HMS Victory by Marinus - Caldercraft - 1/72

[Marinus]

Hello, I am a new member and started to build the HMS Victory. Visited this site very often in the last month for building info and found a lot of great building logs. I had problems finding the right location for the top gunport pattern (270).

[hamilton]

Hello from down the road from you in Vancouver. Your Victory looks good so far - keep posting your progress!

hamilton 

[hamilton]

PS - I haven't built (or got) the Caldercraft Victory, but I usually locate gunports by taking a vertical measurement from the plans at midships, then at fore and aft, then at a couple of spots in between. Then run a batten across the marks to check for fairness and adjust as necessary to achieve a good fair run. You can do this for top or bottom of the gunports and then mark the other edge by measuring the height of the gunports and then marking this line across the bulkhead edges.....There may be other techniques used by other modellers and you may get other suggestions here, but this is one that worked for me. Hope this helps!

hamilton

[Marinus]

Hello Hamilton, thanks for your response. I lined up the top gun ports pattern first and then pinned the 2 other patterns down. They all look good and free from the bulkheads. I build the Billings "Smit Rotterdam" and "Zwarte Zee", but the Victory is a different challenge. With a lot of patience and support from this forum I am sure I can do this.

[Marinus]

Soaked patterns 271 & 272 in water for 2 hours and bend them. Glued one pattern 270 in place and let it dry till tomorrow and then glue the other 270 in place. It takes time but I try to avoid errors. Lots of reading of other members build logs.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Marinus

[Marinus]

Got the gunport patterns glued in place. Filled up the spaces between bow forward supports 40 - 42. Next up the first planking. I will visit some build logs to get more info about filling in some more areas between the bulkheads. Any advice will be appreciated. 

[mort stoll]

I've always used either Elmers Wood Filler or Water Putty, and then I sand the hull in order to smooth it out. 

Mort

 

[Marinus]

Thanks for your reply Mort. Still some work to do with the planking but now I know what to buy.

[Kevin]

Very nice, that photo takes me back a few years to building mine

[Robert29]

Nice clean work.  I guess when you say 'fill in areas between bulkheads' you are referring to 'filler blocks'.  In my opinion, at the very front of the bow and at the very back of the stern, where you have sharp bends, they are a must. At first I was hesitant if to do them or not, but was convinced by other builders to do them.  I sure was glad I took their advise.

 

 I have uploaded some images which I hope will be of help to you. If you visit my build, post no.13 you will find more details how I did mine.

 

 

I was also advised by Nick (Seventynet), to add another block at the bow, in the lower area between bulkhead 2 and 3.  This is where the garboard plank comes to a sharp taper.  I found this very helpful.

 

Regards,

Robert

 

[Patrick Haw]

Welcome to the corps of Caldercraft Victory builders! Looks like you've made a great start...and a long way to go. There will be times when you will want to tear your hair out and wonder what you were thinking...but be patient and have fun, you'll get there with something to be very proud of in the end!

 

Patrick

[Marinus]

Started the planking and made the rookie mistake to try to force the planks to follow the bulkheads. Corrected this and now I follow the natural run of the planks. Do 1 plank on each side every day and bevel the bulkheads where needed. Slow process but I want to do it right. I will use fill blocks where needed.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Marinus

[Patrick Haw]

Glad you got it sorted out. Your planking is looking good. Once you get your first planking on and filled and faired, the second planking is a breeze...well, sort of!

[Marinus]

Made some good progress last week because no golf due to bad weather. I like to thank everybody who sent me some encouraging messages.

[Marinus]

Got the first planking done. It did not worked out great, but with a lot of sanding and filling it will be fine. Try to get it done before the weather gets to cold. Have to do it outside because my wife didn't like the dust inside the house. Can't blame her.

[Marinus]

First planking and sanding done. Maybe I used to much filler, but the hull is now very smooth after a few hours sanding. Next I will do the Quarter Galleries and second planking. If this is not what I should do next, please let me know. I appreciate all the help I can get.  

