HM Bark Endeavour by dashi - Caldercraft - scale 1:64 - 1768-71 - bashed kit

[dashi]

This is only my 5th build, first bluff hull. I was hoping to not create a build log but have run into some minor problems with the kit.

 

I intend to keep this brief with mainly photo updates and limit comments if any.

 

First problem with the kit are the six 4lb deck cannons. I think they should be 26 mm instead of the 45 mm supplied in the kit. I've contacted JoTika Ltd who posted the replacement cannons out 5 weeks ago, which have not yet arrived. So I'm following up with them regarding this. Also I ordered the Brown Admiralty paint set and the White set came instead, which I've decided to go with and use the replica paint scheme, even though Cornwall Model Boats kindly offered to re-send me the correct paint set.

 

The next problem I had was with the bulkheads meeting flush with the ply at the keel. The keel is not deep enough for the rabbet (there is a conflict on the drawings as they seem to have forgotten to allow for the thickness of both layers of hull planks) so I had to cut the rabbet out of the false ply keel. Do do this I first had to trim around 2.5 mm from the underside of each bulkhead while maintaining the curve because the first planking is 1.5 mm plus the second planking is 1 mm. Then I marked and cut the bearding before glueing the stem, stern and keel on. Then I carefully dremeled a rabbet.

 

Photos coming...

[dashi]

Hi  yep calder canons 26mm in mine

 

The plans do not have a beading on this caldercraft kit. Not indicated  in instructions or Keith Juiler book. not sure if needed

 

Looks good so far. Bluff hull is a PIA on this kit.  Walnut in kit can be brittle so soak shape & let dry as it shrinks before fitting. They supply LOTS of spare planking. beware of the sizing width as its mixed in with others. colour also varies a lot.

 

When I did an inventory I was 2 short on the no of 3mm wide strips ( 9 vs 12 ), but there was still lots left. 

 

The instructions are very lite on, but plans are excellent, however not all images are to scale and are not indicated so, so use measurements printed not diagrams. ie the masts are not the right size except for the foremast.  BUT the measurements are.   

 

Have fun.

 

Paul V

Cheers Paul,

 

Yeah I noticed the mast measurements earlier, but thanks for the heads up, and the confirmation re those cannon. 

 

First layer of hull planking almost done, soaking then shaping then glueing. Takes a while but the end result is worth it. However it won't be winning any medals. I've hashed the tapering and lay trying to follow the plans. That bluff bow and stern are unforgiving, but I think I've saved it after adding some packing. Nothing that I can't fill and sand. I'll put up some photos of the first layer when it's complete.

 

For the second layer I'll lay from the keel to the wale following the lay of the bulkheads like on the Fremantle replica from a photo I found when the first layer started to spill.

Edited December 19, 2015 by dashicat

[Captain Slog]

Hi Dashicat,

 

Nice to see another Caldercraft Endeavour.

 

 

 I used a compass to transfer the positoning of the whale on the plan to the first layer and it worked out well.

 

Even with filler blocks the bow on this is a testing challenge to say the least.... Mines far from perfect.

 

Paul V 

 

Using a compass is a good idea.  I messed up here and my wales are 1 plank width too low, which I didn't notice until it was time to mark the waterline for the white stuff.

 

Bow filler blocks are a must for the bluff bow, it will be difficult to get a nice round curve without them as the planks want to go straight across the gap of the bulkheads.

 

Cheers

Slog

[dashi]

Update: First hull planking is finished to upper deck level and wale is marked from the drawings. You can see where I had to change my method of planking when I had serious spill problems. To do this I had to fit blocks into the bow for the strakes to follow and attach to. I think I've saved it and am happy with the results so far, but hopefully will know better if there is a next build.

