HMS Vanguard by BikerMart - Amati/Victory Models - 1:72

[BikerMart]

A belated build log for HMS Vanguard.

Bulkheads in place on the keel.

[BikerMart]

Lower deck and dummy barrel strips in place.

[BikerMart]

Gun port patterns in place.

[BikerMart]

First planking completed

[BikerMart]

Quarter galleries now being installed.

And a question. The parts list refers to parts 27 and 28 as 'side gallery up and down finishing pattern' - but there appears to be no reference to them in either the written or illustrated instructions. Is this an oversight; should the parts in fact be (shaped and) installed?

[Bill Morrison]

Great job so far!  I have had my eyes on this model for a while.  My wife tells me that I can sell off my stash and use the proceeds to purchase the kit. Yours is nicely done.

 

Bill

[BikerMart]

Thanks, Bill.

I am pretty sure that my wife said a similar thing. But as I get older, my hearing tends to be getting more selective.

 

[flyer]

Your build is looking good.

 

Those parts 27 and 28 are on the same 5mm sheet as the bulkheads 1 and 3. On my plan - Tavola 16 - they aren't numbered either. They are those 4 roughly triangle shaped items below parts 20.

You definitely need them. Two on top of the galleries to give some headroom for the skipper when visiting his side gallery and below to round out the shape of the lower gallery. If I remember correctly the smaller 2 are numbers 27 and go on top - but you will see how they fit.

Peter                                                

 

parts 27 and 28 installed and roughly shaped

[BikerMart]

Thank you, Peter. If you had included this picture in your build log, I must have missed it. My fault.

I have now completed and rough-sanded the second planking. I need to tidy around the top of the bulwarks and cut the gunports.

Rightly or wrongly, I wiped on a coat of poly, as an aid to determine where and whether filler would be required.

Given that the hull will be either painted or coppered, I think that it is smooth enough as it stands.

 

[BikerMart]

So I succumbed and have used some filler in a few places. I then added the main wales and that raised a question. It may be obvious to an old hand, but to a newbie like me, who has not built such a ship before, it is not obvious. How should the wales terminate at the transom? At the moment, I have left them standing proud and rounded off and, from the side, they do appear as per the plan, But should they in fact curl under and lay flat against the hull planking?

 

[Oldsalt1950]

I have always terminated mine at the side, tappering the stern end slightly to match the stern transom.

[flyer]

On the prototype the wales were just thicker planks used to build some parts of the hull - not a doubled up second layer. So the wales should run the same way and to the same ends as the neighbouring thinner planks.

 

Peter

[BikerMart]

Thanks Peter and oldsalt. That makes perfect sense. What threw me was the drawing provided with the kit that, to me, showed the wale ending short of the transom. Plus, I took some pictures of Victory back in March and that showed the wales terminating in a similar fashion to how I terminated mine. Well, at least, that's what it looked like to me. Maybe that was wishful thinking.

Martin

 

[flyer]

Thank you for a wonderful picture also of the rudder chains but unfortunately it confuses me.

 

Actually I'm pondering how to fix the rudder chains. On a different Victory picture I noticed something like installed emergency steering gear which is here confirmed. However the situation with attached steering pendant but the rudder chains still fixed below the counter confuses me. The emergency steering would not work. For me it would be logical to free the rudder chains at the same time when installing the emergency steering gear. But perhaps this is the navy way of working on a ship which actually lies unmovable in dry dock...🤔

 

Peter

[BikerMart]

A couple more pictures to add to your confusion! These, like the previous one, were taken in March of this year.

 

 

[BikerMart]

Seems to me that it was a bad move to line all the gunports before the second planking, so I removed all the linings. Now that the second planking is complete, of course, I have to re-line the gunports. This is an activity that I am avoiding! Hence I decided to copper the port side of the hull. That didn't come out too badly. A bit of staining; I need to be more careful when I come to the starboard side. I tried cleaning it with nail varnish remover - which is acetone I believe - and that made it a little better. Then a couple of coats of wop.

[Ian B]

I've nearly finished this build..I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...you've made a great start 

[Bill Morrison]

Great job so far! I still haven't bought mine . . .

 

Bill

[BikerMart]

Oh dear! I got a bit carried away over the last 18 months or so. I blame Cornwall Model Boats for making it easy for me to purchase kits from the UK.

 

[Javelin]

Great job so far. You sure are productive. I do get the feeling you're running away from masting and rigging 😏

[BikerMart]

You are so right! My justification, of course, is that having no masts/rigging would make transport easier should I ever get the urge to return to England. An urge that is growing since my daughter produced a granddaughter last April.

 

 

[BikerMart]

Some movement on Vanguard. Work continuing on the topsides. Almost ready to fix the poop deck in place.