Cheers matey! Its amazing the itch that develops when you're away from the build for any length of time.

Good building. Very neat. Are you sanding as you
go along? Or just really good at building?

Jim

Your'e doing great.
Just be aware, do not to sand too much between planking sections/magazine instructions. Be very patient this is a hobby not a chore/task!!
If you feel the need to sand or adjust your work DO IT, if not copy other members work. That is what this forum is for
Cheers Steve..

Well, its the beginning of July, so about time I posted up another in-progress report on my build. I started a new job in March, so my mind has sort of been on other things. The Victory isn't really something you can pick up and progress in a spare few minutes here and there, so I'm not drastically further on since my last posting. Anyway...

I finally completed the planking above the waterline!


Here's how the stern looks. Pins have all been removed now.


Thank you Donald Russell for supplying your meat in such large polystyrene containers - makes excellent Victory protection!


My first go at the bow planking with droppers. As you can see, it went a bit... awful really. Not only had I not tapered the planks enough, but the wood then decided to split.


So off that came, and I started anew. This time, I used my partners electric hair straighteners to assist in bending the planks, and a much better result was had.


So nothing particularly noteworthy in this update, just quiet progress. I have a week off coming up, and hope to divert many many hours to finally completing the hull planking.

Cheers Foz! Hopefully my next posting will include a lot more hull planking completed... any tips before I continue?

nicely executed bit of modeling m8
regards Andy

not at all
Willz

looks good just hold your nerv!

Right, I've been away far too long!

Progress continues in the build, will hopefully put some up to date images up tomorrow.

As I said yesterday, it has been a while since I've posted any updates. I'd love to show you an almost-finished vessel, but alas, the time I've been away has been spent on other things - namely getting out and about with my camera and really working on my photography!

Anyway... I've finally finished planking the hull - huzzah!

Here's the addition of the keel planking.


Action shot! I'm measuring the gap for the final planks. Got the digital callipers for just over a tenner in Maplins, and they were indispensable. I can see me using them further throughout the build.


I was going to show you the gradual filling of the port and starboard planking... but instead here's the finished item! From the stern:


...and the bow:


...and here's the full keel view of the planking (ignore my feet):


I knew from a brief feel of the hull that it wasn't completely smooth, so I gave it a brief coat of Tamiya Dull Red (TS-33) spray acrylic:


This was then sanded using a block to better identify where the bumps and ridges were in the hull. You can see the pile of sawdust piled up at the front:


And now it's time to make a mess! Here she is covered in filler. I used off-cuts of an Oxo box to help smooth it over:


I've since sanded this further, and discovered that more filling is required. So another coat of paint, another brief sanding, and another application of filler have gone on.
At the weekend I hope to complete the sanding of the hull and get the stern gunports lined. I've also got some very thin wood that I'm going to add into the rest of the gunports to make them slightly more accurate to the real thing. I'm tinkering with the idea of giving the lower hull a spray of black Tamiya acrylic, but will probably wait until the rudder and proper keel are fitted.