Good morning Peter. Man that must have been a brilliant trip. Some stunning country. I have pulled up a chair to follow this. First layer of planking a success- the bow and stern some serious bending. Cheers Grant
HMS Victory - Caldercraft-Jotika - 1/72. Build log
- Thread starter PeterG
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Masts were tapered towards the foot, so maybe Caldercraft have allowed for this ?
That's now £49 mil.!
Me Too! Last Wednesday.I have just purchased this kit so I will be following your build with great interest. Good luck and have fun
Latest update a little slow as I have been battling with the slot sizes and fitting of the various parts of the stern galleries (see previous post). I have managed to get it all together and while the slot sizes have been modified and it all looks OK, the gluing of the bits will make a solid structure and it should be satisfactory going forward.
Now, for those who have been following my Build Log, you will remember that I have wanted to place internal lights into the model. For the rear galleries, obviously, the various windows look into the rooms at the stern of the ship, and in there would be lighting, so my next step, before attaching the gallery timbers which will enclose these spaces, I have to add wiring and flickering LEDs to these spaces. The wiring from the gun ports of the lower gun decks is easily accessible at this stage and so it was a relatively easy job to mount some LEDs and extend the wiring. The internal lighting will also allow rear viewing through the windows (portholes ??) of the galleries and so some internal detail will be required.
I painted the lit section spaces and added some wall decoration and floor patterning as per some photos of the internal fitout of the actual ship (for example, see below):
While the furniture etc is difficult, the floor patterning is easy, so I added that and then the painting and decoration should suffice for the limited view through the small windows at the back of the ship. Below is the rear gallery area and shows some of the congested, limited space inside. You can see the floor apttern and some of the wall decorations.
The lighting through the rear windows is subtle, and arranged without any 'geometry' to suggest the random patterning of where lights would be. Although you cannot see it in the photo below, these LED lights flicker, to simulate candle-lit lanterns. Note too in this photo, that the rear internal 'skin' of the rear gallery is pinned by brass tacks to position it before final gluing.
The following picture shows the side galleries and the installation of the flickering LEDs in these spaces.
The next stage is the fitting of the 'outside' skins of the side galleries. This is made a little tricky because the individual windows have to have clear acetate added to provide windows. At this stage, I am grappling with this, because the Manual says to glue acetate, clear sheet to the insides and while this is OK for the window panes, it is not accurate to the actual ship. Below is a photo from the actual ship which shows mullions (or muntin bars) and window framing which is not present in the Caldercraft kit. (NOTE AFTER POSTING: In fact, this is NOT correct. Caldercraft HAVE provided window mouldings and these are on a Brass Sheet I had not realised - See my post a week later).
I will need to give this some more thought.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed time = 285 hours
Now, for those who have been following my Build Log, you will remember that I have wanted to place internal lights into the model. For the rear galleries, obviously, the various windows look into the rooms at the stern of the ship, and in there would be lighting, so my next step, before attaching the gallery timbers which will enclose these spaces, I have to add wiring and flickering LEDs to these spaces. The wiring from the gun ports of the lower gun decks is easily accessible at this stage and so it was a relatively easy job to mount some LEDs and extend the wiring. The internal lighting will also allow rear viewing through the windows (portholes ??) of the galleries and so some internal detail will be required.
I painted the lit section spaces and added some wall decoration and floor patterning as per some photos of the internal fitout of the actual ship (for example, see below):
While the furniture etc is difficult, the floor patterning is easy, so I added that and then the painting and decoration should suffice for the limited view through the small windows at the back of the ship. Below is the rear gallery area and shows some of the congested, limited space inside. You can see the floor apttern and some of the wall decorations.
The lighting through the rear windows is subtle, and arranged without any 'geometry' to suggest the random patterning of where lights would be. Although you cannot see it in the photo below, these LED lights flicker, to simulate candle-lit lanterns. Note too in this photo, that the rear internal 'skin' of the rear gallery is pinned by brass tacks to position it before final gluing.
