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

[Yabuhebi]

Based on reviewing the stern pics above, I had to dop some touching up, which I began. You don't see that from table top level, so I got a lower chair and began cleaning things up.

 

Using the blueprints, I measured from the various windows to try and layout where the channels would be. I used the pins on the back of the channel to mark the hull and then after drilling out the hole, the channels fit pretty good.

 

All 5 went fairly smoothly and from my view seemed to follow the plans.

 

After doing  this, I did some research to see which gunport lids I needed to do before installing the channels, so I wouldn't run into a fight later. I wish the instructions included a specific diagram of which gunports get lids, there is a picture of the side hull to help in laying out the wales that I used.

 

There is also no reference in the instructions as to which lids go to which gunports. However, the parts list does:

323 - lower gun ports

324 - middle & upper gun ports

325 - quarterdeck gun ports (the 4 near the stern....with one double door port in between them)

326 - quarterdeck half door gun ports

327 - beakhead gun ports

 

I wish they had included this in instructions, really not sure why that isn't the fact.

 

The same can be said about which hinges go where...very little reference in the instructions, but the parts list does (I wish I'd look at this earlier before working on the lids!)

 

484 - lower gun port hinges

485 - middle & upper gun port hinges

486 - middle gun port double door hinges

487 - quarterdeck hinges

488 - quarterdeck double door hinges

489 - lower stern double door hinges

490 - beakhead gun port hinges

491 - lower gun SCUTTLE hinges

492 - beakhead door hinges

 

Well, there it is!

 

After looking at various pictures and then marking the plans, I set aside the gun ports that will need lids before installing the channels. I believe there are 7 full size gun ports, 3 smaller gun ports, 2 that need lids and 1 a double door (I think this was done so that the shrouds wouldn't interfere with the lid).

 

I cut out the lids and then laid out the additional wale that would be needed for each on. Once done, I sanded them clean and began installing the hinges. Having not laid out which hinges were what, I used the instructions and counted rivets to guess which ones were correct, I am not sure I picked right, but 484 & 485 look the same.

 

I created a simple jig with a piece of wood 1mm out so that I could stick the lid under it to create the 1mm spacing needed for proper placement of the lid into the gun port recess. Once done, I bent the hinge around the wales. Once that was done, I needed to add the hole in the lid to accept the eyelet.

 

I don't have enough small drill bits and they are just not sturdy enough to drill though the hinge and wood (especially if they were glued!)

 

What I did was use the back end of a small bit that had broke to mark where the hole was, then use a little bigger bit to drill the hole for the eyelets. I would add the eyelet to the hinge, glue the back of that and attach to the lid. It took some finagling to get that to work (3 hands would be better)

 

For the lower eyelets, I wasn't sure how to tackle them. I didn't want to drill holes up from the bottom, they would show on the top. At first I cut the heads off of the eyelets, but then they come out kind of oval shaped. I then tried to make ringlets with some .55mm wire, they may be a bit too large, but they will do fine. I just glued them to the underside. Some came loose and I'll circle back around to make sure they are all in place.

 

Once done, I began laying coats of black on these lids, ALL of the rigols, ALL of the chainplate assemblies and ALL of the channel supports. 

 

While waiting for all that to dry and add additional coats, I laid out the other side channels. My biggest concern was making sure that I put these ones in the same place and as close in height as the other side. Mainly so that when looking at the boat, the shrouds synced together and deadeyes matched.

 

I think and hope I did that!

 

 

Edited November 27 by Yabuhebi

[Yabuhebi]

Continued working on the small number of gun ports and chainplates too!

 

Finished painting the backsides of the gun port lids with a few minor touch ups to cleanup the over paint. I also saw other builders use brass tubing with a .225ID to act as sleeves for the lid ropes. This brass tubing (which I bought at our local model shop), is very thin and can be cut very easily by rolling it under a sharp exacto knife.

I cut enough for the 9 lids and installed them. I tried to see if I could fish the .25 thread through them and they seemed ok. So I did the holes for the 9 on the other side plus the 2 stern vent lids.

I also began assembling the lids for the other side and my thought was that I would install the brass sleeves while waiting for things to dry. My plan was to string the sleeves and then glue them into the hull, once done, I would tied them off to the lids after they were fastened.

