HMS Victory by divarty - FINISHED - Corel - cross-section

[divarty]

Hi all, was recently pointed to this site and came looking for some company   I've lost at least 2 days of work crawling through build logs and the finished models so joining and posting my own build log may mean dire things for my future employment.  Anyway, as the title says I'm working on an HMS Victory cross section kit from Corel.  To date I've only completed one kit, the Union from Constructo, a solid hull build.  I have two others on hold that I started and hung up when I hit snags on the difficulty level (read that as I am a total novice when it comes to working with wood and it's been years since I built a model and I panicked).  I'm going to include the a couple of pictures from my current build state and continue to update as I progress.

 

I'm honored to be sharing a forum with such talented folks!

 

 

[JeffT]

Welcome to MSW! Thanks for sharing your progress with us. Your cross section looks well done. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your build.

[divarty]

Welcome to MSW! Thanks for sharing your progress with us. Your cross section looks well done. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your build.

Thanks Helmsman this seems like a solid community.

 

As for the build I finished up the grating for the 4th deck today, it took a little work, think my deck was slightly off and I had to shave/sand about 1/2 mm off of the planks to get the grating to fit in.

 

 

Before I start working on the next deck I was marking out the gun ports and doors on the side. 

 

Problems I have now:

 

1. I mounted the ship to a scrapboard above the kit drawing and used a square to mark lines up the outside of the hull to give me the upper and lower edges of the gun ports and doors.  The lines for the door seems to be low.  The bottom of the door would actually be underneath the internal deck planking.  So I either need to make the door slighty shorter or I need to raise the whole door about 2mm when I cut it.

 

2.The kit instructions do not tell you how far in the gun ports and doors go so I think I'm going to have guesswork on that as well. 

 

3.  The written instructions are only 3 pages, mind you 3 pages of incredibly dense type in poorly translate english but they don't include anything about putting in the cannons or other fixtures and i realized today that i should have been building each deck and installing the extras before I moved onto the next deck, now it's going to be quite a bit harder to install the features.

 

Hindsight being 20/20 I should have put together the hull, measured, marked and drilled the gun ports and doors, built up to each deck finishing the detail work on it and planking around the gun ports etc then built the next deck up until I was at the top deck.

[divarty]

Following up on the problems in point #3 above I decided to cut the gun ports now and start working on the detail work for each existing deck.  I marked out the gunports and doors.  The door was slightly taller and would have screwed up my decking so I shortened it by 2 MM, hopefully that one doesn't bite me later on. 

 

I managed to get through 5 of the 8 openings today.  After drilling the holes with my dremel I used an Xacto key hole saw to cut through then an xacto knife to shave the excess and square everything up.  The one file I have is a cheese ball thing so I've ordered another set of files and rasps from model expo, hopefully those come in the next couple of days and they will help me square it up a little more.

[JPett]

Ahoy Divarty

 

Nice build

 

I would agree that you might have painted yourself in a corner here (welcome to model shipbuilding) but judging by what you have done so far it looks like you will manage just fine. She really does look good.

 

The Corel "instructions" and I use that term loosely can be challenging but if it helps the information is there, a bit cryptic but between the little book and the sheets I find most of it is there.  I read the entire book, taking notes and review the sheets for each stage. The book is a quick read and for reasons I am yet to understand, Corel seems to believe mentioning some important fact about step 1 should be in step 12 or plate 5.

 

Then I follow my notes

[Pygothian]

I've just ordered this kit, and the Syren. I'm tossing up which one to start with.

 

Yours looks fantastic

[divarty]

Thanks for the advice Jpett and the kind words and thanks Pygothian it's defintley a work in progress. 

 

Speaking of progress I began the planking on the hull, brough it up to just beneath my lowest gun ports and started work on the first cannons.  Because I no longer had access to the inside to put in my eye bolts for the gun tackle I drilled the hole from the outside.  This allowed me to put in the eyebolts and the hold on the outside will be covered when I plank over it.

 

 

I did have a minor ooops, at certain points on the external planks you are supposed to swap in boxwood and I failed to do that so I ended up having to cut off a total of 7 fixed planks, file and sand the hull and put in boxwood planks.  I was going to skip it when I realized my mistake but this is as much about the journey as the final product so I took the time.

 

I worked on the cannons and had them inspected by our resident miniture cannon expert.

 

 

And the final look with the cannon mounted.

 

 

 

[AntonyUK]

Hi.

Nice build.

It's a nice kit and you can do so much with it should you wish.

