HMS Victory by drobinson02199 - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1:72

[drobinson02199]

I had much less of a break after finishing the Alert than I had thought -- got the itch to start this kit, which I have been looking forward to.  It's my first Caldercraft kit and I'm interested in the comparison with Amati and Vanguard -- my gold standards up to now.

 

There are a number of build logs on this kit by builders with much better skills than mine, so I don't know how much added value I can provide, but I find these logs fun to share, and what I'll try to focus on (as in this post) are construction details and issues, and how I addressed them.

 

So I've skipped the "what's in the box" opener, because what's in the box is what you'd expect.  There are three manuals:  one for the hull -- with pictures, one for rigging, and a third for parts -- which is great, as you don't have to wrestle multiple plan sheets up on the wall to figure out the wood panel and other cut sheet parts.

 

I also bought some white posterboard to provide a better backdrop on my workbench for my pictures.

 

I have finished the first phase of the frame:  keel, bulkheads and lowest deck.  This kit uses 5mm plywood for all of that -- in all of my other kits these parts have been MDF, and based on my experience with MDF where all the parts slide together easily without sanding, I found working with the plywood a challenge. 

 

NONE of the slots in the keel, bulkheads, or deck fit without some more-than-trivial widening.  Regular sanding would take forever, and I tried a couple of times to use rotary tool sanding disks, but they get chewed up fast.  So I found some 3mm rotary burrs on Amazon, and that did the trick.  But with 18 bulkheads and 16 double-sided deck slots, it comes out to 68 slots to widen.   

 

Got it done, and everything fit together as you can see.  This is a heavy ship because of the plywood and its size.  I'm looking forward to digging into it.

 

Regards,

David

 

[drobinson02199]

I've now added the "barrel strips" that run through slots on the bulkheads above and below the deck.

 

They aren't easy to install, as they are thick and have to negotiate a couple of curves.  I soaked the bottom ones for 30 minutes and then used a hammer to knock them in, guiding them into the slot holes.  Once you get them into frame #4, it gets easier.  The curve on the top ones was less severe and I was able to install them dry, as is.

 

Regards,

David

 

 

[drobinson02199]

Added the bow and stern supports (pictured).

 

Also dealt with an interesting construction sequence.  The manual has the front false keel installed right away, but not the rear one.  I'm not sure why, but it must have something to do with the planking.

 

At the same time, at this stage, the manual suggests drilling the mounting holes.  So I fitted and secured the rear false keel with rubber bands and a clamp for alignment, and then aligned and drilled the holes for the pedestal supports as shown.  Now I'll put the rear false keel away until it's called for later on.

 

Speaking of the manual, it's tricky, because at the beginning it seems to run in detail along with the plan sheets, but then just after this mounting holes step it skips forward past the installation of the gun deck -- but you have to do that in order to get to the next section the manual deals with.  So I've realized that this is a "one eye on the manual and the other one on the plans" kind of kit.  

 

Regards,

David

 

[drobinson02199]

Well, not so fast on the manual and plan sequence.

 

I looked ahead a bit in the manual and I now see that the sequence for the decks is specific in the manual and not what I had assumed.  Fortunately, while I have installed some beams ahead of where they are called for, I can work around them.

 

But I think I need to stop building and read the hull manual front to back to understand what goes when.

 

Regards,
David

[drobinson02199]

Something nice for a model this complex:  Caldercraft offers PDFs of the manuals for download free from the Jo Tika website, and they are searchable.  What this allows is a way to look in the manual to see where something is called for in the future.  A nice aid to make sure I haven't messed up.

 

Examples:

• I wasn't sure if I had missed the poop deck, as it's shown on plan sheet 1, so I searched for "poop" and found the place in the manual where it's installed -- much further on.
• I couldn't figure out what the lowest row of cannons rested on once the gunport templates are installed, so I looked up "cannon" and found that they are dummy cannons that are installed through a drilled hole in the barrel strip -- again, much later on.

This is going to save a lot of searching through the paper manual when I have these types of questions.  Hope this might help others. 

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Finished mounting the gunport templates.  Pretty much followed the manual instructions on doing this, and the strips that curve at the bow really do need to be soaked at the bow end for about 2 hours.  I first dry-mounted them with pins to get the alignment right, then used a steamer to get a provisional bend in the bow section, and then soaked, remounted, and glued.

