HMS Victory by Tom in NC – FINISHED - Mantua – 1:78 scale

[Tom in NC]

Previous Build Logs

 

Portland Paddle Wheel Steamer  https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19493-portland-by-tom-in-nc-finished-bluejacket-shipcrafters-scale-18-my-re-entry-into-the-model-ship-world-after-a-45-year-absence/

Cutty Sark by Mantua  https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19525-cutty-sark-by-tom-in-nc-mantua-sergal-scale-178-after-a-45-year-hiatus-i-thought-id-come-back-and-do-something-easy/

Chaperon Steamship Re-imagtined  https://modelshipworld.com/topic/21519-chaperon-by-tom-in-nc-–-model-shipways-148-scale-–-renamed-“jezebel”-and-given-a-new-reimagined-history/

 

Caveat

This build log is being submitted after-the-fact.  I started this project in March 2020 – just as the COVID pandemic was hitting full stride -- and was so immersed in it for the next nine months (finished the build in late November 2020) that I was quite lax about my photography and writing out my procedures.  I’ll submit this anyway as I’m sure there will be many builders who will take this challenge on themselves, but I apologize for the brevity of the thing.  This model is certainly not for beginners.  If you have some experience and know what you're doing the final result will be very satisfying.

 

Purchase and Start-up

 

When shopping for this model in early 2020 I found there were very few to be found.  European sellers were not parting with it for whatever reasons (taxes, trade barriers, ???).  But I happened upon a kit that was available right away at Model Expo in Florida. On their web site at the time there were some interesting comments from the founder of Model Expo that tell of his years-long relationship (since 1971) with the designer of this kit, Sergio Fabrizi -- who has since sold the rights to this kit and others to Sergal.

 

I’m not sure, but I suspect that the model I got was previously owned and repurchased from the original buyer who stashed it on a shelf somewhere.  It was in great shape, and I don’t feel I was cheated, but read on to see why this matters.

 

The instructions that come with it are printed in a variety of languages, and I don’t mind saying, the translations leave a lot to be desired if you are an English-speaker. But there’s a helpful solution.

 

Supplemental English instructions for the Mantua 1:78 scale HMS Victory (version ART 738) are available as downloadable .pdf files (gasp) for free … my kit is an earlier version (ART 782) but the differences are not great. 

 

https://www.mantuamodel.co.uk/downloads/2-uncategorised/37-english-translations

 

Scroll down the page and you will find 4 downloadable files – English translations for the ART 738 version of the HMS Victory.  These instructions were great.

 

There is also a file re planking at the top of the list, and I found it immensely helpful.  I’ve planked two ship models before, but I’m far enough from being an expert that every little bit of guidance helps.  

 

 

 

The kit seemed to be in good shape -- even though it showed some signs

of being on a shelf somewhere for quite a while. At first glance all the bits

and pieces seemed to be included.  Later on, I discovered some shortages. 

 

   

 

My garage work area was ready …

 

 

I mentioned that the English instructions I downloaded for ART 738 were a little different than for my ART 782 kit.  One of the differences between the two kits is that some parts included in the later kit are made from brass, while in my kit they are mostly made from thin, printed plywood.  They are OK, simply different than what I expected.  How I dealt with them will be covered later.

 

 

                        

 

The laser-cut bulkhead and keel elements were well made, and I had little problem with alignment and assembly.  Note that I used

the Veritas twin-screw vice at the end of my homebuilt workbench to hold things in place while assembling the keel.

 

 

Next step was installing and planking the lower gun deck.  As you can see, I took the time to cut a good many deck boards in advance.

Problem with that was that I cut these elements from some 0.5 x 4 mm boards provided.  I should have used the 0.5 x 3 mm boards the instructions called for.  Grrrr.  Luckily, I caught this mistake before gluing any in place. It’s hard to measure the difference between widths of 3 and 4 mm. I switched to the 0.5 x 3 mm boards, and after getting about ½ the lower gun deck done I realized that I didn’t have anywhere near enough of them to finish the lower gun deck, let alone all the main deck elements that would come later. Grrrr again. 

I fired off an email to Model Expo, admitting my mistake with the 4 mm planks and describing the missing 3 mm pieces. 

 

While waiting for what I hoped would be a satisfactory resolution I elected to start assembling the lifeboats.

 

There are 4 different lifeboats.  They are also plank-on-bulkhead challenges, but much smaller.

 

        

 

         

 

I used Gorilla Glue gel on the lifeboats because it does not drip like many glues, and it grips wet boards quickly. 

