HMS Victory by Kevin-the-lubber - Heller - 1:100 - PLASTIC - with 3D printed additions

[dafi]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:07 AM, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Meanwhile, a couple of pics of todays 'R&D' between weekend jobs. Staggered lap joints to simulate joining hull sections; glued together with CA and a little light sanding to blend the joints. Once painted the lines would be quite faint and of course wood graining is optional (probably skip that, not least because it would be unbelievably tedious to do in the software). If the section joints were strategically placed to make use of gunport edges and more randomly staggered, I think you would need to know they were there to spot them.   

 

 

Very nice trials, thank you for showing.
In the pictures can be seen a strong warping. I encountered this also occasionally. Still trying to get the reasons.

 

One can be as for the minimal shrinking while curing either as for different amount of material on each side or more curing on one side than the other.

 

Do you remember if these parts were cured equally on both sides? Were they printed vertically or lying flat?

 

From experience I know that this can be mended with some warm water, it softens up the material and one can cool it down in the wanted form. How extreme this even workes is here with some ballusters from my samples that can really be twisted into a screw like form 🙂

This means never bent a cold resin part (either print or "classic" cast) but always have a cup of hot tea first and warm it up in there   🙂

- normal hot water also works 😉

 

XXXDAn

Edited January 28, 2024 by dafi

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Daniel, assuming you're talking about the 'hull planking tests', that isn't warping, they were meant to be curved. I don't remember why I chose a concave rather than convex curve, probably for no reason at all as, at that stage, I just wanted to see if I could make a disguised joint.

 

However I have PLENTY of experience of parts distorting as you mention. The stern base plate was very bad for this. I think it's probably because of more material on one side than another i.e. differences in surface area. I've found this doesn't matter if you glue parts together fairly soon after printing, however it's something I'll look at again when I resume work on the stern. When I was working on it previously I had all but abandoned filament printing but over the last couple of years have been learned that you can solve many problems by combining these technologies.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

4th Feb 2024

And so we resume...

 

First batch of cannons, the 24lb and 32lb, more or less complete. I resin printed replacements for both the cannons and the carriages as this was easier than modifying the kit parts, based on the drawings in McKay. So, added cyphers, cap squares and breeching rings to the cannons. For the carriages I made these with just the trucks (wheels) separate. It wasn't such a good method and I'll try something different for the 12lb-ers. The brass pin in the bottom of the front bracket is, obviously I suppose, to fix the carriage on the deck so they can't get knocked out of place once the deck is closed off. The mottled and rough finish is intentional. As these carriages will be hardly visible I experimented with spraying a peat brown artists ink to give some shading and weathering, as doing it with a brush is very tedious x 80. That very mottled one on the left is unrepresentative, the assembled one is more typical. I also took a shortcut for painting the axle hubs black - I smeared undiluted black acrylic on a palette and drew the axle tips through this. From a distance the result looks okay, but here again I will try something different for the 12lb-ers, as they will be on show. I don't think I'll be rigging any of these, as they're hidden.

 

 

[Malcolm Brown]

Hi Kevin, I’m new to MSW and just launched my own build log for the Heller Victory yesterday. Like others in this forum, I originally bought my kit in the early 80s. Hull is mostly completed but now re-working a few areas with appropriate ‘bashing’ techniques. Just starting to scratch the surface re:rigging. I’m mind boggled by your digital printing skills and will watch your progress with great interest.

[Hubac's Historian]

Guns look awesome, Kevin!  Those inks are magic.  I like how you printed the cap squares to be integral with tue trunnions.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Many thanks gents. I have three small Victory "sub-projects" on the go right now; home made decals for the trophy of arms, lanterns, and the smaller cannons. The cannons are pesky creatures, there are very minor differences between the long, medium and short 12lb guns but I figure I better do it true to the figures as these are 'show guns' or I'll just kick myself later on for being lazy. Decals..... not quite there yet, still learning how to make and apply them. They are similar to kit decals but less forgiving in some ways, more so in others. Once I'm 'there' I'll do a little write up. The lanterns really are fun. The offset octagons make for an interesting little CAD exercise and, blessings, I can simply scale down the big one to get the other two sizes.

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Despite semi-retiring recently, I still don't seem to make much progress on my models.  However, I've completed the remaining 1:100 guns, being faithful to McKay. I changed the design of the carriage to get cleaner lines for cotter pins that go through the axles, I think that'll do now. The carronades were a nice little project and that really is a M0.6 threaded adjustment screw 🤪.

 

 

 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

A brief note before I forget, that Heller have now made the new assembly instruction booklets for both the Victory and Soleil Royale available for free download. You can get them here;

 

https://www.heller.fr/en/80897-hms-victory-1000808970

https://www.heller.fr/en/80899-soleil-royal-1000808990

 

Otherwise, I've almost finished re-creating all the blocks, hearts, deadeyes etc based on McKay for printing in resin. I know this has already been done by a few others but I found it an interesting exercise during which I learned a few things about block design, as well as the sheer variety used on the ship - about 100 different models, taking in the various designs and size variants. While I've modelled them all true to McKay, like others I will convert all of this into a smaller set of practical models, as some of the 'true' sizes are too small for use at 1:100. In any case it's been a useful way of getting my head back into the Victory, as I plan to focus on this again for a while.

 

[Mexspur]

Thanks Kevin. I’ve been waiting for that.

[yancovitch]

this ship....immaculate work....i'll need a few more lifetimes to achieve that level of perfection.....congrats!!!!......

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Thank you! I continue to work on the Victory when I get time but, alas, I always seem to have many more immediate priorities.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

As I'm still nowhere near ready to post an update on the model, I wanted to share a couple of photos in the meantime. I took these yesterday while visiting the Sir Max Aitken Museum in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. If you happen to be visiting the Victory in Portsmouth and have spare time and a few pounds for the ferry crossing, this is a nice little treasure trove of nautical artifacts. Its not very large but entry is free and the lovely Isle of Wight is always worth the visit anyway.

 

The first is Trafalgar by Thomas Buttersworth. I found this to be an interesting depiction, with Victory (first british ship from the left) looking fairly different to the ship we see in Portsmouth. Discussion welcome!

The second is an exquisite, bone and silver carved model of the Victory. I'd say the scale was around 1:150 or thereabouts. While it looks like the modelmaker needed to take licence with a few details, it's an impressive piece of work.

 

 

[dafi]

Hello Kevin, at least Butterworth is consistent with his details 😉

 

Here 2 paintings of his, showing the same stern ...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Buttersworth_-_H.M.S._'Victory'_in_full_sail_and_in_a_squall_(1).jpg#/media/File:Thomas_Buttersworth_-_H.M.S._'Victory'_in_full_sail_and_in_a_squall_(2).jpg

 

 

... and once the bows, but ...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Buttersworth_-_H.M.S._'Victory'_in_full_sail_and_in_a_squall_(1).jpg

 

 

... this one reminds me very much on a engraving that Robert Todd did in 1807.

 

And YES it shows the light bands going around the bows, a feature that is documented on other ships of Trafalgar also :-0

 

So Butterworth is imho a nice addition for getting the feeling and the mood, but not so much for technical details.

 

All the best, Daniel

 

Edited Friday at 06:44 PM by dafi

[Kevin-the-lubber]

2 hours ago, dafi said:

at least Butterworth is consistent with his details

Indeed he is and, even though I can almost hear the screams of terror through having all those guns run out when she's heeled over so far, I quite like his paintings. It's intriguing that the ochre seems to continue round the counter.