Bill97

Based on your recommendations I sanded down the wood strips at the center of the yards and stained them a solid color. Steve my foreyard measure a slightly bigger than your’s. Mine is 6/16” at the center. While I wait for the stain to thoroughly dry so to begin rigging the foreyards I am working on the redundant job of making chain links. OcCre has just a wire wrapped around the deadeye and then runs straight to the side of the hull. I plan to have 3 chain links plus a preventor plate as shown in the AOTS.

Thanks Steve. I actually looked at your’s to confirm what I thought to be true. I had not realized until you mentioned it that OcCre has the yards thicker than scale would have them. Yes that is also true now that I look closer. For comparison what would you estimate the thickness of your foreyard to be? Of course being a little thicker does prevent me from breaking them accidentally. By the way, how are things down your way? I have only been as far south in Australia as Sydney. Wow! That is a long flight from the USA! Would do it again in a minute! Loved my time there.

Yes Ian is is octagonal, or mine is anyway.

Thanks Kevin. Good suggestions.

Thanks Ian as usual. Your thought is kind of who I was leaning. I am thinking still have the flat surfaces as I go around. Just narrower and closer to the mast diameter?

Interesting modeling decision. I know in the actual construction of these tall ships the yards were shaped to be either hexagon or similar shape near the center. OcCre does not direct the builder to sand the dial rod being used to make the yard to get this shape at the center. Instead it has the builder glue 1mm wood strips around the center of the yard in order to get the hexagon shape. The kit photos, as well as what other builders have done, show this center section stained a different color than the yard. Looking at photos of the replica show the yards one color, not different at the middle. I am thinking that in order to maintain a since of authenticity I should have it all the same color?

Steve I again am looking back at your build. After your comment on mine about the yard placement I was curious to see your’s again. So you left the sails off all together?

Steve the photos you sent, especially the third one, really help me understand the placement of the yards when the sails are furled. Thanks again. How the Endeavour looks in that photo is how I plan to rig it for display. Ian I am rereading through all of the help you have given me in the past. I need to again get an understanding of what I do with each of the sail rigging lines when the sails are furled?

Thanks Ian. I am thoroughly enjoying the wood.

Thanks Steve this is helpful. Have completed making the mast sections. First picture is the completed sections. Second picture is them stacked and dry fitted on the ship.

Thanks Marc, and by way of Marc thanks Dan, this is some good information and techniques. It was interesting for me recently when I toured the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, England. They have a small scale rope walk set up and visitors could help in making a small section of rope as a souvenir. I have seen numerous posts here on MSW showing a builder using a rope walk to make their own rope but never gave it much attention. I just use the variety of if rope sizes available online. However I did find it interesting watching how they work. I also was amazed when the guide explained they needed football field long buildings to make the ship ropes, which actually makes since. I may have mentioned before that as my different builds come and go I have more and more looked forward to the rigging the model. This is where the model actually comes to life I think. What I also find fascinating is that if a builder builds their model straight from a high quality kit with the supplied thread, blocks, and other rigging essentials, following the instructions they can achieve a very nice model. However for the more experienced and adventurous builder taking the rigging outside the box opens up vast avenues for the hobbiest. Marc your steps outside the box encourage me to maybe put a toe out there. And of course Dan, as Marc said, write that book. Teach classes. Do what you can to spread your infinite knowledge. Bill

Now that I have returned from a short trip to London I am able to get back to my shipyard. I finished the foremast sections. Not sure if I want to work on the foremast yards next or move on to the mainmast sections. For future reference, I have a question. I plan to furl all the sails on this build. I know in this arrangement the topsail yard and topgallant sail yard are lowered on the mast. First of all am I correct? Second, if it is correct how do you determine where to place them on the mast? I am going to dig into Longridge’s book to see if there is anything about this.

Here is another photo I took while in London. Adm Nelson’s tomb is located in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Daniel here are a couple more.

Had a brief stop in London recently I decided to make a trip down to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark and the museum. Saw this in the museum and thought I would share. Th first photo is Nelson’s uniform he was wearing when he was killed. If you zoom n you will see the bullet hole in the left shoulder. Also his portrait and a large scale wooden model of the Victory.

