HMS Victory by kmart - FINISHED - Panart - 1:72 Scale - Bow Section

[kmart]

Work on the entire foremast continues.  Spars all mostly roughed out to the right length and tapered.  Need to detail them out now.

 

Anchor also made.   I was planning I painting the copper black as is authentic... but leaving it shiny is starting to grow on me.  Haven't decided yet which way to go.

 

Yes... I know  Yards are all ahoo.  (Reading too much Patrick OBrien :-).  Picking up Jacks vocabulary)

 

Oh yeah,  Gotta start working on the figurehead.

 

Just ordered a bunch of stuff ( lots of  tiny  blocks, dead eyes  and string) from Model Expo so I can move on to rigging very soon. 

 

I'm tempted (probably won't  .. but thinking about it.. This might be a good model to rig sails on.  Hmmm.. Do I really want to do that?  

I know its my model, my choice...  BUT What would you do??? Anyone? 

[MEDDO]

Very nice. I don't think I've seen a bow section before. I like that it's going to be rigged.  I saw a log a few years ago of a midship section in the scratch forums that was rigged and it was very impressive.

[kmart]

Next Update.

My spars now have some paint.

 

Connondale on deck is now all rigged.

Bowsprit is now attached and lashed down

Bowsprit  head with Jib boom, Dolphinestriker and flag staff

Fore top 

Top galleon head

 

Currently I'm working on painting the figurehead.

Experimenting the best way to make dead eyes strops.

  Note the kit out of the box the chain plate only allow for 8 dead eyes per side. See my last pic

  The Vic has 13? per side.  I discovered this recently long after the chain plates were firmly already attached to the ship.  I really dont want to take them off and remake them at   this point.   So to correct...I need to carefully drill more properly spaced holes in place.  Also going to need to go down from 7 mm dead eyes to 5 mm dead eyes to they will fit.

  Hopefully I don't mess this up too bad.    I'll update with more pics after the model surgery is done.  

 

 

 

[Steve 12345]

Very nice

[kmart]

Thanks Steve.

 

 

Well  today in New England... snowstorm.. so after shoveling.. spent some more time in the shipyard / shop.

 

The figurehead is painted.  My freehand isn't great....but I could have done a lot worse.  :-)

 

On to the Chain plates and dead eyes...

Used 20 and 26 gauge wire from Micheal's craft store to make the chains.

I need 26 links in total all the same size ....  so its a process to make them consistently.   Used a simple jig with 2 nails properly spaced. 

1/2 way done... Port side chains installed.

 

As mentioned in earlier post.   The chain plates as per the kit were drilled with 8 holes per side.    This is incorrect as  Victory has 15  dead eyes in the fore chain plates.

With the model being only the bow section,  the chain plates are not the full length of actual, and I can only realistically  fit 13 dead eyes.  I'll need to leave the top galleon back stays off.      I also downsized the kit supplied 7 mm dead eyes to 5 mm ones to make them all fit.  They look closer to scale now  as well.. 

 

The  holes on the existing chain plaits needed to be re drilled / relocated.   I didn't want to remove/replace the ones I already installed  I would do more damage than good.

They are very well secured with several rodes secured  into the bulkheads.  Plus they are very close proximity to the gun port lids.  I would do significant  damage the model to get them out.

 

Soo... To fix I cheated.   I cut a long thin strip of walnut to fit over the existing chain plate as a covering board.  Drilled the appropriate spaced holed for the dead eyes   And glued this over the existing chain plate holes.  The strip is just wider than the holes.   This also raise the dead eyes 1.5  mm which compensates for the smaller sized dead eyes.

It's Not exactly authentic, but it fixed the issue relatively easily and and looks like it belongs.  (At least to non - ship modelers :-))

 

 

[kmart]

Major milestone completed!  All the woodworking part of the model is essential done.  

Officially into the rigging phase.  Its all strings and tying knots from here on out.

 

I am using three sources for rigging info... 

The instructions that came with the kit.  (Very simplified and incomplete.)

      Shrouds doesn't even have ratlines???

The book..Masting and Rigging English Ships. 

      Excellent... but the info is spread all over the book.  

     Great to look a specific point up. When you know what you looking for. 

A set of Victory Plans (PDF) that I found on the internet

     1:72 scale  with 8 very good , detailed sheets on just the rigging.

