Captain Slog

Hi Mick, thanks for the kind words but don’t be hard on yourself. I also look at the work of others then look at mine and feel the same way. As long as you are enjoying yourself then its all good. Hi Greg I wasn’t going to rig the booms, as far as I can tell there is no rigging on them in the stored position but probably wrong on this. The AOTS does show little wooden cleats (nailed?) on to them. I only remembered about them after finishing the varnish so choose to leave them off. The booms can be removed and refitted at the end if necessary. I am spending my time doing all the little bits and pieces I can as putting off doing the masting. I don’t really have the space at the moment working off the end of the kitchen table and have to tidy up and pack away after each build session. Thanks Jeff, had a look at your latest build and looking good, certainly different from the other section builds, I don’t think I have came across a bow section before. I have today, the weekend and the Monday off so hopefully will be able to tinker away a bit. I thought I would do some more work on the cannons and thought I would try blackening the barrels since I seem to have found a process that has worked for me so far. Did the usual 10mm soak in the acid and after rinsing again 2 minutes in the blackening solution. The photo below shows 2 barrels, one how it looks after chemical blackening and after buffing with a soft cloth. Quite pleased with the result as it almost shows how a blackened barrel and a painted barrel would look like as I was previously going to paint them. Happy I didn’t. The 4 pounders waiting for their carriages. Cheers Slog

Hi guys, Only made a small bit of progress lately what with long hours at work, jobs for the Admiral, the release of GTA V and the BF4 beta and a dozen more things vying for my time I managed to secure the rest of the chains and did the Lower Main Studding Sail Boom. Okay all the chains are finally secured to the hull on both sides. I mentioned previously of an issue which would raise its ugly head. Not all the chains terminate in a preventer link so attached them as per the plans. On the main channel, 3rd link in, there is a preventer link left off as the chain link is fixed above a hatch. Well as can be seen despite not having a preventer link it joins the hull below the hatch essentially making the hatch useless. As far as I am aware I did place the hatches as per the plan measurements so something is off, me, the plans or both. Oh well another lesson learned. Not to bothered as it gets lost in the general busyness of the area. Here are the components for making the lower main studding sail boom. 3mm dowel cut to 125mm, 4 photo etch brackets, cast white metal hoop brackets (which I replaced) and 1mm brass rod for the hinges. I ended up using 0.8mm instead. For the booms the plans say to cut the 3mm dowel to 125mm and the plans show an obvious taper to them, which I reckoned to be 2mm at the end. I cut them over length and stuck them into the drill press and whilst running at the fastest speed used some 240 paper to sand them down to a taper. Once done they were cut to the final length. There was quite a discussion on the cast metal hoop brackets the kit supplies on Kenr’s Endeavour log in MSW 1.0 with the agreement that in real life the booms wouldn’t be able to be released from the hoops. The solution was to cut the cast hoop in half and pin it to the channel so the boom could sit in it. I thought this was an opportunity to do some more silver soldering so cut strips of brass sheet the width of the bracket and bent round the boom and trimmed. The new brass hoops were then silver solder to the bracket. The AOTS shows that both ends of the boom have metal banding round them so simulated this with the supplied black cartridge paper using PVA applied to the paper strips with a paint brush. The 0.8mm wire was bent to the shape on the plans and a hole drilled into the end of the boom. I tried yet another stain and this time it is Cabots Maple satin Stain/Varnish which is getting closer to what I am after colour wise. The iron (brass)work was treated to 10 minutes in hydrochloric acid, then rinsed with water followed by 2 minutes in Birchwood Casey Brass Black bought from the local gun shop then rinsed again followed by a gentle rubbing with a soft cloth. The finished lower main studding sail boom. I can lift the boom off but will at a later stage lash it down to the hoop bracket for permanent fixing. Cheers Slog

Hi Mike, Looking good. Got to ask though, you have the companion way down on the mid deck where the ships boats would go. All references, kits, replica's etc I have seen has it up on the rear deck beside the capstan? Lantern is a nice touch! Cheers Slog