Since I would be painting these little devils later the white residue that the gel leaves won’t be bothersome, but

you need to be very careful using gel where a white residue cannot be disguised. 

 

After waiting for a week, and not hearing back from Model Expo I just assumed that they had to close shop because of the Covid-19 virus.  So, I proceeded to hunt for the planking I needed online. Another of my favorite model-making supply shops came through in spades.  Ages of Sail https://www.agesofsail.com/ shipped me a supply of 0.5 x 3 and 0.5 x 4 walnut strips within a week.  Great quality too.

 

While I waited (I am obviously not very good at waiting) I finished the lower gun deck with some of the 0.5 x 4 mm planks I had pre-cut knowing that they wouldn’t show very much when all was said and done.  I also painted the lower deck bulkheads with the ochre yellow paint called for.  Found some artist acrylic stuff on Amazon that worked great.  Have enough left over to do 2-3 more ships

 

        

 

With the lower gun deck “complete”, and with the new supply of walnut deck planking,

I put away the partially completed lifeboats and moved on to installing and planking

the main deck. 

 

         

 

When the deck planking was complete I coated each deck with Minwax water-

based, matte finish, polyurethane.  Great stuff.

 

Planking the Hull

 

Note that you need to bevel the edges of several bulkheads so that the planking can wrap around them properly and provide a good gluing surface.  The black boards you see inside the bulkhead structure are where you will mount the cannons eventually.

 

By the way, one HMS Victory build log I have read included some comments about the wood being so brittle that it cracks when bending it.  That will almost always be the case unless you soak the wood.  I found an appropriately sized plastic tray at Lowe’s that allowed me soak my hull wood for quite a while before attempting to bend it.  It’s really quite flexible when thoroughly wet.

 

I use small nails to hold the planks in place while the glue dries.  I use pin insertion  pliers designed for that purpose (https://www.micromark.com/ ) and the nails go in easily through wet boards. 

 

     

 

When I got to the point of tapering the planks into the stern I realized that other than some pictures there were no instructions to help me decide how to do that.  See how the planks end awkwardly in the picture below. 

 

              

 

So I fashioned some “filler” pieces from scrap plywood that allowed me to wrap the planks around to a better position. 

 

       

 

Appearance didn’t matter much in this first layer of hull planking, so I “sculpted” the area with wood filler. 

The final planking layer would later cover that. Pretty ugly, but effective.  The rest of the initial planking at

the rear was again something to figure out from pictures – little or no instructions.

 

             

 

The way I look at it, the initial planking is where you establish the right curvature and shape of the hull. 

The fact that it’s ugly doesn’t really matter.  Wood filler rules !!!

 

          

 

Once the first course of planks is laid you can start filling, sanding and smoothing.  The metamorphosis is very satisfying. 

You start out thinking “this is not going to work”, but somehow it does.

 

Somewhere along the way I decided that it might be a good idea to try on the template that determines where the cannon ports will eventually go.  The directions didn’t recommend this – but I had a premonition.

 

I first marked the position of the bulkheads, then positioned the template.

     

    

Sure enough, some of the the cannon ports lay right where a bulkhead lurked beneath (see the lines showing up below). 

I still don’t know why that happened, but forewarned is forearmed, and I knew that when it came time to cut the ports I’d

have to make adjustments. 

 

So. on to the second layer of planking, and this time appearance counts a lot more.

 

               

 

The planking instructions I suggested that you download from the Mantua site were quite helpful.  They aren’t specific

to this model, but they give you step-by-step advice re tapering boards and filling the curved spaces efficiently.  The final

sanding and shaping is very important.

 

    

 

I'll try to file the next installment of this build log in a few days.

 

[ccoyle]

Wait -- you built a Victory in nine months?? 😲

[Tom in NC]

Chris:

 

Yep.  I'm 77 years old, been retired for 20+ years, got over golf & woodworking after 15 years, and now really enjoy model ship building.  Oh, and I haven't been able to get a COVID vaccination yet.  When I was building my Cutty Sark a couple of years ago (which I finished in about the same amount of time as the Victory) I was flummoxed by communications with a fellow modeler who had been working on his Cutty for NINE years !!!  I just can't imagine taking that long to do anything.  Putting in just 3-4 hours a day can get a lot of stuff done while leaving me plenty of time for several other enjoyable pursuits.

 

Tom Hoxie

[BobG]

5 hours ago, Tom in NC said:

This build log is being submitted after-the-fact.  I started this project in March 2020 – just as the COVID pandemic was hitting full stride -- and was so immersed in it for the next nine months (finished the build in late November 2020) that I was quite lax about my photography and writing out my procedures.

