HMS Victory by Bill97 - FINISHED - Heller - 1/100 - PLASTIC

[Bill97]

Oh yeah Ian. I know I just have not done that yet. It is still on all of them. Waiting till I am ready to put the hammocks in. Not sure why. Thought it might protect them a bit more. 

[Bill97]

Well friends today is my official 5 month anniversary building my Heller HMS Victory. Have come a long way since June 15 when I opened the box. Thanks so much to everyone one who has shared advice, instructions, and very nice compliments. Special thanks to Daniel of course for your beautiful etched parts, and to Kevin, Marc and Ian. You four have provided me incredible help. I am spending time these last few days installing Daniel’s hammock cranes and running the threads that will eventually support the fabric that goes inside and then the painted hammocks. After that is completed I plan to do the cannon hatch doors. Following the hatch doors will be the masts and bowsprit. 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Bill97

[Ian_Grant]

I was probably 2.5 years in to get to where you are!😃

 

Well done!

[Bill97]

See if I can uncross my eyes now! 😵‍💫

Got all the hammock cranes

installed, then the netting, and finally the plastic rolled hammocks that Heller supplied. Also used a few of the extra stanchions to make a rope banister for the stairs going up to the poop deck. 

[Ian_Grant]

Dear Bill,  I like your nets and hammocks......I hesitate to say, just tell me if I should stay 🤐from now on,..... there should be a gap in the forecastle netting in front of each carronade, just where the bulwark has the circular dip in front of the carronade pad on the deck 🤨.

 

here is an image; you can see the black net ending on the right, that on the left is hidden.

[Hubac's Historian]

Congrats on your 5-month anniversary, Bill.  Your progress, in that span has been nothing short of remarkable!  She’s looking spectacular.  The deck weathering shows particularly well.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Looking good Bill, looking good. This is fascinating to watch - I see how long it takes you to do a stage, multiply by about 100 and there’s my timeline. So I need you to crack on and have it rigged by Christmas, otherwise I’m sunk.

[Bill97]

Oh not at all Ian!  I appreciate you pointing that out to me. Kind of a dah moment on my part that I did not notice or question that. Obviously could not fire the cannonade with the netting there. Is this better?

[Ian_Grant]

5 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

<snip...snip>...... Is this better?

 

 

Whaaaaat?  It's fixed already?   I may just give up modelling given my slow pace 😀.

[Bill97]

No Ian don’t give it up. You are to good at it!  Slow pace is not a bad thing. As a retired guy with kids married and out of the house I have the luxury of working on my ship whenever I want, as long as the wife does not need me to do something else. 😊

[Bill97]

So I almost messed up!  I am working on the cannon hatch doors. Making them thicker with Evergreen and making a zillion eye tiny eye bolts for the bottoms that the ropes will tie to. I was getting ready to paint them with the idea that the outside of each cover is painted the color of the corresponding stripe on the hull where that door is. Thinking that when the cover was closed there would be an uninterrupted stripe of ochre yellow, or part black part yellow. Looking at a number of blog pictures and online pictures of the actual ship it appears I am wrong in my thinking and that all exteriors are black regardless where they are located on the hull. Is that correct?  They are all black on the outside and red on the inside?

[Ian_Grant]

Yes, that's the so-called "chequerboard" appearance.

 

I used etched brass eyebolts for the lids, two inside and two outside. The inside pair gives a good effect but you have to be looking very closely to see them 😆.

[Bill97]

Thanks Ian. To make my eye bolts I take thin wire (30g in this case) and wrap it around a small diameter nail and then twist the ends into a tight spiral. Trim off the excess and glue with a dot if CA. I am leaving all the metal parts I add to the ship I blackened. 

[Ian_Grant]

Nice, but the brass etch ones are even smaller and cleaner, worth the money.

 

Here is a rather poor photo I took of my lids with their inside eyes......

[Bill97]

Got about half done with CA glue so I guess I will live with them 😊

Still need to add the evergreen to the back. 

