HMS Victory by rkwz - AIRFIX - Scale 1:180 - First plastic ship build

[rkwz]

On 6/12/2020 at 4:36 PM, dafi said:

Very enjoyable build 🙂

 

Some options to think about:

 

- Rudder hinges not black as iron would rust fast away. A little bit more yellowish copper or the same color than the copper would be more suitable

- If you still look for options for the hammock netting, have you considered showing them with their sail cloth cover on? Take a core of foam, give it a bit a shape with the marks of the stanchions, a slag in between for gravity reasons and the ripples for the covered hammocks, and cover with paper-hankies diluted with PVC and paint.

 

All the best, Daniel

Thank you for your tips, Daniel. Your Victory has been a treasure trove of ideas for my humble beginners build! The kevels were painted with toothpicks for the fine details which I learnt from you

 

I know I've been procrastinating getting the hammock netting in. The forecastle and slope of the poop deck to me is going to be a challenge for this step.

 

I could shape some copper wire to represent the stanchions and CA them on, then add the netting after using your method of pressing tulle with paper and sticks.

 

Noticed the Heller model has a thinner channel above the deadeye channels for the stanchions to attach to, so I could try attaching black plastic card 🤔

 

Forgive my ignorance, but I can't find any images of the netting covered with sail cloth for reference. I still like the look of the exposed netting though, which allows a glimpse of the details on the topdeck...

 

Thank you also for enlightening me about the rudder hinges. I will redo them with copper paint later. I did notice someone raving about Revell Aqua copper paint which has a better sheen and not as dull looking as the Humbrol paint I used. 

Or I might even try weathering the hull below the waterline but having had no experience in this, I will have to do some test runs for practice first before I make a total mess of it!

 

 

 

Will we be seeing more of your Victory now that you've settled in to your new man cave? 

[dafi]

Coming. it´s coming 🙂

 

here some hints for the looks: Trafalgar companion (poop deck with boarding), a note from a Trafalgar midship man and a contemporary painting. A very elegant way ist to cover most of the hammocks and have one section with the cloth opened to show the details underneath.

 

XXXDAn

[rkwz]

Thanks, Daniel. Not sure if my skills are up to that challenge, but definitely still playing out in my mind how this can be done.

 

I've chickened out and opted to push on with the rigging first before doing the netting around the deck. 

 

 

Main yard partially installed and dangling haphazardly.

 

 

Yard sling seized around the main mast.

 

 

 

 

 

Manipulated some 0.5mm copper wire for the bow netting.

 

 

Waiting for the paint to dry before cutting the tulle to fit.

 

 

 

 

An overall progress pic. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

[rkwz]

Wow. This order from Europe took about 3 months to arrive due to COVID-19! 

 

I'm glad I slowed down the build and now can be a little less stingy with materials like eyebolts and hooks. 

 

 

Although it seems I've under ordered the 1mm diameter eyebolts for the gunport covers. Can I afford to wait another 3 months? 🤔

 

 

 

[rkwz]

Netting test for the bow section. Looks a tad underscale and could do with a little dirtying wash, so I've left it as a removable piece in case I change my mind later.

 

 

 

 

 

[shipman]

WOW! This gets more impressive each time you post. Considering the scale, I'll say you're making a fabulous job of this, your first ship build! It does highlight what can be done with the venerable Airfix kit. This is the best build of it I've ever seen (and I've been looking at them since it was introduced).

[rkwz]

On 6/26/2020 at 6:20 AM, shipman said:

WOW! This gets more impressive each time you post. Considering the scale, I'll say you're making a fabulous job of this, your first ship build! It does highlight what can be done with the venerable Airfix kit. This is the best build of it I've ever seen (and I've been looking at them since it was introduced).

Thank you, shipman. That is high praise indeed, but there are many many superior builds out there which simply haven't been posted online yet . Hopefully others can learn to love the olde Airfix kit, learn from my mistakes and see what is possible from this blog.

 

Hackney's manual breaks it all down so it is easy for a novice like me to build this ship. Also the fantastic support and advice from MSW members like you!

[rkwz]

(Part) fitted the rest of the yards on the main mast. Broke the mizzen topgallant mast again in the process but luckily was able to CA that back.

 

The plastic kit spars are flimsy indeed...

 

 

 

 

Deep in contemplation for the next couple of running rigging steps.

 

 

 

[rkwz]

More lollipops made and some colour corrections for the mizzen topsail yard.

