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

[NellyV]

The more I dig into this subject, the more I realize how little I knew about 18th/19th Century sailing ships in general and I’ve also realised that painting and assembling the hull parts are the least problematic aspects of completing any sailing ship model. I’ve almost wrecked this build several times through handling and had to make several repairs on the way, including the odd loose cannon. Attaching the masts and rigging the ship will provide plenty more opportunity to completely destroy all the work up to now, so I’ve accepted the probability that I’ll complete this project 100% to plan is relatively low. I doubt I’ll be patient or skilled enough to see this to the end of a comprehensive rig at 1:225 scale but the main elements might be enough to give the model a first pass look of authenticity. Wish me luck!

Additional progress made since last post:

I’ve completed most of the hull now and the stern lanterns are attached. However, I still need to scratch build the signal flag lockers for the Poop deck I promised previously. All of the ship’s boats are painted but have yet to be mounted and all the lower masts are now cemented in place. The upper masts are only slotted in place for now in the photos below and I remove them to avoid further damage while I continue work on the lower mast rigging elements.

I started to clean up the injection moulded shrouds and rat lines supplied with the kit but decided not to use these as they are way too inaccurate and overly thick. At this scale I estimate the supplied shrouds would be >25cm in diameter, which seems a bit over the top to me. Also, the strakes attached to the dead eyes and the ends of the shrouds are a fiction, so I decided to remove all the strakes from the dead eyes and have started to recreate the individual shrouds for the lower main and mizzen masts using 0.5mm diameter black elastic thread, which is approximately 11.5cm at 1:225. This seems a more realistic diameter for this scale but isn’t entirely accurate either. I’ve used this thread also to recreate the jib boom gammoning, main stay, preventer stay and mizzen stay. I have a reasonable plan for reproducing the futtock staves and futtocks, plus the rat lines on the shrouds but haven’t yet worked out how to realistically recreate the snaking between the main\Foremast stays and preventer stays. Any suggestions on how best to do this would be welcome?

Based on old photos of the original, Revell appear to have the topgallant and topmast yards on all three masts positioned differently to where they used to be on Victory in dry dock. It may be that they were not raised to the correct height in dry dock, but anyway I’ve pared away the locating lugs for the yards and will likely position all these as per the photos. I don’t plan on hanging the supplied sails anyway, because the aim is to create something akin to the amazing shipwright’s models I’ve seen at the National Maritime Museum. Let’s face it, a ship under sail would have half the crew up on the deck or climbing in the rigging anyway and I have no intention of trying to recreate the crew at this or any other scale! 😊

Above: Gammoning on the jib

Above: Main and Mizzen mast lower Stays and Shrouds are in place. Once I've figured out how to recreate the snaking between the Main and Preventer Stays I can get the lower Foremast stays and shrouds in place.

Above: Stern view. Might have to work on the Mizzen mast alignment a bit more!

[javlin]

I was reading your summary last night at work(slow) I found yes parts do come loose and things are just plain bulky!I am doing something much less aggressive the the "USS America" as a blockade runner I order the real wood blocks from here  https://www.hismodel.com/  lets say it was interesting getting them ready for application.I will be popping in to see how this one goes lotsa rigging. Kevin

[NellyV]

Further short update. I’ve added all the top mast shrouds and top mast stays. Despite advice from wiser sources that elastic thread was not a good option for plastic model ship rigging, in my hands at least getting sufficient tensioning without unduly bending the plastic mast components worked better with elastic thread than standard rigging thread. So elastic is the way I’ve chosen to go and I’m using jewellers cement to attach all the rigging lines. I’ve installed all the lower futtock staves and started work on the futtock shrouds, which are proving somewhat fiddly, but not impossible. The Bowsprit, Jib boom, Flying jibbereen and Spritsail yards rigging is near enough complete, but there is still some standing rigging around the boomkins and bow to finish. I still have to add all the ratlines but gave up on trying to recreate snaking between the preventer and main/fore stays.  I had two attempts with rigging thread and fine elastic rigging thread but neither approach was satisfactory. I figure that once the rest of the rigging is in place, the lack of what is a very fine snaking at this scale will be a minor inaccuracy. I was unable to source any elastic thread between 0.121 mm diameter and the next available thread at 0.5mm diameter, so the upper stays are likely too thin and the upper shrouds too coarse for a truly accurate scale effect, but they don’t look too bad from a reasonable veiwing distance. Once I have all the futtock stays in place, I’ll need to add the ratlines on all the shrouds before attaching the remaining mast back stays. Then its on to the yards and the running rig. I’ll probably post again once the ratlines are done. I scratch built some signal flag lockers for the aft poop deck, but no partitions are visible because I have assumed the canvas covers are lowered. Still a lot to do! 😞

