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

[Heinz6672]

Robert,

 

I can only say that I am really impressed!

Amazing work!!!

 

-Heinz-

[Robert29]

Thank you Heinz, from time to time I visit your build and appreciate your beautiful work.

 

Also thank you everybody for the likes.

 

I added another detail on the gallery.  I fitted a strip of wood with a rounded edge just under the railings.  I think the finish looks better.  The railings are still only dry fitted.

 

 

 

I decided to fit the rudder. I want to finish certain work before I finish the stern with the brass railings and the metal decorations.  The paint scratches so easily especially from the brass, so prefer to leave the least handling for after I finish the stern.

 

Since the stern in the kit is made up of one piece I grooved the face to show the pieces it is made up of.  I filled the grooves with black filler and sanded the faces.  For the straps holding the hinges I drilled the already marked holes through and fitted them with small dome head pins.

The dome headed pins supplied with the kit seemed a bit too large for this job.  I managed to find smaller once from CMB.  I blackened the brass strips and the pins.  Pins were cut very short, long enough for a very short part of it to go into the hull. Small holes were made in the hull in line with the brass straps as I went along, a tiny spot of super glue is applied to the front of the pin and pushed through the brass strip into the hull.  You do not have to glue the brass strips to the hull, the pins will hold them in place. 

 

One thing which was bothering me was the shape of the brass fire buckets supplied with the kit.  As you can see in the following photo it is very plain and it doesn't even look like a bucket.  In the instruction manual it tells you to just drill two holes on the sides and tie on a handle with thread. I added some detail to them.

From the left extra pieces of brass with the supplied photo etching sheets I cut small narrow pieces and shaped them in a ring to fit the top edge of the bucket.

 

Drilled a hole the same diameter of the bucket in a piece of MDF and left a bit of the bucket protruding out of the MDF. 

 

Put the brass ring around the edge. This kept the ring exactly in place to enable me to solder it.

 

Soldered it.

 

Finished them with a file.

 

Drilled two small holes on the edge and fitted two very small eyelets to the rim for the handle.  The eyelets are like the once supplied with the kit, of which I had to buy extra from CMB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks more like a bucket now.  

 

Robert 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Bertu

[Helli]

Hi,

 

It is always a pleasure to follow your build log. What a great job.

 

Helli

[rkwz]

Just stumbled on this gem of a log... Amazing work so far and looking forward to more updates! 🙌

[Robert29]

Nice comments and likes really appreciated.  Gives me more courage to keep me going on the build which takes hours on hours. But its a hobby I enjoy so its worth every minute I spend on it. 

 

 I am starting various ends without finishing them.  Basically, knowing how fragile certain parts are and how easy to knock down a few of them while doing other work, I am preparing different parts of the fittings so I will find them ready just to fit together on the ship. 

 

I started some work on the never ending gunport lids.  I started with the lower deck gunport lids.  First I added pieces of planks to the lids to correspond with the wales on the hull.

 

When a lot of repetitive work is involved I try to make some kind of a jig as basic as possible as this will be used only once and can be thrown away.  I started with the hinges which needed one end bent at 90º.

Glued a piece of plywood to another piece of wood as a stopper and placed the hinge against it.

Find something flat, exactly the same width from the stopper to where the bend has to be,  possibly made of metal to get the bend as sharp as possible.  In my case I found an exacto knife blade.  With a single edge razor blade bend the hinge.

All hinges were bent in no time and exactly all the same.  The hinges for the middle gunport lids are slightly shorter so an adjustment has to be made for the jig.

Then came the scuttles.  The kit manual tells you to make the scuttles from a piece of walnut 0.5mm thick, glue the hinge to it and glue the whole assembly to the lid. 0.5mm is too thick,  the scuttle hinge will not sit flat on the lid. I had some thin sapele left from another kit and used it instead.  It too was still a bit too thick.  Instead of glueing the hinge to the scuttle and glueing it as a whole assembly I thought it would be better to glue the scuttle separately, sand it down to the required thickness in place, and then glue the hinge on top of it.

 

To glue the gunport lid hinge leaving 1mm gap from the inner edge of the lid, the scuttles and their hinges was going to take me ages.  So this is the jig I came up with to give me that 1 mm gap at the back of the lid and something to hold the lid steady without moving while glueing the small parts.  Nothing elaborate, but found it very helpful.

