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HMS Victorious (1961) in 1/200


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12 hours ago, Rob998 said:
12 hours ago, longshanks said:

I reckon mine will fit in your large Docking Bay
 

Carry on Nurse


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I am appalled that the size of a gentlemans docking bay is being mocked here, let alone suggestions of what people want to put in it, I would suggest that there are alternative forums available for this sort of thing 🧐  fnarr fnarr 😂😂😂

 

I think I should rename the thread, "Carry On Victorious" !!

 

 

4 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

you'll have no problems with "Jumbo"

Not you too Chewy, I thought that you were above that sort of thing, 😜, though in seriousness thank you for the comments, Jumbo is one of those terrors that I have banished to the future for now, but there is no doubt it will be a challenge, one material that may come in handy that I find myself using a lot is the strands from fibre optic cabling, doesn't bend well  though !! 

 

Cheers to all

 

David

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Wow David, I have just found your build, I impressed. I spent twenty five years as an industrial model maker. Up In Johannesburg I worked with two modellers who had worked in Tyneside for a large ship model building company. The used to make watertight doors and hatch covers out of sheet brass and rod, all soldered together.

 

Re the Whirlwind and indeed the whole family being all but ignored and definitely in 48th scale. It need rectifying but by who? Your HAS 7 looks the part.

 

Congratulations in getting to where you have, tenacity in spades. Incidentally, I did a year in/on Bulwark with 845 NAS 66/67.

 

Colin

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1 hour ago, gunzo said:

Regarding the 'Jumbo', are decent reference drawings or even dimensions available? Same question for the boat crane.

 

Les

Hi Les, the boat crane should not be too much of a problem, there are good drawings in the AoTS book, and I have a few bits of photo-etch jib from the Orel paper kit to use as a starting point, Jumbo on the other hand is a bit more complicated, I can't find any reference material, apart from odd bits of it in the corner of photos, it appears that the original 4 ton crane was replaced by a larger one after the 62/63 refit (when the starboard extension was added outboard of the island).

If anyone has any drawings or decent photos of the earlier 4 ton jumbo, I would be very interested !

24 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Wow David, I have just found your build, I impressed. I spent twenty five years as an industrial model maker. Up In Johannesburg I worked with two modellers who had worked in Tyneside for a large ship model building company. The used to make watertight doors and hatch covers out of sheet brass and rod, all soldered together.

 

Re the Whirlwind and indeed the whole family being all but ignored and definitely in 48th scale. It need rectifying but by who? Your HAS 7 looks the part.

 

Congratulations in getting to where you have, tenacity in spades. Incidentally, I did a year in/on Bulwark with 845 NAS 66/67.

Colin, thank you for your kind words, particularly coming from a professional, it is incredible what some professional model makers can do, (with seemingly little or no effort), Im sure you are the same !!

Working, as I do in automotive design, I have spent a lot of time with a lot of very skilled craftsmen/modelmakers, sadly now its all mostly 3D printed from CAD (we even have a machine that will print an entire car bumper in one go), all very clever but a bit soulless to my mind.

Based on your experience on Bulwark please shout out if you see anything that doesn't look quite right to you !! 

 

Cheers

 

David

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David, thanks for your kind word, yes, soulless sums up 3D printing. Yes in todays modern world, I see it has it place. I honed my skills as an aero modeller in in my early teens. Blocks of balsa, a craft knife and lots of then, sand paper. Today, production paper, thanks to technology aluminium oxide better than sand!

 

During my days in the FAA , I was fortunate to work with an artificer, his skills were limitless. I watched and learned. I then got the chance to carve from solid three Sea Kings for the Recruitment ship model of maybe Victorious. They were around 24th scale, and I based then on the then Airfix Sea King kit. Drew up the side views, scrounged the timber from the chippies shop, al be it with a letter from my boss,

A coupe of weeks of serious carving and sanding then sanding sealer and then pint from the Dope Shop next to our workshop. Folding rotorblades from a PO in the workshop.

When I came to model making as a career, it was via a company in Manchester, I pushed my way in through the front door! My new life had begun!

Twenty five year went in a flash, petro-chemical plants, mining et al, Finally my own little company ROTOR craft Helicopter conversion parts and decals.

