HMS Victory 1805 by Morgan – Caldercraft & Artesania Latina – 1:72

[Morgan]

At the time of commencing this build log (November 2023) I have already been working on Part 1 of the project since 2015, which amounted to researching the ship herself and what Victory really looked like at Trafalgar.  Now I know people will point to the Victory herself in Portsmouth and say that’s what she looked like, after all they have been restoring her off and on for a century so you would think they (NMRN) of all people would know, but actually no, it isn’t what she looked like.  It may be that is how they label her, and that it has been the objective of her restoration since the 1920’s, and has been ongoing ever since.

 

It was clear to me back in 2015 that the present Victory did not look like some of the strictly contemporary images I had recently been viewing, this is described in the attachments, and of course you will need to read the work for the background and results. 

 

You will see I use the term ‘strictly contemporary’ throughout the paper, and this is important, it both highlights and describes primary sources of works of evidential value from 1801 to 1806. 
 

Art Works and other records of Victory first produced at a later date, of which there are many, especially after 1814/16 when the ship was radically altered, are voluminous whilst passingly informative, do not carry the same provenance when considering her Trafalgar guise. 

 

Unfortunately, a substantive body of the Nelsonic art works, including images of the Victory, grew in preponderance in the 19^th Century, and these works continue to dominate the visual record.  Accordingly, there is a lot of myth that surrounds Victory, much of this grew up in the century after Trafalgar, especially with the Victorians recasting Nelson, Trafalgar and HMS Victory to reflect the values of their time.  Much of this ‘doe-eyed romanticism’ hung over into the early 20^th Century and made its way into the restored Victory and Nelsonic cannon of the time.

The accompanying volume to this build-log looks back to the records before this dreamy rose-tinted time, but I also draw on the modern research that can be validated.  I deliberately caveat my references to modern studies, as even some of today’s authors, including some of the biggest of names in maritime history, are not beyond repeating the hyperbole and mistakes of their Victorian antecedents.  Neither are they beyond repeating the ‘findings’ of others, which upon examination of the historic archive do not hold up to scrutiny.

 

I have labelled the result of my research ‘Nelson’s Victory Revealed’, my intention is to release that work in PDF format in conjunction with this build log.  Included in this first part is the first instalment, principally the contents, introduction and review of the background research materials.  I’ve also enclosed numerically the final 2 parts, the Bibliography and End Notes as they will be needed throughout for cross reference purposes (parts 12 & 13).  There is a separate dedicated thread for the Research under ‘Discussions for ships plans and Project Research ….. etc.’, I’ll also post these over there as well.

 

So, after enough waffle, on to ‘Part 2’, of the project - the build!

 

Whilst I would have liked to have built the Victory in 1:64 scale utilising the prospective Amati Victory as a basis with the ability to detail all decks, it is not available at this time, and I am keen to make a start so waiting isn’t an option.  So, I have purchased the Caldercraft 1:72 version from Jotika.  I had considered scratch building, but I am being realistic about my abilities.  I have scratch built HMS Trincomalee in 1:64 plank on bulkhead, or rather more correctly, part built – I’ve completed fitting out the Gundeck, but a First Rate is an entirely different proposition. 

 

I had though initially about opening up the Caldercraft Middle Gun Deck and detailing it, however, it just happens that Artesania Latina have also just released a 1:72 scale Main Mast Cross-section, timing couldn’t be better.  I’m going to build this in tandem with the Caldercraft kit, or more accurately slightly ahead of it.  This will allow me to detail items such as the double height chain pumps, Riders to all decks, pump well and multiple shot lockers, and multiple gun patterns.

 

In terms of reference material, well there is that small volume I’ve already mentioned, and I have also collected in pursuit of my research a substantial volume of reference material, all of which is listed in the Bibliography.  Then there are also in 1:48 scale all available Victory draughts and plans from the NMM, together with those of the Boyne.  In addition, I have Bugler’s 1:48 plans and a set of John McKay’s drawings in 1:64 – so no shortage conflicting materials to draw from!

 

Then there are the prints I have also obtained from the NMM, including both Turner and Stanfield’s Trafalgar works, as well as those of EW Cooke and Pocock.  Some of these are now framed and adorn the library by kind permission of the Admiral, I’ll get around to posting a few photo’s of these.  I claim they are for inspiration, but truth is sat in front of an open fire next to a decanter of Talisker Whisky there is collectively more of a soporific effect (cue Master and Commander on the iPad and miss the end of the film again 😊).

 

I will also need to capture some side profiles early for the later fabrication of the many fenders, and the head chutes.  At some time there is the stern and quarter gallery shapes to confront and reconfigure, but this will be an iterative process as these can only be done when the hull is at a stage that the quarter gallery patterns can be fitted and shaped., which in turn help establish the stern shape.

 

The kit will be augmented with an authentic mix of Blomefield and Armstrong-Frederick guns – spoiler alert, Victory did not carry a uniform pattern of guns throughout at Trafalgar, like much of the British Fleet there was a fair bit of mix and match.  Also, forget 104 guns, there were 96 + 2 Carronades, speaking of which, there will be some bashing of carronades to get something akin to the prevailing pattern in the early 1790’s when Victory’s were probably cast, rather than the poorly formed replicas we see aboard the ship today.