 

Here are the finished lower deck gunport lids all ready to be painted.   I also drilled the holes for the eyelets which I will fit after painting the lids. 

 

Robert

 

 

[md1400cs]

Robert,

 

Woa! Your gunport lids are so perfect  - I hope that you will maybe leave few closed so as not to lose the visual of how amazing those added details really look.

 

 

[Robert29]

Thank you md1400cs and thank you for the likes.

 

A small update but which is taking me a long time.  The gunport lids are never ending, so much of them.

I have glued the rigols in place and drilled the holes on the hull for the gunport lid ropes. To mark the holes position, I just calculated and marked them on a piece of masking tape and moved the tape from one window to the other.  Instead of leaving just a hole on the hull through which I insert the thread I fitted a small piece of a very small diameter brass tube, leaving it extruding out just a bit,  and the thread will pass through the tube.  I blackened the brass tube pieces before fitting them in place.

 

The width of each lid was checked to make sure it fits inside the window recess to make sure I don't have to trim them after painting them.  Every lid was marked on the inside edge to indicate to which window it appertains. 

 

I had already prepared the eyelets with the rings. To cut the lengths of the eyelets all the same length without having to measure each and every one (about 250 pieces), which have to be quite short, I took a piece of plywood just a bit thinner then the lids themselves and drilled a hole in it through which the eyelet can pass easily.  All I had to do was put the eyelet in the hole and with an angle cutter snip off the leg of the eyelet flash with the plywood.

 

Lids painted and eyelets/rings all fitted in place.

 

Now comes the laborious repetitive work of tying a piece of thread to every ring on the outside of the lids.  I think it is much easier tying the thread to the rings now, with the lids in hand and inserting the other end in the hole when lid is fitted, than the other way round, that is gluing the thread in the holes on the hull and trying to tie the thread to the rings after lid is in place as actually indicated in the instruction manual.  I am sure it is much more difficult trying to tie neatly the thread with the lid fitted to the hull.  Hope to finish tying the thread to the rings by the end of the coming weekend!!!! 

 

Robert

 

[Charter33]

Stunning work and attention to detail, an inspiration as always! 

Graham.

[Jeff Tall]

Robert, I been following your work. Your work is so amazing. I have the same kit as you do 1/72 scale. I just cant get over how great you victory looks.  I have a few questions, the black filler you had use between your lower planking.  What is it and where can I get the filler, I didn't see if you had said anything about where you got it from, but I want to use it on my ship also it looks great. And as far as the paint did you use enamel paint or water base? Keep up the great work.   Thanks much, Jeff

[Robert29]

Thank you Graham, much appreciated.  The fire buckets you made for your Victory look great. 

 

Jeff, thank you for your nice comment.  I used normal water based wood filler which I had bought from a local ironmonger.  The important thing is that when it dries it will still be easily sanded as otherwise, if it's too hard it will be difficult to remove the excessive filler to uncover the plank grains again.  Probably you can get it, or something similar, from most ironmongers.  I have attached a few images you might find of help.

 

Before applying the filler. - I left a small gap between the planks for the filler.

 

Applying the filler. -  I pasted the hull allover and rubbed it in all the grooves.  When it dries it becomes a bit light sort of greyish, but once you apply the varnish over it, it will get darker again.

 

After sanding and varnishing.  - All the excessive filler sanded away and varnished.

I would suggest that you plank a small piece of wood and carry the whole process on it and see the final result.  That way you would know you have the right filler which will give you the result you are looking for after varnishing.  Avoid experimenting on the hull itself as you might not get the resuly you want and could be difficult to reverse the process.

 

As for the paints I am using the acrylic Admiralty paints which I had bought from Cornwall Model Boats.

 

Hope this is of help to you and good luck on your build. 

 

Robert

[Jeff Tall]

thanks much!!  that is a big help and I plan to plank smaller size like you had done it, it turned out so well. So I plan to do same just cant pass it up.  thanks again robert

 

[Robert29]

A small update, 

 

My aim was to continue and finish the stern fascia with the decorations and balusters.  Painting the brass decorations was always a concern for me as they get scratched so easily, exposing the brass again.  Browsing on the internet I found a product which according to their advert is fantastic, give a coat with it before the actual finish.  It also had a video showing how to apply it.  I will try to find it and upload it.  So I decided to order it and use it on the brass baluster patters on the stern fascia and the side galleries.  Erroneously I ordered them from Poland, from where apparently there are no flights for postal service at the moment, whereas postal service from UK is still on.  I think it's worth waiting for the product before I continue finishing the stern fascia and the galleries.  I will let you know how it went.

