HMS Victory by dafi - Heller - PLASTIC - To Victory and beyond ...

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Daniel

 

Sail from a real master, I would crunch my fingers before only one seam is done.................

 

Regards

Gerhard

[Gahm]

Amazing job on those sails, Daniel! It looks fantastic!

 

Thomas

[Paul Jarman]

Amazing job. I keep double checking the title to make sure I am looking at a plastic kit build. With all the extras this is as good as any wooden model kit. Can't wait to see this fully rigged and sails fluttering.

[dafi]

Thank you all for the nice comments.

 

@Richard.

Looks like you did not manage to go through the whole report yet ;-)

Still further down the page there is more about the copper ...

#22

... and down the road you will find more here ...

#53

... and the most important update here:

#1113

... and some more adventures there:

#1203

 

Actually the Copper is laid over the original Heller structure which surprisingly gets the pattern quite well. Only flaw is the exaggerated height of the overlap. Seen the original thickness and compared to the scale, actually no step should be visible. Even pictures from coppered ship´s bottoms do not reveal the step, only real close ups do show. Next life I will sand the plastic imitations down and will tile the copper flat, the overlap just indicated by a hint of nails.

 

Also there are much more shades of color on weathered copper, telling the story what the ship did last and where it has been, see here:

#35

 

Cheers Daniel

 

[dafi]

Not too much time to tinker lately due to my working scheme and other private commitments.

 

In the meantime I was already looking for my cat for quite a while. 

 

And how do you know, that you found the new daytime hideout of this feline creature?

 

 

Very easy, the box with the spare parts is drowned in cat hair and cat sand and the the plastic bags inside show a suspicious unidirectional scratching pattern ...

 

... luckily all this leftovers were not to be used anyway as I alraedy prepared scratch replacements ...



... but even myself could not have destroyed the parts better, and I AM a professional in this sense :-)
 

 

 

Next modeller´s meeting there will be a lot of chilly con cat ;-)

 

XXXDAn

[amateur]

No harm done: you never use the parts from the box

 

Jan

[dafi]

Ok, no cat got harmed

so far

.

 

I think every scale needs its own technic, as the challenges change. For scale 1:48 thin cloth can work out fine, from smaller than 1:150 paper gets a wonderful choice. My scale of 1:100 is somewhere in-between: The cloth is too coarse or too transparent, on the other hand the sails are too big for paper, also I would like to add some details, that would be difficult in paper alone.

In real life I did not have to much time to tinker around due to job and privet commitments, but some small experimenting I could afford. 

I prepared a small extract of a stay sail, using my laminate technic. I reinforced the leeches by 0,3 mm copper wire

The material is that thin, one can see the copper shining through.

Took a wet cotton stick and resoftened the sail partially to slowly form a soft wave.

The anvil were the handles of a scissors and the hammer was the hot iron.

And here the fascinating thing, how the appearance changes with the different moods of light ...

... as originally intended :-)

OK, one could guess what comes next ?!? Almost.

Another reason for testing to see the limits of the material. And what should I say?!?

If one uses hard and pointed tools to make smaller crisps into the material and one slips, the material breaks!

But also one can see the benevolence of the material ...

... cleaned and a new leech glued on - this time no copper inside - and it looks like new!

And to prove that this invention is really mine, I left a good part of genetic material in the superglue to provide enough DNA-Tests for the future :-)

Then formed the hanks for the stay ...

... and tried to fix  them, still without leech rope, but still it was quite stable.

First trials on the right were not so really shipshape, useful was the third hand of table, clamp and clamping tweezers.

And slowly ...

... I was happy. Even though the fixture of the hanks is on the really outer edge, it proves to be very stable.

So tried the technic on my small sample and heaved it up.

Even though it looks soft, it is quite rigid and keeps well the form due to the white glue used to stiffen it up.

Then resoftened with a wet cotton stick partially to get the wave stronger (remember - went bad already once ...)

But this time it worked out fine :-)

So slept over night - or perhaps not that good as one of the 17 beers that night must have been bad ...

... felt a bit crunched and wrinkled and had the feeling, the sail should exactly represent that.

... fits ...

...

XXXDAn

[lambsbk]

Incredible Daniel.

[dafi]

Born out of a brain fart while joking around in the german forum, a crazy idea became reality and within 12 hours more than 12 people already wanted to take part in it.

Soon later we had 20 pirates from all over Germany plus some admiralties in tow that went to the Ijsselmeer, or better to say the Markermeer in the Netherlands.

