H.M.S. Victory by Caldercraft - Build Log

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The hatches most definitely did throw me off! I finished most of the full planks last night and on the port side it degenerated into a butt seam every 4 planks instead of the butt seam every 5 planks that I had intended. Actually, is some places it is worse that every 4....

There was nothing I can do to salvage that...in some cases it appears to be even worse. My only recourse is to completely remove the planking on the port side back to the center line and start again, which I just don't want to do. I doubt I have enough material anyways and there would be a delay securing new maple 1x4mm strips from anywhere in the US. Or anything close to maple, which would alter the look of the decking.

I do want to say that I just went through your whole La Couronne Build Log. If I remember, you said this was your first build, but it was obvious, that your skills were up to the task. A lot of great tips in that log that I have stored away! I like that you put the actual link of the build in your signature section along with a separate link for just the pictures. VERY helpful for us newbie builders!

Thanks for the compliments. The 4 butt shift or 5 butt shift pattern was documented on some ships in the 19th century, but aside from Vasa, we really don't know the patterns used on 17th century ships, or if they even used a pattern at all. I usually adopt a pattern anyway, and have to plan in pencil where the plank seams will be about 4 strips ahead on the surface of the false deck. Those open deck spaces near the centerline are where you have to keep track of the pattern as the planks locations are planned around the hatches. In early ships, the planking pattern was not strictly followed. If you look at the Vasa, you will see that planks of random wood were used in planking in many places. So, if your planking pattern wanders off, it's not a real problem. On La Couronne, the hatch coamings were place over the deck planks. That was a model simplification directed by the kit instructions. On my current model, the planks were cut and fitted around the coamings as on a real ship, which takes more work and planning.

My first build log had arrows drawn to help the viewer trace lines as they were rigged later on in the log, but not for the earler lines. This will really help others see how lines are routed. I wish all the pictures had such arrows, but it only occured to me to use them later on. I will use them from now on. They serve to fill the gap that kit instructions don't have. This way, I can pass on line routing and belaying point information for the specific ship, even if the belaying plan is largely guesswork, to new builders. That saves them a huge amount of planning work and gathering and analyzing information from a great many sources. I wish instructions were written like that, but that would drive the kit price up in printing costs. When you don't know if a particular running rigging line passes through the lubbers hole in a top, you have to look at other models or Lennarth Pedersson's books and make an educated guess. Questions like that abound in rigging and model making in general.

 

[AllanKP69]

On my current model, the planks were cut and fitted around the coamings as on a real ship, which takes more work and planning.

Love that you did not take the easier route knowing it would be incorrect. Do you know when the shipyards started to round the corners of the coamings above the top surface of the surrounding deck planking, and, was this strictly an English convention? The earliest I can find on contemporary models with the rounding above the deck line is one built about 1719 that is on display at Preble Hall.
Thanks Kurt
Allan

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Love that you did not take the easier route knowing it would be incorrect. Do you know when the shipyards started to round the corners of the coamings above the top surface of the surrounding deck planking, and, was this strictly an English convention? The earliest I can find on contemporary models with the rounding above the deck line is one built about 1719 that is on display at Preble Hall.
Thanks Kurt
Allan

I do not. I haven't research that feature on later ships yet, working primarily with vessels older than 1640. That's something that needs to be studied when I start work on USS Rattlesnake in the future.

 

[team118]

Been plugging along and have a few updates. I'll try and group them accordingly.

I finished the planking on the quarterdeck and while it doesn't follow the pattern I wanted on one side of the boat, I think it will be fine.

Like the other decks I added some stained wood filler to the deck. It looks messy and stupid at first, but after sanding it, I think it looks good and provides an artificial caulking. I haven't added a matt finish yet, but when it do, it'll bring out a bit of yellow from the wood.

As a bit of foreshadowing, I didn't cut out the hatches at the bow for the hatch covers enough and I had to really work at it when it came time. Better to do it right the first time!

I did make a mistake with the skid beams. I thought I was going to have to add a coaming all around the deck to help conceal the joint between the deck and the actual skid beam assembly. I didn't look at the size of the planking which is 1.5x1.5mm square. I thought it would be like a 3 to 4mm piece. I'm concerned because I left a little too much open around the skid beam because I thought I'd be able to hide it with the coaming. Oh well.

 

[team118]

Next, I added the inner bulwark pieces. After cutting off the bulkhead stubs, the forward gun ports were very fragile and I knocked one off working on the other side....used it as a rest for my hand.

I couldn't figure out how to reattach it, so I added a piece of original hull planking to outside with a reveal and glued and clamped it in place. It worked ok, but there is a bit of a bulge at the bow that I am going to have to address...I just couldn't get that side to 'suck in' when gluing, even using some larger clamps.