The following picture shows the side galleries and the installation of the flickering LEDs in these spaces.
The next stage is the fitting of the 'outside' skins of the side galleries. This is made a little tricky because the individual windows have to have clear acetate added to provide windows. At this stage, I am grappling with this, because the Manual says to glue acetate, clear sheet to the insides and while this is OK for the window panes, it is not accurate to the actual ship. Below is a photo from the actual ship which shows mullions (or muntin bars) and window framing which is not present in the Caldercraft kit. (NOTE AFTER POSTING: In fact, this is NOT correct. Caldercraft HAVE provided window mouldings and these are on a Brass Sheet I had not realised - See my post a week later).
I will need to give this some more thought.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed time = 285 hours
Last edited:
Before we start covering the aft galleries, pay attention to the stern. There shouldn't be such a break
I've used the smallest available styrene strip to make mullions, using canopy glue, on my Le Superbe.
Has anyone tried making 'anchor stock' strips for the wales, if so, how successfully?
Thank you Alexander74 for highlighting the abrupt edge of the first planking over the Bulkhead 17 at the stern of the ship. I examined it and although it is probably sharper than it should be, the camera angle doesn't help but I have also sanded it flatter, and it now looks OK. I think the second planking too, should softer the angle.
Thank you Stuart Little also, for helping with the suggestions regarding the stern gallery mullions. I have researched this long and hard but in the end, I thought, "I couldn't believe Caldercraft would not have addressed this".
Sure enough, to their credit, they have!! In the 0.5mm Brass Etched Sheet (2), are the window inserts with the formed mullions for the side and aft galleries.
So, this will solve a lot of work. I can therefore go ahead and shape/glue the various parts of the side gallery ' skins' and move forward.
I have started to plank the decking of the gun deck and this is getting done with a timber (Obechi) which I had from another kit with the same dimension (4mm wide by 1 mm thick). This timber is lighter than the Caldercraft supplied decking timber and I think more closely matches what I have seen in pictures of the gun deck timber flooring in website pictures. Only scant viewing of the Gun Deck flooring is observable from above in any case, so I think it will be OK.
I have used paul1956 approach and cut lengths to produce the 4x planking pattern and this is working well. I will progress the deck planking across the deck and leave allowance for the Main Mast which must pass through this deck and have a 'ring' collar where it penetrates the deck. This decking extends from Bulkheads 4 to 12 with some extensions into the side entry openings and this will be easily done.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed Time = 302 Hours
Thank you Stuart Little also, for helping with the suggestions regarding the stern gallery mullions. I have researched this long and hard but in the end, I thought, "I couldn't believe Caldercraft would not have addressed this".
Sure enough, to their credit, they have!! In the 0.5mm Brass Etched Sheet (2), are the window inserts with the formed mullions for the side and aft galleries.
So, this will solve a lot of work. I can therefore go ahead and shape/glue the various parts of the side gallery ' skins' and move forward.
I have started to plank the decking of the gun deck and this is getting done with a timber (Obechi) which I had from another kit with the same dimension (4mm wide by 1 mm thick). This timber is lighter than the Caldercraft supplied decking timber and I think more closely matches what I have seen in pictures of the gun deck timber flooring in website pictures. Only scant viewing of the Gun Deck flooring is observable from above in any case, so I think it will be OK.
I have used paul1956 approach and cut lengths to produce the 4x planking pattern and this is working well. I will progress the deck planking across the deck and leave allowance for the Main Mast which must pass through this deck and have a 'ring' collar where it penetrates the deck. This decking extends from Bulkheads 4 to 12 with some extensions into the side entry openings and this will be easily done.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed Time = 302 Hours
I notice, from photos, that Vic's decks are more of a 'driftwood grey' colour. I've got some Driftwood Dove Grey dye from Littlefair, here in UK, which I've been using on decks.
Thank you Stuart Little. Some of the images I have seen are a light grey colour, I agree, but others are a bit of a darker brown (a lot like Obechi). For example, below are a couple of gun deck examples and they are significantly different. I suspect its the ambient light, direction of the photo and computer rendering etc vary the colour a lot.