 

I finished the rigging of the gunport lids, ready for the other end of the thread to be inserted in the tube on he hull side when fitted.

 

Prepared the outer Poop Deck Hand Rail.

Shaped and soldered the railing to the stanchion and the first hammock crane on the poop deck

 

 

Blackened them.

 

Dry fitted them.  I will not fit them for now as otherwise I am sure I will nock them down a hundred times whilst doing other work on the deck.  I have also blackened all the hammock cranes and prepared all the holes on the capping rails.  It is important to keep the hammock cranes for each area separate from each other and marked as they all differ and if mixed it is no fun trying to identify which goes where.

 

Fitted the Waist Deck Stanchions and rigged the ropes which were already attached to the stanchions at the base of the ladders.

 

Thought I might as well paint the white metal stern decorations for the stern fascia and have them ready.  I also painted the quarter gallery drop decorations.  The extra metal parts still hanging to the decorations have to be removed to have a nicely finished sharp edge. The metal is very soft, I use a pointed exacto knife.  The back part I left unpainted on purpose so that I will finish with some filler where it meets the underside of the gallery first, then paint it in place.

 

As for the hammock crane netting I am still unsure if I should source some kind of tulle, as recommended on the manual, or if I should have a go at trying making them myself, which of course entails a lot more work.  I have seen some in this forum made by the builders themselves and they look awesome.  

 

Robert

 

 

 

[Heinz6672]

Beautiful !!!

 

[Jeff Tall]

beautiful work Robert, I ask about your black filler you added between the planks a few weeks ago, the planking on my ship is coming along very well. I will send pics to you when I get that part done, but as you know it takes time, almost got 1 side done planking.

 

Jeff

[Robert29]

Thank you Heinze, your compliments are always appreciated coming from the builder of such an awesome Victory model. 

 

Thank you Jeff, looking forward to see how your planking is coming along.

 

I don't have much to update, I am still waiting to receive the product I ordered online for the brass treatment before painting.  I have to try it on the stern balusters before I continue on it.

 

In the meantime I rigged the  closed gunport lid in the bow and the two vents at the stern.

 

 

Going through the rigging instructions I noticed that in various places were in realty you should have metal thimbles, eyelets were used.  The thimbles have to be very small, so I experimented a bit to see if it's possible to replace the eyelets with the proper thimbles.  Thought it's worth sharing, maybe someone would like to have a go at it as well.

 

I had a piece of brass tubing, 1mm in diameter x 0.225 wall thickness which I thought would do the job.

 

I had read somewhere that you can cut thin brass tubing by just placing an exacto knife on top of it and roll it forward and backwards a few times.  It worked like magic.

 

 

 

 

I cut a small piece, about 1.5mm in length.

 

Then found a piece of a circuit board with holes slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the brass tubing and a pointed instrument which opens in a larger diameter than the tubing itself.  Placed them as shown in the picture and with a couple of slight taps with a small hammer formed a flare on the edge.  Turned it round and did the something on the other side.

 

 

Then laid it flat and gave it a very light tap on each side which gave the edges of the flares a better finish.

 

 

 

After throwing away the first couple I tried and got the hang of it they came out pretty good.  I made a few of them and blackened them to use on my future rigging. 

 

Robert 

 

 

 

[michael101]

Its always a pleasure to watch your work ! 

Just beautiful !!!!
 

[Robert29]

Thank you Michael. and thank you all for the likes.

 

Still waiting for the brass treatment so I can carry on with the stern and galleries. Yesterday I received the good news that it has  been posted and should arrive pretty soon.   In the meantime I thought I might as well start some work on the bowsprit and masts.

 

BOWSPRIT

I started by first squaring the front part of the bowsprit on which the cap is fitted.  It is cut an an angle as the cap, when fitted has to be perpendicular to the keel.  Then I tapered it as indicated on the plans.  Positioning of sheaves filed flat.

