From the surviving carpenters' accounts of British ships at Trafalgar, we can discern that ship's sides were either painted with pure yellow (Prince, Temeraire), used a mix of two or three parts yellow to one part white (Ajax and Revenge prior to the battle) or used a mixture that was (or was close to) equal parts yellow:white (Mars, Thunderer).

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. Some progress on the Revell kit - finally decided to ditch the ugly plastic stand and epoxy the model to a pair of metal pedestals , courtesy of our HECEPOB friend Artist in the... well, that thing Pure yellow aged in the sun would indeed pale over time and to match this when repainting, a yellow / white mix may attempted to match the aged yellow color. A new yellow color would be quite alot brighter and if there were many ships in a fleet painted at different times then I can see Nelson's issue and request for a pale yellow color to be used as standard. 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.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.

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.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. 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.

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. The shade of yellow paint employed by the British fleet prior to Trafalgar appears to have varied from ship to ship. Some ships used yellow neat, others mixed yellow with white in a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1, whilst others mixed yellow and white at 1:1. 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... That's quite a list. And I have to say that I balk at paying that kind of money for a kit and immediately junking several hundred of its parts (and spending hard-earned money for aftermarket replacements). But the good old Longridge book will clarify how all those things (except the entry ports and the poop and forecastle bulwarks) are supposed to look.I think the first point to bear in mind is that Victory has changed colour innumerable times since 1922, we have simply been honest about what we have done, and based the change on all available evidence. 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.) 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. 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.