Making sails for HMS Victory

[rafterrat_2005]

Is there a better more clear scale drawings for all of her sails? The last plan, Mamoli 1:90 scale, can't there be better, prints or something that I can use so I can make them. I'm either going to rig her in full sail or not.

[pompey2]

I think you will find a reasonable set of sail plans in Alan McGowan's 'HMS Victory: her construction, career and restoration'

I'm not at home to check for sure but if memory serves they are pretty thorough.

 

Nick

[allanyed]

Frankie,

I think the consensus is sails on a model at scales such as 1:98 look terrible.   They are near impossible to make to scale regarding thickness and sewing pattern, they make rigging more difficult, and they cover from view  a lot of the work that goes into the model.

Allan

[dafi]

I think AOTS and McGowan/McKay give a nice overview about all the sails.

 

I did not check if the details are fitting 100% but it looks like a great base to start with.

 

I would not say that it is impossible to do the sails at this scale, as Blue Ensign nicely proved with his Praetorian.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/152-le-superbe-by-blue-ensign-heller-plastic-built-as-le-praetorian-after-boudriot/

 

If more details needed, contact me PM.

 

Cheers, Daniel

[Kevin]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HMS-Victory-Construction-Career-Restoration/dp/1840675322

this the book i am going to use for my sail, as and when i get to them, i agree i am in a minority wrt putting sails on, bit i am also going to include stuns as well

as to why few do it i am not sure, perhaps at the end of a three year build - builders want to move onto newer projects

[allanyed]

Having just seen Blue Ensigns photos,  I humbly stand corrected as he has shown it can be done.

 

Allan

[mtdoramike]

I have the Artesania Latina Vic kit and they have line drawing of the sails with measurements. I will have to make a few sails since they left out a couple of them by the manufacture. I look at sails this way, do you want to hide all that rigging work? Some models look great with full sail, some do not. As far as the plastic models with prefab sails, they look great because it's almost impossible to make billowing sails the way the plastic sails look. The closest I have come to this look was to sew in thin wire into the edges of the sails, which helps, but still isn't as good as the plastic molded sails. 

[Paul0367]

Mike, would it be possible to run a fan behind the sails (cloth) and as they bellow spray starch on them and allow to dry. Just a thought, I've not tried this.

[mtdoramike]

That might be worth a try Paul, I have heard of several different attempts with starch, but this is a new one. It might work if you position two dowel rodson a platform, attach the sails to the dowel rods and put the fan in back of the sail.  

[mtaylor]

Paul,

 

As test, you might try some matte lacquer instead of starch also.

[pompey2]

That's an interseting thought.

You would need to think about wind direction carefully.

It's rarely from directly astern and the finished model would need to reflect a common direction.

 

Nick

[michaelpsutton2]

I recently borrowed this book from the library.

 

Period ship Modeling: an illustrated masterclass: the Building of the American Privateer Prince de Neufchatel by Phillip Reed.

 

In it he shows how to make remarkable small scale sails from tissue dipped in diluted paint.

 

 

[foxy]

You could have the sails furled and this would show more detail, ships in Harbour had there sails removed for repair etc, but still carried some furled.

At sea that would be an other story, I see no problem having sails fully extended, but it all depends on what scale you chose.
The smaller the better.
1/100 will give you a good size to work on.
anything larger will have to be detailed more.

I can see why the larger rigged ships have no sails, but it can be done.

foxy

[keelhauled]

Wow!  that is a great looking sail.  I think that the shape of the sail looks great!  I'm really looking forward to the step-by-step process!

[pilidk]

Hello Frankie,

Great looking sails!

I am about to decide whatever to put sails on my 1:98 Mantua Victory Kit.

I cannot find anywhere  a sail plan withe the correct measures....

I Have the Longridge book and others books about Victory, but they do not

come with more precisions about how to make the sails and what dimensions to use.

Do you have any clue where to find them? Maybe you do have those dimensions already ?

 

Best regards

Philippe

[foxy]

Look forward to your step by step process Frankie.

 

I to would like to put sails on my Heller 1/100 Victory, I believe they would look much better.

 

I am thinking on using the Mantua sail cloth for this.

 

Frank

[EricWilliamMarshall]

The link is bad.

[timjina]

Hi my fellow model makers I'm writing in defence of putting sails on models. As we all have seen some models with and some without sails and I will say from the outset apart from furled sails ,a lot look unrealistic. However I have discovered a small clip on YOUTUBE  It is a sales clip for Captain Cooks Endeavour and shows the ship with sails. The sails are nearly all in different stages of being dropped or unfurled and none look tight or false.  The builder of the model displays a mastery of depicting a model with sails and I have used the clip a few times freezing it at different stages to get a better look. I would really enjoy it if the model maker had a master class on YOUTUBE.....I also really enjoy Tom Lauria's master classes also on YOUTUBE there is one depicting realistic sail placement.....I hope this is of some help.......We have an amazing hobby....Take care during this Corona virus

Edited March 26, 2020 by timjina

[GrandpaPhil]

In Bjorn Landstrom’s “The Ship”, there is a two page picture of Victory under full sail that is clear enough and precise enough that I intend to use it to make my sails (I’ll have to modify the dimensions slightly to account for variances between my model and the picture).

[acaron41120]

Has anyone tried using silk span for sails? It works well with wood model airplanes and would seem easier to work with if having the sails furled on a wood model ship.

[druxey]

Silkspan has been used for sails and flags by many model-makers with excellent results.

[rwiederrich]

Paper works amazing and is extremely forgiving.

 

Rob