I finished the lower Gun Deck planking yesterday and used a matt clear varnish to finish off and it does look OK, so I am going with it as it is. Refer to my previous post, I think it looks quite satisfactory. I will be installing the door entry linings and door entry flooring today plus the gallery skins. Photos to follow.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed Time: 307 hours
I finished the lower Gun Deck planking yesterday and used a matt clear varnish to finish off and it does look OK, so I am going with it as it is. Refer to my previous post, I think it looks quite satisfactory. I will be installing the door entry linings and door entry flooring today plus the gallery skins. Photos to follow.
Regards,
PeterG
Elapsed Time: 307 hours
I have moved on to the second planking and as per the instructions, a line created between the gun ports (from Plan 2) is used to define the line of the first and subsequent planks. I have placed a few planks on the port side which get to a point of partially covering the gun ports. These have to be cut out as you progress (otherwise you lose where they are!!). Cutting these out just using a scalpel and with the walnut that the kit supplies is hard work. The walnut is a hard wood!! So to assist I created a gun port outline which I manually position over the gun port position and then drill around as below:
With the holes drilled, I can then easily cut and carefully shape the walnut second plank linings around the gun ports as defined by the plywood inner template. Note too that I have used scarf jointing rather than butt joints of the planks. I felt this was closer to reality and having seen some of the photos by Jupiter913 recently posted, this appears to be accurate (see below).
Best Regards,
PeterG
With the holes drilled, I can then easily cut and carefully shape the walnut second plank linings around the gun ports as defined by the plywood inner template. Note too that I have used scarf jointing rather than butt joints of the planks. I felt this was closer to reality and having seen some of the photos by Jupiter913 recently posted, this appears to be accurate (see below).
Best Regards,
PeterG
Excellent build and log. Loving it.
I omitted earlier, a stage of the Victory build which provides for the galleries and rear/stern area of the model. I found the side galleries to be especially difficult because they need to be dry fitted initially to be correct and your dealing with about 12 individual pieces per side. Hence it was difficult to get right. The other thing about it is that the three gallery facings (per side) which hold the windows, have to have their internal panes of clear material put into place and glued. PVA or other glue must be used (not cryroacrylate as it melts and 'fogs' the clear plastic material.)
The other aspect of the build here of course, is that these are gallery windows into the internals of the ship, and as I have decided to internally light the ship with LEDs, these had to be fitted and wired/connected in place.
Finally got it done with a bit of judicious sanding and shaping and the result is below:
I had put some 'Yellow' Ochre' on the linings of the galleries to get a 'feel' for the colours I am going to have to paint with eventually, but in the above, these galleries are completely covered, so it won't show in any case. The exercise told me that I will have to use an undercoat before painting the ochre and black hull sides of the ship - more experimenting required.
So, onward with second planking. I am making my way slowly down the sides of the hull using the contact glue approach of Paul Vickers, rather than the suggested CA glue method recommended in the Manual. This glue is a Sika product and I am finding it excellent.
I chose Paul's method for the following reasons.
A) It can be relatively slow with 5-10 minutes of contact time before it really 'goes off' and fixes the plank in place, so there is great flexibility if you get it wrong or need to adjust as fitting the planks.
B) It can be easily applied with paintbrush or cotton bud (so doesn't ruin brushes) and can be easily cleaned using acetone or by rubbing once dry.
C) Its a LOT cheaper than CA glue.
D) One negative of the gluing process is that it REQUIRES you to apply glue to BOTH the hull and the plank surfaces, then leave for 3-5 minutes. It is not possible to get the area to be planked exactly covered with glue where the plank goes, but if you cover an area even where it's not (at that stage) being planked, it doesn't matter. It just hardens and when you later plank the area, it still sticks well. Many thanks to Paul Vickers for this tip.
