HMS Victory and Le Redoutable at Trafalgar (1/300)

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good to see you back at it!

very innovative techniques to achieve the results that you have

( I also always just love white glue! )

and --as ever very sharp.

BRAVO

JB

[wefalck]

Well, this is a challenge for us all

I am wondering still, whether I should have gone for styrene, rather than paper for my project. Edges turn out very crisp.

[maxim]

Really very impressive!

[GewoonWouter]

Wow, what a way to come back mate. That's bang on . This sure was worth the wait. What a great update and attention to detail.

Welcome back Marijn ^^

Cheers

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

Nothing too innovative Jim. I'm just combining techniques I can steal from others, like you...
My figure sculpting years came in handy for the decoration I must admit! And it will again when I do the figurehead.

[marijn van gils]

Hello everybody,

Meanwhile, I detailed the decks:


One of the more challenging things were the ladders. In this scale, it is pretty hard to scratchbuild them with nicely parallel and evenly spaced steps. Typical jigs with spacers for the steps don�t really work anymore, because it really comes to tenths of a mm to get it to look right. So gluing and adjusting by eye is the only way.

I first tried gluing the steps to one longintudinal (kept overly long and attached to a piece of plastic I could easily hold), and then gluing the other longitudinal to that. It worked, but adjusting the steps to their final position was very fiddly as this assembly was very fragile and mostly unsupported.

So then I came up with this:


Explanation:
I glued both longitudinals to strips of wood (cut from the same long strip, so they would be identical in height). But I only glued their outer ends, so the part that will be part of the final ladder remains unglued. I use gel type superglue.
I made sure to glue the longitudinals to the top edge of the sides of the wooden strips. I did that by gluing them upside down on a piece of glass.
Next, I glued them to a thick piece of plastic sheet as seen in the above photo. I added a plastic sheet spacer in between to assure they are glued perfectly parallel. The spacer has the exact width I want the ladder to be.
On top of the spacer, I glued a strip of black paper. This increases visibility immensely for the next step.

The next step is to cut the steps to fit the required width, and glue them in place. This setup gives a very stable base to work on, and to mess around to adjust the position of the steps.


I marked the position of the steps with pencil on the wood, but the final adjustment is done by eye. To get them parallel in each direction, a lot of adjustment in the form of little nudges with the tweezer was necessary. I used Tamiya extra thin cement, which gives some working time without melting the plastic too much. More glue can be added to �re-activate� a joint if necessary.

When finished, the longitudinals can be cut and the ladders simply pop out. Their ends can finally be trimmed to fit their position on the ship.


Here you see them at the break of the quarterdeck.
I used 0,25mm plastic sheet for the longitudinals, and 0,13mm for the steps.


Details of the forecastle:


And from the other side.
The capstan and bell were turned on a lathe. The rest is old-school handiwork with plastic sheet and rod, stretched sprue and copper wire.
To give an idea of the actual size: the foremast is 3mm thick.


The rail on the beakhead bulkhead was added too:


The ladders to access the poop deck were a quite specific assembly. This is not glued to the decks to allow access for painting to the ladder underneath leading to the upper gun deck (hence the pieces of Blue-Tac).




I had hoped to be able to use the PE wheel of the Rod Langton Victory kit (Victory�s wheel was demolished early on in the battle), but it proved oversized. So I made one myself:


However, it is barely visible under the poop deck.
The binnacle in front of it only had details at its (invisible) rear face, so I didn�t add those. At least I saved me some time there�


On the upper gun deck, I only added detail that can be seen from the waist. Only the rear face of the galley was detailed, the rest is just basic shapes because no detail would be visible. The ladders to the gun deck below are left loose for painting.


And if you�re wondering what those stretched sprue triangles on the decks are for: they were wooden battens nailed to the deck to hold gun shot. These balls are a bit oversized, certainly for a 12-pounder, but I have smaller ones on order. They are small spheres used in nail decoration.


Some may have noticed that I also added capping rails to the top of the bulwarks, and the channels. Only the foremast channels had knees.


I don�t plan on putting a lot of tension on the shrouds, but I was still worried about the strength of plastic sheet for the channels. So I reinforced them with sheet brass which made them much stiffer.
I don�t have a good setup for drilling brass, so I ground small openings were the holes for the shrouds would come. After gluing brass and plastic together, I filled these openings with super glue and baking powder, and sanded the surface smooth. Then I drilled the holes for the shrouds from the top down


And finally, some views of the entire ship so far:

[Devin]

Astounding work, as always, Marijn. Really love that ladder jig.