Keep the pictures comming

 

Regards Antony.

[JPett]

Ahoy Divarty

 

Looking good. Nice solution for the eyebolts. After this one you will be ready for a ship in a bottle

 

Mind the inspector. For whatever reason some of them like to chew on the wood.

[divarty]

Hi.

Nice build.

It's a nice kit and you can do so much with it should you wish.

Keep the pictures comming

 

Regards Antony.

 

Will do Antony.  I found your build log and the Erebus and Terror logs, very informative and helpful.  I wish I had read about the gunports needing to be raised about 3mm from the kit plan markings but I guess thats part of the learning curve.  As this is only my second model I certainly won't be up to your standards or E&T with the kit bashing and modifications, amazing work btw, but I hope to at least do it justice.

[divarty]

Finally got some time to work on this between work and travel for work.  I was able to get the second set of guns in and plank both the internal and external hull all the way to the top.  I had a ton of problems with it, the planks on the sides not being even, being short 1mm on one side and high by 2mm on the other when I finally reached the top.  After some filing, adding extra planks and some artistic carving I the end result is decent if I do say so myself.  Next steps will be to place the last set of guns, WOOO, the first set I can do without a deck overhead, and to build up the last deck.

 

I also purchased some new buckets as the ones they gave me were totally out of scale.  Those will be added later.

[divarty]

Worked on finishing up the upper gun deck, it was nice to not have to be working with a deck above already in place, it made it quite a bit easier to work.

 

The insid of the upper gun deck after before mounting the guns.

 

 

 

The individual guns (took two pictures on the one side to get a little better detail on the coiled ropes).  The blocks seem to be too large for the guns, with the gun in battery posistion it's not as clean as i would like, but I guess it's clean enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Stepping back a little to see how it looks altogether.

 

 

 

And finally starting to lay the boards to build the quarter deck on. 

 

 

 

They side planks came up a little high so the floor supports needed to be cut down a about a mm on each end.  It seems like I'm doing a lot of work to offset little measurement problems. I think overall it's coming together but I do wonder where I made my miscalculations that put me off by these tiny increments or if it's normal and part of building a kit where some things just don't quite match up.  Anyway, enough damage done today, hopefully this week I'll get some more time to plank the quarter deck, put in the stairs and and work on the new deck furniture.

Edited November 11, 2013 by divarty

[divarty]

Still working on the top deck, no pictures to present yet.  It's been slower because the main deck has so many details on it that it's been difficult to wrap my head around. 

 

One of the questions that I'm unsure of is how to make up the hammock nettings on the top deck?  I see others have included it on their builds but I don't know where they got the material or what it's made of.

 

Another question that is thinking ahead just a little is how to taper my mast to fit into the hull, should the taper be even on the lower mast and the upper?  What kind of tools will I need to taper it?  etc.

 

Also looking back at this point I'm seeing all the errors that have worked their way into the build, items off by mm, planks that arent quite right, support posts that aren't alligned correctly, places where I hacked in a fix to offset somethign I hadn't measured correctly.   It's a little disheartening but talking to my Admiral she dosen't see the errors so hopefully it's just me being overly critical of my work.

Edited December 13, 2013 by divarty

[divarty]

More progress has been made in the shipyard.  I finished laying the upperdeck with gratings, the ladders to the quarterdeck and the steps up the side along with the cover over the entrance.  I also decided it was time to mount the model to the supplied base as it's getting to the point where I need the model upright more often then laying on it's side.

 

Looking down at the top deck you can see some of it isn't alligned quite right, I blame the fact that my eye is crooked but the bits that are off aren't too horrible.  I also didn't add a bulkhead on the top deck even though it should have one but I decided I'm already challenged enough by this kit without going totally off the reservation.

 

 

 

Two side shots to show the stairs and base.  I looked at Antony's build to see how the stairs should be laid in and realized I was off enough from his build that I couldn't exactly replicate it so I SWAG'ed it.  Not historically accurate I'm sure.

 

 

 

And a full front shot with a ruler to give some scale

 

Edited December 28, 2013 by divarty

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the cross-section.  I'm impressed by what you've accomplished.   Kit blocks are never the "right" size... <sigh>  As for the netting, go to Michael's or a fabric shop.  I think the stuff is called voile and comes in different sizes of mesh and colors.

