cdrusn89
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Everything posted by cdrusn89
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Hull is waiting for additional masking so I decided to rig the bobstays and shrouds on the mast. After thinking about it awhile I decided to go with two bobstays. Seems more symmetric and the instructions seem to imply there are two. Bobstays are .018 Beadalon stain gold with with #2 (.051") crimp tubes. Shrouds are .024 Beadalon satin gold with #3 (.057") crimp tubes. Having some difficulty getting pictures of the mast - it is 5' tall!
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Based on a trial with the gloss finish over the striping tape I decided to paint the waterline with flat white and then put the gloss finish over everything. Which means I have to mark and mask both the top and bottom of the waterline stripe. I tired the instructions version of marking the waterline several times without success. so I resorted to my laser level. I set it up and with the drawing on the bench aligned with the hull measured the height above the hull of the top of the waterline and adjusted the laser line to this measurement. I compared where this crossed the bow and stern with the drawing and adjusted the stern (as it turned out) up about 3/16" to get the c rossing where they are on the drawing. Applying the masking tape was easier than I had thought. Just keep the tape in the laser beam until it is touching the hull then press it down. I adjusted the laser up to the bottom of the waterline as measured on the drawing and applied the tape as before. The plan is to burnish the tape down, apply a thin coat of acrylic flat and then add more tape and paper to completely cover this side of the hull. Then repeat on the other side. Okay - I still can't get the pictures in the correct order. the one with both waterlines (one tape and one laser) should be the last one. The other two show the top waterline, one with just the laser, the other with the tape and the laser both.
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So I spent yesterday evening making the wooden cleats to replace the metal ones supplied with the kit. Probably the hardest part was getting the laser char off the Syren cleats before gluing them to the base. I managed to get 29 acceptable cleats out of the 32 supplied by Syren in the package. Not to worry, more are on the way as by my count I need 34 cleats for the ship. Here are the kit and some of the first ones off my "assembly line". I added two of the cleats to the boom as well as strung the sheet blocks onto the boom. I used Beadalon .018 Satin Gold wire (yes, it is plastic coated but if someone hadn't told me I would not have bothered to look close enough to tell). When the running line is rigged the blocks should hang correctly. I am working on the boom arm tie rod and control arm (instructions page below). The brass rod supplied for the control arm is .06" diameter and the copper tubing is almost 5/64s (.078"). There is no way to bend .06" brass tubing into the sharp "V" shown i9n the instructions and the eyebolts supplied in the kit will not allow the rod to fit through without expansion. And we have brass and copper together again (like on the spreader ends). I am going to use 3/32" brass tubing (I cannot find 5/64") and 1/32" brass rod for these items. The kit supplied eyebolts will fit the 3/32 tubing and the pieces all will be brass (and painted flat white - maybe).
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Have the eyebolts and gooseneck mounted on the boom. I am replacing the kit supplied metal cleats with 12mm wooden ones from Syren. I do not care much for the color of the kit supplied item. I am trying to keep the number of colors to as few as possible so they do not distract. I will stain the wooden ones mahogany and use gloss varnish so they will match the deck house roofs and hand rails. I have to add a base plate to the Syren cleats as they are not supplied with one. Will use 1/16 X 1/32 basswood as the base since the cleats are 1/16" thick (a little thinner than the kit item but pretty close). One other reason for going to the wooden cleats is I am more confident of getting them glued down to the deck with a wood to wood interface. Pictures of the cleats when I get a few done. For now here is the boom with the eyebolts and gooseneck attached.
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Nils - thanks. I only had to taper the last plank on each side so much of the credit goes to the kit designer, or maybe the original naval architect.
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I am adding the rest of the hardware to the forward side of the mast. this includes the blocks for the jib halyards and the eyebolts for the jib stays, bobstays and backstays. Speaking of bobstays there appears to be some issues with them in the instructions. The plans show eyebolts on both sides of the mast between the top two sets of spreaders and below the bobstay tensioner but the instructions show only one stay and it terminates on the starboard side of the mast although the list of rigging says "Bobstays". So I guess there are supposed to be two stays at the masthead, running through the end of the bobstay tensioner and then going to each side of the mast. I looked at the pictures on the box and it is not obvious that there are stays going to both sides of the mast. And there is no detailed drawing that shows the top of the mast. I am planning on attaching as much of the rigging as possible before stepping the mast (which would include the bobstay) so I need to decide on one or two bobstays pretty soon as I plan on completing the mast and boom before starting on planking the deck.
