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

[Bill97]

In my wood shop making the future home for my HMS Victory. Going to be a self standing piece of furniture. Originally planned to use tempered glass in case the glass was accidentally broken there would be less chance of someone getting cut or the ship damaged. After pricing tempered glass the size need for this large model I decided it would be better for my wallet and marriage if I used plexiglass. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Fantastic achievement Bill, just fantastic. And not just finishing the model and to such a high standard, but between you and others, Ian in particular, maintaining a build log that I'm sure is going to be one of the key resources for many that follow, me included.

[Bill97]

Thanks Kevin I really appreciate that. Hey my friend you contributed quite a bit as well, including many of your 3D blocks are included throughout the ship! 😊

[Bill97]

Base made for my Victory case!  This is big 😊

[Ian_Grant]

Looking very nice , Bill. Change of plans from your "wall of ships"?

[Bill97]

Yeah Ian. This is the same case design I just added a coffee table base so I can move it around.  May try to convince the wife it needs to be on the living room. I am running out of wall space in ship room. Of course I won’t need more space now until after I complete my SR in a year or two. 

[Bill97]

Something I found amazing was my reaction to my USS Constitution when I opened it’s case to kidnap the crew for my Victory. I built it several years ago before I honed my skills much, strictly out of the box. I did very little painting on it except for the hull. Deck, masts, blocks, etc are out of the box plastic color. Rigging was extensive even though I had very little knowledge of what all the lines did. Just attached a thread from here to there as I understood the directions to say. From a distance it still looks good but up close now I see how elementary of a job I did. I am thinking if I continue this hobby and build ships of the quality of my Victory, and hopefully my SR, I am going to have to free up some space my donating my older models. But like I said I have a couple years before I need to worry about that. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Bill97

[Rokket]

Beautiful. You did a great job. A victory over Victory. And even the case.

[Bill97]

Hello Rokket!  Thanks for your comment. I like to check to see where the MSW members that comment live. I absolutely love Australia! Only been to Sydney and surrounding areas. Long flight from where I live but would jump at the chance anytime 😊.

[Mexspur]

Guess where I live.

[Bill97]

Mexspur you don’t give any hints on your profile page. I have no idea. Give a hint. 😀

[Mexspur]

Ho ho. Punta Sam, Mexico. Originally from Tottenham, London.

[Bill97]

Welcome Mexspur. Will have to Google Maps to see where Punta Sam is. Been to a number of cities along the Pacific coast of Mexico and spent some time in London. 

[Mexspur]

Just north of Cancun. 1 restaurant and one small store.

[Bill97]

Base and framing parts for Victory case completed. Now to start assembly and she will have a permanent protected home. 

[AKRYPTO]

Beautiful work.  

 

Regards  Andy 

[Bill97]

Cabinet almost finished. Victory should move into her new home in the next few days. 

[Rokket]

The case looks really sharp. I know what you mean about tempered glass and marriage! I was going to (attempt) to build a case but glass is very, very expensive here. Almost as much as a case. So I'm going to save  up and just buy a pre-made case. I have about 4-5 years, I imagine.

[Bill97]

Rokket you might want to check prices of Plexiglass or other names of same product. That is what I have given in to using do to the expense of tempered glass. Unfortunately during Covid the price shot up because of the demand for safety between people. Hopefully once this pandemic is far behind us the price will come down. Plexiglass is softer than real glass so it can scratch but unless you plan to display in a museum a small scratch on the glass is no big deal.

[Bill97]

Gentlemen she is in her new home with flood lights just like the real thing. Daniel I hope you don’t mind but I used part of your text on the first page of your build. Late summer 1805….. for the the little sign I included. I debated which way to have her facing and decided the stern of the ship, of course, had to be the first thing people see when they enter the ship yard!  Thanks again so much to all of you who made this fantastic journey possible!

 

Now to officially start my SR!

[Ian_Grant]

Bill, she looks great!  Your case looks great! She has pride of place....

