Issue 86 - Contains wood strips, grating strips, beakhead framework, eyebolts, upper & lower stem decorations & figurehead support bracket; and has instructions for fitting the bow bitts, the beakhead frames, the eyebolts, making the beakhead grating, fitting the stem decorations and finishing off the bow bulwarks.

Fitting the bow bitts - The wood strip for the bow bitts was supplied in issues 60 and 85.
Cut two large knightheads from 5x5mm wood, each 28mm long, and the tapered top section should be 5mm high.
Repeat the process to make six smaller kevels 18mm tall, using 4x4mm wood supplied in issue 60, the tapered top section is 4mm tall.

Stain the knightheads and kevels walnut, or paint them black, then drill a 0.7mm hole centrally in the bottom of each one, and superglue in a nail, with its head cut off.
Drill two 0.7mm holes in the bow deck and fit the two knightheads either side of the bowsprit socket, make sure the gap between then is 10mm wide so that the bow sprit can fit between.

Fit the six smaller kevels to the fore deck as shown, butting them close up to the bulwarks. Line up the front two pairs beside the adjacent timberheads, and place the rear kevels in line with the front of the belfry.

Fitting the beakhead frames - The beakhead frame parts and rails are supplied with this issue.
Take the three triangular beakhead frames and try then in position, you may need to sand the bottoms of the frames a little so they slide easily into the slots.
Check that the tops of the aft two frames are level with the frame fitted in issue 85, to adjust the height, sand the bases of the frames or pack them out with scrap wood.
Stain the frames dark oak or paint them black, and glue them into position, making sure they remain square and upright.

Try the main beakhead rail against the frames and stem to fit as shown in the step. Shape the notches to follow this line, and sand the rearmost frame flush with the strip added in issue 85.

Bend the rail so that it follows the curve of the beakhead. Note how the curved end of strip sits over the piece of dowel in the top of the step, and cut the rail to length, so that it finishes just aft of the hole in the head. Glue it in place, then repeat on the other side.

Try the curved ends of the beakhead rail in position. They are not symmetrical, so check they are the right way round. the top fits directly below the timberhead, and you need to cut the other end flush with the end of the main rail.
Glue the curves in place, then finfish the whole rails dark oak or black.

Try the boomkin supports in place. Ensure that the front ends are level by sanding the rear curve if necessary, Finish them walnut or black and glue them in place with superglue.

Bend some 2x2mm strip to fit in the upper slots in the beakhead frames. Chamfer the ends to fit against the hull and stem. Stain the strip or paint it black and glue it in position. Repeat to add the strips to the lower slots in the frames and complete all four beakhead supports, then repeat on the other side.

Take the two pilasters left over from issue 85, trim the bases with cutters to fit the beakhead side and glue them in place with superglue. (On the real ship, these fit behind the beakhead sides, however they need to be cut down and fitted as shown).

Fitting the eyebolts - Fit the rigging eyebolts to the beakhead area now, as access will become difficult later on.
Cut the shanks of four eyebolts to about 3mm, then drill 0.7mm holes in the forward face of the knightheads as shown, and then glue the eyebolts in position.

Fit an eyebolt to each of the roundhouses and two eyebolts to the stem.

Place the 'V' shaped gangboard pillar frame in position, and use a ruler to check that its level with the top of the forward bulwark. You can either sand the bottom a little to reduce the height, or add a piece of scrap wood at the bottom to raise it.

Glue the gangboard pillar frame in position and use the bowsprit test dowel (supplied at issue 41) as a guide to make sure that it is fitted squarely.

Making the beakhead grating - You will need the grating strips supplied in this issue.
A template is provided in the magazine ahead of step 1, you may need to slightly adjust the overall dimensions of the grating to suit your own model.
Copy the overall shape of the grating onto a piece of card to check it fits your model. You may need to make it slightly larger or smaller to fit properly, leaving a slight gap along both sides.
When the card fits, place grating on the template and pencil around the edges as a guide to the final grating size you need to make.
The finished grating has 2mm edgings along the front and sides, while the back edge finishes flush with one of the grating strips.

Assemble your grating over the your modified template, making it slightly wider than needed. Then sand it to its exact width (allowing for the 2mm edging strips) using fine sandpaper.

