HMS Victory by robipod - Caldercraft - 1805 version - first build

[robipod]

It's a long weekend here so I am not going anywhere near the mountains... Too crowded... LOL.. but this arrived in the mail today.

For anyone who hasn't seen the Hat Industrie 8098 British Marines and Sailors here it is

 

 

 

 

[robipod]

Poking along. Am really diverted by the scale figures. Searched the net for tips and discovered that I should be priming the figures first with a base coat before painting. Am really pleased with my decision to add bodies to the model. It gives it a different perspective. Now for 70 odd sailors, marines and those cannons for this deck....

Here's where I'm at

 

[mort stoll]

Hi Rob,

 

Your build is great. I am taking lots of notes which will save me lots of aggravation when I build my Victory. Question. I tried to order the sailors and marines and was told Hat has them on back order. How long ago did you order them.

 

Keep up the great work,

Mort

[robipod]

Mort I've been searching for a year! There are some scattered in some of the European shops. Am told I will get my next sets in three or four months if I'm lucky.  These people have some in stock if you want to order from them: http://www.1001modelkits.com/ and they have a US company so give them a visit on the net.

Edited February 22, 2014 by robipod

[mort stoll]

Thanks Rob, I will. The good news is I can wait as I plan to build the Diana next and then the Victory. I am just very anxious and I like to plan ahead and be as organized as possible.

 

All the best,

Mort 

[mort stoll]

Thanks Rob. I can afford to wait as I plan to build the Diana next. It is just that I like to be as organized as possible or ADD as the Admiral says.

 

Keep up the great work,

Mort

[robipod]

It's been a while. Practiced on the 1764 army figures and have been working on the Navy.  Painted up the plastic cannons in the Hat 8098 set to size up the future appearance. Decided to have the cannons pulled back and being loaded. This should 'fill the deck' and it I think will look ok. One thing I noticed with the pictures is that I have to get rid of the different coloured head gear. Looks a bit too colourful.. specifically red and green.. LOL....

Still haven't done one cannon from the kit. Seem to be stuck on painting the navy and getting it ready for this deck. Am getting better as I go. Have settled on various paint colours and will be listing them in a bit for anyone going to paint of these guys too. It sure adds lots of colour to the deck.

Figure these guys won't be seen too much. The most viewed will be those on the upper deck etc. The painting will have to be right on for them.

 

[robipod]

Here is a view of the paints for this dude. Eleven different colours. These are all  Valejo paints (air and non-air) except one Testors.  The air ones are thinner and fill in well. I noticed after taking the photo that there were a few extra caps in background so put a green dot on all used for this guy. The back right is Testors dullcote clear lacquer that I use as the final coat. The other two back row items are Valejo surface primer that I diluted with distilled water and a flat black paint I bought in Michael's.  Tried to position so you can read the colour names.

 

Next item to deal with on these figures is how to take the bases off and replace with something so there will be a little bit more surface to glue to deck other than their feet/boots. Picked up some clear pvc today .010 thick. Will experiment on my field army. Will cut their base off and glue to the pvc and then cut close to the feet. Will experiment.

 

[robipod]

This exercise of painting figures is going to work for the visuals I am looking for in the completed build. Here are views looking through the stern and along the deck. You might ask why am I concerned about showing some interior 'action' if all enclosed. Yes it will be enclosed but I am going to have the whole deck lit so the interior will show from the stern and from topside a portion will show. The experiments on the figures on the middle deck were worth the 'delay'. By the way, the clear pvc for the figure base works! I've done several tests on the field Army. Am ready to roll on the Navy. It brings the figures a couple mm lower when I chop off the base.

 

[robipod]

Done my first set of Hat 8098 figures. Now have a Navy to run the ship. As I won't get the next sets for a while it is on to the gun carriage assemblies and the rest of the deck. Can't get over how colourful the ship looks with the added figures. Really seems to bring her to life. As I will be gluing these guys on the deck I am going to work on the quarterdeck and fit it before I start rigging the gun carriage assemblies et al. Working with a relatively bare deck at this point will keep the bumps and scrapes to the deck features to a minimum. Will put the Navy on shore leave.

Besides I have to figure out the lighting layout as well so best complete before the shore leave is over. My painting skills have improved but am happy these guys will be buried on the upper gun deck (no pun intended). Will do another set for this deck so there will be about another 46 sailors to add. There is a total of 82 figures on the deck at this time. Have been checking YouTube and there are plenty of suggestions on how to paint. One thing that I was told is to always have the paint warm. So the paint bottles sat on the radiator. When it was time to paint turned up the heat a couple degrees a half hour before I started.

