Endeavour 1934 by Julie Mo - Amati - Scale 1:35 - America's Cup UK J-Class Challenger

[Julie Mo]

I've moved to the flip side.  First thing I did was to make sure the hull was better faired.  Certain areas looked suspect so I filled them and came back later to fair them.

It reminded me of a Bondo job...

 

Today I laid four rows of planks. 

 

I am now using working on the model as an integral part of day:

• Work on the house
• Take a break working on the model, and, when I feel rested,
• Go back to the house stuff. 
• It's very therapeutic.

These beautiful lines keep me motivated

[RichardG]

The model and the view look really good.

 

Richard.

[Julie Mo]

I've been moving a bit faster on the flip side.  But I find my fingers are getting raw.  There is even a split in my thumb.  But the port side is coming along...

 

I took another page out of Keith's book... with a little modification...

 

The Bessey clamps were good for clamping onto the frame members and for creating any kind of angle you'd need but they didn't stay put.  The suction quickly failed.  I'd still like something more universal but with a model this big, I don't think anything other than several pivot points would work.

[yvesvidal]

Julie,

 

What a great view to build your model.

 

Yves

[Julie Mo]

Port and starboard planks are now at about the same point of 1st planking.

Now I have to decide how I'm going to do the keel...

 

While clamping where pins hit plywood, I crushed the balsa.  I didn't catch it until after I had planked over the depression.

I filled the area in with sawdust and placed a few drops of CA glue over the pile.  It's curing as I write this.

 

I've been sanding the planking as I go along.  So far, I'm pretty pleased with how it's going...

[GuntherMT]

It is looking great Julie.

 

CA can prevent stain from taking, so if this is a single planked hull, that might be an issue if you are planning to stain.  If you are painting, then nevermind.  

[Julie Mo]

Gunther, this model is double planked.  The 2nd planking is VERY thin so I'm making sure the 1st planking is as perfect as I can get it.

 

I've used the sawdust/CA method when filling in the edges after fretting a guitar neck. 

I cut the tangs of the fret wire short and used cocobolo sawdust to fill in the edges. A few drops of CA and some sanding and polishing...  It's a neat little trick.

[GuntherMT]

Cool.  I figured with your wood-working experience you knew what you were doing, but I felt like I should mention it just in case!

 

Good looking guitar piece there!

[Julie Mo]

I used a spokeshave on the keel edge and took off about 3/16" of the original keel, from bow to forward of the centerboard.  While I was doing that, I was steaming (3) 3/32" sapele planks.  I thought they were mahogany but the sniff test told me they were sapele.

 

I had them in the steam box for over 20 minutes.  That should have been plenty of time to get them flexible.  I unplugged the steamer and immediately began to band the planks to the hull.

 

But even after all that time in the steam box, the planks weren't very pliable.  I guess sapele requires a lot more time than other woods I've used.  Maybe the cellulose and lignin in sapele doesn't soften as easily as in other woods. 

 

 

Anyway, I'll let them dry in place and see if they hold the shape.  I didn't apply any glue so I can steam them again if they spring back too much, or mill some real mahogany and try that.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Julie Mo

[Julie Mo]

After a couple of hours, I removed the banding.  Bupkis.  Almost no shape was retained.

 

Round two... I steamed the planks again, this time for about 45 minutes.  When I pulled them out and tried to form them, they dried so quickly I had to put them back in the steam box.

 

Another session (I was able to caulk nail holes in window trim, caulk the gaps, hang 10' of double curtain rod and the curtains, and do a few other things around the house while the wood was steaming) and it was maybe another hour before I checked on them again.  This time they were damp and pliable. So I set them up on the hull again and banded them tightly.  Still no glue, though.

 

I'll check on them tomorrow.  They were pretty damp when I formed them.

[GuntherMT]

You could try putting them in place, and then applying heat from a heat gun or hair-dryer.  When the wood cools after being heated it tends to retain the shape, which may also be why steaming is often used, in addition to the water, there is heat!

[Julie Mo]

I took the strips off the hull, glued them up and banded them to the hull again.  When I removed the laminate, I did a little clean up before I took this picture.

It doesn't look like much but it matches the keel fairly well

The rubber band is there only to keep the laminate from falling off.  It is applying no pressure.

 

And it matches the drawings, too.

 

As this is an experimental approach, I am taking it cautiously.  I will finish the 1st planking of the keel before deciding if it's time to glue the laminate on.  If I did glue it on, I would then have to cut each of the 2nd planks so they would butt up seamlessly to the keel laminate.  After the 2nd planking is done, I could trim the laminate to its final shape.  My only apprehension is the thickness of the keel beam and how that might correspond, scale-wise, to what it would actually look like had the full-sized yacht been built that way. 

[Julie Mo]

I am now feeling a bit foolish.  I was pretty excited about the solid wood keel, thinking I was building her like she was back in 1934 but then a light bulb lit.  The original Endeavour had a steel hull.  I remembered reading Tom Sopwith was in aviation and applied his knowledge there in the design and building of Endeavour.  I already knew the mast was aluminum but completely forgot the Sopwith history.

