I have been following the Ships of Scale Forums and new posts benefiting from many thoughts, tips and personal observations. I purchased the HMS Victory # 407/999 from Occre about a year ago and have completed steps 1 through 257 as of this posting. Here are some of my thoughts so far. 1.) Rib alignment is a must as far as separation, 90 degrees to keel and making sure that the upper tips line up in a row. 2.) I gave up on the nailing hull planking method after about 5 rows of planking and went to the gluing and clamping method I have used in the past which I feel made better fitting joints. 3.) Once the planking was completed I was quite concerned about the number of cannon openings that were going to cut completely through rib bracing. To my surprise the structure remained intact and structurally sound. 4.) When cutting the cannon openings I decided to cut them a bit on the smaller size and then filed and sanded the openings to fit the cannon frames individually as I fitted and glued each one in place. 5.) I also have attached a couple of templates that I used to make the cannon frames of the 3 different sizes. This allowed me to make a number of them each morning and then go and install the ones made the day before into the hull of the ship. 6.) I am now at the stage of sanding the ship down and making it ready for more outer hull enhancements. 7.) In closing this post I have added a bunch of progress photos and would like any comments and suggestions from the group. 8.) Finally have any another other builders decided to stain or finish the hull at this point before proceeding further.
