Questions regarding old kit(Mantua 776, HMS Victory)

[Smoke]

Alright, so I'm pretty much new to this site and I've got a question. I was directed here from another forum.

 

I'm not new to modelling plastic kits(mainly airplanes) but I have received an old Mantua kit of the HMS Victory and I'm just wondering if there's anything in particular that I should know about if I plan to ever get started on it. It looks to be in pretty good condition, all the parts are present and accounted for, as well as the full plans and an accompanying guide. It was purchased in the late 60s or early 70s by my father-in-law but he never got around to it.
 
Here's a bunch of pictures of the full set, it was always stored clean and dry as far as I know. The wood itself looks all straight, there's no visible fracturing or cracks and it feels dry.

 

It's rather daunting to me as I've never worked with wood kits before, but I'd like to try it sometime at the very least. Would it be worth it to give it a shot? Alternatively, is there any value in a kit such as this considering it's still produced and sold?

[grsjax]

Don't know about the value but it looks like a nice kit.  If the wood has been stored in a heated space all this time the wood has probably dried out to the point of being brittle.  This may cause you some trouble when it comes time to cut and fit the pieces.  You could try re-hydrating it with warm water or using dilute white glue to soak the wood.  The glue will help to strengthen the wood and make it less likely to split.

[pompey2]

Replacing the strip wood wouldn't be too difficult, you might even want to upgrade the wood type.

Planking is where you will find any dry wood cracking.

 

Nick

[tlevine]

I built this kit several years ago.  It makes up into a nice build out of the box.  I kit-bashed it rather severely using Longridge's book and the series of articles from SIS.  My suggestion...go for it!  First, decide whether you want to build it as-is or kit-bashed.  Either way, get the articles by Gene McClure in SIS.  Kurt posted links to the articles here http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12994-ships-in-scale-magazine-articles/.  The biggest problem is that the pieces are printed on fairly low quality plywood which is prone to splintering.  I replaced several of these with pieces cut from basswood.  The walnut vernier meant nothing to me because I painted her.  As far as resale value, next to none.   

[tlevine]

I found a couple of old pictures from early in the rigging process.  The pics are low quality as they were taken with a 1st generation digital camera.  Hope this helps your decision making process.