Newsworthy updates from Chris Watton

[Sjors]

Welcome home Chris   

 

I have clear a shelf for the Victory but when I see the weight, I think I have to make space on the floor !!!!!!!

Poor delivery guy when he brings it.

Or do you bring it your self ?

Anja show me some pictures of you and I think that the package for you is as light as a feather !

I'm also in training but the only thing that happened to me is that I become bigger at the front 

Back to daily business please......

The Prince also looks wonderful !

I kick out the neighbours because we need there house also       

Have a nice work day and let it be Christmas !!!!!!!!

 

Sjors

[Jaxboat]

Hi Chris,

Congrats on the weight loss. I went through a similar transformation 2 years ago mostly through daily walking but also changing my diet. I lost 40 lb. (not sure how many "stone" that is ). The trick now is to make daily exercise an "unconscious" activity that you just do without even thinking about it.

Best

Jaxboat

My English Greyhound , "MS Abigail Grey" sends her regards to her wiener friends

[Nirvana]

Hi Chris,

Congrats on the weight loss. I went through a similar transformation 2 years ago mostly through daily walking but also changing my diet. I lost 40 lb. (not sure how many "stone" that is ). The trick now is to make daily exercise an "unconscious" activity that you just do without even thinking about it.

Best

Jaxboat

My English Greyhound , "MS Abigail Grey" sends her regards to her wiener friends

Jaxboat,

40lb is equal to 2.86 stones.

Good job.

Now I need to the same..... lol

And with the box containing the Victory I can do weight lifting!

[Ulises Victoria]

Quote from previous post by Chris:

 

The length of the hull, from stern to figurehead is 1066mm.

 

With the bowsprit and mizzen boom, it increases to 1582mm, or there about.

 

After working on it for so long, it doesn't look that big anymore.....

 

Regards

[Kevin]

Time to save money for this Victory kit,now I am waiting who is coming up with an 1:48 scale Victory kit.What is the actual size of the new Amati Victory?

1/64

[Malcolm Greig]

A fantastic kit, it will be very interesting to see how Amati approach the quality of the components and materials. This forum records considerable debate, criticism and disappointment of poorer quality components concerning a range of manufactures. Of course top quality means a top price. I for one would prefer to pay more for the best possible components for this kit of a lifetime. Wondering what others think about component and material quality versus price. for this Victory.  

 

Malcolm

[pirozzi]

I for one, would pay more for top quality materials. In the long run, you wind up paying more anyway, to replace poor quality materials.

Vince P.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Vince P.

[chris watton]

I actually turned the 4 sizes of cannon barrels myself, on my lathe from brass to fit the scale carriages. these will be cast metal in the kit and specific to the Victory kit.

 

The blocks/deadeyes will be standard and are perfectly acceptable in my view. Higher quality wooden blocks made from boxwood by more specialist small companies are a) prohibitively expensive and no small scale manufacturer could produce the amount of blocks required for a kit like Victory.

 

I have always used Amati thread for the rigging and have never found any problems with it. What you see on my prototype model of Victory are the cast cannons specific to the model, standard Amati blocks and deadeyes, and standard Amati rigging thread (as well as standard wood strip stock, the same that's used in all Amati kits).

 

I have never used any 'special' materials or fittings when building the prototypes, but always standard stock. If no standard fittings will do, or I do not think will be good enough (whether slightly wrong in size or not enough detail), I will make brand new masters.

 

That's the way it has always been.

[Keith_W]

With regard to fittings, I would much rather have the non-replaceable parts of a kit to be of high quality. This includes: all castings (figureheads and stern decorations especially), cannon, and all photoetched parts. Parts like blocks, rope, dowels, grating, and even planking can be replaced if you felt like it. 

[chris watton]

Me too! I have always said that I design the kits how I would like to build them, just from a modeller's perspective. Because of this, they do take longer to develop than bog standard 'block model' kits, but I hope are more fun to make.

