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

[Ncseniorgolfer]

The netting covers the sides and base. I placed a larger piece into the hammock racks and used dowels or stir sticks to keep the bottom of the netting in place as I sewed each side. Once I had a side done, I was able to cut the extra away and then do the other side.

If I recall, I did the inside netting first and allowed the outer side to hang over. I used clothespins to add weight and keep the netting tight.

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Thanks Chris. My first attempt was difficult to say the least. I like the clothes pin application as I have quite a few here I can use. Keep up the good work.

 

[535i]

For the past week, I have worked on the various forward stays.
I can't do the main and fore stays, they require 1.8mm line and the kit line is crap. When I tried to seize it, it broke, when I even gave it a light tug, it broke. That's really sad considering the quality of the kit.

Eh....I ordered 1.8mm from Rope of Scale and I'm waiting on that. Once I get that, I think I can worm it first because it's so big and then seize the top where the mouse is.

Doing the mouses was very hard. I tried so many different ways. Longridge suggested making a hollow mouse and then running an odd number of treads around it...I assume much like what the magnetic fields look like around the Earth?

I tried that it was a bear and didn't work.

I was able to drill small holes in some small doweling and then drill a larger hole. Then I cut it to about 5mm in length and kind of stuck it on the end of a pointy file and sanded around it to make it pear shaped. Once I did that, I CA glued it to the stay and put it on the serving machine. It was hard to get the serving line to lay right. I would add CA glue to help hold it in place. In the end they are passible, but not the best.

For the smaller lines, the directions just say to use seizing line and create a mouse. The first time I did it, I used larger line, thinking this would be ok. As others have said, large seizing line does not work. And it didn't really work here either. To try and salvage them, I went back to my thin seizing line and seized over it all. Again, passable.

Some of the directions for the stays are vague at best, but I think with the help of Longridge and McCay, I was able to plod through it.

I was going to begin the back stays, but realized that most of these are in pairs. It's funny the directions don't specifically say that and honestly, I didn't really find it in Longridge's book. However!!!! McCay has the standing and running rigging diagrams with a table in the back that lists every line, block, cleat and widget needed. In that table in very, VERY small print it says the backstays are 1 pair!!!

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Excellent work!

 

[team118]

FINALLY! I have completed all of the ratlines. Like the copper plating, it is just something you have to grind out...one thread/plate at a time!

At least with the ratlines, I didn't ruin my fingertips with CA glue!

Now I have the blueprint sheets spread out all over. I have the rigging instructions on my computer, pictures of other builds for help and The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships and HMS Victory, Her Construction, Career & Restoration open with all kinds of page markers sticking out.

I have to refresh my myself as to where I was headed next after the ratlines. I had such good plans back last April and now I have to rethink them all.

First, I'm going to install the jibboom and flying jibboom, all of the stays that are attached to them. I have to remake the dolphin striker and jackstaff as I misplaced them. I want to create jibboom travelers and figure out how to adapt them to the model.

I am remembering that the instructions are very vague and I was relying on Longridge's book for a lot of my future work with the yards.

Happy New Year to all!
Chris

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Congratulations on getting past the ratlining milestone!

 

[Bluebear26]

Hi Chris - stumbled across this thread today and thoroughly enjoyed watching your build develop. Can't believe it's your first build. You Sir, have the mighty kahoonas to even attempt it! The result looks amazing though, despite the challenges the ship has thrown at you. Thanks for keeping the log going too, it's easy to lose motivation and we're all grateful to see it progress so well!
Chris (the BlueBear)

 

[GrantTyler]

FINALLY! I have completed all of the ratlines. Like the copper plating, it is just something you have to grind out...one thread/plate at a time!

At least with the ratlines, I didn't ruin my fingertips with CA glue!

Now I have the blueprint sheets spread out all over. I have the rigging instructions on my computer, pictures of other builds for help and The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships and HMS Victory, Her Construction, Career & Restoration open with all kinds of page markers sticking out.

I have to refresh my myself as to where I was headed next after the ratlines. I had such good plans back last April and now I have to rethink them all.

First, I'm going to install the jibboom and flying jibboom, all of the stays that are attached to them. I have to remake the dolphin striker and jackstaff as I misplaced them. I want to create jibboom travelers and figure out how to adapt them to the model.

I am remembering that the instructions are very vague and I was relying on Longridge's book for a lot of my future work with the yards.

