Fernando E

Third quadrant, at the stern: 
 

 
These maple wood strips are interesting. They are extremely flexible, allowing you to espouse pretty much all shapes, which comes handy at the stern.
In addition, after gluing them, especially when using Titebond Quick glue, the wood need to be "burnished" to embrace the exact shapes of the support. It is like burnishing a thin sheet of copper and is very unusual in the way it reacts. I am using an ice cream stick to do all the burnishing. The wood of the stick is hard and smooth and does not damage the thin planking.
 
Multiple coats of Wipe-On-Poly have been applied and the stern is now hard and extremely smooth to the touch. The blue color is Cerulean Blue by Liquitex (Acrylic) and that is the color I like the most after trying about 4 other Royal blues, and other blues from Model Shipways and Tamiya. I find the traditional Royal blues way too dark for my taste. On top of that blue, various decals will be applied, since the freezes on these  vessels were painted and not carved.
 
Yves

The stern planking has been completed: 
 

 

 
Now, it is time to move to the copper tiles... I am quite apprehensive about it.
 
Yves

Little update...
 
I now have another 5 boats available:
 
Cutters:
20 foot
22 foot
24 foot
25 foot
 
And a 36 Foot Admirals Barge
 
Ship’s Boats (various types) – VANGUARD MODELS
 
Thanks to James Hatch!
 
Also, I started Indefatigable designs a few weeks ago, and am currently nailing the hull designs. Throughout all this, I have had terrible toothache, culminating in tooth removal yesterday, so still feel like a bear with a sore head...
 
The pics show the very first assembly of the first parts I cut for Indy, and other pics show the second cut of modified parts. Hull design is now set in stone, so onto deck and bulwark stuff.
 
I decided to include full deck beams to scale, also scale distance for the upper and poop decks. I am still working on these.
 
The only parts that are glued on the assembly are the gunport parts.
 
This is quite large...

The second Planking of the bow is now completed. The wood has been covered with multiple coats of Wipe-On-Poly and is hard and smooth to the touch.
 

 

 

 
Now, to the stern..... It will not be so easy....
 
Yves

And thus, we are starting the delicate (for me) double planking task. I am doing one quadrant at a time and started by the easier (relatively speaking) bow. 
 
Before: 
 

 
And after: 
 

 

 
This is not perfect and will probably ruffle the feathers of the experts, but it does look good to me after a nice coat of Wipe-On-Poly on top.
 
Yves

Another steps that I am adding and which is not described in the CAF kit, is the building of the gun ports, on the stern.
 

 
You need to place these before attempting to double plank the stern. The planks will butt against the lower frame of the gun ports. The gun port lids are only provided in Session #5 and for those who do not have this Session yet, you should build gun ports of 18 x 18 mm for the lids to fit exactly.
 
It is also not possible to open these rear gun ports, as Bulkhead #18 is right behind them. They will be represented closed on the model.
 
Yves

After finishing the 3D printed Corvette, it is now time to get back to the Bellona and breathe some wood dust, again.
 
The hull has been carefully sanded and wiped with Wipe-on-Poly, the preferred wood treatment around this forum: 
 

 
I have also brushed an nth coat of black acrylic paint (Model Shipways) on the wales. I am sure there will be more touch-ups to be done, by the time the hull is finished.
 

 
The hull is now ready for marking the waterline.
 
Yves 

The delicate and crucial phase of marking the waterline is done, after careful measurements on the plan and according to pictures: 
 

 
I am using the little Model Shipways kit, which works relatively well, as long as you use a flat surface all around the ship.
 
The hull will be copper tiled under the flotation line and double-planked over it. Following some exquisite models found in Museums and Art galleries, I have decided to glue a tiny separation all over the flotation line. This is done with a 1 x 2 mm mahogany wood strip, carefully glued with CA glue. The strip is flexible enough to marry perfectly the curves of the hull. This approach is not described in the CAF kit nor are the mahogany wood strips provided.
 

 

 
With that nice separation in place, I can now move to the upper parts second planking, using the 0.4 mm x 8 mm maple strips, provided abundantly in the kit.
 
Yves

Well I made some changes on the Foremast I had already made to Artesania's instructions.  The Fore Topmast (before per Artesania instructions  and after) and the modified Fore Topgallant Mast are shown.  The new Topmast is made from Tasmanian Oak and to the design of Marquardt.  I have also been making some adjustments to the Lower Mast section but having already assembled with Cheeks, Cross tree Platform etc I was loathe to throw 'baby out with the bathwater'.  The variations were minor in nature. 