 

Bowsprit bee flat glued in place.

 

I made the gammoning saddles with 1.5 x 1.5mm walnut as indicated in the manual. I noticed that some builders did them by using a piece from the same dowel and hollowing the inside.  The idea is good but since saddles have to go down to half of the mast diameter, to achieve that you have to use a larger diameter dowel, otherwise it is going to stop short.  I had a try with the 1.5 x 1.5mm strips on an extra piece of dowel first and I was satisfied with the result.

 

One important thing is the positioning of the saddles on the bowsprit.  If you mark them exactly as indicated on the plans you might end up with their positioning out of line from where they should be.  The best thing is to insert the bowsprit in place, making sure it is all in and from there mark the saddles.  The space between the saddles has to be exactly in line with the two slots on the stem from where later on, a line has to pass through, up and round the bowsprit from in between the saddles for nine times.  Also keep in mind that the saddles should be vertical when the bowsprit is positioned on the model.

 

Strips are cut just a bit longer and trimmed in place with inexact knife when glue is thoroughly dry. 

 

Gaps filled with a filler and strips sanded round.  Still need a bit more of filling and sanding.  I made the bands out of styrene strips 0.25mm x 2mm 

 

When making the bands out of styrene grab the strip between your finger and something with an edge like the handle of a knife as shown in the picture and give it a pull.  The styrene strip will curl round and keep the position.  If the curve is still too big, give it another pull and it will curve even more.  This is very handy so that it keeps in place when gluing round the mast.

 

Top and bottom of the cap to be bevelled to be in line with the bowsprit when fitted.  Holes in cap have also to be drilled at an angle to be in line with the bowsprit.  Also take note that they are not in the middle of the cap but offset to the port side.

 

The lower part of the jibboom is an octagon.  The jibboom is made from a 6mm diameter dowel.  It tapers from 5mm to 3.7mm.  When I tapered it I left the part of the octagon still 6mm in diameter, then I shaped the octagon on the 6mm diameter.  If you taper it to 5mm and then form the octagon, that part kind of looks thinner then the rest 5mm diameter dowel, and it doesn't look good.  In my opinion it looks better this way and I think, correct me if I am wrong, it is the way it should be.

 

 

 

Sheaves and jibboom support fitted in place.  Stop cleats made from 1.5mm 1.5mm walnut fitted as well.

 

 

 

 

 

FORE LOWER MAST

Also started some work on the Fore Lower Mast.The top part of the Lower Mast has two squared sections, 8mm square and 6mm square.  On the top of the mast I marked 8mm square and another 6mm square inside it. then drew lines from the four points of the square down along the dowel to a length of 73.1mm as a guide.  With a fine saw I made  several cuts, being careful not to go down further then the 8mm square and chiseled out most of the material, then I took out the rest of it on my proxxon table fitted on my proxxon drill stand with a trimmer bit.  

 In a way used it sort of like a milling machine.  Don't get me wrong,  it does not in any way substitute the actual Milling Machine, I do not own a milling Machine, but I have seen some work, and it is in no way any near to it.  I mostly use the table to make some accurate holes and  similar things. IT IS NOT A MILLING MACHINE. The real milling machine is a beautiful machine, but quite expensive, and in my opinion it's cost does not justify the little need I have for it.  

 

 

 

 

The 8mm square sanded and finished. the 6mm square formed as well.

 

 

 

 

 

TOPS

To be honest I thought the tops were going to be more difficult to make then they actually were.  First I glued the gunwale to the platform.  To mark the battens I used a piece of tracing paper to trace the battens from on the plans. Then I transferred the end points of the battens on the platform.  I glued the battens in place leaving the inside a bit longer.  When dry I trimmed them with an exacto knife and sanded them flash to the inside edge of the platform.

 

 

All battens glued.  Crosstrees and trestletrees assembled as well.

 

Crosstree and trestletree assemblies glued to platform. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all for today.

 

Robert

[stuglo]

beautifull. Decision not to copper so right with such superb planking. Almost a pity I made Diane and Agamemnon and present Bow section, because this kit is now so tempting seeing the great job you are doing.

[Heinz6672]

4 hours ago, Bertu said:

That is all for today.

 

Robert

That´s a lot, Robert!

Great job! Congratulations!!!

