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Author Topic: HMS Victory Restoration  (Read 34749 times)

unbuiltnautilus

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HMS Victory Restoration
« on: April 24, 2012, 06:20:40 pm »

Good news just in. The Portsmouth Model Boat Display Team have secured the contract to refit HMS Victory.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2012, 06:43:51 pm »

No, not THAT HMS Victory, obviously...
We were contacted by a nice lady from the Shore Establishment HMS Collingwood in Gosport ( Or Fareham, one or the other!), asking if we would be interested in having a go at a restoration job. We have done a couple of these in the past for the navy and actually came highly recommended {-). So we tootled off to Collingwood, through security and to an old drill hall, replete with rope equipment, old tents and that smell of old drill hall. Lurking at the end of the hall was this....

It was 12' long on a base 38" wide, clearly it was not going to fit in our clubhouse and the work would need to be done on site. Quite a lot of work in fact!














The masts had been damaged and patched up a number of times, spars were missing, bits of ship were rolling around on deck, it had an 'interesting' interpretation of the real ships 'black and buff', plus it had stern decoration straight off of a wedding cake!
We said yes, a bid was made and we sat back and waited...
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Footski

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2012, 07:02:55 pm »

Ah an early version with open stern. Beautiful. A big job though, but could be superb when done.. :-)
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2012, 09:39:18 am »

It seems to be a bit of a mish mash of old Victory and new Victory. We have decided to go with a bit of a compromise finish, representing her as she is now, with an enhanced stern as is, in the pictures.
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2012, 11:58:40 am »

are you going to RC it? :D
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TailUK

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2012, 01:11:14 pm »

Hope you'll post some hi-res pics of your progress, nice project!
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2012, 05:13:30 pm »

Well, we won the bid and the work began..













Following a look over the model, and a brief vacuum up of many years of muck, we attacked it from a number of directions.
The Cathead was adrift on the bow, this was refitted with a 4mm stainless steel pin epoxied into it.
One of the spars had a new section spliced into it with beech dowel.
The standing rigging and ratlines are actually braided steel and have survived well, the cordage, however is much more rotten and will need replacing in many places.l

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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2012, 05:16:59 pm »

The model has been stored away for many years partially de-rigged. Fortunately, most of the rigging still existed when we started. A fair amount has been chopped off and disgarded. We felt it better to start afresh than patch up old and potentially weak rigging.





Colin and Helen discussing the best bits to keep and the best bits to hack off. result-much hacking.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2012, 05:22:31 pm »

Initially we were told the model had been languishing up country for many years. It was the lifes work of a gentleman who donated it to the Navy. This tempered our initial plans to repaint it in early colours to match the stern decoration. lots of varnished woodwork, plus a bit of black and white. However, as it was his lifes work, we decided to present it in a 'representation' of its colours at Trafalgar and as preserved to the present day. We had to do something about the 'Starsky and Hutch, A-Team Van' style upper yellow stripe at the stern though!

Chairman Graham for scale..
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2012, 05:28:29 pm »

The latest information relating to the history of the model is as follows;
It was presented to HMS St Vincent by the RN Barracks, Portsmouth around about 1935. It could have been built on site as there was a Shipwrights Department within the barracks, or it may have been commissioned by the barracks and built in the Victory Workshops. So ,it may well not be anyones lifes work after all. It has had a refit possibly in the 70s or 80s, indicated by the plastic decoration around the stern gallery.

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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2012, 05:51:45 pm »

The build up of the model is pretty impressive. It is 'bread and butter' construction with a hull wall thickness of 3" on average. We think it is oak. there is a 3" square batten running down the centreline, with two similar battens athwartships at 1/3 and 2/3 hull length.
The model has authentic looking rigging, which might point to the Victory Workshop being responsible for its construction, but some other points which come up later in the refit pointing another way completely....

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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2012, 05:54:53 pm »

We are letting our members excel in the production of beatifully scarfed joints, accurate rigging throughout, and the use of more 'modern' methods to advance the build!