[Bill97]

Thanks Ian. I honestly should put your name in there as a co-builder! 😊

[Ian_Grant]

Bill I'm curious about the joinery in your case. For my Victory I had a local plastics place make me the four sides and top in plexiglass with no framing. In fact, the front/top/back are one piece bent on a radius to form the top edges. But this was quite costly. Next time I will build one too.

 

Did you dado the plexiglass into the wood? How is all the wood joined at the top corners, given that your strips are small in cross section to keep the case airy looking?

[Dave_E]

OUTSTANDING Bill, you must be very proud! Good job Sir! 👍😀

[Bill97]

Ian all my cases are built using the same process. There are no screws, nails, or anything like that. It is just the wood and clear silicone. The top lifts off and the front panel lifts out for easy access whatever you are displaying. I will try to explain the process but will probably need to follow up with additional pictures. I read somewhere that the interior size of my display case should allow for 2” of open space all around the ship, length, width, and height. So I measure the length of the ship and add 4”, the width of the model at it’s widest point and add 4”, then the height and add 2”. That give me the interior dimension of my display case. For the Victory that was huge!  From that point you have to use basic math to determine all your other measurements depending on the thickness of your glass or plexiglass. I use 1/8” because it is the cheapest and in this case the glass thickness does not matter. Once I have the box measurements and glass thickness I can prepare all the parts. The uprights and top framing are all true 1”x1” oak. Not the 3/4” you actually get with 1” lumber. It was hard to find so I actually bought 1” thick oak stair treads at my local (Lowes, Home Depot,etc) and ran them through my table saw to get 1”x1” lumber. Then Ian, as you said I do run a dado down each board on two adjoining sides so my plexiglass will ultimately make a corner. I place my dado 1/4” in from the exterior edge and 1/4” deep. The good thing when I use 1/8” plexiglass I can just use my table saw to make the dados since the table saw blade is 1/8”. I do the same dado in my base. One quarter in from edge, 1/4” deep and width of your glass. The uprights need to be 1/2” shorter than the plexiglass because you will go 1/4” into the base and 1/4” into the top. So with all that determined you can figure the sizes of your wood and plexiglass. You cut, dado, and mitre the four pieces of wood to form the top which will have a rectangle dado on the bottom that will slip over the tops of the four plexiglass sides. When finished you will have 1/4” free plexiglass rising above the uprights that will go into the dado on the underside of the top and then he top will rest on the uprights and easily lifted off. For assembly I use clear silicone. I sometimes use blue painters tape in case I have squeeze out at the dados. To make the top I put a bead of silicone in the four interior dados, a bit ow wood glue on the corner mitres and then carefully squeeze it together to form the perfect frame. I also use some kind of clamp to hold it together while the silicone and glue drys. Once the silicone drys you have a perfectly framed clear piece of plexiglass. The silicone and glue hold it together fine with out hardware. For the back and sides I do the same thing. Silicone bead in dados in the back and sides of the base ( not the front). Also silicone in the adjoining dados in the two back uprights and just the dados in the front uprights that face the back. Then all you do is put a bit of wood glue on the bottom of the four uprights, press the plexiglass and dados together, and you have a three sided box with no front or top. Your front base dado needs to line up with the dado in the sides of the front uprights and you should have 1/4” bare plexiglass extending above the uprights all the way around. Once you clean everything up and ready to go you simply slide the front panel in with no silicone because it remains free for easy removal, and place the top on with the four sides of 1/4” plexiglass fitting into the underside dado in the top. Anytime you want to access the model you simply lift off the top and slide up the front panel. There is no pressing on any of the joints and the physics of the box once the top is on holds it together firmly. Ian I hope this makes since. It is not difficult if you have the needed carpenter tools. This time I made the base into a coffee table type thing but usually it is just a base that sets on a shelf. Same process with the actual piece of wood that forms the base. 

[Bill97]

Ian here are a few extra pictures that help explain. 

[Ian_Grant]

Thanks Bill, clear and understood.

