Glad you like him Alan, I'll be thinking hard on what you said as the rest of the crew takes shape
At the moment I only have enough silicone epoxy to make a single mould with about half a dozen figures in it so once I've done the first six scratch builds I'll cast them up and finish off a batch to see how they turn out. I think I'll need to carve the Lieutenant's right arm down a little first however, I didn't realise it was so chunky compared to the left one, (doesn't look anything like that bad in real size! )
It's good fun making them up though and I especially want to make up a Marine to put on guard at each ladder or hatchway, the splash of scarlet and white would look good scattered around the decks (and up in the fighting tops too!)
In this scale they will not take very much white metal to cast at all and the beauty of this method is that there is absolutely no wastage whatsoever! If the casting isn't perfect just cut off the good bits and make up as many frankensteins as you want the rest just goes straight back into the melting pot! (I wish we could do that with the wooden parts!)

Have fun with the SOTS, looking forward to seeing your gun ports!

Best Wishes

Robin

Hi Alan!
Don't forget you'll need a 1/100 scale ship too! If they turn out well I may seriously think about getting another tin of mould silicone and scratch/converting a set of SOTS period figures in a 'close enough' scale (probably 1/72) If I do you'll be receiving a set to 'review' (least I could do after all your glowing comments!)
(You'll probably be finishing off your rigging by the time I get that done though!)

OK, here's another little sub-assembly I got on with over the weekend - the Belfrey.
Below the photos show the construction of this little project. Pic 1 is the four components as supplied straight from the kit, at the top is the roof section (upside down) with the two side frames and the combined roll bar and bell in the centre. All the pieces are made from the same bronze like metal castings as the cannons etc and have just been filed down a little to remove the mould lines.
Pic 2 shows the frame assembly superglued together and Pic 3 is the same shot after the bell pull rod has been added from thin brass wire.
Pic 4 is the assembly after a painting with Admiralty Dull Black, dry brushing with white and the bell painted with Humbrol Acryllic Brass.
The large Pic 5 is the completed Belfry with the roof glued on and two tiny little cleats again made from very thin brass wire. Although both the DeAg and the Jotika kits have a black roof to this structure, one of the many photos of the Vic that I've downloaded over the years shows the Belfrey roof in a weathered verdigris green implying that the roof may be copper plated. I like the idea of that bit of colour on the foc'sl so I've gone for painting the roof with Admiralty Copper. After I had let the copper dry (so I thought!) I then mixed up a wash of Citidel Billious Green (Yeah, I know! ) and a touch of Regal Blue and tried to give it a little weathering effect to dull the shiny copper down a little. Unfortunately the copper immediately dissolved but it was dulled down a bit so I added a very light touch of black in the corners of the roof and it doesn't look too bad at all.
The final pic shows the completed Belfrey just standing in place, for the final placement I'll need to cut a pair of slots into the black surround to sit the legs of the Belfrey in as they come right up to the edge of the waist. One thing I did notice with this piece of the Vic is that in both my reference books the drawings show the crank arm to ring the bell pointing towards the stern but the photo of the real thing shows the arm pointing towards the bow I can see no logical reason for putting the bell pull in the one area of the deck that is positively dangerous to get at so I've gone with the arm pointing forward. (Mind you, if the Belfrey was anything like the one on the Surprise in the movie, it probably wasn't there that long into the battle!!)

See you all again soon-ish

Robin

Hi Alan, would a raft of lollipop sticks count as a ship?
Dry brushing is a very easy technique to pick up so long as you have the right brush for the job! I'll see if I can incorporate a little piece about how and where I've used drybrushing into the diary when I can, you won't need to do much until you are adding 'sticky-out' bits like the wales and gun ports on your SOTS but it's well worth adding in to bring out the detail on all your hard work (or to show up the bits we forgot to sand well enough! )

In the meantime here's one for you Hans from RSA (It's really just me playing around with my Printhouse again whilst the glue dries!)

The next thing to complete will be the barricade which runs each side of the Belfrey. It should hopefully look something like this (God those pieces are proving difficult to carve and the other barricade is even worse!!)

Robin

Good job there Robin. Never mind we are made rough and tough so no problem there, as my kids would say "bring it on" .

Hi All!

You're dead right there Dominic, I've used the ink/wash effect on my figures in the Brandywine diorama as well as the drybrushing too. On figure painting the two complement each other very well. I've always found the ink or wash technique a little harder to get right, both the amount of ink or paint and the amount of 'thinner' has to be just right but those Citidel inks are a real help in perfecting it. The only problem on trying the inks on wood is that they can soak straight in to the grain in a second if the wood isn't sealed first!

OK, here's the second part of the great (but frustratingly fiddly) Belfrey and it's Barricade. It's looking pretty good at the moment and part three will finish off this section shortly with the final addition of the 'shelf' (I've had three goes at it so far but I WILL get the cut outs right eventually!)

Incidentally, I did manage to find the tiny little post which sprung out of the tweezers after a very detailed search of the work top, it didn't vanish down the waist steps as I first thought!

Hopefully back soon.

Robin

Hi You are very talented Kind regards Mike

Thanks for those kind words Stevie-O, Mike and Alan

My attempts to build the Jotika version in 1/100 scale is going pretty well (for the most part!) but I must admit sometimes the details get so fiddly when they're reduced in scale the hardest part is often just trying to pick the damned things up off the worktop!

Here then is the final segment of the Belfrey Barricade! Now this section is complete I think I'll work alongside the last two cannon and make up the belaying racks and stove chimney together with making up the tackle for the two carronades and then, I can begin working back (that means the aft barricade!)

It's all good fun though and is (still) very enjoyable!

See you soon

Robin

Hi Alan!

Doesn't matter how much you've got to learn, the way that you recovered from your deck stain problem shows you're learning it!
As I mentioned at the beginning, this Victory is only my third wooden ship - I'm just making it up as I go along!!

San Francisco II eh? I 'spose that means Spanish seamen too huh!

Keep up your good work!

Robin

(And thanks for the promotion to Admiral! )

Hi there Admiral!

Many thanks for those lovely words of encouragment!
Your idea of a retrograde rebuild is a very good one, I was lucky in that I decided on my improvements after reading the Model Boat review of the Jotika kit when my own build was still mainly just the skeleton with about half the hull planking done. All the more authentic wales and the new stern gallery were added in 'as new'. In fact the only 'renewal' I had to do was the forecastle bulwarks and replacing the lower steps in the waist section.
All of the improvements on the main deck involves replacing very basic looking kit parts, the binnacle, poop deck and waist steps, the belaying pin racks (coming soon!) etc. etc. so you should be able to 'pop' the originals off and upgrade fairly easily.
A build diary of your work would be a really interesting companion to my own, there must be hundreds of others out there who built the DelPrado 'as is' and would love to follow a 'refit' diary and try the same. I would definately think about giving it a go.

Best Wishes

Robin

Another week or so then I am on your tail Robin. Surprise is done and the Caroline is almost there, then it is Victory time again . Although I doubt if I can get her up to the standard you are showing I reckon I,ll have a bl**dy good go .