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Back from cruise and quick trip to Detroit for funeral - always lots of "fun". Anyway, back to the Endeavour. Still messing around with the hull. Next step is to mark the waterline and then put the gloss coat on. I decided to use striping tape for the white at the waterline. I fear masking and painting is in the "too hard" pile. Maybe next time when I am using the airbrush to paint the hull and have easier access to touch up paint. So while I contemplate how to mark the waterline I decided to work on the mast and boom. First step was to add the eyebolts for the main sail on the after side of the mast. I first soldered a 1/8" eye bolt from my collection to the "holder" that comes with the kit, cut off the excess and mounted that in the mast after drilling a #54 hole in the appropriate locations. I thought about using epoxy to glue them into the mast but they were a "press fit" (some pressed harder than others) and since they only hold the mainsail I thought that overkill so they are just held in by friction with the mast. We will see how this works out when mounting the mainsail. So here is the mast and a close up of the eye bolts.
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The boom. I got the Evergreen channel pieces I ordered and after looking them over decided to go with the 1/4" pieces. The idea (instead of 58 H channels and 58 split rings) is to mount a section of channel with the leg on the boom on each side of the boom centerline covering the same length of the boom as the 58 "H" sections would have. I mounted the channel down one side and used .025 phosphor/bronze pins every 50mm to hold the channel in place and used medium CA to glue the channel, pins and boom together. Here is a picture showing the installation. After applying medium CA to the area at the bottom of the first channel, the second channel is placed next to it and secured (carefully - it is easy to get one channel on top of the other - don't ask me, how I know) with clamps (pick your weakest ones that will fit). Unfortunately the Evergreen channel does not come in long enough pieces to cover a side so a joint is required. I decided to not have the joints in the same location but it probably won't matter in the end as the sail will make it hard to see both sides of the boom at the same time. I plan on adding a bolt rope to the foot of the mainsail and slide than between the two channels on the boom. The tops of the channels are not glued together (hopefully) and the sail is stiffened with 50/50 glue-water so all should be good - we will see. If all goes as planned the bolt rope will continue up the luff and help contain whatever method of attaching the main to the mast is used. The instructions show using eyebolts but others I have seen put the eyebolts in the mast and attach the sail to the eyebolts with small line. I have not decided yet but it is on my mind. Here is the boom in the paint booth getting the final coat of flat white.
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Getting ready for the next step - deck planking. As I mentioned previously I am going to use Alaskan cedar (from Syren) to plank the deck, as I did the tops of the cockpit and some of the other deck furniture. The starting point are the 2" X 14" X 3/16" "planking blanks". They come in a variety of thicknesses. I choose 3/16 because it can be split lengthwise to get two "super planks" from each blank. As it turns out I have to trim about 3/32 off each of the blanks (now 1 29/32" X 14" X 3/16") so that my 4" table saw can cut all the way through in two passes (left side of photo) Then each "super plank" goes through the thickness sander which produces the 1mm X 1 29/32 plank in the center photo. The thickness sander (from Model Machines) produces a tolerance of plus or minus .03mm using the course grit side. These 1mm planks are sliced into 2mm (more accurately 2.13 to 2.25mm) planks which you see on the right of the photo. I plan to check all the planks and discard any that are more out of tolerance than the range above. I also need to create some more or less 1mm X 1mm planks to fill in where the hand rails which are 1mm thick are on the deck.
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I sanded the first coat of blue with 800/1000 grit (it really loads the paper up in a hurry) and then another coat of blue. There are still areas where you can (just barely) see the underlying wood seam and areas on the fin where I clearly did not get everything as smooth as I would have liked but they are not too noticeable since they are in the shadow of the hull and I know I tried to fill these at least twice without complete success. I am off for a week to cruise the Caribbean so the gloss coat will have to wait until I get back. Will give everything plenty of time to dry completely before starting the deck planking.
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I got the turnbuckles I ordered, decided (at least until I see how it looks on the model) to use 22mm ones for the upper shrouds and 18mm for the lower. I had to use the larger split rings because of the distance from the edge to the hole in the brass "chain plates" provided in the kit. I am considering changing to brass (actually gold colored) wire for the shrouds instead of the silver I have now. I ordered the gold Beadolon wire in case the silver does not look "right" with the brass turnbuckles (and I have not seen them in anything but brass).
