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

[clearway]

Nice work with the cannons Boyd- don't forgetb that there is that much detail on Victory that people wont really notice any little compromises

Keith

[shihawk]

think i have finally finished the gun deck , No doubt there will be something to add later on but at present this is all i can think of ?

 

 

 A couple of things worth mentioning , the variation in deck color should have been corrected at the time ,and in hindsight should not have been left as is but i can,t bear the thought of ripping it up . To be honest it shows up more on the pic than in real life and i had thought that the next deck would have hidden it more ,but lesson learned for the upper deck .Pick your timber !!!!! the gratings are not to my liking , i cut the ply ones out and fitted new frames ,but when varnished some of  the ply went a lot darker than i thought , again a different aproach will be used on the top deck . I stuck a couple of barrels in , probably not in the proper place but thought they might add to the look ? I can,t imagine any circumstances in real life when cannons would be rigged like this but it keeps everything nice and tidy and anyway this ain,t real life !!  As you can see i have dry fitted the main deck and it needed a lot of trimming again in hindsight it should have been fitted earlier as per plans ,but i thought i was being clever leaving myself room to work at the cannons , It,s possible it will cause more problems when planking ,but time will tell , after all problems are for solving . As usual i will replace all the ply fittings on the main deck and dry fit as far in advance as possible.  I,m glad to finish the cannons ,those 2mm blocks can try your patience and although there are more to make for the top deck a break is welcome

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clearway]

I followd the destructions about fitting the decks Boyd and am now trying to figure the best way to rig the cannons on the main deck.

Keith

[shihawk]

Now i don,t feel so bad Keith , I don,t think maybe they intended the cannons to be rigged and really the side rigging is barely visible , so rather than dislocate your arm to fit them they might not be missed ,but it,s your call ??  Im about to start sorting through about 80 strips of maple to see if i can find enough the same to plank the upper decks ,don,t want a repeat of the lower one !!!

[shihawk]

Just spent a couple of hours selecting the maple strips for the top deck , Finished up with 15 out of 78 which are a similiar shade and texture  hopefully this will be enough but still have a few second choise in reserve

 

 

I think i,ll leave the hatches etc untill after planking ,easier fitted !

 

 

The difference in color in planking on lower deck is very noticeable from certain angles ,not as much from others ,i just hope final fittings and rigging etc will hide it

 

 

 

Weather here is deteriating so mite get a couple of long days at the decking , looking forward to it after the cannon rigging !!!

 

 

[clearway]

weather is the same here in cumbria m8 with some really nasty weather forecast midweek. to be honest i like the variations in wood shade- shows she hasn't been mass produced nd there is so much detail on the finished ship it will detract from the vary shade!

Keith

[shihawk]

Planking going reasonably smoothly, got a good long day at it to-day . spent a lot of time preparing the strips and trying to keep a constant color ,discovered that even changing the direction of the grain can make a noticable difference . first pic shows wrong way and second the same plank ,same side ,but turned end to end . thought this worth a mention for anyone new to planking ?

 

 

 

Fairly straightforward once i got the butt system worked out , there is still some variation in color and i hope it won,t be exagerated by the varnish  ,. Am wondering is this the same with all maple and all lighter color woods , Would lime have been a better , easier choise ??  Or do i need to change my wood supplier ?? Time will tell .

 

 

 

As i thought the trimming of the deck to fit will leave me an uneven edge but i am hoping this can be solved ,hidden by using a wider plank along the edges and might mean i can joggle , if that,s the correct term , the curve at the bow ?

 

 On a lighter note the last pic show,s a small accident , none killed but 3 crew injured , . My main concern is how to hide it , been thinking maybe a box or even a couple of coiles of rope ??

 

 

 

[clearway]

Coil of rope should suffice there i think Boyd, Deck planking looks great.

Keith

[shihawk]

Main deck planking complete and am fairly happy with the color ,however i won,t know for sure untill the first coat of varnish and by that time it will be to late to change so i think i will have to be satisfied whatever the result  .So long as the shading differences are minimal deck furnature etc will break it up.