 

I don't have the necessary skill to go the 3D route but give me a drawing and a block of eureol...

 

Colin

 

Apologies for the diatribe.

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On 9/21/2020 at 12:13 PM, davecov said:

Having scratchbuilt a couple of 1/350 QE Class carriers (80cm long), I am in awe at your work. I cheated and used cut down Tamiya USS Enterprise hulls as a base to work from as I couldn't be confident in my skills in constructing it with frames like yours.


Dave

Only a couple Dave ....no doubt their watertight integrity is better than the real thing....bout time they got to sea ....even im going on Friday with a bit of pas boat action on Sunday to get ashore agsin.....hopefully weather permitting 

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  • 2 months later...

Although it’s been doing it quietly, the “Big Vic” is still chuntering along, its been over a year now, and frustratingly I still don’t have a hull, but I’m hoping it wont be long before I can start skinning the thing.

The problem is all the little docking/boat bays, that all have to be sorted first, though luckily I don’t have as many as Victorious had in her pre-refit life.

I find working in 1/200 very satisfying, but the scale has been heavily “Pontosified” of late, meaning that standards for detail are generally sky high, thus leading to a great deal of work just to move the project forward at a very modest pace. The boat bays are taking a long time, mainly because of the boats, the ship carried three fibreglass “3 in 1” 27ft whalers (3 in 1 because they could be rowed, sailed or motored”), and these little blighters have been keeping me busy for weeks !!

I found a couple of standard (unpowered) 27ft Montagu Whalers in 1/200 from Shapeways, so I hatched the plan to convert the two printed ones and scratch the third, now I assumed that it would just be a case of knocking up a little block shaped engine cover, poor naïve fool that I am !

boats 12

 

Luckily I found an excellent small boat instructional film on the IWM site  https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060029716 which much to my delight on the second reel features Victorious from 6.57, showing the boats and some of the bays, I thought this was lucky, but of course you cant unsee something, and I now couldn’t plead ignorance !!

Apart from the basic hull shape there are significant differences, which required a lot of swearing and Rioja to resolve.

Vic boat bay 3

This is a still from the film, showing the operation of raising the boat (note the ships crest on the bow)

boats 10

And here we have the two of them, I did try to get the twin parallel rubbing strakes on, but had to give up and just have one big one (the shame, the shame !!) the third was scratched out of carved styrene as a solid lump and "tarped" with foil, after a few tries !

boats 15

This is the bay, nearing completion, still a bit of touching up to do (cameras are cruel things)

boats 1

And a little known fact, Matt Damon used to drive winches in the early sixties !!

Vic boat bay 5

And in place in the inboard position on the Starboard bay but not permanently (still needs some touching up and a coat of matt varnish.

The idea is to have the Starboard outer boat run out on its rails, hence the fold down buffers in the raised position (they will be folded under the boat on the Port side)

boats 5

The port bay is currently under construction and the (b****y) boats still need propellers !

 

Onward and upward !!

 

Cheers

 

David

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6 hours ago, JohnWS said:

Great attention to detail, David.  :clap2:

 

John

 

6 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday David, exquisite detail on those boats and boat-bays. Your patience and attention to detail with this does you great credit. Regards, Jeff.

 

I think have said it all amazing work.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

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On 10/05/2021 at 14:28, JohnWS said:

Great attention to detail, David.  :clap2:

 

John

Thank you John, I must admit that it means a lot from someone who is probably putting weld beads and rivets on a 1/350 mast as I write this :D 

 

On 10/05/2021 at 14:30, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday David, exquisite detail on those boats and boat-bays. Your patience and attention to detail with this does you great credit. Regards, Jeff.

Many thanks Jeff, though I wouldn't like to try it at 1/600 !!

 

On 10/05/2021 at 21:13, beefy66 said:

I think have said it all amazing work.  👍

 

Thanks Beefy, though I worry that at the rate this is going I will be so "senior" by the time it is finished, that I wont know what it is !!

2 hours ago, longshanks said:

Magic, great attention to detail.....

 

Dear Mr Shanks (Kev), Thank you, but really when it comes to thoughtful attention to detail you are way out in front, even down to fruit and veg, cap respectfully doffed sir !  :worthy:

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With the greatest respect Mr Dancona.  Your boat bay is the equivalent of one of my models and you are going to stitch together hundreds/thousands(?) such scenes David. With my meager attention span a project like yours is way beyond my abilities.