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The mast has received its last primer and while waiting to put on the first finish coat (flat white) I started thinking more about the deck and associated pieces. The kit provided handrails, which are attached to the deck 14mm (more or less) inboard from the deck edge planks, are laser cut from plywood that is 1mm thick. That will present somewhat of a challenge since the deck planking is 2mm wide, so there will be a need for 1mm wide deck planks to "fill the gap" where the hand rails are installed. In any event, I think it will improve the look of the model if the hand rails are stained to match the mahogany elsewhere on deck and cut a piece of the plywood to see if any of the stain colors I already have will serve or I need to go get some "mahogany" stain.
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Working on getting the tracks attached to the mast so it can go to the paint booth. As I have mentioned getting these tracks attached has not been without its challenges. Not the least was how to hold the mast while doing it. I finally held it with the three vices I used to hold the hull when it was being planked. This seems to work okay but it does put the spreaders in a vulnerable position. If I had it to do over I would not add the spreaders until everything else on the mast was done and it was ready for primer/paint. Here is the mast in the vices and the tracks at the top of the mast.
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While looking over the drawings I noticed that the plans for the sails are only half size. I decided that full size would be much easier to work from as no math is required. So I took the provided plan to a FedEx office shop nearby and had them scan in the sail plan, scale it to full size and print a few copies. My girl friend thinks she can sew the seams (although the instructions indicate they are drawn on with pencil) so we are looking for some material similar to what is provided with the kit to experiment. At smaller scales I think sewing fake seams is impossibly out of scale but at 1/35 it might not be too "over the top". Here are the sail plans at full size.
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While looking through some some of my collection of hardware I came across a set of brass rigging blocks. I do not remember where (or why) I bought these but I am sure it was 7-8 years ago. Given the size of the models I usually build I think it unlikely I would ever use these anywhere but on the Endeavour. Luckily I had just done a cataloging of the rigging and blocks required and was able to determine that I had enough blocks of roughly the right size and configuration to meet all of the block requirements so these are the blocks that will be used. All of the sheaves turn and the attachment ring (or those so equipped) actually turns so no worries about attachment orientation.
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Out of the "paint booth" and waiting the suggested 48 hours for the second coat, then another 48 hours for the clear. Taking a cruise for a week starting Sunday so only the second coat of blue will get done prior to that. Working on the mast also. Getting the tracks on the front is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated. The plastic "C" channel is not as stiff as you might like. A metal track would have probably been a better choice but I am guessing finding something to replace the plastic would not have been easy.
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The last (hopefully) round of Bondo has been primed and we are ready for a final sand (800/1000 grit) before we start the the painting "for real".
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I mentioned that the track provided in the kit had taken a bend since the piece is longer than the box, and just barely as long as needed). So I took the two pieces supplied and hung a 4 oz fishing sinker on the end and let them hang overnight. No apparent change, as soon as the weight was removed it returned to a more than 90 degree bend. Since I have 13" pieces (three required per track) I am going to use them. Getting the shorter pieces mounting is proving more of a challenge than I care for - dealing with longer pieces and wanting to bend is not my idea of a hobby.
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With any luck this should be the last Bondo on the hull. One more spot or two of filler primer and a good overall sand with 800/1000 grit and I should be ready to paint. Speaking of which, my significant other saw (for the first time) the picture of the model, on the top of the kit box and decided she wants it all Navy blue with the white waterline stripe. I was never really in love with the simulated bottom paint so did not put up much of a fight. Makes things considerably easier too. Paint it all, mark the waterline, add tape and done. With that in mind and the possibility that the dark paint may reveal something I can't live with made me change the paint scheme. Rather than using gloss Navy blue spray paint, I have shifted to flat. The plan is to paint it flat, make and repairs necessary, repaint, mark waterline, apply waterline tape and coat entire hull with spray clear gloss. I have the paint I mjust need the hull ready. As for the mast, I have the holes drilled out for the eyebolts and have started to add the ople tracks to the front of the mast. Because the lengths of "C" section (that is what Evergreen Scale Models calls it) are longer than the box they come out with a near 90 degree bend. I have the kit material hanging with weights to see if the bend will come out. In the mean time I am experimenting with the 13" pieces that Evergreen sells direct. The plans seem to indicated nails ever 40mm so I have drilled holes to fit the provided nails in the channel. Getting them secured to the mast and in a more or less straight line is proving to be more of a challenge than I expected. The good news is that it will be impossible for anyone to look directly up the mast to check for "waviness".
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There are seven 7mm single blocks as part of the mainsail sheet tackle. Although the instructions show externally stropped blocks, and the kit provides single hole blocks that must be stropped externally I decide to go with Syren internally stropped 9/32" single blocks. I spent the day watching football and assembling, sanding and getting them ready for varnish and/or stain (I haven't decided which yet). Three go on the boom and four are on deck. I used brass wire for the "hanger" instead of the silver flat strap supplied with the blocks to keep a consistent brass look to the metal onboard.
