HMS Victory 1:98

[WP Rayner]

That makes sense Lawton. Are you using the traditional rectangular bench dogs or the new fangled round ones?

No, I won't be making a miniature sovereign to place under the main mast. I have an old farthing tucked away which I plan to use for that purpose.

[WP Rayner]

Well I decided to go ahead and plane the taper now on the underside of the keel strip using the Jointer plane, and checking with a precision straight edge and square. I removed approx. 125" at the aft end of the strip and nothing at the bow end. This will allow the hull to sit a scale one foot lower at the stern, making it easier to keep the water lines level.

[Lawton Maner]

Square ones which are made from hard maple scraps from the construction of the top.  Safer for tool blades and fits into my waste not attitude.  Holes were milled during the construction of the top prior to final glue up.  Also as time has gone by I've had to replace the stops as between a cat who liked to assist me by knocking things onto the floor and a puppy who found one of them to be a delightful chew toy several went missing or were chewed up.  My top has 2 rows of holes so that flat piece can be worked. 

My side vise is in front of the top, not part of it as is yours.  I also made an adjustable prop to hold the other end of wide stock when planing edges which was inspired by one used by the cabinetmakers at Colonial Williamsburg in their shop.  Think of a miniature hall tree with a series of notches up one side that the prop engages.  Once I get home form recovery of my broken hip I'll send a picture, if I remember.

[WP Rayner]

Well most importantly Lawton, I hope you have a speedy recovery from the broken hip.

Concerning the bench dogs, like you, I milled the slots in the top prior to glue up for the rectangular dogs. My original set of Record steel dogs was not returned when the bench was recovered. A couple of years ago I finally found a set of rectangular dogs from Lee Valley (The circular dogs are evidently much more popular these days and readily available.). They are steel also but with removable brass faces. Like the former steel versions, you have to be very careful when setting up for planing so as not to run the plane into the dog, a very quick way to ruin a plane and iron.

[Lawton Maner]

Part of the reason that round ones are popular these days is that when manufacturing the top,there are fewer machining steps in the factory.  All one does is make and mill a slab and then set up a multi-spindle boring machine and punch all of the holes at one time.  You remember the time and effort it took to make yours.  And, my dog holes are stepped which took at least 2 more steps in manufacture.

And back to the keel of the ship.  Are you going to invite the wife of the Prime Minister to become the ship's sponsor and certify the keel when laid?  I was at the ceremony when Mrs. Nixon certified the keel of the California and still remember watching as a welder tacked the plague to the first section.  One of the very few benefits of working in the Yard at that time.   

[WP Rayner]

The round ones make perfect sense these days, quick and easy to bore the necessary holes. I made a router pattern matching the profile of my original dogs with the larger head than shank, then routed them out. It was fairly simple, but definitely more time consuming than just drilling holes. Fortunately, the Veritas bench dogs from Lee Valley are a dimensional match to my original Record dogs, so they fit perfectly.

And back to the keel of the ship.  Are you going to invite the wife of the Prime Minister to become the ship's sponsor and certify the keel when laid? 

Uhhh...no.

[WP Rayner]

Just finished the bow timber section of the keel. All the solid timber keel pieces are complete. Now it's time to finish milling the original Mantua plywood keel, remove the sections that will be replaced by the solid timber pieces, then assemble the new keel structure. You may notice that I added more pieces (stemson and apron) to the bow portion in order to replace the entire plywood bow section and make a stronger assembly. The original plywood keel is warped in that area and thus unusable.

[finescalerr]

The craftsmanship is satisfactory. -- Russ

[Peter_T1958]

Isn't it almost a waste to fit such a piece of art to a plywood keel...
Just incredible work!!!

[WP Rayner]

Isn't it almost a waste to fit such a piece of art to a plywood keel...
Just incredible work!!!

Thank you Peter. In a sense, it does seem a shame to fit these pieces to the plywood structure. It would be even more satisfying to replace the plywood with prototypical frames and produce an admiralty board style model, a style I've always admired. However, given the fact that none of the plywood pieces will be visible in the hull when planked, plus the increased time, complexity, and cost (I would need additional machinery in order to do that with any efficiency), it doesn't make sense to replace the plywood since progress on the model is already slow given other projects and commitments which place demands on my time. So, for expediency purposes, I'm retaining the plywood components. These scratchbuilt pieces will be visible along with many other scratchbuilt components in the finished model, assuming of course, I make it that far. 

[finescalerr]

These scratchbuilt pieces will be visible along with many other scratchbuilt components in the finished model, assuming of course, I make it that far.

Aye, there's the rub. You have taken on a Herculean task.

Russ

[WP Rayner]

Aye, there's the rub. You have taken on a Herculean task.

Russ

Exactly... I see little point in making the task even bigger.

[Bill Gill]

Paul, Are you aware of the Crabtree collection of miniature ship models at the Mariner's Museum & Park in Newport News, VA
https://www.marinersmuseum.org/crabtree-miniature-ships/

or the Law collection of miniature ship models at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic CT?
https://research.mysticseaport.org/coll/coll261/

Unfortunately neither link has photos and I didn't find a site that does, but Alexander G. Law's collection includes an HMS Victory. I don't know if the August F. and Winnifred Crabtree collection does too.
If you can find photos both modelers did fantastic work!

[WP Rayner]

Thanks Bill... I am aware of both collections.
There is also the Henry Huddleston Rogers Collection of ship models at the US Naval Academy: https://www.usna.edu/Museum/collections/rogers/index.php
Fortunately, they published a hardcover catalogue, originally in the 1950s and later updated. I purchased my copy (1971 edition) in the 1970s. Two recent additional books on the collection by Grant Walker are available from SeaWatch Books https://seawatchbooks.com/. I haven't seen these books in person (far too expensive to add to my collection) but have heard good reports.

[WP Rayner]

Just finished milling the frame slots in the original Mantua plywood keel. Bottoms of the slots were squared up with chisels. The screw holes in the plywood keel were used to mount it to the sacrificial MDF table in the milling machine. Photo shows all the major components for the keel. Now it's time to cut down the plywood keel to accommodate and join the scratchbuilt solid-timber keel, sternpost, and bow timber assembly.