I have moved along a little with ENDEAVOUR having started on the planking.   PORT JACKSON was done by wetting timber and bending over a soldering iron.  After finding that putting the timber strip in very hot water for a short while, I could achieve a nice even bend without the need to use a soldering iron which unfortunately can burn the inside of the curve.  This ship is also much bigger and requires three planks per row rather than a single plank.  So far I am following the Artensania instructions but I'm not sure I am going to stick to that as all the joins are close together which I am sure would not have been prototypical.I also did my first yard and although it meets the Artesania design, I feel is is in no way prototypical.
 

Ok onto my second build and I expect this one will be a little more of a challenge than PORT JACKSON.
 
The framework was a little loose so I had to be rather careful in assembly to ensure the frames not only lay flat but also symmetrical about the centreline and had the right space at the deck level for the beams to be fitted later.
Laying the deck was a relatively simple process having previously marked the centrelines on the false deck I laid full lengths of the 0.5mm strip material after rubbing the edges with a permanent black marker.  I chose to insert perimeter planks (not sure what these are actually called) so that the deck planks did not end in sharp points at the bulwark.  The plank joints and nails were marked by a 0.1mm permanent ink marker.
As can be seem in the picture, I had lots of time to spare while glue dried so I started work on the Foremast.  The mast pieces were turned in a mini lathe tapered by holding sandpaper on each side to support the material under pressure and runs the sandpaper up and down the tapered length until the diameters were met.  The squaring was achieved by marking a square on the end of the material and then running lines down the length and then sand to the lines.
It was at this point that I noted that some of the work done by ENDEAVOUR builders in the past reveal some potential errors in the Artesania kit so I bout the Parkin book but alas it does not provide sufficient detail on masts and yards.  It does however reveal some missing features in the deck which I will have to mark and amend.

Team,  I have found that using both Feast Watson and Comic Markers provide good coverage of bare wood.  In fact I have found that the use of both the Comic Special Black (100) and Dark Bark (E49) provide a lovely satin (near matt) finish that can be varnished over.  The stains do run slightly but into the grain so I find it great for edges of planking but not smooch for the ends.  The Topic markers come in a huge range of colours and have are double ended - board chisel and fine point.
The yard is painted in matt black acrylic while the Topsail Mast is marked with Comic marker (still some touchups and varnishing to do).  The key differentiator for me is that the acrylic can scratch off while the marker does not.
The Feast Watson stains are nice and come in the usual wood colour varieties,  They even come in 50ml bottles which is perfect for modellers.

Not been on for a while but haven't been idle. Tried my hand at making the long boat and still working on the pinnace. Not too bad for very first attempt at building such a thing but still want to use Chris Wattons boats when they arrive
I have also been looking ahead to constructing the masts and have decided to use square stock instead of dowel and also use castello boxwood which is readily available here in the uk. I have also made a station for turning the square stock into an octagon section and bought myself a decent miniture Veritas  plane to carry out the finer work on the yards etc. This is the first time I will have tried this, so hopefully it turns out ok. Here is a photo of my station. It will also double up as a honing station , once my guides turn up for my planes.
The 90 deg grooves on the blocks were produced using my Proxxon FET table saw and the long small 90 degree V was produced using the Proxxon 90 deg  router head.
 
 
 

 

ENDEAVOUR 1/54
Early days in Construction False keel built, Ribs in place, Lower deck Caulked, Planked and installed, brushed with Occre's Oak dye. Beams cut, brushed with Occre's Walnut dye and installed.
Next up Main Deck planking and Caulking.
Merry Christmas & All the best for 2022 #staysafe Everyone & Happy Modelling. 👍🤺🤺⚓⚓😷😷🎅🎅

Well I've put this off long enough, with a much needed break after my Royal Louis and now off work till the 6th January, it's now time for the next kit on my workbench. After watching so many videos and trying to gather as much info as possible, This will be my first wooden kit in the shape of OCCRE'S ENDEAVOUR. A ship that has an Enormous Historical story and a kit once finished, will look beautiful. There is an Anticipation and nervousness about this for me, taking me slightly out of my comfort zone, but again pushing my capabilities. I have worked with wood before many times, but not on this level or scale. Patience is key as always, checking and double checking, dry fitting etc... There will be challenges ahead, and the need to think outside the box, but most of all patience and enjoying the build and learning are foremost. Happy modelling everyone & #staysafe 😷👍🤺🤺⚓⚓

Hello,
I made a small tool for small scale ship models such as 1/350 and 1/700 scale with photo etched parts.
 

 
It is a CA glue station that automatically opens and closes the lid.
 

 
When I built several 1/700 ships, I faced some issues regarding CA glues. They are easily degenerated by moisure in the air. Also, openning and closing a lid of bottle every time is annoying. In addition, the glue bottles are not convenience. The bottles are easy to spill, and narrow neck interrupts the lid's brush. Ultimately, I had to dump huge amount of degenerated sticky CA glue with the bottle.
 
