HMS Victory-Mamoli 1:90 Bruce Ives Build log

I have a question which I have answered by looking at YT’s log. The second layer of planking definitely does not follow the line of the gunports. But the picture on the box shows that the colouring does. The diagram which provides the painting scheme seems completely vague on this. The pictures in YT’s log show that the colour scheme definitely does follow the line of the gun ports. I will attempt to do this when the time comes.
 
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I am now placing the second layer of planks, following the instructions as best I can. I am about half done. It is not a neat job so I am counting on the paint covering up the flaws. I painted the first plank but realized that was not necessary if the paint doesn’t follow the planks. I will paint the decorative planks before gluing them because I don’t think I could paint them afterward. The instructions are a bit vague so I am guessing to some extent. I am a bit surprised that the two sides match each other. I also need to stock up on sharp blades to cut out the gun ports without breaking anything! IMG_0687.jpeg
 
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BruceIves said:
The second layer of planking definitely does not follow the line of the gunports. But the picture on the box shows that the colouring does.
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The gun ports are parallel to the sheer of the decks, but the line of the planking has no correlation to the deck sheer. The wales are in line with the other planking, The painting follows the line of the planking, not the gun ports. If the box shows otherwise it is incorrect. You can see on the Victory as she is today and the contemporary model of Victory 1765 at RMG that the paint scheme does not follow the gun ports. The model shows clearly the run of the wales which is the same as the run of the other planking and paint scheme above the waterline. In the case of the model, only the wales are painted, but the sheer line of the ports compared to the planking and black paint is very evident.

Allan
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The model below is a 100 gun ship at RMG.
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Hi Allan. You have clarified this for me and for that I thank you very much. The picture on the box is small and it doesn’t show the detail well and the instructions are quite vague.
I toured the Victory in 1986 on a visit to friends in Portsmouth, but I didn’t pay much attention to hull colour patterns. I do remember that the beer was good at a nearby pub however!
 
Hi Bruce
I envy you having visited Portsmouth. To visit Victory would be huge treat for me. That and a stop at Buckler's Hard, a visit to RMG as it has been years since I was there and a few days in the archives at Kew would be a great vacation with a group of ship modelers. PLUS, so many pubs to visit, so little time........ my favorite pub in the world is Paddy Sheehan's Killarney Grand, but I digress.....
Allan
 
I have discovered that my waterline isn’t exactly where it was supposed to be ( of course ) so placing the planks near the top of the hull is not as simple as I thought it would be. I have a plan however and I think I can approximate what the instructions say. We will see.
 
I finished the planking and decided that at this stage I needed to paint. Not sure this is the right decision but,once again, staring was getting me nowhere. I soon discovered that painting freehand would get me similar results to taping so I started on the port side. I have attached a picture of results so far. I am not going to be able to do better but it doesn’t look all that bad. There is a black band still to go along with the decorative bits. I have not done any painting on the starboard side. The gun ports are a bit wonky but it is far too late to fix that. It is slow going….IMG_1060.jpeg
 
I have got a lot done using the full speed ahead approach. However I think the score is tied between the torpedoes and me. On one hand it doesn’t look too bad ( don’t look too closely ) but I have made a number of mistakes. One was made many steps ago when I built the railing. I measured incorrectly so it extended forward too far. Very happily I was able to remove the extra length without too much difficulty.

I did make many mistakes planking the hull. One is that the wales are glued onto the planking instead of being part of it. I realized this too late to fix. On the other hand, the painting involved if I had done it right would have been beyond me. In general this means that it looks good if you are looking from a meter away.

