HMS Victory 1765 kit 1:200

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Hello all, it's time to begin my first build log, of HMS Victory in 1:200 scale. This will be the 3rd sailing vessel I have built, though my previous 2 were Revel Plastic kits of the Cutty Sark and the CSS Alabama, and both were several decades ago while I was in high school.

I've been lurking here in SOS for a couple months now once I decided I wanted to pick up the hobby again and wanted to build in wood this time, and have been dropping hints to the Admiral that all along. So last week for Christmas she presented me with this kit, proud as can be. I just wish she had taken a closer look to my wish list on Amazon instead! But as a fist time kit to learn new skills and techniques on, I can't complain.

To start off, I am not sure who makes this kit, it came from Amazon from a seller called TWOBOYS and as far as I can tell the manufacturer is Western Wooden Sailboat. The parts sheets are die cut, I think, as I don't see any char on the cut edges, but as you can see in some of the pics below, of the stern windows and deck grates, the detail is pretty good at this scale
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Sadly, the plans and instructions are seriously lacking. I have basically 4 8.5x11 pages of very basic plans and directions to work from. I have tried searching online for the MFG, but have had no luck locating anything with greater detail. Luckily I have YOU here at SOS to lend a hand and a few tips and tricks when I run into a road block, and a number of Victory build logs that I can review also. What I do not have at all is a rigging and sail plan, but I think I can work this out, at least well enough for this first attempt.
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So, after checking each parts sheet for missing parts or damage, I popped the false keel out, and starting to dry fit the bulkheads. The fit and finish it pretty good with most of the bulkheads fitting snugly, but not to tight that I have to sand anything to make it fit. I want to head off to the hardware store tomorrow and get a few things to build a jig to hold the keel straight while I fit the bulkheads and gun port backing/supports, along with some filler blocks between bulkheads to stiffen the whole structure.
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Thank you, and wish me luck as I dive into this kit and see what I can make of it.

Thanks

Brian
 
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I have to admit when I saw the scale then saw the skeleton I was very pleasantly surprised.This is like a much larger scale kit but the finished article is smaller than the old Airfix plastic kit.I look forward to following along Brian,this will be a very interesting build,you might need some smaller clamps thoughROTF

Kind Regards

Nigel
 
Thank you all for the support and kind words. And yes I do have some smaller clamps also, and will be looking for even smaller before I start planking.

One question I need your opinions on, the MFG was kind enough to Mark the bearding line around the bottom of the false keel showing the line of the hull/planking, and I wonder if I dare try to carefully carve in the rabbit for the planks to insert. The keel and bulkheads are only about 2 to 2.5 mm thick, and I wonder if the benefits of cutting in the rabbit out weight the risk of ruining the keel before I even begin?

Thoughts?

Thanks
 
Started glueing the bulkheads on this morning, and from how this looks to be assembled, I started at the stern. Here is the support frames for the stern cabins, along with bulkheads up to #4
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I plan to progress through the bulkheads as I have lots of time today and tomorrow, should have them all glued in by tomorrow evening.

Thanks
 
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Thank you all for the support and kind words. And yes I do have some smaller clamps also, and will be looking for even smaller before I start planking.

One question I need your opinions on, the MFG was kind enough to Mark the bearding line around the bottom of the false keel showing the line of the hull/planking, and I wonder if I dare try to carefully carve in the rabbit for the planks to insert. The keel and bulkheads are only about 2 to 2.5 mm thick, and I wonder if the benefits of cutting in the rabbit out weight the risk of ruining the keel before I even begin?

Thoughts?

Thanks


Well I think it takes a lot of courage to do that since a rabbit line carved 1mm on each side means you have no keel!! Maybe you can carve just 0.5mm to help the planks to have a fix. Just a thought. Or reinforce the keel internaly on inner side of the planking for the planks have some place to glue to.

On second thought fill the front bulkheads with wood (balsa?) and the problem is solved.

Regards and happy new year

JL
 
Update time! With the time off for the holiday and nothing else to do besides build on my kit or play games, we did both!

I finished the bulkheads, and started looking at the lower/gun deck and realized that it would not fit down the space underneath the bulkhead support for the main deck, and with how poor the instructions are, i had to wing it. I decided to split the deck in two, but with the delicate structures in the center, i decided on a 60/40 split
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Once I got both halves fit in place and glued down, I moved onto the main and poop decks.
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I still have more deck furniture to install, but will wait on these until I get the hull sides, at least from the main whales up to the deck installed. these are precut and marked, but still need some serious care in bending and gluing down.

Next steps as I see them are to sand and bevel the bulkheads to match the curve of the hull, and decide what to do with the gun port backing for the lower gun decks. The bulkheads have the proper hole cut to pass the false backing down the length of the hull, but try as I might, I cannot find these in the kit.

Also, the kit only comes with 8 cannon, all laser cut out of wood, including the guns, and I need to decide if I want to try and source better/more realistic cannons and trucks, as well as the stubby cannons to fill the gun ports on the lower now visible decks. Otherwise I will simply model it with the gun port doors closed and go with the 8 simple deck guns they provided and call it good. Can someone point me to a good source for guns and carriages in this 1:200 scale?

Thanks again for your comments and support

Brian
 
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This is looking like a great kit - I am looking forward to see such 1:200 model built - crossing all available fingers.
And I will follow your log with big interest
 
Thanks Uwe, this kit is honestly hit and miss, some parts are very high quality and the laser cutting is very clean and precise, while it also is missing most of what I would think of as important instruction and direction, and what they do include is seriously lacking.

