Is the 1/180 Airfix HMS Victory any good?

Buy it! It is based on the George Campbell drawings, and while it doesn't exaclty match them, they are the best source available.

It's an old kit. Unlike the Revell kit, all of the gun ports can be modeled open.

On the middle and lower decks, the open gun ports have a recessed surface with a hole in the middle that the cannon barrels get stuck into.

You should just take that for what it is. It was a common detail of the older Airfix kits, like the Wasa.

The gun ports can also be installed closed.

Thanks GM!

I was hoping you would jump in here. I trust your judgment.

Beware of the size when done.....The 1/100 is about 42 inches long and 27 inches high.

Will keep you busy in the periods of slack activity on other builds.

That's the beauty of the smaller kit. It's big enough to rig without a magnifying glass, but not so big as to need an investment in Syrene Company.

To Goldhammer's point, a model that is double the scale is an object that is eight times as large.

It should be just a tic over half the size of the 1/100....ie. a 1/350 Gato is just over 11 inches and the 1/144 is just over 24 inches.

Will agree with GM though, worth the price and the test of rigging skills.

Hmmm, that's a big boy. Not as big as my 1/96 way overly priced wood Victory kit though.

 Hi, I buil abunch of the Airfix kits like this & they are real nice. Here are several pictures of my Victory. I don't try for super accurate, just pretty.

I built this in a little over a month. I do love the Victory & I am a real old guy.

That looks beautiful gene, you sold me. I'll leave the sails off though, I prefer straight rigging myself. 

I too love the Victory. That and the Constitution.

Steve

Well darn it, I found out the kit my wife saw was a 1/600 not 1/180. That was my fault. I assumed it was the larger one until I looked closely at the picture she had taken.

I ordered the Revell 1/255 Victory instead so we'll see how she looks when it arrives in a few days. 1/180 would have been too big anyway, 1/255 will probably be as well but oh well.

I'll post a WIP when I start on it in a month or so.

That's a very nice model. It's got all of the usual challenges with skinny yards, but it's a good looking final result.

I'll tell you my Nelson beeline color mix, if I can find it.

Thanks GM, the color mix would be great! I was looking at some reviews, there's not a lot out there though.

I was also looking for different rigging for the kit and found an old post by Mr. Tilley (July 07). I went through his usual highly informative post and learned a lot about rigging thread and reference materials.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/82658.aspx

I'll go look at the 1/600 scale as well. That will be pretty small, but I have seen some excellent builds of it.

I went back to the hospital on Wednesday because they wanted to give me a 5-day powerful IV treatment to stop any rejection of the new lungs. Luckily, I'm not rejecting them yet, but they found the antibody mismatch would be a problem soon. I will need these 6-hour IV's once a week for several weeks then every other week and so on for 7 months. It's better than dying though LOL.

I get discharged tomorrow and go look at the kit she found.

Steve

sounds like you have been through a fair bit lately mate , hope everything goes well for you . if you want a good cheap thread I have been using what kirill also use's , gutermann , it's from germany , no fuzzies , hardly fray's , multitude of colour's . haberdashery store's should have it .

steve5

Thank you Steve, I'll take a look for it.

There was a man named Roberto Diaz (rdiaz)who posted here two or three years ago with his exquisite 1/225 Revell HMS Victory.  It was truly a masterpiece! Just seach rdiaz HMS Victory on FSM and it will come up.

Also, Steve (Model Crazy), I am sorry to hear about your health difficulties and sincerely wish you a speedy and thorough recovery. God Bless!

Bill

Thanks very much Bill.

When I retured home from my last hospital stay, my wife, who had to return to Boise, bought me the "1/600" Airfix kit. It is a large box and NOT a 1/600 scale but take a look at the photos I took

Take a look what the instructions say.

OK which is it Airfix? 1/600 or 1/72, which would be massive.

So while I was in the hospital and had no idea what my wife did I ordered the ROG 1/225 Victory. It arrived yesterday so I opend it up to compare. On the left.

Hmm. After cafeful consideration I decided to stick with the Airfix, which I decided was 1/180. I like the fact that all the gun ports are "open" compaied to the ROG version with half of them open. I put the ROG Victory back on eBay for $33 free shipping.

Steve, Like Bill I am sorry to hear about your health problem. I am 87 & still model all the time . It is super for you. You must have the Airfix 1/180 kit. It is nice & builds great. I have a bunch of the Airfix kits & really love them . The size is perfect. 2 of the really pretty ones are the Prince & the St Louis. 

This is the Prince & Wasa. About the size of the Victory. I will try to find a better pic of the Prince, it will give you something else to look for.

I will find some finished if you are interested. I love it.

Those are beautiful Gene, and yes I would love to see more. I enjoy art.

Steve

  This is the Airfix St. Louis, I rig my shrouds with the Airfix rigging tool. It works great once you learn to use it.

  It is a very pretty model. I also have the Heller St. Louis, but it is smaller than Airfix.

This is the Airfix Golden Hind & it is my favorite Airfix kit. It is a larger scale by a lot, 1/72, & easier to build. I did the hull details with decals I made. 

  The first pictures I took are on a work base I build on.  Get this one, it is a winner.

That looks great Gene. You're making me want to start on it sooner that later. The one thing that won the Airfix over the Revell besides the open gun ports were the shrouds. The Revell used plastic and the Airfix has pre-made line. You just cut them to length.

Just be very careful when you put the premade shrouds on. They work fine if youare careful, but sometimes they don't fit well & you have to play with them. That is why I like to rig my own on Airfixs rigging tool. They come with Airfix kits that do not include the pre done shrouds. I think they are later kits. 

                                   Gene

Thanks for that, I'm going to look for other Airfix kits like the Golden Hind. I have a couple of the overly priced Europian wood kits but I'm warming up to plastic.