Is it HMS Victory or USS Constitution?

Because yellow paint is hard to standardize in early 19th century, British warships nominally painted in the yellow and black Nelson checker ended up with a large variety of different yellow colors.   Consequently the  British moved away from Nelsonian yellow and black checkerboard pattern and standardized on the more consistent black and white checkerboard pattern just after Napoleonic war, so the Victory would have been painted black and white for most of 19th century.

The change was probably made during the large refit of 1814 -1816, when the  beakhead bulkhead was replaced by Sepping's built up round bows design.

It is this aspect that would present the modeller with the greatest problem in converting a 'Trafalgar ' state model to a 'Victorian' model of Victory.

It is not a conversion that I would personally want to make, as the slab sided Victorian Victory is in my opinion her least attractive guise, with increasingly indignities levied on her as the Victorian age progressed. A hotchpot of wooden buildings on her decks, various holes cut into her sides, her interior gutted, fitted with hand me down rigging, and ultimately her masts replaced with those of the old ironclad Shah.

Arthur Bugler summed it up, by reference to her suffering the indignities of old age in the last 50 years before her restoration began.

As a technical exercise however, it would be quite a kit bash.

GeorgeW wrote:

As a technical exercise however, it would be quite a kit bash.

I'd have to agree that the Victorian Victory was not as glorious looking as the original or restored, but it would certainly make for a unique model that would turn a lot of Victory-building heads.

Dave