Out of my comfort zone.

[Del640]

Chaps,

I've been roped into helping my younger brother build a kit of HMS Victory, a ship he loves the history of.

No problem in helping him build it but he wants her looking realistic and has asked if I'd weather it.

Good grief.

So, any ship builders out there that can help me out?

I've scoured the internet but there's not much out there!!!

Thank you in advance!

Del

[adt70hk]

Sorry Del....weeeeellllll outside my comfort zone.

ATB.

Andrew

[spanner570]

Del.
A few to start you off.....

Make the deck planking nice and pale, sort of scrubbed like. Also add a slight bit of variety to the plank's colouring.
Break up the demarcation line between the upper (Waterline) and lower hull, i.e., no nice straight line!
Try and keep any weathering running vertical.
Think where rust might gather or stain the wood around any metal fittings. Most of the staining on the wood will be at the bottom of these fixtures and fittings.

Have you tried 'Google Images' for sailing ships, even rotten and abandoned ones?

That's all I can think of at the minute, but by the time you come around to the actual painting, I would hope you will have a list as long as yer arm from members!

Ron

[Del640]

Del.
A few to start you off.....

Make the deck planking nice and pale, sort of scrubbed like. Also add a slight bit of variety to the plank's colouring.
Break up the demarcation line between the upper (Waterline) and lower hull, i.e., no nice straight line!
Try and keep any weathering running vertical.
Think where rust might gather or stain the wood around any metal fittings. Most of the staining on the wood will be at the bottom of these fixtures and fittings.

Have you tried 'Google Images' for sailing ships, even rotten and abandoned ones?

That's all I can think of at the minute, but by the time you come around to the actual painting, I can guarantee you will have a list as long as yer arm from members!

Ron

Cheers Ron,

This is exactly what I'm looking for!

Thanks!

Del

[Dave Ward]

Del,
the sails would show signs of weathering - the canvas would become grey under sea and wind. They would be patched, giving areas of newer material. The hull is a lot more difficult, given the buff & black hull of HMS Victory, salt would give vertical streaks on the sides, and paint may be worn away at the bows. It's difficult to visualise this, contemporary paintings usually show squeaky clean ships ( with a bit of moderate splinters & holes ).
These ships had a large crew - 800+ - so keeping the ship clean & in good repair would be used to keep them busy ( even painting the ships' side when at anchor, or becalmed ). The decks especially would be scrubbed & 'holystoned' until they were almost white!
Dave

[Del640]

Cheers Dave, this all helps.

Del

[JR]

Del, press on , there's always help on here as you have seen.

[wotan]

Del

Bravo for giving this a go and good luck. I have built a few ships and painted even more. Captains were very picky about the appearance of their ships and spent a lot of their own money on paint and gold trim to keep everything in order. As a couple of guys have said the deck would be scrubbed almost white, this was done every day when possible. The masts would show a little of the look of varnished wood and yard arms were frequently painted black. Blocks would all be slightly differing colours of hard wood but not very weathered since they were vital to working the ship. All standing rigging would be black as it was often covered with tar to stop it from wearing. If you are not sure standing rigging is everything that does not usually move when the ship is being worked, so shrouds and stays primarily. The other rigging would be variations of hemp rope again with little weathering since faulty lines would put working the ship at risk.

As Dave said the sails would tend to grey a little with patches and whole panels sometimes showing whiter due to being replaced with newer cloth. The hull would have some salt streaking but not too much. At sea the area around the bows would certainly be soiled since that is where the heads (Toilets) were located and plumbing was limited to a drop in the ocean.

Finally you should decide if the ship is to be presented at sea in regular cruising, after an action with some battle damage or sailing in to port with everything freshly scrubbed.

You didn't say but if the model is made of wood then it will age naturally and you don't need to do much to it, if it is plastic try all the tips you can find online for making simulated wood.

Like I said good luck with this. To finish here is one of my paintings to give you some ideas.



John

[skinflint]

Del, not HMS Victory, but a really good source of reference for sailing ships is the Australian model builder, Harry Houdini with his youtube build of HMS Bounty. Ok it's not the same ship but there are some really useful tips on painting and weathering and as previously said the decks. For aftermarket parts to further enhance most sailing ship builds it's worth looking at Hismodel in Czechoslovakia.

https://www.hismodel.com/index.php?_ShopSearch[SearchType]=1&IdPage=18&_Box[821][Id]=824&_ShopSearch[Search]=HMS+Victory&btnSearch=

Papa695 (Ian) is building the Revell kit in the Ships, Boats and Submarines under construction. It's well worth a look.

Tony

[rtfoe]

Hi Del, great that you are helping your brother with the Victory. The guys have given you fantastic tips already. The only thing I can only contribute is that to add a lot of coiled rope tie downs at the key spots as I noticed this on the replica Endeavor at Sydney harbour. If I'm not mistaken Airfix give you some pretty good ratlines. I decided to do my own for my USS Constitution and now it has become USS Constipated.

Cheers,
Richard

[Del640]

Gents,

You are all legends.

Thank you, brilliant!

Del