Is there a Victory?

If you want to start from plans, do not forget the Amati plans (1/100 scale), sold 17,60 euros. They produce all the extra parts that are not in wood (18 parts, including the stern gallery, at a relatively low price (54 euros in Italy) ; they also produce guns, sails and flags, people often forget the Amati plans and accessories, they still produce plans and accessories for a Sovereign of the Seas and a HMS Prince models.
Michel

Building a Victory from scratch would be quite a project. I'd recommend that anybody wanting to try it start with the plans by George Campbell, which, I believe, are available through Taubman Plans Service.

There are a couple of other excellent sources. The book on the Victory in the Anatomy of the Ship series, by John McKay (title: The 100-Gun Ship Victory), contains a superb, detailed set of plans. (One small caveat: that book has been through two editions. The first edition contains some significant errors, which were fixed in the "revised edition.") Mr. McKay also illustrated, and co-authored with Allan McGowan, a fine book about the Victory that contains a detailed write-up of her history and preservation. (The title, I believe, is simply H.M.S. Victory.) The rigging diagrams in that volume are actually more detailed than those in the "Anatomy" volume.

Yet another fine book, though a bit dated nowadays, is the classic The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships, by C. Nepean Longridge. Longridge built a beautiful model of the Victory back in the fifties and sixties; it's still on exhibit at the Science Museum in London, sort of sacred shrine of ship modeling. The book goes into extreme detail about the building of the model, and the illustrations consist mainly of Mr. Campbell's excellent drawings.

Any or all of these sources would be a fine basis for a model. (I'm hesitant to recommend the plans that come with those European "plank-on-bulkhead" kits. They make lots of compromises regarding details, construction methods, and general accuracy. The ones I've mentioned above tell how the real ship was built.)

I would emphasize again that a scratchbuilt Victory on any but the smallest scale is, by definition, an extremely advanced project. I personally wouldn't want to tackle it. But any of the books I've mentioned makes inspiring reading.

There is a cheaper solution if want a wood model, you can order the plans that normally with the kits. I have bought the Victory-plan from Mamoli for less than 40 €.
Ofcourse by the time you have finished the model you will have spend more or less the same amount of money as when you buy the kit, but you can spread the costs that way.

The Revell Germany Victory is currently available on e-bay for $28.00.

There is a second one listed but the picture is of HMS Bounty and the scale of 1/110th indicates that it probably is the Bounty model. I'd e-mail the seller and double check before bidding (and check shippng charges--- shipment from England can be very expensive).

I don't know how german scaling works but the advertised scale of 1/146 is misleading... the model gun deck measures 10.15 in., the real gun deck is 186 ft..... by my calculations this works out to approx. 1/220th scale.

The model is nice but there are scale anomalies that need to be adressed on surface detail, and of course at this scale the rigging is somewhat "impressionistic". Some cleanup work and lots of detail painting should make an impressive product, though.

Have fun!

If I were you I'd try to track down a Revell one. The problem with the bow of the Airfix kit is pretty severe, once you're aware of how it's supposed to be shaped. The whole structure of the bow is distorted, making the figurehead - and the whole structure of rails and decorations behind it - considerably too low. The Revell kit is much better in this respect.

Another point: the Airfix Victory, like other sailing ship kits from that manufacturer, uses "dummy guns." The "gunports" are shallow recesses in the hull halves; the "guns" are just plastic "barrels" with pins on their roots that plug into holes in the "ports." On the Revell kit, most of the portlids on the two lower decks are molded shut, but some of them are open - and have nicely detailed, full-length guns sitting on little shelves behind them.

The Revell kit probably is a bit harder to find (though I saw one in a hobby shop in Raleigh, NC recently), but really a better, more accurate kit in most respects. The Airfix one does, however, have the advantage of being slightly larger - and probably somewhat easier to find.

Thanks a lot! Sounds like the Airfix and Revell kets are my best bets, and they are under a hundred dollars! Also they are in plastic, which I am somewhat used to dealing with. Again, thank you both for the wonderful infromation!

There are lots of Victory kits on the market - and several more that have been discontinued, but can still be located.

Probably the best one, in terms of historical accuracy, is the plastic kit from the French company Heller, on 1/100 scale. That makes it about three feet long. It's readily obtainable from decent hobby shops - but quite expensive (usually in the neighborhood of $100). It suffers from some relatively minor mistakes and omissions, but is one of the best plastic ship kits ever released.

Two smaller-scale kits are made by Airfix and Revell. The Airfix one is currently in production; it's somewhat larger than the Revell one. (I don't know the exact scales, but they measure about twenty and eighteen inches in length, respectively.) The Airfix kit is basically sound in terms of accuracy with one major exception: the shape of the bow is seriously distorted. The Revell kit is no longer widely available in the U.S., but is in the current catalog of Revell Germany. So it should be obtainable through good hobby shops. It's actually, to my eye, a little better detailed than the Airfix one - and the bow is shaped right.

Airfix also makes a tiny, waterline version of the Victory. It's about five inches long, and has been on the market for about forty years. I don't recommend taking it seriously, except perhaps for wargaming or a gift for a kid.

If you are interested in a small-scale Victory, the range of white metal kits from the British firm Skytrex is worth a look. I have their 1/700 Victory (though I haven't built it yet), and it's a remarkable piece of work. The hull casting is beautiful, and the sails and shroud/ratline assemblies are photo-etched brass. The kit is intended primarily for wargamers, but could be made into a really impressive waterline model.

There are quite a few wood Victory kits. Most of them, in terms of historical accuracy and quality of materials, are junk. (That's a personal opinion, but I think most serious, experienced scale ship modelers would agree.) The great exception is an enormous, 1/72 scale kit by the British company CalderCraft. I haven't seen the kit itself, but I have seen pictures of it on the web and in magazines. From what I can tell, it's superb. The bad news is the price: over $1,000.

The Victory kits I can recommend are those by Heller, Revell, Skytrex, and CalderCraft. The larger Airfix one almost makes my personal list, but the shape of the bow bothers me.

Hope this helps. Good luck. It's a great hobby.

The Victory is probably the most overproduced of the sailing ships. In plastic, there's a very good heller at 1:100 scale, an airfix at 1:180 and probably a few others I don't know about. In wood, many, many options. Corel, Constructio, Mantua and Mamoli all make a 1:98, although quality varies. Mantua makes a 1:78 as well. Caldercraft (weird scale, something like 1:70) makes a top notch one for about $1000.