 

 

 

 

As i mentioned in an earlier post i thought i could have problems because i didn,t fit the false deck early enough ,and although i had to trim a fair bit to make it fit at least it finished up within 1mm of being even at the sides . I used a wide margin plank to make it easier and this ment i was able to try out "joggling", if thats the right word  . Although it was only a couple of planks at the bow i think it looks better than running out the planks  .By the time i fit the cap rail and maybe a "water board or plank " i,m not sure of the correct name ,the extra width of the margin plank hopefully will be hidden .

Is matt poly still considered the best for decks or is there something even less glossy , i don,t want any  crew breaking a leg , i,m already 3 down after the last accident ????

 

 

 

 

 

[gjdale]

That deck looks lovely Boyd.

[clearway]

Looking niceeeeeee Boyd- have you tried Ronseal quick drying matt varnish which is water based and re coatable in one hour! just try some on a few off cuts first to see what you think, i use it on all my models now whether plastic metal or wood

Keith

[shihawk]

Hi all , progress has been painfully slow ,to much else going on . I think that Christmas every 5 years would be often enough . I found it difficult to get more than a couple of hours at any one time on the build and with some of the finer work it takes that long to pick up where i left off ,if that makes sense ? Have managed to finish planking the quarter deck and cut a few corners on the widows etc below it , everything is there but just didn,t be to particular as it won,t be seen . All the fittings have been scratch built using the ply parts as a guide ,it,s a good way to learn scratching and although some parts aren,t perfect i,m happy with the most of them ,learning all the time . The brass rails etc around the staircase were a suprise after the lack of brass for the stern decor and i,m not sure that they don,t look a bit out of place but i think i can live with them . Not that much new in the pics but at least every thing is covered up now and once the cap rails are finished no more ply will be visible 

 

 

 

 

 

[GLakie]

She's looking really great Boyd. Always had a fascination with all the beautiful detail in this one.   Happy New Year!

 

Cheers 

[gjdale]

Looking superb Boyd.

[shihawk]

few pics of resent progress on caprails etc 

 

 

 

one in the middle a bit wonky, will have to get the hammer out

 

 

 

Curves caused a few problems ,after a few bending failures i carved them from box section 

 

 

 

Probably should not have varnished so soon as there are still some posts to go on the rails ,but these will be pinned anyway and i wanted to see the finished color before i went any further, never sure of what i will finish up with . Happy . 

[GLakie]

Gotta echo what John said Boyd! Nice! 

 

Cheers 

[shihawk]

John ,  The thought of turning you green is a compliment indeed , and i thank you for it ,but having seen some of your work i,m the Hulk ?

 Glakie, thanks for the support , it,s much appreciated .I had thought that not painting would mean a simpler build but am realising there is no hiding anything under paint and once i put the first coat of varnish on the color scheme changes drastically ,and not always for the best , but i,m learning!!!

 

On a different topic i have talked myself into buying a proxxon MF70 mill, don,t know exactly what i will use it for but research shows it,s a usefull machine and i need something for finner work other than files and blades ,thats my excuse anyway !! I think you mentioned that you had one John and i was wondering if either of you have any pro,s or con,s  ,i did ask the question on the forum about which add ons i should order with it , the percission vice and keyless chuck seem to be essential ,any advice welcome ?

[shihawk]

For some time i have getting concerned about DUST , not only the build up on my build but the fact that i must also be breathing in a lot as well  . I bought a small sort of shop vac and a cheap air purifier which did help but using a lathe or the nanogrinder still left a lot of dust everywhere . As i needed to reconstruct my workspace i fitted a new table and thought i would try to fix some type of dust collector to connect to my vac . It,s simply made with 2 ins pipe and although the cone is only cardboard and tape it works extremely well and will surfice in the mean time . The motosaw has a collection duct and the hose from the vac is easily changed between the two pipes  . Even hand fileing causes a lot of dust and i have started wearing a mask ,maybe it,s because i wear magnifiers and so hold the work up close .

 

 

 

 

I just thought i,d mention this as i never considered dust would cause me any problems , but working in a confined space for long periods of time it can be dangerous .

 

Now back to the build although i do have a couple of new proxxon toys to play with with for a while first ,my MF 70 arrived today and i can,t wait to get trying it out  . This second childhood is great !!!!

