HMS Victory circa 1765-1791 by Steve Anderson - 1:64 scale

[Kevin]

Stuuning work

[Steve Anderson]

Thanks, Kevin.

 

[Steve Anderson]

Hi Gary, 14x 50".

[Steve Anderson]

Part 6  The Figurehead.

 

Pictures say more than words on this phase of "Victory". The material I used to carve this is called prototyping foam, also known as butterboard. It is a urethane fine cell structure that can be carved, milled, and sanded. It's available through McMaster-Carr. The huge advantage is there is no grain to contend with. That said, lets get down to the carving and painting of Victory's original figurehead.

 

For the tools I used a Dremel with a small ball cutter for removing large areas of material. Since I'm an Engraver I modified a few cutters into miniature chisels. Finally riffler files to smooth things out.

 

Side note: I repositioned what I call the "Rose Parade" waving of arms and hands. 

 

From NMM the 1/2 scale sculpture of the figurehead which I scaled to 1:64.

 

Next Part 7 The stern galleries and start of the upper deck long 12 pounders.

[druxey]

That is an amazing job at 1:64 scale, Steve. Well done!

[captain_hook]

Incredible work! Fits the model perfectly.

[HardeeHarHar]

What an incredible display of talent!!!!  Holy Moly.

[Kevin]

wow, that is absolutely brilliant

[rookie]

wow!

wonderful carving. 

very impressive

 

[Steve Anderson]

Thanks fellas.

[Rkapuaala]

That is a beautiful work of art!

[garyshipwright]

Hi Steve. Outstanding job on the carving which help's bring you Victory to life. Thanks again for the info on your base. Help's me a lot. Gary

[kiwiron]

Incredible workmanship, stunning to see. Thank you.

[allanyed]

On 11/15/2022 at 6:42 PM, Steve Anderson said:

prototyping foam,

I thought this would be an interesting material to try....... then I saw the price for one piece 2"X6"X 12" is $161.   Ouch.

Allan

[AON]

Yes.

And it comes in different densities too.

I just got a small piece of the green stuff from a good friend in our club.

Started rotary carving late yesterday.

Easier but also easier to make mistakes.

Like everything else it must take practice.

[Steve Anderson]

Part 7 The stern galleries and carvings.

 

Thanks again to all for your encouragement and comments. I've been remiss in keeping up with the log to match the rate I'm building. Here's where I left off after finishing the figurehead.

[Mic_Nao]

It's wonderful !

[Steve Anderson]

There is a total of six large figures on each side of the upper and lower galleries. One of the figures is clamped to my rotating 30 lb. engraving ball vice. the great advantage of a ball vice is you can rotate the material into the cut for more precise control. I have a pneumatic gravure that I use for engraving steel and I use that to rough out the excess material. Then I modified some hand gravures into miniature chisels to refine the work. T

[Steve Anderson]

You can see this figure on the lower starboard side. The middle section, below the taffrail, is one shaped-to-fit piece with the figures carved in relief.

[Steve Anderson]

On a side note, Druxey very kindly pointed out that I had used New Times Roman for "VICTORY" which is a 20th Century typeface. Here is the re-painted version, which I'm much happier with. BTW, all my painting is directly on the wood, not on paper and glued on. 

[mtaylor]

Your work on this leaves me speechless.  Just magnificent.

[scrubbyj427]

Incredible! Love seeing this version of victory! Beautiful work!

[albert]

Wonderful work.

[Steve Anderson]

Thanks, Mic, Mark, Scrubby, and Albert.

[Steve Anderson]

Part 8 The upper deck.

 

As of May, 2020, this is where Victory stands. A very long journey from April,1991, with still a long way to go. I'm starting to feel like Marco Polo and Ferdinand Magellan combined. And, oh yeah, lets not leave out Captain Cook for the sake of England's interests.

 

All the beams for the quarterdeck and forecastle are loosely in place on their ledges. First thing to do was to lay in the checkered floor in the Admiral's day cabin. I made the pattern in Photoshop, scaled it to the proper size, and printed it out on white bond. Since paper is a wood bi-product, I consider it compatible with the structure. I spray several coats of clear lacquer on each side to completely impregnate the paper, sealing it from any future moisture. Cut to fit and spray 777 contact cement to the underside and fit in place.

[Steve Anderson]

At this stage I was able to complete the upper balcony and close in the stern. The windows are made from thin strips of basswood. The bulkheads are made from lacquered manila file folder stock framed out with basswood for the pillars and cross piece moldings. The same process was used for the interior panels as well.

[Steve Anderson]

Part 9 The long twelves 

 

Towards the end of Summer, 2021 I started the patterns and jigs for the upper deck guns. The gun manufacturing was the same as mentioned before on page 1 with mold making and casting. The carriage cheeks were laser cut, but this time the holes for the rings and cross bolts were zapped in too, saving on drilling time. In the earlier carriage patterns I had cast the fore and aft axels and wheels in one piece. This proved to be problematic due air bubbles. This time I decided build the axels and wheels separately. The wheels were turned out of a material called Delron. The axels were cut from basswood. 

[Steve Anderson]

[Steve Anderson]

 

Facing the upper deck with 30 guns seemed not quite so daunting. If I could have all the guns installed by Christmas I'd be happy.

 

After some strategic thinking, with my morning cup a' Joe in hand, I decided to work from forward to aft. There's only six guns under the forecastle. Since I frame the deck above with its beams, hanging and lodging knees, as I install a set of port and starboard guns, I would have a finished part of the ship from the keel up. 

 

There are only 14 gunport doors on the upper deck. I fabricate, with hinges, and install these first. Almost forgot. I pre-paint the interior planking red and install that before the guns go in too.

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Anderson]

After installing four sets of guns I went ahead and finished off the forecastle fittings.

 

A closer look at the belfry. The ship's bell was turned on my Atlas lathe. The structure is painted in real gold leaf powder mixed with Damar varnish to a "whipping cream" thickness. Used on the ship carvings also.

 

Side note;

My wife's grandfather was an artisan/craftsman/sculptor at MGM Studios.  He worked on many of the miniatures of the 1906 earthquake scenes for the movie "San Francisco", starring Clarke Gable. A lot of his work can also be seen in the interior of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I was given the two full pint cans of Fuller gold leaf and bronze leaf that belonged to him. Also his naval bronze drafting set, sculpting tools, etc.. 

 

Amidships gun installation went much faster. The gangways were not in place until later, and no gunport doors were needed. At the quarter deck break guns and framing continued on to the stern. In the last picture you can get glimpse of the Admiral's dining and day cabin bulkheads. Sections of these were hinged to swing up to overhead when the ship was cleared for action.

 

All said and done, the long twelves were finished before Christmas, with time to spare. I had exceeded my expectations. I now went into full burner seven days a week, with a few exceptions, for a year.

 

The scary part... not to get in a rush and forget some important element.

 

Next Part 10 the Quarter Deck: Complex problem solving but fun.