HMS Victory by Charter33 - Caldercraft - Scale 1:72

[Robert29]

Hi Graham,

Thank you very much for your suggestions, when I come to it In will let you know how it went.

 

Robert

 

[Charter33]

Hi Robert,

I look forward to seeing how you get on. One other point I forgot to mention - different components are often made from various grades of brass alloy and the differing copper content can have an impact on the speed of the process. Best to test a sample first. I found this out to my cost with the round headed pins where 30 seconds proved to be too long and the finish was awful. Wire brushing 200 of them in preparation for a second (but successful) attempt is not something I would want to do again! 

Good luck.

Graham.

[Charter33]

Started work on the tackles for the gun carriages.

 

Eyelets have been bent....

 

 

.... twisted.......

 

 

.... and blackened (after chemically cleaning approximately 15 seconds  in Birchwoood Casey Brass Black)

 

 

Joining a rigging hook to a 2mm single block,

 

 

and a first attempt at bringing it all together .....

 

 

Cheers,

Graham.

[Robert29]

Graham,

 

I used the Birchwood Casey Brass Black on some small items and it worked like a charm.  I still have to do the cannons.  Thanks for your help.

 

Robert

[Charter33]

Work continues with the upper gun deck cannons ........

 

I've decided to replace the breech rope eyelets on the carriages with larger ones as I hope to increase the diameter of this rope to 1 mm rather than the recommended size that seems a bit small when compared with images I found on the web. These are Mantua Models eyelets but while the rings are okay, the second piece of each fitting needed to have the 'loop' tightened up a bit. This was achieved by pulling them part way through an improvised draw plate.

 

 

 

After fitting the breech rope and it's eyelets to the barrel it was mounted on the carriage.  A short length of brass rod with a small dimple added to one end was used as a simple drift to push the round headed pins into their pre-drilled holes.

 

 

Trying to get the breech ropes to hang appropriately..........

 

Rigging hooks attached to 2mm blocks ...

 

...strung ....

 

 

.... and attached

 

And finally my first attempt to install one ......

 

One down, 29 to go ......

 

Cheers,

 

Graham.

[Robert29]

Very nice work Graham, I really like the rigging on the carriages.  I am still trying to work out my way around the rigging on the carriages. Did you use the hooks supplied with the kit to to rig to the  2mm blocks?  I made some hooks myself which came out quite good, but I am thinking they are a bit too big.  Once again thank you for your hints on blackening.  I blackened the cannons and I am quite pleased with the result.

 

Robert

[Shipyard sid]

Greetings Graham

          I have just returned to my build after a  while away, and read through your log this morning, and well remember the  beginning  of your build. The quality of your build has been excellent throughout,  as many other members have told you on numerous occasions.  Just continue enjoying it. Best Regards  DAVID

[Charter33]

Hi,

Thank you for your kind comments and 'likes'.

 

David - Good to see you back.  I'd seen that you had resumed building your HMS Diana and have been looking out for your updates. I particularly like the way you dealt with the deck planking. I'm sure it was your advice I followed about threading all the eyelets onto the breech rope before fitting it to the gun carriage. It worked a treat.

 

Robert - Yes, the hooks were made from eyelets supplied with the kit. They are the 480 eyelets, the same as you show after 'blacking' on your build log. I'm not sure how generous the manufacturers are in the quantity of these they provide but if I run short of them later I know that they are easily obtainable from either them or CMB. To shape them I made a jig that used dress making pins liberated from the Admirals sewing box to secure and then provide support as the eyelets were bent using a combination of cocktail sticks and a home made bradawl to push them into shape. If it would help you I could send you a basic jig like the 'MK 2' (white acrylic) one which enables 10 hooks to be done at a time. Speeds things up a bit when you need to do 180! PM me your address if you're interested.

 

Cheers,

 

Graham.

 

 

[Robert29]

Hi Graham, great idea for using eyelets 480 for the hooks.  Tried one and they are the perfect size.  Very kind of you to offer to send the jig, but don't worry I'll hammer a few pins in a piece of wood.  If I run in any problem I'll let you know.  I've already used quite a few of the eyelets for the rings to take the breech rope at the side of the carriage, but as you said if we run short of them we can always order from CBM. 