    Not sure what manufacturer / kit the plans are from.. Not indicated on the plans.

    But they really helpful, quite detailed.

 

Started with rigging the bowsprit first.   As you can see in the pics.  that pic, I've progressed fairly quickly on that.

Now of course... I have already found several conflicting points between the three sources.  

Wheres the fun if they all matched :-)

 

The last picture is the prepping the shrouds.  Both 11 lower and 6 upper per side.

I soaked them in hot water for an hour.  then hung them to dry to get the stretch and twist out of them.

Next up...make a jig to properly space the dead eyes when laying up the shrouds.

 

 

[kmart]

So .. Lower shrouds

Started by making a jig.   Well t's not really a jig per se.. more like a measuring guide.  

I used a piece of wood cut and marked marked to spaced from bottom of chain plate to where the top of the dead eyes should be.  

(Visible in the third picture)   As I tied in the top dead eye into the shroud.. I used the wood spacer to make sure it was at the proper position.

The shroud goes from chain plates to mast head and back down to chain plate on the same side. (Except the fist shroud that goes from port to starboard)

I would tie in the first dead eye to the end of the shroud.    Lash the dead eyes in while keeping tension on the bitter end.  (Using the wood to space it properly).

Once that end of the shroud was lashed up, it was easier than expected to add the dead eye on the other end at the right height.  I left the dead eye height / short by about 2 -3 millimeters.  Then I was able to really tighten it up the lashings and make both sides snug.  Both the lashings and the shrouds ended up taunt but not overly tight. and the Dead eyes close enough to being aligned,  and evenly spaced.     The lower dead eyes had a bit more play from the chains so a couple are not quite as inline as I like.

 

Ratlines...  

I took a bunch of measurements of the mast,  shrouds and dead eyes.

Based on that, I spend a few hours using Microsoft Visio and drew up the spacing of the ratlines. ( 4th picture)

 

I printed and cut up the layout and placed behind the shrouds (one for each side)   

Now I have an easy guide to rattle down and keep then properly spaced.  (5th picture)

 

By the way.. there are 11 shrouds and 37 ratlines per side.   That is 11 x 37 x 2 makes 814 knots to tie.... And that is just the lowers.

And the spacing between ratlines is 5mm.  

uggg.  I like rigging, but I go crazy, and my eyes go buggy with this part.  :-)

 

K

[kmart]

Making progress.    Ratlines on the foremast is all done.  900 knots....

The topmast dead eyes and shrouds are in.   Did similar method of using Visio to lay out proper spacing of ratlines.

And although the plans did not show it.  I did rig the Carpathians.   Prior to that the shrouds were really pulled out from the strain of the topmast  dead eyes.

The Carpathians really helped pull them back in.

 

Whats I think is cool and enjoy with the rigging process is the balancing of forces.  As more rigging goes on, it really helps take out any slack and tightens everything right up.  From the chain-plates  to the fore top.  everything is taunt but not over tight.     The mast is night as straight and solid with the hull all do to the rig tension.

 

Now if I could only tension my real sailboats rig as well as the models. :-)

 

Question for everyone.  My topmast dead eyes keep wanting to twist and not stay facing forward.   You can see in the third picture I have a T pin in place to try and keep them from turning all cockeyed.    Any tricks to keep them from turning?  I cant see a way to glue them in place.

 

[kmart]

Been awhile since my last post.  But I made a lot of progress over the summer.   

Basically Finished the model except for some minor touch ups to some of the paint that got dinged.

Also going to try and make some coils to go over the belaying pins.    

And of course... need to buy a name plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kmart]

Couple more from various angles

 

 

This one I think is cool

And one to compare to the real Victory.  This one of the pics I've been using as reference to see I close I could get  model looking like the real thing

 

[Old Coastie]

I'm in the process of building this same kit.  You've done a fantastic job with yours.  Doing the full rigging is too daunting for me.  Maybe if this was my last kit, I might try it.  But......I'm 80, so not that much time left.  I'm having a hard enough time just following the kit directions, which are absolutely terrible.  This is definitely NOT a kit for a beginner.  Again, nice job!!

[Thomas Thatcher]

I have to say Kmart museum work very good job just got done with first planking is it ok to ask a few questions if I need