HMS Victory 1805 by Robert29 - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1:72

Malcolm Greig · October 13, 2022

Fantastic ship building Robert. Great build log.

regards

Malcolm

Robert29 · October 18, 2022

Richard and Malcolm, thank you for your comments and thank you all for your likes.

Topmast and Topgallant Yard Sheets and Cluelines ready.

Fore Topgallant Yard Sheet and Clueline from the rear.

Fore Topmast Yard Sheet and Clueline from the rear.

Fore Topmast Yard Sheet.

Main Topmast Yard Sheets and Cluelines.

Main Topmast Yard Sheet and Clueline from the rear.

Mizzen Topgallant Yard Sheet and Clueline.

Mizzen Topmast and Topgallant Yard Sheets and Cluelines

Now I have to decide if I my next step will be rigging the Yard Braces or else start working on the rope coils. I am thinking that if I don't start fitting the rope coils now it might be much more difficult to reach the pins and cleats when there are more ropes rigged in.

Robert.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Robert29

Robert29 · October 30, 2022

Most of the Braces in place.

Spritsail Yard Braces and Spritsail Topmast Braces rigged in place.

Fore Yard Braces

Fore Topmast Braces

Fore Topgallant Braces

Main Topmast Yard Brace and Crossjack Brace. Note how the Crossjack Braces cross each other.

Main Topgallant Brace.

I left the main yard braces loose for the moment as otherwise they will be a bit in the way when installing the Driver Gaff and the Driver Boom. Now I have started work on the Driver Gaff and the Driver Boom which will also enable me to finish the main yard braces, the mizzen topmast braces and the topgallant braces.

At the moment the yard horses are haywire, going in every direction. Whilst rigging I keep hitting them so I might as well leave them and adjust them, giving them that hanging effect, when I have all the rigging finished.

Robert.

Robert29 · November 4, 2022

Driver Gaff and Driver Boom shipped in place.

End of Driver Gaff

End of Driver Boom

Tops railings in place. For the moment only dry fitted just in case I need to remove them.

Next step is the rigging of the clue lines, sheets and tacks for the Fore Yard and the Main Yard. I can also start adjusting the yard horses to a sagging look and find a method to start doing the rope coils for all the belaying ends.

Robert

Robert29 · November 13, 2022

Thank you for the Likes.

Fore and Main Mast Yard clue lines, sheets and tacks rigged in.

Tack, Sheet and Clue garnet strop assembly.

Fore Yard Tack made fast to the end of the boomkin, up to the 7mm single tack block on the strop assembly, down through another 7mm single block seized to the boomkin and belays to the top of the headrail.

The Yard Sheet standing end is made fast to an eyelet on the hull up to the 7mm single block, back to the hull and passes through the ships side to the upper gun deck where it belays to a large cleat.

Main Yard Tack is tied to an eye on the hull up to the single block, down to the side of the hull again, first passing through a hole on the side of the chesstree then through a sheave hole on the side of the hull to the upper gundeck where it is belayed to a large cleat.

The Main Yard Sheet is tied to an eyelet below the spider, up to the 7mm single block, down again through another single block held in a pendant (standing end of pendant is tied to an eyelet behind the spider and passes through the ring of the spider) then up again and passes through a sheave hole in the hull to the quarter deck and belayed to the staghorn.

Main Yard Sheet coming in through the sheave hole just behind the poop deck stairs and belayed to the staghorn.

Now it is also time to start adjusting the yard horses and giving them that sagging look. I am using small clips to weigh down the line, brush over the line with PVA glue, heavily diluted with water, let it dry and remove clips. The clips jaws are not clamped on the horse line, otherwise it will distort the line. There is an open space just behind the jaws. Result is quite satisfactory. If you look at the Fore Yard horses which are already done, and at the Main Yard horses, not yet done, you can see the difference.

An overall image how she looks at the moment.

Also started looking how to hang the anchors to the sides of the hull and the cathead falls. The first thing I noticed was that erroneously, when forming the the triple blocks I formed a groove around them to take the rope. They are not seized to any rope. After sourcing some information on the internet I found that the end of the falls is tied to an eye on the underside of the cathead, and a tackle is formed between the cathead and the block. The block itself has an iron bar going around it with an eye formed at the bottom and a hook attached to it.

