Heller HMS Victory

See McKay's The 100-Gun Ship Victory, pages 68,77,86 (in Revised Edition)

Hi All,
I know that there are many books out there that can help me in building the Heller Victory to include the 100 Gun Ship Victory but being on a fixed income I'm not able to purchase it at this time. I'm sure the libarey would carry it but being dissabled I have to depend on others to get me around, so I hate to ask for anything extra, that's why I'm looking for plans showing the entry on the HMS Victory. If someone has something that I can use and are able to scan it and send it to me, it would be greatly appreciated.
Looking for help
Jim

Hi -

This is an interesting detail that I've bumped into several times during the past twenty years or so. I don't pretend to have a definitive answer, but I think Heller may be right in omitting the entry ports.

The Victory, like most other preserved ships, has been modified many times since - and before - the Battle of Trafalgar. Heller tried to reproduce her appearance at that time (1805). Pinning down exactly what she looked like at that date is quite a project; the exercise has to be based on documentary and pictorial evidence, and on some guesswork.

J.M.W. Turner went on board the Victory shortly after the battle and made sketches for his enormous painting, "The Battle of Trafalgar," which is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich (and reproduced in most illustrated books about Nelson). It shows the ship's side exactly the way Heller does. So does the contemporary model in the same museum - a model that supposedly depicts the ship after her major refit of (I think) 1802.

The most recent book about the Victory is the one by Alec McGowan and John McCay. In addition to Mr. McCay's magnificent drawings (some of the finest I've ever seen), it includes quite a few reproductions of contemporary paintings of the ship. Not one of those paintings shows the entry ports. The text of the book doesn't mention the point.

I wouldn't want to stake money on it, but I am inclined to think the entry ports were installed sometime after the ship was taken out of active service. If I were building a model of her in her Trafalgar condition I'd leave them off.

Hope this helps.

Best,
J. A. Tilley
Dept. of History
East Carolina University

Thank you for the information. I've heard it both ways and after hearing from you I have decided to leave my Victory just the way she was molded. I'm pretty much a novice at this and am not going to take a chance on trying to change something when the finished product will be just as nice either way. At least I hope it will be nice when it's finished. We'll see in about a year from now, figure it'll take at least that long.
Sincerely
Jim

If you can finish that model in a year, you're doing great. A friend of mine who was working on it made an interesting observation: that a sailing ship model differs from an aircraft or AFV model in that an in-progress ship model always offers something interesting to look at. When you get the guns mounted on the lower gundeck, for instance, you'll be able to enjoy having a model of the lower gundeck - which you won't be able to see when the model's completed.

It's a nice kit - far better, in terms of historical accuracy, than any of those dreadful (and expensive) imported wood Victory imposters.

Hi John,

I don't really know how long it'll take to finish my kit but I am dissabled so I have a lot of time to work on it. I just finished up the revell Constitutin and that took about a year and a half. I hate to admit it but it is no way built right, not that I'm not happy with it, I just didn't no any better at the time. Since I have had this computer though, I have learned an awful lot about how to build a ship the way it should be built. Hopefully I'll be able to put what I have learned to building my Victory in the right way. If I should run into any real problems, I'll give you a yell and maybe you'll be able to help me out.

I want to thank you for your time, I really appriciate it.

Almost a beginner,

Jim