 

 

While waiting for the paint to dry and nothing much else to do, I painted the rest of the gunport covers. Seems a little too glossy, but they'll be facing down so may not be too obvious.

 

 

 

 

Now finding more work to do in between rigging the yards, I turned my attention to the netting.

 

After much thought and based on my limited resources currently, I opted to try copper wire bent over a spanner, lightly hammered and squeezed with pliers to mold around the square edges 

 

 

 

Trimmed to shape.

 

 

And now to test the product claims made by Gorilla Glue. Small drop of the CA and gingerly balancing them on the rails whilst waiting for it to set.  I chose the poop deck rails to test this out, as they were the easiest to access. 

 

 

 

Success (?) The scale seems a bit off so will need a trim and adjustment. 

 

 

 

I decided to leave out the eyebolts on the ends for this step. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable when complete🤞

 

[rkwz]

Did a little test of the Parrel beads for the driver boom. I sourced some 2mm beads (couldn't find anything smaller, 1mm would have been ideal) from the local craft store. Maybe tiny styrofoam balls could work better? Anyway, here goes...

 

 

 

 

I felt it was too risky to drill into the boom so I opted for a simple overhead knot on both ends. One end cemented and the other left as is in case I need to remove it if I change my mind later.

 

 

 

[rkwz]

Finally attached all the yards on the mizzen mast although the yard lifts haven't yet been rigged.

 

Snapped the mizzen topgallant mast (yet again)  while rigging the yard tie. Again Gorilla glue came to my rescue...

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't happy with the deck colour (a little bland and unrealistic), so I decided to take the plunge and attempt to weather it to simulate wood on plastic.

 

 

The hammock netting supports fell victim to the paintbrush. 

 

Lesson: Get the painting done right before rigging 😭

 

 

Still needs a Matte coat to bring down the glossiness.

 

This is my first attempt at weathering so any advice would be helpful! I used 2 shades of brown acrylic paint as I figured they'd be easy to wash off with water if I stuffed something up. Maybe a little extra dry brushing of black to define the planking lines?

 

 

 

Also temporarily added the driver gaff with parrels which is a few steps ahead of Hackney's guide but I didn't want all the tie offs from the running rigging to get in the way later.

 

Cheers

[Baker]

7 hours ago, rkwz said:

Maybe a little extra dry brushing of black to define the planking lines?

Be careful with black. I had no good results with it
Quite a "hard" color difference for a deck.
It is best to try on another piece of plastic first and not directly on your deck.

 

Looking at the photo. I would leave it as it is, it already looks good

7 hours ago, rkwz said:

Lesson: Get the painting done right before rigging 😭

I have also learned this lesson 

 

(You may find painting ideas in post 93 of my Bounty project)

[rkwz]

17 hours ago, Backer said:

Be careful with black. I had no good results with it
Quite a "hard" color difference for a deck.
It is best to try on another piece of plastic first and not directly on your deck.

 

Looking at the photo. I would leave it as it is, it already looks good

I have also learned this lesson 

 

(You may find painting ideas in post 93 of my Bounty project)

Thanks, Patrick. Time to revisit your Bounty log for inspiration

 

Also, another head banging realisation... There are no flemish horses on the fore and main yards

 

 

[Baker]

A flemish horse on a ship??

Needed to google this...

Here. A flemish horse is : a horse, a pub, beer... 😅

 

[rkwz]

4 minutes ago, Backer said:

A flemish horse on a ship??

Needed to google this...

Here. A flemish horse is : a horse, a pub, beer... 😅

 

😆 Dr Google reckons they look like this:

 

 

 

Although in terms of period ships, this is probably more like it....

 

 

 

Just don't ask me to do a google search for a poop deck.

 

 

[Baker]

2 hours ago, rkwz said:

google search for a poop deck.

Haha...

A young backer and a flemish horse 

[rkwz]

Work begins on the driver boom, but before rigging, the stern lanterns have to be installed (reluctantly - I can just see my fat fingers knocking them off very soon).

 

 

Also square cross piece made of styrene installed across the centre pair of end standards to rest the jackstaff on later.

 

Applied Humbrol Matt Cote to give a matte finish to the upper deck.... 

 

 

Evidently not the result I was expecting... am I doing something wrong here?

 

 

So I guess I may have to do some more light dry brushing with enamel paint and pray it works this time. 

 

[rkwz]

Driver boom and gaff mostly rigged. 

