HMS Victory by shihawk - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1:75

[patrickmil]

You could always pick up some styrene strips for the window framing if you're planning on doing the outside edges of the windows too. Otherwise the windows look good.

[Keith B]

Hi mate,I've just taken delivery of the book "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships".Took this photo for you.It shows that you've done the right thing with the steps. Looks like I've got a bit of cutting to do!!

Cheers,

Keith.

[shihawk]

Hi ,its not that difficult just be carefull of your deck if using anything big to cut out the beams .I finally got the second one done last nite ,might scratch all ladders to do away with the ply .Its al down to how fussy you want to be but i enjoy the small fiddly bits so why not .hope to finish the first planking this week .I went for cherry for second planking ,hope it works. Keep at it she s looking great.Have fun

[shihawk]

Finally got the first planking finished. Reasonably happy but as usual if i were to start again i would do it slightly differently . I started at the bottom and worked upwards then moved to top and worked down partly i was trying to figure the run of planks for the second planking ,and as you can see from the pics this meant i had to use a lot of half stealers (i think thats what you call them) but this was a good way to learn  ,However i would like to avoid these as much as possible in my next planking if only for looks  Am hoping that by tapering the planks from the start and planking from the keel to the lower wale i can avoid most of them , intend then planking from the lower wale upwards using it to cover any change or joints in the run of planks .  Am open to any opinions or suggestions on this plan ,please feel free !!!     As you can see from the pics i have only scraped the hull at this stage and hope to improve it somewhat with sanding and fillers ,but need to move outside for that process.I think some of the soaked planks shrank a little when dryed out (thats my excuse) but fillers will cure that   .The gun ports still need a lot of cleaning up and am trying to figure out if i can line them before my second planking ,again any advice welcome , must experiment before deciding . As you can see from last pic the grating and stairs problem are solved, now need to fit cannon ball racks and scratch my carriages to finish the lower deck before installing the top one ,which i will have to split now to fit in .Still wondering about windows but plenty of time yet . I know i complained a lot about this kit at the begining but its quickly growing on me and from reading other logs no kit is without problems , maybe it was value for money after all???

[shihawk]

Just a quick update ,progress has been slow with better weather work gets in the way . First planking finished and sanded and  thankfully only a couple of hollows to fill. Decided to plank from the keel up and done my best to figure out how some people can manage it without stealers but its beyond me ,might just be possible at bow but finished up using full and half stealers plus a couple of correcting planks at stern No pics of this process at present maybe to-nite !.                                                  I do have a couple of pics of my attempt at cannon ball racks.  Could buy 2mm cannon balls from Amati at £1.70 / 20 but bought a box of No 9 shotgun cartrages for £5.00 and have nearly 3000 2mm balls although they are lead ,apparently any shot of this size will be lead but when painted and varnished hopefully they will take years to deteriate  Rather than countersink each hole for each ball due to lack of percision tools and bad eyes i routered out a grouve and glued them in tight to-gether and seems to work ok Again hope to have pics of result tonite 

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

Well done Boyd , it's really coming on now. All your work is very neat and tidy and it seems like you are settled in for a couple of years enjoyment. Nice clear photos as well, so just keep them coming. DAVID

[shihawk]

  tks David i think a couple of years might be optimistic but time flies when your enjoying yourself and i need to take a break sometime and finish my Cruiser                                     pics explain themselves the last one is my first attempt to make gun carriages and after cutting these out by hand i finaly invested in a Dremel Moto Saw which only arrived yesterday so cant comment on it either way as yet but i do need something for cutting and shaping and it seemed a cheap option to start with  ,The ball racks aren,t glued in yet will wait utill hull finished  I  see a lot of mention of Wipe on Poly but can,t source any localy is there a UK equalivent or is it just another name for poly varnish ??????   

[clearway]

looking good- just bstarted sanding the frames to shape on mine. I used self adhesive strips of paper from franking labels and stained them for the windows- can post a pic on here if you like?

Keith

[shihawk]

tks Clearway please post pic i still haven,t decided yet what to do about frames yet so any ideas will be welcome

[patrickmil]

Very nice work on the shot racks! The second planking is looking beautiful as well so far.

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

Yes it's a good idea to put a couple of coats of varnish on the cannonballs and the rack to make them more secure. And don't fit them to the deck until you need to, to take make sure they don't get knocked off. I don't know how your gunport linings and lids are fitted in position , the linings on the jotika/ caldercraft are set back 1mm from the face of the hull, and without any doubt needed to be done after the second planking, in my opinion. I think it will be harder to tidy up your gun ports with the linings fitted now, and you should always remember the wales need to be added which also cross the gunports in various areas adding another thickness of strip, So in theory your ship will be triple planked in those areas. But that's only my opinion good luck with whatever you decide .well done it's still spick and span. DAVID

Edited April 17, 2014 by Shipyard sid

[shihawk]

tks David ,all opinions are welcome so please don,t hold back i need them all .Been thinking about gunports and as my socond planking is only .5 mm the 1mm step will mean i have 2 different wood edges showing ,i know its only .5 mm but think i need to do a trial run before deciding .Had been considering cheating and keeping the wales of the gunports but as i have decided to forget about the Victory strips i now think the wales would look better in their proper place !, but then again my decisions have changed before .there is always a solution finding it is the problem ..

