1/84 scale wooden HMS Victory

[Martijn Meerts]

Not Japanese, not N-scale, but still interesting ;)

Like the DeAgostini C62-2 kit, I also started collecting DeAgostini's HMS Victory kit. It's a 1/84 scale version of the Victory mainly from wood. It has a massive amount of detail and really clear building instructions. I've always wanted a wooden kit, and with the extensive instructions this is a good first time kit, even if it's quite a daunting task to build the Victory :)


I decided to build both this one and the C62 at the same time, because both kits will have many hours of drying time for either paint or glue. I also want to really build these as best as I can, so I really want to let the paint/glue dry for a longer time than I usually do. This makes these 2 kits ideal to build at the same time.

Also like the C62 kit, I'm not going to follow the instructions exactly. The instructions are written in a way that people start building the moment they receive the first installment, but I've already collected quite a few installments, so I can adjust the building process a bit to make more sense. I'll put up some pictures once I get home today, even though I haven't gotten very far yet =)

[Martijn Meerts]

Some pictures :)

Image 0001:
An overview of some parts. The main section is about 68cm, but the final model will be just over a meter long, and nearly a meter tall. According to the manual, you're not supposed to glue the main section together (it's 3 parts in total) until quite a bit later in the build. I figured it made more sense to do it this way though. Also visible are some of the cross sections, 2 types of cannons and some more small bits and pieces.


Image 0002:
A stack of cross sections. These are about half of the cross sections that slot into the main section. Most of these come in 3 parts, so each of them need to be glued together before being glued onto the main section.


Image 0003:
A regular 12 pound cannon (in total the ship has 104 cannons of 12, 32 and 68 pounds), a 68 pound carronade, aka "smasher" and one of the main anchors. All of them in kit form :)) The 12 pounders are 14 parts, and I need to build a LOT of them.. The 12 and 32 pounders will be the same on the model, because the difference at 1/84 is hardly noticeable.

[Martijn Meerts]

While waiting for the weekend, and the time to go hunt for my airbrush, compressor and paints (gotta love moving ...) I went ahead and started adding cross sections to the Victory. Only have half of them done now, but it's already starting to look like a ship :) It's also giving me a good idea of the size of the thing, and I believe it'll end up bigger than I expected :)

[cteno4]

Man martijn you are taking me back 30 years or so! havnt built a wooden ship model for sooooo long. one small coastal fishing sloop kit here on the shelf i should take down and start (yeah one more project!)

cant wait to watch the planking start to go on! then the decking, then the details, then the rigging!

will it have open gun ports and all the cannons?

looks like it will be a lovely, grand model! going to be quite impressive.

cheers

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

The projects just keep stacking up :)

I've always wanted to build one of these things, but usually you're advised not to take on a complicated model initially. The problem is, I don't really like any of the easier kits, because they're often more modern boats rather than some historic tall ship. And while this kit is definitely not a beginner's kit, the instructions are really clear.

The ship will get open gun ports and all cannons yes. The cannons alone will take a few months to build =) The planking will be interesting, the first few will be easy enough, but it starts getting more complex once you have to start forming the planks and shaping them to fit. I still need to get me a decent plank shaper tool for that, because there's so many to shape. The sails and rigging is definitely going to be a challenge, looking at pictures of the finished model, there's a LOT of ropes ;)

https://www.deagostini-bestellungen.de/hmsvictory-model-com/model.php shows some detail. It's Dutch, but just hover over the circles on the image for some detailed pictures. As you can see, if even includes a whole bunch of figures ;)

https://www.deagostini-bestellungen.de/hmsvictory-model-com/bemanning.php shows some more crew and other details on deck.

I just noticed on the German site of the kit, that they offer a set of paint colors for the kit, as well as a set of copper plates, which can be used on the lower half of the ship, as it was used on the real ship. I wonder if those will become available in the Netherlands as well.

[john_ibw]

Martijn,
HMS Victory is a great ship to build! I have not built a wooden kit as yet but I have been researching them for a while now.

My favorites are:

http://www.modelshipyard.com.au/_private/showproduct.asp?image=imagesDB/products/large_WappenVonHamburg-pag13.jpg

And

http://www.modelshipyard.com.au/_private/showproduct.asp?image=imagesDB/products/large_Vanguard.jpg

I think they are very advanced builds. But, if one takes time, I think it is doable!

[Sir Madog]

I am currently building a N scale model of the schooner "Bluenose", which will eventually become a part of a port module.



Building the hull was the "easy" part - now I have to start on the rigging ...

[cteno4]

madog,

very sweet! i spent a lot of high school carving small sailboats very much like this while bored in class! in those days you were not expelled for having an xacto knife with you! i did not keep a single one as everyone in school use to get so into watching them come together they would want them and i just gave them away. it was more about the process than the thing i guess. making that hobi cat for curt's layout last fall really took me back to that, I have to do more!

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

John, I've been wanting to get a wooden kit for a long time, but they tend to be very expensive. Of course, this Victory is expensive as well, but I don't have to pay it all at once.

The disadvantage is that you don't get all parts, and you need to be a bit careful with the building, so you don't accidentally glue on bits you shouldn't have glued on yet.

Like with so many things, progress is slow, but I want to really take my time on this, so I don't mess it up completely. I've already made a mistake or 2, but those aren't critical mistakes (I hope ;))

[Sir Madog]

Martijn,

I may be wong, but I find that those kits coming in installments are overly expensive, some of them even with lumber of doubtful quality. There are a number of manufacturers producing kits for wooden ships, which remain affordable, i.e a price somewhere between € 150 - € 250

[Martijn Meerts]

Ulrich, the ones in installments are usually more expensive yes. A kit the size of the Victory tends to get up to the 500-600 euro mark real fast though.

Another advantage of the separate installments is the extra info you get with it, and usually a much more detailed building manual. For a first-time build, especially for something as complicated as the Victory, the detailed instructions are definitely a plus :)


I can't comment on the wood quality yet. So far there's been maybe 1 or 2 bits that were slightly bent, but nothing that's not easily fixable. The wood for the planking also seems decent enough. It's all very soft wood so it's easy to work with of course, but it might not hold up well in the long run. On the other hand, I do believe all the kits comes with fairly soft wood.

Depending on how this one works out, I might get more kits later on. Just need to make sure I have the time to actually build all the stuff I've got =)