To simulate the iron band I glued a strip of styrene around the block, at the same time covering the groove I had previously made. Formed a hook and a U shape with a piece of a brass rod and glued the U shaped rod in two holes drilled on the underside of the block. Band, hook and eye will be painted black.

Robert

captain_hook · November 13, 2022

Very beautiful and well done. It is such a lot of work to rig a big ship like the Victory but it will be surely as satisfying to see her finished.

Robert29 · January 6, 2023

Thank you Captain Hook, yes it is a lot of work, and now that I am nearing the finish I am really eager to see how it looks when its in a showcase that I still have to make.

It's been a long time with no updates. For the last month I had other priorities. End of November I went to visit my daughter and my grandson who live in Stratford-Upon-Avon in the UK. Christmas time they came to Malta and were staying with me, so basically I did not have much time for the Victory. At the moment I am fitting the anchors, for which I will soon have some photos to upload.

For quite some time I have been thinking what am I going to rest the Victory on when its in the showcase. I did no want to make any curly fancy stands and I came up with the following idea.

I had some wooden strips which were left over trimmings from another house project and decided to use them.

In the very beginning of the project, in the kit manual it was advised to drill holes though the keel and embed a nut inside to take a threaded rod which then can pass through whatever stand is used and again through a base/table top and secured with another nut on that end.

Apart from the holes for the threaded rods I also drilled another hole for the supply wires for the led lights I installed.

The keel will rest on the stands in between the wooden bars to hold it in place. The supports on the sides are made to the exact measurements to support the hull and keep the ship from leaning to any side.

This is the stand on the stern side. A hole is drilled on one side through which the threaded rod coming out of the keel will pass through and secured to the base. This way the threaded rod will be completely hidden.

Same thing with the stand on the bow side.

This is the stand in the middle. I did not really need this stand, but I needed something to hide the supply wires coming out of the keel which are to be connected to a transformer hidden under the display table. I drilled a hole on one side through which the wires will pass through. There are no visible wires feeding the led lights throughout the ship, not even the supply wires now.

Hoping to be back soon with photos showing the anchors,

Robert

Edited January 6, 2023 by Robert29

Charter33 · January 6, 2023

A beautifully engineered and creative solution to displaying your exceptional Victory build, Robert. Pure genius!

👍

Robert29 · January 10, 2023

Thank you Graham. Hope it could be an idea to other builders. I found so many ideas in this forum from other builders in building my Victory.

Anchors rigged in place as well. I deviated a bit from the manual's instructions on how the anchors are secured. I included some chain as seen in many of the pictures I sourced.

Starboard Sheet Anchor.

The Bower Starboard Anchor. Apart from the chain I also added the rope tied the the lower end of the anchor. Button I have no clue where the other end of this rope is belayed. The same with the running end of the cat head tackle line. The manual says it is to be belayed around the cathead at the cathead cleat. Shouldn't it be belayed somewhere on board behind the bulwark!!! Maybe I am wrong, I am no expert, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Robert

Ian_Grant · January 10, 2023

Hi Robert, your model is looking lovely!

Can't recall which book I read it in, or perhaps it was Blue Ensign's log on the old Pete Coleman Victory site, but I used two lashings on the stock of the sheet anchor. The one on the upper arm goes down and is attached to an eyebolt on the underside of the channel. The one on the lower arm goes up and belays to a convenient timberhead.

The obvious place to tie the cat tackle is the large timberhead at the end of the fore bulkhead, at least that's what I used. All those timberheads seem to have two or even three lines belayed on them.

The cleat on the back of the cathead is for the cathead stopper, as seen here: well, as not seen here, the photo is cut off. The black cathead stopper goes through the anchor ring then up to the back of the cathead (as seen here) then round the big cleat (not visible).

1170788596_VictoryBowerAnchor.jpg.6e95e3ed86417bac7aee4c8ff5d9ea71.jpg

Edited January 10, 2023 by Ian_Grant

Robert29 · January 11, 2023

Thank you Ian for your reply and the images. That's what I think as well, that the large timberhead at the end of the bulkhead is the most obvious place to belay the cathead tackle. Sometimes soucing some detail is not so straight forward. Sometimes you can't find any and sometimes you find different and conflicting details. So sometimes you have to use your own judgment and go by that. But all in all the Internet is an incredible source of information.

Robert

Ian_Grant · January 11, 2023

I see I didn't complete my description of the cat stopper. It goes round the big cleat, then it too must be belayed somewhere. I used, again, the large timberhead.