 

I admit that my favoured material for castings, especially for large stern and figurehead decoration, is resin - much easier to bend/manipulate and sand/file. The only castings that are on Victory are the figurehead parts, the stern and side galleries are pre-cut wood and photo-etched parts. I prefer this as I know that every photo etched part will be exactly the same as I used for the prototype, no shrinkage and nothing malformed like you can get with cast parts, plus I can draw the minutest detail for the etched decoration.

 

I have mentioned before that even all of the gratings are PE so that I could make each grating the exact scale size, and not have the size of the 'off the shelf' gratings dictate the size of the hatch opening. The quarterdeck gratings have a slight taper, which is also reproduced in the etched gratings.

 

Chris

[Kevin]

Well Chris there is certainly a lot of interest in the new Victory, on here, and within the FB groups I belong to, its going to certainly be a good seller, LOL no doubt it will still be out before i finish mine

[Malcolm Greig]

Excellent answer from Chris as to kit quality and he makes some great points. He's the expert after all.  Very encouraging as expectations will be very high of this Victory. Might the quality debate be a situation where 80% quality is good enough and to reach close to 100% quality might cost 80% more? Does that make sense?

 

Particularly good news about the cannon's.  

 

Malcolm

[Morgan]

There has been a lot of debate on this forum of recent regarding the practicalities of developing kits and consequent costs, sufficient to say you take your choices based on affordability for each member and what you want out of it. I for one see this Victory as a premium level once in a lifetime kit, and accept it may well be the most expensive kit in the market, but also accept it will be a compromise between cost and quality, given that I will purchase a kit but fully expect to pay more to enhance the kit. Each to their own, let's just welcome and applaud the opportunity and aspiration it offers.

 

I'll get off my high horse now, I feel a touch of vertigo coming on!

 

Gary

[hollowneck]

Chris,

 

Thanks for the update and all the contributions, including some new studio pics of your excellent prototype.

 

I am looking forward to Amati's release of this kit. What good news it is that you've completed the plans and instructions - and that Amati is now working on the components. 

 

As you've seen here over the last few weeks (since you "popped back-up" in this forum), there is still considerable interest in your new Vic. Your explanations of some of the models' details are much appreciated by many. Seeing an in-progress shot of the "New" Prince is also encouraging.

 

Great to know you're working on keeping fit. Chipping away at the “stones” is good - and we Watton-Watchers are eagerly awaiting the additional pounds that will inevitably show-up in the Amati Victory kit box!

 

Ron

[chris watton]

Thanks again, guys

 

I am not sure if I have already posted these, but here are the new cast cannons I used for Victory. These are exactly the same that will go into every kit:

 

 

And here are the 4 turned brass masters that I turned, making sure they fit as they should before posting them over to Amati, to be used as masters for the castings:

 

 

Oh, and I absolutely love this large model of the Victory as built, which I took when visiting the Victory in Portsmouth to get loads of pictures of the real thing to help me with some of the the more fuzzy detail :

 

 

 

 

I also took a lot of photos of the stern, and added them into my CAD program. I then scaled the pictures to 64th and traced around the decoration, so it should be as accurate as it can be, with all parts the correct sizes and shapes (at least, for the decoration on the stern on the Victory as she is now..)

[chris watton]

I don't know if I have ever posted the following pics before, and they're not very good being scans. The Sovereign of the Seas was the 4th wooden model I had built at this time (1992, in my early 20's)! I remember saving each week until I could afford it, and went off to the model shop to buy it (£547).

 

I have always loved the lines of the 17th Century ships, and planned to go to town on this model. The base model was fine, but the wales did not strictly follow the ones above, and I know the top of the bulwarks curved more or less the same as the wales, so much kit-bashing ensued, and I did what I could for a relative beginner (before this I had started out with a Billings Will Everard, then a Billings Bounty, which just had a block of wood supplied for the single boat, with the modeller expected to carve it out him/herself. I then built the new kit (at the time) Superb, a Mantua kit, followed by Sergel's SOTS).

 

I think it took me a year and a half in my spare time, but I loved doing all of the research and righting the wrongs of the kit, the stern and rigging especially. I am sure I used only 50% of the supplied castings which were, on the whole, terrible and required much fettling to make them fit perfectly.