Everything seemed to go in pretty good, it felt like the in and out gun ports lined up nicely and there didn't seem to be much of a seam on the outer hull pieces.

Once done, I was able to sand a lot of the deck clean and it's starting to look fair.

My only problem is dust, it's everywhere, especially down below. I have an air compressor and I will take a shot at it in a bit...hopefully, none of the cannons will go shooting out the front!!!!

 

[team118]

For the main hull I add second planking and cut out the gun ports as I went. After, I added the gun port lining. Which was a pain because of the 1mm recess.

This time, I added all the gun port linings first. I did the tops and bottoms first and then added the sides...all with minimal cutting after installation.

Once they were all done, I have a little rechargeable 'Dremel' tool and sanded the excess clean. That was a game changer.

 

[team118]

Lol...this was my attempt at reattaching the forward starboard bulkhead. Paint cans, carpenter pencils....you name it, I enlisted it!!!

 

[team118]

Next was the planking of the inner bulwarks and the outer hull.

First pic, you can see I made a mistake with cutting the planking back from the gun ports. The ONLY gun ports that need are recess of 1mm, are the aft ones. The rest are all flush. I only did it for one section on one side, so I'll live with it, a little paint and shadowing will hide it all!

The second one was misreading the directions on which wood to use to plank the inner bulwarks. I started with the same width wood....it's light colored, but got me now what it is. But the directions called for walnut, so you can see a few. No worries as they will be painted.

This took a lot of time. I would add 2 or 3 planks on one side, switch the boat around and do some on the other side. Wait a bit for the glue to dry and then carve out the planking that was covering the gun ports.

So I was working inside on the port side, then outside on starboard...vice versa...versa vice.

Once done, I spent a lot of time with a small flat file and square file to make the gun ports true.

 

[team118]

While doing the side planking, I also had to create the forward hatches.

I wasn't sure I had enough grating material to make all of them, but I had just enough.

I was concerned about the misplaced camber beam up front potentially getting in the way of the hatch, but that never happened.
After getting the gratings to the correct size, I did a piss poor job of creating the coamings. I did not opt to glue the gratings in first... that seemed like a crazy way to try it.

But making the coamings to surround the gratings was tough and I am not happy with the final results. You can see in one of the pictures the middle framing wasn't long enough and I redid them.

In addition, I thought I cut the deck planking around the openings, but they were too tight and I had to cut a lot to get the final assemblies to fit.

In the long run, they are fine, there are some broken gratings that have appeared during installation.

 

[team118]

After this, I tackled the capping rails. These were a puzzle to me.

Once again, I made a mistake while installing them. The directions call for the six vertical edges to be capped with 1x5mm walnut. This would be the 1" high edges in the middle and up at the bow.

Then, you have to cut out pieces 391, 392 & 393. They are all fairly wide and have a significant overhang when dry fitted. I had them numbered, but when I installed the port side, I missed the numbering and installed them wrong.

In the end, I had used piece 392 which lays on the deck between the forward and rear decking for one of the top cap pieces. Which because it was too long, I had to cut.

Going too fast, way late at night. After seeing my mistake, I removed them and reinstalled them correctly. I had to add a small 1" piece to one side, but once it was filled and painted, you can't see it.

My puzzle is that all of the builder logs I've seen show the caps sanded flush and the directions call for the caps to be flush, but they have a pretty hefty excess that overhang. Based on what I've seen so far, the pieces all seem to be pretty close to what is needed, so it's strange these caps have 1-2mm of overhang.

I almost wasn't going to sand them because it looked pretty nice, but I wasn't sure what that would do down the line.

 

[team118]

Worked on the forward bitt bracing and the stove chimney. I believe the braces have 3 sheaves in them on the ship and the directions call for me to drill a hole for rigging. I was able to drill 3 holes and then cut it out enough to create space for 2 sheaves.

These holes are a bit larger than the main mast bitt bracing, so the sheaves show up better. Again, I added a thin piece of styrene between the 2 sheaves, which I CA glued into the holes. I didn't get a final picture, but they look pretty good, even after being painted. MUCH better than my first attempt.

I also added handles to the stove chimney and I saw a picture of the mechanism that I assume allows the front of the chimney to open or close.

The handles are a but out of scale, but they add some detail.

 

[team118]

So, I am now caught up!

I put 2 coats of paint on both the interior and exterior sides. There were some gaps in the interior planking that I added some filler to, to try and smooth out. After a light sanding, I added a 3rd coat of paint to them.

I touched up the main sail bitt braces as they were hopelessly dirty from the constant sanding.