🙂

-Heinz-

[md1400cs]

Robert,

 

SO like the super detailing of your bowsprit mast - (saved this thread for when I get there👌)

Will try your method for cutting brass tubes - another great idea.

Excellent work a real pleasure to follow along. 

 

große Fähigkeit, die Sie haben.

 

Regards,

 

[Robert29]

Stuglio, thanks for your encouraging comments.  To copper or not to copper the hull was a decision which took me long to decide.

 

Heinz,  thank you,  I must say browsing through your Victory build gives me a lot of encouragement. 

 

md1400cs,  thank you,  I myself took loads of ideas from other builds.  

 

Finally I received the long awaited product I was waiting for to treat the brass before painting with acrylic paint, so now I will put aside the work I was doing on he masts to continue the work on the stern.  But I will give you an update were I have arrived on the masts.

 

Tapering and flattening  the sides of the lower masts with a plane and sanding to take the cheeks.

 

 

Fitted the bands which have to pass through from under the cheeks.  I used styrene 0.25mm x 2mm.

 

 

This is the main lower mast.  It's the one that has a lantern fitted to the lower top.  I cut a channel along the mast through which I will pass the wires to supply the led in the lantern.  After I pass the wires the channel will be filled and on top of it will be fitted the rubbing paunch, so no wiring will be exposed.  Hopefully I will manage to solder the wires to the wires at the base of the mast without leaving any showing.

 

Using grips to keep cheeks in place while the glue dries dries.

 

Once the lower masts were formed I started work on the top masts and topgallant masts.  First I marked the octagons on them all along the dowel.  Then I squared the ends were they needed to.  Before shaping the octagons I tapered the parts where the dowel was to remain round. At this stage I had a bit of difficulty in the octagon measurements given on the kit's plans.  On the plans the measurements for the octagons were given from one corner point to the other.  If you work like that there were instances were the octagon measurement from one face to the other was going to be thinner than the rounded mast on top of it. Not only it does not look good but I think it is wrong.  The octagon should be larger than the rounded part on top of it.  So basically I diverted a bit from the measurements given on the plans, especially were the octagons were involved.  I have the book by C. Nepean Longbridge ' The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships'. which was of great help in this regards. It has some pretty detailed drawings with measurements of the masts.  

I do not own a lathe and I did the tapering on a power drill.  Because of the amount of saw dust I did this in my garage.  I have a variable speed driller with I grabbed in a bench vice and used sand paper to taper them taking care not to touch where the octagons should be.  I marked these with a piece of masking tape.  I used course sand paper to remove the bulk, then change to finer sand paper when it gets near the required size.  A calliper is a must for this work.

 

 

When the round tapering was done I worked on the octagons. You have to be careful to keep one of the flat sides in line with a flat side of the squared part of the mast.  To shape them I used a small plane and a small file.  I avoided using sand paper as with sand paper it is difficult to have the sharp corners forming the octagon.  Sand paper has the tendency to round off the corners on such small diameters and loosing all the effect of the octagons.

 

 

All masts shaped. You can notice that the octagon part on the lower part of two masts, where it is offset, I shaped it by adding strips on the underlying octagon and shaping them again.  I did this because if I had to make this out of the dowel itself, a lot of material should be removed and the octagon underlying it  would have to be smaller, which in turn will be thiner than the rounded part on top of it.  I am not sure if I am confusing you, but if you want I can try to explain it with some drawings.

 

 

Regards

Robert

[Robert29]

An update of the work on the stern.

 

Painted the stern and gallery baluster patterns.  As a primer I used the the VMS 'Metal Prep 4K'.  It worked quite good, the acrylic paint adhered much better then the grey primer I had.  They had a much better resistance to scratches while handling them.  For the black line I used Styrene strips, 0.25 x 1mm for the side galleries, 0.25mm x 2mm for the lower stern baluster pattern. For the upper baluster pattern I used the 2mm for the lower line but the top line is not the same width all the length.  In the middle it gets wider, so I used the 5mm strip and trimmed the sides accordingly.

 

 

Fitted the stern baluster patterns and the top moulding in place.

