That sounds pretty bad. But, at least you don't have CATS. . .Disaster struck yesterday after originally posting that last pic. I was working with the ship on my knees, had a sneezing fit and it dropped onto the tiled floor. It landed on the top edge of the transom, splitting the transom horizontally and smashing the bulwarks on the poop deck.
Repairs now in progress.
CATS!!!! AAARRRRGGHHH. I did have cats once. Grrr.... I had my Hi-Fi speakers on top of a wall unit. I had been doing a jigsaw puzzle and didn't want the cats getting at it during the night, so put the board on top of one of those speakers.
As the hatches are going to be open anyway, I can probably get away with leaving them as they are, but I will try and file the frames so that they are flush with the hull, then when it's painted, it should not be noticed.
It's no problem making gun port lids from wood using strips in two layers. You will have to make some wood strips from scrap or buy some. If you want to get super detailed, match the planking seams on each lid to the surrounding hull planking. If the lids are displayed open, you won't see if the planking doesn't line up.
Those look just like the cheap metal ones my OcCre kit came with for ST cross section.
Good morning. Yep those gun port frames and lids from Mantua are an issue. I remember on my Victory they provided brass frames to fit in the “holes” and I regret using them. Your solution is a good one and is a huge improvement. Awesome. Cheers Grant
Patrick, did you account for the thickness of the final planking layer when setting the depth of each of the port inserts, such that the hinges for the port lids will function? That's something to watch for. Better to catch it now instead of later. You can temporarily lightly glue some finish plank veneer around a gun port, check the fit of the port lid, then shave off the veneer with a sharp razor knife when done as a test run.
On both of my man of war models, different sizes of gun barrels had to be purchased. There is a noticeable difference in the barrel length and diameter of the guns among the three decks when the model is finished. Details like this set your model apart from straight up kit builds, but they are usually only noticed by those people who know something about ships. The person you need to impress most is yourself. If you put a lot more time into the details and make changes for accuracy, the amount of pride you have in the model grows immensely.
That is so true. When I am building a scale model, I want it to be as exact a replica as I can get it. In the case of the Victory, I want her to look exactly like what I've seen and touched whilst on board.