 

I now feel like I ruined the model and have to take it in a direction it was never meant to go.

[mikiek]

Time to break out the torch?

 

Julie, what you discovered may well be, but you still have a beautiful build in hand! The ultimate decision is yours, but if it was me I would stay on the same path.

[Julie Mo]

No torch, Mike.  I was just a bit bummed.  I thought I was making corrections to the model that better reflected how it was actually built.  And in doing so, I got the bonus of honing my woodworking skills and making the model a little more mine that it would be if I simply followed the directions.

 

That would probably have been the case if the original hull was wood.  But it was steel.  So the changes I have already made took the model further from the original than closer.  Thus my being bummed.

 

I'll get over it.  And I may be able to hide the change I made by gluing the laminate keel in place before the 2nd planking and just plank over it.  But none of this should really matter if I am trying to stay true to the original because the entire hull was painted.  Many models leave some or all the wood planking exposed.  And I get that.  That's part of what attracted me to this model in the first place.  I love sailboats with clear finish over wood planked hulls.

 

The decision I have to make now is do I go in the direction of replicating the original the best I can?  Or do I make this MY boat and customize it in the way most pleasing to my eye?

[Julie Mo]

The last few days have been spent on the house but my thoughts have been with the next step in Sláinte.  Yes, I have decided to rename the boat and I'm going to make it in honor of my dad.  His sailboat was named Sláinte and on her I cut my teeth sailing. 

 

I am looking to beginning the 2nd planking but will deviate from the instructions quite a bit.  First of all, I am going to paint the bottom.  All my experience with sailboats says the bottom must be painted or yee will be scrapin' the like the bejeesus to get rid of them blasted barnacles. 

 

Next change will be to make topsides varnished wood.  But rather than following the plans, I am going to go in this direction

I will run the planking somewhat similar to the blue lines I drew on the hull.  I decided to place personal aesthetics over historical replication.  I don't plan on entering this in any contests.

[Julie Mo]

The more things change, the more they stay the same... or something like that.

 

Working on the mahogany keel, I was suddenly struck with serious apprehension about painting the bottom.

I'm working at the centerboard section, building it up in layers. 

 

After the glue dries, I trim the laminates.

 

 

My love of natural wood, I fear, won't allow me to paint over what I plan to be a very pretty mahogany keel.  Now I'm wondering if maybe I mill some pieces of different toned wood to create the waterline and other detailing of the hull.  I could mill Gabon ebony or maple or some other contrasting wood and use that instead of paint.  I really hate painting over pretty woods.

[Julie Mo]

As I was fitting the next laminate, I realized I had to sandwich a tapered laminate in between the previous and next pieces.  This was necessary to meet the profile of the centerboard.

If you look between the pink bands you can see where the tapered piece begins.  I had to feather it to paper thin and still it left a gap.  This will vanish in the finishing steps.

[Julie Mo]

As I'm checking options on the 2nd planking, Luke Skywalker comes in and starts showing off.     

 

[Nirvana]

I am glad Luke didn't separate your hull.

.. lol

[Julie Mo]

Before I begin the 2nd planking, I have to get the solid wood keel right.  The correct way to have done this would have been to build the keel into the skeleton, before the first plank was laid.  But the solid wood keel idea didn't pop into my head until after the 1st planking was almost done.  Next time...  And there may be a next time just so I can do this right.  

 

I worked this morning and some of last night getting the solid wood keel shaped correctly and closer to scale.  I'm sure any seasoned pro knew it was WAY too wide before just by looking at it.  Here's where I am now...

From the side profile, the keel is still to thick but I'll shape that after the 2nd planking is done.

 

Another idea thrown in the trash is using different woods to define the waterline and other places that would normally be painted.  As I was experimenting with angles to lay the 2nd planking, I realized no wood boat planking would ever be laid at an angle on the hull except for at the waterline, where it would be parallel to the water.  That change in plank orientation would weaken the hull.  So I'll run all the planks at the same angle and paint the waterline in after.

 

[captainbob]

Just finished reading your build log.  I love listening to your thought process as you go from one Idea to another.  You are doing a wonderful job.

 

Bob

[Julie Mo]

One of the things about the Endeavour kit I don’t understand is why make the centerboard functional but not the rudder?  Most times the model will sit on a stand and the centerboard will never be seen or even appear to be functional.  The rudder, however, will be accessible to anyone who can touch the model.

 

The Endeavour kit provided two (2) pieces of plywood that must be glued together to make the rudder.  The instructions showed the finished rudder to be glued to the hull after the plywood laminate was shaped and planked.  So why not just make the rudder out of a solid piece of wood?

 

I went to my stock and picked out what I thought was mahogany.  I took it to the bandsaw and rough shaped it and then continued the shaping on the spindle sander.  I realized pretty quickly I had taken a piece of Jatoba.  They make floors out of this stuff.  It’s commonly called Brazilian Cherry in the flooring business.  It’s pretty hard stuff.

 

I finally got the shape to something visually close to what a rudder should look like.  And then set in the need to make it functional.  Since I probably shouldn’t try to drill straight through the rudder and try to create a post, I drilled in from the keel and used that point to drill at the other end of the rudder.

