Excellent start, congrats
Indeed your home made stand makes a lot of sense.
HMS Victory of Caldercraft by Wil
- Thread starter Scheepshoorn
- Start date
- Watchers 20
Indeed your home made stand makes a lot of sense.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
The facia and galleries
For the dimensions of the galleries and fascia, I assumed the edges of the shields with gun ports. I thickened all plywood parts on bulkhead 18 with the length difference between the bulkheads and the shields. This thickening is the same on all parts!
For the work on the galleries and fascia, I placed the hull completely vertical to make the work on the galleries and fascia clear and ergonomic.
After much fitting and measuring, I had now got the bases for the galleries attached to the fuselage. I fixed the base plates of the galleries to the side of the hull with two small nails, keeping in mind the slotted holes in the shields. Then with the two top quarter galleries, I determined the exact position of the fascia and fixed these to the keel with two small nails as well.
To be able to bend the fascia into the right curve around the poop deck while getting and keeping the other quarter galleries in place, I used 4 tie rods running through the lower and upper windows. Here a batten against this and screw it on. The advantage is that by tightening or loosening the nuts, some space can be created alternately to get and keep the quarter galleries with their lugs in place.
Once everything was in place and I had checked again that it all connected straight and logically to the fuselage, I applied glue to the quarter galleries with an injection needle.
After the glue had hardened, the 6 nails went out and the whole section could be taken right off the hull. After further work on the galleries, this part in its entirety could finally be glued back onto the fuselage.
Before fitting the skin panels of the galleries, I was in doubt about the glazing of the galleries. I saw various designs and approaches in the various construction reports.
- With and without glass
- Pre-painted or not
- External rebate
- Painting inside galleries
If I wanted to make something decent out of it, I couldn't escape the fact that the skin panels had to be sanded and putty after application, before being painted black. At a later stage, the brasswork will come over this.
The build description indicates that the glass had to be applied on the inside, before fitting the skin panels. But that stuff is awfully static. Won't that make a big mess in those windows with all that sanding, even in later stages of the project?
At the time, I tackled this as follows
- Bending skin panels and precise tailoring
- Blackening the day edges and rebates
- Glass against it
- Skin panels mounted and windows taped
- Then filler and sand and possibly pre-paint
- Keeping windows taped throughout the process
- This approach, of course, also applies to fascia
After glazing the window sections, the fitting and measuring began with the 5 outer shields per gallery. I completely taped off the window sections in the galleries and the fascia to avoid as much contamination as possible during the process.
For the dimensions of the galleries and fascia, I assumed the edges of the shields with gun ports. I thickened all plywood parts on bulkhead 18 with the length difference between the bulkheads and the shields. This thickening is the same on all parts!
For the work on the galleries and fascia, I placed the hull completely vertical to make the work on the galleries and fascia clear and ergonomic.
After much fitting and measuring, I had now got the bases for the galleries attached to the fuselage. I fixed the base plates of the galleries to the side of the hull with two small nails, keeping in mind the slotted holes in the shields. Then with the two top quarter galleries, I determined the exact position of the fascia and fixed these to the keel with two small nails as well.
To be able to bend the fascia into the right curve around the poop deck while getting and keeping the other quarter galleries in place, I used 4 tie rods running through the lower and upper windows. Here a batten against this and screw it on. The advantage is that by tightening or loosening the nuts, some space can be created alternately to get and keep the quarter galleries with their lugs in place.
Once everything was in place and I had checked again that it all connected straight and logically to the fuselage, I applied glue to the quarter galleries with an injection needle.
After the glue had hardened, the 6 nails went out and the whole section could be taken right off the hull. After further work on the galleries, this part in its entirety could finally be glued back onto the fuselage.
Before fitting the skin panels of the galleries, I was in doubt about the glazing of the galleries. I saw various designs and approaches in the various construction reports.
- With and without glass
- Pre-painted or not
- External rebate
- Painting inside galleries
If I wanted to make something decent out of it, I couldn't escape the fact that the skin panels had to be sanded and putty after application, before being painted black. At a later stage, the brasswork will come over this.
The build description indicates that the glass had to be applied on the inside, before fitting the skin panels. But that stuff is awfully static. Won't that make a big mess in those windows with all that sanding, even in later stages of the project?