I couldn't get the threads through the tubing. Despite being careful, the knife had the effect of closing off the inside too much. I didn't have anything in my work area that would open up these holes....nothing small enough or strong enough to act as a flair. I found that only about 2 out of 10 were ok...In the end, I just decided to fish the string into the holes and use CA glue to secure them. A dab of paint will hide them or at least create the impression of a sleeve at that scale.

I created a jig to lay out the lid rope holes, taking some regular masking tape, I just drilled 2 holes about 6mm above top of port opening (per instructions) and used this to drill all the holes the same. There were 1 or 2 lids that required the holes to be lower, so I did them freehand.

On the other side where I had already installed the sleeves, I just pulled them out. A few worked and I left them in....

I then installed the lids and for the most part they seemed to go in ok. I didn't quite get them all to match height wise and I will have to make sure I am better at that going forward. The one that is way too high was removed so that I will be able to add the chainplates, then I'll reattach it.

Each of the large channels have channel support brackets (#626), I painted these on the sprue and they fit under the channels with little altering. I tried to follow blueprints as best as I could in their positioning, but they are really contingent on where you place the channels.

I was nervous about the chainplates, but they go fine after some learning. The blueprints give you the basics of where then go and how they are orientated. I cut them off the sprue one at a time, trimmed them and dry fitted them. On the first one (the most forward chainplate), the main chain is threaded into the strop that protrudes under the channel. From this one, you hang the next chain that has a ring at the end...for longer ones, there is another piece that is double nailed to the hull, for the shorter ones, the second chain is nailed to the hull.

As the instructions state, snap the top chain together and add some CA glue (be sure to wipe it clean so there are no globs).

On the first one, my initial mistake was creating the pilot hole for the first nail. I had it too low and when I tried to drive in the nail, it created TOO MUCH stress on the chainplate (in fact, you can see that it has separated if you look carefully). The result is that the first one is off from the others.

After that, I would press the bottom of the chain against the hull and then create a small divot/pilot hole mark to drill out. Once done, I would add the lower/3rd chain and mark that hole. Once that was done, I would glue the structure in place.

While my channels may be off a bit from the blueprints, once I had a process, it went fairly easily. Not very fast, but with little or no difficulties. The last chainplate on the forward channel is a bit off from where it is supposed to be, but after being touched up, they look pretty good!!!! They will DEFINATELY hold the mast steady when the shrouds are put into place and tightened. Very impressive.

Chris

[Yabuhebi]

Took a few hours to see if I could try and get one side done. Was determined.

It's actually a pretty steady process. My only issue was that my channels may not have been placed in exactly the right position and this caused some issues with chainplate positioning.

May not have been?....no, they weren't!

In retrospect, it may have been a better idea to attach the front and back chainplates to the channels before laying them out and then trying to lay them out per the blue prints. I think you could do that before adding pins to the back of the channels, perhaps tape them up and seeing if the chainplates fall where they should...if the two outside ones fit properly, they the inside one should fall into place.

I didn't do that and had some issues with the stern channels, but overall, I think they look great.

Especially when the pic is from far away! Just beautiful...lol

I also took a pic through the entrance...yep, I can still see the other entrance!

[Yabuhebi]

Worked on getting everything for the port side ready. Painting lids, making sure bottoms of channels are clear for chainplates, etc.

I also added all of the copper eyelets on deck and the small cleats to the stern.

While doing this, I created the 2 railings for the bow gratings. I was able to add copper eyelets and then bend the .7mm wire to fit. After, I decided to see how difficult it's going to be to add the netting here and ultimately for the mattress hammocks.

I had bought some peachy colored tulle online, but decided it was a bit too orange. This stuff is synthetic, so it won't color and I could not for the life of me find anything that was cotton. Except one place sold it in $60 batches of mosquito netting. Nope.

I found the same tulle in ivory for $9USD and bought that. So if you have kids and need some, I'll have extra!!!!

Now this was just a test and I am going to redo. I had a huge spool of thread from Guterman, but it frays on the end VERY QUICKLY. I think it's too thin and I'll redo with the .1mm in the kit.