 

One end result was misalignment at the stern end.  The key alignment point is a specific gunport window with bulkhead 17 (see picture).  Everything else lines up with that first step on the first template.  What's supposed to happen is that the end flange of the first template should line up with the stern support bulkheads -- and on the starboard side it pretty well did -- but on the port side it was 2 mm too long.  When I measured, I found a 2 mm difference in the distance between bulkheads 17 and 18 on the starboard and port sides.  That may have resulted from uneven widening of the lower gunport slots.

 

In any event, my first impulse was that the templates should be sanded back, but on reflection I think that the better approach will be to shim out the rear bulkheads to align with the gunport templates, since those were the critical items to align.  So that's what I'll do and it should come out fine.

 

Regards,

David

[zappto]

good luck on this spectacular model. will be watching.

[drobinson02199]

First planking about halfway done.  I use medium CA glue and a steamer for the bends.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Here's the first planking finished -- rough, unsanded.

 

Pretty straightforward as first plankings go.  Lots of tapering (using a planking vise), steaming/bending, and a fair amount of instant-set at critical points.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

First planking filled, sanded and varnished.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

I mentioned in an earlier post that the top gunport pattern extended beyond the leftmost stern-facing bulkhead, and that instead of sanding down the gunport pattern (which would create a misalignment), I planned to shim out the port side bulkheads.

 

The picture below shows that -- the shims are marked with red arrows and I have put asterisks on them.  Now when I put the stern template up against the stern, the curve aligns properly on the port side.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Stern fascia on.  The curved lower part took some doing, because it just doesn't want to bend -- even with soaking.  I finally scored the rear side about 12 times (the way a mechanical plank bender works) and that helped achieve the curve.

 

Regards,

David

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking good!

 

The gunport templates are very nice.  My Victory had cardboard templates to be used after the second planking, for gunport positioning.

 

Your first layer of planking came out very well!

[drobinson02199]

I finished building the stern quarter galleries -- pic attached.

 

Had to make a strategic building decision.  The way I think the instructions will go (without looking forward, but looking at pictures of this construction stage) is:

• Varnish the side pieces
• Install the "glazing" (plastic windows)
• Build the galleries
• Paint the ship, avoiding the plastic
• Paint the windows off the ship
• Then install the painted windows

 

But I'm not a huge fan of plastic windows, because they collect dust, and in this case the window panes (looking through the brass) are small.  I also didn't trust mounting the windows when the glazing was installed.  So I installed the windows now and mounted the sides, and varnished it.  I'll skip the plastic windows and when I paint, I can paint across the brass window panes.

 

Regards,

David

Edited July 6, 2021 by drobinson02199

[drobinson02199]

Planked the portion of the Middle Gun Deck called for in the manual (the part that is visible from above or outside.

 

I made a sequence goof and put the crossbeams in too early, so had to work around them when doing this planking.  I also wish the manual had called for painting the areas black that can be seen through the gunports before the gunport templates went on, vs. after during this planking step.  Would have been a whole lot easier.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Interim progress on the second planking.  I found that with regular tapering, I was still having to work too hard to get the bow runs flat to the hull, so as shown I've begun some "layered tapering".

 

The stern requires some careful fitting to get the pieces to butt properly against the stern piece.  I use a steamer to get the bends right, so I don't have to soak the wood.

 

The walnut looks pretty messy from glue marks, but all of that will sand away, and it will have a nice walnut finish . . . . .  just in time to paint all of it or cover it with copper.  😛

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Chugging away on second planking.  There's a lot of it!

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Ran the second planking down to the keel, and up to just below the gun deck gunports, where I have to stop in order to install the gun deck and inside gun deck gunport templates.

 

While the manual doesn't say anything about it, I found that I had to cut the deck lengthwise into two pieces in order to shape the edges to fit, and to have any hope of gluing it down.  Two pics show the effect of the cut.

 

Then I had to take a lot off the inside gunport templates to get them to fit.  I used the one I shaped by trial & error as a template to line off the other one, and you can see how much has to be taken off the bottom.

 

Best regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Gun deck planking finished.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

I have lined the first set of 8 gunports on each side, as called for in the manual.  I pre-painted the wood strip before cutting and mounting it into the gunport template openings.

 

I have also started planking the inner bulkheads.  I've decided to cut and fit the planks off the ship, then mount them, because if I cut them once mounted I will damage the red painting of the gunport linings.  You can see the "piece-part" approach in the picture, although these gunports are different and will be lined later.  The ones I have lined are to the left of what you see.

 

Looking ahead in the manual, I have decided on the following sequence:

 

1)  Finish the interior bulkhead planking.

 

2)  Plank the exterior up to just below the top quarterdeck stern gunports (as called for in the manual).