In a well planned and immaculately executed attack we were successfully boarding the beautiful Staatenjacht Utrecht and we found ourselves in the mids of our wildest pirate dreams.

And so the scum of several german forums gathered underneath the blood-red-yellow-lioned flag.

Foolhardy pirates ...

... applecakesmutjes ...

... in short, the whole landlubbery motley crew was overwhelmed ... 

... as the cake was marvelous and more important than the captains speech: "If we sink, do not panic, the water is only approx. 2 meters deep, so be prepared to only get wet feet."

But one could see his thoughts: "Oh my god, what have I done to deserve this?!?"

Finally on the endless sees of this lake: Putting up sails, everybody had to help ...

... what a delight for a pirate´s soul ...

... then the staysail ...

... and to put up the jib one had even to climb outboard defying deaths and horrors.

Look at these professionals at work.

The master gave the directions how to coil the ropes ...

... but as usual it ended up in some kind of private bondage lessons.

The leeboards had to be put down and up depending on the tack ...

... even the the tiller we were allowed to touch and steer ...

... and - big management mistake - even me they dared to try to cope with steering, so of course the company went a bit off course ...

... but just look, isn´t my silver medal glowing beautifully under this tropical sun ?!?

XXXDAn

[popeye the sailor]

cool voyage!  

[lambsbk]

"Heave those lines me hearties..."

 

It is harder then it looks.

 

Dave

[dafi]

Just realised, I never told you how I got the medal on the last picture of the Utrecht

 

...hihihihihihihihihi...

 

Not too long ago I was visiting some friends on a modeling exhibition at Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich.

I suddenly saw some people disappearing with some great models. I told the guards about the supposed theft and they calmed me down: "Going to the competition" they said.

 

Wanted to see what this means I went there and I saw hundreds of tanks, bi- and triplanes, strip-downs and full-dressed and loads with evil crosses. And then I dicovered one single ship among all those competitors: a wonderfully build RJN Hiryu.

 

Then I saw the medals for the categories, heard the price to take part: 2 (zwei, two, deux, due) Euro and only 1 competitor for the ship´s category?
First cheap enough and the second to little competition for my taste ;-)

 

So I ran to the car, got my slice of Victory out - By the deep 17 if one remembers - ran back and 2 (zwei, two, deux, due) minutes before the  submission deadline I threw my model onto the table like James Bond his hat in direction Miss Moneypenny.

 

Then some times later the big medal awards ceremony, can you guess what?

 

I made a wonderful second (2, two, deux, due, zwei) Place!!!

 

The other competitor in the category "Ship" only made it to before last. And the only one ahead of me was becoming "Best of Show"!

What do we learn from that?

- First, dafi never took his medal off again, everybody who saw me evermsince can confirm that!

- Those 2 (zwei, two, deux, due, two) Euro were economically well invested

- dafi is stupid, for another 2 (zwei, two, deux, due, two) Euro he would have gotten also the bronze medal as he had another slice of Victory still in the car.

This is Frank who got a bronze medal with his biplane-strip-down against a competitor field of a felt 723 other planes. So I was better than he was as my beloved medal is SILVER.

XXXDAn

[dafi]

And then the most important thing of the day: Food! Food! Glorious food!

Then they sat in all the corners possible ...

... and enjoyed themselves quietly ...

... and after a bombastic fennel soup there were still plenty of hearty slices of bread coming ...

... everything freshly prepared on board :-)

So we got the power to get some lessons in working the windlass, now we know how it works ...

... tough job but in the end the anchor was finally up.

And then the most important: the desert :-) 
Some sweet slices of Victory, made and presented by confectioner dafi ...

... everyone was allowed to get a taste of it ...

... and was delighted upon the awarded piece!

That was a dream getting true: Going to sail with my models :-)
How many did have the chance to present their models in such a true surrounding!?!

XXXDAn

[MEDDO]

Outstanding!

[lambsbk]

Looks great Daniel. Definitley NOT gruel. Yum...

[dafi]

Thank God, they were not gruel, oups, cruel or better saying authentic in this sense ;-)

 

But some of the breads hat cabbage on it, for us not to fall ill with scurvy on this long day-trip.

 

XXXDAn

[popeye the sailor]

an honor and a great day...can't even beat that.......although getting to meet John {Jim Ladd} and his admiral was mine.   it's a great achievement winning a medal.....a testament to your ability my friend   

[dafi]

Univers played crazy - it concentrated lust, leisure and time in one single small space and as this happened to be my tinkering corner there was no more way to say no ...