I also didn't secure the railing as I did it and I'll make a better, more stable rig for that. I wanted to practice or see what kind of knot would work best and I have a better idea now.

After it was done, I trimmed it and gave it a coat of very watered down white glue...had to wipe it off to be sure it didn't clog holes.

I think if I do it right and take my time, it will look pretty good. The hope of the desperate and foolish!!!!

[PUNISHERMARKO]

Hey Chris, really nice job. I am looking forward to see your progress 🙂
Your netting reminded of what I've done. But I am pretty sure I took idea either from your build log earlier on or someone else's, I can't remember.
But, I got tulle fabric and tried how it looks and if it's easy to work with. I then stitched it and put 100% cotton inside. I tried to roll them up and then fold them like on real ship, but that didn't look good, so just roll them up tightly. Maybe sides I'll do different.
That's all finished now and yesterday I started on page 27 forecastle canons. I also skipped few pages [ very last page 😄] and put pins in around the waist deck and pulled thread through just to finish the waist deck ladders. Just have to be careful not to damage them.
When I was doing copper plating I decided to skip few pages and do rudder at the same time and attach it. Getting there slowly. Would like to finish 1st book by end of the year, but I don't think that's possible. 

[Yabuhebi]

 

 

On 11/30/2024 at 4:07 AM, PUNISHERMARKO said:

Hey Chris, really nice job. I am looking forward to see your progress 🙂
Your netting reminded of what I've done. But I am pretty sure I took idea either from your build log earlier on or someone else's, I can't remember.
But, I got tulle fabric and tried how it looks and if it's easy to work with. I then stitched it and put 100% cotton inside. I tried to roll them up and then fold them like on real ship, but that didn't look good, so just roll them up tightly. Maybe sides I'll do different.
That's all finished now and yesterday I started on page 27 forecastle canons. I also skipped few pages [ very last page 😄] and put pins in around the waist deck and pulled thread through just to finish the waist deck ladders. Just have to be careful not to damage them.
When I was doing copper plating I decided to skip few pages and do rudder at the same time and attach it. Getting there slowly. Would like to finish 1st book by end of the year, but I don't think that's possible. 

 

 

It looks fine, have to remember that once you get into the rigging a lot of the deck detail is getting to get overwhelmingly lost! Or at least that's my hope. I figure I'll have to trim the tops of my tulle once I get it in place. I did see some builders that glued the tops to clean that up.

 

I also, off camera, took a stab at weaving a line through the very top of the tulle. I thought this might create a better structure when I go to attach the whole thing to a hammock or railing. It didn't work very good, I started too high up and it just looked like crap and some of the tulle broke. I think if I go lower it may work. I'll circle back around in awhile and try again.

 

I think a lot of builders skip around and that may be a wiser move. I'm going to post, but it is clear that I screwed up with my channels and it has become apparent when installing the profiles (...and to a lesser extent, the chainplates). 

 

I just started gathering pieces for the rudder and find that I am missing all of the rudder hinges/hinge pins. It's a pain but won't be the end of the world, the rudder isn't going to move, so I guess I'll just create some wooden blocks to give the right spacing since the PE rudder straps look like they will cover the hinge pins anyways.

 

The missing parts are kind of a pain in the ***. My kit was put together while JoTika was trying to catch up on back orders. I was asked if I was ok receiving the kit in a plain brown box. That was fine, but right away I noticed I was missing one of the 12.7mm dowels for a mast. I was also missing an entire sheet of walnut pieces. Later I found that I was missing belaying pins and more. With the exception of the walnut pieces, I've outsourced or jury rigged what I've needed. Is what it is I guess!!!!

 

 

....If you're working on the hammocks, there isn't much more left in the first book!

 

[Yabuhebi]

Worked on the port channels and chainplates. I really worked to make sure these channels lined up with the ones on the starboard side and I thought everything was good. In the end, my channels are both too low and a bit skewed to far forward or backward.

 

This is more apparent on the port side and I had to incorrectly position some of the chainplates to get them all in. I almost thought about leaving some of the deadeyes without chainplates rather than what I did. I suppose there is no right way.