 

The Upper Deck will get its steam trunking, sick berth, and internal galley chimney.  There will be more supplements to the kit as the build progresses.

 

Painting will be in the new colours as I’m a believer in the science and the research undertaken to establish these, particularly when combined with the Rase Mark analysis on the ship.  There will be some tonal adjustments to the palette to account for the optics at scale.  She will also get the pattern extending around the stem, NO black gunport lids – that is wrong, and lower white masts with the hoops painted out and white underside fighting tops as were worn at Trafalgar.

 

I’m not going to do an un-boxing, there are enough of these around already.  What I do need to sort is either a building board or cradle of some form, but I think I’ll address that when I’ve got the skeleton assembled and have more of a feel for handling the model in the space available.

 

Below is a photo of progress to date, first up were modifications to the stem.  The kit provided stem reflects the present Victory, but is both too short and low for 1805.  This necessitated some amputation and the insertion of a filler piece to throw the head further forward and upwards.  There was some additional shaping and profiling with the horizontal bow filler pieces to obtain the necessary profile, which itself was thinned down from the stempost forwards and from where the third cheek down to where it is affixed to the keel.

 

A sacrificial profile or template for the placement of the bearding line at the bow was added at this point, this follows the correct profile and will require further refinement as the work progresses.

 

I also took the time to replace the kit keel which as supplied is a uniform 5mm x 10mm.  Based on the Bugler midship section it needs to be 7mm x 11.5mm plus a false keel strip.  In addition, it needs reducing in width at each end tapering down from 63mm out to fair-in with the stern and stem posts.  Elements of the keel were pre-rabbeted to match the bearding lines.  All of this will be covered in copper plates anyway.

 

A new stern post was fabricated using the kit version as a template, instead of a uniform 5mm the correct width at the top is 8.5mm tapering down to match the keel.  This will be fitted after planking.

 

Brass rod is used throughout to strengthen the joints of these pieces, much of which is capped over with pear strip.

 

I have also blasted the dummy gunport liners and cabin spaces with some rattle can paints, these areas won’t be seen directly, but I felt some appropriate colouration wouldn’t hurt.

 

For those who haven’t seen the AL cross section yet I’ve attached two images below, one shows the frame they are using to build up the cross section, and the other is of their finished product.

 

That’s it for now.

Gary

Nelson's Victory Revealed Pt. 1 Background Materials.pdf Nelson's Victory Revealed Pt. 13 References Endnotes.pdf Nelson's Victory Revealed Pt. 12 Bibliography.pdf

[Theodosius]

I'm realy impressed of your approach! This is very intresting! It's realy great, that you dig so deep into the Nelsons Victory! I will follow this with great interest.

 

What confuses me is, I mean, there is so much research on the real thing, that it is hard to believe, that there is so much wrong on the real Victory. Or is the real one just not in the Trafalger form? I'm sorry, if the answers to my questions lies in your pdf-uploads. You gave a ton of information there, and at this point, I have not read all of it. And because of foreign language issues, I might not be able to understand everything the way it is needet.

 

Nevertheless and again: great project. Perhaps the most interesting Victory build project at the moment running! 🙂 

 

[Morgan]

1 hour ago, Theodosius said:

I'm realy impressed of your approach! This is very intresting! It's realy great, that you dig so deep into the Nelsons Victory! I will follow this with great interest.

 

What confuses me is, I mean, there is so much research on the real thing, that it is hard to believe, that there is so much wrong on the real Victory. Or is the real one just not in the Trafalger form? I'm sorry, if the answers to my questions lies in your pdf-uploads. You gave a ton of information there, and at this point, I have not read all of it. And because of foreign language issues, I might not be able to understand everything the way it is needet.

 

Nevertheless and again: great project. Perhaps the most interesting Victory build project at the moment running! 🙂 

 

The information is in the PDF, but a brief overview:

 

The history of Victory’s restoration to her Trafalgar condition has for the last century been hampered by financial constraints, the placing of pre-conceptions over evidence, politics, and domination by strong characters.  This has always resulted in compromises that leads us to where we are today.

 

When her great restoration began 101 years ago Great Britain was gripped by post war economic constraints, so very little money was forthcoming from the Admiralty, the Society for Nautical Research had stepped in and raised funds to finance for the restoration, and appointed an advisory technical committee to oversee this.  Unfortunately this committee had two differing schools of thought, one side wanted to see her restored essentially to the ‘beauty’ of her as-launched condition, the other side went with the records available, these sides couldn’t be reconciled.  In essence we ended up with something similar to her Trafalgar Stern, and something similar to her as-launched bow, but with a near representation of her Trafalgar figurehead. Everything in between was a similar mix.

 

Money was also a factor, and when reopened to the public in 1928 the ship was fairly bare of fittings, however, the ship had been saved, and that is the main benefit.

 

Unfortunately the 1920’s restoration essential locked-in place the major elements of the ship, and that continues to influence subsequent works.

 

Several cycles of poor restoration, WW2 bomb damage, and many decades of death watch beetle infestation have soaked up vast amounts of money just to keep the structure in place, but this money may otherwise have gone to research and interpretation. I am hopeful the current restoration will arrest some of these issues, but I don’t see any structural changes to the form of the ship, they would be too intrusive and costly.

 

Gary

Edited November 19, 2023 by Morgan