At the time, I tackled this as follows
- Bending skin panels and precise tailoring
- Blackening the day edges and rebates
- Glass against it
- Skin panels mounted and windows taped
- Then filler and sand and possibly pre-paint
- Keeping windows taped throughout the process
- This approach, of course, also applies to fascia
After glazing the window sections, the fitting and measuring began with the 5 outer shields per gallery. I completely taped off the window sections in the galleries and the fascia to avoid as much contamination as possible during the process.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2019
- Messages
- 5,081
- Points
- 738
It would indeed be difficult to fix this error at this stage, but not impossible. My thoughts were not so much to change things at this late stage but rather to identify it for future builds/builders. I do wonder if this is a mistake in the plans/instructions.
Allan
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
Hello Allen,
Thank you for your engagement. I understand your intention to warn future builders.
I think the angle at which the photos are taken is very decisive for the picture that emerges, especially when you look at the galleries, in relation to the entire hull. I took another photo at eye level of the galleries and one of Caldercraft's drawing. My interpretation is that my model is correct with the drawing, namely that the galleries run almost horizontally. Incidentally, this also seems logical to me because, as I recall, in reality the floors of the officers' quarters behind them also run horizontally.
Adjustments are no longer an issue. When I look back at how the galleries came about, this is almost impossible to do even in the construction phase. Well if you build scratch, then you have all the freedom, but not with a construction kit.
Still, thanks for your input.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
2e Planking
The next step in the process is the 2e planking, which I wanted to tackle as follows:
To start with, I plotted the waterline and the top of the upper wales on the hull. These lines are easy to measure out from the drawings provided. For the gunwale, I used the gun ports as a starting point.
I then transferred the position of the bulkheads to the hull.
The idea is to follow the curved line of the wale until I end up at the waterline roughly in the middle of the hull. From there, I'm going to measure the distances per bulkhead and divide by the number of planks. Then measure these measurements out on the hull and use them as a basis to rejoint the planks.
For the length of the planks, I assumed a "trade length" at the time of 30 ft, about 9 m, I thought I read somewhere. At a scale of 1:72, this equates to 125 mm.
The walnut slats, supplied by Caldercraft, are 5.2 mm wide. Converted, that's 37.4 cm. A length of 9 metres is then comparatively realistic, although in practice we are talking about huge planks.
As the moment of truth of the 2e planking began to approach and the first planks were about to be put on, there were still a number of questions for me to answer.
If I measure the distances on each rafter between top of wale and the waterline on my hull, from bulkhead 1 to 10 it is almost constant, about 85 mm. Then towards bulkhead 17 it increases to about 110 mm. So here, on the stern, it needs to be widened considerably by applying stealers.
The pictures below show the situation on my hull, on both bow and stern sides.
When I wanted to use a walnut strip for the 2e planking to follow the line for the upper wale, I noticed that this involves considerable bending stresses in the flat plane at both ends. The same appeared to be the case when following the waterline. True, the strip was dry and if made wet will probably react differently. With a whole length this can be made into a smooth line in practice, but with all short pieces of 125 mm this becomes a lot more difficult.
Something in me said this doesn't make sense. I suppose that in the past, planks were mainly bent in the vertical plane and then planed in line widthways. In other words try to get the strips in a natural shape, without bending stress in the flat plane against the hull, which will make them fit nicely with the 1e planking and better ensure a smooth line.
The above pictures show well the consequence.
At the rear, the distance between the upper and lower strip remains almost constant, which is favourable.
At the front, I have to narrow the planks considerably. An additional advantage here is that I then create a longer tangent plane under the lower strip, against the keel, so that the connecting planks can remain somewhat wider there.
For the wales in the Victory model, I don't think it matters, they will be glued to the 2e planking at a later stage.
In between, some investment in the yard.
A few weeks earlier, I was looking for a disc sander. Looking on the internet and immediately bumped into an advert from Lidl. On sale for €45. Added some sanding discs and for a good € 50,= I was the man. Great little machine, variable speed and can be connected to the hoover.
Also started cutting the planks for the 2e planking. The cutting device I had bought a few months earlier turned out to be not ideal. Not stable enough (plastic) and the blades, although sharp, were also very thin. Result with the walnut was that pieces quickly broke out of the blade. Drama. Bad buy, in other words.
Suddenly I realised that somewhere in a cupboard there must be a razor-sharp Japanese kitchen knife. Once purchased, but hardly ever used. You know the drill. Thought for a moment about how to tackle this.
Well, it has become a veritable guillotine. Is razor-sharp and cuts great, but above all is very stable in size. A stockpile of 600 boards for the 2e lining was arranged in no time afterwards.