 

Robert

[Charter33]

I needed a bit of a break from rigging up guns and carriages.........

 

 

so I decided to mark out and drill the holes for their eyelets and rings ......

 

 

The holes for the 'trial' gun carriage shown previously were made by hand with the drill bits held in a pin vice. To make the process easier and quicker I invested in a flexible drive for the dremel I 'won' from my youngest son after he had moved on from a jewelry making 'phase'. There was a slight problem initially when the drill chuck was transferred to the end of the new drive. It is able to hold drills down to 0.4 mm, and probably smaller, when fitted directly to the hand set but the mounting thread of the new drive is shorter. This meant that although it could hold the shaft of the cutting and sanding mandrels small drill bits where far too small for the chuck jaws to grip. I managed to overcome this by turning and inserting a small brass extension bush in the back of the chuck and normal service was resumed .

 

 

 

Looking at the deck plan in my copy of Longridge's 'The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships' I thought that the skid beams supplied with the kit lacked a bit of detail and decided to try and replace the originals with ones that have the distinctive scarf joint. Using cherry from my HMS Triton build I came up with these ......

 

 

Spot the mistake I made with the first two?

 

 

These were replaced with a couple more, with the scarf the right way round. These next two pictures show the first dry assembly

 

 

 

.....and now back to the gun carriage production line - 'only' 20 more barrels to mount, then 90 sets of blocks and tackles to assemble and fit..........

 

Cheers for now,

 

Graham.

[Kevin]

lovely work, very tidy and clean lol more than can be said for mine, 

[Charter33]

Thanks for the 'likes'. 

Kevin - appearances are very deceptive. The secret is to use the camera 'creatively'. Get in close, tight focus and the mess is out of the picture. Most of the time the room I use is controlled chaos, not helped by the admiral considering the man cave as an ideal dumping ground for some of her bits and pieces. 😏

[Charter33]

Hi,

Made a bit more progress, slower than hoped for admittedly, but things should speed up in the new year!

Production of the tackles begins..........

 

 

I gave up with the modified wooden pegs to hold the blocks while the hooks and ropes were being attached. Instead I made use of the left-over brass frames that held the eyelets (480).  Pressed into a block of hard foam half a dozen blocks could be mounted with the hooks supported with lace making brass pins. A slit made in the edge of the foam with a scalpel secured the rope until the knot was tied and then given a coat of clear matt lacquer. The thin aluminium tube has the head of a pin crimped in one end - an inexpensive but effective tool to get small drops of glue into awkward places.

 

 

The final batch of tackles gets assembled............

 

 

I'm guessing that time spent practicing tying tiny knots with tweezers is going to be a useful skill when I eventually get to the rigging........

 

After several sessions the gun carriages have now all been mounted.

 

 

 

 

A Merry Christmas to one and all!

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

[Charter33]

Hi,

Fitting the upper deck screen bulkhead proved a little more challenging than the simple instruction in the manual. To get it to fit accurately around the beam shelves, stringers and waterways numerous card templates were made before finally trimming and adjusting the screen.

 

 

To square off the ends of the support pillars and staircase balusters I designed and made these.....

 

 

... a pair of sanding aids for each. The '2nd' of each pair has the depth of the recess reduced by 0.4 mm to compensate for the initial reduction in thickness.

 

 

All done .....

 

 

... and taken back to the original colour with walnut wood stain.

 

 

Bases of supports and balusters were drilled and fitted with thin brass rod, CA glued in place, before being finally located into matching sized holes drilled into the coamings or deck as required.

 

 

 

The elm tree pump was fitted in a similar way.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Graham.

 

 

[Charter33]

Hi,

I've managed to make a bit more progress......

I did a dry run with the skid beam assembly fitted to the quarter deck to check the height the supports needed to be trimmed to. This turned out to be a couple of mm shorter than the drawing on the plan. I came up with this aid to help remove the correct amount from each end and then sand the ends square.

 

The companionway guard rails could now be completed. I opened out the holes in the end stanchions so two threads could pass through, using one to 'serve' the other.

 

 

With the steam trunk fitted, plus the galley chimney (shown on the plan but not mentioned in the instructions!!!) it was time to fit the quarter deck.

 

The rear third of the deck glued in place, the weights used to hold things together while the glue dried giving the appearance of an 18th Century container ship.........

