Today, there's still something to tell:
It's about fitting the flags



Here is the Union Jack on the main mast





The White Ensign:





In order to create the impression of a flag in the wind, I fold and press it into form and apply some diluted PVA. Then I try to keep it in form with one hand, while drying it with a hair-dryer in the other hand.

Here's St George’s Cross on the fore mast:



All these flags look quite new compared to my sails. Perhaps I should apply some color to simulate yellowing? BTW, does anybody know, how the material of the flags is called. Looks like some plastic-covered fabric to me.

This is the pennant on the mizzen mast:





And there is a small Union Jack on the bowsprit



I haven't yet mounted the signal flags.

And this is where I am now:



She is almost finished on this side, but with the cut-away section still empty on the other side.
And the ship's boats still wait to be built.

Hi Bernd.
I just checked back on ebay, that's where I got my Abbey Blu Gel from and loads of suppliers still have it on there. It's about £5.50 plus p&p on average, some will only post to the UK but many of them will post worldwide so you shouldn't have any problem.
The flags look great! Incidentally, you're correct about the Union Jack on the bowsprit, that's the ONLY time it IS a Union Jack, when it's being flown from the Jack Staff on the bowsprit. When it's flown from anywhere else either on land or from the mast tops its just a Union Flag!
(I might just put this one into the Nelson Speak thread!)

Best Wishes

Robin

Bernd, you have created such a stunning build of the Vic there just isn't words enough to express it's beauty.... You should be exceptionally proud of your creation.... .. Thanks for sharing this masterpiece and for all the wonderful tips you have given throughout your diary.....

Best regards and respect...

Alan

Awesome, awesome build there Bernd. An absolute masterpiece. Well done.

Hi Walter,

waxing or applying diluted PVA could perhaps help to reduce the little hairs surrounding the ropes.
Otherwise I see no reason to treat all ropes. I only used PVA to stiffen the loose ropes. However, for much of the rigging I used this thread which is probably waxed, because it has no hairs:
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/mantua_rigging_thread.html#a34360

Regards, Bernd

Thanks for the information, Bernd!

By the way - i also read somewhere, that the little hairs can be reduced by soaking the thread in beer!

Don`t know about the smell of the model afterwards - but for us Austrians this would be an easy way to do it :))

Greetings,
Walter

Hi, shipmates,

my next big project is the cut-away section. Last week, it was still a gaping hole




One had to make the decision for the cut-away section with issue 17 and not much has been done since then. At that time I thought it would be a good idea to have additional elements between the decks providing stability, like this...



But now, some of them can still be seen through the opening in the hull. I could at least have painted them black!!


I remember that I thought it was strange to simulate planking of the whole deck behind the entrance (most of it cannot be seen from outside), but to leave the cut-away section completely untouched.



Unfortunately, I wasn't clever enough to do something about it. It would have been so much easier then. But at that time, I followed instructions very closely.

So, anyway. Now there are some things visible through the opening that I 'd rather don't want to show, for example, the other side of the vessel (why didn't I paint it black, when it was still easy?), or the ugly side walls of the cut-away section, and my improvised pillars. I am afraid that the solution provided by deAgostini will not sufficiently hide these.

Regards,
Bernd

Hi Bernd,
Good job on the figures. I have found that taking close up shots of my work shows up flaws, but you have to take into account that it will not be viewed that closely. Spare a thought for me and Robin painting our 15mm figures
Regards
Alan

Back to the cutaway section.

I will not follow the official method.
Instead of assembling the planking outside the ship, I put the planks direktly into the opening. I used Tanganjika planks, as for the visible decks. They are very thin, but probably too thick if assembled on an extra sheet of veneer. It will be rather crowded there, so I refrained from modelling the joints and nails.



Unfortunately, not much can be done about the ugly side walls



Through the opening one can see the stairs from the upper battery deck and some of the supporting elements (woodblocks). This following image is overexposed, so you can see it too:



I have tried to paint the other side and the woodblocks black (as far as I can reach with a brush). So I hope they will be invisible later.

Moreover, I am not happy with the ceilings, the small woodstrips alongside will not really hide this



I just remembered, that all my stairs were scratch built with a smaller step-size. Fortunately, after some searching, I found the original stairs from the kit



and I fitted them to the lower deck.



Finally, I can also use grating elements from the magazine



The barrels will help to hide that there are no holes in the deck for the stairs



I also adapted some pillars ...



... for use in the background



and I also plan to place a strip with cannonballs in front of the gratings.

Regards, Bernd

Now I can see mainly two problems: One is the ugly side walls which I tried to improve by painting (sorry, I won't paint them red):



And my other problem is with the guns. The instructions say that they just should be glued in place without any rigging. I must confess that I do not like that idea. Everywhere else, the guns are rigged, even if they almost can't be seen (on the upper battery deck)

Now I had the following idea, which might bring a solution to both problems:

I will show a part of the frame construction which will hide the side walls and provide support for the rigging of the guns.

One of the frames could look like this:



and I could use it well to tie up the guns:



Moreover, the frames will help to obstruct the view of unwanted parts of the ship's interior.

I will follow the plans of McKay in "Anatomy of the Ship", but I will show only a small part of the construction. Here is a first sketch of my idea



And here are my first attempts built from scratch