The Sailor

That's a very nice start, Adam. Keep on the good work.

Thank you very much Floyd, Tim, Q A‘s Revenge, Hamilton and Jeff.
 
 
This can get you in trouble, Floyd. Don‘t mess with the Admiral.

 I‘m not sure about an exposed drop keel. I think, it looks strange. But the drop keel is free to move.
 

 
 
 
 
Well, the length is a minor problem. The real problem is the height of the mast. For all I know, Amati‘s Endeavour is available in three different sizes: 1:80, 1:50 and 1:35.

Actually I can help you with the R/C part of this.    It is the only way my Admiral will let me build it. I fi just say she will be out in the garage with the other R/C yachts. did I mention I already have 2 of similar size?
 
To water proof the hull on this kit all you need is a layer of West systems Epoxy. And the electronics is not hard either. am I tempting you? Hmmm?
 
Actually the biggest challenge would be the ballasting.

Oh boy I am so going to be getting into trouble with the Admiral.   I might just have to dig my kit out. Are going to have the drop keel exposed?

I like everything I see already!  Keep the photos coming in!
 
Tim

Really looking forward to your progress on this as the smaller 1:80 version is high on my list.

Hi Richard:
 
No sooner is the Pickle done than this beauty emerges off the shelf?!?! I looked long and hard at this kit during my annual "kit acquisition season" but the size put me off - the Admiral does want to move to a bigger place, but I'm not sure this is the reason she had in mind!!
 
Looking forward to following this one
hamilton

Hi Richard,
 
I just been reading your log, Nearly missed the starters gun  
 
It looks like a high quality kit going by your photos and she is going to be big, I should think it will be a nice change for you  to work on a larger scale model and not have to deal with those smaller parts you had on the Pickle.  I will follow your progress with interest
 
You are off to a great start keep the please pictures coming

Looking at your pictures again, some of the small ribs seem to be shy of the keel whilst a couple of the larger ones are proud. Looking forward to see how you deal with this!

Ladies and gentlemen, ...

... and this is the official start of my build log.

Oh my God! In 1/35 scale Endeavour‘s parts are only big! Anyway, let‘s have a look at the first pictures. At this time all the parts are dry-fitted.

Here are the bow and the stern:
 


The midship frames and some more parts:
 

 


The building slip for the ship‘s boat:
 


And the dry-fitted hull:
 

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, ...

... and this is the official start of my build log.

Oh my God! In 1/35 scale Endeavour‘s parts are only big! Anyway, let‘s have a look at the first pictures. At this time all the parts are dry-fitted.

Here are the bow and the stern:
 


The midship frames and some more parts:
 

 


The building slip for the ship‘s boat:
 


And the dry-fitted hull:
 

 

 

Hello,
today a huge box came in. When the rigging of my Pickle is done I‘ll start with the America‘s Cup yacht Endeavour.
 
The 1/35 scale kit includes laser cutted parts for the deck, keel and frames, limewood and mahogany planking material, brass and wooden fittings, photo etched brass details, cloth, plans, instructions in three languages (Italian, French and English).
 
Endeavour is a 130-foot (40 m) J-class yacht built for the 1934 America's Cup by Camper and Nicholson in Gosport, Portsmouth Harbour, England. She was built for Sir Thomas Sopwith who used his aviation design expertise to ensure the yacht was the most advanced of its day with a steel hull and mast. She was launched in 1934 and won many races in her first season including against the J's Velsheda and Shamrock V. She failed in her America's Cup challenge against the American defender Rainbow but came closer to lifting the cup than any other until Australia II succeeded in 1983.
(Wikipedia)
 
 
The box

 
Frames and keel


 
Metal parts

 
Wooden strips for planking and the material for the mast

 
The deck and the wooden fittings



 
The building plans

 
The Amati kit is really impressive. The wooden parts are of good quality, only the sails are not sewn. Anyway, I can‘t wait laying the keel.

The first photos...
From a big update...

