Tomculb

The foremast standing rigging is now complete, with the addition of three more shrouds on each side of the mast. With my attention focused on securing these shrouds to their deadeyes, and then lashing the pairs of deadeyes together, I wasn’t paying much attention to where I had wrapped each port and starboard pair around the mast. The lower pair was run through the top, no problem there (and no picture). The middle pair was secured to the mast just below the mast cap, and somehow the lashing slipped and it got twisted off center a bit. At this point I don’t think there is any way to remedy the problem. Fortunately it is not as evident to the naked eye at a viewing distance as it is in a close up photo. The pair secured at the top of the mast is much better, although the several lines secured there are a bit messy (again, worse in the photo). I also finished installing the braces; that is, the running rigging attached to the ends of the foremast yards and running back to double blocks on the mainmast, from which they run down to the spider band at the base of that mast. As I have mentioned previously, I have chosen not to put sails on my Endurance, and I am not installing running rigging that would be attached to those sails, which leads to a cleaner look (but not as accurate). You can also see the standing rigging described above in first picture below. OcCre has you secure the end of the lower braces, and the double block they pass through, to the stay running from the mainmast top to the deckhouse roof just aft of the foremast. When I rigged the jib halyard/downhaul lines with blocks attached to the forestays (again, as OcCre directs), I was unable to do it without distorting the run of the stays, as can be seen in the first photo immediately above. To avoid that, instead of attaching the lower braces to the stay, I looped them around the mainmast and through the top, and I attached the double block directly to the mast at the height of the gaff gooseneck. I have no idea which is more historically accurate, but I like the look of how I did it better. Taking a needed break from rigging awhile, I’ll next start working on the forward pair of ship's boats.

The foremast ratlines are finished! Slow patience was the trick, never doing more than three on each side at one sitting. As I expected, the most difficult ratlines were nearing the top of the lower shrouds, finishing at the futtock shrouds. Tying knots with tweezers has never been my strong point. As you can see, I have also completed the pair of lower shrouds (on each side) which parallel the ratline shrouds.

Thanks for the kind words Mike and Jeff. I hope you find my log to be helpful when you get around to your Endurance builds. I have gained immensely from what I’ve learned from the logs of others, so it’s nice to hear every so often that there’s something to be learned from mine.

Random progress report . . . I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but to help with visibility in doing all of this rigging, I created a screen behind the model, by opening a manila folder, taping some of the same material to the back for stiffness, and taping it all to a 2 x 4. That has helped immeasurably. I love the view out my window, but it can be a major hindrance when it comes to seeing what I'm doing with my Endurance. The ratlines on the upper foremast are nearing completion. I have installed the lower shrouds which will support the lower ratlines, and I'm off to a good start on those. The ends of those shrouds will be clipped off only once I have finished all the ratlines. Tying the ratlines sometimes results in unintentional and careless jerking of one of the shrouds, which last fall resulted in a main mast shroud coming apart at the deadeye. Hopefully this will reduce the risk of that happening again. Finally, I have installed the ratlines on the futtock shrouds. That proved to be a major test of my patience and my clumsy arthritic fingers, and somewhat to my surprise I did it without any major mishaps.

Fun to discover another Spray build Jeff. What you have done in about six weeks probably took me at least that many months. I like your weathering of the hull. Happy to see your Nantucket log, as that model is rising to the top of my list of next builds.

Slow progress, and only one picture of that progress. The mainmast standing rigging is now complete, including ratlines and all shrouds. I also drilled holes for the remaining stanchions, but I have not glued them in place yet. I have also started on the foremast standing rigging, wondering again why I didn't do this before rigging the yard lifts. In addition to the usual distractions this time of year slowing things down, for the first time I can remember I've found myself frustrated that it's taking as long as it is to finish this model. A year ago I thought I would be finishing about now. That's led to some rushed work, a few mistakes* and do-overs, and the occasional sense that I needed (not wanted) to get back to work on my model. So I'm now intentionally slowing things down (somewhat counter-intuitively), getting my mind back to recognizing again that it's all about the journey, not the destination. And it's working; the last couple of sessions in the shipyard were shorter and more enjoyable. So if a month or more passes before my next post, you'll know why. *The most obvious (but not the only) big mistake was running the middle stay from the main mast to the foremast top rather than to the mast cap. What should have been incredibly obvious is that running that stay to the top meant it interfered with the main mast gaff's peak halyard. Live and learn 😵‍💫, and correction made.

Merry Christmas to you too Jim and glad my research was of some help. I too have been sidelined a bit, slow progress and even slower posting to this blog. Hope to do so within the next week or so. Your James Caird build looks really great!