 

 

I separated the stern edge fascia edging in two so that I can obtain the exact positioning on the sides of the fascia, otherwise it was going to be too much to the edges of the fascia.  Also started fitting the black patterns between the windows.  I made them from styrene strips as well.  They were quite tedious to make as they are not the same size.  Each one you make you have to cut to its require height, top and bottom trimmed slanting, check in place and keep trimming until you get the right size and shape. 

 

 

I had all the white metal stern figures ready and painted.  Before you paint them it is important to trim their edges as most of the time they have extra material protruding out.  Here are a few photos of all of them fitted except for the trophy of arms and the lanterns.  When fitting the stern fascia top moulding you have to make sure you have the space for the coat of arms between it and the edge moulding.  For the lanterns I already have the holes ready on the facia.

 

 

 

On the edge of the fascia I ran two narrow strips of styrene (0.25mm x 0.75mm) painted yellow before fitting them.

 

 

Robert

 

 

[stuglo]

Really nice

 

[Robert29]

Thank you Stuglio.

 

Here are a few more photos with the stern lights on.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert

[BenD]

 

That lighting is so cool!

[Robert29]

Thank you BenD and thank you all for the likes. 

 

A small update:

 

I finished the bands on the three lower masts, except for the very lower once  which have to be fitted when the boarding pike racks are being fitted. The groove on the main mast is from where I am to take the wiring up to the lantern.  With wiring in place it will be filled and the whole length will also be covered with the 1.5mm x 4mm rubbing paunch.  Although some of the bands are cut were they come over the channel, with the rubbing paunch fitted over them they will look like they continue all the way underneath it. The styrene strips are perfect to shape around the masts.  When you put ca glue over them they become very flexible and when pressed in place they retain the shape.  You have to be careful because sometimes, where you have sharp corners the strip will break in two because of the softening with the ca glue.  But once dry they adhere very good to wood.  

 

 

I also prepared all the blocks. Here is a photo of my very crude tumbler which I made to round off the sharp edges of the blocks.  It did the job quite well.

 

I decided to darken them a bit.  I had some spirit based wood dye, medium oak, and gave them a coat.  When dry I gave them a coat of matt satin finish varnish which brings out the dye colour better.

 

 

 

I cleaned all the holes to make sure I have no problems when passing the thread through them.

 

Next I am going to work on the tops for the lower masts.  I need to fit the blocks to them before I fit the top to the masts.  My hesitation is what size of thread do I use to make the strops for the blocks.  The kit manual tells you to use 3mm blocks, but doesn't mention what  size of thread to use. Any suggestions?  Should it be the same size of the rope being rigged on it!!!!

 

Robert

[Bossman]

Robert, an absolute masterpiece. Thank you for your build. Lots of inspiration and ideas. 

[jazzyrjw@gmail.com]

Jazzyrjw

Built Billing boat NordKap 476

Building Panart Mantua 1:78 HMS Victory (High Spec) 

 

Hello Robert.

I am building HMS Victory 1:78 (High Spec including coppered hull) and I am now reaching a similar stage to you. I spent a great deal of time trial fitting the frame and then finally gingerly gluing it all together. I started to plank the hull starting just below the top gun support rail. I stopped abruptly as I wanted to consider LED lighting, realising that I could not continue planking as I would not have access to the bulkheads after I finished. So I am now trying to work out what lighting I want (or not). Without having a completely clear idea of how to use, fix, and wire LED's and resistors etc. I am reseaching it very carefully. I am so glad to read of your build. I have painted the canon support rails black, but seeing what you have done, think maybe I should also paint the bulkheads black. I don't know if it is necessary. Can you tell me what I am not considering by not doing that.

 

Anyway, I am considering lighting the ship at the moment with about 24 to 30 LEDs including 3 for the rear lanterns and of course 3 deck staircase placements (of which there are two on the lower gun deck). I am also considering whether I should subtly light the stern grating from below and the lower deck gratings in the same way.  Lastly, there is the consideration of the bow Cannonade (if that is what it is called) to think about. I am considering leaving 2 doors open with a subtle light coming from inside.  I have not started to build the back of the ship until I work out what I am going to do with the back cabins and also the Officers Quarters on the mid deck behind the ships wheel.

 

I will keep up with you once I work out all the resistors I am going to need. Its all a bit daunting at this stage as there are many decisions to be made before carrying on.