Adding the windows at the stern was a challenge because I had not extended the planking far enough aft to fit underneath the windows. O well. I extended the planks with small pieces and you can only see that if you look closely. And the windows are a bit out of alignment…..
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I have continued putting the windows on the stern. Somehow the pieces didn’t fit exactly as described and illustrated in the instructions ( not a surprise). However it doesn’t look too bad and it approximates what the picture on the box shows. I will post another picture when it is complete.
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I have finished the transom without the embellishments. I will wait to put them on later in the process since I am likely to break them off accidentally. I am counting on them to distract from the flaws!! The trim is meant to go on with the thin edge against the transom but I tried and could not do this successfully. This means that the brass pieces between the windows will not fit according to the specs. That’s ok because they don’t fit according to the specs on the sides either! IMG_1289.jpegIMG_1290.jpeg
 
I am now working on the bow. A lot of small pieces made and then dropped on the floor… I was surprised that I was able to make the little fence like construct at all. I was also able to do a bit of painting on the brass pieces. It doesn’t look too bad.

The two sets of bow reinforcements look very rough. The instructions show pieces being bent that I couldn’t without breaking them. Also I wasn’t sure whether the part attached to the hull should continue horizontally or follow the hull planks. I chose the second … full speed ahead. The pictures in the instructions are not clear on this. I can make it look better but I am also counting on the overall busyness of the bow to distract from flaws. There are also more curved pieces to make. I have made two but they are not placed yet. Neither one follows the instruction template perfectly but I am hoping I can at least make them symmetric.
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I have made progress on the bow. And the results so far have surprised me. The two custom made curvy bits went on without a hitch and they are almost symmetrical. There is painting to be done to make it look neater but I am pleased. The next step is to install the grating. I looked at the picture on the box and it looks like the model in the picture has only one of the two layers of grating. I am going to follow the instructions for both sets and see where it leads me.

One of the biggest problems I have had building this model is to identify the parts I am supposed to use - in particular the size of wood lathes. It will specify a lathe that’s 1.5 mm by 3 mm. And I will find in the bundle lathes that are 1 mm and 2 mm by 3 mm. Not a problem but I worry about running out of something important.
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There is more progress today. Not surprisingly I have trouble when something is curved or if it is angular. I started building some of the constructs for the decks and didn’t have too much trouble. The instructions call for eight pillars and eight rail posts on this piece. I was afraid the wood would disintegrate with eight posts so five it is. ( and seven pillars).
The bow has many curved pieces so I am having more trouble here. And the bits of lattice also threatened to disintegrate as I tried to shape them. But it could be worse.
I also discovered that my painting skills are not as bad as I thought. If I had known this as I planked the hull it would look different. “I’ll paint the yellow ‘C’ pieces and then wipe off what’s not in the groove.” I said to myself. You learn something new every day ….
I also started on a piece that is angular. It was hard to get the dimensions from the instructions. I can add the rest of the pieces provided this stays together while I do this.

Just a personal note. Writing in this log is helping me a lot - not just in building this model. And the responses I receive are always encouraging and very much appreciated.
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BruceIves said:
I worry about running out of something important.
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I used to worry about this.

These days I’m careful to confirm before starting a particular big job like planking a deck, that I’ve got enough similar timber.

Other than that I have found that there was always enough of something that could be used, so I relaxed.

I also learned to keep all the empty frames from my laser cut pieces for making replacements for broken parts.
 
I am now on ‘Tavola 7’ of the instructions. There are a lot of very small things to be created for the decks. I have to say I am torn between wanting to make progress on the one hand, and paying attention to the detail specified on the other. One thing is true: I have not been able to build a lot of the detail. One example is the construction of the false beams above the lower deck. They are supposed to be partially split diagonally lengthwise and then glued back together. I tried but failed to do this - so they are just plain planks. They are black because for some reason way back at the beginning of the build I painted some of the wood black and this is all I have left; so black it is! Another example are the multitude of little indents required everywhere for the grenades. They should have been cut all along the gratings on the lower deck. It’s still not too late …. We will see.

And the instructions are everywhere unclear. I am presuming that the two ladders and similar railings should be on both sides even though this is not said anywhere.

…. And I don’t think I will be able to get full cannons in to all the places on the lower deck now ….

Looks like all I’m doing is complaining!! Sorry about that. The truth is that things are progressing and I surprise myself constantly. I am truly having a lot of fun.

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