gene1's 1/100 HMS Victory Build

cheer's mike , and a very merry x-mas to you and everyone else on FSM .

Gene,

I love watching your works in progress! You're the neatest, cleanest ship modeler!!

Although I have the same kit in my stash I doubt I'll ever attempt to build her. The modifications/scratch building to make her more accurate daunts me. That said, who knows .. maybe yours and Steve's builds will inspire me to give it the old college try one day.

Now, as to snow....

I was born and raised in New York - the city was my home but two boarding schools held me in captivity from the time I was 9 until I graduated from prep school at 17. The city (Manhattan) usually doesn't get as cold as it gets upstate. At school I remember walking the 1/4 mile to school from the dorm in -22° F in the winter. Very chilly! Plenty of snow.

When I was 29 I moved to southern California and spent 38 years there. No snow except in the mountains. I did hike in the snow in early spring sometimes - not deep snow though.

After 38 years in southern California, and becoming a bit tired of the seemingly rising heat, I retired from teaching in a high school in LA and moved up to Oregon. Salem, in the Willamette Valley gets pretty mild winters. It rarely snows at my place. So, for fun, I seek out the white stuff when there's enough of it in Oregon's Sno-Parks around the Santiam Pass. My brother took me to one of these parks the first winter I was up here - 2010/2011. He was on cross country skiis but stopped every 1/8 of a mile or so to let me catch up on my snow shoes. From that first experience snow shoeing I created a panoramic image that I now use as my electronic Christmas card.

So for all of you in FineScale:

their is some snow here gene , just not a lot . where you live look's beautiful .

 Thanks guys for the compliments. Steve,, don't they have snow in Austrailia? I grew up in St. Louis Mo. & we had lots of snow. When I was 23 I moved to Palm Beach county Fla. & when I was 60 I moved here & I like this weather better than Fla.  Got tired of being hot. 

  This is off my front porch & that was my brothers house in the upper left. 

    I have been decaling all the black between the windows on the Victory. After some decal set they look good. I will put some more dull/gloss coat over the decals & then the windows & install them. I will have to keep any future sprays away from them. I got some new real good very fine brushes & have been painting the front bow parts I am anxious to get that done along with the rear windows. Pictures will follow. 

Looking great Gene!

coming along nicely gene , love the snow , I'm nearly 63 , and have never seen snow 

Paraphrased:

"... up to the top deck & now I will put more time on small details. I didn't do the 2nd deck guns with all the rigging because they are hard to see with the "SNOW" on top."

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That's a lot of snow.  Glad to see you got loggred back on okay.  Really glad you and the family weathered that big snow storm with no problems.

    Nice  rigging on the Cannon. I think I can duplicate it once I get a good sized Warship with sails underway. Your pictures will make it easy for me to COPY... my version of the Highest form of Flattery.

    Nino

 I am up to the top deck & now I will put more timeon small details. I didn't do the 2nd deck guns with all the rigging because they are hard to see with the boats on top. Here are a few pictures.

I am just putting a semi gloss finish on the cannons. I have to drill them all fot the glue down wire & paint the wheels.

 I have been busy with this for the last 4 or 5 days. This is out my back door.

 I have a lot more done & will be back with more pictures.

Robert & Steve, thats the advantage of using Tempera the way I do. It does all the close work. I did do the blue arch's by hand, the large easy ones on the bottom. The small ones I did with blobbing Tempera on them & wiping it off. You have to play with it a bit & touch up, but it is super. When I wiped off those little yellow thing with a million black places between it amazed me how the Qtip took just the right amount off. 

   I used Tempera on all my subs to blacken the limber holes & other detail. I even mixed up a rust mixtue & did that too. The nice thing about it is if you don't like it wash or wipe it right off. That is untill you dull or gloss it. If I could teach my stupid left hand to do something as it doesn't shake, but it is too dumb.

 On the blue archs in front, I used a mixed Tamiya  on the bottom & mixed some Tempera on the top to do the hard parts.I don't like to use Tempera in a large area. It has never given me trouble in small areas.

love your work gene , would love to see you in action , just to watch those shaky hand's working . 

Gene1 - the mounted guns look great. As for shaky hands, I wish i could tell you how many times I have to retouch up something when my hand is shaking! !%*@ Your Victory is really coming together nicely !!!!!

Here are my latest Victory pictures. I had a lot of fun doing this & it turned out real well. These are my Tamiya mix yellow painted rear window sections. I sprayed MM clear Gloss over the yellow to before I put the Tempera water based paint on them. When it was good & dry I wiped it off with a damp Qtip & soft damp rag. The first picture is before & the second is after with a mix of dullcoat & gloss over to seal the Tempera. I used Tamiya black over the bigger parts.

I have all my guns painted & am now drilling them for the piece of wire Iuse to fasten them to the deck. Anything I can never get to I want to stay put. 

 I still have touch up & I will cut black decals to finsh the window sections. With my shaky right hand I need all the help I can get & decals & Tempera are a big help. 

    On the blue arched front section I used a Tamiya mixed blue for the archs & my shaky hand to wield the fine paint brush. On the small places I could not paint , I mixed a Tempera blue to match my Tamiya. I painted the top blue parts with that & then wiped them off with damp Qtips again & sealed it with a lacquer spray. Worked real good & I outsmarted the shaky hand. Spooks me because I will be 88 next month. I still love building models & this gift from warshipguy has been a real winner.  Thanks Bill.

Gene,

     You are doing great on this Victory. I don't think you sleep. Thanks for letting me see a  few "preview shots" too. The last I heard you were into the Bow area already. 

