Aeropiccola kits

[Drzeus]

I took no offense at all! But, your interest in HMS Serapis can only be satisfied with either the Aero Piccola kit or by scratch-building. Neither Corel or Panart (or any other manufacturer) makes anything close. That said, Aeropiccola kits may be a little under detailed, but their wood was spectacular. To me, no other manufacturer came close. While the others focused on woods like walnut, cherry, etc., Aeropiccola used bass wood (a finer grain). I did not like their use of resin parts, however. But, any model can be modified at the builder's discretion, which makes us modelers not parts affixers.

The Aeropiccola HMS Victory measures out to be 1/178 scale. It is slightly larger than the Airfix plastic kit. The Aeropiccola kit is very definitely a beginner's kit. Indeed, the kit designer had the builder simply paint the lower hull copper, simple draw closed gun ports on the sides, used that resin-sawdust molding for the transom, the quarter galleries, the boats, the beakhead-bulkhead, and the mast platforms. They also used printed sheet for decks and platforms on the masts.

So, I cut out all gun ports and built the walls holding dummy cannons. I copper plated the lower hull, I built my own deck and platforms. I also scratch-built the beakhead-bulkhead, the transom, and the quarter galleries, and ship's boats. In other words, I turned her from a toy to a true model ship. It was fun! That is what modeling is about.

Bill

Hi Bill, it's good to see someone has made a good job of the Aeropiccola HMS Victory. I was given the SuperMec kit as a present in 1996. I started it, everything cut out, basic bulkhead assembled. I then realised what a challenge getting detail into such a small scale was, I was terrified at the whole idea of planking, and also had very little spare time. So it sat safely away.
It's been 30 years. I promised myself to continue with it now I have a little more free time. I set out to restart yesterday but ended up having to turn my place inside out to find where I had put the instruction leaflets. Thankfully I found them - they may not be great but they're a lot better than starting without them! The stern and some other parts are laser-etched sawdust resin in mine but the mast parts are wood. I had also decided in 1996 I wanted a real copper bottom since thin copper sheeting is easily available to me.
I hunted around here using the search button but couldn't find any photos of your Victory build. Would it be possible for you to post a few? Also do you have any "watch out for.." tips or things to avoid? Especially in regard to the planking. I think once I'm beyond that, I can take with the rest in my stride until the rigging stage ). I doubt I'll be able to achieve museum quality but I do want it to be decent.