HMS
VICTORY model
About the construction of
the
HMS Victory
wooden scale model:
-
Construction reference:
The Anatomy
of Nelson's Ships by Charles Longridge, First Rate: The
Greatest Warships of the Age of Sail by Rif Winfield,
Copies of the original ships plans obtained from the
National Maritime Museum, The 100-Gun Ship Victory
(Anatomy of the Ship) by John McKay
- Built from scratch,
Plank-on-frame
construction
-
Copper-plated bottom:
individual copper pieces (no copper color paint on wood, no fake
lines)
-
Under the main deck, all
guns are "real" guns which have proper barrels and
wooden carriages which sit on 2 real decks under the
main deck. These
guns are not simple barrels inserted into a solid hull
like in other models.
- Authentic extensive rigging system comprised of many
different sizes of rope and features numerous blocks and
deadeyes
- Full length masts and bowsprit per original blueprints
- Correct boats. These small boats are not easy to make,
and we make them beautifully. Wooden, not resin casted.
- Beautiful and accurate three-dimensional stern
gallery. It is comprised of numerous pieces, not a flat
piece of prefabricated metal glued on the hull as seen
in many models.
HMS Victory is a
104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship
at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. The
battle
was essential to Britain's continued
superiority on the high seas during the Napoleonic Wars. She was the world's first ship that had
three gun decks.
Her
hull thickness at waterline was astonishing 2 feet. Her
construction took over
6,000 oak trees and
cost 63,176 British pounds—an equivalent to the
cost today of an aircraft carrier.
HMS Victory carried the legendary Lord Nelson at the
Battle of Trafalgar.
Until the battle, it had been the custom
for fleets to do battle by sailing past or alongside
each other in two parallel lines. Nelson broke this
tradition by attacking the enemy at right angle,
breaking through the French and Spanish lines and
cutting off their retreat. This aggressive strategy
would forever change the course of naval warfare.
Under Nelsons' strategy, the English fleet, under two
columns, sailed toward the enemy. At about noon, a
French ship started to fire at the HMS Royal Sovereign (lead ship of one of the
columns.) For
the twenty agonizing minutes it took to reach the enemy
lines, Royal Sovereign and HMS Victory endured continuous fire
in silence.
On one column,
HMS
Victory led on, suffering
unrelenting rain of cannon shot. She was searching for the
French admiral’s ship. When seeing the huge Spanish
four-decker Santissima Trinidad, Nelson correctly
assumed that the French admiral’s ship was nearby and
bore down on the Santissima Trinidad. As he was
doing so, the
French flagship
Bucentaure and seven other enemy ships fired on
HMS Victory. By the time she had come close enough to fire
on
the Santissima Trinidad, 50 of her men were dead and 30 wounded.
One the other column, the HMS Royal Sovereign drew astern of the Spanish
three-decker Santa Anna, she raked her decks with a
murderous double-shot volley that put
400 Spanish sailors out of action.
Then HMS Victory collided with the
French Redoubtable. Locked together, the two ships
drifted slowly through the battle. The Redoubtable’s marksmen shot
down 40 British sailors. Seeing the upper deck
populated only by the dead and wounded, the French tried
to board the
HMS
Victory.
HMS
Victory’s botswain’s whistle piped
the tune signifying “boarders; repel boarders,” and the
order immediately summoned swarms of
blue-jackets to the deck, where they killed every enemy
who had managed to board. During this defense that
a a sniper on the mizzen-top of the Redoubtable
aimed his musket at Nelson.
Below decks, Nelsonīs life was ebbing away fast. But he
lived to see Captain Hardy return from the fighting
above to hear the news that fourteen enemy vessels had
been captured. “That’s well,” Nelson said, “but I had
bargained for twenty.”
Dimensions & Pricing of the HMS Victory model:
- 42" long x 33" tall x
15" wide (1/98 scale)
$6,980
Shipping and insurance in
the contiguous US included. Other places: $800 flat
rate. Photos shown are of this size.
- 78"
long
x 72' tall x 24' wide. Email us for price
- Smaller sizes, please
click here.
Model is built per commission only. We require only a
deposit of 1/3 of the amount to start the process. The
remaining balance won't be due until the model is
completed. Click here for
lead
time.
Note:
1/ Model comes with
a regular wood base. The marquetry base costs $500 more
and for the 42" long model only.
2/ Light feature is $300 extra.
Powered by a standard 9v
battery under the base, with on/off switch. Please be sure to tell
us within a week of your order if you want it.
3/ The above prices are for
regular sail feature. For extended sails and signal
flags, showing the HMS Victory at full speed to break
the enemy line, it is $400 extra. There are a total
of 34 sails --
foremast and mainmast lower studding sails are all
out. Lord Nelson's signal reads "England expects every
man will do his duty".
Learn more about the HMS
Victory here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory
To learn more about the
accuracy of a HMS Victory model:
https://www.hms-victory.com/
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