 

 

 

 

Those are the only pictures I have of this model, I just remember really enjoying the build and research process.

 

This was the first Victory I made, it was for Krick in Germany in 1995, so they had a display model of the then new Panart 78th scale Victory, so I couldn't change it that much. Again, they are scans, so quality is shocking...

 

 

 

 

Can't believe that was over 20 years ago, where does the time go!

[WackoWolf]

Thank you for sharing the pictures.

[Kevin]

Krick 1995 1/78, was that the predecessor of the Jokika caldercraft 1/72

[chris watton]

Krick 1995 1/78, was that the predecessor of the Jokika caldercraft 1/72

Hi Kevin,

 

No, it was a commission for Krick, who was at the time, a German distributer. It was just a bog-standard Panart kit. This was 6 years before I started to design the 72nd scale Victory (I left before the model was finished, but most of the designs were already done, IIRC). I didn't design Diana until 1998, which was the first wooden kit.

[Jaxboat]

I love the Brit term "Bog-Standard". I worked for an American Chemical Company with a Newcastle UK plant. This phrase cropped up frequently from the locals. Once the Yanks all found out the meaning of the phrase, it became a favorite part of our lexicon. You haven't fully experienced life until you hear a University of Alabama engineering grad say "bog standard" (Roll Tide!). I wholeheartedly subscribe to your use of resin castings versus metal. They are better than any metal ones I have seen in almost every way. "Watton Victory Model frenzy" continues to build!!

 

 

Best

Jaxboat

[peteri]

Since Chris is back again can I just ask if the fife fishing boat is coming out at some point?

 

It's one of those models that have really stuck with me for some reason.

[chris watton]

Since Chris is back again can I just ask if the fife fishing boat is coming out at some point?

 

It's one of those models that have really stuck with me for some reason.

It should be, I finished that ages ago! I will ask next week.

[chris watton]

OK, I asked Amati about the Rob Roy (Scottish fishing vessel), and it is almost ready for release:  Very early next year, January or February they hope.  

[Mirabell61]

awsome models Chris !!

 

lovely work and a pleasure to look at

 

Nils

[Jaxboat]

Wow!

Jaxboat

[Keith_W]

I also took a lot of photos of the stern, and added them into my CAD program. I then scaled the pictures to 64th and traced around the decoration, so it should be as accurate as it can be, with all parts the correct sizes and shapes (at least, for the decoration on the stern on the Victory as she is now..)

 

Chris, I was re-reading your post and then saw that you had written this. The picture you are commenting on is the 1765 Victory, pre-refit, with the open galleries. You loaded this into your CAD program? Why? If you are contemplating offering a 1765 option kit for your HMS Victory, I would be very intrigued! Please say this is so! 

[Thunder]

I think he is referring to 'as it is now' because there is evidence that she is not like she was at Trafalgar. Wishful thinking for the 1765 option, that is something I have always wanted myself and would struggle to stop myself from buying.

[chris watton]

Chris, I was re-reading your post and then saw that you had written this. The picture you are commenting on is the 1765 Victory, pre-refit, with the open galleries. You loaded this into your CAD program? Why? If you are contemplating offering a 1765 option kit for your HMS Victory, I would be very intrigued! Please say this is so! 

I am not offering the 1765 version of the kit. I don't think I have ever stated I was. The truth is that if that version was offered, no matter how much aesthetically pleasing it would look, it would not sell well enough to justify the extra development costs.

 

Anyway, I have been working on Prince, and while waiting for the new carvings to arrive, I made up the new spiral staircases. The old ones were Amati fittings, and each set was exactly the same. I designed the new sets to reflect the ones on the Science Museum contemporary model, with the correct number of steps and decoration for the side rails (laser cut and PE parts). Everything on the deck is dry-fitted only, and nothing is finished or varnished yet..

 

 

Edited October 27, 2016 by chris watton

[donrobinson]

Wonderful looking ship

[Nirvana]

Just amazing!