Those three sentences have hooked me. I will now have to read all 120+ pages of this build to find out how you won through all of the difficulties. I cheated and looked at the last pages and it's clear that you have been 'Victory-ous'
I'm building the OcCre Beagle which is very similar. It is built down to a price and has some inaccuracies to correct. I am loving my Beagle too. I don't think it will look perfect when I have finished but I will have learned a lot and most importantly will have had a lot of fun.
This is another reason for me to read all of your thread. I will learn more from your mistakes than I would from the 'perfect' builds of the experts, who are just too advanced for me to copy at this point in my shipbuilding. It also encourages me to write about my mistakes without embarrassment so that other beginners can learn from me (and maybe I'll come up with something for the experts too).
I like the way your planking improved from the first layer to the second.
So many gun ports, so many guns! This would drive me crazy so I salute your persistence, Grant. How do you keep your concentration doing the same operations over and over again?
It looks like the varnish you used was water based? Maybe that was the problem. I've been using 'sanding sealer' which is shellac dissolved in alcohol with some additional filling material. It soaks into the wood and really makes the grain figure GLOW, but the alcohol evaporates out quickly and doesn't seem to cause any problems with shrinkage or swelling.
I like this risk taking approach, which we might not be doing if we were working on those top level expensive kits...
I thought the salmon pink had been confirmed as the true colour of the Victory in Nelson's day. Didn't they find traces of it during restoration work? Anyway, it doesn't really matter when we are trying to make a great looking model rather than a perfect replica (which is impossible anyway). Delegating the decision to the ladies was a brilliant idea. Keep them involved and they will give us more time to build!
I don't know yet what you did with those balustrades but to my eye, they look fine in the contrasting colour. It adds interest.
I'm a messy builder too and should accept the fact instead of blaming myself so much.
By this stage the hull looks superb. Not messy now!
Grant,
you gave yourself the licence to play - well done.
How often we talk about 'working' on our 'project' as though we were getting paid to do something we really would prefer not to be doing. I'm retired and try to avoid work as much as possible (though I still have to wash the dishes). I prefer to think of my time at the bench as
playing with my toys.
I realise that this is a big reply to that first big post of yours. I'll try not to flood your thread with comments on stuff from the distant past as I work my way through the rest of it.
Good to see you are alive and kicking. Hope you had some good times with your Mom in KZN. Cheers Grant
s, Davits, finish stern cabins, add some detail and plenty of touch up. Maybe on or two redos to add some detail as well.
With just a few lines on my BN, I was the day before yesterday 2x hanging behind a rope.
I need a other mindset during the rigging.
