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HMS Victory - Caldercraft 1/72 build log by Andi

Gilbertm said:
excellent progress Andy
Congratulations .
Click to expand...
Hi Gilbert

Thanks for taking the time to look at my build log and to assess my progress. As you no doubt know it means a lot to get some encouragement from someone who is more experienced than yourself.
Regards

Andi
 
The quarter deck mezzanine mast sleeve has been glued in place and a spirit level used to ensure the mast is vertical port to starboard

The ships wheel and the binnacle have been assembled and fitted

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Note the Groove cut in the forward and aft faces of the binnacle to accommodate the glazing material

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The brass bits for the binnacle have first been cleaned with acetone and then sprayed with white primer to hopefully make painting a little easier

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The Cats tails have also been added behind the beak head bulkhead and the beak head capping assembly has been completed. Brass profile no 2 has been cut to size, painted yellow, and attached to the beak head bulkhead, tight up against the overhang of the beak head bulkhead plank sheerIMG_0708.jpeg

As can be seen from the above photo I have just started work on the Roundhouses which I hope to finish tomorrow along with planking the deck in front of the beak head bulkhead

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I have now completed the planking of the roundhouses, the beakhead pilasters have been painted and fitted ( I did not need to remove any material from the base of each pilaster), the beakhead doors and gunports have been painted and fitted, the forecastle shot garlands have been painted and fitted and the forecastle carronades have been assembled, rigged and fitted

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Will start on the Bows tomorrow.
 
The Bows - a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but I think I have got somewhere near in the end.

Firstly the upper and lower bow curved rails and the hair bracket and lower boat cheek rails were painted (top and outside edge painted yellow and the undersides painted black. They were then fitted to the shipIMG_0728.jpeg
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Initially the hair brackets (120) and the lower bow cheek rails (123) did not fit snuggly around the hull so I used some lead solder wire to form the outer profile of the hull and then transferred the shape onto the relevant parts and using a mini electric sanding band, the required curve was achieved.

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The hawse hole bolsters were then painted and fitted 13.5 mm from the stem as per the instructions and the 6mm hawse holes were drilled out.
 
The four head timbers were next which was slightly puzzling as there was no instructions as how to fit the largest of the these ( 107). The only way to get it through the required slot was to cut a piece off one side, insert the head timber and super glue the piece back on which is what I did.


IMG_0738.jpeg
The hardest part for me was the next part which was fitting the rails using the 2mm x 2mm flexible beach. No matter how I tried I could not get the rails to lie flush against the outer face of the four head timbers. After a few hours of total frustration I decided that the only way to achieve this was to cut slots in the rails that corresponded to the slots in the head timbers. The slots in the head timbers also had to be modified, and I broke two of the head timbers trying to do this. I managed to repair these broken head timbers by reinforcing them on the backside with pieces of 1mm x 3mm walnut. It was a good job that the 2mm x 2mm beach was flexible as it needed to be when pressing the rails into the head timbers with pliers. The result is below and was the best I could do. Doing it this way allowed me to line the outer edge of the four head timbers with the 0.5mm x 2mm walnut which had to be painted blue.

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Andi said:
The Bows - a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but I think I have got somewhere near in the end.

Firstly the upper and lower bow curved rails and the hair bracket and lower boat cheek rails were painted (top and outside edge painted yellow and the undersides painted black. They were then fitted to the shipView attachment 642317
View attachment 642318

Initially the hair brackets (120) and the lower bow cheek rails (123) did not fit snuggly around the hull so I used some lead solder wire to form the outer profile of the hull and then transferred the shape onto the relevant parts and using a mini electric sanding band, the required curve was achieved.

View attachment 642322
View attachment 642323View attachment 642324

The hawse hole bolsters were then painted and fitted 13.5 mm from the stem as per the instructions and the 6mm hawse holes were drilled out.
Click to expand...
Great idea to use the solder wire to shape the curve. I'll have to remember that!
 
Andi said:
The four head timbers were next which was slightly puzzling as there was no instructions as how to fit the largest of the these ( 107). The only way to get it through the required slot was to cut a piece off one side, insert the head timber and super glue the piece back on which is what I did.


View attachment 642328
The hardest part for me was the next part which was fitting the rails using the 2mm x 2mm flexible beach. No matter how I tried I could not get the rails to lie flush against the outer face of the four head timbers. After a few hours of total frustration I decided that the only way to achieve this was to cut slots in the rails that corresponded to the slots in the head timbers. The slots in the head timbers also had to be modified, and I broke two of the head timbers trying to do this. I managed to repair these broken head timbers by reinforcing them on the backside with pieces of 1mm x 3mm walnut. It was a good job that the 2mm x 2mm beach was flexible as it needed to be when pressing the rails into the head timbers with pliers. The result is below and was the best I could do. Doing it this way allowed me to line the outer edge of the four head timbers with the 0.5mm x 2mm walnut which had to be painted blue.

View attachment 642330View attachment 642332View attachment 642333

View attachment 642331
Click to expand...
Very well done Andi
I did struggle a lot when doing this part and also broke some head timbers.
You did a great job here
 
Andi said:
the photo below shows the way the rails were cut to allow them to sit flush with the outer face of the head timbers
Click to expand...
Why are there notches? It seems like a lot of unnecessary work as the head timbers were notched, never the rails. The below is from Volume 2 of The Fully Framed Model, page 225 by David Antscherl. Note that the head timbers get covering boards once the rails are in place and before painting.

Allan
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Last edited:
Hi Andi, just caught up with your build log. Your work so far looks fantastic, if I can come any where near close to rhis sta dard with my build I'll be very happy.
Keep up the great work and I'll be following
 
AllanKP69 said:
Why are there notches? It seems like a lot of unnecessary work as the head timbers were notched, never the rails. The below is from Volume 2 of The Fully Framed Model, page 225 by David Antscherl. Note that the head timbers get covering boards once the rails are in place and before painting.

Allan
View attachment 642492
Click to expand...
Hi Allan, thanks for your comments, as shown in the drawing you attached the covering boards (0.5 x 2mm walnut) fit flush up to the head timber outside edges. I could not achieve this without cutting notches in the rails so they too would not protrude and hinder the flush fitting of the covering boards. if this wasn’t necessary then perhaps I have got something out of line somewhere but I was very careful to ensure the head timbers were parallel and upright when I fitted them. I also increased the depth and bevelled the notches in all the head timbers in order to have to avoid notching the rails, but alas it didn’t seem to work. Yes, it was a lot of extra work but I think the end result doesn’t look too bad

Regards

Andi
 
Gilbertm said:
Very well done Andi
I did struggle a lot when doing this part and also broke some head timbers.
You did a great job here
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Gilbert, as I said to Allen in reply to his post, I was sure that I had the alignment correct of the head timbers, both vertically and horizontally but just couldn’t get the rails to sit flush with the head timbers. A very frustrating part of the build
 
The Bow main rail has now been fitted and I have started work on the bow gratings. The 2 beak head platforms are in place as are the stools (76 & 77). Also the hand rail has been fitted

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The boomkins have been prepared as per the instructions and the knigheads have been painted, pinned and fitted. As suggested in the instructions the boomkins will be fitted at a later date to avoid breaking them. The Cat-heads have been assembled, painted and fitted, a section of the wale has been removed to accommodate the brass profile and the brass profile has been bent and shaped for it to fit against the hull between the bottom of the cat head support and the end of the top rail where it meets the hull

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