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As for the model, I have faired the deck and railing edge together and to the hull and will get another coat of primer on shortly. I decided to mask off the deck so it will take the planking without too much paint overspray getting in the way. I have the mast on the table to open the holes for the eyebolts on the aft side and to drill the holes for the other 16 eye blots that are required. I am trying to decide whether to add the polystyrene channels to the forward side of the mast (presumably these are tracks for the "whisker pole" that is carried on deck - not sure why there are two tracks but...). before I hit it with the flat white or installed them after. The instructions indicate that the track are attached with nails (and CA), but it does not show how many or where they are located. Here is the hull waiting for some last minute Bondo to dry before a final sand and more primer.
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As I was shaping the boom I started thinking about how the main sail is attached to the boom. I am beginning to believe I need to rethink this for my version of Endeavour as this is going to be my first model with full sails. My only other experience with sail was on a gaff rigged schooner and the sails were furled between the gaff and boom on both masts. According to the instructions and drawings, there are 58 pieces of "H" shaped plastic channel placed athwart the boom (the picture only shows part of the boom) with (presumably) a hole in the center of each piece. The foot of the main sail is attached to the these 58 shapes with a split ring at each location. Given the shape of the boom (tapered fore and aft) just getting the 58 pieces on the boom evenly and with the hole centered would be a big enough challenge. I guess I am a little intimidated with the idea of trying to get 58 split rings through 58 "grommets" (or whatever I would use to put 58 holes in the mainsail foot) spaced appropriately in the mainsail. I can easily imagine disaster ensuing. The picture on the kit box does not show clearly enough for me to be certain they did it as described in the instructions. Blowing up a picture of the box picture might lead you to believe that the split rings are there but not used to attach the sail. It is possible that they used line to tie the mainsail to the 58 channels. I any event I am considering trying to implement a more "modern" system (like is used on every sail boat I have every been on) a channel on the top of the boom with a bolt rope on the mainsail foot which slides into the channel. I have ordered four different sizes of polystyrene channel and will try a prototype before I make a final decision. I should probably try and fabricate mainsail foot with a bolt rope as well. I know this is not what Endeavour had but I would rather have an inaccurate representation with sails than a more accurate one without.
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I added the "C"plank to the aft side of the mast. Instead of the "C" plank (1 X 3mm) from the kit I used 1/32 X 1/4 boxwood - it is thinner and very slightly wider. I drilled the 40mm spaced holes for the eye blots in the strips before gluing them to the back of the mast. I will have to drill the mast out under the strip to hold the "eye bolt holders" included with the kit but the holes in the strip will show where they are supposed to be. The eye bolts hold the main sail onto the mast but are not installed until the sail is. Here are a picture of the mast in the paint booth and a closeup of the added plank. I also shaped the boom. The triangular section piece provided in the kit was not as hard to shape as I had thought. It tapers in both directions (fore and aft) on all three sides from about the one third point. The full size drawing makes it relatively easy to mark what needs to be removed and I did most of the removing with the disc sander. The last few mm were done with sanding sticks. The trickier part is trying to keep things even on all three sides. Here is a shot of the boom with the forward end tapered and the aft end marked for taper and the boom in the paint booth. I also marked and drilled the holes for the eye bolts on the boom.
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So I used the above approach (soldering rings in the end of the spreaders) tom build the four sets of spreaders/guys for the mast. I drilled holes through the mast, installed the spreaders and the mast bis in the paint booth getting its first coat of primer. I counted and there are 16 more eyebolts that go on the mast. I have not decided at this point whether tom install them now and paint the white with the rest of the mast or wait until after the mast is painted and have them brass. My fear with painting them white is the paint may not stick to the brass very well. I have had to repaint eyebolts in the past where the paint came off during rigging.
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While waiting for the deck glue tp dry I looked at the mast spreaders. The kit provides copper tubing (which be warned is quite soft and easy tom bend, even if you don't mean to) for the spreaders and brass inserts and eyebolts for the spreader ends. I have some copper eyebolts that I acquired along the way somewhere so though maybe it would b e easier/better to use those in stead of the brass hardware in the kit. Because the eyebolt shaft is much smaller than the opening in the tubing I put two of them in the tubing end and soldered them in. A little filing to clean up the solder and it looks pretty good. It is small enough that it in not wider than the tubing so the spreader ends can be installed before the spreader is on the mast. In the end it probably doesn't make much difference they are all going to be painted white anyway.
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