Above: First of the lower main mast Futtock shrouds in place. I've since completed the mizzen and foremast equivalents on the starboard side

Above: Lower Futtock staves and all mast stays are in place

Above: Portside view

 

 

[dnl42]

Nice work! I'm always impressed by a plastic model of a wooden sailing ship--quite a tall charge!

 

The definitive book on the sailing ship operations is probably Seamanship in the Age of Sail, by John Harland. Very readable and fascinating.

[NellyV]

On 09/09/2021 at 00:05, dnl42 said:

Nice work! I'm always impressed by a plastic model of a wooden sailing ship--quite a tall charge!

 

The definitive book on the sailing ship operations is probably Seamanship in the Age of Sail, by John Harland. Very readable and fascinating.

Tx dnl42. Like the look of that book. Will try and find it.

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Looking good NellyV, probably more rigging on this already than I've ever done across all models combined to date (including those awkward teenage years)! I have plans for something like this in future and found the Rigging period ships book quite useful to understand rigging (on recommendation from somewhere else on this site). Although by the sounds and looks of it, it might be too beginner-y for you, but I got for £1 in sale as an ebook. Now I'll have to get the book above...

 

David

[NellyV]

Victory is on the work bench again! I became despondent way back when all the rigging I painstakingly glued in place with jeweller's adhesive began to pop off after a few days, but as often happens after a period on hold, this project is once again of interest. I'm going to start off by investigating which contact adhesives on the market are best at instantly binding for the long term the rubberised thread I'm using for the rigging to painted styrene. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know. Hope to post a more extensive update with pictures in the not too distant future.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 9/9/2021 at 12:05 AM, dnl42 said:

Nice work! I'm always impressed by a plastic model of a wooden sailing ship--quite a tall charge!

 

The definitive book on the sailing ship operations is probably Seamanship in the Age of Sail, by John Harland. Very readable and fascinating.

 

Thanks for the recommendation

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 7/9/2022 at 4:27 PM, NellyV said:

Victory is on the work bench again! I became despondent way back when all the rigging I painstakingly glued in place with jeweller's adhesive began to pop off after a few days, but as often happens after a period on hold, this project is once again of interest. I'm going to start off by investigating which contact adhesives on the market are best at instantly binding for the long term the rubberised thread I'm using for the rigging to painted styrene. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know. Hope to post a more extensive update with pictures in the not too distant future.

 

I used to use EZ Line elastic rigging thread secured with simple CA adhesive on WWI aircraft models. It was tricky to get it to stick in the first place but once on, it seemed to hold for the life of the model. Unfortunately I don't keep models for long so I'm only talking about a year or so.

[NellyV]

Thanks Bert! I've found that Jaysuing super glue has good adherence to the rubberised thread I've been using, so also probably EZ line also. Much better than the Jewellers adhesive. It's not cyano based, but a mixture of vinyl acetate and epoxy acrylic. It's rather viscous and needs to be applied sparingly, but holds fast after about 120 seconds and none of the lines I've stuck with it have popped off again, yet. I'm waiting on delivery of some extra thin cyano. I suspect it might not bind the elastic thread because it cant penetrate the rubber, but the thicker elasticated thread I am using for the heavier rigging lines has more of a fabric weave coat and it might penetrate this and be a better choice for this kind of thread. Hope to give a more detailed report with some photos soon.

I'm taking it slow. A few new lines every day.