 

I plan to deviated slightly from the order of construction in the kit because I don't wish to risk damage to the bulwarks when planking the second layer below the wale with the hull upside down. So won't finish these until after I've planked the second layer below the wale starting at the keel to allow for the lay of the strakes. I'll plank the counter after the second layer of hull planking is laid across the underside of the aft bulkhead 15, then I'll flip the hull upright and complete the faces of bulkheads 7 and 10, then both layers of the bulwarks. Finally I'll trim the stern strakes and fit the stern facia etc, to get a clean finish.

 

At least that's the plan for now.

 

[dashi]

Cheers Paul,

 

All the best to you and yours and everyone over the feastive season and for 2016.

 

stay safe.

[hof00]

Looking good!!

I find the A/L version has a little more "Guesstimation" in the height of the top of the Keel above the Deck.

I guess if the parts of the Keel fit nicely, all will be o.k. (It is what it is and I can always adjust if necessary.)

 

Cheers....HOF.

Edited December 26, 2015 by hof00

[dashi]

Ok thought I'd post a little update.

 

Hull, 2nd Layer 4x1mm walnut, half way from the keel to the wale (rubbing strakes). Method - measure, cut and shape, soak 4 hrs min to overnight, gently bend by hand, lay on hull drilling and pinning at random uniform points representing spike holes, adding drop planks if needed, when dry (overnight) then glueing and pinning with builders white outdoor pva. 

 

Part way down I realized I needed to plank under the wale to provide a rabbet for the forward and aft hull strakes to wedge into. But to do this I needed to plank under the counter, and to do this I first needed to side track myself by shaping the stern facia by soaking them for 10 to 15 minutes (don't want the ply to blister) and then holding them in position using rubber bands to the tabs (good thing I haven't planked the bulwarks).

 

I've now reached the curve where I need to reduce 2 strakes into half a strake fore and aft. I'm using the replica hull as a guide. First time I got wrong so put them to one side as they should fit better near the wale. So a serious rethink and close measuring my second attempt succeeded. 

 

Hopefully the photos will show it better.

[dashi]

Looking a head I notice on sheet 2 there is a short piece of capping on the outer edge of bulkhead 10 between the quarter and mid decks, but I can't seem to locate any more references to these. Sheet 1 has the plan for covering the exposed bulkhead 10 and lime ends with 0.5 x 4 walnut but that's all. Does anyone have any other clues regarding this area?

 

At this stage my solution will be to make these short cappings from some ply spree that the rails come from to keep it the same and paint them black.

 

I'm still planking the hull and will post photos of my progress a little later.

 

Cheers

Edited January 26, 2016 by dashicat

[Cabbie]

Looking good Dashi.

It certainly is a complicated beast to plank.

Too many other things need to thought about.

I am doing my usual thing, and leaving it all later, 

and hoping it works out.

I have the AL kit, sorry can't help with the other bits.

 

Chris

[DaveRow]

Hi there Mr Dashi.

You have made a good start to the model.

The planking is a challenge, esp. to the bluff bow.

For details check out other Endeavour logs.

Plenty on this site.

I'll be looking in from time to time to see how your shipyard is performing.  

 

 

Dave R

[DaveRow]

Looking a head I notice on sheet 2 there is a short piece of capping on the outer edge of bulkhead 10 between the quarter and mid decks, but I can't seem to locate any more references to these. Sheet 1 has the plan for covering the exposed bulkhead 10 and lime ends with 0.5 x 4 walnut but that's all. Does anyone have any other clues regarding this area?

 

At this stage my solution will be to make these short cappings from some ply spree that the rails come from to keep it the same and paint them black.

 

I'm still planking the hull and will post photos of my progress a little later.

 

Cheers

Dashi,

I believe you may be referring to the planking going past bulkhead 10 to the bow ?.

It "covers" runs past the small set of stairs each side, between the mid and aft decks.

If this is right, just run the 2nd planks past and add lime planks inside later. Trim with the gunwhale.

Thats what I ended up doing. run them past longer than you need and trim back.