 

 

Hackney recommends 1/32 inch single blocks for the gaff "vangs" 🧛 (that's a 0.8mm block!) ... I've tried my best to avoid any shortcuts so far but this will be one I'm happy to skip and stick to a simple knot to represent this.

 

Now to tackle the crows feet which I will refer to Patrick's (Backer) excellent method for his Bounty 😁.

 

Although I am approaching the end of the running rig (more like 75%), I am beginning to feel a bittersweet mixture of satisfaction and sadness at the conclusion of each step. It has been a fun project so far to maintain my sanity during the pandemic...

 

 

 

[Baker]

5 hours ago, rkwz said:

Now to tackle the crows feet which I will refer to Patrick's (Backer) excellent method for his Bounty 😁.

 

Thanks

[rkwz]

After some thought and discussion with forum members in the rigging section of the site, I've opted not to do the crowsfeet for the Victory...

 

 

Moved on to the fore braces, and definitely saved myself a lot of frustration leaving out the crowsfeet as access would have been a nightmare! Unfortunately the blocks on the yard arms for the braces are overscale (2mm when they should really be about 1mm).

 

Since we are under another 5 weeks of lockdown over here in Melbourne, I turned my attention to the anchor rig.

 

 

 

 

The anchor rope should have been placed in the hawse holes waaaaay back in the early stages of the build but impatient me pushed on ahead anyway which I now regret (also it took me some time to source the rope).

 

 

Used 1.3mm natural rope for the anchors.

 

 

 

Seized the rope (I know the seizing thread is also a bit overscale). Excess to be trimmed, unfortunately the rope frayed a little during the process.

 

And now here I am pondering whether it is at all possible to rig a triple block to the cathead on the model? The diameter of the cathead is about 1.7mm... I may have to settle with a simple knot around it.

 

 

 

[rkwz]

Thanks for following this log. I'm doing my best to squeeze more out of this model while we are under a 6 week lockdown due to the pandemic...

 

Update on progress:

 

 

 

Braces mostly done, except the main yard brace. I missed an earlier step to make some snatch blocks as I didn't understand it earlier. Makes sense after referring to Gil Middleton's log/Bible.

 

 

Running rigging lines show up better in the dark. I used some french furniture polish (Pate Dugay) mainly because I was up sold this product when I asked for beeswax. Silly me. The product does leave a slight light brown stain which is what I was looking for though. Unfortunately on black thread, that same stain shows a little once it's hardened.

 

Next step was to correct some earlier errors in the painting of the waterline along the hull.

 

 

Finally some minor repainting of the lifeboats and oars (decided to follow the current Portsmouth colour scheme although it may be too late for me to paint the planks inside the lifeboats yellow at this stage. Waiting for the enamel paint to dry before applying a 2nd coat.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ron

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rkwz]

Well, it looks like my excitement got the better of me again and I totally forgot to plan for the sail rig in Chapter 11 of Hackney's guide... (sheets, tacks, cluelines etc) although I didn't intend to add sails to the rig initially.

 

After some helpful discussion with other members, I've decided to press on and add these lines.

 

 

Had to prepare at least 30 extra single 2mm blocks. At this scale, that was the smallest could source although I really needed a range starting from 1.2mm...

 



Extra blocks added to the yard arms. I had to settle with simple overhand knots this time. It is definitely better & easier to tie them down before the yard arms were rigged.

 

 

 

Eyebolts added to the hull for the sheets. Need to figure out how to make the hull block brackets next for the main sheet...

 

 

Cheers, 

 

Ron

 

 

 

[Thunder]

On 6/23/2020 at 1:40 AM, rkwz said:

Wow. This order from Europe took about 3 months to arrive due to COVID-19! 

 

I'm glad I slowed down the build and now can be a little less stingy with materials like eyebolts and hooks. 

 

 

Although it seems I've under ordered the 1mm diameter eyebolts for the gunport covers. Can I afford to wait another 3 months? 🤔

 

 

 

Hi,

 

would you mind telling me where these blocks were ordered from?

[rkwz]

Hi Thunder, the blocks came from this site:

 

https://www.hismodel.com/

 

From firsthand experience, the blocks are quite well made...edges are sanded nicely, sheaves moulded quite well with very few defective blocks . Much better quality than my local supplier that's for sure!

[rkwz]

Continuing on with the sail rig...

 

After some thought and referral to an earlier MSW post:

 

 

So the sheet terminates in a tack knot, secured by a loop for the clue line as there doesn't appear to be a block used for the topgallant clueline end.