A few updates since my last post. The bowsprit installed along with its two yards. Sling and a parrel were used to hang the yards per AOTS. Started construction of the foremast. As with the bowsprit, there is a great deal of detail. A bit is preformed in the kit but most has to be made. Woolding hoops above and below each of the wooldings is not directed by the instructions but AOTS does shows them so I plan to fabricate them as well. The bottom section of the foremast is dry fitted in the deck. I remove it to continue any work on it. On a side note I have had a personal revelation. As I continued to work on my previous builds in the past, those I did after joining MSW, I found myself eager to frequently post to MSW showing and explaining my gradual progress. I did/do this to get feedback from you guys. Looked forward to affirmation, constructive criticism, advice, and encouragement. I also did it subconsciously for concern that MSW members would think I may have quit my build if I went a long time without an update. As a result I think I found myself feeling some sort of eagerness to work on a build to complete a task so I had something to post. As I have continued my work on the Endeavour, a build that requires a slow steady hand without rushing, I have taken on a new mindset. There is no need to rush! Take all the time I need on every little task! Step back a day or so on each completed task to insure there are no improvements I want to make. This new mindset has created in me an interesting new attitude toward my build. As an example the simple task of tying a few blocks to the mast as shown in the instructions is now approached with the idea that the thread for that task needs to be served first. Little details that I now will not rush past but instead take all the time I need with out concern if getting something posted to MSW.

Thanks Ian. I am finding really enjoy building a wood ship. Kind of brings my woodworking experience to play. However I do miss using my airbrush as much as I do on the plastic. On wood I like using wood stain instead of paint so as to not obscure The grain.

And then there was a bowsprit. A very busy and time consuming bowsprit! I had some copper tape left over from my Victory build so I used it to make the 6 hoops around the bowsprit. OcCre did not call for it but I used some oak veneer I had to make the woolding hoops around the woolding. Thanks to Shipaholic I tried, and was successful, in serving and worming the heart blocks and deadeyes. OcCre also did not call for an inner gammoning but ATOS showed there was one so I drilled a hole at the top of the stem to fit the inner gammoning and added the extra roll of gammoning cleats.

Thanks again shipaholic. Here is what I did looking at your photos as a guide. Tell me if this is the right process. I served a length of rope with sewing thread. I then folded each end over about 1/2 inch and served that leaving a loop at the end. I then folded the served rope in half around the block and served it tight and down to the previous two separate servings. I then ran several turns of thread through the two small loops to tie the block to the bowsprit. Again comparing mine to your’s I think I have the served section below the block a bit longer than necessary.

Thanks shipaholic. These are great. I was more talking about the beautiful serving and worming of the block in the photo. But all these photos are helping me. Also helpful in determining the order the 3 hearts and 2 deadeyes go in. I tried a few different things and here is what I have so far. May go back and shape the actual blocks as you did. Thanks again.

Shipaholic I am so impressed with the rigging of the heart blocks in your photo. I am looking everywhere I can think of for some sort of tutorial on how to do it. You have any idea where I can find something. Or, if not too much trouble, possibly tell me how you do it.

Ok. New bowsprit made in accordance with ATOS. I filled the area in the forecastle bitt with wood and carved a hole at deck level to accept the tenon on the end of the bowsprit.

Thanks Marc. Shipaholic’s definitely matches what is shown in AOTS. “The end of a bowsprit, in actual practice for sea-going ships, usually had a square tenon that keys into a heavy balk of timber (itself, secured between the lower legs of the fore bitts” Trying to visualize the carpentry of what you said above. Are you saying the actual practice was for there to be a solid balk of timber filling the space under the bitt and that bulk of timber had a square hole cut in it to accept the square tenon on the end of the bowsprit? Looking at the top photo from AOTS that shopaholic attached you can see the end of the bowsprit with the tenon carved into it and the bottom portion of the end of the bowsprit is shaved off to be flush with the deck. I can do this. I really need to refer more to my AOTS book I spent so much for 😊

Beautiful job shipaholic. I had not seen your build before you commented over on mine. I had primarily looked in on other OcCre Endeavour builds thinking that would be the place to find most of my answers. Wrong there! Your Endurance is a fantastic source for reference. Again a beautiful job. Thanks for your comment over on mine.

Thanks Shipaholic. I looked in my AOTS (which I had not thought about looking in before) and see the same photo you have. It appears that a section of the bottom is tapered. Not the whole thing under the bitt. Interesting. That is some beautiful rigging in the close up. Great job. Would you have a photo from the foremast side of the bitt? Did you just taper the bottom half of the end so part of the round bowsprit end is still exposed under the bitt?