As I mentioned, I had shortened a stock of planks with the guillotine. I then made a start on the 2e planking. I started with a row of planks along the line of the upper wale. At the front and back of the ship, the planking deviates from this line because I want the planks to make a natural curve. Until then, everything was going according to plan. Bending the planks I did with a soldering bold, after first putting the planks in water for a few hours. The photo below shows the progress.
The blue dotted line is the end of this first phase. From here on, a different sizing applies and I will use Petr's method. The black pencil line is the water line.
After 2 weeks of 48 hours of hard work, the 2e planking above the waterline was on the starboard and port sides. Quite a job, which did not disappoint me, I must say.
The pictures below show very well how I proceeded. These also show that I made enthusiastic use of the gun ports to hook in my glue clamps. There would be a lot more of this later when completing the 2e planking below the waterline
After completing the planking all the way to the waterline, I scraped the surface lies. Such that it is not perfectly smooth. With this, I tried to approach the situation as I think it was before. The intention was thus to leave some unevenness visible in the planks. I hoped this would be reflected later after the hull is painted.
The following photos gives a good idea of the final result above the waterline.
Earlier, I indicated that I wanted to follow Petr's method below the waterline. This would mean that I would have to divide the distances across all bulkheads from the existing planking to the keel by 32 planks everywhere. When I calculated this and drew the results on the hull, this clearly gave problems with this model at the bow and stem. This can be clearly seen by the lines that stop suddenly on the hull. These curves cannot be made without huge horizontal stresses in the planks.
I therefore chose to follow the natural curve here anyway. At the stem, I therefore had to start using stealers. Nice learning project again. In fact, a continuation of the method I followed above the waterline.
In retrospect, when planking the section above the waterline, I already made an essential mistake by not following the rules for planking an English ship. By following the natural bending of the planks, I started rejointing too early. In reality, rejointing only starts below the lower wale.
However, you have to learn from your mistakes people often say, but from my mistakes others can also learn. That is also the motto of this forum. That is why I have tried to analyse things to see what went right and what did not. An extensive analysis can be seen in my Dutch construction report https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/hms-victory-van-caldercraft-door-wil.281364/page-7
My conclusion at the time:
If I want to do it completely according to the rules, I will have to take off the entire 2e planking, which I have applied so far, and start with the lower wale, of thicker material. However, this is going way too far for me.
Three quarters of the hull will soon be covered in paint or copper. I want to leave the last quarter (one side below the waterline) transparent without copper for now. Here I want to show what I have to offer as a modeller, rather than following the official planking pattern. Applying tapered boards and stealers nice and tight was hard enough.
Meanwhile, I had managed to spend quite a few hours on my Victory again. The second planking is almost halfway done. I managed to keep things straight and the lines of the planks flowing quite nicely. It took me about an hour on average to get one plank on from bow to stern. Total 64 to go, of which 24 were done at that point. I am satisfied with my choice to continue my way, although I would have loved to compete with the other method. But fortunately, it is not a competition. The pictures below give a nice result so far.
After few more days of hard work on the 2e planking, this project is now complete. After the glue hardened, I lightly scraped the planking. Below is an impression of what it has become.
As I mentioned, I wanted to copper plating my ship below the waterline on one side and finish the other side transparently, I think with danish oil. The question of which side and how, hung in the air for a while. Of course, the prettiest side had to be oiled. However, the answer to this question came sooner than I thought. When scraping the last piece of the 2e planking, I actually got through the walnut. Needless to say, this side was going to be coppered.
The next step in the process is the 2e planking, which I wanted to tackle as follows:
To start with, I plotted the waterline and the top of the upper wales on the hull. These lines are easy to measure out from the drawings provided. For the gunwale, I used the gun ports as a starting point.
I then transferred the position of the bulkheads to the hull.
The idea is to follow the curved line of the wale until I end up at the waterline roughly in the middle of the hull. From there, I'm going to measure the distances per bulkhead and divide by the number of planks. Then measure these measurements out on the hull and use them as a basis to rejoint the planks.
For the length of the planks, I assumed a "trade length" at the time of 30 ft, about 9 m, I thought I read somewhere. At a scale of 1:72, this equates to 125 mm.
The walnut slats, supplied by Caldercraft, are 5.2 mm wide. Converted, that's 37.4 cm. A length of 9 metres is then comparatively realistic, although in practice we are talking about huge planks.
As the moment of truth of the 2e planking began to approach and the first planks were about to be put on, there were still a number of questions for me to answer.