I have a bit of black touch up to the cap rails and the forward snatch blocks.
NOTE: the forward snatch block actually has a sheave in it. The model provides for a hole to accept the rigging. I didn't catch that until after I installed them and I am not confident that I could drill it out and make it large enough for an actual sheave without breaking it. So it stays as is

I also began gathering all of the pieces for the breast beam assembly and quarterdeck barricade assembly. Some of the parts are very small and I have already broke a few. It's thick wood and the laser cutting doesn't create enough of a relief prior to trying to cut them.

I want to add a small strip of black planking to the inner corners of the bulwarks and the deck and I also have to put together the Admiral's screen.

....just started thinking, I started this model on February 15, 2024. Seems like ages ago!!!!!

 

[Bryian]

Thats an awesome build of a most difficult ship model. Well done so far.

 

[team118]

Thats an awesome build of a most difficult ship model. Well done so far.

Thank you for the kind words of appreciation and encouragement!

 

[team118]

These are some closeups of the bitt/bracing and the stovepipe chimney as well as some shots of the deck.

I added the belaying pins onto the braces. As others have noted, the diameter of the pins are MUCH larger than the holes provided.

In addition, the parts list call for 72 belaying pins in the kit. I only had one small bag with about 25 or so.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first part that has come up missing in my kit. I bought it about a year ago from JoTiKa and if anyone has been looking, it was VERY difficulty to find any for sale. And those that were available carried a hefty premium. I was lucky to see that JoTika's shipper Ship Wright's Shop had kits available or in my cast, kits that were being assembled.

I put an order in (having mentioned at the beginning of this log that I was nervous committing over $1,000 USD to a UK based company with little visibility here in the US). They called me almost immediately and asked if I would be ok receiving my kit in a plain box as they were trying to get kits out as fast as possible and were ahead of the printers. Certainly not a problem for me.

I received the kit and after doing a quick review noticed that i was missing one of the 12mm dowels for the masts and one of the walnut sheets of parts.
I didn't care about the dowel because Home Depot sells 1/2" dowel (not quite 12mm, but good enough), but I needed the sheet. They sent out a sheet immediately.

A year into the build, I see I am missing at least 30 or so belaying pins. They sell them in packs of 10 for about 1 dollar sterling (or however you'd say that). So 4 baggies is going to be about 4 pounds plus shipping. Not a big deal. I get the sense that Ship Wright's Shop is a small little store with a few employees working quite hard to cater to a higher end modeling group and they have been nothing but professional and helpful whenever I have needed them!!!

On with the story!!!!

I had to drill a larger hole into the brace bitts. These holes are already VERY close and I was worried that expanding them was going to break these small pieces.

I carefully drilled the holes and many of them created broken pieces. I was able to expand all the holes without splitting the bitts and I was able to add the pins that I had.

 

[team118]

After, I added a first coat of matt finish to the quarter deck. I think it went on very smoothly and once dried looked pretty good with very few blemishes or errors noticeable.

Moving on to the belfry sucked. The 8 forecastle breast beam supports (#193) are BEYOND fragile. One completely disintegrated and a few broke at the cap top ends.

Because they are so small, I don't have the kind of tools that would be easy to recreate them. But I did the best I could....hoping that black paint would hide the butchering I did.

I had to thin out breast beams to make sure they wouldn't break the supports. When assembling it all, there is a bit of twist that I fear I'll have to break for final installation of the deck. Putting it all together is harder than it needs to be. The instructions provide a semi clear view of how to put this together and that along with the blueprint plans should be enough. But it still isn't altogether clear....Ironically, the parts manual has a colored/exploded view of the belfry. You'd think THAT would be what they would do for all the various sub structures.

Part of my confusion was the internal set up of the belfry cross bar, the PE bell handle and bell. I've seen some builder logs with the bell handle pointed to the bow of the ship with a rope hanging down. However, I saw a picture of a live shot and the handle actually points OVER the skid beam access hatch to the lower deck...now that doesn't make sense because it seems to me that you'd have to reach around over the hatch opening to ring the bell. A bit dangerous!

I also wanted to add an actual metal roof to the belfry roof. I saw one one builder (PLEASE forgive me, I am not sure just which one....but a MUCH better job than mine will ever come close to) use a handmade jig to add an actual copper roof!. I thought I would try using tin foil. I thought I could get it to attach to the roof and once dry, paint with copper paint.

When doing so, I couldn't get the wrinkles out and wasn't sure if that would look bad...so before attaching it, I wondered if the tin foil would actually take paint or would I need to add metal etching first. Well it didn't take paint...just smeared all over and I decided it just wasn't worth it.

In the end, I just used Tamiya copper paint and I am very happy with the look.

The provided bell is cast. There is a small divit hole on top. I was able to add a piece of a nail and when I install it, I'll drill a small hole in the cross bar. I had to add metal etching to the bell so that it would accept paint. I tried painting it before and it just smeared off. I used Vallejo brass paint for the bell. It's dark, but not black.

