Instruction nightmares

Many thanks.  The instructions that come with the Heller/Airfix 1/100 H.M.S. Victory are scandalously bad.  The original French version, with its insistence on using numbers for virtually everything, is bad enough, but the English "translation" is worse.  Like its counterpart in the Soleil Royal kit, this curious document appears to have been written by somebody who neither understood French nor had attempted to build the model.  It's really a scandal.

The good news is that the amount of information about the Victory in print is enormous.  Anybody attempting that kit really needs to get hold of at least one book - preferably two or three.  My first recommendation is The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships, by C. Nepean Longridge.  The title notwithstanding, this is a detailed account of how the author built his beautiful 1/48-scale model of the ship; it's now in the Science Museum in London.  Some of the references to techniques and materials are dated (he built the model between the late 1930s and the 1950s, I believe), and much of it obviously isn't directly relevant to plastic modelers.  But it's a wonderful, detailed description of the ship, and the rigging instructions are almost as relevant to plastic modelers as they are to scratch builders.  And the book contains a fine set of drawings by George Campbell - the same artist who drew those beautiful plans of the Cutty Sark.

A more recent source is Anatomy of the Ship:  The 100-Gun Ship Victory, by John McKay.  The centerpiece of this volume is a series of more than a hundred incredibly detailed drawings showing just about every conceivable feature of the ship.  Mr. McKay is one of the finest draftsmen I've ever encountered; the book is worth having just as an outstanding example of the dying art of draftsmanship.  If you buy this book, try to find a copy of the revised second edition.  The first edition contained some mistakes, which Mr. McKay subsequently corrected.

A third extremely worthwhile acquisition is H.M.S. Victory:  Construction, Career, and Restoration, by Alan McGowen.  (I may have garbled the title a little; sorry).  This is the latest source; it does a fine job of narrating the events of the ship's career.  The appendix includes a massive collection of drawings by the aformentioned Mr. McKay - including quite a few that don't appear in the Anatomy of the Ship volume.  The drawings in the McGowen book, in fact, cover the rigging in more detail than do those in the earlier volume. 

For modelers, though, I really think the most useful book is the old Longridge one.  Mr. McKay's drawings are magnificent, but some of his rigging diagrams are difficult to follow.  Many of those in the appendix to the McGowen book show the leads of the lines in isometric projection - an interesting approach, but not the clearest way to explain the subject.  Longridge, on the other hand, provides a verbal description of how each line leads.  You can put a copy of the book on your workbench and use it as an instruction manual for rigging the model.

The Heller Victory is a nice kit - one of the classic achievements of the plastic kit industry.  It's a far better scale representation of its prototype than the old Soleil Royal.  Some of the latter kit's problems, unfortunately, do carry over into the Victory kit.  The blocks and deadeyes in the Victory kit are just as unusable, and the method Heller suggests for rigging the shrouds and ratlines is, if anything, even more stupid.  To do a thorough job of rigging this model will require several hundred aftermarket parts - which probably will cost a lot more than the kit itself did.

Another problem:  the kit is more than twenty-five years old now, and recent purchasers report seriously warped and brittle parts.  (The one sample I've examined was one that was sent to me for review by a magazine back in about 1978.  The quality of plastic in it was excellent, but I've heard that recent shots are decidedly inferior.)

The bottom line, though, is that it's a good, generally accurate kit - a fine basis for a serious scale model.

So is the old Revell Constitution.  It's based on a set of plans by (who else?) George Campbell commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution back in the 1950s.  We had an interesting (and rather lively) discussion just yesterday here in the Forum about Constitution references:  http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/631533/ShowPost.aspx   I'll let the comments I made in that thread stand.

If you search the Forum you'll find quite a few threads that deal with these two kits - especially the Heller Victory.

As far as rigging is concerned the Heller Instructions should be binned.

For the Victory: the oft quoted 'Anatomy of Nelson's ships' by Dr Longridge is the way to go.

The Heller instructions are suspect. For instance they show the Main jeers, Topsail sheets, and Clue garnets incorrectly attached to the Fore Brace bitts abaft the mainmast, when they should pass thro' the gratings either side of the main mast and belay to the jeer bitts and Topsail sheet bitts on the Upper deck.

For the Soleil Royal:  'The Rigging of ships in the days of the Spritsail Topmast' 1600 -1720' by R.C. Anderson gives detailed information on the rigging of ships not only of the British, but foreign navies  also.

The Heller Kit  I seem to remember also had backstay spreaders, completely at odds with seventeenth century ships of this type.

For the Cutty Sark: 'The Cutty Sark The ship and a model' also by C,.N. Longridge, ticks all the boxes for me.