If I measure the distances on each rafter between top of wale and the waterline on my hull, from bulkhead 1 to 10 it is almost constant, about 85 mm. Then towards bulkhead 17 it increases to about 110 mm. So here, on the stern, it needs to be widened considerably by applying stealers.
The pictures below show the situation on my hull, on both bow and stern sides.
When I wanted to use a walnut strip for the 2e planking to follow the line for the upper wale, I noticed that this involves considerable bending stresses in the flat plane at both ends. The same appeared to be the case when following the waterline. True, the strip was dry and if made wet will probably react differently. With a whole length this can be made into a smooth line in practice, but with all short pieces of 125 mm this becomes a lot more difficult.
Something in me said this doesn't make sense. I suppose that in the past, planks were mainly bent in the vertical plane and then planed in line widthways. In other words try to get the strips in a natural shape, without bending stress in the flat plane against the hull, which will make them fit nicely with the 1e planking and better ensure a smooth line.
The above pictures show well the consequence.
At the rear, the distance between the upper and lower strip remains almost constant, which is favourable.
At the front, I have to narrow the planks considerably. An additional advantage here is that I then create a longer tangent plane under the lower strip, against the keel, so that the connecting planks can remain somewhat wider there.
For the wales in the Victory model, I don't think it matters, they will be glued to the 2e planking at a later stage.
In between, some investment in the yard.
A few weeks earlier, I was looking for a disc sander. Looking on the internet and immediately bumped into an advert from Lidl. On sale for €45. Added some sanding discs and for a good € 50,= I was the man. Great little machine, variable speed and can be connected to the hoover.
Also started cutting the planks for the 2e planking. The cutting device I had bought a few months earlier turned out to be not ideal. Not stable enough (plastic) and the blades, although sharp, were also very thin. Result with the walnut was that pieces quickly broke out of the blade. Drama. Bad buy, in other words.
Suddenly I realised that somewhere in a cupboard there must be a razor-sharp Japanese kitchen knife. Once purchased, but hardly ever used. You know the drill. Thought for a moment about how to tackle this.
Well, it has become a veritable guillotine. Is razor-sharp and cuts great, but above all is very stable in size. A stockpile of 600 boards for the 2e lining was arranged in no time afterwards.
As I mentioned, I had shortened a stock of planks with the guillotine. I then made a start on the 2e planking. I started with a row of planks along the line of the upper wale. At the front and back of the ship, the planking deviates from this line because I want the planks to make a natural curve. Until then, everything was going according to plan. Bending the planks I did with a soldering bold, after first putting the planks in water for a few hours. The photo below shows the progress.
The blue dotted line is the end of this first phase. From here on, a different sizing applies and I will use Petr's method. The black pencil line is the water line.
After 2 weeks of 48 hours of hard work, the 2e planking above the waterline was on the starboard and port sides. Quite a job, which did not disappoint me, I must say.
The pictures below show very well how I proceeded. These also show that I made enthusiastic use of the gun ports to hook in my glue clamps. There would be a lot more of this later when completing the 2e planking below the waterline
After completing the planking all the way to the waterline, I scraped the surface lies. Such that it is not perfectly smooth. With this, I tried to approach the situation as I think it was before. The intention was thus to leave some unevenness visible in the planks. I hoped this would be reflected later after the hull is painted.
The following photos gives a good idea of the final result above the waterline.
Earlier, I indicated that I wanted to follow Petr's method below the waterline. This would mean that I would have to divide the distances across all bulkheads from the existing planking to the keel by 32 planks everywhere. When I calculated this and drew the results on the hull, this clearly gave problems with this model at the bow and stem. This can be clearly seen by the lines that stop suddenly on the hull. These curves cannot be made without huge horizontal stresses in the planks.
I therefore chose to follow the natural curve here anyway. At the stem, I therefore had to start using stealers. Nice learning project again. In fact, a continuation of the method I followed above the waterline.
In retrospect, when planking the section above the waterline, I already made an essential mistake by not following the rules for planking an English ship. By following the natural bending of the planks, I started rejointing too early. In reality, rejointing only starts below the lower wale.
However, you have to learn from your mistakes people often say, but from my mistakes others can also learn. That is also the motto of this forum. That is why I have tried to analyse things to see what went right and what did not. An extensive analysis can be seen in my Dutch construction report https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/hms-victory-van-caldercraft-door-wil.281364/page-7
My conclusion at the time:
If I want to do it completely according to the rules, I will have to take off the entire 2e planking, which I have applied so far, and start with the lower wale, of thicker material. However, this is going way too far for me.
