HMS Endeavour's Longboat Rick01 - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - 1:60

[Rick01]

I can't find another of these in the build area so I'm guessing any previous builds disappeared in the site crash, so here goes.

Absolutely my first wooden ship build but I've had some experience with plastic kits and although it looks daunting when opening the box I'm prepared to work slowly though it all.

Instructions are not bad but do leave something to be desired and dry fitting everything is a must.

First question - staining/varnishing/sealing the wood. It appears to me that this would be easier with the interior ribs etc if done as you assemble the kit rather than wait 'til it's finished. 

Either way what is recommended (available in Aus) if I choose not to paint but leave as a timber finish.

Ribs attached to keel - good fit all round.

Main deck dropped in place to check alignment of ribs.

Decking glued down - note it needed a light sanding at the ends as the fit was just a little tight.

Side rail dry fitted to check alignment again. The rail was slightly out of true itself as can be seen where it doesn't quite meet up with the 2nd rib.

Both side rails attached and alignment sorted with glue and pegs. I did have an accident at this point whilst cleaning one of the rails and snapped it at a rib cut out. This should be OK as it's been glued and once the boards are attached should ensure it stays properly in place.

 

Next step is shaping bows and stern area. AL suggest doing this with a file and show a nice bastard rasp in use. I'm guessing that if I use one I'm liable to rip things to bit given how they bite into the wood. However I'd think that judicious of a sharp knife plus very careful use of a Dremel will do the job. Bit of a let-down here as AL don't show the finished/shaped sections so it's up to you to look at it and imagine how the shapes should flow.

Look forward to comments and advice and by the way who ever suggested lego bricks as a tool deserves a medal!

 

[Rick01]

As per the instruction sheet I've started fitting the first planking. Garboard and top plank fitted without too much trouble but I then thought that maybe I'd missed an instruction to fit the false keel and bow, but no, according the the book these are fitted "after" final planking (or that's how I read it)! This really didn't make sense so I trial fitted both keel and bow to discover that for the keel to meet the false bow I needed a 1mm shim under it. No problem here however as I keep all the off-cuts from anything I'm making and was able to split one of the bits of ply that the original frame was in. It also needed more packing in the bow and stern to have any hope of getting the flow of the planking somewhere near correct. Note - don't follow the (very limited) instruction re planking with the kit as it has planks ending in points and flowing anywhere but to the bow and stern!!

1st try at planking

 

Bow with additional filling and false bow in place.

Stern area with 1mm shim added between garboards to bring keel up to the correct height.

 

Obviously I'll need a bit of filling and sanding in due course. Any recommendations as to a particular wood filler to use?

 

[Rick01]

Initial planking now finished and (2 part) keel attached. A few mistakes along the way but nothing sandpaper and wood filler haven't fixed.

 

 

 

 

Why did AL have to make the keel in two parts - a single straight run would have been nicer as the join half way along the bottom is going to bug me!

[Rick01]

A note for anyone building this - the flag they provide is the post 1801 variant and would never have been flown on this boat.

[Rick01]

Well planking is now finished to a reasonable level. I didn't have to fill with much home made wood putty although fitting the last couple of planks each side was difficult and a couple of stealers were used. A water base satin finish clear coat has been applied to the exterior to preserve it from grubby fingers whilst working on other areas.

 

 

 

Rick

[Rick01]

Now starting to fit it out. For anyone who builds this I'd suggest that steps 9 and 10 in the manual be ignored until you've fitted step 11 - boarding and thwarts, the gunwale covers really get in the way when trimming everything to size. So steps in this order 8, 11, 9, 10. Instead of the single pin resembling a marlin spike I've chosen to make a set of thole pins with reasonable success - cutting down cocktail sticks 'til they're about 1mm thick is somewhat time consuming but I did get there. Oars were reasonably easy but I do need to make some sort of jig in order to centralise drill holes in future as near enough isn't quite good enough when you know where your mistakes are.

 

 

 

 

Feel free to comment if anyone wants to.

 

 

Rick

[Rick01]

Few more items fitted up and more grizzles about the instructions. Boom brackets - no measurements given as to where they sit on each mast and no side comment that they'll fit better if you file a groove in the side against the mast, so I've had to look at the box illustration and make an inspired guess for positioning. Got it roughly correct I hope but having taken them down twice I'm not doing it again. Trysails (?) you'll need to file the jaws flat internally to fit the booms.At least they did give positional information for the lugs at the top of the masts. Next the eyebolts - instructions suggest 1 mm dia. drill holes - do this and they'll fall straight out again. A 0.5mm drill is needed here. Next item will be the rigging - again not the best instructions but hopefully the 18th century longboat here will help.

 

 

 

Rick 

[Roglyn]

Well done Rick looks great to me. Heaps better than mine. I'm going to give the Bounty a go for sure

Roger

Edited November 10, 2014 by Roglyn

[Rick01]

I've almost completed the rigging and other fittings now but have come to a stand-still due to a shortage of rigging. AL have supplied about 40 cm less of the heavy (dark brown) thread than is needed to complete this, however I have been in contact with them and they are sending a further supply out. The actual rigging illustrations/instructions really are pretty basic and I've had to use the box top illustration plus internet searches to get something that looks near correct. Not overly happy but it'll do for a first time!

 

 

 

 

Rick

[GuntherMT]

Looking quite nice Rick!

[Rick01]

Well I've just received some extra rigging from AL - however it's from a different dye lot and is noticeably different from the previous lot. So, the only solution will be to check how much they've sent me and hope that there's enough to re-rig all the stays etc. Didn't really want to do this but if it's going to look good then so be it.

Meanwhile I have built a case for it so the time waiting wasn't all wasted. 

[Rick01]

Rigging completed with new thread supplied - all finished now.

 

 

 

 

Rick

[Hoofie2002]

Great posts Rick.

 

I've just picked this kit up in Perth in a sale so your work will be extremely valuable to me. If you don't mind, i'll copy your work and finish mine without sails, they never look right on models of this size.

 

The instructions in this kit are better than previous ones, it actually contains some rigging instructions, previous ones had none.

 

This will be my last AL kit as there are too many shortcomings in them re accuracy, materials etc. I suppose they are aiming at a general market though rather than specialist builders. Having built a few the glaring inaccuracies are too obvious now.

 

(Having said that, a shop near me has had a AL Cutty Sark on the shelf for nearly two years. At $600 oz its a ridiculous price but maybe the owner will be open to an offer....)

 

For a first wooden ship it looks great, my first one (AL Bounty Longboat) looks like it was built by a drunk!