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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2012, 06:11:03 pm »

The decoration round the bow was a bit on the heavy side, in both appearance and actual weight of timber.

Too make the appearance of this support structure look a little bit more 'delicate', I decided on one of my now famous bodges! With a Permagrit file, I tapered the holes slightly. enlarging the holes while reducing ( apparently ) the timber thickness. To test my theory I then slapped paint on it to see...In the spirit of the build, it was an improvement.




One problem we will face with this build is the sheer height of the beast as illustrated.


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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2012, 06:21:20 pm »

That was the end of week one. Lots still to do.
We are at week seven of the refit at the moment, but you will have to wait a while to see the model as she is now. Thanks for the interest :-))
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romanjohn

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2012, 12:05:34 am »

alan ask the captain very nicely to rig a scaffold tower you HAVE ORDERED MY BOAT YET  CHEERS  ROMANJOHN
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romanjohn

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2012, 08:03:22 am »

hi alan i forgot to add with scaffold you need safety harness hard hat goggles safety boots and WINGS  romanjohn
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triumphjon

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #16 on: April 27, 2012, 08:39:31 am »

then you wont be able to carry out th task in hand  ! what ever did we do before all this elf n saftey crap !
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Shipmate60

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #17 on: April 27, 2012, 08:42:23 am »

Some job you have there but looking good in pics so far.
It is great to see an old model getting a new lease of life.
I do hope she will be on display after all your hard work.

Bob
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Bob K

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #18 on: April 27, 2012, 08:49:43 am »

what ever did we do before all this elf n saftey 'rubbish' !


Sail ships like HMS Victory
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HMS Skirmisher (1905), HMS Amazon (1906), HMS K9 (1915), Type 212A (2002), HMS Polyphemus (1881), Descartes (1897), Iggle Piggle boat (CBBC), HMS Royal Marine (1943), HMS Marshall Soult, HMS Agincourt (1912)

essex2visuvesi

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #19 on: April 27, 2012, 09:07:35 am »

Sail ships like HMS Victory

And small children operated large machines
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unicorn

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #20 on: April 27, 2012, 12:02:50 pm »



               This was the final result of the "Club`s" first HMS Victory restoration project  --  which was commissioned by one of the
     departments in HM Dockyard --  for repairing a broken bowsprit, various masts and spars, rigging and cleaning decades of dust.

                                                                                                 rgds unicorn

   P.S. I must admit Bob K`s photo bears an uncanny resemblance to the Club`s current  Victory work party
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unicorn

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #21 on: April 27, 2012, 12:11:48 pm »



               The broken bowsprit
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #22 on: April 27, 2012, 05:58:15 pm »

Week Two begins, and its proper cold in our little room at HMS Collingwood!



Many bits are being removed from the model, some for restoration, some for re-building, and some for the dustbin. Tools are all over the place and John gets to start his 'favourite' part of the build, rigging :-))
The signal flags are almost displaying the correct 'England Expects..' message, almost.
And we are sharing the room with many, many Fire Extinguishers.
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Netleyned

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #23 on: April 27, 2012, 06:05:33 pm »

Collingwood was always cold when I was an apprentice
There at the start of the 60's.

Ned
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: HMS Victory Restoration
« Reply #24 on: April 27, 2012, 06:06:15 pm »

Some parts that are missing get rebuilt, cannon ports out of oak, seems appropriate.

Colin gets to work early on his specialist subjects, heavy woodwork and swearing for the Queen, he should get a medal...






The parts for the main mast are a combination of newly manufactured and cleaned up original parts, while the replacement mast is from beech. all nice and tough, with the added benefit that the upper mast can be removed if needed.


Meanwhile, point the Charman, sorry Chairman ( possibly right first time ) at a bit and say "paint it black.." The yellow had to go, so all trace was removed with a couple of coats of Blackboard Paint.
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