 

I drove a small nail into the upper end (bottom in the picture) of the rudder and cut it and filed it to a point.  From the bottom of the keel I drilled a 1/16" hole at the angle of the rudder.

 

This is about as far as it goes now.

Some more shaping will be required.  I also need to find a brass or copper nail for the bottom of the rudder.  And there is a chance I'll be making up another one in genuine mahogany if the jatoba doesn't match wood tone with the keel wood.

 

Today the veneer came.  I got the chance to unroll it and inspect it.  It is very high quality veneer and the fumed etimoe is gorgeous!  Even if it doesn't work out as planking, I have plenty of projects to use it on.

[KeithAug]

Julie 

 

I found the rudder profile didn't blend very smoothly with the hull and keel which to me looked wrong. I adjusted the shape slightly as per photos.

 

[Julie Mo]

My thoughts exactly, Keith.  The solid wood piece I made obviously didn't fit the boat properly but was an exact duplicate of what was supplied in the kit.  Of course, I have made a modification with the solid wood keel but even shaping it to meet the rudder wouldn't work because the rudder is simply too short.  I'd sand right down to the frame.  The frame had already been modified to accept the solid wood keel.  I need to make a new rudder.

 

I was playing around with the mahogany veneer yesterday.  I cut a piece off the roll and started cutting planks.  Next was the trial run to see if what is in my mind's eye translates the same in the real world.

Immediately I noticed how much lighter the veneer was, even after coating it with mineral spirits.  I think I can work with that, though.  I'm okay with the keel being a different tone but I have to be careful not to introduce too many different tones.  That could be a disaster.

 

Visually, the grain looks to be fine regarding scale.  The veneer has a rough surface, like what would happen after wetting a wood.  Once sanded smooth, it should look much better.  The joints also need to be cleaned up so they butt up tight.

 

I've done very little veneering in my life but have been interested in getting more serious after seeing many of the veneer projects featured in Fine Woodworking articles over the years. 

 

Yesterday I did some reading and video watching.  One thing common in all the articles and videos was the use of hot hide glue.  Hide glue is very forgiving to work with but appears to set up reasonably fast.  If you make a mistake, just heat up the wood to loosen the glue.  Hide glue has been used in instrument making for hundreds of years and holds up wonderfully.  So I'm considering using hide glue on the 2nd planking.

 

There are some other ideas floating around in my head but I'll save those for another post...

[KeithAug]

Julie

 

I think I may have said that I contemplated diagonal planking. The thought I had was to lay the plank immediately in front of the rudder first - following the natural line of the keel at that position - this is in the other direction from that you are considering - not that it matters but you might want to consider the pros and cons. You also might like to try a few trial planks at the position of maximum beam - these planks will have to describe a shallow "S" shape and this should be quite an interesting planking exercise.

[Julie Mo]

Keith, thank you for your input.  It's always appreciated and makes me step back and look at the build from a different perspective. 

 

To explain my reasons for going in the direction I am, I guess it's necessary to discuss some of those ideas that have been popping in my head.

 

As I envision the finished hull, it becomes apparent that most people who see the finished model will be viewing it from a purely aesthetic point of view.  Few, other than those who understand boat construction, would notice any deviation from boat building standards.  So, at the risk of making the purists cringe, here goes...

 

Starting at the deck edge, lay two (2) mahogany planks parallel to the deck edge.  Add one (1) fumed etimoe plank parallel and directly beneath.  At the waterline, run one (1) mahogany plank running immediately above the waterline and two (2) etimoe planks parallel to and above the mahogany.  In between that, lay the mahogany planks diagonally.  The lighter mahogany would be bordered by the darker etimoe.

 

Fumed etimoe  &  Mahogany veneers

 

Below the waterline I would use the dark planking supplied with the kit.  Then I would sand and spray lacquer on the hull, leaving the wood natural.  No painting is planned.

 

Still trying to get a good mental image of that, though.  The only part that "looks" wrong in that mental image is the planking below the waterline.  Maybe that would need to be run parallel to the diagonal mahogany planking.

 

See what happens when a woodworker in love with the natural beauty of wood meets the world of model making?  Worlds collide!

[Julie Mo]

I couldn't get a good mental image looking at the model upside down so I flipped it...

 

I also tried to bend a mahogany plank to follow the waterline.  It was doable until I got to the stern, then... NO WAY that's happening.  Time to put the thinking cap back on.  Maybe I'll stick with diagonal all the way.

[KeithAug]

Julie

 

Your plan seems quite adventurous. If the waterline band is to look parallel when viewed from the side it has to be much wider at the stern (and a little wider at the bow) to compensate for the hull curvature. I think you could do a planked waterline of a few planks width but it would take a lot of shaping of the planks. 

[RichardG]

See what happens when a woodworker in love with the natural beauty of wood meets the world of model making?  Worlds collide!

 

I like that!

 

This is one collision I am looking forward to seeing 

 

Although I don't a great deal of woodworking, I've loved wood since I was a kid (both as a tree and material). I do very much admire the non-wood models you see on this site, but for me it's not the same.

 

All the best,

Richard.