[Ian_Grant]

Bill,  are you sure about adding evergreen to thicken the port lids? They are thin compared to the hull, only reaching into the shoulder around the port perimeter. I found this shot below, maybe you can get away with just thickening the lower deck ports.

[Bill97]

I believe you are right Ian. That is going to save me a big step! Thanks. I thought I read somewhere back in these blogs that you experienced builders recommended it. 

Looking at the size of the eye bolts in the photo I think my home made ones are proportionally bigger. Much smaller and I would have struggled to get the thread size I put in place several months ago for rigging the hatch doors through the eye!

[Bill97]

I was thinking earlier today that there are several of us that communicate and comment frequently on this build blog. As an old school kind of guy I like to put a face with a name. Fun to see how the face compares to what I imagine.  I saw Daniel’s picture on his blog. I am attaching mine. If any of you other guys would want to post a photo it would be great. 

[dafi]

[Bill97]

That’s great Daniel. 😀

[Ian_Grant]

OK.  Here's a picture; I am sixth from the bottom of the frame, tilley hat, grey beard, and blue shirt. Nowhere near as handsome as you Bill! 😁

 

We are busy hauling on a halyard to hoist a staysail aboard "Royal Clipper" . We took a cruise just before Covid.  Awesome ship and we had a terrific time! I want to do an ocean crossing on her sometime. Oh, and hoisting just that one single sail was a workout!

 

Second picture is one night at dinner aboard. I'm in the same blue shirt (??).

Third is the ship herself quayside.

 

Highly recommend a cruise, and no I have no affiliations with StarClippers.

 

 

[Bill97]

Great pictures Ian.  That sounds like a great adventure. 

[Hubac's Historian]

 

 

[Bill97]

Great picture Marc. 
 

Good to be able to have a face in mind when we read a comment. 

[Ian_Grant]

It's funny how you imagine a face for characters in novels, or people on the radio. None of you look anything like I had imagined.

 

Somehow I didn't think of showing you this picture - me steering Royal Clipper one afternoon, under sail, all 5000 tons of her! What a rush, and talk about bucket lists! It certainly takes getting used to; you move the wheel and nothing happens at first then when she does start to swing the huge inertia is hard to reverse. We had just left anchor off a beach where I'd been snorkeling hence my bathing suit.

 

She has a forward bridge. Note the missing fore lower topsail - it tore in a very heavy wind and the bosun repaired it the next day with the largest sewing machine arm I've ever seen.

 

[Bill97]

Very obvious Ian!  What a great experience that must have been. 

[dafi]

Not 5000 tons but still an experience 🙂

 

The "Utrecht" in Amsterdam.

 

 

XXXDAn

 

PS: I love the scared face of the skipper 🙂 🙂 🙂 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by dafi

[Ian_Grant]

5 hours ago, dafi said:

Not 5000 tons but still an experience 🙂

 

The "Utrecht" in Amsterdam.

 

Interesting photo, like nothing I've ever seen. Questions: Is that the steering gear? Does the big beam slide side to side through the bulwarks? Does it move twin rudders? Why a tackle on one side only? Questing minds seek to know.🤔

[Bill97]

Ian I just noticed in my last post I said “Very obvious Ian”. I have absolutely no idea what I meant to say there 😀.  Must have been the influence of my Kentucky bourbon. The great experience part of that comment is accurate. 

[Veszett Roka]

18 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Interesting photo, like nothing I've ever seen. Questions: Is that the steering gear? Does the big beam slide side to side through the bulwarks? Does it move twin rudders? Why a tackle on one side only? Questing minds seek to know.🤔

 

From the picture, yes, this is the tiller, and i don't think it moves twin rudder. Also i don-t think it reaches the bulwark at any side, however it has plenty of space there. The tackle is on windward side only since the ship is trimmed to go windward a bit (and due its hull shape - it is designed this way) - dutch people call this 'luvgierig'. Hence the helmsman need to pull the tiller always to the windward side a bit, and the tackle helps him.

Daniel will correct me if i'm wrong.