I have made fair progress on the coppering.  As I earlier wrote, wherever possible I have attached a strip of plates rather than singles.  I was concerned however, that the strips would be damaged in the process of breaking. The following method worked quite well. The strips were broken off using two pieces of balsa: one on top of the set of plates; the other applying pressure to the strip to be broken off.
 

 
Here are some pictures of progress.
 


 
Like Mitsuaki, I have overlapped the plates where stealers are necessary.  This shows some trimmed plates that were later overlapped by a full strip of seven plates.

 
I have concentrated on the bow which I have found so far to be far more difficult than the stern.

 

 
The apparent gap shown in the photograph below between one of the plates on the hull and the corresponding plate on the stem is just a reflection.  Photographing the shiny plates without reflections turned out to be a bit difficult.
 


 


 
 
 
 
 
 

I hope that the hard part has been done now that the plates have been laid to the waterline at the stem.  My theory is that when I get to the waterline at the sternpost all the rest of the plates in between will fall into place.  Well that's the theory anyway.
 

 



 

The marks on the next two photos are reflections and the apparent gap shown in the last of these pictures is also non-existent.

Little more update on finishing the stern gallery.
I have been carving addtional statues from Sculpey. It is almost done, I just need to do a little patina effect and glue those on their places.

Continued ...

 

Have been struggling a bit more with the bowsprit.  Realized that the kit supplied bee is nothing like it should be, so decided to try and build something a little more realistic and include a sheave by visually estimating from builds of others (esp. BEs - once again a big thankyou for that!).  Also added in the various cleats as best interpreted from the plans - sadly, these are once again quite a bit out scale between plans which I'm not sure whether it will lead to to a problem or not, but did my best. 
 
Good news, I just found the online copy of Steele's masting references http://hnsa.org/doc/steel/, bad news I found it after I was finished.  Good news, the measurements used seemed to be in line with Steele's.  For reference (not trying to beat BE at his game here!), but this helped convince me that they (very luckily) were in right ballpark:
Bee, per Steele length 18mm, breadth 5.3mm - vs 18mm, 5.5mm on mine Cleats, per Steel length 4mm, thickness 2.4mm - vs 3.5mm and 1.5mm for the collar cleats, and 4.5mm and 2mm for the gammoning cleats Original kit supplied bee...

 
and the scratch replacement...this is giving me pause.  Although luckily I estimated the sizes OK, the placement is possibly wrong.  I positioned this trying to keep the same placement as the plans, but suspect that this should really be butted up against the cap (?).  As is, its consistent with the plans....

 
Overall end result (needs more touchup, eyebolts and dolphin striker to be added)

 
In position, highlighting another potential problem.  There is next to no room to separate the main and preventer stays which need to sit behind the gammoning cleats as indicated in the plans - again these don't reconcile.  Will just need to move forward as is I think as gammoning cleats seem to be appropriately positioned.

 
Question:  Would I be foolish attaching the bowsprit at this point?  I want to secure this to the deck with a pin rather than just glue, and that will require the bowsprit to be attached before the forward bits.
 
As always, any and all comments/suggestions welcome!

Love it :-)
 
XXXDAn

Richard, she is magnificent! Well Done Sir!!
 
Bill

This is a really merry ship, merry build...

Hi Richard,
 
Looking forward to your next build I will keep a watch out for it

I‘m ready!!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Well, not everything looks perfect, but I‘m very happy with the result. Next weekend I‘ll try to make some better photos for the gallery. I‘m satisfied with the kit and for this price the quallity of the kit supplied materials is good. It was always a great pleasure building this little schooner.
 
Again thank you all for your kind words, all your ‚Like it‘ or even looking.

She has ratlines!!
 

 

 

 
Well, with it the standing rigging is done.

Only a minor update for today.
 
I've glued the elm tree pumps into place and fixed the anchor to the anchor cable.
 

 
Well, it wasn't even a good idea to paint the casing and the outlet black...
 
 
The anchor will be stowed later
 

 
 
And at last a total view as of July 27.