Friday, September 19, 2008

2004 Recap

This post provides a recap of my HMS Victory model building activity in 2004. This model is built from Constructo's 1:94 scale HMS Victory kit. The kit was purchased (in Spain) as a gift by my Dad during his trip to Europe in Winter 2004. Wherever possible, I am attempting to make the model a bit more reflective of the real ship. Although I am not a purist with regard to scale, I do try to make things look good on the model. Luckily, there are plenty of resources available for the HMS Victory as it still exists today.

Here you can see that we pretty much start out with a basic frame upon which the planks will eventually be fastened.

Here is an example of one of my additions to the kit. The window detailing added to the exterior of the coach house to provide a more accurate representation of the real ship.

In order to make life easier later on with regard to planking, basswood blocks were added in between the frames to provide a good base for the planks.

Here you can see how the filler blocks were then sanded to the contour of the hull providing an excellent base for the planks. This especially helps planking around the curves of the bow and stern.

The first few rows of planking are added here.

More planking...one of the most difficult areas is the curvature of the bow. Here, each plank has to be tapered in order to match the curve of the bow.

Here the planking has been completed and the hull sanded and filled.

This shows a nicer view of the completely sanded hull.

Following completion of the planking, holes for the gunports (there are over 100 on the Victory) are marked and cut into the hull.

Each of the gunport holes are then framed in.

Here we have the completed gunports all framed in.

The quarter galleries were the next step. Here, I made another modification by creating darkened windows rather than the blue coloration provided with the kit (which in my opinion looks very unrealistic). Thin veneer planking was used to give the quarter galleries a nice finish.

Here I begin work on the stern gallery, again using darkened windows.

Here the stern gallery is finished with Sapelly veneer.

Now, the stem has been notched into the bow.

Here, the lower, middle, and upper wales have been added to the hull.