Joe100

Oh that’s yours? That’s a legendary model indeed. I have some photos of it permanently saved in my “awesome models” file.

You probably won’t find a more enthusiastic Shackleton enthusiast than myself. I’ve collected documents written by him, in his own hand, items he personally used on the furthest south Nimrod expedition, first edition books, etc etc. Collecting items belonging to Shackleton is a passion of mine. With that said, I can’t really understand this expedition. I’m certainly all for it, and I hope they succeed in all their aims, but Endurance isn’t an unknown. We have very detailed information about her sinking, photos, film, so it’s not like we have too many unanswered questions except for her true position position. I was discussing this subject with a friend once the second attempt got underway. He and I couldn’t come up with a major question we felt we’d like to see answered from finding the wreck. It’s pretty clear that she was smashed to pieces, and other than the debris on the bottom of the ocean, she won’t be some sort of perfectly preserved Time Capsule sadly. Of course they’ll find items from the expedition, and I certainly hope some can be recovered, fascinating no less. I think ticking her off the list is fine, but there might be other ships that ticked off first. And this coming from the most fanatical Shackleton enthusiast you’ll come across ‘round these parts. I do feel there are two wrecks in the Southern Hemisphere which would be much more interesting. The first being the American bark General Grant, which was lost off Auckland Island in 1866. She was carrying a large quantity of personal gold being carried by her passengers and possibly, though disputed, a large shipment of gold bullion. This bullion is often thought to be a legend but it is interesting because on the manifest it was listed as zinc spelter ballast, which I’m told wasn’t common in New Zealand or Australia at the time. What is known is that she did have something like 3000 ounces of private gold aboard. Not only did the disaster suffer considerable loss of life, her survivors became castaways for almost a year, which in itself is one hell of a story. I think she’s worth finding. Secondly, with all the other missing wrecks being found recently, and quickly becoming the Everest of missing ships has to be the missing ocean liner SS Waratah of the Blue Anchor Line. Waratah disappeared on her second voyage in 1909 off the coast of South Africa. Little wreckage was ever found, none of which could be positively identified as having come from Waratah. No bodies were found, it was as if the 500’ ocean liner sailed to Mars. The subsequent search for her was one of the biggest searches at sea ever conducted, covering most of the area between South Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. Absolutely fascinating stuff, maddeningly perplexing, but still fascinating nonetheless. There are a couple theories about why she sank, and maybe we could start a new thread if there is interest. I can bore you to tears with discussions about Waratah! Anyway, Waratah has certainly moved up to the top, or near the top of the list. As I said above, I wish the Endurance search team all the best, and I’ll be the first to congratulate them on their success. I’ll be properly excited if they do find her. However, I do feel that energy could be put into other missing ships, especially Waratah and General Grant.

Absolutely gorgeous! I built S/Y Endurance in a pocket watch case a number of years ago in 1/1250

It’s difficult to articulate just how beautiful this model is.

I’m following this one, this is some extremely well done work.

Looking so nice! I might suggest keeping any deck weathering to a minimum. These decks were kept pristine almost all the time, unless you have specific photos to suggest otherwise. I like the black paint scheme a lot, so different than what we’re used to.

I know we’ve discussed this before, but I don’t understand why card hasn’t caught on in some parts of the world. This is turning out awesome as usual.

There is nothing more satisfying than a good card model build log!

I keep coming back to this, absolutely gorgeous!! So well executed. That sledge, sigh, I’m so envious I didn’t have that idea first!

I always love an Alert build, and this one is no exception. I scratch built a diorama of her about 2 years ago, and it was one of my favorite models. Something pleasing about those lines.

This really is a fantastic log, I hadn’t considered this project in the past, but I may build one as a nod to the NRG. Thank you!