 

 

 

Although I'm still unsure as Lennarth Peterson's book shows the lines passing through a sheave in the topsail and topgallant yards? Was this an artistic simplification or perhaps specific to the Melampus model his book was based on?

 

 

 

Hopefully I'm on the right track.

 

[Thunder]

23 hours ago, rkwz said:

Hi Thunder, the blocks came from this site:

 

https://www.hismodel.com/

 

From firsthand experience, the blocks are quite well made...edges are sanded nicely, sheaves moulded quite well with very few defective blocks . Much better quality than my local supplier that's for sure!

Thank you, I will defo be taking a look at these.

 

You can make smaller blocks from white styrene, square section rods. There is many sizes and i have made both singles and doubles with it.

 

Using a draw knife, you can actually buy one for cutting styrene, score the groves through the whole length on each side. Paint brown, drill first block holes. Cut to length with side cutters, drill next hole and cut again. Thread all onto some wire and paint ends.

 

What i found that if get the right side cutters, small flush cut for electronics work, as it cuts it makes a nice curved edge to the plastic. Simple turn round for the other end of the block, Turn and cut again to form the next block before drilling the next hole. Gives a little bit of waste but makes nicer shaped blocks. Have managed down to 1mm x 1.5mm.

[rkwz]

19 minutes ago, Thunder said:

Thank you, I will defo be taking a look at these.

 

You can make smaller blocks from white styrene, square section rods. There is many sizes and i have made both singles and doubles with it.

 

Using a draw knife, you can actually buy one for cutting styrene, score the groves through the whole length on each side. Paint brown, drill first block holes. Cut to length with side cutters, drill next hole and cut again. Thread all onto some wire and paint ends.

 

What i found that if get the right side cutters, small flush cut for electronics work, as it cuts it makes a nice curved edge to the plastic. Simple turn round for the other end of the block, Turn and cut again to form the next block before drilling the next hole. Gives a little bit of waste but makes nicer shaped blocks. Have managed down to 1mm x 1.5mm.

That's great advice, thank you Thunder.

 

I had given some thought about using styrene too but impatience got the better of me. Will try this for the blocks for the buntlines later (don't think these will be rigged though as I don't have some specific blocks under the mast caps). 

 

It's a block party this week:

 

 

Some early tests for the main sheet, clueline and tack blocks... Seems ok i think

 

 

 

[rkwz]

More fiddly work to be done for the hull brackets for the main courses...

 

I couldn't find any 0.5mm styrene in my stash so I had to slice some out of a 2.5mm H column using an X-Acto blade.

 

 

Some further trimming and shaping. Probably too risky to drill in an eyebolt which was my initial plan, so I followed Hackney's advice to fashion a square piece of styrene and drill a hole through it.

 

 

 

A touch of CA and some more trimming of the edges to round it off a little further and hopefully this will work. The legs are quite flexible and will be bent further when installed. 

 

 

 

Painted black, now to wait for it to dry before attaching them to the hull ...

 

 

 

Also took the opportunity to prepare the stunsail booms. 

 

Too late for me to fashion the boom supports out of wire, so I took a shortcut and painted the kit molded supports black. Again due to my lack of foresight and experience...

 

 

[rkwz]

As I had run out of 0.18mm monofilament nylon wire which I had been using for seizing blocks with and the gutterman thread I had settled with was producing less than satisfactory results, I remembered that some Napoleonic prisoner of war models used human hair for rigging. 

 

E.g. this model which was mentioned earlier in this log ...

 

 

 

Surely it isn't 1:48 scale? More like 1:400 😅. I remembered it was maybe about 15cm in total length when I saw it.

 

 

So I tried a strand of hair. It does work, but I found it was prone to break at high tension. Best to lightly tighten the seizing, then apply a drop of CA to secure it. 

 

Meanwhile I finally managed to make the sheet/tack/clue block combo for the main yard sail rig.

 

 

Out of curiosity, I wonder if any members have attempted a scratch build out of bone like the ones made by the Napoleonic prisoners of war? 

[shipman]

Mmm......you've touched on the subject of bone as a modelling material. I've often wondered how the stuff is cleaned and prepared for use. I built up a small collection of old bone spoons, but you don't find them anymore. They do develop interesting patina. Once cured and treated, how does it cut, saw etc? Folk do sell some colosal raw bones on the net. My dog is wagging her tail......I know she likes a bone.