I bought some small bottles with brush to overcome the demerits, but it helped me a little.
 
 
I dream of fully automated lid CA glue bottle.
I dream of CA glue bottle protected from moisture.
I dream of wider bottle neck for comfortable work.
 

 
I got an idea from educational sample project, 'Smart trash bin' for Arduino curcuit board. I purchased relatively cheaper 'smart trash bin set', and modified the parts a little bit.  
 

 
I used a pen spring to give a tension to a lid. 
 

 
The Arduino is a very common programmable board that children can play with it. I downloaded the source code from here and modified timing to 10 seconds.
 
https://github.com/daveqin/Smart-Trash-Can-Project
 

 
I also made slide holder for attaching and dettaching CA glue bottle flawlessly. The mechanism should hold the bottle tightly against shock from the closing lid.
 
I usually use an enameled wire for 1/700 photo etched parts. It is cheap and I can minimize an amount of CA glue.
 
 

 
This small moisture absorber will prevent moisture and extend life of CA glue in a bottle.
 

 
When I go to a bed or finish a project, I eject a bottle from slide holder and close it securely for long period storage.
 

 
These are my tools for photo etched parts. I hope my new tool reduces stress caused by CA glue.
 
Thanks for watching.  

I finally made some time to finish the boat. 


 
Now all I need is to find a spot where I can admire it.

Planking of the hull is now over. Phew !!! That was a major task !
 

 
An enormous amount of sanding needs to take place but that will be for later.
 
Let's take a look at the instructions from CAF Model: 
 

 
The above steps have all be completed, although in a different order:
- Step 5
- Step 6 verification.
- Step 4 (minus part 24 which will be glued much later on).
- Step 9 (wales)
- Step 3 (planking of the hull)
 
 Hull has been planked and coated internally, with epoxy resin. The stern has been built (it was actually built before the planking) and the Part #25 has been glued. On the other hand, I am not placing part #24 yet, as it includes eight windows and would be automatically broken at this stage (not sure why the instructions only shows 6 windows...go figure....).
 

 
To coat the inside of the hull and protect the wood in the long term, I use an epoxy resin: easy to mix, odorless and fluid enough to be brushed inside the hull: 
 

 

 

 
Planking the hull was done in a very conservative way and I would recommend this approach. The wood strips provided in the kit are not of great quality. Quite a few strips did split, providing me with two nice triangular shapes, that can come handy occasionally. Technically, the planking would require a set of 25 planks from keel to wales and three sets of planks per side (Bow, stern and side), or the equivalent of 75 planks. CAF model provides exactly 150 strips of 3x8 mm wood. Some of the planks (a small number fortunately) were 10 mm wide, some were made of a very soft wood, some made of very hard poplar or white wood. Basically a lot of disparities in the strips.
 

 
Because of that, I went with a very conservative route and tried to use as much as possible the left overs and cuts. I managed to plank the entire hull with exactly 103 strips and have 47 left of various qualities.
 

 
The next set of instructions calls for the following: 
 

 
Although I have glued the rear decks, I disagree with the approach of gluing all decks at this stage and prefer to wait until the hull is completely done. After a thorough sanding of the hull, the flotation line should be marked and coppering (tiling - A) as well as a light second planking (0.4 mm thick) in the visible wood sections, should be made.
 
Step #9 has been done in part, as the wales (B) were glued before the start of the planking. Upper hull and channels (C) will come later (see below): 
 

 
I am going to take a break on this hull, in order to try to finish the 3D printed Corvette that I have neglected for a few months. In the meantime a few pictures of where we stand: 
 

 

 

 

 
Hope you are enjoying this massive build log.
 
Yves
 
 
 

Made 12 hooks out of copper eye pins and drilled end of the 2 mm blocks for gun tackle. I didn,t fancy laying coils of rope on the deck as can,t see how this would be done in practice although not sure what the standard of safety practices were in those days. I found this part of the build the most difficult so far. I probably went through about 50 x 2 mm blocks and the same amount of eye pins during the process.
                 I made a big error when making up the guns and kept them all the same angle so when they were pulled up through the bulwarks/ports they were all at different heights compared to the cap rails due to the sloping deck.Hopefully I can change the elevation of the gun barrels by adjusting the wedges. Unfortunately I glued these into position so might not be able to do that.
                            Also I think I would probably fit the guns before fitting anything else on the deck to allow for more room when working with the cannons. If my next model also has more than 6 cannon I think I will probably just fit the breaching rope. Anyway here is my progress so far. Just need to give the ropes a coating of diluted PVA glue.Not the best of workmanship but I found this part more than a little stressful and time consuming.