[snedley22]

Hi,

I am new to site and have just started my build log.   I see in your descriptions above that you mention "Hindsight being 20/20 I should have put together the hull, measured, marked and drilled the gun ports and doors, built up to each deck finishing the detail work on it and planking around the gun ports etc then built the next deck up until I was at the top deck."  I have cut my gun ports and glued the two halves together so far, so I am at a great place to get some good advice. 

 

Are you suggesting that the next step should be starting on the lower level (starting at bottom) and working my way up?  I guess I need to know what the specifics or your "detail work" you mean.

 

Thanks.  Your project is great BTW

 

Jon

[snedley22]

Hi again,

I had another question.  Are you planning on copper hulling this build?

 

Jon

[divarty]

Man I am so sorry that work and travel have pulled me away from my build for this long.  To answer some of the questions above (hopefully it's not too late).  Snedley when I say detail work I mean the guns with the rigging tackle, once you have the decks built up it becomes much harder to get nice coils of rope and to put in the eyebolts that the tackle connects to.  Given a chance to redo I would build up to the first deck with guns, put in my eyebolts, tackles, guns etc then build the next deck over it and repeat until I was at the top.  I don't plan on coppering the hull, I'm enough of a novice with this that I decided to not vary from the instructions too much

[divarty]

View of the top deck with hammock netting and the belaying pin rack.

 

 

Chainstays and deadeyes

 

 

Side view of the overall

 

 

Close up of the chainstays and deadeyes

 

 

The chain stays were a pain to put in, hopefully they look ok.  The hammock netting went through a couple of iterations to get right, I think the best way to do it is put the netting in, weight it down then with the overlap on the top use a needle and thread to cinch it tight.  Using CA was so so.

Edited March 21, 2014 by divarty

[divarty]

Finally back to work on the ship.  I installed the second set of chain stays and deadeyes and began working on the masting.  I put it off for a while because I was unsure of how to start and was afraid of making a mistake with the kit wood.  I finally just bit the bullet and jumped in.  

 

For the shaping of the mast I put the dowel into a drill and using a heavy grit sand paper work it over the lower section of the mast to taper it.  To square the mast on the upper portion I used a hand plane, that was not as successful as I had hoped so I ended up taking the blade out of the plane and  just using the blade with no plane, it looks a little rough but it's serviceable.  When I went to square up the top mast section I used a tip from Mastini's book and put the dowel into a vice and filed it flat, rotated the piece 90 degrees and filed it flat and did that until I had a square, then I filed the edges to get more of the octagon shape.  In the future I will always use the second method of the file, quick and clean.

 

 

The second set of chain stays (sorry about the sideways pic)

 

 

The main mast dry fit

 

 

The main mast and the top mast dry fit, still working on the trestle trees

 

 

 

The cheeks that came with the kit were a little off so I cut new ones from some spare boxwood I had and used a little walnut stain to get them to the correct color.

 

Edited April 6, 2014 by divarty

[divarty]

More updates today, was working on the masts and the fighting top, and I am here to tell you that I am apparently the slowest builder ever, thankfully this isn't a race or I would be pulled off the course after they close it down.

 

 

The top mast cap that came with the kit was no good, the holes were too large, without even shaping the top mast it would pass right through the square and the top gallant would just fall through the circle (don't know if they have terms for the holes or not) so I built a new one out of boxwood and with a little water color paint borrowed from the admiral it came together fairly well.

 

 

The trestle tree for the fighting top.

 

 

For the fighting top I roughly planked it using a number 2 pencil on one edge of each plank.  I didn't bother to measure the planks to length just put them on, waited for the glue to set then went around the edge with a sharp xacto knife and removed the excess. 

 

 

The shaping of the masts and finishing work took a lot longer then I expected but it's coming along, still need to do my work on the top gallant but I need to finish up the fighting top first.  After I finish up the masts I'm off to the races working on the yards and setting up all my eyes and blocks for the rigging.

 

 

It's all coming along nicely if I do say so myself.

 

 

 

 

[divarty]

So I admit to being thoroughly overwhelmed with the rigging and masting, Im just trying to break everything down into manageable tasks.  I started with the topmast deadeyes this morning and after 8 hours of work (interrupted by the need to play plumber and fix the non draining bathroom sink) I have 10 of my deadeyes set up.  It took me quite a while to figure out how to seize the line correctly.  The admiral pitched in and helped me make a couple of them as well.  You really do need 3 or 4 hands to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AntonyUK]

Hi Divarty.

Just catching up with your build

The deadeyes are looking Exelent and the whipping is very neat.

And yes take your time with the rigging and as you say One step at a time.

If you are not sure what goes where just ask.

