Although I bought the Heller 1/100 kit a couple of years ago, I knew I wanted to modifiy it to reflect how Victory would've looked circa 1797, Battle of Cape St Vincent era. In my opinion, that's when she looked her best. So, in that time I've been researching as much as I can to get solid details on what needs to be changed. This has been quite hard, as there's not a lot of information to go on. There are elements to the build which have conflicting information, in which case I will be going with what I think is best. Afterall, it'll be sitting in my lounge when it's done. As far as I know, at the time she had:
The ornate Figurehead and Stern with open galleries.
4 stern chaser gun ports
Rope wooldings on the masts.
Two entrance ports with balconies.
No Caronades on the forecastle
42lb cannons on the lower gun deck.
100 cannons in total.
Fore and Main chainwales underneath the upper gun deck ports.
Shortened Gaff and Boom on the mizzen.
Taffrail on the poop deck.
Plus other smaller details that warrant no mention as yet.
Any additional info would be great from you guys. I know a few others have done the 1765 version (and they look fantastic), but this one is in a bit of a grey area when it comes to confirmed details. (which gives me more artistic license!)
As the stern is a major defining part of the build, I've decided to tackle that first. If I can't get this right, then I may as well bin the project. As you can see from the picture even at this basic stage I've made major changes. I've extended the Tafferel, cut the curve for the cove, put in the first foot rail and created the pillars to allow for the row of eight windows she had at the time. Doesn't look like much work, but believe me, it's taken a long time to get to this point (including a dry fit). Working on the windows next.
Flint