Regarding the Longridge and Anderson books - I agree completely.  In Grymm's earlier thread about the Heller Soleil Royal I made several references to the Anderson book.  It's old (1927, I believe), but so far as I know nothing so comprehensive about non-British ships has appeared since.

Longridge's book on the Cutty Sark is a grand old classic.  I don't, however, think it's quite up to the standard of his Victory book.  He built his model of the Cutty Sark quite a few years earlier, and it shows.  (The cargo winches in front of the fore and main hatches, for instance, aren't as well detailed as the ones in the Revell kit - which are hardly scale masterpieces.)  The book (at least the copy I have) shows its age, in the form of murky photos and simplified drawings.  A terrific book, until it's compared with The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships.

The source I recommend as the first and best acquisition for Revell Cutty Sark modelers continues to be the set of plans drawn by George Campbell.  (They're available through the ship's website, which has a fine reputation for mail order service.)  Those drawings, and the copious notes on them, actually provide more detail on various features of the real ship than the Longridge book does.  (Longridge doesn't tell us, for instance, about the layout of the furniture in the deckhouses and the saloon, or the white caulking compound on the roof of the poop deckhouse.  Or the pattern of the linoleum on the deck of the galley.  Or...well, never mind.  I don't think I've ever seen so much information crammed into three pieces of paper.)  The drawings are also a lot cheaper - about $15 U.S.  One of the biggest bargains in ship modeling.

I have been busy book hunting.  But alas, I live in an Army town, so you can imagine my task is daunting.  Hey, I can find you any book you want on M1 tanks and Blackhawk helicopters.  But just mention an age of sale reference book and you just get looked at funny.

Every evening, as my wife falls asleep beside me, I sit up in bed, Leno in the background, and read through instructions of my projects.  So I compared the Heller Royal and Victory instructions, then the Cutty Sark and Constitution.  The Victory inst actually gave me a headache.  I began thinking that they were trying to save money on paper or something.  Hundreds of parts are crammed onto a single page, with the dotted lines directing their placement getting so jumbled together I couldn't make heads or tails out of it.  "sigh"....maybe with research into the books everyone has so gracefully mentioned here I'll make due a little better.  On the other hand, the Revell kits, even though they are more simple kits, are still great examples of good writing.

So what other 1:96 or 1:100 scale plastic kits are out there?  I'm loving this scale...

Unfortunately you've already bought almost all the sailing ships on that scale that have been produced.  Revell used to have quite a few in its catalog, but at least half of them were bogus reissues.  (The Thermopylae was a slightly-modified Cutty Sark, the United States a slightly-modified Constitution, and the Alabama a considerably modified - but horribly innacurate - Kearsarge.  For a while Revell was selling a...thing...in a big box that it called a "Spanish Galleon."  It's not a scale model; it's an allegedly ornamental object designed, as Revell's promotional literature of the time advertised, for "young married couples and interior decorators."

The original Revell Kearsarge kit has been reissued recently.  It's not a bad kit, though it doesn't accurately represent the ship at the time of her moment of glory in the Civil War.  Several Forum members who've bought it have commented that it has awful problems related to the age of the molds - poor fit, warped parts, etc.  The old Revell Alabama apparently has been reissued too, but I don't think many serious modelers would recommend it.

Heller did a few other large-scale subjects.  My favorite is the galley La Reale, which in terms of scale accuracy is far better than the Soleil Royal.  There's also a Heller French chebec, which I've never bought; our Forum friend Big Jake is working on one right now, and could comment on it far more intelligently than I can.

One of Revell's best-ever kits, in my opinion, is its 1/96 Golden Hind.  It's hard to find, and it's quite small (the Golden Hind was a tiny ship): less than half the size of the Constitution or the Cutty Sark.

Back in the late seventies and early eighties the Japanese manufacturer Imai made some of the best plastic sailing ship kits ever.  I'm not sure whether any of them were on 1/96 or 1/100 scale; maybe our forum's resident Imai enthusiast, Millard, can fill us in. 

That's about it.  Plastic sailing ships have never made up much of the market, and big-scale ones have never been really numerous.

Regarding books - you need to make use of the Web.  I bought a new, paperback copy of Anderson's Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast for a very reasonable price from Model Expo (www.modelexpoonline.com).  Copies of the Longridge, McKay, and McGowan books on the Victory are expensive, but used ones do turn up; check out www.amazon.com, www.bookfinder.com, and the "used and out-of-print" section of Barnes and Noble (www.bn.com).  You may not find every book we've been discussing on the same day, but I'll bet you can find most of them - for reasonable prices.