 

The skid beam assembly has been painted as have the various brace bitts.

 

The front of the deck, including these, was then glued onto place.

 

 

 

 

Next task - assembling the beakhead bulkhead prior to fitting....

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

[Patrick Haw]

A very nice build Graham, I like your precision work.  Just getting back to my Jotika Victory build after a few year hiatus!

 

Good luck

 

Patrick

[Charter33]

Hi,

I can't believe it's over a year since I last added to this build log.....! Here are some details of the progress that I have made:

 

With the quarter deck in place it was time to cut the tops off the forward bulkheads.

 

Next job was to re-install the outer forecastle gunport strips that had been removed following the advice of Shipyard Sid.

The beakhead bulkhead had the roundhouses fitted and was painted. It will have the additional decoration added before it is finally glued into place. It’s currently just dry fitted.

With the deck planked and tree nailed, using the method previously explained, and inner bulwarks fitted…

…. I made up the quarterdeck screen assembly......

I decided to try and produce a modified version of the belfry.  The uprights provided in the kit seemed to lack detail of the mouldings as shown in John McKay’s ‘Anatomy of the Ship’ and were restricted to just the front and back surfaces.  

I also wanted to replicate the copper roof.  After a bit of experimentation, and a few failures, I came up with a way to press form thin copper sheet into an acceptable shape. This is the result …..

 

Second planking on the outside of the hull and inside the bulwarks was completed, gunports lined and then all painted.  The cap strips were glued into place.  I couldn’t find anything provided for the small curved sections just ahead of the poop deck so laminated some.  Two strips of walnut were soaked and then clamped around a former, in this case a wooden collet I had made to hold ‘turned’ wooden components for some automata I’ve been making.

Once they had dried these were glued and re-clamped before being cut and sanded to size and fitted into place.

Forecastle gratings were assembled but I chose to make them up separately from the deck rather than following the method outlined in the instructions.  Having gone to the trouble of trying to replicate the dovetail details of the coaming joints on the gratings on the previous deck, (which are now hardly visible!), I was keen to try and do the same thing here. Probably the hardest aspect was trying to sand the slight curve that was needed on the top surface.

The galley chimney was given a bit of attention with the addition of two handles and the impression of the seam on the main body prior to painting, using pictures of the chimney found on-line as a guide.

The Forecastle Breast Beam assembly has also now been completed. All these pieces are dry fitted and will be glued in place once some more painting has been done, including the cap strips, and a few other additions have been added to the inner bulwarks.

Cheer for now,

Graham.

 

[Robert29]

Hi Graham, good to see your progress on the Victory.  As usual very accurate work. The belfrey is fantastic.

 

Robert

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow, very nice work, thanks for sharing.  Love the belfry and other details!

[mort stoll]

was well worth the wait. keep up the great work

 

mort

[Charter33]

Hi,

Thank's for the comments and 'likes' gentlemen - always genuinely appreciated.

Robert - your photographs of the original ship are proving to be a great source of information, as is your own impressive build log - thank you.

Wallace - welcome aboard!

In fairness I feel I should flag up the observation that has occasionally been made on this site that although the main aim of this hobby is to complete a well made model, the journey travelled to achieve this is equally, if not more, enjoyable and important. That said I must confess that sometimes I will occasionally climb off and break the journey, take a deep breath and admire the view for a while, usually by choice, but sometime forced by circumstance. It's taken a while to get to the current stage, and there's a long way to go - but I will get there, eventually. No pressure.....

Cheers,

Graham

 

 

[Gabek]

Wonderful work, Graham!  The belfry looks awesome - nice touch and clever how you pulled it off.  

Clear skies!

Gabe

[Charter33]

With the completion of the Quarterdeck Barricade assembly a minor psychological milestone has been reached - I'm exactly half way through the first instruction manual!

Before finally fixing it place, together with other deck fittings, I wanted to add more detail to the inner bulwarks, notably the black mouldings that feature so significantly on the scale 1:1 version in Portsmouth, something the original kit omits.  With  building materials unavailable from local model shops which are now closed for the foreseeable future it was time for a bit of improvisation.  I do have some 1 x 1 mm mahogany strip stashed away but there was no way it was going to bend to the curves without breaking.  Another one of those moments when a reluctance to bin anything that just 'might be useful one day' bore fruit - a short length of twin and earth cable left over from a bit of DIY many years ago was pressed into service.  

