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

[Ian_Grant]

2 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

It's even more fun driving it! If you ever get the chance, take one up the Llangollen canal; it's beautiful all the way but the Pontcysyllte aqueduct is a very, very unique experience. Bear in mind that, as an ex-mountaineer, heights don't bother me too much but I was utterly petrified taking a boat across this thing. No guard rail on the far side, lean out and you're looking straight down. Never have I steered such a straight line and winced at every little brush against the side.

 

ps. can we have some of your snow please, when it comes back

 

 

 

Just reading on-line about the canal.  Sounds fun! I smiled seeing the Chirk tunnel; recalled to mind Hornblower helping to "leg" a canal boat through a tunnel on his way to assume command of "Hotspur".

[Bill97]

Well who was I kidding when I suggested what I might get accomplished today! 😀

Fixed the incorrectly placed eyebolts at the bottom of the mizzenmast, added eyebolts and blocks to the cap of the foremast, and the blocks for the lifts?  I started to glue the cap to the top of the foremast but determined I would need the fore top mast to make sure I had the cap aligned correctly. Since the top mast for both the fore and main mast are in two parts and would need to be assembled before I could use them to test my cap alignment,  I put the cap aside and decided to assemble the two top masts. I had previously decided I was going to reinforce these two mast sections the same way I did the lower mast. I filed the inside space of the sections to except the brass rod I had and using CA glued the sections together with the brass rod inside. 

[Ian_Grant]

A quick note Bill; the topmasts can only be pushed through the cap from below, as I recall. You must have them in place when you glue the caps.

[Bill97]

You are correct Ian. I just discovered that. I have changed my assembly path. I am going to construct up to and include the top mast before beginning rigging. So the cap, mast top, and top mast to be painted and have all rigging blocks attached for all 3 mast before rigging is the route I am taking. 

[Bill97]

Wow! How many blocks do I have to rig? 😳

Converted my serv-o-matic to help serve my blocks for the mast tops. Eighteen combined single and double on the foremast top. A little thread trimming after the dots of CA dry and some paint touch up then on to the mainmast top. You guys are telling me I am going to figure out all the different lines that go through these blocks! I hope you are right. 

[Old Collingwood]

"Its a Labour of love  I say  - a Labour of love"

 

OC.

[Ian_Grant]

52 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

Wow! How many blocks do I have to rig? 😳

 

Bill - are you sitting down?  I believe I rigged about 310 blocks on Victory and that's without sails....🤪 and don't forget deadeyes I just made a quick rough count at 224.

 

OC - my wife used to shake her head when I showed her the details I was working on, and that's exactly what she said it must be 😃

Edited January 9, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Old Collingwood]

1 minute ago, Ian_Grant said:

 

Bill are you sitting down?  I believe I rigged about 310 blocks on Victory and that's without sails....🤪 and don't forget deadeyes I just made a quick rough count at 224.

Yep  - you gotta love deadeyes.

 

OC.

[Hubac's Historian]

I’m just catching up, here, and am enjoying the discussion of rigging sequence and fall tie-offs.  It is all fascinating and there have been many practical tips shared that I will take with me when the time comes.

 

Bill, your log explodes with activity and I was amazed by how far back I was!  I admire your fortitude in rectifying errors.  It is all looking splendid!!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

310 blocks

9 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

310 blocks .... deadeyes 224.

Jeepers. That's like the cannons on steroids.

[tomganc]

Loving it. She will look amazing when finished. 
I’ve started the righing on mine and getting shrouds and masts in. What a task

 

Regards

Tom

[tomganc]

On another hand have you got accurate rigging plans as mine are bit off

 

Thanks

Tom

[Bill97]

 Ian our wives must be related!  That is her exact reaction when I show her what I have been doing for hours and it can all be contained in a small cup! 😀.  I have a small table I clamp my serv-o-matic to and bring it along with blocks, thread, scissors, etc. into the living room and set in my easy chair rigging blocks.  Any time I am not working on the actual ship and need to be in my ship room I will work this way and watch a movie or something with the wife!  I think that is what I will be doing today. Need to make a hole bunch of wire eye bolts as well. 

