HMS Victory by gjdale - FINISHED - Mamoli - Scale 1:90

[Anja]

Hello Grant,

 

Sorry to intrude on your log, and maybe you've alread readt it, but I just found out something about the HMS Victory here on MSW. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2096-hms-victory-overhaul/

 

When you visit the page http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/news/presspacks/hmsvictoryrestoration/

Click on the link 'See the restoration of HMS Victory from ITV Meridian on Vimeo'.

It containes some nice footage.

 

Take care,

 

Anja

[gjdale]

Thanks Anja - and you would NEVER be considered an intruder on my log!!!

 

I hadn't seen that post, so thank you for the links - very interesting.

[themadchemist]

Great video Anja.

 

Its funny that with all our technology that they are using oakum and pitch to caulk the decks. Very Cool!

[gjdale]

Hi all,

 

It seems to have been a while since I posted an update, and I'm afraid I don't have much to show for what seems to have been a fair amount of effort over the last couple of weekends.

 

I decided to take a little break from the rigging process as I wanted to experiment with making blocks, and I also wanted to have another go at making more ship's boats from scratch.  First up though, because my mill motor died when I was making the block tumbler, I had to wait for a new motor to arrive from the US (I highly recommend Mike's Tools by the way, as a source for Sherline Lathes, Mills, accessories and components.  Good prices, excellent customer service, and relatively speedy delivery - no association, just a very satisfied repeat customer).  Anyway, the new motor arrived on Friday so spent Friday evening installing that - not too difficult, even for a neophyte like me!  The mill is now fully operational again. 

 

I've been umhing and ahhing over making blocks, and a recent post by Janos inspired me to have a go.  When it came to methods though, there are so many out there that it gets confusing.  In the end I settled on trying the method described by EdT in his Victory log (part 15 for anyone looking for the reference).  My first issue was making an appropriate scraper to form the grooves for the sheave holes and the straps.  I haven't done much in the way of making scrapers before, and I'm sure I'm doing something wrong as I'm not very satisfied with the results.  I have two issues here, and I'd be grateful if any of you can offer some further advice.  The first issue is marking out the scraper blade (I'm just using an old Exacto blade for stock) - how do you mark it out accurately for cutting?  The second issue is the cutting itself.  I can manage the rough shape, but none of my files seem to be small enough to finesse the final shapes.  Any advice?

 

Anyway, this was all about testing the process and not achieving final results.  For this purpose, I was just using some left over kit-supplied walnut stock, and was trying to make some 4mm single sheave blocks - about as small as I think I'll be able to manage (eventually). So, having made some rough grooves on all four sides, I followed Ed's advice and drilled holes to designate the top and bottom of each block in the strip.  To do this I wanted to use the mill so that I could take advantage of the calibrated hand wheels to position the holes accurately.  Before I could do that, I needed to make a jig to hold the stock and provide a sacrificial surface to drill into.  After some head scratching, I came up with the idea of making a "tooling plate" from some scrap MDF.  I used the Sherline aluminium tooling plate as a template to drill some holes to take some retaining screws.  I gave the plate some trim on two sides to provide something to wedge the stock against, and then used the Sherline tooling plate with some clamps to hold it in place.  Sounds complicated, but a picture tells a thousand words as they say.  Here's the set-up, which worked quite well for the purpose:

 

 

Once these holes were drilled, the next step was to rotate the stock 90 degrees and drill the sheave holes.  This is where it all came unstuck. I must have either miscalculated the distances, or simply didn't allow for some distance between blocks, but I failed spectacularly to achieve the aim, which was that the sheave holes would all lie in pairs between the top/bottom holes.      Oh well, back to the drawing board on that one! 

 

I mentioned that I've also been playing with another ship's boat.  Actually, I'm re-making the 34ft launch.  I decided to have a crack at this using some methods from my Warrior practicum (Vol 5).  Why?  Because this provides a complete set of drawings for everything I need to do this, plus an explanation and photo-essay for guidance.  The drawings are provided in both 3/16" (1:64) scale and 1/8" (1:96) scale.  I figured all I need do was re-scale the drawings from the 1:96 set and use the appropriate timber dimensions.  I had prepared for this over a year ago when I bought some timber from Jeff at Hobby Mill (lovely timber too!).  So, all set.  What could possibly go wrong? 

 

The first step was to make a building board and a hull plug, using the patterns for the waterline lifts.

 

Here's the build board, with pattern attached ready for cutting out:

 

 

Here's the four lifts cut out and ready to be glued up:

 

 

Here's the plug with all lifts glued up - the dowel is simply to aid in aligning the lifts:

 

 

And finally, here's the plug sanded to shape (primarily using the Dremel with sanding drum), along with the completed build board:

 

 

To tell the truth, I had to have two goes at the plug - I was a bit too enthusiastic sanding the first one 

 

So next steps - keel for the Launch, and re-think the block making.  Not altogether sure whether I will persist with the block making.  The Block Tumbler I made a couple of weeks back did such a good job, that the kit-supplied blocks may well do the job yet  .  Still, it's good to experiment. 

[augie]

I applaud your perserverence!

[realworkingsailor]

Good to see you're still "plugging" away at your build

 

 

(Sorry....bad one, I know, couldn't help it)

 

Andy

[themadchemist]

Its important to remember that lots of hard work,doesn't always mean lots of progress pictures. Interesting project you've been working on, thanks for sharing.

[Trussben]

Nice work on the plug there, I haven't tried that approach before and will be interested to see how you get along with it. Also those blocks look really good as well.

 

Ben

[mtaylor]

Interesting approach to the block problem, Grant.  Have you seen Chuck's solution?  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/273-mass-producing-rigging-blocks-with-a-mill/

 

Seems there's bunch of ways to doing this...

