ca.shipwright

Greetings to all, I can see that Endeavour holds special esteem for you folks Down Under. No wonder, she had a remarkable voyage. Glad to see someone else opting to use solid bow filler blocks. I am going to use boxwood and cherry to make as much of the deck furniture that I can. These hardwoods hold a much sharper edge for cutting and carving than the kit soft woods. Now, it's off to final dry fit and glue up of the hull frame. Regards Michael

On another note. I need to enlarge the AOS drawings to 1:60 from 1:96, 1:48 and 1:72. My math has deserted me I need the enlargement ratios. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Greetings, This is my first build log and my third wooden ship model The Armed Virginia Sloop and Benjamin W. Latham being the first two. I choose HMB Endeavour as a build because I was lucky enough to visit the replica when it stopped in Oxnard, California, several years ago. I was very impressed and put this kit on the list for a future build. To begin, the usual kit inventory was conducted, and, it appeared that all material was present. I was especially impressed with the Corel draughts, They were printed on very heavy weight stock and nice and clear. Especially helpful were the isometric assembly drawings. The smaller assemblies were printed in over scale rather than 1:1 for clarity. The directions are a challenge. It's read and read again. When I finally got the syntax used in the instructions, things became much clearer. They reference the drawing numbers as well as part numbers for each assembly step which is a huge help. The center keel and bulkheads are a soft plywood, the sub-decks are a walnut plywood which actually fir over the bulkhead extensions with minimum adjustment- a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure I like the bow filler treatment Corel Uses. It still leaves a considerable void. I would prefer the solid carved block and I may go this route instead. I'm still trying to decide how I will do the rabbet. There is no mention on this in Corel's instructions. From the plans , it looks like the sides and the bottom of the keel is boxed below the bottom of the bulkheads producing a rabbet of sorts. Any ideas with the rabbet would be greatly appreciated. Dry fitted all of the hull parts and now it's on to the glue up Pictures will follow.

Hello Charlene, It was only last week that I was wondering what happened to the Bounty that I surrendered to J.G. It was good to finally see it on the slips. I hope you enjoy the build as much as others in this hobby. Say hello to the mate for me. Regards,

Look for a captains chair in a second hand or Goodwill store for the Mastini booster. $5-10 tops

When I visited HMS Victory, the canons in he great cabin were lined up against the outer hull. I hope this helps

Bob Hunt has opened the Practicum forums to anyone who is interested. I have his Victory practicum. I could not build the model without it. No commercial ties etc.

Go to Lauckstreetshipyard.com and look at the practicum that Bob Hunt wrote. Takes you step by step and is indispensable for this build. He has a forum dedicated to the Connie with some spectacular builds. No interest in LSS other than a satisfied cutomer.

David, re: your May 10, 2015 post. I do believe you do have the template misaligned. On the aft view on the plans is a broken vertical line on the hull on what would be the rudder post. This is the centerline of the drawing. On the template, you will see a line C/L. That is also the centerline. The two should coincide. The little R on the template is the rabbet location. I would use the plan drawing only to identify to which station the template belongs. The hull shape is going to come off the template. I know this post is a little late but hope it will cure some of the confusion. Regards Michael Z.

Bob Hunt at lauckstreetshipyard.com has written a practicum on this kit. It is highly kit-bashed. If you purchase his practicum you will have access to a private forum with many build logs. Michael

Nice to have you back Pete. Enjoy San Diego. FYI There are more retired Admirals living in San Diego then served in all of WWII

In this kit the stern of the Connie is narrower than the beam (width) at its widest. Keeping in mid you want to have the same number of planks at both widest beam and the stern. It stands to reason that the width of the aft planks has to be reduced. Starting where the beam of the ship begins to narrow, you sand the width of the planks a little. You can get an exact measurement of the width needed by dividing the width of the area to be planked at the stern by the number of planks needed at the widest beam. For example: the widest beam is 6" and it takes 48 planks 1/8" wide the stern is 4" and it takes 48 planks 2/3 the width of a plank at the 6" beam (4/6) so, the planks at the rear are 2/3 the width of the planks at the widest beam 2/3 of 1/8 is 1/12. That's the math of the subject. 1/12 is not a nice number. Let's do this another way. The eye is a pretty good measuring device. Take a plank and at the very back, mark the surface into 1/3 and 2/3. Draw a line from where the beam starts to narrow to the end and sand off the 1/3 side. You will have to adjust as you go along as you get toward the last planks. Begin with the center plank and work outwards to the bulworks. Lay one plank on either side as you go, eyeballing the space left to guide you. It's easier than it sounds. I hope this helps.

Hi, Your Niagara is exceptional, as good as the Niagara I saw at the west coast show on the Queen Mary. I was so impressed with the beauty of this ship. I bought one from Model Expo the next day. It's in the queue in the drydock.

You may want to investigate a pair of surgeon's loops- expensive. On the other hand, Model Expo sells a headband with a light and 4 different focal lengths that is very inexpensive and doesn't stick out as much as the Opti-visor.

If you are into saving money, then buy the Jim Byrnes saw. It will pay for itself over time. Buy the thickness sander. It will pay for itself over time. If you buy it and don't feel you are using it enough, it will be easy to sell with out much loss. It also comes under the heading of "build it and they will come"

I agree with Danny. The Jim Byrne' Table saw. Except for ripping blanks, everything else can be done with a hand tool and elbow grease.

Great way to make copper plates. One question I have is: do the nail heads sit proud of the copper plate or are they recessed like you show? If they are raised, do you think you can turn the tape over and punch the paper side to get this affect. Bye the way, this series on plate making would make a great single topic reference posting. I just stumbled across you post and am very glad I found it.

Hi Pete, I'm glad to see you are back and working on the Newsboy. Now maybe I can finish it. Regards Michael

After breaking several on the bulkhead extensions, I cut them all off. I then remade them, re-glued them using CA. This produces a "weld" that won't break off. As I set them in place, I followed the outboard line of the deck, facing them so no sanding would be necessary to make the outboard side ready for the bullworks planking. I am going to start a build log here as soon as I can find out how to resize the pictures to make them smaller.

You can "paint with wood". You can use bloodwood for the bulworks and gun port framing. You can use boxwood which is creamy color along with ebony for the Victory stripes. Or, if you don't or can't use ebony you can ebonize boxwood with a black sharpie and Wipe on Poly. I have seen ship painted, natural or both. The most interesting was a model of the Endevour with just the royal blue stripe above the wales. Very pretty. Michael

I have used a black jumbo waterproof Sharpie for ebonizing boxwood. I used 3 coats, letting them dry between applications. Then apply a rub on polyeurethane product. Buff out with a soft cloth. Of course, it's best if the wood has been cut and shaped to the finished dimensions before starting the ebonizing procedure. You can also do the same procedure with long pieces. You then cut them to finished size and touch up the edges. Either way worked for me.