 

Hey Marc, I was wondering what come of you? Thanks for the compliment. As OC says it is definitely a labor of love. 

 

What is is still scary to me is knowing every one of these blocks and deadeyes will some day have a thread running through or too them. It is time consuming making them but it it is like brick laying in that I can count through the instructions and see I need to make 310 blocks and where they go. Simple math and “labor of love”😊.  But then having to follow my different reference guides to determine the lines (running or standing) that go to each! Wow! I hope you guys will be patient with all my questions. 😀

[Bill97]

Tomganc I do not have accurate rigging plans. The Heller instructions are tough to follow. Based on advice from my friends here I got Longridge’s book which helps. Still wish I had a detailed sequential set of instructions. 

[Hubac's Historian]

Life has kept me busy, so I haven’t been around much, lately.  I think I’m easing back into a little more free time, though, so I should be more present.

[Bill97]

This is no big deal and maybe more of a question for the site moderator, but I am just curious. Do even if you get multiple duplicate notifications?  As an example I just went to my build blog and it showed a little red alert and said “26 Notifications”.  I thought wow that is a lot. When I clicked on it is was 26 duplicates of Marc’s comment. Earlier today I had a very large number of notifications and they were all duplicates of OC’s and Grandpa Phil. 

[Bill97]

Big leap forward in the overall height of my Victory!  Got all the rigging blocks attached to the mast tops and caps. Got the 3 top masts reinforced with a rod. Got the top masts painted and now installed. Kevin put the ol tradesman eye on these top masts and the mast tops from the front. I think they line up pretty good and the mast tops are pretty level with other. 

[Hubac's Historian]

The duplicate notifications you are seeing Bill are only because I kept hitting the LIKE button, as I read my way back to present times.  If you click on any one of those notifications, it will automatically redirect you to the specific post I was liking.  It’s kind of a neat feature of the site.

 

The masts look very impressive, indeed!  That is always a rewarding feeling, as she becomes a sailing ship.  I noticed in one of your earlier posts, that the mastheads appear to be separate parts from the lower masts.  That is interesting that Heller did that.  I would think, for the sake of strength, that it would be better if the mast heads were moulded to the lower masts.  I wonder why they did that.

 

As we clear out my father’s house, for sale, I had to figure out what to do with what’s left of my plastic kit stash.  I have an Airfix Vasa, and the Heller Vic.  For the time being, my sister took them over to her place because she has storage, there.  I’ve been transporting that Victory to different homes since 1995!  I also have the Airfix Prince, but that’s with me, in Brooklyn - that’s a gem of a kit!

[Bill97]

OK Marc thanks that makes since about the duplicate posts. 
I have built the Airfix Vasa. I have a build blog here on MSW if interested. It is a fun build. The scale makes painting the beautiful stern very delicate!  

[Hubac's Historian]

I watched you build it, in fact.  I kept my spare pressing of this kit because I aborted the first version I was making of it, during one of my several moves.  This was after the true paint scheme was discovered, and I had painted my upper bulwarks blue.  Also, the model had been under construction for so long that many of the guns had broken off, as well as the quarter gallery turrets.  This is why I am now maniacal about plastic to plastic bonds. 

[Old Collingwood]

She is looking really nice  now  - taking shape   - always a good stage   when you can start  do the  stays.

 

OC.

[Ian_Grant]

1 hour ago, Hubac's Historian said:

 

 <snip..snip> I noticed in one of your earlier posts, that the mastheads appear to be separate parts from the lower masts.  That is interesting that Heller did that.  I would think, for the sake of strength, that it would be better if the mast heads were moulded to the lower masts.  I wonder why they did that.

Marc, it's because the kit includes the patented Heller shroud/ratline jig.  The masthead mounts at the top corner, and depending on which mast it's for you wind threads around labelled notches and put dabs of glue at the intersections. Then you mount the masthead and shrouds. I didn't use it.

[Hubac's Historian]

Wow - that is such a peculiar “innovation”.