Happy New Year to all!
Chris

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Hi Chris. Nice one. I can’t remember how many clove hitches we have to tie but it felt like a gazillion . She is starting to look very impressive. Cheers Grant

 

[team118]

Hi Chris - stumbled across this thread today and thoroughly enjoyed watching your build develop. Can't believe it's your first build. You Sir, have the mighty kahoonas to even attempt it! The result looks amazing though, despite the challenges the ship has thrown at you. Thanks for keeping the log going too, it's easy to lose motivation and we're all grateful to see it progress so well!
Chris (the BlueBear)

Chris
Appreciate the kind words!
My build is NO WAY near perfect or even on par with more experienced builders...BUT.... I am happy when I look at it and that will be all that matters.

There are some absolutely phenomenal Victory builds out there and I envy their craftsmanship. They are the ones that inspire me to keep hacking away!

...and I think your quote says it all!
Happy New Year
Chris

 

[Mike Dowling]

Did you use clove hitches for your ratlines? They look rather small for those. Very neat though.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Chris
Appreciate the kind words!
My build is NO WAY near perfect or even on par with more experienced builders...BUT.... I am happy when I look at it and that will be all that matters.

There are some absolutely phenomenal Victory builds out there and I envy their craftsmanship. They are the ones that inspire me to keep hacking away!

...and I think your quote says it all!
Happy New Year
Chris

Don't sell yourself short. Your build is clean and detailed. It's the time you spend with getting the details juswt the way you want them that make an average model look top notch.

 

[team118]

Did you use clove hitches for your ratlines? They look rather small for those. Very neat though.

Man...I hope so!

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Those are Hand-Made REAL AUTHENTIC clove hitches, Mike. Not AI. I Googled them.

 

[team118]

Alrighty!

I shipped the jibboom and flying jibboom, added the dolphin striker and the jib jack staff. I was also able to add the jib stay and jib halyard.
Now I took a stab at actually creating traveler rings for the jibboom and flying jibboom.

The jib halyard should have been attached to my traveler ring, but I followed the directions. I may redo it and try to use the ring, but for now it's done.

I also added the three martingales. I'm not sure if I did them right, but manual seems to say that all 3 are tied off at the knightheads under the beakhead platform and then are strung to various 3mm single blocks, through one of the 3 holes of the dolphin striker and tied off at the jib or flying jibboom.

I also tried making coils of line for the jib stay and jib halyard. I'll keep working on those. You can see one is a typical sailboat style coil and the other is more of a 'garden hose' style. The former is neat and tidy but would be very slow to undo in a hurry. I'll keep experimenting.

I also know that I kind of rigged the blocking for the stay and halyard incorrectly. Some of it was because the manual asks that you add the single blocks to the platforms earlier in the build. The problem is that since these are single blocks, they should have the lashing beginning on them....the lashing goes up to the double block, back down and through the single block, back up to the open hole of the double block and then all the way down to be secured on one of the bit pins.

To get around that, I tied the lashing UNDER the single block on the eyelet. It's not right, and it twists the block up.

I also added the man ropes and horses. I may try to shape them with watered down white glue and see if they look a bit better.
The only open line is for the Fore Top gallant Flagstaff Stay. I thought I had already installed that one, but this one says it runs from the top of the fore mast down to the end of the flying jibboom, to the very bottom of the dolphin striker back to the fore stay collar. I will have to circle back around and see what I did wrong there.

Finally I will have to reinstall the boomkins and begin rigging them. I just want to double check what's needed.

 

[jerry_s]

This is looking awesome and one of the ones I was considering to do soon.

BTW I grew up in Rochester area and seeing it always has me think of the garbage plates and Tom Wahls - some of my favorites

 

[team118]

This is looking awesome and one of the ones I was considering to do soon.

BTW I grew up in Rochester area and seeing it always has me think of the garbage plates and Tom Wahls - some of my favorites

Appreciate that!
I was nervous to pick this model to do but I'm glad I did and I have enjoyed it so far (most days!)

I'm not a fan of onions so I've never had a garbage plate. They are certainly very popular here and while Nick Tahoe's is the original, it seems like most burger joints in our area have their own version. I like Tom Wahls too but Bill Grays and Schallers are closer to where I live.

 

[Bryian]

Wow, just catching up on your build log, wonderful work.