HMS Victorious (1961) in 1/200

[Dancona]

Hi Crispin, your Ark is mindboggling by the way........come on admit it, it's bigger than 1/350, it must be !

I would love to give you some colour info, but I can't, as the decks (Cable and Quarter) were made on Photoshop, and then printed and varnished (infact the honours board is a photo of the real one fiddled with a bit then reduced). I think I actually took the colours for the Cable Deck from the photo Midland 1965 posted of Belfast's damp deck, the quarterdeck colours and texture came from a real teak deck as well, I don't think I would have thought of doing it in paper if I hadn't originally started with a paper kit to be honest. I can certainly send you the photoshop file if you have the program, or even a jpeg of damp teak deck in 1/350 you could print out yourself.

My first experience of stick on wooden decks was my Dreadnought, and I certainly found it convenient (no fiddly masking) but every time I look at it it looks wrong to my eyes, the butt ends are too prominent, and the colour, although I tried to tone it down a bit, still looks too IKEA to me, anyway I think that in the future I will probably make my own printed decks !!

[Dancona]

Another quick update, the quarterdeck is nearly there, just requires a bit of a touch up and a final dusting of matt varnish, still need to sort out the bell, pillars and the "lid" (underneath of the deck above) plus the structural ribs, then hopefully I can get on with skinning the hull !

Anyway the bits............

And finally in place

 

 

 

Photography is very unforgiving, I think that there may be a few more little touch ups required than I originally thought !!!

 

Thanks for looking

 

Cheers

 

David

[bootneck]

The officers "onboard/ashore" slider board is the wrong type for that era David!   Absolutely stunning work, plus details of the quarterdeck that I've never seen before. I can almost taste the salt spray.

 

Mike.

still following along avidly.

[Dancona]

1 hour ago, bootneck said:

The officers "onboard/ashore" slider board is the wrong type for that era David!  

 

🤣🤣🤣  Im sure there are a lot more glaring errors than that, but you are very kind !

The problem I've found is a lack of photos of this area, I suppose it must be one of the least exciting parts of a carrier, I've been reduced to trawling through Commission Books trying to find group photos where peoples heads aren't in the way of the interesting bits, as in this typically blurry example from the 1961 book, where the dodgy light fittings either side of the Honours Board can just be seen..

 Actually one thing that is very entertaining is the cartoons, the legendary Tugg Wilson was onboard at the time, and the book is peppered with some classic "early Tuggs"

 

I will post some better pictures after I have cleaned it up a bit more, if there is anything else not quite right (😂apart from the "onboard/ashore" slider board) you had better let me know before I stick it into the ship !!!

 

Cheers

 

David

 

 

[Dancona]

While I was trawling through my reference photos I came across this which made me do a double take, as I hadn't looked closely and had assumed it was an early wartime shot, I assume that this may have something to do with the film "Sink the Bismark" which accurately featured Swordfish and Victorious, but in all her post refit glory which kind of spoiled it a bit !

 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Dancona

[Seahawk]

I think it's a Swordfish with embarked Admiral paying a final salute to Vic as she is towed away to the scrapyard.

[davecov]

Yep, just leaving Pompey on the way to the breakers. The Admiral was a former CO of HMS Victorious.

 

Dave

[Dancona]

Silly me, I should have looked more closely and spotted the later mods (balloon station on the stern etc.), how poignant though, and a little sad, she certainly had a long and exciting life though, and to my eyes was without a doubt the most attractive of the RN post war carriers. One interesting thing though,I was surprised to find out that Kenneth Moore who starred in "Sink the Bismark" actually served as a Lt. on Victorious during the war !

[Chewbacca]

Only just caught up with this David.  Looking fabulous - especially the honours board.  

[Dancona]

Another quick update, the saga of the quarterdeck continues with the structural parts, the stowed gangway will need some grey on the sides before fixing in place.........this building Aircraft carriers from the inside out is certainly not a quick and easy project !!!!

 

 

 

 

Onward and upward !

 

Cheers

 

David

[Bonhoff]

On 7/8/2020 at 2:05 PM, Dancona said:

I assume that this may have something to do with the film "Sink the Bismark"

IIRC Centaur was used to represent Ark Royal and Victorious in the film.

 

IanJ 

[Dancona]

Yes I think that you are correct, the actual flying sequences were filmed on Centaur, but I'm sure that Victorious does feature briefly in the film somewhere.

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Dancona said:

Onward and upward !

Onwards and inside outwards I would say!

 

Brilliant stuff. I know this issue is probably way off yet, but do you plan to populate the ship with aircraft, and if so which?

 

Terry

[beefy66]

Great detailing that jig looks like it worked a treat  

 

beefy

[Murdo]

7 hours ago, Dancona said:

this building Aircraft carriers from the inside out is certainly not a quick and easy project !!!!