Two other issues have arisen with the second planking that I wasn't expecting:
BENDING THE WALNUT PLANKS
The timber provided in the Caldercraft kit is walnut. It is of high quality, 1 x 5 mm and an excellent finish to the model. However, it is hard and relatively inflexible even after 5-10 minutes of cold or hot water soaking. It can be bent, but with just soaking, I have broken a couple of planks near the high curvature bow. So, to get around this, I have reverted back to the old close cut pliers and insert 'crease' cuts across the plank where tight curvature is required. These cuts use the pliers (see below) which cut about half way through with cuts at about 0.5 cm along the plank.
In the picture above, you can see the curvature developing and the numerous cuts placed by the bladed pliers.
CUTTING THE WALNUT FOR TAPERING
As we move down the hull, some planks have to be tapered. I have attempted to use a stainless steel ruler and scalpel or sharp blade approach and have found this really difficult. Because the walnut is described as "a tough hardwood of medium density, with moderate bending and crushing strengths, and low stiffness", (quote from the American Hardwoods Information Center), the simple cutting along or at an angle to the grain, it is extremely difficult as it tends to 'pull' the wood plank without cutting or scoring. You can increase the pressure on the ruler to hold the plank down, but when the cut gets to the tapered fine end, the wood tends to split.
I thought I could machine cut it and while this works, it is slow and not accurate where fine tapering is required.
So, on thinking about it, I figured I might be able to make a jig to accurately cut a tapered hardwood by clamping the plank. The timber size is 1 x 5 mm, so I got some 1 mm sheet metal and bought a square of some MDF timber, some angle aluminium, a new steel ruler and a couple of bolts and wingnuts. Below is my jig.
The sheet metal was cut into two unequal width plates and I ensured the edge surfaces were very flat and straight. I fixed ONE plate to the timber base with screws and routed two slots into the second metal sheet to allow it to have side movement when unscrewed using the bolt/wingnut release. I drilled two appropriate (6mm) bolt holes under the routed plate slots into the timber so the second plate could move laterally, but be locked down by the wingnuts and washers. I then secured the angle aluminium to the end of the base timber (with the upper edge vertically level with the 1 mm plates). I then routed another slot into the aluminium and fixed the end of the stainless steel ruler by a bolt/wingnut through the slot. The slots are to allow variation for different thicknesses or widths of timber. A future possible improvement could be a method of locking the moveable, unattached end of the ruler, but I found in practice I did not need this.
I now had a jig which could lock a plank lying flat by side pressure clamping of the steel plates, and then over the top, position the ruler at an angle to allow an accurate taper cut with a sharp scalpel along or at a near angle to the timber grain. The two pictures below show how this works.
I was surprised how well this worked. You might have to score walnut with the scalpel a few times to cut all the way through the plank and you have to stop the cut just before it intersects with the steel locking plate, but the jig locks the plank tightly in place and allows an accurate cut which is clean and as thin as you want.
I am going to have to produce a LOT of tapered planks, so this should help immensely. I still have to use the bending cuts to allow the required curvatures, but the process is fast and effective.
Best Regards,
Peter G.
Elapsed Time : 385 hours
The other aspect of the build here of course, is that these are gallery windows into the internals of the ship, and as I have decided to internally light the ship with LEDs, these had to be fitted and wired/connected in place.
Finally got it done with a bit of judicious sanding and shaping and the result is below:
I had put some 'Yellow' Ochre' on the linings of the galleries to get a 'feel' for the colours I am going to have to paint with eventually, but in the above, these galleries are completely covered, so it won't show in any case. The exercise told me that I will have to use an undercoat before painting the ochre and black hull sides of the ship - more experimenting required.
So, onward with second planking. I am making my way slowly down the sides of the hull using the contact glue approach of Paul Vickers, rather than the suggested CA glue method recommended in the Manual. This glue is a Sika product and I am finding it excellent.
I chose Paul's method for the following reasons.
A) It can be relatively slow with 5-10 minutes of contact time before it really 'goes off' and fixes the plank in place, so there is great flexibility if you get it wrong or need to adjust as fitting the planks.
B) It can be easily applied with paintbrush or cotton bud (so doesn't ruin brushes) and can be easily cleaned using acetone or by rubbing once dry.
