HMS Victory by paulb - Caldercraft - 1:72

[paulb]

The two sheet anchors have palm blocks on top of the waist capping.

 

 

The ones in the kit are a bit too simple to be realistic, and I modified them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bower anchor palm blocks will follow.

 

Paul

[paulb]

The waist deck stanchions:

 

Not much to say, except that I rounded the 1.5x1.5mm walnut strips on the deck.

 

 

A bigger challenge were the guns on the forecastle. They are 12 pounders medium guns. Their position is clear, but how were they held in place at sea? I am pretty sure they didn't glue them on the deck...

None of the books, nor the internet gave me a clear answer. Middleton put them at the forecastle gun ports, fully rigged.

I decided to follow some other model builders and used the tackle to fix the guns. This is most likely a good solution.

 

 

Lastly I added some eyelets around the (hole of the) mizzen mast. I may need them later when rigging.

 

 

 

 

 

And a global impression

 

 

Paul

[paulb]

There was still a left-over thing to do on the poop deck: the signal flags.

The signal flags which were used in 1805 were published in 1799 by Captain Sir Home Popham. The set of flags consisted of 10 numerical flags (1-10) and 5 other flags (preparatory, substitute, affirmative, finish and dissent).

There was a 38 pages long book with words and their corresponding numerical code (e.g. 253 means England). This signal flag system was replaced by several others, until in 1857 it was supplanted by the Commercial Code of Signals published by the British Board of Trade.

However, Nelson used a codebook which originally had a somewhat different set of flags than Popham's code, and which had been revised prior to the time of the Battle of Trafalgar due to the belief that the thin and signal flags had been compromised. Because there is some debate about which flags Nelson used, I used the Popham signal flags.

I printed a complete set on transfer paper, which I then ironed on cotton (thin and smooth, called Poplin).

 

 

 

 

The size of the flags is 7x7mm.

 

Cutting and folding and then pushing them in the proper box of the flag locker:

 

 

By the way, I'm not happy about the hammock netting of the starboard poop. Will replace it.

 

Regards. Paul

[Heinz6672]

Paul, 

 

I would also like to have such a set of flags. This is amazing!

 

Heinz

[paulb]

Thanks a lot guys for all the likes. 

Heinz, all you have to do is send me a personal message.

 

The hull is finished😌.

The poop ladder hand rail:

 

 

And than the brass profiles. I followed both the manual and pictures.

Not happy with the decorative scroll in the kit, and I made some myself:

 

 

 

And in situ:

 

 

Three of them:

 

 

And painted:

 

 

And an overview of the work so far.

 

 

Next: the simulated front gun ports of the lower and middle gun decks. With a fine line of red ocre it became a bit more realistic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now masting and rigging. 

 

Paul

 

[paulb]

Masting and rigging.

I have a feeling this is nicer than building the hull. Less mass production and more smaller, single projects.
There is some conflicting information, so I do some research for which I , apart from the manual use books by Zu Mondfeld, Rigging Period Ship Models (Lennarth Peterson), The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War (James Lees), and The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships (C.N. Longridge) and of course pictures from the HMS Victory in Portsmouth. I will try to explain the choices I make.

The bowsprit
It started simpel:





The bees



Bee blocks for the fore topmast stay and preventer stay:





View from above:





The dowel sort of fits in the square hole in the cap, below the round hole for the jibboom.



Cap fitted:



Sprit sail sling saddle 


Gammoning fish with grooves to keep the gammoning in position. Lees and Zu Mondfeld both mention the fish (a long plank with grooves), but McKay doesn't, and the actual Victory doesn't have the gammoning fish but rather three saddles which are mounted directly unto the bowsprit. I followed McKay:
I copied this technique from Middleton. First I removed less than halve of a dowel and then hollowed it out:



Three saddles (1 bigger)







The sprit sail yard saddle, the stop cleats and the jib boom support (from right to left)





And the "iron" bands (heat shrink tubing)



Painted, and the start of the jib boom:



Flying jib boom



Bowsprit, jib boom, flying jib boom, dolphin striker and flag pole:





And the start of the standing rigging: blocks for the fore topgallant flag staff stay, the flying martingale, and outer and inner martingale. Deadeyes for the bobstay and shrouds.
A bit of a challenge to get it right, but after some practice I was fine.



Looks messy, but there is a system:

 

Cheers, Paul

[paulb]

On another forum it was noticed that the deadeyes for the bobstays and shrouds are not period correct. They should be closed heart blocks. This is confirmed by pictures of the actual Victory and by McKay and Longridge. Lees mentions both options.

