shipaholic

Hi Dave

Just found this new build of yours. Welcome back to the shipyard.

Have you seen the model of HMS Sirius at the Powerhouse Museum, there are some good photos on their website. Might be of useful reference

I will follow this build with great interest

And later on if you need help with mast and spar dimensions I have a copy of the book "Steele's Elements of Mast making Sail making and Rigging" which is the book that Marquardt referenced when he wrote the Endeavour AOTS 

Cheers

Steve

Great job Bill she looks nice, I really enjoyed watching your build.

Good pictures Allan, you must have a better library than me. Quite a few of those drawings seem to show boomkins with single guys well away from where the anchor cable might foul them , which makes sense with respect to my earlier point about fouling of the anchor cables

Hi Bill

I did the same as the replica vessel and have a block attached to the cathead. When I built my first Endeavour by AL in the early 1990's their instructions said to rig it that way also. It's interesting that the fore course on the AL model is narrower at the bottom than the top.

Sorry Allan, you don't address my issue with the potential fouling of the anchor cables with the boomkin shrouds in the arrangement you suggest. The boomkin shrouds would need to be above the hawse holes like in larger Men-o-war. Also those things on Parkinson's drawing a way too fat to be boomkins, and their position suggests no advantage to having the tacks leading to them rather than to the catheads. Despite numerous searches, I am yet to see a period painting of a ship with no beakhead that has boomkins/bumkins

Cheers

Steve

Hi Bill

Just my opinion, but I've always had an issue with the presence of boomkins on Endeavour, especially how the AOTS shows them. I imagine they would cause all sorts of issues with the anchor, even if they aren't directly under the catheads. The ship will move around whilst at anchor due to wind and currents and, with the boomkins there, those stays would foul with the anchor cables. So I left boomkins off my Endeavour model because I could not see how they would work, especially if they are situated where the supposed boomkins on Parkinson's sketch are. Also, in my opinion those things on Parkinson's sketch do not look like boomkins.

Keep up the good work

Steve

Hi Bill

Sorry I didn't see this until just now, I don't look at my build log any more. Yes I left the sails off, wanted to build it like the old admiralty models that don't have sails. I was thinking about having sails at one stage, but I no longer  know anyone who could sew them for me on a sewing machine. The Occre ones are terrible, too thick and too much hem. I built another Endeavour a long time ago and it has sails that were made for me by a kind woman who was good at using a sewing machine.

Cheers 

Steve

I have a set of instructions for the running rigging, but not the standing rigging from when I built this model about 45 years ago

Just build your model and make it look good, don't worry too much about the technical stuff that some people want to amuse themselves with

Hi Bill

I didn't rig that mizzen staysail stay on my Endeavour because, as you say, it doesn't make sense going through the crows feet. The full size replica in Sydney doesn't have it, and its not shown on other rigging plans for ships of this size. There are quite a few mistakes in the AOTS and this is one of them

Cheers

Steve

Hi Bill

My fore yard is about 5/16" thick at the centre. When I built mine I enlarged the diagrams in the AOTS to 1:51 scale using a photocopier. You can see my yards and the diagrams on page 16 of my build log.

Yes Australia is a great place, and yes a long flight from USA, 14 hours from LA I think, even further to Kentucky. Sydney has the Endeavour replica berthed there at the maritime museum

Hi Bill

Good work

Yes the yards were usually entirely blackened including the battens. Its a pity the Occre instructions have the yards so thick compared to real ones 

Hi Bill

Yes the yards are lowered with the sails furled. On the scale of your model they would sit about 1/4 inch above the mast caps. Disregard the topgallant yards in the first pic, they are sitting on the crosstrees because the topgallant masts have been lowered.

Steve

I still have a full set of paper plans and instructions for the old AL Endeavour. I scanned each page of the instruction booklet some time ago for someone else and still have the files. There are two large sheets containing diagrams and plans, I just tried taking a photo of one of them and the instructions are still quite clear. 

Hi Bill

That looks pretty good. The trick is to just try to make it look right compared to photos or diagrams in books. In my experience kit instructions are not a good reference for details

Cheers

Steve

Hi Bill

Sorry I misunderstood your question.

A lot of my ropes are served. I have a Domanov serving machine. I used sewing cotton because none of the ropes supplied by Occre are suitable - all too thick and fuzzy. I didn't use any of the Occre rope, I either purchased it from Syren Model Ship, made my own with my ropewalk or used different sewing threads. I wanted to get all my ropes the correct scale thickness

Cheers

Steve

Hi Bill

I can't remember exactly what I used to make the heart blocks, it was a few years ago and there have been many blocks done since then. I have accumulated quite a collection of different blocks over the years from different sources, previous builds and blocks I have purchased. Anyway I always have sanded blocks to get the correct shape then lacquered each one. The hearts I sanded to the correct shape and also made the cavity correct using needle files. I have a lot of reference books on rigging and also lots of photos of the Endeavour replica here in Australia to use as reference. Anyway here are a few pics for you.

Steve

Hi Bill

Re your question about the bowsprit here are the drawings in Marquardt's AOTS book, plus a picture of the Replica vessel but the base of the bowsprit is obscured by ropes, The are both the same.  Also a photo of the base of the bowsprit on my Endeavour

Hi Bill

I just saw this post after the numerous replies. The hatches are meant to be flush with the outer planks when closed, the Occre instructions are wrong unfortunately.  See this picture of the replica vessel.

Hello Bill

Yes the capstan issue is intriguing. I made my Endeavour with that cover over the quarterdeck stairs, and your comment made me think about it, so realistically it would seriously impede the use of the capstan as you point out. Marquardt's AOTS has a lot of assumptions, many of which are false, unfortunately. For example, If you read H.M. Bark Endeavour by Ray Parkin he refers to a document from 1768 describing some of the works done during Endeavour's refit, it describes the companion (skylight) as having a sash (windows) all round with a grating on top. Nothing like Marquardt's drawings. I believe the ladder hatch, forward of the capstan, probably didn't have that raised cover, but instead just an opening to the stairs that could be covered with a flat cover or grating that could be walked upon when the men were using the capstan.

Just some thoughts.

Cheers

Steve

now that the Endeavour is finished it might be time to do some cleaning and maintenance on the old Victory I built 35 years ago

Today I finished fitting the third boat, the yawl, onto the "booms". I am not going to attempt to make Bank's skiff, too hard. So effectively its finally finished after 13 and a half years since I started. I must admit I haven't spent a lot of time on her the past few years, just doing bits and pieces when time permitted. I have been a bit controversial over the years, not following that single source - the AOTS, instead I have researched many other different sources of information.

I have almost finished the second boat, the longboat. Now building the yawl