The Revell H.M.S. Victory is an advanced level ship model that offers an engaging construction experience for model making enthusiasts. With a total of 269 pieces, this assembly kit allows hobbyists to recreate the iconic naval ship in stunning detail. The model is designed to represent the historical vessel, H.M.S. Victory, which originated from the United Kingdom. Across a number of threads there has been considerable debate about the new colour scheme for HMS Victory, most recently on Dafi’s Victory build. There are supports and doubters. Doubts as to the change mainly arise because of the there isn’t much material out there other than to say we looked at some old paint samples and worked out what’s what. Anyways, I have three more kits to finish before I start with this one - I hope I'll learn a thing or two in the process, otherwise more kits will have to be done. I really want to do the Heller kit justice. Added to the OOB kit are the shrouds and ratlines (the plastic ones are awful). Ratlines were threaded through shrouds with a long, thin needle. The figurehead, which is moulded flat and is probably the worst part of the kit, was softened up from behind with liquid poly, then bent a bit to better represent the angle of the cherubs on the real thing. Fake hawse holes made from stiffened thread were added (the kit expects you to pass the anchor hawsers through the gammoning slot!). Sails and flags are made from that paper that comes in shoe boxes - the material looks and behaves much like silkspan. By wetting the main course sail and pulling on the bunt and leech lines I managed to somewhat "brail" it. I must give my thanks to jtilley for that idea, which I found in an old forum thread. The fore course sail will receive the same treatment. All sails will be weathered a little more with dilluted acrylic paint, as they look a bit too white right now. Reefs will be added. If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

Dr. R.C. Anderson, who supervised the restoration in the 1920s, admitted flat out that the low forecastle bulwarks were "a mistake for which I must bear my share of the blame." He said that research had established that the bulwarks were raised during the refit shortly before Trafalgar, but the researchers revealed their findings just after Dr. Anderson and his team had finished building the low, knee-high ones. They hesitated (understandably) to scrap work they'd just finished, and "the result, while wrong historically, is certainly pleasing to the eye."

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The archival evidence when combined with the archaeological material provides, therefore, compelling evidence that Victory's colour in 2013 was not correct to the time of Trafalgar (I don't know of anyone who seriously suggested it was) and that we were able to say with some degree of confidence that it was possible to return to a Victory much closer to that Nelson would have known (admittedly he wanted it lighter, but didn't get his way).

Mighty nice looking model. Rigging a model to such a tiny scale isn't easy, but this one looks impressively to scale. And I like the sails. (Those who frequent this Forum know I don't often say that.)As an artist myself to get a pure yellow color it is common practice to put a base coat of white with a layer of yellow over the top. RDiaz, you're not alone. I'm inclined to agree, in fact. The entry ports she has now are beautiful, but it looks to me like the weight of the evidence is against their having been there in 1805. The evidence from Victory’s carpenter’s accounts suggests very strongly that the shade of yellow employed was obtained by mixing white and yellow in equal parts. There's lots of evidence that at the time of Trafalgar the ship had shoulder-high bulwarks around the poop and forecastle. The Heller kit doesn't.