Yeah the Anatomy book gets you close, but there are some details that are incorrect based on some of the more knowledgeable folks here. It’s fine for my purposes, but I will be checking my rigging against a couple other books I have in the library. Sadly nothing contemporary exists concerning the paint scheme of the ship. Blue has always remained a possibility, but I’ve always had a hunch they just used black. Bounty was so unremarkable in her appearance, that, well, no one remarked on it. She retained her civilian colors almost certainly, as Bligh would have been responsible for the cost if he’d wanted her repainted, and seeing as he was on this voyage to promote himself professionally, I don’t see him being in the position to do it anyway. We do know that the RN had her in hand for the removal of the iron fittings, coppering of the hull, stepping masts, and installation of bronze hardware, and at that time her paint would have been touched up. I’m sure folks here will be much more knowledgeable but I’m not sure blue was even in use by the RN at the time. Since Bethia was almost new anyway, and being a collier, I think black really is the most likely. I’d be absolutely grateful to be shown otherwise though. I saw a model of Bounty recently, and the builder chose to paint the entire hull black, it was extremely fetching! Bligh takes us tantalizingly close in his journal, but like so many Bounty details we get just enough for us to want more.

Isn’t that vexing? We’re tantalizing close to an answer there and he glosses over it. He could have inserted just a couple words, and bang, we would have known her paint scheme. So close, yet so far.

I know the feeling there. You think you’ve done it right and someone comes along and informs that you’ve made an error. We’re only as good as our research materials in the end I guess. I’ll be the first to admit that the period before 1890 isn’t my strong point. My Bounty will certainly contain errors. In a previous life i consulted on and helped write several books on the Kriegsmarine, and that knowledge has stuck over the years. I often see models of say Bismarck or Tirpitz with pop culture research errors, and I just let them go, unless the specifically ask for my opinion. In those cases the research has been dodgy form the start, repeated over and over until it’s considered fact, even when it isn’t. Bounty falls in that weird problem area of research, where she’s been written about to death, but the facts about the actual ship are contained in a few contemporary sheets of paper, literally. How could anyone have known that this throw-away mission was going to become one of the most famous stories ever told? If they had, someone might have written down a few details and saved us all this trouble! Of course I’m loving how this model is turning out. She looks so much more official in that paint scheme too, and I’m glad I’m doing something similar with mine. I may have missed it, but have you settled on a color for the figurehead?

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous!

So glad this is turning out to be awesome! Smooth sailing on a sweet subject

Now that is fantastic! Glad the tip worked, it’s really a great addition.

Excellent update!

It’s good to have you here friend! Of course your Hood is absolutely stunning, and the research is top-notch. By the time the other details of the paint scheme are worked out, I think we’ll have the most accurate model of Hood in existence. For everyone else: EJF and I have known each other for going on 20 years now and all I can say is that MSW will have gained yet another top researcher and modeler. best regards, Joe

Excellent! The stripes are really what makes the model look unique. So many folks do the stripes on the hull but not the superstructure, which is a scheme she was only in for a matter of hours. Bismarck is one of those subjects that fascinated me when I was younger. I was lucky enough to be a contributor to a few books on her over the years, so if you have any questions about her design, feel free to inbox me. I can tell you boring facts about this class of ships until you turn blue

Now this is going to be gooooood.

Dammit! I was drinking some coffee when I read this, now I have to clean coffee off of my phone. Well played! That was funny,

I guess I should clarify. Real sailors had to intervene when they turned a ship over to O’Brien, thinking he knew what he was doing.

Oh yes, O’Brien certainly had a dark side. It’s also interesting to note that although he claimed to have sailed on large sailing ships, and the prodigious, intricate detail about sailing in his books, it seems he had no practical knowledge of sailing in real life. There are a couple examples where real sailors had to intervene to prevent disaster. It does seem that he was good at reading about how ships worked and incorporating these details into his novels. Several folks are on record that they don’t believe he had ever been to sea. It does follow once you read about the rest of the lies he told.

I believe this is the stuff I used. https://deluxematerials.co.uk/products/perfect-plastic-putty?_pos=1&_sid=9e19f0c1d&_ss=r