The central copper earth wire is 1.3 mm diameter. I needed it to be 1 mm.

Using an old steel rule of the required thickness as a guide, lengths of wire were filed ..........

and then finished with abrasive paper. The 90 degree bend at the end, once rotated 180 degrees, allowed for opposite sides to be flattened to the right thickness.

This bend was then twisted 90 degrees so the third side could be finished. The remaining side was left with the radius that would eventually face inboard.

 

Card templates were cut to aid drawing the correct profiles ........

and with other features like the kevels and staghorns in place the copper strips were cut, bent, filed and soldered.

And finally,  after a couple of coats of dull black paint these were fixed into position.

Shot garlands to follow.....

 

Take care and stay safe in these challenging times,

 

Graham.

[mort stoll]

Great job.  Can't thank you enough for sharing.

mort

 

[Rob S]

Graham - The work here is spectacular; thank you for showing some real attention to detail!  I think you would be an outstanding brain surgeon given how precise you work with the minute parts and assemblies!  I’m looking forward to following your journey.

[Helli]

Hello,

 

It is always a pleasure to follow your construction report. Great work.

 

Helli

[Robert29]

Really nice detailed work Graham. The template and the copper wire idea is great.  I've got quite a few of thick copper wires but never crossed my mind to use them for the job.  When doing mine , as you have said, it was very difficult to bend the thin wood strips in such a short radius without breaking.  

 

Robert

[bruce d]

Hello Graham,

I have just discovered your log and am greatly impressed. I had a quick skim through and believe the next thing is for me to go back to the start because just about every post I saw had something good.

 

Regards,

Bruce

[Bossman]

One word Graham, WOW!

[Charter33]

Hi,

Thank you for the kind comments and 'likes'. I am genuinely appreciative and humbled.

I decided to diverge from the instruction manual and turn my attention to the issue of the fire buckets.  I'm not the first to feel that the tapered brass items supplied with the kit, although adequate,  are a little bit lacking in detail. 

To be honest my initial attempts to re-machine the supplied components was not a success!

Deprived of access to the workshop machines at school I would usually use because of the current global health situation I have been restricted to using a very old and well used Hobbymat lathe that has definitely seen better days. It has really 'been through the mill' including being submerged in water for a while. We were very fortunate to have the Design and Technology Department modernised and re-furbished several years ago and this meant the total clearance of all the rooms. A lot of equipment, including some that were my own personal bits and pieces, were moved to a boiler house on site. This would have been fine if the electricity company had not had to up-grade the power supply to that area. They negated to fill the trench that they had dug to install the new cable and a couple of days of storms and torrential rain left the building's floor under at least a foot under water. The fact the lathe would even work once it had dried out was a surprise. The difficulty I had with the buckets was finding a safe and effective way to mount them to allow the re-modelling being carried out.  In the end I had to admit defeat and think of a different approach.

I was fortunate to have a short length of 6 mm brass rod at home and made the replacement buckets from scratch. If I found one of my students making this type of cut with a parting tool like this I would not be happy! - but under the circumstances....

 

My intention was to achieve a result that mimicked the metal band around the lip of the buckets and the slight flair at the base where the bottom was riveted in place. The latter was achieved with a careful touch with a needle file.

 

After blacking with Birchwood Casey Brass Black solution, the top band was taken back to bare metal with 'wet and dry' abrasive paper. Eyelets were added for the handle.  The instructions say to use 0.1 mm thread for this, but I decided to use copper wire strands from a scrap of 13 amp multi-strand electrical cable of similar thickness to replicate the leather straps, also blackened in the same way. Adding these proved a bit of a challenge.

One down, twenty, plus a few spares to go...

Whether it's possible to add the distinctive GR and crown cipher may prove a step too far - but, to quote Baldrick from the 'Black Adder' TV series - I have a cunning plan....... I'll share this in the event of it actually working....!

Teaching a 'practical' subject via a computer at home for eight hours plus a day is hell!!!! MSW and my model help maintain my sanity.

Take care and stay safe,

Graham.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Charter33