Three quarters of the hull will soon be covered in paint or copper. I want to leave the last quarter (one side below the waterline) transparent without copper for now. Here I want to show what I have to offer as a modeller, rather than following the official planking pattern. Applying tapered boards and stealers nice and tight was hard enough.
Meanwhile, I had managed to spend quite a few hours on my Victory again. The second planking is almost halfway done. I managed to keep things straight and the lines of the planks flowing quite nicely. It took me about an hour on average to get one plank on from bow to stern. Total 64 to go, of which 24 were done at that point. I am satisfied with my choice to continue my way, although I would have loved to compete with the other method. But fortunately, it is not a competition. The pictures below give a nice result so far.
After few more days of hard work on the 2e planking, this project is now complete. After the glue hardened, I lightly scraped the planking. Below is an impression of what it has become.
As I mentioned, I wanted to copper plating my ship below the waterline on one side and finish the other side transparently, I think with danish oil. The question of which side and how, hung in the air for a while. Of course, the prettiest side had to be oiled. However, the answer to this question came sooner than I thought. When scraping the last piece of the 2e planking, I actually got through the walnut. Needless to say, this side was going to be coppered.
Very nice result on the planking. You have some great innovative problem solving skills.
Loving your build log.
Very nice clean work.
Loving your build log.
Very nice clean work.
Beautiful work and very detailed and useful explanations.
Excellent
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
08 Wales
The next step in my project was to fit the wales.
The dimensions were easy to deduce from their position relative to the gun ports on the construction drawing.
The lower wale is constructed from 2 strips of 10 mm walnut of 1 mm (topp and butt system), with a walnut strip of 4x0.5mm above. However, the building description assumes 4 slats of 5x1 mm, so I had to buy additional slats of 10 mm. In the end, I ended up with slats of 105 mm, with the top at 1/3 of the length. The widest part will be 6.5 mm, the narrowest part 3.5 mm. For the mould I'm going to use wide saw blades.
The centre wale is 10.5mm wide of walnut 1mm (anchor stock system). However, the building description assumes 3 slats of 3.5x1mm, so I had to buy 10mm slats for this too. In the end, I ended up with 70mm slats, with the top in the middle. The widest part will be 6.75 mm, the narrowest part 3.75 mm.
The upper wale will be a continuous strip 10x1mm.
First, from an old saw blade, I ground the moulds for the topp and butt system and the anchor stock system. With a wooden batten at the bottom, I glued the two steel mould halves into my small bench vice, this way I will soon be able to plane and sand 8 slats simultaneously into their shape.
Next, on the starboard side, the lines were drawn for the lower gunwale. First, using the blueprint, I set out the dimensions in relation to the gun ports and then used a slat and nails to make a stop for the lower topp and butt strip in a flowing line. The section between the forward gun port and the keel was the trickiest. After making some minor corrections here and there, I think this should be it. The short pieces of slat mark the lower topp and butt strip
First, cut a quantity of slats and plane and sand them into shape in the mould made. Each layer consists of 9 laths of 105 mm, times 4 layers per side makes 72 pieces. Then break the edges of the slats on one side, creating 50% left-handed pieces and 50% right-handed pieces. This is due to the fact that the pattern of the bottom half of the two topp and butt strips is opposite to the top half.
Then the application could begin. Coat the batten with glue, press it down and immediately remove excess glue. Then use button pins to keep the slat in place. Wet where necessary and bend warm. This way, it was fairly easy to apply the slats.
Initially on the starboard side, made the mistake of keeping the bottom and top layers parallel, creating two seams in one place. So one half scrapped again.
Secondly, staggered the two patterns by 17.5 mm to create a more solid balance. In some places, however, some height differences crept into the laths, these sanded away. I deliberately did not do this completely smooth, as this will certainly not be the case in real life. Next, I filed down the details with a fine file, which a) removed excess glue residue and b) revealed an even joint pattern everywhere.
Finally, on top of the wale, glued a slat of 4x0.5 mm.
The middle wales are fitted using the same principle as the lower ones, but using the anchor stock system. The upper wale consists of a completely continuous batten, on which I applied fake seams. The photos below speak for themselves, I think.
The next step in my project was to fit the wales.
The dimensions were easy to deduce from their position relative to the gun ports on the construction drawing.