Here is one site that I found very useful on painting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJuQvVjdNCA

Below is my first Navy -- of sailors and Marines. I just realized there are no officers. LOL... hmmmm. Well that is something to think about for the summer. Now back to the ship. Paints are put away. Am heading to the mountains. There is a ton of snow and only two more months before they close. Spring riding is the best!

Edited March 29, 2014 by robipod

[robipod]

Lots of snow in the mountains and snow here in the city. Well, snow in the city until tomorrow. There is speculation in the weather forecasts that spring will arrive in the morning. We will see. Made two gun carriages. Am finding that it is important to keep the paint to a minimum. Will be diluting the third carriage paint a bit with distilled water to see if it makes a difference.

 

Ordered Blacken-It from Imperial Hobbies in Vancouver to blacken the cannons and other brass. Unfortunately they are back ordered for four weeks. Guess that gives me no excuse and will have make the rest of the carriages.

 

Diverted a bit this evening to re-create my ammunition boxes. Have made them 10 mm like Nick re-suggested to me. (I had forgotten he told me the size he used - the memory is great but really short.. LOL) Found the golden insignia does not show up as well on the smaller boxes. The ones I did before that were too big for ammunition boxes.  I've scattered the larger ones around and the gold colour insignia shows up well on them. (there are some images a few pages back).  A bit faint on these.  I'm thinking they look like King George III royal cigar boxes...

 

But they will do just fine... making up 45 at the moment. Will put them with each cannon station. Oh, each has one coat of testor's decal sealer and a matt finish decal solution Micro Flat by by Microscale Industries, Inc. Will try a second coat of the matt finish and see what happens. (edit - just looked at the decals and they are flat finish now - when I took the picture they were still a bit damp from the Micro Flat solution - won't need a second coat)

 

Oh, you can see the decals that were made up to the right and left. I did the one with the gold GR and Nick did the other crest (am thinking so anyway - we did it a while ago). Used the testors decal sheets, my graphic design software (I use CorelDraw)  and the colour inkjet printer.

 

on to the carriages!

Edited April 4, 2014 by robipod

[mort stoll]

Hi Rob,

Where did you get the decals for the ammo boxes?

 

Mort

[robipod]

Mort - I made them up using printer, corel photopaint and the testors decal paper.

[robipod]

Continuing with building the upper gun deck cannons. Waiting for blackening solution to arrive for barrels etc. Recalled a partial crew for an hours drills. Threw it all together for a moment to pause and evaluate where I'm going with my 'extras'. Upon viewing this image am very satisfied that the deck will look 'alive'. Building the gun carriages like the copper tiles is not that tough a challenge. It looks daunting but I find it is going along reasonably well. I do two to four at a time. Thought about the idea of an assembly line approach like some have done but decided against it. Find that as I go along each gun carriage gets a bit better.

A tip that I've figured out. When cutting the gun carriages and wheels out of the wood make a shallow cut on one side of the piece holding the object to the wood pattern. Flip it over and then make the final cut through the wood. It seems to make a better complete cut. I initially tried to push the blade all the way through from one side. Not sure I've explained well enough but there you go.

On to the final gun carriages. Looks like rigging the cannons will be an interesting time!

[robipod]

Saddened today to hear of the passing of Hubert Sicard. He made a wonderful contribution to the world with his Wooden Ship Modeling for Dummies. If you haven't visited his site take a few days and enjoy. http://www.shipmodeling.ca/aaplandusite.html

[robipod]

How did you line up the holes for the eyelets on the gun ports? This is how I've done it.

Went to store and bought a clear polyester sheet .02x7.6"x11". Measured the height from deck to the top of the gun ports and cut a piece about 2 inches long. Used a black magic marker to highlight each side of a gun port and then measured 5mm on each side. Decided on the height of the two holes and manually drilled the holes with .07 drill bit. They lined up..(I was quite surprised and pleased to say the least. LOL) .Purchased a set of PaperMate mechanical pencils for $1.79 with .7 lead .  So not counting the drive to hobby store and Walmart the cost was $4.49 (with tax). Used the lead pen to mark where I will manually drill the holes for the eyelets. (btw - there is a pull-off plastic protective sheet on each side of the sheet when you purchase it.)

That's how I created my template.

Here are the pictures.

 

 

 

 

[robipod]

I see it's been over two months since I posted. Time flies when it is summer! No flood this year so just watied until Blacken-It arrived from Vancouver. Oh, did it take a while! Arrived a couple weeks ago but other activities have gotten in the way. Started the chemical baths for the cannons. It seems to take forever and very inconsistent. Each time seems to be an experiement and I've already gone through one two ounze bottle with ten cannons. And redone four. The third batch seems to be a bit better but I decided to just paint one black this evening and put a matte finish on it. That took about a minute to paint. This chemical dipping takes hours and hours and I've tried up to four at a time and figured it doesn't work so well with multiple cannons. So back to one at a time.