 

Keep up the great work and entertainment 🙂

 

I hope you're enjoying your new freedom in Spain

 

Kev

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Kev, you are too kind, and excruciatingly modest, I think I have a folder full of reference pictures dedicated to your exquisite artworks, yes even back to the MAS boat !!!!!!

 

As for entertainment, here is something you may appreciate, made  me laugh, its from the "Vic Times" the ships onboard newspaper and was written whilst they were sailing up and down for weeks in the Gulf during Operation Vantage, evidently it was so hot that they managed to fry an egg on the flight deck !!

 

Old soldiers never die

And just to prove it "eggs Victorious" !

 

 

vic_frying_eggs

 

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I’m just trying to imagine what it must have felt like strapping into the cockpit of that Scimitar in the background, wearing full flying clothing, “turning trousers” and a bonedome, after several weeks of full-on heat-sink.  Inferno sweatbox...

 

[P.S.  excellent whalers]

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Boats and boat bays look excellent David.

During 1960 I lived in Malta for about 3 months. My brother in law was in the Royal Navy and I can recall him and one of his naval mates similarly showing how to cook an egg on the rocks in Sliema close to where we lived. It made quite an impression on me as a 6 year old, the baby in the family! 

 

Happy days

 

Terry

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2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’m just trying to imagine what it must have felt like strapping into the cockpit of that Scimitar in the background, wearing full flying clothing, “turning trousers” and a bonedome, after several weeks of full-on heat-sink.  Inferno sweatbox...

 

[P.S.  excellent whalers]

Probably not that dissimilar to strapping into a Lynx in the North Persian Gulf after the cab's been on deck and heat soaked all day at 45 deg C.  I suppose at least we could open the windows once airborne!

 

Those boats and the detail in the bays themselves are sublime David.  You are setting new standards here for the rest of us to aspire to.

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On 16/05/2021 at 09:39, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’m just trying to imagine what it must have felt like strapping into the cockpit of that Scimitar in the background, wearing full flying clothing, “turning trousers” and a bonedome, after several weeks of full-on heat-sink.  Inferno sweatbox...

 

[P.S.  excellent whalers]

Thank you sir, I gather from dad it was all pretty hellish, the only part of the ship that was air conditioned was the Admirals quarters and with no Admiral onboard the duty aircrew were allowed to camp there, evidently it was so hot that the Captain was occasionally seen without his shirt on !!!.

Although the ship looked very fierce sailing up and down they had big problems getting the fixed wing aircraft airborne due to insufficient windspeed over the flightdeck, with the ship zigzagging around trying to find a puff of wind, with a Seavixen on the catapult ready to go as soon as they found it !

 

 

On 16/05/2021 at 10:13, robgizlu said:

David - the boats look fantastic B)

Rob

Thank you Rob, that is praise indeed coming from you !

On 16/05/2021 at 10:31, Terry1954 said:

Boats and boat bays look excellent David.

Thank you Terry, Malta must have been a great place as a kid, I'm very jealous, I was banished to the wild and wooly North (Lossiemouth) at the age of 6 !!!

 

On 16/05/2021 at 12:01, Chewbacca said:

Those boats and the detail in the bays themselves are sublime David.  You are setting new standards here for the rest of us to aspire to.

You are very kind, please don't spoil it all by looking toooo closely !!

 

23 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

Not to mention the big fan on top!

Classic 😂

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Another quick update, boat bays and docking bays pretty much done and dusted (there are two teeny weeny docking bays still to do but they should be very quick to knock up), the stanchions are North Star rigged with 0.16mm wire (I wouldn't recommend trying it after a couple of vino tintos, please don't ask me how I know).

 

Firstly the portside

 

boats 20

 

boats 25

 

And the Starboard side which will have one of the boats out on the rails, hence the buffers in place and the single line on the railings.

 

boats 24

 

boats 21

 

boats 16

 

And just for the hell of it, a kind of 1/200 nautically themed shanty town !!

 

boats 19

 

Anyway, thanks for looking, hopefully I can get some more work done on the hull once I've got this little lot in place !

 

Cheers

 

David

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