 

Maybe... But you're doing a fabulous job of it!           

[Chewbacca]

15 hours ago, Dancona said:

.this building Aircraft carriers from the inside out is certainly not a quick and easy project !!!!

 

 

The same goes for any scratchbuilding project but you're showing us how it should be done 

[Dancona]

Thank you for all your kind comments, though please any and all suggestions welcome, you lot of charming reprobates represent a huge resource of knowledge and personal experience that I would very much like to take advantage of (in the nicest possible way, that is  !!)

 

16 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Onwards and inside outwards I would say!

 

Brilliant stuff. I know this issue is probably way off yet, but do you plan to populate the ship with aircraft, and if so which?

 

Terry

 

There will be lots of aircraft (he said optimistically) plus quite a lot going on, that is the idea anyway, as this will be a snapshot of her deployment in 1961, we will have Whirlwinds, AEW Gannets (I think there was a COD Gannet as well), Sea Vixens (FAW 1) and of course Scimitars, as for how I'm going to do it, I don't know yet, possibly 3D printing, but having seen the little gems that Bootneck is knocking up from scratch in 1/350 I could be inspired to have a go, but it may take a while to get to that level !

 

Cheers

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Dancona

[davecov]

18 hours ago, Dancona said:

Yes I think that you are correct, the actual flying sequences were filmed on Centaur, but I'm sure that Victorious does feature briefly in the film somewhere.

I believe the HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious flight crew briefing scenes were actually filmed onboard HMS Victorious. She is also seen briefly at sea before the first HMS Ark Royal Swordfish take off from HMS Centaur.

 

Dave

[Dancona]

52 minutes ago, davecov said:

I believe the HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious flight crew briefing scenes were actually filmed onboard HMS Victorious.

 

Dave

Hi Dave,

I didn't know that they used her for the interior shots, it's amazing what you learn on here !

 

Found this though, a very brief appearance  !!!!!

 

 

So it looks like we are all correct, although she is actually doing a bad impression of Ark Royal in the film    !!!!!!!!

 

Cheers

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Dancona

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday David, I've only just caught up with this, so went back to the beginning of your thread. It is mind-boggling what you've done here. To date I particularly like the cable deck and quarter deck, the detail on the bulkheads. Regards, Jeff

[gunzo]

IIRC, the old Corgi/Playcraft Vapour Trails series was generally 1/200 and included both the Scimitar and DH110. Could serve as good starting points at the right price.

 

Les

[Dancona]

Well.. you learn something new every day, thank you for that Gunzo, I had never heard of them before, I shall have to see what I can find, it may be possible to find something without box etc for a reasonable price !

 

Thanks again

 

David

[Dancona]

Another quick update, before finishing the quarterdeck completely I thought i should sort out the stern, because although I had used the AotS sections for the quarterdeck, it was now very much at odds with the card structure, I kind of knew that it would come to this, so I set about sorting it.

Using scaled sections from the hull lines and tying them to my datum (the flight deck) I have been working my way down the starboard side starting at the stern, my plan is to plank the hull in 1mm styrene, but in order to do that I needed to offset the surface inboard and provide a good bulky structure to glue the planks/plates onto. With that in mind, using the same 3.5mm material I used for the flight deck I have been building up the sections in multiple parts after cutting back the original structure but using it as a framework to hold it all together, a "basis for change" if you like. The intention is to add a few more sections and longitudinals where appropriate, as the hull is actually much more complex form-wise than it at first appears (Duh ! who would have guessed) , though luckily does not have as many holes in it, in her post refit guise , so that's a win anyway !!!

 

Bit of butchery to start with at the stern !

 

Slowly working my way forward, I'm developing a love hate relationship with 3,5mm styrene, its a pain in the *rse to cut but .....I find it strangely therapeutic, and quite satisfying, but I suppose that's why we do this hobby, although I am totally in awe of people who are pushing the boundaries of 3D design and printing, it looks too much like work to me (my day job involves 3D models) and I prefer to disconnect with a knife and sandpaper....just as well really bearing in mind what I've got myself into !

 

 

 

Finally coming together a bit more, I'll have to deal with the structure below the flight deck soon, its looking suspiciously like an early Japanese or USN carrier at the moment.

 

 

 Anyway, as they say over here "Manana mas" (more tomorrow), Cheers  !!!

 

David

 

[Terry1954]

I must have missed this last update. Despite the lack of outer shell, that last picture shows she's really taking shape. Most impressed!

 

Terry

[Dancona]

Thanks terry, I will post some pictures soon of where I am now, the whole hull is now "reframed" and adjusted, I must confess that is one job I do not want to do again !

 

Cheers

 

David