The picture is cannons four to seven. I ended up with them going into the blacken-it three times. These have a coat of matte varnish. Have drawn no conclusions other than the time is a major consideration. I have decided to strip one to three and re-do. Have three more in the varnish stage that I've used chemicals.

Oh, i use miratic acid bath, then distilled water, a dip in vinegar for a while followed by distilled water dip, then the blacken-it dip and again followed by distilled water. (The distilled water bath is separate for each one). So much for three coffee cups. LOL

 

[robipod]

Made a decision that the inconsistencies are not going to show up in the long run. Did the last ten one at a time. Was doing them two at a time in the Blacken-It.  I sense it worked a bit better one at a time but it sure took lots more time. Have now completed 30 cannons for the upper gun deck( the barrels that is).

 

I am tempted to paint the dummy cannons so tried one after sitting in the vinegar, cleaned with water and then used a primer. Let it dry and put a matte varnish on it. It is not too shabby. As I am down to my last half ounce of blacken-it, another order is going to cost about $100 to do all the cannons.  Painting the dummies will do just fine!

 

While waiting for the blackening to work, I tried out my idea of cutting small clear plastic bases under the feet for the sailors. It is going to work out as well. Will round the ones in the picture rather than leaving rectangular as they are below.

Apoligies for the grammar. LOL

 

[robipod]

Lots to do on the upper gun deck but diverted to lighting. Went back to edit this post and the embedded video went to youtube land so I've lost the embedded option. Trying again to put up an embedded video.

 

Edited July 19, 2014 by robipod

[robipod]

As mentioned have been painting the 32 pounders and now started the 24's. I must be avoiding the rigging of the 32 pounder carriages... LOL... Made my barrel holder and complete eight at a time. Two coats of Caldercraft metal primer. Two coats of dull black paint and one coat of matt lacquer. Not overly exciting but it seems to work. Was trying to figure out where to store them after I painted them and decided to push them into their holes of the gun ports. At least will know if I'm missing any. No 32's missing. Must do the red on them. Hmmm... thinking of an ink pad with red ochre paint on it. Wonder if that will work?

 

Had fun with my "Lights on Video" and figured out how to embed a video rather than link. Am very pleased with the image that the video displays as the intro as it does seem to suggest my interior will look pretty good. The crazy part is that once I put the beakhead walls up nobody is going to see the 'view'.

Here is my contraption for the painting. Made from 5 x 5 mm wood that I picked up at Canadian Tire for 1.99. Which reminds me to mention.

 

At the Canadian Tire store there is a small display that has various pieces of small cut wood. Find it if you can. I notice it is in different sections in Calgary stores but close to the tools section. Cheap wood various thicknesses and convenient shopping. (for my fellow Canadians)

I have found no pieces of wood etc. at Tims.

 

The barrels in the back have just spent 5 hours in the white vinegar. Come out all shiney and ready for painting. Another sep that I take is to warm the barrels before painting. As I pre-soaked these ones, I will put eight in a cup and run them under hot water for five minutes before applying the metal primer.

 

Just noticed there is no perspective as to size of the painting base. Will go find another image to add. Pictures are easier to look at I find.

 

 

 

 

Bonus picture...

Cannon barrel as seen by me in the hold of Victory when I made the tour way back when.. don't think we will see anything like this again for some time!

 

[rshousha]

Rob, 

 

This is really impressive. I went through your whole build this morning, bit by bit. I got a real kick out of the pictures in the gun ports. That's a great piece of imagination. Well done!

 

I will keep coming back to follow the rest of the build. 

 

Best Regards, 

 

Rick Shousha

Montreal

[robipod]

Thanks Rick.. I finally am getting back to the build. It's been a very busy summer. I was able to rig all of two cannons. LOL... not much and snowboarding started yesterday for the next six months. I best crack the whip! Painted the shipyard this summer and for that matter the whole place. Will see how the colour change works on pictures of the Victory. FYI - in the long run, lining the gun ports doesn't seem to make much difference. But it was fun coming up with an alternative. The biggest challenge on the gun ports is lining up the drill for the right angle of the guns... I was off a bit on some. Oh well, back now to the build.

