ( likely difficult as they seem quite solid with the glue and potentially causing other problems); c. carry on regardless (the instructions suggest to plank from the bulwarks down and dont mention the garboard plank) given it will be planked again and have a coat of white paint in the end. Presently the keel is quite straight without any warping so I'm loathe to undo everything (the bulwarks are not glued in yet). Would welcome your thoughts given this is my first wooden kit, it is double planked and I plan to paint it. The picture below shows the slight rabbet caused by the walnut keel being 1mm thicker than the ply keel - If I understand correctly the bearding line will follow the line of the bottom of each bulwark? My second question is in regard to the bow, where the plank templates (part 13 and 14 p and s) are misaligned with no. 1 and 2 b/hs. The photo below illustrates(again the bulkheads are not yet glued in and have been roughly faired). I am guessing the best thing is to glue this aligned along the bulkhead bottom (where the bearding line would be...if I had it...haha...) and sand the top flat with the deck level, but would welcome thoughts from others if I am setting myself up for trouble later on with something. thanks for reading and any tips in advance! neillydone