Constructo Victory 1:94

[Hobart Slipway]

By way of an intro it's gedday from downunder. Actually it should be gedday from down under downunder considering I live in Tasmania, which isn't quite at the bottom of the planet but closer to it than the rest of Oz. I've decided to throw me hat in with all you expert modellers in the fervent hope that you might be kind enough to give this old boy a few tips and tricks to help him on his way. I rediscovered modelling after a 43 year hiatus, when I played with glue and plastic in a very fundamental way, they were mostly Revell kits. After I retired and discovered there actually could be life after employment I considered a dinkum rebuild of a kit that I put together in 1976. Took a bit of finding but yes, it could be had and 3 months after I ordered it from England I had the Revell 1:96 Constitution kit. I loaded it with some extras, like a rudder safety chain and anchor chains amongst other things. After I'd finished it to a better level than I thought possible and built a glass case around it I discovered a cutout hull section could also be had. Beauty, this'll do me. So it comes from China, they're pretty good with detailed stuff these days. I can hear the air being sucked between the purists clenched teeth as I type, but I didn't know a lot about this modelling game then. And I didn't know how good some kit manufacturers are at their craft these days. The Chinese kit work out ok, but only that, even though I threw all I had at it. Still it looked good enough beside the plastic Constitution.

But what the cutout section did was introduce me to wood kits. 2 months later I was investigating to find out what other wooden kit manufacturers were in the market and I tripped over Artesania Latina. The wooden models looked good, forums seemed impressed enough and better yet they made Cook's 1:60 "Endeavour", a ship that's something of an Aussie icon. Having found that kit and having seen the full sized replica up close, my decision was made in 5 minutes and my bank balance shrunk accordingly. Loved every second of the 500 hours it took to build, slaving behind a pair of close up glasses and a maggy light for up to 10 hours a day was a delight and within a week I developed OCD wooden model building, a magnificent addiction I expect a few other modellers share. I learned a lot in the building and finished the Endeavour to a more than satisfactory standard about 3 months ago and cased it. I was satisfied for a while,  then a couple of weeks ago I started getting the itch again. After putting up a magnificent fight against the urge / craving I capitulated 3 days ago.

Constructo's 1:94 Victory is now on the way from England. I've set my work space up in a corner of my lounge room (again), the Dremel is mounted on the workstation/ drill press which I bought in anticipation, all my cutters are clean and sharp and the mag-light is plugged into the power board. I reckon I'm ready... very ready.

Any tips re the Victory build will be more than welcome

Once again Gedday

Wayne Painter

[ccoyle]

Welcome, Wayne!

 

I wish you every success with your Victory project. That is quite an undertaking, but it sounds like you have the requisite experience.

 

In case you have not seen it yet, please have a look at the pinned post in the kit build logs section on the subject of Chinese kits. In a nutshell, the Chinese wooden kit industry in general plays pretty fast and loose with intellectual property rights and has earned themselves a place of dishonor here at MSW. The pinned topic will explain in more detail and includes a list of banned manufacturers.

 

Cheers!

Chris

[Hobart Slipway]

Further to the above, one thing I'm onto already is the gallery windows finish. Drawn lines on blue plastic definitely won't cut the mustard, almost put me off the sale. I intend to frame the individual window panes with wood slivers, I realise that will take some extremely fine work to bring it off with any real authority but I believe the end result will be worth the effort.

[Hobart Slipway]

Understood Chris. I learned a bit more after I'd made the Chinese purchase and I'm now totally in agreement with you re the IP ripoffs they seem to think they're entitled to. It's across all manufacturing, we've even just had a situation in Oz where a large Chinese construction company simply refused to pay an agreed to multi million dollar penalty for defaulting on completing their project. Thanks for your welcome.

[Johno Moran]

D'day Wayne,

I'm in Coffs Harbour. I'm sure someone in Tassy would know where that is. Good luck on your build. I started building models with a kit about 25 years ago. It was the intro for me into building wooden boats but...I decided to change things a little. You see women can't see the need to fill a house with wooden ship models, especially if they are about i meter long and about as high! Then there is the question of a case...our house wasn't big enough. So I began buying plans to build models from scratch. These plans I shrank by photo copier to about HALF. I now build true to scale models that are much more acceptable and easily fit into modern houses and furnishings. Attached are a few of my recent models, these are all about 700mm long over all. as well as a pic of a hull of Victory I completed years ago but never fully finished because of it's size. (Sails are tissue paper!) Hope you consider smaller models from scratch. They look great!!!

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Hello Wayne, and a warm welcome to MSW from up in Sydney.

 

John

[J11]

Welcome to MSW!