Hi Greg, your rigging looks great as well as the jeer blocks, look real and business like. I like that area of rigging at the mast top where all the shrouds and stays come together. Cheers Slog

Hi Mike, Your longboat turned out really nice. I also like your companion hatch. I thought about doing redoing my one similar to what you have done but stuck with the kit supplied one as will never finish if i keep going back over previous stuff. Fantastic stuff. Cheers Slog

Hi Edward, I think you should contact Jotika as Steve says as they have included the wrong cannon in your kit. I just measured mine and they are a total of 26mm long and the cascabel is little pointy stubs not the big round ones as per your photo. (check out the photo of the cannon in my log to see the difference. The carriage bodies are approximately 17mm long but they come from a sheet of ply containing many parts so they should be alright assuming they supplied the correct sheet. Cheers Slog

Hi Edward, Looking forward to following your build. Cheers Slog

Hi Mick, progressing well. As Alistair says, paper/card is the way to go. I used paper for my cannonade posts. Caldercraft supply a sheet of black cartridge paper with there kit but like you I wanted to use brass so bought some brass sheets to make all these things out of and guess what ended up using the black paper where ever I could! Cheers Slog

Hi Alistair, thanks for dropping by. I checked out Chucks carriages and cannon and although they look fantastic the smallest he has are 6 pounders compared to the Endeavour peashooter 4 pounders. I did measure the cannon supplied and they are about 3-4mm shorter than Chucks. My worry is they will be to big to fit under the roughtree rails. I think I will perserver with the supplied ones first and see how they turn out. Hopefully once cleaned up and painted they should pass muster, if not can always try Chucks ones. HI Ross, exciting times receiving a new model. Hope you start a build log. Although I lost all my progress photos from box opening to second layer planking just ask and will help where I can. Looking forward to seeing it. Thanks Mick, I think a fairly local hobby shop sells 0.3mm piano wire which I check out and there is a jewelry supply store close to work which I will try also. Sam, thanks for the kind words, yup this is my 1st wood ship build. Did the usual plastic planes and tanks as a kid but straight out the box and painted with whatever was at hand LOL I know what you mean about build logs, there is so much nice work out there not forgetting the hints and tips gleaned from them I feel guilty about not posting on them more. Hi Pierre, you do yourself an injustice, the photos you posted of your build look fantastic and certainly not slap dash! Cheers Slog

Hi Mick, You are progressing well. Your 'white stuff' looks nice and straight. I do believe various bits of running rigging were tied off on the samson posts (think the correct term is timberheads?) but can't be sure as still far off from that point. I have been at my build for over 3 years on and off so don't worry about progress. I to enjoy doing deck furniture which has influenced my next potential build. Cheers Slog