 

All i need now to make my life complete is a Jim saw ???????????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2015 by shihawk

[GLakie]

I like your work-space Boyd! Good choice for the Mill and accessories. Oh, about your recent purchases, who's the "lucky" one now? 

 

Cheers 

[shihawk]

John , a pic would be good ,it will take me a while to get my head around all the possible uses ,

 

GLakie , i was waiting for that ,you drove me to it .

[knotty74]

Boyd - if my Billings Victory ends up looking half as good as this, I'll be very pleased indeed!

 

Re the stern galleries, how did you end up doing the window frames? There is no "noughts and crosses" board with the kit (like there is with the Jotika one) to go in each aperture, so what did you use to make it so neat?

[shihawk]

Chris , I looked at different methods of recreating the frames and there are a few ,thread is one , styrene strips , sticky tape , but finished up using very fine strips of wood , I had a few lengths of Lime and found them the easiest to cut so thin .As you will see in my log i started with thin plastic for glass and then built the windows piece by piece . A slow fine process but i achieved the result i had in my mind .The strips were cut by hand with sharp knife .

[shihawk]

In an earlier post i mentioned the color or shade difference which showed om my lower deck after a coat of varnish . I went to great pains to try and prevent the same thing happening on my top deck choosing the strips carefully,and marking them to make sure i kept the grain running the same way etc , 

 

 

I could live with that ,but 

 

 

and

 

 

I can,t figure out what i did wrong , i purposely picked in daylight and wet them to make sure they were all the same shade yet from a certain angle they look like two different woods , I won,t be changing them it,s too much work but i don,t think i will use Maple again !!!!

 

 One other minor thing i would mention to anyone else building this kit  ,Parts 42 A and 42B are numbered incorrectly and should be swapted   .Part 55 i can,t find and still can,t figure what it is , i simply replaced the proper 42A with hand made posts 

[GLakie]

Some nice, neat, planking Boyd! This is just a thought, but is it possible the direction of the grain-flow is reversed on those planks? Maybe rotating 180 degrees end-for-end, leaving the same face up, might change the appearance of the shading? Don't know about maple too much, but maybe a test of a few planks might show something one way or the other. 

 

Cheers

[shihawk]

I,M beginning to think similiar , Could it be that when i turned the ship around to do the other side i did,nt turn the planks . could explain it ?Am i a twat or am i a twat ????  I know that rotating end to end makes a difference that was one of the things i tried to avoid so i marked all the planks to run in the one direction but did i remember to turn the planks when i turned the ship  . The only way i will know is to lift a few and reverse them . that takes care of the rest of this week !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[clearway]

<<<<agrees with John, and as i said a few posts back it shows she ws planked individually Boyd.

Keith

[shihawk]

If i had mixed the strips  and had dark and light mixed i think it would have been more acceptable  . I can remember changing plank direction on the other section of deck but can,t think if i did it on the forward section . This was the one part of the build i wanted to do well so if it has to come off so be it  . I must pay the price for my stupidity so i won,t do it again , It,s the way to learn .I had thought the bottom deck would not be noticeable but i see it every time i look at the ship  so if this can be fixed i think sooner rather than later .

[clearway]

Things like that will always stand out more for you as you are aware of it Boyd (i have been there myself lots of times!)

Keith

[shihawk]

Had diffs picking replacement strips for deck ,had used all the best in first attempt but after a couple of false starts i found the only way was to varnish the strip before commiting . Still not perfect but will have to do ,hopefully deck fittings will cover any differences 

 

 

 

 

Just as a matter of interest is there a simple way to decide the grain direction or is it just hit and miss  ? I read how some one else had similiar problems but had mixed the planks more randomly which i think i could have lived with , or as i suggested earlier do i need to change my wood supplier ??? .Has anyone had the same problem with Lime or Holly ??? 

 

While i was waiting for the varnish to dry i made the 4 ladders down to middle deck  I used the brass freestanding handrails ,which  i think i seen  used by  somewhere else . Maybe not authentic but practical .

[GLakie]

I can't detect any differences from one side to the other Boyd. You did a great job matching them up. I've never worked with Holly or Boxwood before so I can't really say if the direction of the grain is detectable. But it's easily spotted with your courser grained wood. It'll curve slightly one way or the other. Never seen perfectly straight grained wood before.

 

Cheers