 

I was busy for quite a while understanding the real construction of the fighting tops and researching the relating measures in between mast and topmast and so on. Found the Heller parts in acceptable tolerances so made up a plastic dummy to set things straight for a wooden replacement later on.

 

A long missing piece for the puzzle was the small wooden chock, that sets the distance on the lower end of the topmast and defines the distance from the mast head to the topmast. Difficult to spot in the plans, not easy to spot it in the descriptions as it was too easy as a solution ...

So I shortened the rubbing paunch to fit in the chock, shortened the bolsters in the front side, detailed the main cap ...

... build in the sheaves, the fid and the iron loop ...

... and also worked the top.

Nice to see the chock that sets the distance and the rake of the topmast.

The main cap got its splitlines.

Another question arose: The cleat for the jeer block lashing are shown in Portsmouth as a clamp, but most of the literature shows a shoulder piece. What is the correct setup?

Here both of them together for comparison ...

... and here the shoulder its the right place.

Then made he functional tryouts ...

... pushing the topmast through the trestletrees ...

... placed the fid ...

... and fits :-)

XXXDAn

Edited October 2, 2017 by dafi

[Gahm]

Beautiful work, dafi! Clearly worth another medal 

 

Thomas

[Hubac's Historian]

I hopscotched through another member's (who had visited my build) history log and found your highly intriguing build of the Heller Victory.  I so like the excellent modifications and scratch-work on this main top, that I'm going to go back and read through your whole log.  It seems that much of what you are doing might be really helpful to me, even if we are building in different centuries.

 

So nice to see such excellent, clean work.  I'm looking forward to catching up!

[dafi]

And some end-of bank-holiday-tinkering: blocks mounted, topmast pendants set and the main cap´s round hole padded with leather - what does a modeler´s heart need more?!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXDAn

[dafi]

Thank you folks!

 

Some more remarks/questions:

- Lee writes on page 56, that the top mast pendants were unrove after the mast was topped. Does this mean that before that date the topmast pendants stayed in place?

- Lee writes and contemporary drawings show that the port side pendant went through the lower sheave.

- According to Lee large ships - like Vic - had tripple blocks lashed to the pendants instead of the usual double blocks.

- In the pictures is shown a top made of two halves as by Admiralty order from 1802. (Just a splitline in the middle missing as I saw in my pictures). That is why there is not the usual axial pattern of the rips, but a version according to Lee, Nares and Brady.

- the octogonal heel does not necessitate a groove for the pendant as there is enough space to move freely.

- the bolsters of the lift blocks on the cap need to be pushed more forward, as they need to be wrapped around the cap and collide with the mast head in this setup.

- still to be confirmed the octogonal heeling and the jeer clamps.

 

XXXDan

Edited October 3, 2017 by dafi

[popeye2sea]

It is my understanding that the top rope was always unrove once the top mast was hoisted and fidded into place.  The end of the top rope had a hook spliced in and the top rope blocks were stropped with a hook in order to facilitate them being sent down.

 

Regards,

Edited October 4, 2017 by popeye2sea

[mtaylor]

It's great to see you back, Daniel.  Nice work.  

[amateur]

Nice work (don't forget to paint your last piece  )

 

silly question: what are the grooves in the masthead (or actually above the masthead) for?

 

Jan

[dafi]

Bolsters for the yard sling in the back and 2 for the lift blocks in the front :-)

 

XXXDan

[amateur]

Makes sense 

 

Jan

[Hubac's Historian]

Okay Daniel, I'm only on page 3 of your build log - and I'm going to stop hitting the like button, so that you are inot completely innundated with notifications, but...

 

I am completely BLOWN AWAY by your attention to detail and your willingness to re-work the smallest details until they are RIGHT.

 

My German half is crying meticulous tears of joy!

 

Gonna keep reading

Edited October 4, 2017 by Hubac'sHistorian

[dafi]

Ok, see you in a month or two ;-)

 

XXXDAn

[Beef Wellington]

Beautiful work Dafi, one thing I've always been curious about was the purpose of the yellow 'pillar' at the front of the topmast between the top and the cap.  doesn't really seem substantial enough to perform a significant purpose and I haven't seen similar examples on other ships.  Only thing I can think of is to provide a little additional support to the front of the mast when the weight of the topmast is .being hoisted - maybe similar to the use of a triple block on large ships vs a double.