Totally awesome!
Not to try and "one-up" your story, but the master builder who introduced me to ship modelling, a friend of my father-in-law, had a similar connection to Victory. Back in 1985, he acquired a substantial piece of timber from HMS Victory during restoration work.
Using that timber, together with a set of construction plans purchased from the Portsmouth Maritime Museum, he embarked on a scratch-built model of Victory in 1:50 scale. The project became a true labour of love and took him 17 years to complete.
When she was finally finished, he displayed the model in a rather unique way. The ship was mounted between two large polycarbonate panels and installed as a room divider between the lounge and dining room. It made for a spectacular display piece and a fitting showcase for such an extraordinary project.
I think what impressed me most was not only the scale and craftsmanship, but the fact that part of the real Victory lived on in the model itself.