[clearway]

When i come to do the stern windows will use darker stain and cut the strips narrower- used the cabin windows as a test bench as they wont be as noticable.

Keith

PS dont know why its upside down !!!!!

Edited April 22, 2014 by clearway

[shihawk]

cant see to well,a bit small,but maybe son can enlarge it  . If taken on an i-pod you need to turn it around  thanks anyway i think it could be the answer  just got it enlaged , it certainly looks the part 

Edited April 22, 2014 by shihawk

[shihawk]

Hi all seems a long time since my last post but second planking is taking longer than i thought  , still have upper half of one side to finish but thought i,d experiment on one side first  After much consideration i decided a Victory would,nt be a Victory without strips so planked from the lower wale up in Mukaly strip  which when varnished has a yellowish orangey color ( i only had a limited supply of this so attempted to fill under the wales with other wood which accounts for the zig zag strip) but got worried that my calculations for wale location could be wrong or change so may yet have to remove and replace those couple of timbers .   

 

 

 

 

 

Have been trying different methods of lining the gunports and have decided on a double lining which although not entirely accurate hides the fact that my second planking is only 0.5 and with a 1mm instep would leave a noticeable edge ,plus i think the 0.5 lip is more realistic looking ,(my opinion others welcome???). It,s simply one strip of 0.5 with another stuck on top but steped back about 1mm ,still have a bit af cleaning up to do and the gunport lid is not glued yet as im still undecided about how to make them ,probably keep inside and out all

 

one wood as experiment with inside dark and outside light didn,t look right

 

 

The plasticgun carriages would probably be alright below decks but unlike the CC build Billings have very few that won,t be seen so i decided to replace them all and use my experimental ones below deck. My first one turned out ok but when trial fitting seems a bit low to the deck and i would prefere a darker wood for wheels so back to the drawing board!!!

the actual cannons come partly drilled but to far back and when fitted were top heavy as can be seen i redrilled further forward ,it payes to dry fit as far in front as possible !!

 

 

My recent two power tool purchases  ,have only played with the lathe but seems a great tool . The dremel saw is useful and as i get used to it and make a few alterations its a cheap fillin untill decide which proper saw to buy 

[clearway]

nice work so far my man. The whales do not follow the same line as the gun ports. I just googled hms victory- theres loads of nice shots of the whales- though they are a bit hard to pick out on some pics due to the colour scheme. Check my build log for victory- i think i have the planks running right on there.

Keith

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

It's looking very good so far. Well done. I just noticed Keith mentioning the run of the wales to you. Here are five photos showing the run of them from bow to the stern in sequence, but not size wise. However the photos do help to follow the run of them in conjunction to the gun ports if you understand. Keep enjoying your build...... DAVID

[shihawk]

Tks both for your concern about my wales but my problem is that if im not painting i have to create the stripes with the wales and therfore may have to move the run of the wales to maintain an equal strip  . Will be trying it out in the next couple of days and will post some pics to explain what i think i mean ??!!    If i can get it to look right im not that worried if its totally acurate 

[shihawk]

few pics of my atempt at Victory stripes and before anyone points it out i know the wales are not exactly where they should but it was the only way in my limited experience i could figure out how to do it without paint . Im happy with the overall result except for the gunports ,in hindsight i should not have tried finishing them before fitting the wales as quite a few now need realinement and i don,t want them to look patched up  

                   

i rubed a small sectionwith damp cloth to show nearer color when varnished  

   

 Not happy with lining for gunports  ,they aren,t definite enough so may change to a different better edged wood , more experimenting necessary  

 

 I think i asumed that it needed to be a redish wood but may now consider a different color as the rest of the build isn,t the proper colors anyway ,In a way its very liberating not to have to follow a set of strict plans or color schemes!!!                                               

[clearway]

Certianly looks o.k. from the photos- i noticed when marking out the gunports on mine while planking that some were out of line- i am building mine with the lids closed so will be easier to re-align them.

Keith

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

Well that is really coming on, and those wales look excellent. Well done Boyd. DAVID

[shihawk]

As i mentioned in my last post i wasn,t happy with the gunport linings ,have now come up with a combination i find more suitable . I first lined the port with same wood used to create the stripes 0.5x5mm  which gave a good clean hole which i then lined with the same wood as i used for the wales 1x3mm . I remember reading somewhere that when going for a non paint finish it,s best to stick to only  2 or 3 different wood types and think i now see the reasoning for this ,rather than trying to paint with wood ,certain shades and types seem to work together  ,of course this is in my eyes others will have different preferences

When seen together ,new on top old on bottom ,i,m sure you will agree ,any opinions welcome .Just a pitty i lined so many before i decided they were wrong!!! As im sure you realise by now i change my mind more often than i change my soaks 

[clearway]

I find that sometimes i do things and to me they stand out a mile with neon signs pointing to them! but when people are looking at the model you have to point it out to them! but she certianly looks the part and the new gunport linings do look great.

