To victory and beyond ...

[dafi]

And this was the result of what I was able to complete during the public crafting session at the trade fair.

The gratings also have the correct different thicknesses for the longitudinal and transverse battens on the underside.

The admiral's quarters area was given a chequerboard floor.

Here you can also clearly see the rollers of the bitts in the deck below.

And the forecastle looks much more structured and tidier too.

Well, that's it for now

XXXDAn

 

[europapete]

That's a heck of a difference Dan, I hope the public audience appreciated the work

 

[dafi]

Thanx Pete!

And once again, we're well into the new year, Christmas and New Year are over, and there's still no time for contemplativeness.

Nevertheless, I managed to secure a little time for myself and at least finish Victory´s deck comparison.

First, I jazzed up the beakhead bulkhead a bit. Since all contemporary models from around 1800 show this in black, I also decided to forego the usual blue colour.

To fit in the doors, I used the old trick of applying a thin coloured strip to the side, which provides a good visual check when sanding in the tenth of a millimetre range.

Then came the first additions in the freerunning section. In addition to the four supports for the foremast bitts and the stovepipe, the steam truck was added, which diverted the steam from the Brodie stove over the gratings on the forecastle.

This required another open-heart surgical procedure, as another breakthrough was needed. The trunk consisted of a solidly constructed box sitting above a coaming. It was a bit tricky to position it so that the box was only under two parts of the triple grating on the forecastle and the partition wall was covered exactly.

And that wasn't all, yet another hole had to be made: the kitchen skylight. So that the cooks have at least some daylight when preparing meals. To do this, the deck was perforated and opened with heavy clearing tools. Then a little scalpelling and sanding and the next hole was in.

The skylight itself was a bit tricky. The part from my etch kit is two window grids too long, respectively too wide. So I cheekily cut out two grids and, after sanding the cuts down well, simply glued the remains back together with superglue. And, believe it or not, it worked

And this is what it looks like in place, and you can also see what it's for.

These two openings were missing from the museum ship for a long time, and I don't even know if they have been reinstalled there in the meantime...

But you can already see the other addition: the area under the forecastle was also used as a sick bay, for which light temporary bulkheads were used, in this case painted canvas on wooden frames. If necessary, these could be quickly knocked down in the original.

The lower parts of the mainmast bitts were already presented earlier. But I had to rework the positioning so that they were directly below the extensions on the aft deck.

Another popular activity was sealing the old holes on the deck, as the etched parts have a smaller diameter than the standard 1 mm holes in the kit. So 1 mm plastic rods are glued in...

... levelled, centred with a scriber and re-drilled with 0.5 mm.

The supplied railing around the rear companionway also proved to be suboptimal. According to contemporary models, the principle is correct, wooden posts with iron bars, but the proportions are wrong: much too low and the bars much too thick. So a quick reworking to thinner wire bars...

... and raising the posts, with the figure serving as a guide for the height.

This completed the preparations and we were ready to take photos.

Happy tinkering in the New Year from your dafi!

 

[dafi]

And here's a comparison between out of the box and something crafted with a little dedication ;-)

First, the upper decks.

And the upper battery deck.

– the comparison isn't entirely fair, but it looks good what you can conjure up with it ;-)

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

And now something completely different: The Christ Child was in a very good mood before Christmas and delivered the first samples of the channel irons and hammock holders for my Constitution *jumping for joy*

And finally, I had a little time to tinker with it

So, popcorn and beer at the ready, X-Files in the DVD player, and off to work with joy!

See you on a ship yard on other side of the Atlantic.

To Constitution and beyond ...

Something strange happened on the way to the shipyard ... ... no, it´s neither England 1940 HMS Wellesley against Luftwaffe nor Okinawa 1945 USS Bunker Hill and japanese kamikaze ... ... XXXDAn...

shipsofscale.com

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

After being away for a while due to work on the Constitution and work in the mids Austria´s mountains, here’s a little something again concerning Victory.

I fancied continuing the gratings extravaganza of the upper decks upon the two lower decks as well. Since I was already at it. So I scaled and printed out the plans of the lower decks and checked how they lined up with the model.

Then I modified the 3d print files for the upper decks and printed them ...

... and added other already existing parts.

And then the fine-tuning began. Transfer the printed parts onto the decks to mark out the cut-outs.

First, use the scalpel to mark the length and ...

...then use the compass-scriber to mark the long sides.

To saw out the openings, I use the fretsaw ...

... and then scored along the length with a scalpel and snaped it simply off.

That was a real nightmare of planning and fiddling about ...

... naturally with a few casualties : )

And suddenly just like that, the gratings were in place.

Then was painting time for those parts involved.

The deck was given some colour shading along the run of the planks.

