Hms Victory purchase made to improve the kit

Update on a few Purchase made and a few I plan to make shortly. 

A while back I bought these rolls of copper to place over the keel.

They are self adhesive and very very thin, they came in at about £9.00 a roll. I will detail how their application went in future posts.

I also got 100 tiny yellow LED lights to light up the inside of the ship (cost about £7.00 from ebay) I will experiment with painting them to appear like  the lamps used.

Here a close up to show just how small they are

Here a photo of the lamps  to copy

I haveI also come across some wonderful   paper thin wooden decks costing about £70.00 from 

scale decks.com

 Other extras for super detailing the cannons on the upper decks have been sourced, and will be ordered when required.

HMS Victory, Airfix 1/100 additional research

 The instructions that come with this kit need to be treated with a healthy sceptisim, had to call in some back up with this publication below

Loads of photos and information in this book that helps to cut through some of the contradictions and uncertainties  faced when building this kit.

For example the Airfix /Heller  instructions suggest that the internal  walls on the gun decks are painted red ?

 I know the gun deck walls on the ship today are white  but were they painted red in 1805 ?

Well apparently not, they were white washed according to this publication and as I plan on lighting the ship inside small amounts of the wall may be visible.

I have  also learnt that you can not take the ship as she is today as a completely accurate representation of how she looked in 1805.

For example the yellow ochre colour she is  currently painted is not correct,according to the latest research by Micheal Crick-Smith. The yellow should be a weaker paler colour than the present vivid shade.

Also  according to the Crick-Smith's analysis of the hull, In 1805 the Orlop deck was painted a pale stone/cream colour while the surgeon's and other small cabins were painted in two shades of blue.

HMS Victory, Airfix 1:100, painting the stern

Below the paintwork on the stern is all but complete

Some final tidying up maybe made when the ship is assembled and washes of acrylic will be added.

Above a detailed shot of the crest on stern, all painted with enamels. These paints are a little tricky to use for detailed work, and need to be thinned to just the right consistency to flow easily.

This photo shows  an earlier stage with the yellow and black nearly completed , just a little snagging required. I used the humrol enamels that came with the kit , spayed on the yellow over a natural wood colour undercoat.Then a diluted black enamel was hand painted over the yellow. It took me 10 hours to get to this stage.

Above shows a close up,it's really tricky getting the finish right on this part of the ship. It's got to be clean cut paintwork at this scale.

HMS Victory Airfix 1:100, 32,24,12 pounders construction

I have started putting together the Guns on HMS Victory, first of all I soaked the sprues in warm soapy water for 5-10 minutes and then set them aside and allowed them to dry thoroughly.

Next I removed 60 gun barrel halves(parts 14 and 15), trimmed off the plastic that attached the guns to the sprues and glued the two halves of the barrels together. With each gun I took a bit of time to ensure both sides of the barrels are aligned correctly, and  I was careful not to apply to much  glue, however the barrels still require scraping with a scalpel along the seam lines when dry.
After this I looked at the gun carriages, removed the 5 pieces, trimmed them and assembled them,I made sure the sides were square and that the gun barrels sat in the carriages at the same angle.
 The 32 pdrs barrels and carriages are the same size in this kit as the 24 pdrs, this is just a result of rationalization in the kit design,but in 1:100 scale the size difference is barely noticeable.
After 6.5 hours work, all 30 of the 32 pdrs and their carriages have been assembled, the seam lines on the barrels have been scraped with a sharp scalpel and the muzzles have been filed with a circular file.

Next, I repeated the process for the 30 x 24 pdr guns, this took only 5.5 hours as the process of assembly was refined and became increasingly efficient,I also stopped scraping the seam lines on the barrel on the part that rests upon the gun carriage as they will not be seen. Below the 60 32 and 24 pdr guns assembled.

Below in a close up of one of the above guns, you can see how I have drilled out a hole in the plastic on the breech of the gun to thread the restraining rope through. I have only done one, until I work out how visible this part of the model will be when assembled,thers no point wasting time putting in details that nobody will ever see !
 However some of the visible 12 pdrs on the deck will need super detailing,ropes, blocks and tackle etc.

Next I assembled the 24 x long barreled 12 pdrs and the 20 x short barreled 12 pdrs. Four or the short barreled 12 pdrs were missing one of the rests that sit on the gun carriage.These had to be replaced with plastic of the right diameter from my spare parts box.
 Over 20 hours of work later the assembled 728 parts that make up the formidable 104 gun battery are pictured below.

The guns have now been boxed up, prior to spraying and additional detailing.

HMS VICTORY Airfix 1:100

I have started looking at the build of HMS Victory,  by Airfix,(ex Heller) 1:100 scale, both sides of the hull are crisply cast with good detail. In this scale the hull alone is about 2 feet long.
 One of the first jobs has been to get an estimate for a display case which will be essential to protect the model during and after construction.
For an oak framed case, with toughened safety glass, the cost including delivery is around the £800.00 .
I use Timbercraft Cabinet Displays of  Towcester for my work, although they are not the cheapest, they are good quality cases;  www.displaycases.co.uk

I feel this is an absolutely essential investment for a project of this size and quality.
 Secondly the plastic Vac form sails that come with this kit will be replaced with linen sails at a cost of about £100.00, as will some of the kits rope/thread for that of a superior quality.

One the most obvious flaws in this kit is the thickness of the injection moulded hull. When you look at the gun ports you can see the walls of the ship are not thick enough.

The Styrene strip below will be fixed around the inside of the gun ports,  making the walls of the ship look much thicker, the thickest strips are for the lower deck, the thinnest for the upper deck, the quarter decks are left as they are.