Hi guys, Thanks for the nice comments, they are much appreciated. In my household no one understands, takes an interest or appreciates the effort, blood, sweet and tears that we go through in building these models so comments like the above are very encouraging. Mick, I guess with these kinds of kits we are always at the mercy of what the manufacturer supply us with. I weigh up using and doing what and how the kit says and what others on here have done or embellishing kit parts based on others and the AOTS. Example being Steve (shipaholic) has put in the correct bend to his bowsprit but I think that is beyond me and will just do it straight like the plans say. At the end of the day we do this for pleasure and as long as we learn and try to improve for the next model its all good. I sometimes wish I could start this one over again as my ‘foundation’ (hull) isn’t the best and causing/will cause problems and compromises down the track. Example being a clash between chain links and airing port placement as discovered earlier today. LOL Not much progress done today as time isn’t permitting. I started securing the chain links and preventers to the hull just to show how I am doing it. These are going to take a while and will try and do a couple at a time as time allows. I previously bought some railway track pins to use as ‘bolts’ earlier in the build and the smaller thinner ones fit nicely into the holes in the preventer strap. Not sure if you can see from the photo but I tried to show a preventer strap side on to show how there is a recess (rebate?) on one end. This fits over the top of a similar recess on the chain link to form a halving type of joint. This is a nice touch by Caldercraft as it is exactly how the AOTS shows. I just need to remember to ensure I fitted the chain links the right way round in the channels to ensure the 2 halves fit together. Here is how I attached them to the hull. Firstly strung a length of thread through the middle hole in the deadeye and pulled it up to the correct (hopefully) height on the dowel placed in the mast hole. As you can see the deadeye pulled up off the channel but this is okay as it gets pulled back down. Secondly I bent the bottom of the link with the recess/hole at an angle where it fits against the hull then using a needle in the pin vise, I placed it in the hole and pulled the deadeye back down and once happy the angle was correct, following the thread, pushed the needle into the hull to mark the pin location. Using a drill and the pin vice made the hole for the pin. I pushed the pin into the assembly and then pressed fully home into the hull hopefully putting the final correct bend on o the bottom preventer. To glue I pulled the pin back out a bit and using CA glue applied with a needle coated the pin shaft, the back edge of the preventer link where it touches the hull before pushing the pin fully home again. The following photos just show progress to date. The long preventer links on the larger deadeyes were done similarly but when I pushed the unglued assembly home I then angled the preventer link to the correct position to drill the bottom hole. To glue I pulled both pins out slightly and applied CA glue again with the needle to surfaces that touch each other or the hull and then pushed both pins fully home again. I had planned on fully rigging the cannon but as the smallest rings I have are the copper supplied ones (chemically blacked) there is no way these will all fit on the tiny carriage. As mentioned by Steve on his log I might try seeing how small I can make my own but at the moment haven’t got any wire smaller than 0.5mm which looking at the photo below looks as thick as an arm! Cheers Slog

Hi Ron, Looking good. Looks like you are on the home ward stretch now. Cheers Slog

Hi Steve, Your rigged cannon look incredible. I have my carriages together (they are 17mm long) but can't see how I could possibly have room to fit the rings and eye bolts on to them like yours though. cheers Slog

Wow, your painting skills are superb. Between your stern and the earlier panels you are quite the artist. Cheers Slog

Hi, Mick, the chains and plates supplied by Caldercraft are good in that they match the same style as described in the AOTS book as well as the Endeavour replica. The ones I made were to replace the supplied ones but still match the style of the originals. Not sure how the OcCre ones look like but perhaps as Alistair says might be easier to buy suitable ones. Okay a bit of progress on the channels and deadeye chains. The instructions/plans say to glue a strip of 1.5mm square walnut stock on the edge of the channels. A couple of problems with this in that the plywood channels are actually 2mm thick?! Also the supplied 1.5mm walnut strip stock is pretty poor being splintery as well as…well not very square. Its more diamond shaped and pretty rough. So did it slightly different if not a bit longer to do. To hold the deadeyes in place in the channel notches I dabbed a tiny amount of CA glue, using a needle, on to the strop and placed them in the notches. I only used enough glue to hold them in place temporarily until the channel edge strip is in place trapping the strop in the channel. Once completed a small tweek broke the glue bound and left the deadeyes free with in the notch as planned. Instead of using the 1.5mm stock as instructed I decided to use some 1.5mm x 5mm lime planking left over from the first layer of hull planking for a number of reasons. Firstly it is much more flexible being able to bend more easily against the edge of the channel and much more easily to work with. I ripped the 5mm width down to 2.5mm so that the edges were proud slightly of the channel as well accommodating the slight bow of the main and fore channels. Once the channel edge strips were glued on using CA glue I used a single edge razor blade to pare the strip edges down flush with the channel surfaces. Because the deadeyes are free floating in the notches I could lift them up to clear the blade. Edge strips in place, parred down and painted to match the channels. Again I could lift the deadeyes up to paint the topside and pull the chains up to paint the undersides. Next step now is to place a dowel in the mast holes and run some thread (to simulate the shrouds) from the height of the mast tops down past the deadeyes to get the correct angle of the chain and preventer links before fixing to the hull with nails. With the deadeyes being free I can pull them down on to the channels before securing with nails through the preventer links so that the deadeyes won’t pull up when the lanyards and shrouds put tension on them. Well that’s the plan. Cheers Slog