As soon as they arrive from the USA I will change them.

[paulb]

[paulb]

The Fore Mast:

Quite a bit of sorting out.

Unfortunately I made pictures without my SD card in the camera. So there is more result than process😕.

 

Here the cheeks on top of iron bands, bibbs in place as well as the rubbing paunch. Filed grooves to accommodate the bands. Filled up the space between the bibbs and the rubbing paunch, very much like Lees draws it.

 

 

 

 

More iron bands:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the fore mast top. Crosstrees and trestletrees. Gunwale glues to the top platform.

 

 

The tops were constructed using planks, plywood not having been invented in 1805. I planked the platform with 0.5mm planks, using two different widths, as per McKay. The planks "intersect" in the four corners.

 

 

 

Next pictures shows some more modifications. The battens run over the gunwale and taper towards the centre. I have added a plank on  the aft side of the top, on which the stanchions will come.

The pictures I made of the grounded tops during my visit to Portsmouth helped a lot. One does not get very often the chance of seeing the tops so close-up:

 

 

[paulb]

What puzzles me on the picture are the steel bars on the picture and no sign of deadeye blocks. Are the bars used to fasten the shrouds?

 

The battens run over the gunwale and taper towards the centre. I have added a plank on  the aft side of the top, on which the stanchions will come for the rail and netting. Deadeyes glued in place.

 

 

 

 

Painted several times. I added a lining on the port, starboard and fore sides of the top, like on the real top. The short side of the battens are thereby protected from damaging them.

 

 

 

I will add the blocks, stanchions and netting later, but before putting the fore mast assembly together.

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by paulb

[paulb]

Again I have to correct a mistake. The iron bands run UNDER the rubbing paunch. Easy to correct. Picture to follow. 

Edited January 25, 2021 by paulb

[paulb]

A few modifications.

Changing the blocks on the bowsprit from deadeyes to closed heart. (neither sounds nice in real life...)

First how I seized the blocks; the challenge is to have a tight fit around the bowsprit and having the blocks in the right place.

The first is already fitted.

 

 

 

It takes some calculations to know the distances, but one knows the diameter of the bowsprit and circumference is Pi times diameter.

A 0,25mm thread through the 0.40mm thread.

 

 

Back at the right distances for the circumference of the block plus the siezing

 

 

Block in a third hand with the thick thread at the back

 

 

Tightening the knot

 

 

Putting both ends in a alligator clamp

 

 

Siezing the rope

 

 

And the second block in place

 

 

Now the third block and a slipping connections to tighten the rope around the bowsprit

 

Both ends in clamps

 

 

One end back to the block, as a loop, because it will be included in the siezing

 

 

There is the loop:

 

 

Tighten the rope by slipping the free end through the siezing, CA glue and cutting the end off.

 

 

 

[paulb]

And I changed the iron bands, for them to be under the rubbing paunch:

 

 

Should be okay now

 

 

[paulb]

Some progress on the fore mast.

 

The different parts (fore lower mast, fore topmast, fore topgallant mast, fore lower top, fore topmast top and hand mast) have been constructed. Again quite some sorting out, especially with regard to the sheaves that are let in the different mast sections.

First  view with the under  side of the tops:

 

 

And the top side of the tops and fore mast cap:

 

 

The tops in detail. The crosstrees taper on the under side and the trestletrees ends are snaped and rounded.

Sheaves for the main topgallant bowlines are put in the after end of the trestletrees. (the topmast trestletree of the main mast will have those sheaves in the fore end).

The cap has four blocks. Aft/underneath for the fore topmast yard cluelines. The span in the middle for the fore lower yard lifts. 

 

 

 

The topmast has two sheaves (called top rope sheaves): the lower on the block, running diagonally from forward port face to after starboard face. The upper above the heeling on the opposing diagonal plan from the lower one.  The sheaves had ropes to lower the topmast (acc. to Zu Mondfeld).

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . 

 

The topgallant mast has four sheaves: one top rope sheave just above the heeling, again diagonally starboard forward to after port.

 

 

Other sheaves according to McKay, 

 

 

Next step: assembling the fore mast, and attach battens, check blocks and some other blocks

[paulb]

In the meantime I finished the fore mast assembly and I am close to finishing the main mast assembly.

I've got a question about the mizzen mast: should there be a rubbing paunch or not?

The manual says no, and so does Longridge and McKay in McGowan's HMS Victory.

However, James Lees says yes, and the McKay's drawing in "The anatomy of...." shows a rubbing paunch on the mizzen mast.

Very confusing. Does anybody know the answer?