 

Regards Antony.

[divarty]

Thanks for the kind words Antony.  It's been difficult to get solid time in the shipyard lately but I have managed to make some progress.  

 

Finished the lower mast with the fighting top

 

 

I started with woldings made from rope then decided I didn't like the look on the model.  Instead I used strips of paper cut to 2 mm wide and colored black with a permanent marker.  I think the affect worked well.  

 

 

I got the top trestle tree put together.

 

 

The lower yard was completed along with all the blocks for the rigging.

 

 

The kit called for an eye bolt on the end of the yard to support the stunsail boom but the eye bolts that came with the kit are way too small.  I ended up taking some of the copper wire that is used for railings and hammock nets and twisted it together on the boom.  Not historically accurate or the best looking but there are enough other things going on with the model that I don't think that will be the focal point of everyones attention.

 

 

[divarty]

I completed all my yards over the long weekend and began getting blocks attached to all the masts.  I ended up having to disassemble where I had attached the top mast to the lower mast, I realized I wasn't going to be able to put my shrouds on after serving them.  When I was in the process of disassembling I managed to break my mast cap in half, so two steps forward three back.  Progress ground to a halt after that  

 

Currently waiting on a serving machine so I can do the rest of my blocks and get my shrouds ready to go.  I can see the end in sight, sometime next decade I think.

[AntonyUK]

Hi m8.

One step forward and two steps backward

We have all been there.

 

Regards Antony.

[divarty]

As the admiral was busy selling her artwork at a local festival this weekend I had a lot of time in the shop.  After recently receiving my serving machine from Alexey (great piece of gear and excellent service) I got busy with my shrouds and the blocks as well as repairing the broken mast cap.

 

The mast dry fit with a handheld spar to see how it's all coming together.

 

 

The trestle tree all set with shrouds and blocks

 

 

And the fighting top with all blocks and shrouds set.

 

 

Next step will be fitting the mast permanently and putting the shrouds into place.

 

 

 

 

[divarty]

Another fine weekend at the shipyard.  I learned a lot this weekend.   First I mounted the main mast and was preparing to do the shrouds when I realized that having the mast mounted and doing the upper shrouds was going to be a bear.  So I dismounted the main mast and went to work on the upper shrouds.  After all was said and done I completed the top shrouds, ratlines and the top gallant lines.  At the end of the day I ran out of my .25 mm cordage so work has come to a halt (more on order from model expo, hopefully I get it soon).

 

 

Shrouds on one side with ratlines

 

 

Shrouds and ratlines from both sides

 

 

Better shot of the top, lanyards and ratlines

 

 

Topgallant lines going over the trestle tree, what I was unsure of here was how much tension to put on the, as you can see from the photo the lines actually cause the top shrouds to bow out a little, I don't know if thats correct or not.  I am guessing with aging some of the tension will fall off

 

 

This next picture shows a problem area I had that I only discovered after running ratlines all the way up.  You can see in the redbox on the photo I brought one of the shrouds over a different section of the trestle tree, this caused the shrouds to have an odd gap in them on the way down where the foremost shroud was too far apart from the rear two.  On top of that I overdid the whipping on the shrouds bringing it down too far which caused the lines to be incredibly tight near the top, this turned the upper ratlines into more of a succession of knots instead of a nice line.

 

 

Even with the errors and issues it was an incredibly pleasant and productive weekend in the shipyard.

 

 

 

 

[divarty]

So thanks to July 4th my company gave me both Thursday and Friday off!  That has given me quite a bit of time in the shipyard.  I worked on the running rigging for the top gallant and top mast then finally decided to step the mast and glue it into place then begin work on the lower lanyards and shrouds.  I had some issues with e futtock stave, I wasn't sure how to attach it or how to attach the futtock shrouds to them.  

 

I ended up using a little bit of CA and attaching the stave to the lower shrouds with it, I then dropped the futtock shrouds around the front, looped them around the stave, used a little bit more CA and brought it around the front again.  It ended up being crowded and not as clean as I would have liked but it's set in cement (literally) at this point.

 

Back of the futtock stave

 

 

Front of futtocks stave

 

 

I finished the ratlines over the lower shrouds and futtock shrouds

 

 

And pulled up the yard

 

 

I'm not sure how I'm going to do the sling, I don't have a lot of room between the fighting top and the mast to bring the sling down so I have to noodle on that one.

Edited July 5, 2014 by divarty

[MEDDO]

Looking great, seems like a nice kit.