9 months to build the Victory....Holy Smokes...gotta be a record!

[Tom in NC]

HMS Victory Build Log  -- Part 2 -- 2/18/21

 

After the final sanding of the hull I determined the position of the waterline, masked it off and proceeded to apply an ochre yellow color the middle part of the Victory’s hull was painted with.  I was able to find a very satisfactory artist acrylic paint online that is thick enough to fill smaller voids so that you wind up with a very nice, smooth result. To use with a finer brush in hard-to-reach spaces you can thin this acrylic paint with water to make things easier.  It was available in a much bigger bottle than the little paints you find in hobby stores – and you’ll need that extra amount of paint on this ship.

 

 

After the paint was dry I used the aforementioned template to locate the gunports, taking care to

move a few to positions where the ports could be cut without hitting one of the underlying bulkheads. 

Once I had the port shapes scribed onto the surface I first drilled holes within those borders then use

a sharp Xacto blade to cut away excess and bring the openings to their final size.  The kit provides nice

brass “frames” for the gunports and I used those to insure that I had the holes square and of the right size.

 

 

Before cutting the two lower rows of gunports I installed the gunwales to ensure that the ports were properly positioned between them.

 

 

At some point you have to assemble the gunport covers, and it’s a step-by-step process of cutting the cover, planking it with two small planks, painting them yellow on one side and red on the other, then installing the associated hardware. If I had it to do over again I’d skip doing the extra planking – it just makes the cover thicker than it needs to be and adds nothing of any value.

 

       

 

     

 

Once I had the gunport covers all cut out & painted I set them aside and assembled the bow components.

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, brass frames are provided for all the gunports.  They must have the inside edges painted red.  Then brass drip moldings are glued on over the gunports on the two lower decks – and they are differently shaped for some reason.  Note the lower hull copper cladding.  More about that in a minute.

 

 

The next picture shows the aft crew and captain’s cabin sides fully installed.

 

     

 

As I mentioned much earlier there were several pieces in this kit that were formed from thin plywood and stamped with a faux gold color.  I didn’t like them much but managed to make them work by (a) painting all of the windows a light blue, and (b) coating all of the cabin pieces with Minwax semi-gloss water-based arylic. It all came out much better than I had hoped.  Note that these parts got a semi-gloss finish as opposed to the decks that got a matte finish.

 

The copper cladding bits were not included in this version of the ship, which is just as well since I had hated trying to install those things on the Mantua Cutty Sark that I completed a couple of years ago.  I instead used 1/8” copper foil electrical tape for my cladding (manufactured by PEMOtech).  It goes on very smoothly, and once it’s in place you can add vertical slits to emulate the plates.  Teensy rivets for authenticity?  Nahhh.  

 

To add durability I coated it all, along with the rest of the hull, with the Minwax matte finish acrylic. It looks great and I strongly suggest you consider it if you plan to copper clad a ship model.  It comes in a variety of different sizes too.

 

 

The next picture is meant to show what carelessness can look like. 

It all cleaned up OK, but yuuuck!

 

 

Each cannon on the upper deck and the lower gundeck had to be assembled. 

The cannons on the lower decks are simply glued into holes drilled into gun

support rails inside the gunports.

 

 

     

 

By the way, if you’ve ever tried to assemble a model like this you know how difficult it is to handle the thing and hold it in any particular position while you make additions.  Paint smudges, bits break, etc.  Ugh.

 

So when I discovered the PANA Vise I was ecstatic.  I was able to twist and turn the hull in almost any direction and fix it in place to add bits & pieces on the sides and deck.  I used this device throughout the hull assembly process and it's a lot more versatile than a simple keel clamp. I highly recommend it.

 

 

From this point I'll just add pictures of various additions to the hull and deck construction with brief comments...

 

 

Sea gangways & cannons installed.  According to the plans the cannons should be flat black. 

I like them better with their unpainted brass finish.

 

Cannon port covers.  Tedious job, not well-explained in the plans.  The gunport covers have to

be attached to the hull but there is no description re how to do that.  I finally created wire loops

just above the gunports and hung the hinges on them, adding a drop or two of super glue to

hold them at the right angle.  Then I inserted thread into holes I drilled in the hull, with a drop

of glue to hold those in place.  Lastly I connected the thread to the eyelets on the covers and

trimmed off the excess.  Only had to repeat this process 80 or 90 times.  Gaaaack.

