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

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks everyone!

As far as I recall, only 3 or 5 frenchmen managed to climb over as the gap and the difference in height were still too big. Actually I do not recall how many British marines and sailors were present to repel them as the upper deck was quite deserted for some time, making the french believe that the Victory had struck ...

Actually the majority of the french boarders was killed by the carronades of the Temeraire when she came alongside, making Luca believe that he would have been victorious if this did not happen.

That is completely correct Daniel! That is how Lucas describes the last moments before T�m�raire came alongside indeed.

But in the end, I want to tell the story of the battle of Trafalgar with this diorama. To make the most out of the one still image I have, I'm combining different moments in the battle together. Having the French trying to board with nobody left on Victory's weather decks would not be such an exciting sight. I also want to portray the intensity of the musketry fighting and boarding attempts, amidst which which Nelson was hit.

So this is how I'm 'justifying' this particular element for myself: English sources state how the French tried to board several times, but were repelled. And Lucas does not write that some of his men did not try to board over the anchor a bit earlier on...
But I do admit some artistic license here...

My strong guess is that it was to save the anchor. Essential part of the security of the ship an expensive and even more difficult to replace. Nelson gave order to anchor after the battle, but this was ignored by Collingwood. Knowing a storm coming and being on the lee coast like Cape Trafalgar was, every anchor was vital.

Thanks Daniel! I will go with that storyline! Then I can also make them interact with figures on the forecastle.
And anyway there will already be plenty of figures elsewhere trying to save themselves from the water...

Also do not bother too much about the correct position of the anchors being stowed. I strongly believe that the collision most likely had torn them out of position, plunged them into the opponents wood or even bent them.

That's a great tip! I'll try again to get Vic's 4th anchor back in the scene.

[marijn van gils]

I managed to squize that last anchor in. I guess it was 'loosened' when Victory's cathead was shot, and further dislocated when her sides scraped Redoutable's. I might bend the arms or shank a little still. I also slightly dislocated Redoutable's aft port anchor.
Thanks for the idea Dani�l!






Meanwhile, I started on Victory's masts. First the fighting tops:



I didn't scribe planking in the undersides of the fore and main tops, as this detail would be near invisible because of the angle (with a large seascape to block the view), black colour, and all the rigging around it. I did add it to the mizzen top however, as this will be lying down over the poop and thus in clear view.

[anyahajobuzi]

That is some very clean, beautiful scratchbuilding! Just like if a machine built them!!!! Love it.
I also love your obviously out of scale matchstick! It's probably a 2 by 4......

Cheers: Laci

[dafi]

Great!

And also wonderful that you opted for the different layout of the battens on the topside of the tops. Not radial as normally seen - also in Portsmouth - but this being the layout for the tops that were build in two halves that were held together by those two enormous stealers on the topside. That allowed a much easier change if replacement was needed and was introduced by the admirality by 1801 -1802 if my memory serves me well.

All the best, Daniel

[wefalck]

Yes, I agree, that is very crisp and clean work with the styrene, something I still have to achieve. How did you finish the parts ? Mine tend to be always a bit fuzzy on the surface ...

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks Lacy, Daniel and Wefalck!

And also wonderful that you opted for the different layout of the battens on the topside of the tops. Not radial as normally seen - also in Portsmouth - but this being the layout for the tops that were build in two halves that were held together by those two enormous stealers on the topside. That allowed a much easier change if replacement was needed and was introduced by the admirality by 1801 -1802 if my memory serves me well.

For once, I followed your advice!
But it also fits with Lees (I was lucky to find a copy last year in a second-hand bookshop): this style was used from 1802 indeed, so it fits best with the timing of her great repair.
I even used your 1/100 pieces as an example. Most useful to have a 3D example to follow!

How did you finish the parts ? Mine tend to be always a bit fuzzy on the surface ...

Do you mean fuzzy as a result from sanding or filing?
I smooth larger surfaces with finer grit abrassive paper. But small surfaces, edges and corners, I simply scrape them with a sharp scalpel blade (faster and easier than getting abbrassive paper in there).
Somtimes, but rarely, I use fine steel wool. Here I used it to smooth the main piece of each top after scribing the wooden planks.

Some smoothing is done before gluing parts in place, other is done afterwards. Here, the fine edges and battens were smoothed after gluing.

[Martocticvs]

Beautiful work This is making me very eager to start working on one of my planned projects from this era... So many unfinished things still though!

[pascalemod]

One of the reasons I come to this forum is to check this build and be blown away by new things Marijn builds...