Stain some 2x2mm wood dark oak, and use it to make the edgings. As the grating is slightly thicker than 2mm, make sure that the frame ends flush with the top of the grating.
Wrap some fine sandpaper around the test dowel and sand the slot in the grating so that the bowsprit will fit into it.

Use a sharp knife to cut away the four small sections of grating to make the small slots shown on the grating template.

The grating fits under the bowsprit, use the test dowel to make sure you have sanded enough to clear the bowsprit comfortably. DO NOT glue the grating in place at this stage, it will be fitted at the same time as the bowsprit.

Fitting the stem decorations - Finish off the stem by adding the four small decorative scrolls. The largest casting is used to support the figurehead, and will be added when the figurehead is fitted at a later point.

Prime and paint the decorations gold for the natural finish, or paint them yellow ochre for the painted finish.
Using superglue, glue the scrolls to the stem in the positions shown in the magazine. The top of the smaller decoration should be approximately in line with the step in the stern post. You may need to cut back the vertical wooden strip to get it to fit in the correct position, any exposed wood can be touched up with stain or paint as necessary.

Finishing off the bow bulwarks - Sand the corner of the bulwark cap as shown in the magazine until there is a 3mm gap between the existing timberhead and the edge. However, make sure the bulwark cap protrudes beyond the roundhouses roof even if you have to leave a gap slightly more than 3mm. Do not sand the bulwark cap any further aft than shown, as you will need to fit hammock nets to it later on.

Take the two remaining timberheads made at issue 85, finish them to suit your timberheads and glue them in place. (There is no need to pin these, as they are glued against the existing timberhead).

Then touch up the bulwark cap with stain or paint where it was sanded.

Take the two sets of snatch block parts (supplied with 62), assemble them in the same way as you did with the stern pulleys (in issue 81), and glue into place as shown.

Finally, use some clear glue or clear varnish to glue the cannonballs in place in the bow racks.

Carefully store the remaining parts.

Future issues:

Issue 87 - Contains brass wire, thread, hammock netting, brass stanchions & cotton cloth, and has instructions for adding the fore and quarter deck details, constructing the compass binnacle and adding the chainwales (from 75 & 83).

Issue 88 - Contains bowsprit and spritsail yard plans, assorted dowel and wood strips, bowsprit cap, masthead truck, blocks, deadeyes, threads, boom joining rings, eyebolts brass wire and castings; and has instructions for completing the chainwale rigging and starting the bowsprit.

Issue 89 - Contains assorted wood strips and dowel, threads,brass wire, steel wire, blocks, grating strips & black net; and has instructions for completing and rigging the bowsprit, fitting the first carronade and fitting the gallery rear panel decorations.

Issue 90 - Contains assorted wood strips, beakhead grating frame, black net, threads, brass wire, deadeyes, brass stanchions & brass strips; and has instructions for making the quarterdeck fittings, painting the gallery decoration and lining the gallery.

Issue 88 - Contains bowsprit & spritsail yard plans, assorted dowel and wood strips, bowsprit cap, masthead truck, blocks, deadeyes, threads, boom joining rings, eyebolts brass wire and castings; and has instructions for completing the chainwale rigging and starting the bowsprit.

Completing the chainwale rigging - You will require parts from issues 72, 75 and 82.

Touch up any bare patches of paint or stain on the channel wale.

Glue two offcuts of 5x2mm wood edge to edge. When the glue is dry, sand the resulting piece of wood until it is 9mm wide. Wrap the brass wire tightly around the wood, then carefully cut down the centre of the wire to make a series of wire loops, then use pliers to flatten the loops into straps.

Try the first few in place as shown in the steps, you may find you need slightly longer or shorter straps to fit your hull properly, so adjust the wood section made, then make 132 straps to suit the build of your model.

Use an offcut of 4x2mm wood as a former, and make 20 smaller straps in a similar way to that already performed.

Take the 20 smaller straps, and 20 of the larger straps, and link them together, then locate the smaller deadeyes on the chainwales (10 on each side of the ship - 4 on the fore chainwale, 2 on the main chainwale, 2 on the small aft of that, and 2 on the small chainwale aft of the mizzen chainwale).

Carefully follow the strap fitting as per the magazine steps, and repeat the process on each of the chainwales on both sides of your model.

On the painted version of the, the brass wire links and fore straps should be finished black.

Starting the bowsprit - Make the main section of the bowsprit from parts supplied with this issue, and follow the plan provided.