 

3)  Sand and varnish the exterior walnut hull (even though the very last top planks won't be on yet).

 

4)  Add the wales.

 

5)  Paint the exterior with the striped treatment.  Doing this at this point will allow me to paint inside the lips the unlined gunports without being too careful.  I'll only have to be careful with the lips of the 16 I've already lined.

 

6)  Then prepaint the wood strip red, including the edge facing outboard, and line the remaining gunports (84), most of which are set back 1mm from what will now be the painted gunport lip.  This will give me a clean finish at the gunport lips on the exterior if I don't go nuts lining all 84.

 

7)  The newly lined gundeck gunports (14 of those 84) will need to be sanded flush with the inside planked bulkhead.

 

😎 Then I'll sand and paint the inside bulkhead.  This is later than called for in the manual, but I don't see the point of painting it earlier, then having to redo much of it after sanding those 14 gunports flush. 

 

Most likely more than you wanted to know, but I thought the painting sequence stuff might be helpful if there is anyone left who hasn't already built this ship.   😋

 

Regards,

David

[Sjors]

Hoi David,

 

You are a little in front of me.

Thanks for the schedule 🙂

I think I gonna use it.

I have only one question.....you don't sand the second planking?

For the rest it is looking good!

 

Sjors

[drobinson02199]

Yes, what I mentioned in step 3.  I will sand and varnish the second planking to protect it and make painting easier.  I'll also sand and varnish the inside bulkhead planking before I paint that.

 

Regards,

David

[Sjors]

Sorry, I have missed that then.

I will keep a close eye 🙂

 

Sjors

[drobinson02199]

Finished planking the gun deck inner bulwarks.  What you see is unsanded, so all of the messy glue spots will sand out.  I'm going to wait to do that until I have lined the remaining gunports, as bulkhead sanding is required for those.

 

As I mentioned earlier, cutting out the gunports didn't seem practical at these angles, so I cut and fitted each piece.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Finished planking up the sides to the point indicated in the manual; then sanded & varnished the hull in preparation for adding the wales.

 

A big varnished walnut hull -- very pretty, and 100% will be covered!  😛

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

I'm doing the wales.  Lower wale done on both sides (not yet sanded & varnished).

 

Turning to the middle and top wale, I see in the manual that both are made from three 3.5 x 1 mm strips -- so that's a total of 12 strips needed.  I have searched the kit and all the wood strip bundles multiple times, and I can find 8.  That's not enough to do both wales on both sides, even if I try to redeploy the leftover wood.

 

Three 3.5 strips is 10.5mm.  Two 5 mm strips is 10.0 mm, and I have lots of those.  Looking at pictures of the model and where other rigging is involved, it seems safest to use the 5mm strips for the middle wale, which will be 0.5 mm narrower than spec, and then do the top wale with the 3.5 strips.

 

I've had worse workarounds.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Here are the wales.  I've attached two pictures that I worked over in different ways in Photoshop because they are hard to see, which is also why I picked the angle I did.

 

The lower wale is the widest and begins in the lowest gunports.  You can see the lower edge below them.  The middle wale is below the middle gunports, and the upper wale is above them.

 

Some construction notes:

 

• The measurements on the plan sheets differ slightly from the actual measurements produced by the gunport templates.  The actual vertical distances are a bit larger.  So I had to interpolate a bit.
• The upper wale is tricky, because the middle of the three boards has to lie 1 mm above the front edge.  Took some fitting and taping of dummy planks to get it right.

Now I will paint the sides, so that the inner lips of the gunports are painted, and then the red gunport lining strips will create a clean finish.  I'll have some final painting to do when the top part of the planking is done after the quarterdeck is mounted.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

I have painted one side, and I'm pleased with the result.  I'll have more to do right at the top when I finish off the planking, but that's down the line, and it will be all black -- no masking needed.

 

For the "yellowish" stripes, I used a color called beige from AK Paints.  I wasn't happy with the yellow ochre paints I found online, and this one seemed to have the shade I was looking for, as it has some yellow in it.

 

I'm going to put a coat of varnish on this to protect the paint job.

 

Regards,

David

[tlevine]

Don,  your work is great.  I have a question about the paint scheme on the quarter galleries.  You show ochre paint extending onto them.  When I built her several years ago, my research showed that they were completely black, as seen in the attached photo.  Is this an era-specific schema?

[drobinson02199]

Toni:

 

I took the color scheme from this picture on the Caldercraft Website.  There are about 80 Victory pics in different stages of construction.

 

Best regards,

David Robinson