 

In the end, it still looks cool, it'll just never win any 1st place ribbons at the builder shows!

[Yabuhebi]

After that, I began putting together some of the other little things before finishing book one.

 

Honestly, I haven't finished rigging the cannons and I keep putting them off. These will be visible and I really want them to look good, too chicken I guess!

 

The anchors went together fine. They require some sanding of the anchor stocks (wood parts) to get them to fit and some sanding of the cast parts to remove the casting marks. The flukes need to be sanded to fit. The directions call for using cartridge paper for iron bands. Not sure what that is. I used 2mm stryrene and that works fine, but you have to be careful. The styrene will break at the joints if pressed too hard...which will require some sanding and filling. I did see a few builders use shrink wrap. That is a great idea and I have tons of different sizes that would work great...but it's all on my boat in winter storage. If you're in the US, Harbor Freight has a box for $9 or $10 with various sizes that would work great. Just cut to the right width and apply some quick heat to get it to stick. DON'T get the shrink wrap with adhesive, I think that would cause a mess. 

 

I was also getting ready to do the profiles. Plan #5 provides the layout for the 3 different profiles on the hull. It also shows where the moulding swirls go (#'s 408-411). However, there is absolutely no reference in any of the instructions as to these parts, just in the parts page. That seems strange.

 

Either way, I thought I'd add some extra detail to them. I have 2 different sizes of wires, plus brass tubing that I had for the lid ropes that I wasn't going to use. For the smaller swirls, I bent a larger diameter wire into the center and the smaller diameter around the outside. Both pieces fitting into the "G" shaped recess in the swirl. For the larger swirl, I used the brass tubing and the larger brass wire.

 

It adds some detail, not sure how it will look after it's painted. I dropped one and spend 20 minutes looking for it. I found it the next day when I was looking for something else. Go figure.

 

Then as I was working on the profiles, I dropped the whole darn cup of swirls on the floor. Lost 3 of them!!! Just can't win. I made 3 from scratch and they seem to have come out ok....

[Yabuhebi]

Today I worked on the starboard side profiles. This was AFTER installing the channels and their chainplates.

 

This is a mistake. DO NOT do this. Put the profiles for both side on the hull FIRST. Then you can get them right, make them look good and get them painted according to the scheme of your build. If you wait, you'll have nothing but trouble trying to get them painted behind the chainplates and channels.

 

So I worked on the profiles. Having a band saw and a disc/belt sander made it much quicker than using hand tools. But it is apparent that my placement of the channels are wrong and some of the profiles either wouldn't fit or would have to be moved. I did that for the highest profile in the stern...you can see that I have to angle it sharply down to get it back in line. 

 

This change ripples all the way to the bow and the profile is supposed to run into the support of the cathead. It doesn't on this side, I created a little roundel to end it. What else can I do?

 

Because removing the channels and chainplates isn't an option!

 

So onward and upward.

 

I posted a notice on my log when I started working on the channels to warn anyone using this blog to help them in their build to do the profiles first....

 

 

[Charter33]

I'm impressed with your rate of progress Chris, and the effort you put in to successfully overcoming those challenging issues this kit confronts us builders with. One small comment if I may..... you might want to turn the anchor stocks through 90 degrees before painting them. 

Cheers,

Graham

[PUNISHERMARKO]

Few things I would like point out. Missing items are not normal, so like you said Chris it's backorder and they missed it, but they said they would send any missing parts for free. If you want kit with missing items just buy anything from Occre. Endless missing items in every single kit and it took over 2 weeks to get anything [ from Portugal to UK ] 
I live about 2 hours from their warehouse and I used 1x16mm walnut on wrong place and because of that I didn't have enough for where I was supposed to use it. I called them in a morning, they send me 2 metres of 1x16mm and received it next day cost me £2, but this was my fault.

I am already planning to buy second HMS Victory from caldercraft around April/May 2025.

And like Graham said your anchors are assembled wrong.

[PUNISHERMARKO]

I forgot to mention, I know you said your rudder doesn't turn because you missing parts?
My one turns 45 degrees to left/right.
And again, out of all models I built, I am gonna say this was the best and most simplest hinges system I've seen. it's simple yet it works perfectly.