The lower wale is constructed from 2 strips of 10 mm walnut of 1 mm (topp and butt system), with a walnut strip of 4x0.5mm above. However, the building description assumes 4 slats of 5x1 mm, so I had to buy additional slats of 10 mm. In the end, I ended up with slats of 105 mm, with the top at 1/3 of the length. The widest part will be 6.5 mm, the narrowest part 3.5 mm. For the mould I'm going to use wide saw blades.
The centre wale is 10.5mm wide of walnut 1mm (anchor stock system). However, the building description assumes 3 slats of 3.5x1mm, so I had to buy 10mm slats for this too. In the end, I ended up with 70mm slats, with the top in the middle. The widest part will be 6.75 mm, the narrowest part 3.75 mm.
The upper wale will be a continuous strip 10x1mm.
First, from an old saw blade, I ground the moulds for the topp and butt system and the anchor stock system. With a wooden batten at the bottom, I glued the two steel mould halves into my small bench vice, this way I will soon be able to plane and sand 8 slats simultaneously into their shape.
Next, on the starboard side, the lines were drawn for the lower gunwale. First, using the blueprint, I set out the dimensions in relation to the gun ports and then used a slat and nails to make a stop for the lower topp and butt strip in a flowing line. The section between the forward gun port and the keel was the trickiest. After making some minor corrections here and there, I think this should be it. The short pieces of slat mark the lower topp and butt strip
First, cut a quantity of slats and plane and sand them into shape in the mould made. Each layer consists of 9 laths of 105 mm, times 4 layers per side makes 72 pieces. Then break the edges of the slats on one side, creating 50% left-handed pieces and 50% right-handed pieces. This is due to the fact that the pattern of the bottom half of the two topp and butt strips is opposite to the top half.
Then the application could begin. Coat the batten with glue, press it down and immediately remove excess glue. Then use button pins to keep the slat in place. Wet where necessary and bend warm. This way, it was fairly easy to apply the slats.
Initially on the starboard side, made the mistake of keeping the bottom and top layers parallel, creating two seams in one place. So one half scrapped again.
Secondly, staggered the two patterns by 17.5 mm to create a more solid balance. In some places, however, some height differences crept into the laths, these sanded away. I deliberately did not do this completely smooth, as this will certainly not be the case in real life. Next, I filed down the details with a fine file, which a) removed excess glue residue and b) revealed an even joint pattern everywhere.
Finally, on top of the wale, glued a slat of 4x0.5 mm.
The middle wales are fitted using the same principle as the lower ones, but using the anchor stock system. The upper wale consists of a completely continuous batten, on which I applied fake seams. The photos below speak for themselves, I think.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2024
- Messages
- 119
- Points
- 88
I'm working on a much older (25+ years) at this time. I think you are doing terrific.
By the book planking seems Soooooo complicated to me. As crude as this might sound, when processing a fish I know what I want in the end and how I get there doesn't matter a lot.
By the book planking seems Soooooo complicated to me. As crude as this might sound, when processing a fish I know what I want in the end and how I get there doesn't matter a lot.
Excellent work, but for the future model, know that the sheathing lines did not intersect. They all went parallel, since there was no lower and upper layer. The thicker one was like a regular board and went parallel to the others, it was just thicker. Also, the openings for the gun ports are a little big, but not critical. But still, you have good progress.
I implemented my casing in a similar way, but a little differently. If you are interested, you can take a look.
I implemented my casing in a similar way, but a little differently. If you are interested, you can take a look.
HMS Victory [1805] 1:79 by serikoff. Started with Mantua -> Upgraded with John McKay's Anatomy.
Hello to all my colleagues in the best hobby in the world! My name is Sergey, but in the world of ships, I go by the name serikoff. And here’s my story. (Without this introduction, it might be hard to understand me). I’m from Ukraine and I am the creator of a website and forum dedicated to...
shipsofscale.com
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
Sergey, you are right, I made a wrong choise whit my second planking. Caldercraft put the Wales on the second planking and not between the planks. Anyway I choose for the simpel way, but nog the right one. Good for my future model.
I love that you drew in the bands and did not plank with strakes ending in a point short of the rabbet. 
One thing that most, if not all, kits get wrong are ignoring the tapering of the thickness of the wales. They seat in the rabbet, same as all the other planks. That means the thickness has to be reduced to match the other planking so it does not stand proud and can be seated as they should. Further to Serikoff's comment on the gun ports, the first photo he posted shows port lid stops (linings) inside the top of the ports which was not done, at least not on British warships. There were stops on the sides and bottom only.