 

 

Dave R

[dashi]

Cheers Chris, Dave and Paul for taking the time to answer my question. Sorry my discription was a bit vague with out a photo, but If you look at plan sheet 2 you can make out a short piece of 2 mm thick vertical bulwark capping which runs between the quarter and mid deck bulwarks and which has an eyebolt into it for attaching a sheet block. The ATS book also shows it on the cover and in the drawings with a double sheet fairleed here instead of a block which I may also bash.

 

Cheers

Edited January 27, 2016 by dashicat

[dashi]

Cheers Paul.

 

Heres some photos. I won't add the hatch covers to bulkhead 10 until after the deck is laid, then they won't be in the way of sanding. Also won't add the stern fascia until after the hull is planked but before I lay the deck. As for the counter hatch covers they will go on with the rest of the covers after the hull is finished as I think they will be in the way of sanding and possibly the first varnish coat.

 

 

[dashi]

Thanks Paul for confirmation re those hatchs and hinges. Tried painting some hinges with the Admiralty paint. I wasn't too impressed with the initial result.

Edited January 28, 2016 by dashicat

[dashi]

Thanks Paul for confirmation re those hatchs and hinges. Tried painting some hinges with the Admiralty paint. I wasn't too impressed with the initial result.

Thanks Paul, I was wondering about that. But 24 hours later the first coat seems to have taken so applied a second coat of the metal black paint which gave an ok finish.

[dashi]

Ok looking ahead to the position of the anchor slide plate part 122. So looking at the plans and comparing to the part and oh no. Part 122 is 5 mm too short and 5 mm too wide. I quess I will just have to bash this part when I come to it using 1x4 mm walnut off cuts.

 

While on the subject, 3 months and still no kit updates or replacement deck cannons. Not to mention I'm counting the full lengths of 1x4 mm walnut as several lengths were cross grained or with knots. It's going to be close.

 

More thoughts after looking at the replica I see the lining is lighter timber so won't use walnut but instead cut them from either lighter timber or the plywood spree from the false deck.

Edited February 3, 2016 by dashicat

[Captain Slog]

Hi Dashicat,

 

If part 122 is the anchor fenders (plans are packed away so can't check) which protect the hull from the anchors then unfortunately the part supplied by Caldercraft is the same in everyone's kit so a replacement will be the same.

 

When I came to fit mine, yeah, same problem so looking around there were a couple of others who mentioned it being wrong so made it up from strips.  (looks better anyway instead of a slab of ply wood in my opinion)

 

Saying that, as Paul mentions it needs to be formed round the hull and that gave me lots of trouble as I glued up several strips and cut to shape before fitting. So bending and forming lots of strips glued together was a pain and being short lengths didn't want to bend very well.  But think I may have done something to cause this but can't remember now as a few years ago now.

 

Cheers

Slog 

[dashi]

Thanks Slog. Yeah I think that's what I'll do and sure my old subconscious will figure out how to construct and form it. Looking at the replica it appears the 'anchor lining', actually runs from the bulwark capping down to the rubbing strakes, but it is hard to notice because it is painted blue above the sheer strake. The ATS book also has an 'anchor lining bolster' where it joins to the rubbing strakes, but theirs runs from the sheer strake down which matches the kit.

 

Paul I contacted Cornwall Model Boats before xmas about the cannons and they also sent an email to Caldercraft. I've since followed up with a letter and re-registration form so will wait and see. But thanks for reminding me that it is what it is and hopefully will get sorted eventually.

 

After some more thinking on this I realize the gun carages and guns are normally fitted and rigged prior to the masts and standing rigging while there is room with acess. Hmmmm, I still have a bit to do before then including the ships boats. If the guns haven't arrived by that stage, then I could prepare and semi rig the carriages with their eye bolts and drill the holes inside the bulwarks ready to take the train tackle and breeching eyebolts at a later stage if that makes sense and sounds plausible?

Edited February 3, 2016 by dashicat

[Cabbie]

Hi Dash

I don't know if you need replica pics, but here is a couple of links.

 

http://www.modelships.de/Museums_and_replicas/Endeavour/Photos%20HMB%20Endeavor.htm

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/endeavourvoyages/albums/with/72157634081735926

 

Chris

[dashi]

Cheers Chris.