I've got a PM coming. House hunting related but I do mention some nautical decor on the fireplace mantel.

    And To all you folks watching Gene's thread...

     Happy Thanksgiving! 

             Nino

sorry gene , we aussies , shorten everything . that's holiday's mate .

Love your Aussie  language Mate, but what is hol's ?

                                             Gene

I just got back from hol's , love what you are doing mate .

Nino edited the cannon picture so I will run them again, a lot more clear.

For anyone wanting a firm glueing on your cannon this is woth doing. I just drilled thru from the top on the hidden cannons & painted the barrel  black & yellow front only as that is all you see.  For the detailed cannons I will drill up from the bottom thru the wedge & into the bottom only of the cannon & the wire won't show.It only take a short time to make sure your cannons don't break loose in a fixed place. I put 560 white glue on all 4 flattened wheels & CA glue on the wire. I also drilled a larger hole in the deck that was easier to find.

dafi, Thanks & you are one of the really great ship model builders. Your work is perfect & inspiring . Makes me want to do better. Maybe I inspire others to know they can build models up to 100 years old. That is my aim. Right now I am working on 90. 

   warshipguy, I thank you everytime I sit down to work on this Victory. It has been the most fun of all my ships. I have 60 cannons glued & wired in now & am going to put the second from top deck in today. Now I can have a lot of fun with all the finished cannons & deck details.

  On the finished cannons, I will wire them from the bottom with only a hole up from the bottom. The wire has worked great & It will reall hold them in better.My pictures were dark & I will try to make them lighter. 

Thanks GM, but I already did it & cut a little off a couple beams & then glued them back on & fooled with it forever. Which one was bad? I had to take a single edge blade & scrape about 1/32 off the right side & front curve. The decks are a tough fit in all cases, but they fit good. I buy single edge blades at Lowes for $8  a hundred. I use a lot of them.

     I put glued beams under the next deck because it is a tight fit & I wanted the center line to have a good fit because it shows. I have already prefit it. I have the cannons for the 2nd low deck ready to paint & again I will paint yellow just the front of the carriage.

The next row of deck beams has an error in the Heller instructions. Be sure to test fit, and look at the Imai page too.

I  just took new pictures of the hull together & thr first deck in with 30 cannons glued & wired in  I drilled to the rear of the cannon & put a .020 brass wire in & drilled the deck in a premarked spot with a larger bit so I could find the hole easier. Then I flatened the wheels & used 560 white glue on the wheels & CA glue on the wire.

I only painted the front of the cannon yellow as that is all you can see.

Bill, I just got your note on a jig. I looked close at it & am going down right now to finish seperating cannon parts, build a jig & put parts in a plastic tray box. I have a lot of boxes from my model RR stuff. Thanks,  Gene

gene1

Jim, the only reason I have pictures on here is because of you, both for the camera & computer. I drove Mary 200 miles(round trip) to the hospital in Greenville SC for her final 2 tests. I worked on the Victory all day yesterday & glued the hull together & put the 2 big 1x3's in & put the lower deck in. Then  I seperated the cannons for size & will glue them today, part of them . There are 104 cannons with 7 pieces to each one. 728 pieces. 

    Mark, I haven't done any window painting yet, Cannons first.

 

It really helps to make up a jig for all of those gun carriages. And a tackle box with a LOT of little compartments.

Thanks Gene,I'll have to try that. 

Mark, I will do my windows in yellow, along with the whole back. Then I will use glosscote over it to seal it & then,except for the large areas I will use Tempera black. When that is comletely covered & dry I will use damp Qtips to clean it off. & then seal the Tempera with dull/gloss cote mix. 

    I used Tempera red on all the gunports & will seal them with dullcote & touch up with a red marker. Beats trying to do it with red paint. 

Jim, the only reason I have pictures on here is because of you, both for the camera & computer. I drove Mary 200 miles(round trip) to the hospital in Greenville SC for her final 2 tests. I worked on the Victory all day yesterday & glued the hull together & put the 2 big 1x3's in & put the lower deck in. Then  I seperated the cannons for size & will glue them today, part of them . There are 104 cannons with 7 pieces to each one. 728 pieces. 

    Mark, I haven't done any window painting yet, Cannons first.

Looking really good Gene! Mine is coming up soon and I'll be watching your build diligently! I have painted the back windows on this ship 3 times and still don't like it.How did yours come out?

Gene,

 I'm watching and enjoying your work immensely, as always.

     So, how many cannon are there again...and how many parts for each?  I can tell you are having a great time with this ship. 

    You are really forging ahead on this model. In the time it took you to paint the hull and finish the decks I would still be doing French to English translations while trying to figure out the Heller labeling scheme of numbers, letters, and more numbers on the parts. I'm curious...Are you having your meals delivered to your work table to enable such quick work?

    Beautiful job on the decks using the the deck tan, pencils and wash to add the shading.  You are giving Scale Decks some competition.

    And Thanks for sharing your Victory with us.

          Nino.

P.S.  Your picture quality is better than ever, so thank you for the kind words about my suggestions.

Rob & Mike thanks a lot & I like the shipwright machine, but I will be an 88 year old machine next month. I never thought about being fast, I guess I have just done models so long that everything is pretty automatic. I also am not doing all the extra things all you guys do.

   I have had some trouble with my masking over the yellow sides to paint the black. After I masked & burnished the tape, I put 1 coat of clear glosscoat to seal it after I painted & striped the first side it had bled a little. I put a second sealer coat on the other side & it was fine. You never know do you. Now I will glue it together & do cannons for a month. Thanks again.