Allan
One thing that most, if not all, kits get wrong are ignoring the tapering of the thickness of the wales. They seat in the rabbet, same as all the other planks. That means the thickness has to be reduced to match the other planking so it does not stand proud and can be seated as they should. Further to Serikoff's comment on the gun ports, the first photo he posted shows port lid stops (linings) inside the top of the ports which was not done, at least not on British warships. There were stops on the sides and bottom only.Allan
By the way, I made the belts narrow towards the bow and the tail of the ship. And to be precise, the port frame was on the sides and TOP)))) But I did it according to Evgeny Epur's model. And if I were to do it now, I would do it as it should be. But this is not a big mistake, it does not greatly affect the appearance.I love that you drew in the bands and did not plank with strakes ending in a point short of the rabbet.
Allan
Whatever makes us happy is exactly what our hobby is about.
I agree with you that most folks would not notice. The only reason I am aware of it at all is after it was pointed out to me by David Antscherl when he saw one of my early models and I did the port linings incorrectly having a top lining. Ed Tosti and I also had the privilege to tour Preble Hall togther with Grant Walker who confirmed this when we were studying their models for these kinds of details. I thoroughly trust their research and experience.Allan
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
09 The deck planking of the middle gun deck
I had addressed Jotika about what I consider to be the very poor quality of the slats for the deck planking. I think it is tanganjika wood. The edges of the slats are very rough, many strips are warped and the width varies from 3 to 4.2 mm. More than 50% are unusable in this way.
Jotika has indicated that it will send a new package of slats. These have subsequently been incorporated into the decks.
As I was waiting for a shipment of new wood from England, I had in between done some trials with stirrers, all of which I first narrowed down to 4 mm. I don't know exactly what type of wood it is, but it doesn't look like beech to me. I also did some trials with the slats already supplied.
For some of the trials, I used a 6B pencil for the caulking seams, but maybe that's too soft. It ended up being a drab. Another part I did with an Edding marker.
I was still not satisfied with the result, probably because the pencil used then was too soft. In the end, I first broke the edges of the slats slightly and then blackened the sides with a carpenter's pencil.
I started by planking the middle gun deck first. This had to be done in situ, as this deck was already part of the hull frame. After first fitting the king plank (1.5x the width of the other planks), the planking could begin. Immediately after this it looked quite nice (photo with pencil). After the glue hardened, I sanded the floor with 240, after which the seams were a lot less present (photo without pencil). It did give a nice even and calm look. By the way, the four round holes in the deck are the attachment points for the tilt mechanism.
Then on to the other half of the deck and the pieces at the side entrances. I wondered if I should add some more end seams at the side entrances so that this pattern also just continues. However, in terms of plank length, this would be unnecessary in practice.
Also this and that painted further black because, looking through the gun ports and side entrances, a lot of bare wood would still be visible.
I had addressed Jotika about what I consider to be the very poor quality of the slats for the deck planking. I think it is tanganjika wood. The edges of the slats are very rough, many strips are warped and the width varies from 3 to 4.2 mm. More than 50% are unusable in this way.
Jotika has indicated that it will send a new package of slats. These have subsequently been incorporated into the decks.
As I was waiting for a shipment of new wood from England, I had in between done some trials with stirrers, all of which I first narrowed down to 4 mm. I don't know exactly what type of wood it is, but it doesn't look like beech to me. I also did some trials with the slats already supplied.
For some of the trials, I used a 6B pencil for the caulking seams, but maybe that's too soft. It ended up being a drab. Another part I did with an Edding marker.
I was still not satisfied with the result, probably because the pencil used then was too soft. In the end, I first broke the edges of the slats slightly and then blackened the sides with a carpenter's pencil.
I started by planking the middle gun deck first. This had to be done in situ, as this deck was already part of the hull frame. After first fitting the king plank (1.5x the width of the other planks), the planking could begin. Immediately after this it looked quite nice (photo with pencil). After the glue hardened, I sanded the floor with 240, after which the seams were a lot less present (photo without pencil). It did give a nice even and calm look. By the way, the four round holes in the deck are the attachment points for the tilt mechanism.
Then on to the other half of the deck and the pieces at the side entrances. I wondered if I should add some more end seams at the side entrances so that this pattern also just continues. However, in terms of plank length, this would be unnecessary in practice.