[Bill97]

That’s right Marc. I remember the color discussion. As you know I ultimately went with the red base color. Now that my Vasa is safely ensconced in its case and I am deep into the Victory, I have not thought as much about the color discussion as I did during the build 😊.  Not sure what that says about my analysis paralysis. 
 

Ian I have not used that jig before either. I will just hand tie them. Ian I have a question for you. In our earlier comments we discussed running some of the interior rigging lines before doing the shrouds. I am looking at the 12 (double and single) blocks I have tied under the fore and main mast top. I know this will be running rigging so will be light colored thread, and that I will just coil it up with a bit of tape until I am ready to rig the ends. Do you just guess at the length to cut?  I am not exactly still where each of these lines that pass through these blocks will begin and end. 

[Ian_Grant]

Yeah, the area behind the foremast is a particular problem because it is boxed in by shrouds on each side, and many lines running up from the forecastle after railing to those blocks you mention under the fore top. To make it worse, there are also some lines running for the bitts aft of the foremast, up to blocks under the main top.

 

For the fore top, look at Longridge Plan #8. Reading the lines passing through the blocks from left to right, we have the course leech, spritsail brace, two course buntlines, and the sprit topsail brace. On pg 266 we see these all originate from beside the belfry (in the same order to avoid criss-crossing on the way to the blocks).

 

To estimate the lengths needed, the leech line goes out to the foreyard end, the buntlines go to intermediate locations on the yard, spritsail braces go to the ends of the spritsail yard hanging below the bowsprit, sprit topsail braces to the ends of the sprit topsail yard hanging beneath the jib boom.  I rigged without sails and so just passed the leech and buntlines through their blocks and hitched to the yard. If you plan sails, they'll need to reach the leech and the foot of the fore course.

 

 

Plan 7 shows all of these lines and buntline block locations on the yards, albeit in a busy way.

 

As for the main top blocks, the main course bunt lines, two each side, originate at the bitts aft of the foremast (see pg 266 and Table pg 269), pass from forward to aft through the double blocks under the main top, then go to buntline blocks scattered along the main yard. You can estimate the lengths.

 

The main course leech lines have tackles with the fall belayed to the bitts aft of the main mast (pg 267, Table pg 269); Longridge mentions deck ringbolts aft of the main mast (pg 251) and checking on my model I see I added two more eyebolts for these, one each side of the pair you already added for the mizzen stay and preventer. Sorry I forgot these!

 

I used a ruler to add up all the distances traversed by each line, added a little extra, belayed on deck, passed through the bocks then coiled until needed (see my pic in post #742).

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Ian_Grant
sp

[Veszett Roka]

5 hours ago, Hubac&#x27;s Historian said:

Wow - that is such a peculiar “innovation”.

 

You will find that one is very useful for the Airfix Vasa. Thats a beautiful model and still the most accurate on the market (no so many kit i saw however). It will require extensive bashing, as no handrails, no cleats, no blocks were included in the box (maybe because i have the 'special edition' version?).
The ratline tool will help you to line up the horizontal ropes perfectly, especially on mid and top shrouds.

[Ian_Grant]

Actually I read that the newer Revell Wasa kit is fully up to date. It looks beautiful; I nearly bought one but my stash was already a size for the years I have left!

[Bill97]

Thanks Ian. I could not get through this out you my friend. Just knowing the name of each of the lines helps so much. At least that way I can research that line in my reference material and see where it goes. I plan to make all my sails  furled so will adjust for that, or no sails as I did on my USS Constitution. 

[Hubac's Historian]

From what I’ve seen, Ian, the moulding of the sculpture work is not nearly as well-done as on the Airfix version, but then they did include the sheer rail extensions for the fighting cloths.

[Bill97]

Ian I read through your instructions in comment #775 while looking at Longridge’s book and his plan 7 and 8. This was perfect!  I understand exactly what to do. So very much appreciated. So you are telling me you were able to figure this out pretty much by reading Longridge’s book (the part on rigging) numerous times? I am impressed. I have read through t twice and still have the same look on my face as I do when watching Jeopardy 😕. I think as I gradually memorize the name of the lines, and what they do, that little light will go off. Thanks again my friend.