As it was still a bit too subtle, I added a bit of black ink in the same direction.

I tried out a few things with the planks, like scribing the joints and so on. But none of it was convincing for my liking. Then came the winner: a very simple and straightforward pencil line.

An old New Year’s Eve firework stick made a good ruler, as it allowed for a slight irregularity in the line despite the parallelism.

And then I carefully removed the excess graphite with tape, otherwise it smudges – I really don’t like working with clear varnish. The visibility of the texture turned out just right, so that in my view it can also be a good alternative to visible decals.

Right then, best regards, DAniel

 

[dafi]

Somehow I had a vague recollection that, after the modelling show in Stuttgart last November, the transport box containing the ship had slipped out of my hands. I thought to myself, with the big biannual convention in Augsburg this weekend coming, I’d better have a look inside before.

I have to say, I’ve got my research wrong again. Firstly, I can’t remember the main topmast being shot down, and secondly, the mizzen mast was severed from its base a bit higher up. So back to the research department to see where that incorrect information came from.

See you Saturday in Augsburg perhaps? The artist will be present ;-),

XXXDAn

 

[Michael]

That is tragic, but I have no doubt your repairs will be seamless!
Michael D.

 

[dafi]

Thanx Michael!

Right then, I still owe you the resolution to that cliffhanger from Augsburg. But I’ve just been really busy lately

The mizzen mast had simply snapped neatly just below the belay ring. I’d only made the mast as a test piece back then; it was never intended for the model. That’s why it had no reinforcement. A single skewershaft not only repairs it, it actually stiffens the whole thing. I don’t even need to glue it; it holds together really well just by being inserted. It was handy for fitting that I still had spare parts on hand, which allowed me to easily adjust the required diameters.

The main top mast was a bit more of a challenge – thinner and broken in the visible area. But here too, a reinforcement, this time made of 2 mm stainless steel wire, and it was patched up

A bit more paint over it, no one can see anything anymore and that’s that

Repair time: plastic, 28 minutes; removing and reinserting the lanyards of the main top, 1.26 hours and ...

...and there she was – less than 12 hours after the damage was discovered, the little beauty, with her slender stripes, was able to show herself off with her head held high at the exhibition in Augsburg.

XXXDAn

 

[OldPaBE]

Thanx Michael!

Right then, I still owe you the resolution to that cliffhanger from Augsburg. But I’ve just been really busy lately

The mizzen mast had simply snapped neatly just below the belay ring. I’d only made the mast as a test piece back then; it was never intended for the model. That’s why it had no reinforcement. A single skewershaft not only repairs it, it actually stiffens the whole thing. I don’t even need to glue it; it holds together really well just by being inserted. It was handy for fitting that I still had spare parts on hand, which allowed me to easily adjust the required diameters.

The main top mast was a bit more of a challenge – thinner and broken in the visible area. But here too, a reinforcement, this time made of 2 mm stainless steel wire, and it was patched up

A bit more paint over it, no one can see anything anymore and that’s that

Repair time: plastic, 28 minutes; removing and reinserting the lanyards of the main top, 1.26 hours and ...

...and there she was – less than 12 hours after the damage was discovered, the little beauty, with her slender stripes, was able to show herself off with her head held high at the exhibition in Augsburg.

wath a marvel ! ! !

 

[europapete]

Well done on such a speedy repair Dan. Hope the show goes great

 

[dafi]

Oh yes, it was a wonderful show, plenty of marvelous models and full of inspiring conversations.

Also the party afterwards was as usual legendary ;-)

 

[dafi]

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

And after that? After that, things went on as they always do: the heavy-duty clearing tools came out.

But what had happened yet again?

As I always want to show at least a little progress – apart from repairs – at exhibitions, I had at least fitted the main topmast stay for Augsburg as a little treat.

To do this, however, I had to attach the eyebolts in the middle deck, which wasn’t very elegant.

So I installed new deck beams in the forecastle and placed the necessary support beams underneath. As there’s a change of rhythm here, I used those funny angled supports...
to mark it out,

...glued them to a piece of paper to ensure they were perfectly aligned. A first coat of paint makes it easier to get the chamfers even. After that, the lower parts of the bitts were positioned in line with the supports underneath. For the upper bitts parts, I used my resin ones. It was tricky to position the holes for their tenons correctly, as they were placed very close to the edge of the beams ends. Nevertheless, I went ahead and positioned them.

At first glance, it looks quite alright, but on closer inspection you can see the poor transition between the lower and upper sections of the bitts.

So, out come the big pliers and off it goes

Then I reprinted the bitts with the lower section included and the corresponding cut-outs, and it looks much better already.

