DaveBaxt

Thank you spyglass for explaining that to me and I think I have pretty much got the idea now so fingers crossed I should hopefully be ok. As far as lego is concerned I will definately be on the look out for those flat square pieces as that seems to make the job even easier. I wont need to get in a tangle with all those clamps.Ha ha. However to be fair, the ones I have got seem to be doing a pretty good job as I keep checking everything is square and that the keel is nice and straight.

As I have decided to take Caldercrafts advice a not fit a rabbet and spyglass advice and leave the keel strn and stem posts until I have fared the bulkheads I have made a start on gluing the bulkheads into position. I might be a bit overkill with the clamps but I wanted to make sure everything is square and the grandsons lego bricks came in hand .Great idea by the way who first came up with that. I will wait about an hour for the glue to have a good hold and then move onto the next one checking all the while to make sure all is square.I also packed the base underneath so that it would sit flat on my worktop bench as suggested by Spyglass . I think this has pleased my wife as I am now out of the kitchen

I like your idea and think your idea will probably work so will be thinking of that working better than what Amati were instrucing me to do on my last model as I remember having trouble with the rudder brackets/pins as they were to small after adding 0.5 planks to rudderpost and rudder, If I go your way there would be no need to plank the rudder post and rudder. When you say terminate the planks early .Is that at the bearding line ? What does the second planking look like when completed. Can you get a nice smooth flow over where the planks are terminated? Regards the pedistal stand . I bought one for my last model but could not get the model to sit straight due to not drilling it square.Unfortunately I did not own a drill stand at the time. I am currently thinking of buying one at some stage . I have also been considering a milling machine. The Proxxon MF70. but in two minds is it worth the extra expense and if it is too early in the hobby for me. Once again I thank you for your invaluable help. Best regards Dave

Update completed buiding jig and cut ou the sections to allow the bulkhead to go all the way down and flush at the deck. placing the bulkheads into postion there is still a small amount of deflection at the top of the false keel but is easy to push into position. I will see how this looks when I glue all the bulkheads and clamp them to the keel making every thing square . If the top of the keel is still out a bit I will then have to use some block of wood in th corners and between the bulkheads in the the hope this will complete the job.

Ok so moving on and before I start thinking about glueing any of the bulkheads, the bearding line needs a bit of thought. According to the drawing the stern,stem posts are glued into position, however I think I will wait until after the bulkheads have been faired ,so as not to damage them. Now the stem post is 5 mm and the thickness of both planks on either side is also ( 1mm + 1.5mm) x 2 =5mm so I would end up with no would left on the false bulkhead. One possible solution would be to remove enough wood from the deadwood area for the first planking ie 2 x 1.5mm so leaving 2mm min on the deadwood area remaining. Then planking the stern and post with the second 1mm planking . It would also be necessary to plank the keel and stem post so all would be flush. II did the above on my last model and it all worked out pretty well. I also ended up planking the rudder post too. I wonder if there is any other solutions as nothing is indicated in the instructions or the drawings.

I think I have one of those spirit level squares knocking about somewhere.Some great ideas for ensuring accuracy. I am not to sure about the laser.. I appreciate what they are supposed to do but I have never used one so I am a bit clueless really. I am a bit old school and just used Lego bricks haha. Still I am very interested in your methods. Thanks again for your photos. Best regards Dave

I have just completed exactly that and have glued two parallel pieces of MDF to a flat board. At least it lays flat on out kitchen table not sure about in my work shop so might have to look into that as well. Any way you can see from the photos that the false keel is pretty straight when in the jig. The pieces of wood are also screwed from underneath. Tomorrow I will cut out the section where the bulkheads slide in and hopefully everything will still line up.

Spyglass you are 100% correct in what Caldercraft suggested but I was not very good at explaining it. This is also how I built my last ship.I just had't figured out how to build it because the bulkheads go all the way to the bottom of the false keel.I can see from you photo that you have left gaps for the bulkheads . I am assuming they are individual wood sections that are glued to mdf base rather than clamping the false keel between 2 pieces of wood .Once the deck and a few peices of planking are fitted it should be straight. I thank you kindly for your input and digging up that photo for me. According to the drawings the first thing to do is to glue on the walnut keel pieces which I think if the false keel is laid on a flat surface and weighted down whilst allowing the glue to dry would be suffiecient to keep the false keel staraight. but not 100% sure. This would also give you something to clamp the blocks of would to whilst fitting the deck and first of the top planks. Hope this makes sense and this is just another idea but not sure if fitting the keel pieces ,stem and stern posts yet is a good idea ? Best regards Dave

Thank you Jack . You are correct and thats where I found it

Welcome aboard and feel free to add anything. Let me know what you think of the kit,once you have taken a look. The instructions look a little sparse but the 8 x large plans make up for this. There is a awful lot of small etched brass parts which will need lifting out of the brass sheet and the deadeys appear to be smaller that what I am used to on the similar scale model the Bounty by Amati , however this one maybe the near to the correct scale.

I have been toying with the idea of adding a rabbet in the hope of helping with the buff bow. My thinking is that it would help me to tuck those ends of the planks into the rebate. I discussed this idea with one of the guys at Caldercraft and his answer was the model is not designed to have a rabbet and does not require one. I did note that the bulheads do come down to the bottom of the false keel. I understand Dashi who explains on his blog that you can get around this by removing material off the bottom of the bulkheads and having the rabbet in the keel instead. Seems a lot of additional work for something you do not actually see. I am still thinking about the best way forward and in the meantime I am concentrating on the best way forward on how to straighten the false keel.