Edited November 6, 2021 by Marinus

[mort stoll]

I followed the "Hull Construction Manual" which I supplemented by  following various other Victory builds - paulb, Robert29, Charter33, Gil Middleton,  Heinz746.

You're off to a great start.  

Mort

 

[Marinus]

Thanks Mort. I looked up the Victory builds you mentioned and I will use that info for the rest of my build.

[Marinus]

Wow, it took me a week to finish the quarter galleries, but it looks OK now. Many thanks to Robert29 for his building log, it was a great help for me. I will take his advice on the middle deck planking and use the four butt shift system. One question I have, what is the right pattern for the nails in the planking? Hope someone can give me some advise on this.

[mort stoll]

This diagram is on page 121 in “the Anatomy Of Nelson’s Ships”.  Hope this helps’

 

Keep up the great work.

 

[mort stoll]

[Marinus]

Thanks Mort, I appreciate your support.

[Marinus]

Completed the gun deck planking. Will do the entry ports next and than the second planking. The second planking job still gives me some worries. Want to do a better job than the first planking. Look at a lot of other builds on this side and will use all the info I can get.

[Marinus]

First plank laid on each side. I will use two full planks ( they will be covered by the middle wale) and then I cut the planks 85 mm long and change to  the 4 butt shift system. I will follow the instructions in the book and plank down to the keel. I will take my time to do this, so no postings from me for a while.

[Marinus]

Patrick Haw you were right, the second planking goes easier when you take your time. Below the waterline I will go back to using full planks.

[Marinus]

Two of my previous builds. Smit Rotterdam and Zwarte Zee.

[allanyed]

Marinus

Going back a couple weeks to the treenails..... at 1:72, the diameter will only be about 0.02" for the hull planking and 0.14 or smaller for the deck planking.  These can be difficult to make even with bamboo and a high quality draw plate so patience is needed.   At this scale, it is probably best not to include them.  With dark wood hull planks you would need to use a similarly colored wood and there are no woods that can easily go down to this diameter other than bamboo which will probably be too light.     Keep in mind, to replicate the hull trennals as if it were actually framed, you will need well over 10,000 of them just on the hull.  If you only use them on the bulkheads, it won't look right, so maybe consider forgoing their use altogether  Even contemporary models  at 1:48 do not always show trennals and none that I have yet seen at your small scale.  Alternatively you can drill the holes at the correct diameter easily, then rub some PVA in the holes a few at a time and sand as you go.  The sawdust will fill the holes and be close in color. 

 

Regarding the planking, it takes practice and is rarely easy.  Have you studied the articles here at MSW by David Antscherl on spiling and heat bending by Chuck Passaro?   The strakes of first layer are not tapered in width going forward but does not matter on the first layer except for being good practice.  If you study the articles you will see that the planking tapers in width for all planks below the wales if it is to look realistic.  They give step by step information that will ease the pain.  😀

 

Allan

[Marinus]

Hi Allan, thanks for your response. I indeed looked at articles about planking and I agree with you for not using the treenails. I find it doesn't look good because on most of the samples I saw the treenails are to big and makes the deck to busy. I will try on the upper gun deck to use thread to simulate the space between the planks. 

 

Marinus

[allanyed]

You are very welcome Marinus.   If you will you be following the tutorial articles on how to properly do your second layer of planking be especially careful that the garboard strake does not go to far forward as on your first layer seems to have done.  This, along with forgetting to taper the planks will yield the high sweep Viking ship appearance and not leave enough room for a full run of every strake.  

 

As an obvious fan of Victory and hopefully  Nelson,  I hope you have signed onto screenwriter Adam Preston's Trafalgar TV series as noted in my signature below.   He is gaining traction on getting the series going.

 

Allan

 

 

[Marinus]

At first I had no idea what you mend with the garboard strake. So I downloaded the"planking project beginners pdf" and now I understand what you tried to tell me.

Thanks, 

Marinus

 

I signed up.

Also I watched Chuck Passaro's videos and use that technic now.

Thanks again for your help.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Marinus