And now the lanyards for the stays fit too in the correct level (shown here with the old bitts still)

Steel still uses violin blocks on almost all the stays, whilst he has replaced all other violin blocks with standard double blocks. Most rigging instructions specify only thimbles and lashing at this point, but in my estimation, this is a later method of use.

A distinctive feature of the main topmast stay and the preventer stays is, of course, that the topmast preventer stay is thrown over the actual topmast stay, but is then led under it in the eye so that it can be used for the staysails. Here I need to sort it out properly again to ensure that the two do not pinch each other.

To throw the shrouds over the foremasthead, the stay block at the masthead must of course be removed; to do this, however, only the lashing on the rear need to be loosened.

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

Funny things happen on the way to Victory. Why are there two double seats of ease on Mariners Walk? Any new findings from dafinistic investigations?

...

Yep, because once you’re at the stays, you might as well join in with the fore topmast stay and the fore topmast preventer stay. Here too, the stays are crossed so that the preventer stay can be used as a rider for the staysails.

Note: Don’t be surprised – I’ll fit the shrouds underneath later; to do that, I just need to loosen the lanyards at deck level

The stays pass behind the bowsprite´s cap through the violin, with the forestay on the starboard side through the front hole and the backstay on the port side through the rear hole. There is a block with a sheave beneath each one. From there, both should run to their respective bolts on the knight heads.

Somehow, I’ve always seen the lanyards inside the supporting pillars of the mariner walk; to do this, I placed the fore topmast stay in position with some overlap and marked the position of the pillar with a coloured thread so that the block cannot chafe.

But it did look a bit odd, the way the rope was wriggling its way through behind it.

So I threaded a coloured string through again – once on the inside and once on the outside – and lo and behold...

... unhooked the block from the knighthead and moved it outwards ...

... and it actually makes more sense out there.

Then I’ll wrap the excess rope around the lanyard with half-hitches, just like in the original, but I won’t glue it yet, because that’s exactly what I need to undo before I can fit the topmast shrouds.

And you can also see why the two thrones aka seats of ease chairs had to be moved out of the way first – it’s all bloody cramped in here. When repositioning them, they’ll have to be 2 mm further out so that it fits.

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

And once you’ve started down that road, you have to see it through: after the bowsprit, it was finally the jib boom’s turn.

Years ago, I’d already prepared it to show the differences between plastic and wood.

Both times, the jib boom had the same dimensions and the same weight attached to it, but the difference is striking


So, I finally got my little Proxxon mini-milling machine out again; I had to mill a hole for the heel lashing and two sheave holes into this jib boom, which has been waiting for its finish for so many years.

The rear sheave serves to hoist the jib boom itself, the front one for the flying jib boom.

It was a bit of a faff getting the sheaves to the right thickness, but pressing them down with one pair of tweezers and sliding them over the sandpaper with the other worked well in the end.

Then attach the surprisingly thin stropp at the heel of the boom.

... and that’s it. And these are the four double stay assemblies currently fitted. Enjoy.

Best regards, Daniel

 

[dafi]

I couldn’t quite get the crossing of the main topmast stays out of my mind. To sort this out, I first had to detach the two stays. And here it becomes clear once again how beneficial it is to build according to the original design: I simply had to loosen the two lanyards on the deck behind the foremast, and the two stays could be unhooked.

To properly evaluate this area, all the backstays are still missing. There are the three standing backstays, the breast backstay and the flying backstay, both of which could be repositioned flexibly as required. To get a feel for it, I threaded in five coloured strings.

And I could already see that it might be pretty tight up there.

And as you can see, the breast backstay and the two front standing backstays pass very close to the top.

Down below, however, everything falls into place quite logically.

I prepared the breast backstay with a horseshoe splice. To do this, I clamped the rope to a spare mast.

The excess lines are then trimmed. The normal standing backstays are then ready more quickly, just as with the lower masts. Fitted around the masthead.

The shrouds are then quickly fitted.

I might have been better off making the breast backstay as single ropes, as it’s so difficult to get past the sister blocks between the first two shrouds. The rear standing backstay was also made as a horseshoe splice, resulting in the awkward twist you can see here.

So I replaced these with single ropes, which allowed me to get past more easily. Next comes the flying backstay, which was fitted last; this one isn’t dressed. It’s also made up of two single ropes, which can be positioned better.

And then the main topmast stay and its preventer stay are back in place. Once the main topmast stay is set and the preventer stay is threaded through the eye as described, the whole setup suddenly makes perfect sense

Because of my imitation of serving, the whole thing is naturally a bit wider than in the original, but it still fits and the two stays don’t seem to be pinching each other.

There will be one more brief interlude: In the fighting top level, the stays running there still need to be served. I’ve marked the positions with light-coloured thread.

And this is what the complete set up looks like now.

And finally, White Jacket inspecting his workplace.

Enjoy, XXXDAn