You say those cannon balls are "nail decorating spheres". Could you elaborate on that? Building 1/200 and 1/350th scale ironclads, I'm always looking for cannon balls. Thanks!

[wefalck]

Ecellent and inspirational small-scale work !

I had to face the same problem concerning the ladders. As I have a milling-machine, I was able to mill the slots for the steps, but it is still a very fiddly job. If I had to do them again, I may try to laser-cut them.

[JIM BAUMANN]

REALLY really most excellent methodology!

lovely sharpness to it all and without being overscale.

This is the project to watch !

JB

[ModelMonkey]

Black paper - brilliant.

Your problem solving methods are only surpassed by your modeling skills.

This model would be superb in 1/96 scale. In 1/300, it is magical.

[Pieter]

I keep taking notes....nice techniques and very clear explanation.

[blacman]

simply - the top master craftsmanship
no words...

[EJFoeth]

Superb work Some more vacuum forming just aft of the ship's bell?

Were the 0.13mm stair strips cut from Evergreen sheet? I like working with their strip material but I miss thinner strips.

[SovereignHobbies]

Incredible work!

[kurusu]

Brilliant master Marijn.

As always I must add.

[marijn van gils]

Thanks everyone! That is some really high praise!

You say those cannon balls are "nail decorating spheres". Could you elaborate on that? Building 1/200 and 1/350th scale ironclads, I'm always looking for cannon balls. Thanks!

They are apparently called nail art caviar beads, and are intended to be glued to your (or your wive's) fingernails. They can be bought in 0,4 - 0,6 - 0,8mm and up diameters in a range of colours (amongst which dark steel and black!). I can think of a lot of different uses besides canonballs, and they are quite inexpensive too.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3284897 ... 33325%2318

Some more vacuum forming just aft of the ship's bell?

I guess you mean these thinghies?:



These are the 'chimneys' of the galley.
I didn't vacuform them, but carved them from 1,5mm square rod. I kept it as a long rod for handling. First I rounded the aft outside with a sanding board and scalpel. Then I hollowed the front side with a pointed scalpel, taking care to make the front edges thin and even. Then I sliced the piece from the rod and glued it in place.
With vacuforming, it would be hard to get the outer rear and top edges to be this sharp, and also to get the vertical sides to be vertical. I don't even know how well the technique would perform on such small pieces (they're only 1,5mm square). But mostly, I took the fastest and easiest way, as vacuforming would have been a lot more work.
In hindsight I should have made openings in the hatch under them, but if I paint this area black the difference will only be noticeable in this kind of very enlarged photographs...

Were the 0.13mm stair strips cut from Evergreen sheet? I like working with their strip material but I miss thinner strips.

The steps were cut from 0,13mm sheet indeed. It is the thinnest available that I know of, and feels a bit like 'plastic paper'.
The disadvantage is that you need to remove the raised plastic rim created by the knife. I do this by gently scraping the rim with a sharp scalpel. It takes some time on these very thin and narrow strips, but adds a lot to the sharpness.
Evergreen strips only go down to 0,25mm indeed. I also like working with them (as no rim is present that needs removing), but I rarely do as I mostly need the strip to be a tad wider or narrower than what is available... But on the moldings higher up the sides of the ship I did use them!

[EJFoeth]

I found some 0.1mm on a japanese hobby shop but did not buy any (shipping + tax). I also use the 0.13mm and it takes some time to clean up (same method).

I indeed meant the galley chimneys. Carving should be possible too (well, that much is clear ). Vac forming is possible if you make the mould sightly larger than the object je need and trim the excess material; that will keep the parts small. But you also have to waste a lot of styrene sheet! Haven't used that technique for a while for that reason. I noticed that DSPIAE now also sells very small chisels; I have a Japanese set (more $$$) and I really like them for carving...



(Pic of the one I use now).

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow - that is some incredible work. Just incredible. Love the ladder template.

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Marijn

it has been a long time that i not passed here ��..your work makes me love the old navy
how beautiful your technique and your know-how are really impressive
best regards
cheers
Nicolas

[Dan K]

Beautiful, beautiful work, Marijn. I also love that ladder jig. Smart.