As you can see though, the small nature of this assembly and the jury rigged parts have created a lot of twist. I am hoping I can get this to glue on the deck with little problem.

I also worked on the barricade assemble. This was tough too. You have to actually cut a small piece out of 3x3mm walnut to fit a recess for the base of this piece.
And the piece you're taking a chunk out of is only 6mm long!!!

Again, there is a bit of twist in this one too, but I hope that gluing it will take care of it.

 

[team118]

I started working on the 4 ladders. Once again the manual requires 1x5mm for the treads. This is just TOO thick and causes me issues.
Since these ladders are going to be painted black, I opted to just left over (I hope it's leftover as I still have to do the poop deck....fingers crossed) deck planking.

It is thin enough to fit into the ladder beam slots just perfectly!

It is soft though! You can see some tearing, but the damn thing is straight! And that's saying something considering the state of the other ladders already installed!!!

The other two pics show the gun ports painted with red. I think I'll add a matt finish to the outer hull to protect it.

 

[team118]

I just love this section of the build!!!! The various mini-assemblies are a challenge to build and when they are added to the quarter deck they really start to flesh out the boat. It's hard to explain, but it's exciting!

I spend hours during the day working on all these little mini tasks and when my wife goes to bed, I sneak down for a few hours till midnight.

I finished the belfry and installed it on the deck. The twist was a challenge but using quick drying CA glue helped getting it started. A couple of the belfry beam supports were twisted so I set a small and large can of paint on them....that was brave wasn't it!!!!!!!! But it worked.

I have a few books and many of them show the rope for ringing the bell facing forward....but I'm sticking with my aft facing rope. I like that the line I used to secure the bell around the cleats look great and I love Tamiya's copper paint! Just sweet.

The barricade went on fine too. A bit of a twist in it, but it seems to lay good. After it was set, I added the the 1.5x1.5mm strip along the long side of the skid beam between the barricade and the belfry. After it was installed, I added some touch up paint.

The instructions mention two ships waist balusters. These are 2 cast columns. There is a picture of them in manual but it is very hard to discern and a side view on the plans, but I didn't quite understand it. A few of my books (I am going to have to get the actual titles of the 3 I use, they are just great!) show the baluster.

So they will fit in each aft corner of the skid beam. There will be just enough above the skid beam to allow a railing to got from the baluster to the barricade. Then the rope railing for the stairs will come up to the top through a stanchion, with the aft one going to tie off on the barricade and the other forward to be tied together with the rope railing for the forward stairs. I will supply pictures to help clarify this when I do it.

I just love the 4 stairs I built and using the thinner deck material is the way to go. I am half tempted to use if for the rest and stain with walnut. Forgot to take pics right now!

One of the other stairs is the main companionway. This was bit difficult to trim out as there wasn't a reference to make it square. Also, I left a bit too much decking that I will remove and perhaps stain to hide. I fitted the stairs in and they fit up nicely down below with the columns. I just am not sure how I will attach the wooden railing for this stairs from top to bottom. Right now, I took the 1.5x1.5mm piece and while spinning it with my fingers between sand paper was able to make it into a nice shaped dowel. I cut it into 2 pieces which have been soaking in water all afternoon in hopes that I can use my plank bender to create that aggressive bend. If that doesn't work, i will just cut and glue it together and use wood putty to create the bend.

Finally, when I installed the main mast bitt/brace there was a significant hole on each side of the mast hole. I never thought about it after getting the brace installed. I then decked over it very neatly. The instructions call for two quarterdeck rigging openings around the mast. Hmm.....

Looking ahead, it's hard to see if actual running or standing rigging goes through these holes. I do know in the real boat, there are major sheets and halyards that go down into cleats on the lower deck sheaves. I have also seen some plans where these 2 holes have gratings over them.

That might be what I do because I thought I didn't have enough grating material and ordered a bit more. If it comes, I might build it and then thin it a bit and install it!

And that is it. I did add a final coat of matt finish to deck and I added a coat of matt finish to entire exterior hull...except copper or stern area.

Very happy!!!!!

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Coming along very nicely. You're right this is the absorbing fun stuff!
She's looking wonderful, and the copper bottom looks great,

 

[team118]

Here the 3 books I use. They have been a great source of information and I was able to get them all used for great prices. I was even lucky to find Longridge's book with all of the pull out diagrams!



I worked on the main companionway staircase. As mentioned above, here are pics of my first attempt. The bend/arc of the railing going down was just too large and the columns on the coaming were not square at all.

The next day, I removed them and re-attached and they were a bit better.

The next day after that, I removed the stair railing and opted to just break it and bend it closer to what the directions call for. I added some white glue to give it strength. I may see if I add a few coats of matt finish if it will help to hide the CA glue stains.