Also this and that painted further black because, looking through the gun ports and side entrances, a lot of bare wood would still be visible.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2024
- Messages
- 34
- Points
- 78
10 The gun ports
Meanwhile, work also started on finishing the gun ports. For now, first those of the lower and middle gun decks, as the penetrations of the upper gun deck and above will have to be made after the inner bulwark is fitted there.
To file out the gun ports, I made two templates. This is because the bottom row of holes is half a mm longer and higher than those in the rows above it. For exact filing, I made separate sanding sticks, so I can use the right-angle and use the side without sandpaper as a guide
After fitting the wales, this had to start all over again, especially at the bottom, where bits had to be filed out of the wales.
I made the lining of the gun ports from scrap pieces of 1x10 mm nuts, which I initially pottered around a template. After the glue cured, I sanded away the excess material on the outside with the disc sander.
Then put the lining of the gun port on the template and fed it into the filed-out gun port. Then the pattern of the 2e lining was marked on this and sanded to size along these lines. For the right direction and slope, I use a glue clamp, against which I fix the template.
After sanding to size, put the covering back on the template, smeared the outside with a bit of wood glue and reintroduced it into the gun port, in such a way as to create a 1x1mm rebate all around. Then fix the mould again against the glue clamp and apply some extra glue on the inside. After curing, remove the template and Wil is ready.
Only, there are about a hundred of them. So this process took a while for me to complete. So nice stop work during the various project sections.
It was pointed out to me by another modeller that there should be no rebate at the bottom of the gun ports. I solved this by gluing a small slat in the rebate, which was created initially. Filing and sanding well was later enough to see no more of this. I will continue to use this method of approach, as it is easier to glue in a slat later, than to let the underside of the panelling continue.
After completing the gun ports of the lower and middle gun deck, a start was made on the two outer stairs. You can see from the photos that there are still some scratches here and there, which need to be touched up. But that will come later, when I start painting. Also, there are a number of seams in the wales that may be a bit too rough, I think. But we'll tackle that right away, too.
I had chosen to do all the exterior gluing work on bare wood. Hence, I have already made the exterior stairs on it at this stage. This will also apply to fitting the rests later. But this can only be done once the upper gun deck has been fitted and the corresponding gun ports lined.
For dividing the stair treads and finding logical places between the storage bolts, I made a template, so the treads will sit nice and straight on them later.
Meanwhile, work also started on finishing the gun ports. For now, first those of the lower and middle gun decks, as the penetrations of the upper gun deck and above will have to be made after the inner bulwark is fitted there.
To file out the gun ports, I made two templates. This is because the bottom row of holes is half a mm longer and higher than those in the rows above it. For exact filing, I made separate sanding sticks, so I can use the right-angle and use the side without sandpaper as a guide
After fitting the wales, this had to start all over again, especially at the bottom, where bits had to be filed out of the wales.
I made the lining of the gun ports from scrap pieces of 1x10 mm nuts, which I initially pottered around a template. After the glue cured, I sanded away the excess material on the outside with the disc sander.
Then put the lining of the gun port on the template and fed it into the filed-out gun port. Then the pattern of the 2e lining was marked on this and sanded to size along these lines. For the right direction and slope, I use a glue clamp, against which I fix the template.
After sanding to size, put the covering back on the template, smeared the outside with a bit of wood glue and reintroduced it into the gun port, in such a way as to create a 1x1mm rebate all around. Then fix the mould again against the glue clamp and apply some extra glue on the inside. After curing, remove the template and Wil is ready.
Only, there are about a hundred of them. So this process took a while for me to complete. So nice stop work during the various project sections.
It was pointed out to me by another modeller that there should be no rebate at the bottom of the gun ports. I solved this by gluing a small slat in the rebate, which was created initially. Filing and sanding well was later enough to see no more of this. I will continue to use this method of approach, as it is easier to glue in a slat later, than to let the underside of the panelling continue.
After completing the gun ports of the lower and middle gun deck, a start was made on the two outer stairs. You can see from the photos that there are still some scratches here and there, which need to be touched up. But that will come later, when I start painting. Also, there are a number of seams in the wales that may be a bit too rough, I think. But we'll tackle that right away, too.
I had chosen to do all the exterior gluing work on bare wood. Hence, I have already made the exterior stairs on it at this stage. This will also apply to fitting the rests later. But this can only be done once the upper gun deck has been fitted and the corresponding gun ports lined.
For dividing the stair treads and finding logical places between the storage bolts, I made a template, so the treads will sit nice and straight on them later.