C) Its a LOT cheaper than CA glue.
D) One negative of the gluing process is that it REQUIRES you to apply glue to BOTH the hull and the plank surfaces, then leave for 3-5 minutes. It is not possible to get the area to be planked exactly covered with glue where the plank goes, but if you cover an area even where it's not (at that stage) being planked, it doesn't matter. It just hardens and when you later plank the area, it still sticks well. Many thanks to Paul Vickers for this tip.
Two other issues have arisen with the second planking that I wasn't expecting:
BENDING THE WALNUT PLANKS
The timber provided in the Caldercraft kit is walnut. It is of high quality, 1 x 5 mm and an excellent finish to the model. However, it is hard and relatively inflexible even after 5-10 minutes of cold or hot water soaking. It can be bent, but with just soaking, I have broken a couple of planks near the high curvature bow. So, to get around this, I have reverted back to the old close cut pliers and insert 'crease' cuts across the plank where tight curvature is required. These cuts use the pliers (see below) which cut about half way through with cuts at about 0.5 cm along the plank.
In the picture above, you can see the curvature developing and the numerous cuts placed by the bladed pliers.
CUTTING THE WALNUT FOR TAPERING
As we move down the hull, some planks have to be tapered. I have attempted to use a stainless steel ruler and scalpel or sharp blade approach and have found this really difficult. Because the walnut is described as "a tough hardwood of medium density, with moderate bending and crushing strengths, and low stiffness", (quote from the American Hardwoods Information Center), the simple cutting along or at an angle to the grain, it is extremely difficult as it tends to 'pull' the wood plank without cutting or scoring. You can increase the pressure on the ruler to hold the plank down, but when the cut gets to the tapered fine end, the wood tends to split.
I thought I could machine cut it and while this works, it is slow and not accurate where fine tapering is required.
So, on thinking about it, I figured I might be able to make a jig to accurately cut a tapered hardwood by clamping the plank. The timber size is 1 x 5 mm, so I got some 1 mm sheet metal and bought a square of some MDF timber, some angle aluminium, a new steel ruler and a couple of bolts and wingnuts. Below is my jig.
The sheet metal was cut into two unequal width plates and I ensured the edge surfaces were very flat and straight. I fixed ONE plate to the timber base with screws and routed two slots into the second metal sheet to allow it to have side movement when unscrewed using the bolt/wingnut release. I drilled two appropriate (6mm) bolt holes under the routed plate slots into the timber so the second plate could move laterally, but be locked down by the wingnuts and washers. I then secured the angle aluminium to the end of the base timber (with the upper edge vertically level with the 1 mm plates). I then routed another slot into the aluminium and fixed the end of the stainless steel ruler by a bolt/wingnut through the slot. The slots are to allow variation for different thicknesses or widths of timber. A future possible improvement could be a method of locking the moveable, unattached end of the ruler, but I found in practice I did not need this.
I now had a jig which could lock a plank lying flat by side pressure clamping of the steel plates, and then over the top, position the ruler at an angle to allow an accurate taper cut with a sharp scalpel along or at a near angle to the timber grain. The two pictures below show how this works.
I was surprised how well this worked. You might have to score walnut with the scalpel a few times to cut all the way through the plank and you have to stop the cut just before it intersects with the steel locking plate, but the jig locks the plank tightly in place and allows an accurate cut which is clean and as thin as you want.
I am going to have to produce a LOT of tapered planks, so this should help immensely. I still have to use the bending cuts to allow the required curvatures, but the process is fast and effective.
Best Regards,
Peter G.
Elapsed Time : 385 hours
Good morning Peter. I remember cutting those gun ports….over a 100
. Awesome job so far. This is a beautiful Victory you are building.Wow, Caldercraft has produced a fantastic stern gallery design and quality. (Definitely the best Victory kit out there). Non the less that stern on the Victory is a challenge and you are owning it. Cool jig for tapering the planks BTW. Cheers Grant
Very clever jig, Peter!