In practice, once the cat stopper was in place, going to sea, the cat tackle would be unrigged and stowed. I left both the tackle and the stopper on my port anchor, but I think I omitted the tackle on the starboard side; can't quite recall and that side of the case is against a wall. 😉

Sjors · January 14, 2023

I still follow you Robert .
Difficult to reach your skills…..

But i’ll do my best

Robert29 · January 14, 2023

Ian, thank you again for your feedback. Even though I included the cathead stopper, I will leave the tackle as well.

Sjor, thank you for your comment. I try my best as well. There are great and very skilful builders in this forum from whom I have learn a lot.

Although I haven't completely rigged the anchors I continued some rigging on the davits. I had decided not to fit all four boats on deck, on the skid beams otherwise the only area that is still showing of the upper gun deck, will be obscured by the boats as well. Two of them I am hanging on the davits.

The Launch and the Barge are the two boats going on the davits. I hooked them in place to find the right positions of the davit rigging and the of the tackles. I will unhook them again to add the fittings (oars, anchors, etc.) in them, which I have ready, just fit them in.

The Launch on the starboard side.

The Barge on the port side.

The Pinnace and the Cutter to be rigged on the skid beams. I am not rigging them for now. I will leave them for the last minute as before I rig them in place I need to dust the deck under them. Fittings still to be adde in the boats as well. It's unbelievable the amount of dust the model accumulates. When finished I have to go over every inch of the model with a brush.

Robert

Robert29 · January 22, 2023

More work on the boats on the Davits. I fitted the accessories in the boats. Apart from the once supplied with the kit I added some, such as the bucket and the barrel.

The Launch

The Barge

Robert

Robert29 · July 5, 2023

Long overdue update. I had other priorities and things have been moving extremely slow. When I found the time I was doing the rope coils. Here are a few images. I have ordered and received some flags which I will put up soon. So basically a few more coils, the flags, some fine rigging adjustments, a good cleanup and the Victory should be finished.

Robert

Ian_Grant · July 5, 2023

Beautiful job! Sadly, I couldn't find a commission pennant for mine at the time; might add one someday.

Charter33 · July 5, 2023

As impressive as ever Robert! Looking forward to seeing it mounted on that unique display base of yours.....

Robert29 · July 13, 2023

Thank you Ian and Graham. Getting closer to the finish.

Fitted two flags and tried to make them look as realistic as possible.

I used glue purposely for fabric. The brand is Guttermann, had used it on sails for another model, very good stuff. Didn't want to risk other glue, so for that very little bit I had to buy a new one, as the previous one I had, had dried up.

Put glue on one side, placed the thread and attached the two faces.

With a couple of clips I arranged the flag to look like it is sort of flying, then. with a brush I wetted it all with water and let it dry again. When I removed the clips it kept the shape.

The ensign staff fitted in place and the ensign hoisted in place.

The Union Jack also hoisted in place on the Jackstaff.

Still have to fit the pennant. But first I have to check exactly where it goes and how it is fitted.

Robert

kiwiron · July 14, 2023

Beautiful work as always. I seem to be breaking everything I touch lately. I would be lost on my Victory without your photo's thanks a lot, Ron.

Robert29 · July 18, 2023

Thank you Ron, glad my build log is of some help to others like other build logs have been of great help to me. Case in point flying the pennant flag.

I was wondering how to fit the pennant on the main mast and couldn't really find any details on the internet. Then I remembered seeing something on Gil Middleton's great build log. Gil had details how pig sticks were used and I used the same idea. The pig stick is hoisted above the mast head so that the flag is not fouled by the stays. The hoisting halyards are secured to the top.

Also secured the kedge anchor on the starboard mizzen channel.

Some more finishing touches to go.

Robert

Robert29 · July 23, 2023

Some more detail to the Main Stay tackle Pendants.

Robert

The main stay fore tackle need some more tensioning.

Robert

Robert29 · August 17, 2023

Finally HMS Victory long voyage comes to an end. I have posted a few photos but first of all I would like to thank all those who in any way contributed to my build, those who posted directly into my log, those who's logs I visited and took countless ideas, my log's followers and those who contributed with their encouraging comments and likes. I hope that my build would be of help to other builders, like so many others have been to me. Now I have to order an acrylic case to cover it and a table. I will post an image of it when I have it ready.