[robipod]

So much for "getting back to the build". Have been riding and riding this winter. Didn't expect so much of this:

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yw2Ss9K1G7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

But I did make six canons. Still working out what will be the final product. Scale vs optics is the question for me. Not sure how it will work out. Will put canons I don't like buried inside... LOL..

 

Edited April 19, 2015 by robipod

[robipod]

How time flies.

Just haven't been able to get back to ship until now. This past year has been way too busy. LOL... I guess better than nothing to do. Snowboard season is upon us with great conditions in the mountains. But the shipyard calls and after a few interior modifications I've struck out again trying to sort out these darn canons. I've been procrastinating way to long.

As usual, I've decided to modify and change things a bit. I've been doing the canons one at a time to get an idea how to best (for me) put them on the deck with their rigging etc. Rather than sticking with the 1 mm and .5 mm thread recommended in the plans I decided to upgrade to 1.7 mm for the thicker ropes. My view is that it is visually pleasing enough that I'm sticking with 1.7. The balance are .5 mmm thread.

 

I also purchased a roll of thread that I use for the blocks and rings on the canons that I "mount". That is I use the commercial thread to make the block and pull tight to the side of the canon carriage. (I'm as wordy as ever!). I've included photos of my knot work. (Glue is awesome    As it is all under the carriage I figured who other than those I tell will ever know. And, besides, there are only ten of the carriages on the upper gun deck that will be 'seen' so I can experiment and bury others deep inside ...

 

Found an old chain somewhere and then separated each link. I use the ring to hold the 1.7 mm thread close to the carriage. It's a bugger to form the thread into some decent looking shape to 'lay' beside the carriage so the ring helps. ( I see that the heavier guns had rings on the carriage so I decided to make it standard for all my canons. Not to proper regulations but what the heck.

 

The .5 mm is also a bugger to figure out how to tie down so it will look half decent but I best get all the first gun deck canons ready before I start to go solving the rigging appearance. There you go. I took a picture of some of the canons so you can get a sense of the 1.7 mm. Most of the canons you see, if not all, will be buried under the deck... They are just sitting there -- out of the way for now...

 

Well, I'm back in the saddle so to speak.It's nice to be back.

 

[Seventynet]

Hello Rob, good to have you back - from your fellow Calgary Victory modeller! Everything's looking ship-shape. I'll be following along from now on.

 

Best, Ian

[robipod]

Moving along this week quite well. Now have 12 done. Have settled on this configuration.

 

[robipod]

With the 1.7 mm thread.

[robipod]

As I was messing around with the canons I thought someone might like to see the work area. Didn't realize how many tools i've been using. Hmmm.. might start surgery somewhere. I understand it pays well.

 

Please ignore the overall mess. Heck it's a shipyard with only one builder.....  The two pieces of white paper I put down on the cutting boards has been handy. Can see all the small parts. But I need the lighted magnifying glass to put them together.. LOL...

Oh, and the small blade is there but i seldom use it. (it likes being in photos). Main tools are tweezers, flat pliers, (two pair to pull thread tight) and two type of scissors -- the Tamiya and the ones with a light blue handle. The blue handled ones are great for fine cutting the metals.) The clips are a great asset too. Oh, and two manual drills. The wire cutters are to cut the nails for the hinge plates on the canon. (I think that's what they are called --- I could look them up but... :im Not Worthy: ) I am really pathetic on proper names for the ship.

Oh, and the best one is the black wire in front of the glue with the hook. Use it to snag the thread in and around the carriage while looking through the magnifying glass. Oh, for some younger eyes.

It really is a mess and I did clean up for the photo but... the carriage at the front is number 15!

 

 

[robipod]

Hope all had a merry Christmas. Now for another year next week too. Always seem to be the same since I was a kid... Christmas then a new year.. hmmmm...

 

Have been plugging away at the canons and slowly they take shape on the deck. But, not as slow as last year. LOL... Have been drilling three sets and then rigging them. I was going to continue rigging the canons after I drilled the last of the holes on the bulwark. Woops, would have been a mistake to continue. Have included a picture of my drilling machine. LOL... If I had rigged the final canons I wouldn't be able to drill the holes on the starboard bulwark. So, there you go. Make sure there is room to drill the other side. Placed a canon on the starboard side to give some perspective. (I see finger drills are available but can't find any here in Calgary). Am pleased with the rigging. My canons will be in various positions as they will be "manned".

 

Haven't figured out what to do with the ropes. Better figure out how to do coils.

Nor have I figured out how many men and placement. Another challenge... down the line... have to figure out coils so they won't trip when I place them on the deck.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robert29]

Hi Rob,

 

Very nice work, just started a log for my new build of the HMS Victory.  I will be visiting your build. 

 

Robert