Revell 1:225 HMS Victory – A kit almost as old as me from 1959 Part II

[NellyV]

Apart from a little clean up here and there plus some further detailing the hull is now pretty much finished. Progress was aided by being ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid-19 App and told to self-isolate for 9 days (Why 9 and not 10?) after a trip to our local Swimming Pool! I think my phone spent more than 15 minutes in a locker next to someone else’s phone who subsequently tested positive😬

There are some problem areas that needed addressing in this kit, but overall the hull went together better than I expected for a 1959 vintage injection moulding. I didn’t have to use any filler during most of the assembly but did have to fill some sink marks in some parts and numerous sunken ejection pin marks using Mr. Surfacer on multiple parts before assembly .

The only real fit issue I faced was getting the rear edges of the Poop deck to meet up with the hull sides and the Transom knees with the Transom. See the pics to see how I used thin plastic card inserts and Mr. Surfacer to fill some obdurate gaps. I’m still debating whether to try and recreate the signal flag lockers that straddle the transom knees at the rear of the Poop deck in the real article and which Revell presumably actively decided to leave out. I think I will do this, because although there are major simplifications of other elements in this model that make me think why bother, as we all know the “England expects” signal was and is such an important part of Victory’s story.

Why in 1805, after Scotland and England had been a United Kingdom for almost 100 years the Signal wasn’t “Britain expects” is I guess down to the availability of relevant signal flags? Bear in mind that one of the things agreed in 1707 was that England and Scotland would no longer be terms of reference after they were united as equals. Apparently, they were meant to be referred to as North and South Britain from that point on. However, although North Britain was often referred to after Union, it is very telling that this never applied to South Britain, which continued to be referred to as England (Wales having been absorbed a few hundred years earlier). No wonder the Scots distrust the English and why it’s “anyone but England” when it comes to the Scots support of our National sports teams?  

Sorry, I digress. My top tips for assembling this Revell kit thus far are:

1/Put some additional plastic card strip locating lugs inside both the hull halves to hold the middle deck in place from above and in opposition to the existing lugs holding the deck from below. This helps keep the deck curved correctly and well in alignment when closing up the hull sides.

2/ Don’t attach the main deck to the middle gun deck before closing the hull. The main deck can be easily ‘clicked’ into place after closing the hull around the middle deck and this means you can fit the cannons in their carriages on the middle deck after closing the hull.

3/ Paint the main deck and then paint and fix most of the additional parts to the deck before attaching it to the hull. Once this is done, position the upper deck loosely in the hull and aligned with the support pins to begin with. Then click it down below the alignment bead running along each hull side. Cement it firmly in place accurately at the bow end first, moving aft along the deck and fixing the next section once the prior cemented section has cured.

4/ I found the four posts and locating pins on the main deck which support the Poop deck were way too long. I pared these back with a scalpel blade until the Poop deck sat squarely at the right height relative to the Poop deck hull sides with lots of dry fit checking between shavings. I also created some rear cabin walls alongside the ships wheel using plastic card. These are prominent on the real article in the present day, but I think these were probably designed to be dismantled and stowed when the ship went into action, However, I liked the idea of closing off the view under the Poop deck and hiding its prominent support posts.

As you can see, at this scale I had to take an impressionistic approach to painting the flags plus other fine details on the Transom and the figure head. You’d think the latter would be a figure of a winged Victory, but by Trafalgar this was no longer a figure head but rather a 3D a coat of arms. I think they both look OK from a reasonable viewing distance, but just don’t get up too close. 🙂

I’ll post a further update when I have the masts in place. I have a question about the masts that perhaps someone knows the answer to? Some drawings of Victory show the masts canted forward slightly and some have them canted backward. Which is correct, or are they actually vertical? I cant find a photo anywhere that answers this question.

Impressionist Figure Head above and Transom below

Below - Some wide gaps needed filling between the Poop deck and hull sides

Below - Gaps filled but still some painting to be done.

 

 

 

 

[steve5]

nice start nellyv , could you tell me how long the overall kit is please .

[NellyV]

16 hours ago, steve5 said:

nice start nellyv , could you tell me how long the overall kit is please .

Sure Steve. It will top out at just under 50cm from the tip of the Bowsprit to the tip of the MIzzen main boom.