I cann't see the signiture tab when I open the drop down menu under my user name. What am I doing wrong. I have managed to do this before so not sure what I am doing.

I have just had a reply from Caldercraft after sending them the photographs of the keel in question and they have said that the keel in question does not warrent a replacement as it is only very minor . It can be straightened by assembling the keel and bulkheads using a building blocks on either side of the keel then adding wales and a few planks either side and this will be sufficient to stop it bending back again once removed from the building blocks. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding. Wonder what your thoughts are on this. Seems this is quite common.

As Above

After much thought I eventually decided to go for this ship. Mainly due to local interest . I was not planning on starting building until october when the nights start drawing in but could not resist the temptation on getting my hands on the kit and seeing what she would be like. I was quite surprised to see for such a hefty price compared to my first period build the Bounty by Amati there were no sails or flags within the kit. Fortunately I am not planning fitting the sails anyway but might of changed my mind later on. Upon opening the box and checking the contents I was a bit disappointed to find that all of the 5mm plywood boards are bent/warped to varying degrees. The main piece being the false keel the others which housed the bulkheads. I decided to remove these pieces from their boards so to determine the extent of the warping. I am happy to say when laying the bulkheads on a flat surface they seem to be ok . Unfortunately no so with the false keel. Here is a couple of photos with the extent of the warping, so let me know what you guys think. I have read a few different threads regarding how to put this right but first I thought I would contact Caldercraft and see if I can get the false keel replaced together with a couple of parts which are missing. Strange as it may seem this parts belong to a walnut board and a brass sheet which have other pieces as well. When I mean missing leaving holes, I mean I can,t find them but have numbered all the parts as per the drawing. I am now awaiting the reply from Caldercraft and hopefully they live up to their reputation and its not too long until I hear from them. Although I wasn,t thinking of starting the model until october perhaps I would be better of assembly the hull to the point of fitting the wales to ensure that the replacement keel doesn't warp before October. I also have lots of questions before I start in earnest. Best regards Dave

So far so good . The planks are looking rally good especially at the bow and interesting looking clamps(the brass ones) where on earth did you find them? Keep up the good work and looking forward to your progress.

I had exactactly the same problem with my first build the Canute made by Billingd. I had the same issues with the Bounty too until I put brass dowels in just about everything which was glued to the deck hahha. Good luck going forward with your Diana Build. I be she looks terrific! I will almost definately do a blog for the Endeavour because I havnt got the AOTS book for her and I need al the help I can get. I already have loads of questions after reading some of the blogs and I haven't even got the kit yet. So any help would be appreciated. Best regards Dave

You are very lucky indeed. Have you thought about starting another blog for the Diana? I know there are a few already but not many that have been finished. Just wondering why this is the case. Is it a particularly difficult model to complete or is it people loosing interest in the hobby for what ever reason? Best regards Dave

I see from your reply your current build is the Diana. One of the reasons I want to try a Caldercraft model is eventually I want to build one of the rally big models such as the Diana. I thought about the Agamemnon and also the Victory but didn't want to compromise on the scale. I really like around the 1:60 and think I will be ok with 1:64 but wonder if the difference between these sizes compared to 1:78 and if there is any difference when getting down to the really small stuff such as 2mm blocks and are they too big for a scale of 1:78.Hope this makes sense. Any way as I am leaning towards the Diana (eventually) I have had the opportunity to putchase AOTS Diana for £30 and I couldn't resist the temptation. I have tried in the past to lay my hands on similar for vessels Bounty and Endeavour and the prices were3 times what I paid for the AOTS Diana so decided against buying this but also mmanaged to get by hands on Lees Masting and Rigging for a very reasonable price.Best Regards Dave

I definately like your version of the Bounty with the open decks. It is a credit to the hobby. Hopefully one day I will return to the Bounty once again and have a go at the Artesinia Bounty once I have honed my skills a bit more.

Thanks Trond. I am still popping in to have a look at your progress from time to time

Fantastic looking model with unbeievable detail. I really like the weathering of the decks amongst many other things. Best regards Dave

Fantastic looking model and like eveything about. Hope I am not too late adding to your Blog . However O am planning this model for my next kit and second build of a period ship. I have been looking at the AOTS Endeavour for possible reference but is really a lot of bucks so might make do with Historic Ship Mosdels by Monfield and Lees book Masting and Rigging of War ships. Hopefully I have enough information to get through this. I will be taking a closer look at this blog , once I start the model.

I used Chucks method of bending edgeways on the Bounty using 6 mm x 1.5 mm Walnut strips. and was not without its problemms. I ended up soaking the strips overnight , enough for the next day and this worked fine .At the time I was informed that there was minimum shrinkage with Walnut but I did use a heating Iron as well . The second layer was much easier although also Walnut was only 0.5mm thick and 4 mm wide. The Endeavours first planking is lime so hoping it will be easier to work with.

Thank you Lyle for your input. I did exactly the same for the Bounty using a heating Iron and Chucks method of marking off and bending edge ways and as you say takes a bit more time but turned out quite good in the end. I will take a look at your log and compare notes haha. For the record the Bounty's first layer of planking is also Walnut where as the Endeavour is lime. The Bounty's first layer was also 6mm wide x 1.5mm thick which wasn,t without issue but I ended up soaking overnight as this seemed to be the only way to bend the planks on their edge. I did not need to do this with the second planking as it was only 0.5mm thick.The Endeavour's second planking 1mm thick so I might have to soak this too for sometime. Bestregards Dave