I have now glued the mainmast in place and rigged the three stays running from that mast forward to the foremast. I have also rigged the pairs of lower shrouds, port and starboard, that will be home to the ratlines. While securing the lanyard above the upper deadeye on the final one, I managed to pull that deadeye away from the shroud to which it had been secured. That meant I had to do that pair of shrouds all over again. To reduce the risk of bringing on that calamity again, I left the bitter ends of the shrouds untrimmed, until after I have rigged the ratlines. As can be seen in the first photo below, the upper part of the lower shrouds don’t align with the futtock shrouds very closely, and I was concerned how I was going to tie them together as they should be. But when I tied the lowest ratline onto the futtock and the lower shrouds together, they came together quite well, distorting the straight run of the shrouds only slightly. Up next . . . too many more ratlines.

Amazing work on the 3D printer! It's going to be really great seeing these features when they become an integral part of your build. As you may have seen, I've been working on my Endurance for about 20 months so far and estimate I have 3 to 6 more months to go. I'm finding there is a lot to like about OcCre's kit, but also lot's of potential to make corrections and to add details that are not part of the kit, planking the sides of the deck house (as you have done) and the bulkheads being prime examples. I'm looking forward to following your build.

Jim, here's one of several Frank Hurley photos showing the opening in that bulkhead. The anchor windless was in there (as you probably saw in my log), probably linked to the captain above, with the chain locker immediately below.

Next project was upper shrouds and ratlines on the main mast. As @theoracle09 pointed out on his log, and as can be seen immediately below, the upper shroud ratlines go only a little more than half way up. Aft, between the shrouds, is a ladder, the ratlines on which overlap the other ratlines part way and continue on up to an opening in the bottom of the crow’s nest. I attached the ladder to two eyebolts extending out from the back of the maintop, visible in the closeup photo of the bottom of the ladder and the futtock shrouds. The top of the ladder is attached to two eyebolts extending out from the mast at 45° from astern, not really visible in the attempted closeup of the top of the ladder. Ratlines are seldom easy, but I found these to be more than a bit of a challenge. I think the thread I used was too stiff, making it definitely uncooperative. But I got it done. What has me concerned though is the shrouds and ratlines on the foremast. I have no idea why I installed that mast's running rigging first, rather than doing its shrouds and ratlines first. To give me a little practice I’ll do the main mast standing rigging first (with little running rigging in the way), then tackle the counterparts on the fore mast.

Hi Jim, welcome to the group of Endurance builders. While your approach is different from mine, I think yours is a beautiful build. Both Keith and Josh @theoracle09 stopped posting quite some time ago, which as far as I can tell, leaves me as the only Endurance builder still posting. A year or two ago there were quite a few. I would love to have some company if you want to start posting. Or add whatever comments you want to mine. The link is in my signature block below. Tom

I have built the mainmast and installed the gaff, crane and crow’s nest barrel. One of the pictures below shows the mast installed on the ship, but it hasn’t been glued there yet. Among other things, I will probably rig the upper shrouds, futtock shrouds and ratlines with the mast temporarily installed in a 2x4, which makes it more accessible. The only thing deserving comment at this point is the crane/boom, which I thought seriously about not installing. I think I’ve only seen one or two photos in which it appears, and I’m guessing it would be used only when loading things on and off the ship. It might even have been removed except when needed. The lower stay between the foremast and the main mast would have to be unrigged for the crane to be useful. As you can see below, I chose to rig it pulled up tight against the mast. I have two sizes of photo etched hooks left over from prior builds, I feared the larger ones were too big, and I used one of the smaller ones. Now I think that was a mistake as it can hardly be seen, but not important enough to redo. OcCre has the loose end of the hook’s tackle tied to an eyebolt at the boom’s inner end, a place which probably couldn’t be reached by anyone. I ran it through a block on the inner end of the boom, then down to the forward cleat on the spider band at the bottom of the mast. That’s also where the working end of the boom’s peak halyard is secured. There’s really no other good place to secure it. There are 8 cleats on that spider band-- one for the gaff peak halyard, six (three on each side) for the foremast braces, and one for the crane rigging.

Unrelated, but my wife and I just returned from a trip, and I posted here about the amazing ship model collection at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. I mentioned previously that I intend to place the forward ship’s boats on racks inboard from the bulwarks, instead of outboard hanging from davits as OcCre intends. The ship’s plans I refer to and a number of the Frank Hurley photos show the forward boats stowed that way. Before leaving on our trip, I built the basic frames for this stowage, and I partially assembled one of the boats to see how everything would fit. I had already determined that the smaller boats fit better forward, with the larger boats aft, the opposite of the way OcCre places them. Neither these racks nor the deck gangways are glued in place yet. I will assemble, rig and install the mainmast before these things are glued in place.

Thanks SHJ. I wish I was smart enough to deserve the credit you gave me. Actually I didn't paint those lines at all. What I did is find some grey thread which I used untreated, then mixed some white and grey paint to give the brass stanchions a color that is at least close in color to the lines. The goal was to have the lines look like wire cable.