Keith

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

Yep the top ones are excellent, and the same quality continues. Well done. DAVID

[shihawk]

txs both,sometimes you have to see things done to know they just ain,t right !!it,s going to be tricky getting them all leveled and lined again ,not to mention getting them a uniform size ,i was a bit worried when i cut them out at the begining and it could be coming back to bite me now but slow and sure wins the race ( not that there is a race)Have Fun       

[shihawk]

As you will know from my previous post i made a bit of a horlics of my gunport openings and this was one part of the build i had been determined to do properly as i have seen a lot of pics of finished models spoiled because the gunports were all over the place . (Im setting myself up for a fall here) .Because i stupidly decided to roughly cut out my openings before fitting the wales, and then changed the position of the wales i finished up with high and low ports plus ones that were to big when properly squared . At one stage i considered ripping  out the strips between the wales and cutting all the ports again ,but thought before going to this extreme i would try to fix them and if i couldn,t i could still resort to this drastic and time consuming solution .I then concluded that i probably won,t be the first or last to make this mistake and so decided to show how i think i solved the problem ,as usual all views are welcome and any suggestions willingly accepted 

This is what i started out with having removed  0.5mm strips of stained cherry which i experimented with first, as you can see the timber surrounding the ports is 0.5 ,brittle and doesn,t have a shap edge ,chipped very easily when filling. I used it because when varnished it seems to turn yellowish and i had it in stock ,in hindsight i probably should have used Lime or similiar    . This time i carefully squared the holes especialy width wise as i can correct the height later on 

 

I then cut strip of the same wood to line the holes . Started at the bottom and depending on the hole it took 1,2 or 3 strips to finish 1mm above the level of the wale  ,i then measured up from this 13mm to give me the top of the hole ,again depending on the hole sometimes i had to file more of and sometimes i had to add a 0.5 strip if the hole was to big  Didn,t always add a strip at top cause i could get a straight edge filled with the run of the plank 

 

 

this shows the angles on the strips , by cutting them to big but at an angle it meant i could get a good tight fit easily an by leaving 1mm or so proud of the hull means that when carefully trimed of i finish with a reasonably straight edge flush with the hull This would also mean that anyone painting the inside of the ports could prepaint the strips and still have a clean unpainted edge to match the hull

 

 

This paticular port was far to wide and needed 2 strips up one side ,i would have used 1mm strip but only have 0.5 

 

 

I then lined the port properly with the same wood as the wales 1mm which has a good sharpe clean edge  These strips were cut with a small angle also and some fitted so tight that i only glued the top and bottom ones 

 

 

I then carefully trimed of the linings flush with the hull and gave a run of fine sandpaper 

 

 

And heres the finished gunport ,still might need a little sanding here and there . Maybe this will be of some use to some one sometime and if not i may need reminding myself the next time i start lining ports . Will show all when finished and you can tell me then that there still all over the place??? Have Fun 

 

[clearway]

thats looking great m8. will take a while to sort but will be worth it in the end.

Keith

[shihawk]

Finally got port linings finished on one side ,very tricky but after my previous statement i decided to give it my best effort .Im happy but not really looking forward to the other side although im waiting on more wood before i start so might make a few gun carriages for a change .

 

 

Would love to try a coat of varnish on the finished side to see how the colors come up and for protection but have read so much about glue not sticking on varnish im afraid to as i still have plenty to glue on the upper hull , i think i better hold of a while longer!!!, plus i discovered an odd springy plank and a few minor repairs needed on upper bow planking 

I redid my gun carriage to get it sitting at a better level and think the mark 2 will probably surfice 

 

 

Was tempted to order chucks carriages but thought i,d give a go myself and now that i have a design im happy with ill make up a few jigs for mass production , i think i need 20 odd thankfully much less than the cc kit 

 

 

 

the rings and cannon etc will be blackened but not sure how yet ,i bought a kit for this but  can,t find it . will try it out when i do   . might change the rings as i think they look slightly big ?? these are bought ones and i can make up smaller if i need to , any opinions welcomed !! when wood arrives i will try darker wheels although the pine ones don,t look to bad .

 

[Shipyard sid]

Hello Boyd

It's awesome !! A brilliant build. You are building something special for yourself. Just keep posting lots of photos for us all to enjoy Boyd. DAVID

[clearway]

looking good m8- also if you only varnish one side you may warp the hull- best do both sides at same time.

keith