The Campbell plans of the Cutty Sark are available through the ship's gift shop:   http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentShop.productDetails&productId=29&startrow=11&directoryId=1  Several Forum members have ordered them and report outstanding mail order service.  There's no better way for a Cutty Sark modeler to spend $15.00.

One more point.  In our diatribes against the rigging instructions in the Heller/Airfix Victory kit we haven't yet noted their most ridiculous and inexcusable characteristic:  they provide for no method of fastening the yards to the masts.  (The Soleil Royal kit has the same problem.) 

On 1/100 scale there's no legitimate reason why the manufacturer can't provide, in injection-molded plastic, a set of scale yard parrels.  That would be a far better use for the plastic and the mold technology than those ridiculous jigs, looms, and other gadgets in which Heller seemed to take so much pride.  For that matter, give us yard parrels and give up on those hideous vac-formed "sails."

The omission of the yard parrels reveals, I'm afraid, the fundamental problem with so many Heller sailing ship kits:  the people who designed them, superb artisans though they were, just didn't understand how sailing ships work.  There are other hints to that effect - the sharp-pointed belaying pins, for instance, and the lack of detail inside the small boats, and the "jackstay eyebolts" on the yards of the twentieth-century German windjammer kits.  (Jackstays are supposed to be on the tops of the yards.  Heller put them on the fronts.)  Those rigging diagrams apparently were worked up by somebody who was copying and modifying somebody else's diagrams, without understanding them.  Leaving the yard parrels off a sailing ship model makes about as much sense as failing to connect the wheels of a car model to the chassis. 

Oh yeah, that does remind me (I was thinking about the parrallels the other day).  The soleil royal used the bead-type parrallel, right?  How about the Victory?  I'll need to craft those myself.  I know bluejacket sells parrallel beads, so I'll need to order those at some point in my build.

I couldn't agree more, fortunately the parral ribs are easily made using strip wood or styrene and there is a plentiful supply of beads availible for the trucks. Strictly speaking those on the Victory are egg shaped but with their ends cut off and the holes drilled thro the long side. However at 1:100 scale this is not so important, and you can get beads with flattened ends. The scale length of ribs for the Fore and Main Topsail yards works out at 6mm.

These large scale Heller kits have their limitations, and we like to moan about them, and they shouldn't really be marketed at inexperienced modellers. Part of the joy of the hobby is making something better out of the basic kit, and there is no substitute for technical knowledge of the subject; forums such as this providing a wealth of detailed information.

I suppose like many I started on small stuff and graduated over years, building up a library of books most of which have been mentioned by John Tilley and others, to the point where perhaps my technical knowledge exceeds my modelling ability, but we live in hope of improvement with each new project.

And I could not agree more.  My wife called me nuts when she looked at the instructions for the Victory and Royal.  My son considers me some kind of diety for being able to take on these kits.  I, by no means, consider myself a master, though I'm not an amatuer.  I don't have the library of books for reference (I live with the internet for that mostly), or the incredible wealth of knowledge like you George and I can come nowhere close to JTilley.  But, I love to paint, I love to create, and I love being challenged.  I read over the instructions for these kits nightly.  Basic assembly is not a problem.  Just reference the right material, don't be afraid to ask questions here on the forum.  Rigging is the tough part.  The rigging instructions are a nightmare, being just way too technical.  But, I'll survive it.

Has anyone who has built these two kits ever rewritten the rigging instructions to make them a bit easier on the eyes?

I wouldn't say the Heller rigging instructions were too technical,  just badly written, and inaccurate.

I have never attempted to re-write the instructions but what I do do is to rig from the likes of C.N. Longridge.

I find it helps to create a spreadsheet list of every rigging line both standing and running in the order of dressing the ship, together with the scale line diameters; that way nothing is missed.

There is much wrong with Hellers' instructions, for instance they show:

The bowsprit shrouds coming from within the hull instead of attached to eyebolts, and the same for the standing end of the Fore sheets and Main tacks on the hull sides.

The Main jeers and topsail  sheets properly attached to the Jeer bitts and topsail sheet bitts on the upper deck, are shown as belayed to the Fore Brace bitts abaft the mainmast.

I could go on but its too depressing!

For anyone wishing to achieve the best result they can, and this is an expensive kit, my advice would be to forget the Heller instructions, get the Longridge book, and follow his procedure line by line.

A thorough study of the book before you start will give an awarness of the purpose of the lines and how they fit into the scheme of things which assists understanding.

I'm sure that the answers to any queries to specific rigging items will be found here and on other such forums.