And everytime I think it's a typo that this is 1/300, but that's another matter.

[GewoonWouter]

My lower jaw is currently hurting like hell, thanks for that Marijn

[warspite63]

I'm sorry, I ran out of suitable adjectives when commenting on your Amagi diorama, Marijn
This latest project is ...staggering! Amazing attention to detail....brilliant work indeed!

[MartinJQuinn]

This is mind blowing stuff. The level of detail is fantastic.

[Dan K]

Like Warspite63, I ran out of applicable adjectives on the last go round.

Excellent work, Marijn.

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks everyone! Your words are very encouraging indeed!


Meanwhile, I scratchbuilt the lower masts. These are more complicated parts than one would maybe imagine, and they did take a fair amount of time to make.

I don�t plan on putting much tension on the rigging, but still I want the masts to be as rigid as possible for any eventualities. I experimented with plastic tubes (for easier gluing) with steel rod cores, but this was not as rigid as I imagined it to be.

So I finally decided to make the core of the masts from solid brass.
For the fore and main mast, I started with 3mm brass rod. I first turned a small pin to the very top with a lathe (for later strong attachment of the caps). Then I mounted the rod in a Dremel and turned the top to a slight taper, measuring the diameter regularly with digital callipers.
Next, the mast head was filed to a square section with a taper to it. This was simply done by hand, mounting the rod in a plastic vice for easy working.
Then the cheeks and hounds were made from plastic sheet and glued on.



The sides of these were filled with Magic Sculp:


In close-up:


And this was cut straight and sanded smooth. Also, the thinner part at the lower end of the cheeks was carved/sanded:




The mizzen mast was made from plastic rod (2mm), because it will be lying flat on the poop deck, so doesn�t have any rigging stress, and it will be �broken� which is much easier to simulate in plastic than in brass. It also makes gluing the following details much easier.

Rubbing paunches were glued on (only main and fore mast), as well as the iron bands and hoops. The latter were the most time-consuming part of the lower masts. They are 0,13mm plastic sheet, cut to strips as thin as I could. I glued them with plastic glue to be able to move them around into the perfect position, then reinforced a bit with CA. They did need some clean-up for sharp results, and require careful handling as it is too easy to �rub� them of the masts�



I added a bit of battle damage to the fore and main masts, but this is not easy directly in the brass. So I cut some depressions with round tipped diamond burs and a cutting disk:


And filled them with Magic Sculp, in which I sculpted the damage. The balls lodged in the masts are 0,6mm solder balls. I will probably add some fine �spinters� later on, but these would be too fragile now. I will also modify the iron hoops to hang loose, but those would be too fragile now too.
I also carved some smaller damage in the rubbing paunch of the fore mast with a scalpel.


And finally, I glued the fighting tops on and:
- added the bibs below them and bolsters above them,
- glued iron (plastic) bands around the mast heads,
- added wooden (brass) battens to these (following Lees here, rather than the current masts on Vic),
- and wound twisted copper wire around the base of the mast heads to simulate the top of the shrouds (of course paying attention to rope diameter and number of windings):


And finished! (Remember, the thickest brass rod is 3mm diameter)

[dafi]

MARVELOUS!!!

XXXDAn

[JIM BAUMANN]

BRAVO Marijinn!

and I thought you were lying low and idle... Ha!

VERY impressive work in every possible way -- the platforms are sheer art-
- and you mast construction is painstakingly superb and goves a very convincing look of weight and heft!
I am most impressed.

Bravo again!


JB

[wefalck]

Yep, looking very good and a challenge to us all !

[GewoonWouter]

wow that's just...astonishing...everytime when one thinks he has seen all techniques and all you come up with something new. Very nice work on the masts, this is a level quite above the masses. Really keeps this build refreshing.

Already can't wait for next update.

[marijn van gils]

Thank you very much gentlemen! That is some very high praise!


I meanwhile realized I still had some photo's on my cellphone from the workbench.

The turning of the small pin at the top in progress:


This was done completely in the beginning, so I could keep the length of rod protruding from the collet as short as possible for maximal stability.


And the filing of a mast head:


The (cheap) plastic vice was ideal for this. It doesn't damage the brass rod while keeping it sufficiently stable.

After shaping with this file, I smoothed the surface with a finer file, and then with a sanding board (sandpaper glued to a piece of plastic sheet).

[EJFoeth]

Superb & inspiring work

[Dan K]

Beautiful work, Marijn. Again.