So this is my second ever ship build. My first was the AL King of the Mississippi. However, that didn't have much in the way of a hull build and very minimal rigging. It was a great beginner experience. So now I find myself deep into the Victory and thanks to all the information on this forum I have gotten to stage 35 without much difficulty.

Now that I am here, I thought it was time to start sharing my experience and mistakes (there will be many) in hopes that it will not only help me, but help others. I am not usually a very talkative person, so posting a diary will be a completely new experience for me also.

Welcome to Modelspace Troy, your Vic looks fantastic and Im sure you wont have any trouble in making it a model to be proud of.
Look forward to more

Steve

When I was at around the 6th course in the lower hull I was holding the Vic in my hands and simply enjoying the curves while marveling at how incredible these machines were especially considering when they were built and the tools that were used.

As I was fondling my wonderful hull I noticed something that I had not previously - the bow and stern are about 2 degrees out of alignment. In the attached photo it looks worse, but I think that is just due to the angle at which I took the image. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the more I consider it, it occurs to me that the slight angle will be even more evident at the top of the masts. I originally had the keel and ribs on a rig to keep them straight when I assembled them but took it off the rig when I started the planking. In hindsight maybe I should have left it on.

Not sure what to do, if anything. I was thinking of soaking the entire hull in a bath for a few minutes and using brute force to bring it back into alignment, but I sense that it would not turn out well. I can imaging boards snapping, ribs breaking, and glue washing away. Any ideas?

Thanks all. I will resize the images so they appear in the post.

Welcome to the forum Troy, hope you enjoy your time with us.... .. Looking at your last pic its very difficult to tell whether there is an alignment problem or not. The way to be sure is to use two small spirit levels, put one across the deck at the bow making sure that one is level and place one across the deck at the stern. You'll see for certain if you have an alignment problem. Post a pic of the results so we can be sure, we need to see how bad the problem really is....

Hope this helps.

Regards

Alan

Hi Troy,
Welcome to the forum. Your build certainly looks the part. As mentioned, post a pic of your dilemma. I'm sure you will find a feasible solution here.
Looking forward to seeing more of your build.
Kind regards,
Garth

So, at some point I got carried away with planking the hull and didn't notice that I had torqued the the frame out of alignment. Now, I need to figure out what to do to make the best of it. The first photo is a view from the stern. The level at the bow is difficult to see, but it is level. As you can see, the level at the stern is a bit cattywampus.

To get a better idea of how messed up it is, I placed a piece of hull planking under the port side of the level which brought it fairly close into alignment as seen in the second photo. The plank is about 2mm thick.

Now I have to think...where to go from here? I fear the tops of the masts will be freaky out of alignment if I don't do something about this.

Thanks for the pics Troy, appreciated. It certainly shows you have an alignment problem somewhere whether it be the deck or the keel and although I agree with Steve I think you need to air on the side of caution and be sure in your own mind what you may be facing. Normally, any misalignment problems early in the build can cause problems with the build further down the line with the fitting of other parts. To see how bad it may be and to give you an idea of what it will be like when finished, I would get hold of 3 long dowels, 2 of 10mm dia, 1 of 8mm dia and fit them into the mast holes. Make sure it is a snug fit but not too tight and support the dowels. This will give you an idea of how the masts will lie and how much they will be out of line. Not good to rely on lining the masts up using the rigging either, this is likely to apply too much strain on the rigging anchoring points and may come away at some stage. Once you know what things will be like then you will have a decision to make, whether to strip back and correct the problem or whether you continue and see if it all works out. One thing on building these ships, once you have the keel set in a jig you should leave it there until you have a few rows of planking in place and always plank the hull evenly. The riggors of planking can easily pull things out of alignment especially as the glue dries....

Hope this helps..

Regards

Alan

Just finished my workout at the gym and spent the entire hour thinking this over. Earlier I used dowels as suggested (thanks all) and found that the foremost mast (foremast? - I'm learning terminology as I go along) is 4mm off center at the top clockwise and the rearmost mast (no ide what the true term is...anyone?) is 6mm off center at the top both in reference to the main mast. Overall it's a full centimeter at the top of the masts from bow to stern and it looks awful.

Looking further, it is the keel that warped so the news just gets worse. Well, now that I am pumped with adrenalin from my workout I decided I am going to roll the dice. In the end I need this to be right in order to do right by all the artisans that built the real deal. So...I am stopping at the hardware store to get some angle brackets and I am going to straighten the keel...failure is not an option. I will post pics as I go along. If all works out, by tomorrow I will be back on track. If all goes to the dogs, then tomorrow I will be starting the hull planking all over again.

Wish me luck....

Once the keel was mounted on the level board, the issue was reduced from 2mm to 1mm, so I got rid of half the alignment problem. However, it would obviously snap right back as soon as I unmounted the ship.