 

Same confusion about a fid (and fid hole) in the mizzen topgallant mast. Manual says no fid, and so does McKay. Lees says there should be a fid (hole).

 

Any help is appreciated ☺️

[Robert29]

Nice mast details Paul.  Sometimes it is very frustrating when looking for details and you end up finding conflicting  answers and you never know which is the right one.  You end up with more questions than answers. The only thing I can say is that when I visited the Victory at Portsmouth the Mizzen mast had no rubbing paunch on it.

 

If you enlarge this photo that I had taken, you will notice that there is a rubbing paunch on the fore and main mast but there isn't any on the Mizzen mast.  If there was one and at some time it had been removed I wouldn't know.  In my build I decided to leave it without the rubbing paunch. 

 

Robert

[paulb]

Thanks, Robert. Great picture, with all three masts.

Still somewhat surprising that the mizzen mast has no rubbing paunch. I guess it was meant to protect both the mast and the yards, so why there is none here, I don't know.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with some details😕.

[tedrobinson2000]

Hi Paul, Beautiful build!

My guess for the lack of a rubbing paunch is that the mizzen is gaff-rigged.  The crojack was not hoisted very often, and also the driver lashing on the lower mizzen mast may have been interfered with by a rubbing paunch.

 

Best regards,

Ted

[Kevin]

very nice indeed Paul, i have put all my Victory books away for now, so i dont know if Longridge had a answer to your question

[paulb]

Thank for the replies, Ted and Kevin.

I think you're right Ted. 

Longridge says "no rubbing paunch on the mizzen mast", and I think he's right, as far as the present built shows, which Robert demonstrated so beautifully.

I am waiting for 1x1mm styrene, so I decided to do the yards and booms.

Got myself the cheapest (and loudest) lathe available, but with ear protection and patience I got the job done.

 

 

Some yards and booms still have a thick end, to connect it to the lathe. I will leave that until painted, or remove it if it's in the way.

[Kevin]

7 minutes ago, paulb said:

 

Got myself the cheapest (and loudest) lathe available, but with ear protection and patience I got the job done.

 

 

 

Some yards and booms still have a thick end, to connect it to the lathe. I will leave that until painted, or remove it if it's in the way.

what lathe did you get?

Edited May 23, 2021 by Kevin

[paulb]

Hi Kevin,

I’m not sure I can mention equipment manufacturers’ or sellers’ names here. 
Please sent me a personal message and I will give you the details. 
Regards, Paul 

[allanyed]

Paul,

Your workmanship is a delight to follow.  Victory models have been done so many times, including two that I did, lo those many years ago but yours is exceptional in the details.

Allan

Edited May 24, 2021 by allanyed

[paulb]

Thanks Allan.

Summer is ending, model building is starting...

 

Some work on the yards. More work than I thought, but it's fun.

The basics of the yards have been done, but it's only the Main Yard which is finished (except painting and rigging).

Especially the stunsail boom rings and irons took a lot of time. I made them from several size brass tubes and, using a pipe cutter I made the rings. Then I soldered them together with the 1 mm square rods.

Still needs some work, but it gives an idea. The photos always show details for improvement...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[paulb]

Some more work on the yards, boom en gaff. Quite a few pictures tyaken from different angles and before and after painting. Please indulge me.

 

Spritsail and spritsail topsail yard:

 

 

 

 

 

Fore yard, fore topmast yard and fore topgallant yard

 

 

Snatch block on fore topmast yard:

 

 

 

 

Main yard, main topmast yard and main topgallant yard:

 

 

 

Snatch block and sheave on the mail topmast yard:

 

 

 

 

Mizzen mast: driver gaff, driver boom, crossjack yard, mizzen topmast yard and mizzen topgallant yard.

 

 

 

Sheave towards the end of the driver boom:

 

 

 

 

Mizzen mast almost done.

Edited November 12, 2021 by paulb

[mort stoll]

Hi Paul,

 

I've a question concerning an earlier post,  #89 on 11-19-20.  Where does the rope between the rudder chain and the mizzen channel lead to, and what size rope did you use?

 

Thanks and keep up the great work,

Mort 

[Ian_Grant]

This is a great model which I've only just stumbled across! Beautiful!

 

Mort, I can answer your question: The rope passes through a hole in the mizzen channel just in front of the port which has the double doors (like a saloon) and ends in a stopper knot.

[mort stoll]

Perfect.  thank you. What size rope did you use?

[Ian_Grant]

Good question. Longridge does not give a size. Peering through my model's case it looks like I used half mm for 1/100 scale, but Paul may have better information.

[mort stoll]

Thanks Ian. That,or .75 was what I was thinking.