Sand two flats on the 10mm dowel using your test dowel as a guide, make sure that the full length dowel slides into the bowsprit socket easily.

Place the dowel on the bowsprit plan, in line with the end and with one of the flats facing upwards. Mark four angled lines on the upper side following the dotted lines on the plans.

Place the bowsprit in its socket and make sure that the lines are parallel to the frames in the beakhead and the slots underneath the dolphin, and adjust if necessary. The extend the lines all the way around the bowsprit.

Carve slots between the outer pairs of lines. make sure they are 2mm deep across the top of the bowsprit, and 1mm deep down each side. Continue carving to form the 8mm radius shown in the cross-section, and sand the slots smooth.
Place the bowsprit on the plan and mark where the step at the end starts, then carve or sand off a 2mm flat on the top, and 1mm off each side to form a square section with a rounded base. Make sure that you align the top of the square with the top of the slots.
Mark the end of the two lines, then saw the end to length - Leave it slightly over-length for the final fitting.

Carve the end between the lines down to a 6mm diameter circle. Start by removing 2mm from the bottom and 1mm from each side. DO NOT remove anything from the top. Sand until the bowsprit cap will fit on the tip.

Put the bowsprit in place and make sure that the angles at the end are vertical, adjust them with a sharp knife if necessary. Then file or carve the larger hole in the bowsprit cap to a matching angle, try it on the end of the bowsprit to make sure that it will fit vertically.then file the smaller hole in the cap until the 5mm dowel fits parallel to the bowsprit
Sand/shape the top and bottom ends of the cap to follow the angle of the bowsprit.

Cut 18 brackets as shown from 2x3mm wood, make each one 5mm long, with one corner cut at an angle.
Use the plan to mark the front of each set of brackets and mark guide lines to their positions along each side of the bowsprit. There are three rows on each side - One horizontal and the other two about 45 degrees from the horizontal.
Glue the six rows of three brackets in place, then remove any pencil marks.

Cut two lengths of 1.5x6mm wood to make platforms known as 'bees'. Make them the same length as the squared section with rounded outside corners. Sand a slight chamfer on the inside so they can be angled upwards a little.
Glue the bees to the sides of the bowsprit, making sure that they are both angled up by the same amount.

Cut two 15mm lengths of 3x3mm strip, then chamfer one edge so they will fit under the bees, and radius the aft end. Glue the bee block under the bees and then sand the front ends to match the angle of the bowsprit.

Drill 1mm holes vertically through the bees, making sure they go all the way through the bee support blocks.

Stain the bowsprit to match the other masts, but if you are painting your model, leave it unpainted until after adding the bindings, where in the next issue painting instructions are provided at the end of the bowsprit assembly.

Use the black thread to make the bowsprit bindings in the positions indicated on the plan.

That's it for this week, carefully store the remaining parts and bowsprit.

Future issues:

Issue 89 - Contains assorted wood strips and dowel, threads,brass wire, steel wire, blocks, grating strips & black net; and has instructions for completing and rigging the bowsprit, fitting the first carronade and fitting the gallery rear panel decorations.

Issue 90 - Contains assorted wood strips, beakhead grating frame, black net, threads, brass wire, deadeyes, brass stanchions & brass strips; and has instructions for making the quarterdeck fittings, painting the gallery decoration and lining the gallery.

Issue 91 - Contains brass wire, thread,lower wriggles, belaying pins, cannonballs, deadeyes, ekeing rails, cat head support brackets; and has instructions for the making of the bowsprit spars, fitting the cat heads & ekeing rails and the option to fit the stern davits.
(There is some debate about whether Victory’s stern davits were removed prior to the Battle of Trafalgar).

Issue 92 - Contains thread and deadeyes; and has instructions for fitting out the quarterdeck bulwarks, painting the beakhead rails, adding the pendants, adding the shrouds and fitting the deadeyes to the shrouds of the fore, main and mizzen masts.

Issue 90 - Contains assorted wood strips, beakhead grating frame, threads, brass wire, deadeyes, brass stanchions & brass strips; and has instructions for making the quarterdeck fittings, painting the gallery decoration and lining the gallery.

Making the quarterdeck fittings - The shot garlands (cannonball tracks), pin trails and staghorns used for securing the rigging lines around the quarterdeck.