Completed the 4 x Anchors and run the chord through the iinboard hawse to the foorward anchors which ends up in holes drilled into the deck which I assume is into the hold.The chord  is  supplied with the kit which was a bit light for my liking  so stained it with tea for half an our to tone it down a bit. The positions of the anchors will need to be changed once I have fitted the shrouds and I am not sure what to do with the aft anchors and wether or not to attach the ropes to these as I am not sure where they are supposed to go. Ie do these also take a turn around the capstan.


 


Moving on now to the 4 lb cannon . I have now managed to complete the Breeching lines which you can see are not yet attached to the ship until I figure out the best way to fit  the gun tackle. It is my intention to use 2 mm blocks ( the smallest I can find) but I do not have any double blocks at this size only 3 mm. So I will try and use just single blocks only. I am also not sure what to do wiith the tackle falls but thnk wrapping the ends around the tackle seems to be what a few people have done and looks quite tidy so I might try this. 
          I found when fitting the Breeching it was easier to wrap the rope around the cascabel first and securing it underneath before seizing the ends to the eye bolts. Hope this makes sense. 

Replacement stem, stern and rudder blanks.
After a more thorough read through the instructions and plans I have provisionally decided on the following  -
Supplied hull and deck planking and inner bulwarks will be replaced with more suitable material.
I intend to double plank the hull rather than single.
The hull will be covered below waterline with anti fouling.  More research required to decide colour.
No other painting except fittings, wales, rubbing strakes and parts of stern.
Deck fittings will be scratch built and painted as necessary.
Based on previous experience this will probably take 24 months to build.
Even with the extras this should cost £4 approx. per week. This is a cheap hobby.
Found three posts on MSW for this kit, one of them finished, will be using these for guidance.

Now with the chains were fitted to the bowsprit and the ensigns to their places, the ship is finally finished.

 

 

 

 

 
As my first sailing ship model (and not an easy one imo), I am satisfied with the result. Altough on the next sailing ship I will doe some thing differently

My name is Michael Scarborough. I started building models with my dad in the late 50s and am still a passionate builder in a wide range of media and subjects. At present, my main area of concentration is 1/32 scale WWI aircraft models, as well as box dioramas, many of which are inspired by Japanese block prints. 
 
In terms of my life's work, I spent 25 years singing Opera internationally. I have always enjoyed working with my hands and, in 2000, having had enough of German food, living out of suitcases and dealing with pushy sopranos, I moved from the performing arts into the decorative arts. I began working in antique furniture conservation but that quickly lead to the realization that I wanted to design and create furniture for clients. Eventually, I added Japanese style lacquerware to the mix and have spent the past 10 years making pieces for collectors and galleries. Looking back as I write this, it all sounds rather easy, but, trust me, every facet of the past 25 years required a helluva lot of work and unwavering support from the world's greatest wife. That said, I have been very, very blessed to have had two successful careers in the the art world.
 
I retired from all work for clients in August, sold off most of my machinery, but kept and improved my model building area. I've also recently completed two years of intense training and am a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in NYC.  I now spilt my time between the Met and working on models, and writing about them, and making sure dinner is ready from Mrs. S. when she gets home from work. 
 
My dad was a career Naval officer and one major benefit of that was our living on the coast of rural Japan in the late 1950s and early 60s having spent 16 days on the Pacific getting there.  We had a beautiful, 24 ft. wooden sloop built and spent many amazing weekends sailing the Inland Sea. By the time I was 7 years old, I could tell you the difference between a backstay, a halyard and a sheet, and I could tie a bowline with my eyes closed. I then spent my high school summers working at a marina on the North Shore of Long Island. But, somehow, between all that time spent around salt water, and 60 years of building models, I have yet to make a serious build of a sailing ship, something I consider to be the highest form of fine model building. That important part of my model building oeuvre is about to end and, taking a long look at some of the truly amazing models on this website, it is clear I am in the right place and among the right artisans. 
 
Cheers from NYC,
Michael
 

Greetings everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Simon, I'm originally from New Zealand but have been in Australia since 2004. I am not new to modelling and my works have been primarily sci-fi, aircraft and cars etc. I recently started building ships after I discovered World of Warships and really enjoyed the history of some WW2 battleships and cruisers.  I thought I'd join up to take in the immense wealth of information and talent here to try and get better at ships. My preferred medium is plastic but would like to give a wooden ship a go one day. 
Thankyou all for having me and sitting through this thread 

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the lifeboat Solomon Browne's courageous attempt to save the crew of the Union Star which had engine failure and was drifting towards rocks off the Cornish coast. All crew members perished in a brave attempt. Coxswain Trevelyan Richards refused two members of the same family aboard such was the difficult nature of the sea. RIP brave men, your memory lives on.