 

Captain's cabin skylight added, along with flag lockers at the stern.  This was, after all, a flagship :):):)

 

Additional details added to the bow construction.

 

Several other deck components installed.

 

     

Ladders                                           Banisters

 

Lower gun deck details (hatches, entryways); lifeboat supports

frame the hole in the deck.

 

Foredeck details (bitts, cannonball racks, hatches, belfry, etc.)

 

Lifeboats completed and installed.  Never did figure out why

there are four different sizes.

 

Basic rigging attachments installed (channels, chain plates & deadeyes).

 

The bowsprit is lashed into place at two points on the bow.  No

clue in the plans re how to accomplish this.  I used a nice big

curved upholstery needle to guide the cordage into place. 

 

 

Foremast assembled and slipped into place.

 

Main mast and mizzen masts added.  Note cannons installed on

the deck and coiled ropes. 

 

Beginning installation of upper ratlines/shrouds on one of the masts.

 

Mizzen mast w/upper ratlines completed w/assembled yards added.

 

Figurehead painted and installed.  Note heavy ropes holding bowsprit

in place and other rigging details.

 

Four decorative lanterns (three on the stern and one on

the main mast) must be constructed using nice brass &

plastic components provided.

 

Bowsprit standing rigging details (note comfy chair and messy workspace). 

I’m obviously not a neat freak. Or an especially good photographer.

 

Closer view of main deck cannons and restraining rope attachment

schemes.  Also note companionway to lower gun deck as well as

stairs/railings coming down from the forecastle deck. 

 

All three masts & bowsprit in place; ready to start serious rigging.

 

Will continue in a few days ...

 

HMS Victory Build Log  -- Part 3 -- 3/1/21

 

Here's the rest of my HMS Victory story..

 

The railings provided with this model were basically u-shaped brass loops into which you were supposed to neatly insert a folded black nylon mesh.  They call it “hammock netting”. They look fantastic on the finished model

in the plans and the box illustrations (see picture below), but when I was challenged to perform that scheme I completely failed.  Probably the fussiest thing you are expected to do on the whole model.  Sooo, I ordered some appropriately-sized 3-hole stanchions from Ages of Sail and constructed the ship railings with them.  Again, probably something only an expert model maker would notice, but it sure looks better than what I was doing.

 

     

 

Chain plate construction & attachment

        

 

 

 

 

First chore in the transition from hull building to rigging was assembling the three masts.  As I mentioned in the beginning, I didn’t do a very good job of memorializing every step of this build.  Here is a picture showing the

three masts after preliminary assembly and fitted to the hull. 

 

               No good photography to show how it was done.

 

 

Some of the best clues re the rigging on this model are contained in the

excellent photos on the box – even though the paint scheme in those

pictures is nothing like the one described in the instructions …

 

      

 

The picture below shows the foremast with the upper ratlines pretty much done.  I’ve seen in some other build logs that I’m not alone in being confused when it comes to the attachment of yards to masts.  In this case I chose to drill a hole thru the yard and the mast, insert a piece of brass wire, slip the yard on to that and then lash the whole thing into position.  I’m sure there are better ways to do it, and hope I’ll learn what the trick is before starting my next ship. For the record, I don’t think anyone but another model ship builder will notice what I did. 

 

 

And now here are various shots of rigging in progress...

 

 

 

     

 

Doesn't this look like fun?

 

 

 

One work trick I learned was getting the ship in a position where it could

be turned around and be at an appropriate level to work on from a chair. 

I salvaged an old ironing board that my wife wanted sent off to the dump,

and added a cheap 12” wooden Lazy Susan.  Made the rigging challenges

a lot easier.

 

 

The flags that came with the model were unacceptable.  Printed on some sort of thin linen

but only on one side.  Soooo, I scanned the kit flags, dragged the scans into PowerPoint and

downloaded matching British flag designs from the Internet. I flipped and duplicated each

image then printed the whole page out on matte finish photo paper.  Trimmed each image

and “glued” them together, back to back, with rubber cement.  They were easy to bend and

furl, and they turned out great.

 

    

 

 

And so, the sun sets on my HMS victory build.  It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve

learned many new tricks and techniques – mostly from the build logs of other 

model makers who are a lot more skilled than I.  MSW is a fantastic source

for people who are still just learning.  Thanks to all.

 

 

Finished Project

 

I moved my Victory into the house where it now occupies a place of honor in the middle of our great room. 

Love it, love it love it.

 

Tom In NC

(Tom Hoxie)

Weaverville, NC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Tom in NC
Correction of typos/misspellings and adding final results