Shot garlands - Make two pairs from 3x3mm wood (provided in 88) with 1.5mm diameter holes drilled partway through. The longer pair is 25mm long and has 8 holes, the shorter pair is 19mm long and has 6 holes. Space the holes 3mm apart leaving 2mm at each end.
Stain the garlands dark oak or paint them black, then glue them into position between the quarterdeck guns.

Bulwark pin rails - Make two pairs from 2x5mm wood drilled with 1.5mm holes. The shorter pair is 19mm long and has 6 holes, the longer pair is 31mm long and has 10 holes. Place the holes 3.5mm from the inside edge, 3mm apart, with 2mm left at each end, and round the corners as shown.
Stain them dark oak or paint them black, and glue them into position as shown. (The belaying pin for the bulwark pin rails will be suplied in a future issue).

Pin rail posts - Some centre pin rail posts were made at week 55. However, it will be easier to rig the ship, and the pin rails will be more accurate, if the posts are made taller.
Use the 5x5mm strip supplied in this issue and issue 84 to make replacement uprights to the dimensions shown at step 5 of page 10 - the method is as described in issue 55.

Glue the pin rail posts into the holes in the main mast grating and temporarily place an offcut of 3x3mm wood into the post slots to make sure the posts are straight and square, the posts can be reinforced with pins as shown when fitting the timberheads in issue 59.

When the glue is dry, remove the temporary strip and glue the longest of the three pin rails in place with superglue.

Repeat the process to fit the two pin rails by the fore mast - Note that the posts are fitted against the outside of the gratings, in line with the end frames.

Paint the belaying pins black and glue them into the pin rails.

Staghorns - Cut 16mm lengths of 2x5mm wood. Scallop the corners by cutting them off at 45 degrees with a knife, then sanding the corners concave, then mark the position of the two holes, one-third and two-thirds of the way along and 3.5mm from the inside edge, then drill 1.5mm holes at the points at an angle of about 45 degrees.

Insert about 10mm of 1.5mm square strip, sand the corners off one end to make it easier to insert, glue it in position, and cut the bottom flush and then add the second strip.

When the glue has set, cut the strips parallel with the base, leaving pegs that are around 3mm long.
Repeat the process to make a second staghorn, then stain them dark oak or paint them black. The staghorns will be fitted after the cannonballs have been added to the shot garlands.

Painting the stern decoration (Trophy of Arms) - This decoration was provided in issue 83, follow the magazine steps for the painting process.

Use supeglue to fix the trophy centrally on the stern panel, you may find there is a slight gap beneath because of the curve of the gallery, DO NOT try and bend the casting as it will likely break than bend.

Gallery trim - Take a piece of 1.5mm square strip supplied with issue 83 and curve it to fit beneath the trophy, so that it ends just before the last window on each side, and trim the ends to fit on top of the window frame.

Leave the strip in place but do not glue it yet - (hold it with a piece of masking tape). Bend a pieces of 1.5m square strip to an almost U shape, trim its ends so that the shape fits against the end of the curved strip being held in place and the top of the uppermost decorative scroll.
Repeat the process at the opposite side.

For the natural version, stain these pieces walnut, and for the painted version paint them yellow ochre and glue into place.

Lining the gallery - This process only applies to the painted version of the model, the gallery of natural version does not need any further finishing.

Follow the magazine steps for the process and carefully line the gallery trims and window panels with yellow ochre.

That's it for this week, carefully store the staghorns and remaining parts.

Future issues:

Issue 91 - Contains brass wire, thread,lower wriggles, belaying pins, cannonballs, deadeyes, ekeing rails, cat head support brackets; and has instructions for the making of the bowsprit spars, fitting the cat heads & ekeing rails, and the option to fit the stern davits.
(There is debate about whether Victory’s stern davits were removed prior to the Battle of Trafalgar).

Issue 92 - Contains thread and deadeyes; and has instructions for fitting out the quarterdeck bulwarks, painting the beakhead rails, adding the pendants, adding the shrouds and fitting the deadeyes to the shrouds of the fore, main and mizzen masts.

Issue 93 - Contains brass wire, acetate, lantern castings & frame, and deadeyes; and has instructions for the fitting of the first hammock nets, completing the hammock nets and fitting the bowsprit.

Issue 94 - Contains an anchor, threads, brass rings & 8x dummy gun barrels; and has instructions for adding the topmast pendants, adding the deadeyes to the tops, adding the shrouds, making the stern and main mast lanterns.