Lots of people know a great deal more about H.M.S. Victory than I do, and if one of them happens to read this post and offers some evidence I haven't heard about I'll be delighted to read it. (How about it, Forum? Does anybody out there know of a piece of actual evidence that those entry ports were there in 1805?) None of the spars was replaced, except the dolphin striker and the bowsprit flag pole, both of which broke while handling and had to be replaced with sewing pins. The scale on the Revell Victory is stated as 1/225, though I made some measurements that indicate the scale is actually closer to 1/256 - but I might be wrong. Beyond the archaeological evidence, we have details of what paint was carried on board Victory, and the quantities in which it was consumed. The accounts of carpenters stores for Victory in the run up to Trafalgar also gives details of use of paint, and some indication of how it was mixed, but this is actually quite difficult to decipher due to the manner in which the quantities are recorded against the work undertaken.

Specific to Victory, a survey of carpenter’s stores dated 12th May 1804 records that Victory carried 2cwt 3q 15lb of Venetian (presumably red) paint, 3cwt 0q 17lb of yellow and 2cwt 2q and 1lb of Port Red (dry) paint. Ten months later, in March 1805, a further survey records identical quantities of Venetian and port red, 93lbs of yellow paint and 1,137lbs of white lead paint. This color may have been what Nelson had an issue with, and as there was yellow and white paint available I'm sure that some mixing would inevitable to experiment with different yellow paint options as you have mentioned, If more new coats were applied more often then perhaps the need to paint a white base coat was not needed as the color was still quite 'clean' underneath. This means that if the navy supplied paint had yellow and white available in the quantities mentioned then the mixing of those paints would be quite likely. I ended up using this as a test bed to learn rigging, using Lennarth Petersson's wonderful book. This is actually my second ship model, first was the Revell Santa Maria.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.

Measuring at a depth of 400 millimeters and a height of 330 millimeters, this ship model is compact yet intricate. It is scaled at 1:225, making it a faithful replica of the original H.M.S. Victory. 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.All of the available evidence was reviewed by the Victory Technical Committee, then chaired by Martyn Heighten the then Director of National Historic Ships UK, also a member (and still a member) was Jonathan Coad, who had served on the Victory Committee for almost forty years at that point. The recommendation to change the colour was not, therefore, made on an ad-hoc basis, but subject to extensive scrutiny before the Board of the HMS Victory Preservation Company took the decision to change colours when the ship was next repainted. An interesting point: the people responsible for the upkeep of the ship herself have been remarkably silent on this matter. I know they hired a carver who (superbly) made new canopies over the entry ports for her pre-2005 restoration. And several publications issued by those folks show the entry ports.

I'm wondering if this was done to freshen up the Victory instead of just painting a mixed yellow and white over the top. If the base material is not a uniform color / shade then that can create the effects of color variance of colors painted over it. On a large surface this would be more apparent, so it makes me think that a baselayer of white may have been used and then yellow over the top... meaning the final color would be pure yellow. Then there's the question of the entry ports. The big, ornamental entry ports that are on the ship today aren't on the model. I'm among those who think Heller was probably right on that point - but I can't claim to be certain. 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. Constructed with precision and meticulousness, the Revell H.M.S. Victory assembly kit provides an enriched and accurate portrayal of the naval ship. It is a naval ship model product that caters to individuals with an intermediate to advanced skill level.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. I lean in the direction of believing that the ornamented entry ports were added in the 1920s. But I have no proof of that whatsoever. Yellow ochre as supplied to ships was a dark colour that was commonly mixed with white (1804 handbook of instruction for RN officers). It must be borne in mind that this was an earth pigment and the actual colour varied widely.

To see if I could get some further information to help inform the debate and assist in members deciding which colour scheme to go with I thought I’d go to the man who should know, Andrew Baines, Deputy Director of Heritage and Curator at the National Museum of the Royal Navy. 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.

More about this manual

I know there's been a lot of argument in various quarters about them. A lot of people seem to believe in them rather emotionally. But I've looked at quite a few paintings and photos of the ship prior to her restoration (in the early twentieth century), and I have yet to find a contemporary picture that shows the entry ports. 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." I'd like to build this kit again in the future, with a simpler rig, but only if I find a vintage, crisply moulded version. Maybe scratchbuild some ornaments and make a Royal Sovereign from it. And perhaps the most important thing I'm learning from this build is to use dilluted white glue for rigging, rather than CA. That stuff is impossible to tame... 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.