HMS Victory by Yabuhebi (Chris) - Caldercraft - 1:72

[Yabuhebi]

I have the plans on an easel board and they run bow to stern (left to right), but my boat is on my work table in the opposite direction....to keep the bow from whacking things on the bench. This was making it difficult to apply installations as I always had to reverse things in my mind.

There is the set of braces that is visible on the quarter deck and the set that runs between the 2 decks. I had them reversed during my first attempt!
I finally just turned the boat around!

I took brad nails I had which are .7mm thick and drilled holes in the bottom of the bits. Since they are very pointy, they easily indented the deck for reference. I was able to drill precise holes to fit them.

I had glued the skid beams and the steam stunk assembly under the quarterdeck and that did not cause any issues during assembly.

However, it took some thinking to get the lower brace installed on the bit. At first I tried to install the quarterdeck and then slide the bits through the hole and use my tweezers to try and get it together, that was not going to work. Ultimately, I just slid the bracing through the holes while the deck was not installed and then slid it into place and added the lower bracing. Then it was fairly easy to then put it all together. Then I could add CA glue to base of bits and finalize it.

HOWEVER....somewhere I made a mistake in earlier construction. My thoughts that some of the camber beams seem to be on the wrong side is apparent.

The bits for the main mast should be on either end of the slots provided. There is a camber beam in the way and I just don't know why or what I did. I've reviewed other builder logs and most of my beams are correct, but some are on the opposite side.

Again, finding specific pictures of this area from other builders is tough. I do have a nice blog from Robert29 . I see that the base of the main mast has sleeve, paunch and a holding area for pikes. It doesn't look like it will be an issue....close, but not a catastrophe!

I did paint the tips of the bits grey....It looks like the real ones are capped....perhaps at one time with lead or copper?

[Yabuhebi]

Taking advantage of my granddaughter's nap time over the past week I was able to go down and do some work.

First I  cut off the stubs for bulkheads 1-5 and 10-13. I have one of those mini Japanese saws and it worked very well. A little sanding and I'll be right ok.

One of the gun ports did come a bit loose on one end because I was leaning on it and they are only connected by the long base. But nothing to worry about.

Cutting down the pillars for under the skid beam is straightforward, but you really take away almost all of the squared off ends when you're done. I almost wonder if it was really worth it to go to the trouble to square them when only about 2mm is going to remain on either end.....

The first two I did, I secured with CA glue and that was a mistake. The glue tends to quickly soak in and stain the walnut. After than I used white glue and a cotton q-tip to soak up any excess glue. The white glue dries pretty quick for setting purposes and dries pretty clear.

I did NOT attempt to drill holes in the pillars that act as stanchions for some of the life lines on the middle and forward companion ways. On the forward most set, I just tied the lines around the pillars and they look just fine.

I removed the 4 pieces for the quarterdeck screen and sanded them using a small file and these little sanding sticks to clean out all of the grooves. I will set them aside for when the decking is complete. I did not install the beakhead bulkhead. I think it will be easier to attach some of the other pieces that need to be applied before.

Finally, I laid out the plan for decking the quarterdeck. I am using a PDF from Ulises Victoria and it is very easy to follow and understand. I have attached it. I know some of the pictures show my center line is off. I did see that after looking at the pictures and corrected it.

Finally, looking way ahead, I saw a lot of discussion about the right material for the hammock netting. I cannot find any type of cloth mosquito netting that could be stained to look tea colored. All the tulle I looked at is synthetic. I did find a place on Amazon that stocks some 20-30 different color tulles. For $9USD you get about 300' of it! I opted for antique gold, but there was an ivory that might work too. I'll try it when I get there.

Per the planking manual, I again am opting for the plan that repeats every 5 planks. They suggest a length of 120mm.

I started cutting them out with my little cutting board, but it doesn't go out to 120mm so I was forced to lay a template piece next to each one. That was going to take all night!

So I went over to my little trusty band saw and jigged out 120mm and cut a few hundred in about a minute

 

 

I added pictures of the tulle with a pen to show the size of the netting.

[Yabuhebi]

Now I am up to date. I actually enjoy doing the deck planking. It's pretty straight forward and the results are very tangible and for the most part they look good. I did get lost a bit with the pattern on the port side. I may have moved too fast. At the fore end there are a lot of holes that need to be planked around. You also have to extend the planking over the access area created by the skid beam assembly.

It might be hard to explain, but once I have 5 rows of planking done, it is easy to place the next row. From a joint, I just count over 5 planks because that is the number of rows before a joint is in the same location. But with all the cutting and trimming on the fore deck, there isn't an easy ability to see natural planking breaks. I actually had to wait until the aft decking was 'fleshed out' more and then started laying planks aft to fore on the port side.

So far, cutting out access to the bitt holes, mast holes and access hatches has been straight forward.

I am coming up to the edges and will have to address how to terminate planking against the walls. I will take a look at the books I have and search for pics of live deck shots.

I'll post when I have completed the planking and decide whether I will add wood fill with a bit of stain to it as I did to the 2 lower decks.

I attached 2 pics from my previous work on the lower deck. I have that easy to sand wood filler that I added a bit of Jacobean stain to. It spreads on very easily and dries quickly. While it will create a lot of dust, once sanded, it provides a natural caulking look and fills in any gaps from my installation pitfalls. 

[kiwiron]

Nice work Chris, coming along real well. I was glad when I finished my cannons.