As a father myself, I can tell you Mortar, that when I receive a gift from my children, especially something they made themselves, I am floored.  It is something special when a son or daughter will go to such lengths, just out of love for their parent.

Yes, the Heller Victory is a daunting kit.  I'm sure I will not get it right, but I don't really care about historical perfection.  I WILL get it done and it will look good.  My advice to you, if you feel the Heller kits are a bit much to handle, is, pick up the Revell Victory or the other smaller scale Victory.  They are not as daunting, look very good in their own right, and your father will value it more than any kit he will ever put together.

And never, ever, doubt your own skills.  Nobody here is going to fault you.  Nobody here is truly perfect either, no matter how good they are.  They'll be the first to tell you.  I'm working on the Cutty Sark right now.  It has a lot of errors and historical inaccuracies on it.  But, it's for my stepson.  He doesn't care.  He is going nuts over it, saying it's the best model he's ever seen.  So I'm satisfied.  And as a plus, my skills get better.

Build the Revell Victory for your dad.  He'll love it.

I certainly agree with all the above - especially the observations about how valuable published sources are in this hobby.  To an even greater degree than other forms of modeling, perhaps (airplane and armor modelers - please don't kick me), sailing ship modeling really requires reading.  To tackle a big sailing ship model without doing some reading about it would be downright stupid.  It also would deny the modeler one of the great pleasures of the hobby.  Sailing ship modeling opens a portal into a body of literature - fiction and non-fiction - that is inexhaustable.  For better or worse, this rather arcane and obsolescent body of knowledge has quite a vocabulary of technical terms.  The modeler really needs to get to grips with at least the rudiments of the jargon - and the plastic kit instructions won't help much with it.  To build decent sailing ship models you really have to read books.  Anybody who doesn't enjoy reading is unlikely to enjoy sailing ship modeling.

My best piece of advice to anybody wondering how to fasten yards to masts on a model of H.M.S. Victory is - get hold of a copy of the Longridge book.  It contains written descriptions and fine detailed drawings of the lower yard trusses and the parrels used on the other yards.  (By the way, it's correctly spelled either "parrel" or "parral" - but not "parallel.")  For modeling purposes the great thing about the Longridge book is that he doesn't just give you a big drawing with all the lines on it; he describes the run of each line verbally.  (In order to understand those verbal descriptions you obviously have to have the vocabulary to know what he's talking about, but if you read the book cover-to-cover you'll know all the terms by the time you get to the rigging.  And my guess is that, even if there's not a 1/48 scratchbuilt ship-of-the-line in your future, you will want to read the book cover -to-cover.)  Longridge obviously isn't going to be of much help with the assembly of the plastic hull and deck components, but his rigging instructions are just as valid for a plastic Victory as they are for a scratch-built one.

Grymm wrote:

Also, if anyone is building the 1:96 Constitution or Cutty Sark right now or in the near future, give me a PM and maybe we can stay in touch during our builds.  I always love good company.

sirdrake wrote:

Grymm wrote: Also, if anyone is building the 1:96 Constitution or Cutty Sark right now or in the near future, give me a PM and maybe we can stay in touch during our builds.  I always love good company.   Hi Grymm, I have both kits on my desk and am eager to start the build. Won't be before the end of the year, though - but then I'd be happy for some company and exchange of experiences! SirDrake

Well, let's see.  I'm currently in the middle of hand tying the ratlines on my revell 1:96 Cutty Sark and I haven't even started on the Yards and running rigging yet.  And since I'm scratchbuilding the jackstays and footropes, I'll probably be on this kit for the next few months.  After that, I have the Soleil Royal staring at me and I've only got the basic hull work and some of the cannons done.  THEN there's the Heller HMS Victory and THEN there's the Revell Constitution.  So it will be a while before I get to old ironsides.  Just keep me up to date as to when you're going to get going.

As for the Cutty Sark, there are tons of sites on the web with pictures of the actual ship, from all kinds of different angles.  BigJake has an absolutely wonderful build tutorial he wrote. He's built the kit many times.  And JTilley can tell you anything you want to know about the ship and age of sail in general.

Just let me know.  I'd love to do a group build or partner build on the Constitution.  It's a great kit and what I believe to be one of Revell's best.  The detail is great.  There's lots of room for adding more detail, and the rigging is just complicated enough to pose a challenge while not looking too over simplified.   I got my kit off Ebay and has the distinction of being the 1976 Bicentennial issue it. 

You can reach me at pstanfield38@aol.com.  Jake, JTilley, you can contact me too if you ever have reason...I'm always looking for good conversation.  I keep so few friends these days...

Grymm