 

Yes, I have a complete wood shop including a 3hp Unisaw. I was interested to see your shop but I noticed you don't seem to have dust collection. I highly recommend a system of some sort. Many years ago I added dust collection with a home-built cyclone separator and final filter. This was after going to wood shows to shop for a system and seeing a puff of dust from the filter bags every time they turned their systems on. That demonstrated that fine particles were passing through their filter cloth, the very particles that can lodge in your lungs. Around that time an issue of Fine Woodworking had an article on cyclonic dust separators which included a photo of a guy feeding dust and chips into his separator's inlet port with a dustpan, with nothing visible coming out of its disconnected outlet. Lee Valley had a little book about dust collection with detailed math about pressures and flows and sizing ductwork. From this I learned that most of the systems you see for sale have insufficient outlet filter surface area for the airflow; if the pressure per square inch is too high then fine particles are blown right through the filter material. After all, it can't be airtight! That's why many syatems now have pleated bags which give some more surface area but really not enough still.

 

I bought some "filter socks" from Oneida Air Systems which was just starting up at the time. A set of these gives vastly more surface area than any single bag, leading to lower pressure per square inch and no dust coming through.

 

Hear are some shots of my system. The design for the cyclone I think was in an issue of "Woodsmith" but don't quote me. I bought a 1.5hp filter system just to get the motor and blower; the rest of the pieces I never used.

 

The overll system sits next to my unisaw. Duct from saw to filter can be seen between saw and outfeed table. It's a very short connection to keep it efficient. The "y" connection allows connecting a hose from other machines. The sliding shutoff s select between the two.

Detail of the inlet ducting. Green motor and enclosed fan are at the top. They suck air up the internal pipe in the separator.

The conical part of the separator. Junk store all around it 😬.  There's a removable collection bin on wheels beneath it.

Fan duct to home-made plenum is at the top, keeping the connection very very short. Normally the plenum would be at the bottom with the socks held above it to allow dust to drop off into the plenum for cleanup but I decided minimal duct length was higher priority. Even after all these years there is very little dust accumulated at the bottom of the socks; hardly anything comes through the separator. I have to be careful to empty the collector bin outside, with a filter mask on, because there is always very very fine dust in it.

Bill I recommend such a system. There are many available now including cyclone lids for standard garbage cans, although I don't know how well they work.

 

As an aside, in a couple of these pics you can see my final prototype for the servo-driven rowing mechanism for an RC Roman galley I have been working on, 44 oars a side, sitting on the table. There's a video of this rowing, with water, in my last post about this prototyping. If you are interested just search for "Arduino" and my log will come up.

[Bill97]

Ian that looks excellent. You have an excellent set up. I envy what you have. You may have noticed that my wood working area is my two car garage. My previous home I was able to take over my garage as a permanent work shop where I had table saw, drill press, band saw, lathe, router table, etc. and just about every smaller tool like biscuit joiner, sanders, drills , etc. At that time I made many pieces of furniture for family and for sale. When I moved to our new home in 2005 this committee has restrictions deed that vehicles must be parked in the garage at night. So as a result my shop is much more portable. Large wood working equipment needs to be moved back into storage space, small equipment put away, and project set up on permanent work bench. Sweep up and pull vehicles in at night. As I have gotten older I have cut back on amount and size of projects and sold some of my larger pieces I rarely used like my lathe which took up a lot of room. A dust collection system would be great because after a month or two of building there is dust on top of cabinets, shelves, and everywhere. My garage is attached to my house so the door enters directly into the house. You can imagine the wife’s attitude about tracking dust into the house as I go in and out while working or from the car into the house when I pull a vehicle in. 😬

Would have to do some space management if I tried to add a system. 
 

 

[Bill97]

Ian this cabinet is my most recent project before the display case. Fits nicely in the ship room and holds a lot of my supplies. Everything stained the same color. You can see my SR box slides perfectly under the cabinet for easy access. 

[dafi]

18 hours ago, Bill97 said:

... Daniel I hope you don’t mind but I used part of your text on the first page of your build. Late summer 1805….. for the the little sign I included. ...

Dear Bill,

 

it is a great honor and splendid pleasure to be quoted by you in such a wonderful display with this wonderful rendition of this iconic ship! It had become an icon in its own sense. Wonderful model making, and congratulations, far too many good model makers never brought it that far in that perfection!

 

All the best, DAniel