Looking very good Steve. I like the heavy rigging on and around the bowsprit. Cheers Slog

Hi guys, Thank you all for your comments. I actually found the whole process of making the chains very enjoyable and rewarding. The decision to do them all again was met with enthusiasm. This was the polar opposite of trying to get the supplied photo etch parts to work which was very frustrating. Now if only I can find other bits and pieces needing soldering Cheers Slog

Hi, A bit more progress on the deadeye strops and chains. After soldering all the links from the post above, I tried my hand at brass blackening using Birchwood Caseys Brass Black from the local gunshop. They initially looked very good but as soon as I started handling them the black flaked and rubbed off. I knew this was down to insufficient cleaning of the links as at the time I just gave them a rub with a brass bristle brush. I found it easier to just snip all the rings off the supplied photo etch chain plates (to keep and reuse) and bin the links and redo them all again. I didn't mind as I was enjoying the soldering and also used the opportunity to replace the large 0.7mm strops with 0.5mm as decided they looked better. Once I re-soldered all 40 assemblies (again)and pre-bent to shape it was time to sort the blackening. I bought a small bottle of Hydrochloric acid (Please be careful using the acid if you try this) from Bunnings and soaked them all for a minimum of 10 minutes occasionally agitating them. After rinsing in water I dropped them into a 50:50 solution of blackening and water varying the times between 2 and 4 minutes (never noticed any difference). After rinsing again and drying I used a soft bristle paint brush to rub them against a cloth. I inserted the deadeye and did a final squeeze to shape. The blackening seems to have worked but still get left with black fingers when handling but at least it doesn't all come off. I found the black was easily scratched though. Picture shows all 40 assemblies. From the 80 solder joints I had 2 failures when I gave them the final squeeze. Not to bad really. Picture shows the 3 different sizes used. Top is the mizzen mast shrouds, middle is the Fore and main mast back stays and bottom is the fore and main mast shrouds. Also been working on other bits and pieces I did the binnacle tie downs which was an exercise in frustration. I used a thin Gutermann thread from the local Spotlight store to try seizing (thanks Shipaholic for pointing me there). Also alternating between the chains and cannons. All the carriage parts are from a walnut ply sheet which after cutting free and tidying up they don’t look to bad. As Caldercraft use CNC for cutting there materials I need to use a small needle file next to remove the round bottoms of the slots on the axle parts and the carriage sides so they sit flush. I think the 4 pounder barrels look very nice although can’t vouch for size or accuracy but looks good. Cheers Slog

Hi Mick, For the rudder I was able to attach mine but it was removable if need be. When it came time to paint the white, I attached it so I could get the water line to flow straight across the hull and rudder together so the line was...in-line right through. I left the rudder on to apply the Tamiya masking tape front one end to the other for the same reason as above. Once this was I done I removed the rudder for masking up and painting separately knowing when I reattach it the paint line will be level across the gap. Not sure if OcCre allows the rudder to be shipped/unshipped once done. Cheers Slog

Hi Mick, you are coming along in leaps and bounds but I got to agree with Alistair about holding off with the white. I left doing mine until all the man handling was finished with. Now I can safely leave it in the cloth protected cradle to do all the little details and attachments. You have still a lot of manipulating to do with channels and rails etc. Cheers Slog

