Hi guys,

Here is my Victory build log. I have been wanting to do a model of the Victory for years. I tend to get put off when confronted by a large box of parts, and seem to inevitably stall out on the build. The Partwork format is perfect for me, and I suspect others over here in America will feel the same.

The parts packs are very well packaged, in GIANT padded manila envelopes. The initial parts pack had several smaller "kits" blister packed. These included one of the launches, a cannon, and a carronade. I am taking an immediate departure from the building sequence as depicted in the very nice instruction manual, and will assemble these at a later date. I would hate to build these little gems, and have them damaged in storage until they are required in the build. Tomick has done a magnificent job describing the builds of these in his official build log, so anything I have would be redundant anyway.

The first set of parts went together perfectly. The laser cutting is superb, and everything is a tight fit. The only issue I faced was that I was missing the parts for 3 frames, but an email to customer service had the parts on the way in a day or two. The log reflects the build to the point of the missing parts.

Sorry for the lack of pics this morning! My Photobucket account was giving me absolute FITS! Anyway, here are the pics. My build board is from other projects, but it works great for this. I laid down clear packing tape to prevent the parts from sticking. I am using a glue available here in the States called Weldbond. The block shown in a couple of pics is my answer to the perennial legos. If I don't see another lego before I die, it will be too soon! I stepped on far too many of those little ******** when my kids were young. The bevel on the block is to give squeeze-out a place to go without gluing my block to the whole thing.

Anyway, the pics!

Hi Mark
A very nice start , will you be using dowels to straighten everything out
regards
Andy

Hi Mark,
Great start to your Victory build I can see you will soon be hull planking, best of luck with your build.
Regards
trev.

hy marc,a great start

Hi Mark.

Looks pretty straight now, but you must make sure all is good at this stage, especially fitting the frames around the stern correctly and ensuring they are well seated, otherwise you will have problems later.

Good stuff.

Great job on straightening that out, looks like a great start.

Hi Guys,

As promised, here are pics of my jig. I also have a couple of "before and after" pictures of the hull. You can see the twist, but what doesn't show up is the warp. I ran 3 bolts through the keel, and they are secures with wingnuts. The last little vertical I needed as it wasn't quite where I wanted it to be, but with a clamp on that, holding the keel, it is dead-on.

I built the jig out of scrap melamine from my other building board, and the legs are scrap 2x4, with little ash feet, also scrap. (One of the joys of being a woodworker, no shortage of scrap, or firewood!)

I plan on cheating outrageously in securing the decks to the hull and the deck braces to the frames. I have a 23 gauge pneumatic micro-pinner that will make short work of it.

I am also using a new CA that is available over here called "NexaBond." It is designed specifically for wood, and is sort of stringy with a medium liquid carrier. It works marvelously!

Anyway, the pics!

Jase, As soon as I get the first runs of planking on it, it will stop moving. This is a spin on a strongback for building a canoe. The planking will add both torsional and lateral rigidity. The vertical pieces on the jig are bolted to the keel, which pulled the twist out. These are all perfectly parallel, while the keel had the twist. (They kind of function like the bits of angle bracket you see on a lot of the build boards in the various logs for the Hood or Bismarck)

Hi again!

Today was a lovely, rainy day. 9It is snowing a couple of hundred feet up the mountain by the house...) This is a rarity here in Nevada, so I took advantage of it to get the first deck laid on my Victory.

I am going to adopt a bit of different approach to my build log here. You guys have seen multiple Victories done, and know the kit, and how it goes together ad nauseum. I will attempt to bring a bit of my "other" experience into my build log, and maybe show some tools and/or techniques you've not seen before. I have been a professional woodworker for 30 years, and have worked in cabinet shops, done aircraft composites, and build and restore antique and new wooden canoes. I was also a machinist for the Army, and am a certified welder. So, I have a bit of a different skillset to draw upon. I do tend to over-think things from time to time, and Jase's mystification at my build board approach got me going off in this different direction.

My Victory suffers a badly warped and twisted keel. I am pretty sure it is a result of the arid climate I live in, and not deficient quality product. The ply in the keel is above reproach! My build board was pictured above.

Jase said that he thought my keel would pretzel again, as soon as it was off of the build board. It may get a bit of the warp back into it, along the bottom, but I really don't think it will twist again. If it does warp again, I can fix that right up with the garboard runs of planking. The reason is this; I am relying on the torsional resistance of the mechanical/glue bond in both the various decks, and more importantly, the deck braces to hold it all in line. The joint between the frames and the brace in particular should preclude this from happening.

I brought in a toy from the shop, a 23 gauge micro-pinner. This shoots headless pins that are .02525 in diameter, and 1/2 inch long. I ran the gun at 30 psi. It took about 10 minutes to fasten the decks down with this. I laid out the lines, as per the instructions. I took a different approach to laying the deck, based on the twist, and warp. I made a gate fold with blue tape, and laid the deck by folding it into place. This worked like a charm. I then pulled the tape off, after I fastened the deck down with the micro-pins.

I got the deck braces mixed up, so there will be pics in the next couple of days of those going in, as well as a link to a YouTube video of how I steam bent them.

Now, the pics!