[Robert29]

Jazzyrjw,

Good luck on your Victory build.  Basically you do not need to paint the bulkheads, you might say I got carried away with the paint. What you have to make sure is that when the hull and decks are fitted none of those areas can be seen, especially through the gunport, as when you have the lights on those brighter areas might show.  But as long as you are sure they cannot be seen from any angle, which I am sure mostly are not, there is no need to paint them.

Yes, putting in the lights need a lot of planning beforehand, in fact it was a decision I had to make in the very beginning. I was eager to start building the kit, but at the same time I knew that putting in the lights was going to take me longer to start and a lot more work. You have to plan how to supply the led's that come later on in the build and how to hide the wiring and the resistors.  I wanted to make sure that no wiring is seen anywhere, not even the once coming out of the ship for the supply.  At the moment I am working on the masts and hopefully I will manage to take the supply to the lantern on the main mast without any wiring showing.  I avoided connecting any led's in series, they are all connected in parallel, for the simple reason that if one led is burnt all the remaining led's in the same circuit will go off, whilst if connected in parallel it will not effect the others. This means that you have to connect a resistor for each and every led.  You also have to decide what you are going to use as a supply.  With the amount of led's you are saying there is no way you can supply them from a battery, it will not generate the total current you need. They will either not come on at all or the battery is drained within a minute.  You have to use a transformer that can handle the current needed.  In my model I have a total of 90 led's, and I calculated that I need 1.8amps.  I already had a 12volt transformer that can handle an outputted of up to 4.2amps, so I am using that one.  In your case, for 30 led's a 1Amp transformer is more than enough.  Two things I always made sure to do were:

 

1. After fitting any lights always check that they work ok before I continue the build, so that I am in time toI rectify any wrong connections or whatever,   because once they are enclosed inside the model there is no way you would be able to reach them again. 

 

2. Make sure that the supply you are connecting them with is the right voltage.  Erroneously connecting a higher voltage will  burn the led's and you can say goodbye to the lights.   I made all my calculations based on a 12v supply.  

 

Undoubtedly,  I do not have any regrets on the extra work I involved, in my opinion it was worth the result.

 

Robert

[Robert29]

Bossman, thank you for your kind words.  I hope some of my ideas will be of some help to other builders as I myself have taken loads of ideas from other builders.

 

Here is an update on more work on the masts.  One of my major concerns was how to wire the lantern on the Main Mast without any wiring showing.

 

At this stage all the components of the lantern are only dry fitted.  

 

 

Bending the brass tube with such a short radius without the tube being pinched and the inside hole closing or narrowing down was not easy, but on the third try a managed to bend it  and have enough space for the wires to pass.  I used very tin wires, the one used for winding transformers. It is only going to have the load of just one led on it.

 

Brass tube goes through the mast just on top of the channel made along the mast.

 

When I saw that everything fitted ok I painted the top and glued it in place. Connected the tin wires to the led and glued, the base of the lantern to the brass tube and the led in place passing the wires from inside the brass tube and turned the tin wires down into the channel. 

 

Soldered them to ticker wires so that they will not be so fragile to handle and later on connect to the wires already prepared under the deck.

 

The wires come out on the other side of the mast just under the level of the quarterdeck.

 

Channel filled up with Milliput Clay.  I wanted the wires to be solidly embedded so that there will be no room for movement or pulling on the wires that might damage them and also to have a good base for fitting the rubbing paunch on. 

 

 

 

After I filled the channel I made sure that everything was in place and the light works.

 

To keep the led in place and to make sure the connections do not short with each other or with the body of the lantern I literally embedded the base of the led in epoxy glue.  The Araldite epoxy glue is non conductive when dry, so it was perfect for the job.

If you look carefully under the top I added a piece of wood on the outer face of the trestletree.  After building the top and trying it on the mast I realised that the trestletrees do not lie exactly on top of the bibs.  They did not look good and as far as I know I did the masts according to the plans. I noticed on other builds that they had the same problem. 

 

Rubbing Paunch glued over the channel, covering all the way from where I passed the wires.

 

The rest of the lantern I will fit later on when the mast is fitted in place as I am sure I will otherwise damage it.

 

Now the remaining problem for this light is to connect the wires to the  two supply wires presently coming out from the same hole on the deck where the mast is to be inserted as the connections have to go under the deck.

 

Robert