[gjdale]

Thanks Brian, Augie, Andy, Keith, Ben and Mark for your encouragement.

 

Mark - I had previously read Chucks post on this but had forgotten about it. Thanks for reminding me - that looks like a method that might work for me, so Ive saved it this time. Just need to get the mill bits now - oh dear, more toys to buy!

[Dan Vadas]

I highly recommend Mike's Tools by the way, as a source for Sherline Lathes, Mills, accessories and components.

 

Hi Grant,

 

Where is Mike's Tools? Can't find the shop using Google.

 

  Danny

[gjdale]

Hi Danny,

 

Here's a link to Mike's Tools.

 

http://www.mikestools.com/

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks Grant - I thought they may have been in Australia.

 

Here's a link to the dealers in Oz - Sherline Australia Dealers. I usually get my stuff through Ron Sher in Victoria (he's the original designer/builder of the Sherline Lathe). Might save you a fair bit of time in the future.

 

  Danny

[Robin A Popple]

Grant.

I am new to MSW and I was wondering if you had posted any earlier information as the ship was being built from the keel up.

If so how do I access the information.

Thanks.

Robin.

[gjdale]

Hi Robin,

 

Unfortunately, I didn't join MSW until well into the build - the first page of the log shows where I was at at the time. Consequently I had never heard of a build log and took no pictures. Then of course, whe. I did start a build log, all of that information went up I cyber smoke when we lost the site in the great valentines day crash of 2013. What is posted here is pretty much it I'm afraid. Very happy to answer any question though - either post them here or send me a PM.

[rdsaplala]

Hi Grant,

 

Thanks for dropping by my Triton log, much appreciated That's a very neat and effective block cleaning tool you have there my friend, thanks for sharing this innovation 

[gjdale]

Thanks Aldo,

 

Not an innovation my friend, merely an adaptation.

 

Nice to see you back and active on the forum again. I hope to see more if your Peggy Sue as well as Triton soon.

[Anja]

Hello Grant,

 

Sorry, but have you ever seen this Victory.

This model of the British Royal Navy made out of beef bones and human hair sold at auction for £36,000.

Here is the link to the article if you're interested. http://metro.co.uk/2007/11/28/36-000-for-boat-made-out-of-bones-572917/

 

 

Will leave you to your build now.

 

Take care,

 

Anja

[gjdale]

Thanks Anja,

 

I hadn't seen that before - fascinating!

[augie]

Grant-

 

Speaking of 'things I never saw before', you mentioned over on Shaz' log that the lower and uppermost ratlines don't go all the way across to the outer shrouds.  I've never heard that before.  Was that common practice?

 

Thanks!

[gjdale]

Hi Augie,

 

I don't put myself forward as any sort of expert, but that was the information I gathered in preparing my own rigging. I was guided primarily by Longridge's book in this regard, and I'm pretty sure Antscherl says something similar in TFFM vol 4. The advice is also repeated in my Warrior Practicum, and the primary source behind that is Steel. So, I guess you could say it was common practice. I seem to recall reading on someone else's log (might have been Blue Ensign), that the reason was to allow these shrouds a greater degree of adjustment to suit the point of sailing, but I couldn't swear to that.

 

No further work in my own shipyard this weekend I'm afraid. The honey-do list was rather long this week, and I had to spend a fair bit of time helping the Admiral to plan our forthcoming (September) O/S holiday. Oh well, there's always next weekend.........

[augie]

Thanks for the reply Grant.  I'm going to keep my eyes more open as a result.   You find out the darndest things on MSW.

 

(I'm down for another week myself.  Gee, I miss winter).

[freewheelinguy]

From book: "the foremost and aftermost shrouds are omitted for the first six ratlines below the futtock staff and for the first six above the deadeyes.  The futtock shrouds are rattled down also at 13in. intervals, with no omissions."

[augie]

Thanks again......this time to Len.

 

(still shaking my head over here)

[texxn5]

Grant, thanks for sharing your tools for making these things become real. Your build is fantastic, and we appreciate your work....

John

[gjdale]

Thanks John,

 

Glad to know you're enjoying the ride with me.

[keelhauled]

Hi Grant,

 

I was just catching up. Sort of been out of it since my three operations. Now I find that you had some of your own!  I'm glad that you've recovered well. 

 

Despite recovering, you've been very busy.  I can't wait to try your contraption for sanding blocks.  looks like fun and quite a time saver.

 

Take care,

Marc

[gil middleton]

Grant,  It's been too long since I've read through your log.  Before your surgeries and rather long recovery. It's great to see you back at innovating and trying new ideas.  As a "freehander" with only a hand drill, I thoroughly enjoy your log.  You may yet drag me from the dark ages into the world of milling machines, lathes etc.  Also, your log seems to attract so many interesting responses and links, a great source of information. I'm already  looking forward to comparing notes in the fall.  cheers, Gil

[gjdale]

Hi Gil,

 

How nice to hear from you. I wasn't expecting to see you around much for a few months and yet here you are. Thanks so much for your very kind comments. Yes, I do like to experiment and try different ways of doing things - it's all part of the hobby for me. Sometimes though, it does distract me for rather too long from the actual build! I really must get back to rigging those yards soon. But then again, Chuck has just posted some more info on making blocks with a milling machine - I've just gotta give this a try......... And besides, if I put things off long enough, you'll be back in the shipyard to continue leading the way for me. I've learnt so much from your log - I think it has become the "gold standard" among Victory kit builders. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your summer boating adventure.

[gjdale]

Thanks for dropping by Lawrence and for your very kind words. I've been quietly following your build too, and must say you're doing a fine job yourself.