Hi guys, Ron, judging by your log you won’t be far off starting your Endeavour as its coming along great guns. Back in post#50 I started doing the deadeye strops and chain links as supplied on the photo etch sheet and it was going well until I tried fitting and securing the strops around the deadeyes. I don’t understand the method Caldercraft use with the little tabs sticking out and after struggling to shape and glue the strops it didn’t come close to looking acceptable and I questioned how secure the twisted and CA glued joint would be. So scrapped that idea and decided it was time to try my hand at Silver (hard) soldering!!! With Father’s Day coming up I decided to get my soldering equipment early . The torch and the butane gas refill I got from the local Bunnings store. The Charcoal block and the ‘easy’ silver solder paste (65% - 690 degrees C) I got from a Jewellery supply store on Hay Street, Perth which is only a 10 minute walk from the work office. http://jewellerssupplies.com.au/ . The web site says it will be selling on-line at some stage but they have AJS shops in Australian state capitals. Using the supplied photo etch components I worked out the required lengths for the large and small deadeye strops and the large and small chain links. Once I knew the lengths I worked out the required circumferences for each size and component. The idea is to make a serious of rings for jointing and then bending to shape. After annealing the wire I wrapped it round the appropriate diameter mandrel. Here are the 4 different diameters for large and small strops and chain links. Once I knew the diameter required I measured everything round I could find and ended up with a couple of hollow punches, a drill bit and a screw driver shaft. Here are all the cut rings. I used a Stanley knife to cut the coils in to rings. I used 0.5mm brass rod for the small strops and both chain links. The large strops I used 0.7mm rod. Using the plans I scribbled notes on business cards so I can build up the correct amount of assemblies using the 4 ring sizes and 2 chain plate size combinations. Here are the 8 assemblies needed for the mizzen mast channels. The rings have been assembled and a small amount of paste applied to the 2 joints of each assembly and placed on the charcoal block ready for soldering. The solder paste comes in a syringe with a 0.5mm nozzle but I squeezed a small amount out on to card and used a needle held in the pin vise to apply a smidgen round each joint. After practicing using the torch to anneal the wire and light cigarettes it was time to see how my first silver soldering is going to turn out. I turned the flame down to the lowest setting and applied it to each assembly in turn. It only took 1 to 2 seconds for the brass to heat up and the paste to turn silver and flow out. That’s all it took Here is my very first attempt at silver soldering . Photo shows them straight from the flame I haven’t cleaned them up at all. I was surprised and expected to do a lot of filing Okay, only another 32 to do. I will clean them up and roughly bend to shape, the strops round the deadeye and the chain links into lozenges. I will try blackening them next and then once that’s done place the deadeye in and squeeze to final shape. If you have been thinking about silver soldering, I say go for it as I found it very rewarding, although the work in the photos above took a couple of hours for about 10 seconds of soldering Cheers Slog

Hi Greg, Its really coming together now, looking very nice. Cheers Slog

Hi Loblolly, I am building the Caldercraft/Jokita Endeavour and my walnut strip was/is pretty poor also (as well as a good quantity of the tangyka Spelling? decking) Although walnut may not be the best choice of wood it is my humble opinion that Caldercraft suffer from poor quality walnut and have for sometime. I have read quite a few logs for the past few years where the quality of Caldercraft walnut has been questioned. One of which was started 11 years ago! I have also followed many Amati/Victory Model kits using walnut and looked on in envy at how much better there strip walnut is, being much sharper and 'solid'. Having said that Caldercraft solid sheet and ply sheet walnut is top notch. Don't get me wrong, I think Caldercraft kits are excellent and indeed my next kit is a toss up between their HMS Agamemnon or Model Shipways Charles W Morgan so definitely hasn't put me off I just wish someone from Jotika visited this site to see there is an issue (in my opinion). You might want to share your work by starting a log. Cheers Slog

Hi Greg, Not really sure, but on page 102 of the AOTS #21, 23 and 43 mention yard arm tackle pendant and yardarm tackle which looks like blocks with a hook on the end. Perhaps the boats were lifted with these and then the yards squared up again so the hung over the water? Cheers Slog

Hi George, A very clean and sharp build. Nice Cheers Slog