One small problem I hope this group can help with. One of the parts sheets, the one will most of the small parts, is badly warped. For many of the small parts, this is not that big a deal, but for some like the chain rails for mast top decks, this is a big problem. This sheet is 2mm plywood, and I am wondering is there a way to straighten this out? Can I soak these parts, get them good and wet and then use an iron to dry them and flatten them out? Any other secret tips and tricks to help with this?

Thank you in advance for any helpful suggestions.

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Well, I'd keep the ply away from the water, or then use a great care because water can damage the ply very badly. If you have an iron the kind that is used to iron clothes you cab try begining with a low temperature.

But are the pieces warped if detached from the sheet? Is it easy to work each piece individualy instead of the whole sheet? And does the glueing of the pieces in place resolve the warp?

Regards

JL
 
If it is plywood, I would also be very careful with watering the complete sheet, completely agree here with @Dicas !
My first step would be:
1) Remove the longest part and check it - These small elements can easily be used and bend to the correct location - we are talking finally only of some parts of a mm.
and
2) If it is not working finally, I would try to get in contact with the manufacturer, if they have a good aftersale service, they will try to send this sheet once more.
 
Thanks Dicas and Uwe for the input. I agree that soaking the ply sounds like a bad idea on second thought. Don't want to soak the glue out. For the most part, the tiny and small parts on that sheet are fine, it just the larger/longer ones like mast top decks and chain rails that are a bit warped. If these present a problem, i will just trace them only something new and flat and cut them out.

Fun update, I found a moderately decent build log for this exact kit, in Chinese. Thank God for Google translate. So I have some better resources to work with for this kit, as well as numerous documents, plans, build logs aplenty for the Victory that I can use to fill in the blanks.

On to the shipyard. The plank gang got to work, and have a little progress. I started with he lowest section of the precut hull pieces, and got it bent and glued down.
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I then decided to glue down the top most section, as I wanted to make sure these two were in place and could modify the others as they go in as needed.
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Also, found a quick and easy way to set the bend, at least for the bluff bow, on the planks. Once this dries and rebounds slightly, it's just about the right bend to wrap around the bow, and help avoid braking the plant at the gun port cut outs.
IMG_20200103_182939[1].jpg

Now on to sanding the turning masts and yards to the correct tapers while I wait for the glue/wood to dry.

Thanks

Brian
 
Brian, I have, what appears to be, the same model kit which was a present. It was ordered from site called WISH. I am further along than you in the construction but am looking for some instructions for the rigging, as there are none in the kit. Does the site you found, have any diagrams for the rigging? If it does would you be kind enough to tell me where that site is? Blocks, dead eyes etc I will make using Drexel, fine drill bits and dowels. Depending on how much you want to get involved with the rigging you will need to get more and different sized thread, too.
 
Brian, I have, what appears to be, the same model kit which was a present. It was ordered from site called WISH. I am further along than you in the construction but am looking for some instructions for the rigging, as there are none in the kit. Does the site you found, have any diagrams for the rigging? If it does would you be kind enough to tell me where that site is? Blocks, dead eyes etc I will make using Drexel, fine drill bits and dowels. Depending on how much you want to get involved with the rigging you will need to get more and different sized thread, too.
Hello Readpet, your statement, about the same model kit, sounds like a perfect match for a build log. What do you think? We hope this is something you may consider...help on us ;)
 
Readpet, the Chinese build log does not go into alot of detail, just more than the kit instructions. Here is the list to it, use Chrome and it should translate for you.

I did find a good site from the EU that has a number of very detailed diagrams of the rigging, I was going to use this to at least make a good approximation of the rigging, and at this scale, the level of detail is just to small. Age of Sail has a number of 2mm blocks and dead eye, and these were the smallest I have been able to find.

I would love to see your progress on this kit Readpet, I agree with Jimsky a build log would be great!IMG_20200104_140737.jpg

Now more show and tell on the progress the plank fitters have made: I have the upper hull precut pieces in place, and with a few judicious filler planks and a bit of wood filler and sanding, here is what I have so far.
 
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Continued work on the lower hull planking, nine planks down so far. I've been tapering tbe bow end of the planks as I round the curve of the hull.

I've tried to use a few different options for a stealer plank with some success, but it's kinda hard when the planks are only 2.5 mm wide.

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Definitely going to need some filler and sanding once done, and looking for a good source on copper plates in the right scale if anyone can point me in the right direction.

Thank you all again for your kind words and support.
 
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Tonight's planking progress went better than last night's. I have pretty much rounded the hull curve to the bottom, into the final stretch on the port side.

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Started work on the main mast also, adding more detail then what is included in the kit, working from drawings and pictures online


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As for the copper plating for the hull, Mantua offers sheets of these in the correct scale for their 1:200 Victory kit, so those will be on the way after pay day. Now to decide if I want to paint the rest of the hull in black and ocher or simply apply the copper plates and stain the rest of the wood.
Thoughts?

Thanks

Brian.
 
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Ok, so I got bored watching reruns of lost in space to catch up on the new season, and finished the lower hull, filled and first sanding.IMG_20200106_203152.jpgIMG_20200106_203144.jpg

Need to finish a few planks on the starboard side, fill and sand it also and then spend some time with some fine detail sanding.

Brian
 
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