 

Here's a link to the replica build with a photo of the bow planking under the wale that I used as a guide.

http://www.seacoastnh.com/endeavour/

Edited January 31, 2016 by dashicat

[dashi]

Second layer of hull almost finished, photo's to follow in a few days all going well.

Meanwhile the height of the gunwale capping sits at deck level according to the bulkhead tabs which looks too low. I made up a gun carriage with bashed eyebolts and allowed for the gunwale to be approx 3 to 4 mm above deck level giving room for the breach robe eyebolt. Looking at photo's of the replica the gun tackle sits under the breach robe so is mostly out of view so I might settle with just a breach robe at this stage.

While I was about it I thought I'd place one of the overscaled guns they supplied in the kit on its carriage.

Edited February 8, 2016 by dashicat

[Captain Slog]

While I was about it I thought I'd place one of the overscaled guns they supplied in the kit on its carriage.

 

LOL, that looks awesome 

 

Have you had any word on the correct replacement 4 pounders?

 

Cheers

Slog

[dashi]

No word from Jotika yet Slog, but haha yeah imagine that thing taking off over the deck after firing. Who needs enemys when you have a gun like this lol :-).

[dashi]

Second layer of hull planked with the 1x4mm walnut. I needed 2 half stealers at the bow bulwarks for the peak, but apart from that managed to come up the bow without trimming. At the stern I had to do some slight trimming to finish at approximately the top of the quarter deck bulwark.

 

She has had a coarse and medium sand. Then I made a stencil of the hatches, anchor slide etc. and traced these onto the hull so they don't interfere with the trennels and strake butts. Note: I've finished the forward bulwarks 1.5 mm above the frame tabs which has worked out good when stenciling on the hull fittings in relation to the position of the rubbing strakes. (I'm wondering if the thickness of the finished deck hasn't been included, just the false deck for the size of the frames and tabs which is the problem I encountered at the keel with the thickness of hull planks)? 

 

Next I will drill out the pin holes with a no7 bit to form trennels and mark and cut in the strake butts and drill the corresponding trennel holes. I will also drill trennel holes on either side of the hatch positions (which I've penciled on).

 

Then the plan is (which I havn't done or heard of before) to mix up some mahogany water based wood filler with a little black filler to get it a shade darker than the walnut. This I will use to fill the drill holes and joins to simulate the hull trennels and caulking. Then when this is all dry a fine sanding. (If anyone has used this method for simulating trennels, then could you please let me know how it went with links to photos if any cheers)?

 

As for the stern facia I will cut the rudder hole and plank the inside of the quarter deck bulwarks before adding this so I can sand them down to match the facia before gluing. Also will need to trim some ply away from framing parts 17 and 18 as I will be adding some projector film to the windows to simulate glass and don't want the inside to be covered with framing.

Edited February 10, 2016 by dashicat

[Captain Slog]

Great job Dashicat

 

This is a very nice stage to be at.

 

Cheers

Slog

[dashi]

Cheers Slog.

 

I think I've found another measurement problem with the plans and scale as Paul pointed out in an earlier post.

 

Plan sheet 1. the measurement of the of the stern from top to counter on the top frame side side elevation prior to the fitting of the stern facia is the same measurement after the addition of the bulwarks and stern facia according to plan sheet 2, bottom side elevation.

 

This means that all the following side elevations of this area aft, are drawn shorter than what they should be. To get the correct measurement here add the hight of the aft bulwark as shown in plan sheet 2 to the measurement from the side elevation of this area of framing on plan sheet 1.

 

Hope I'm making sense here? So when stenciling the aft hull fittings and position of the aft shear strake and side window I aligned my stencil with the top of the aft rubbing strakes and not the top of the quarter deck bulwarks plus used my judgment incase the line of my rubbing strake was slightly out. I think the positioning of the top rubbing strake or wale drawn on plan sheet 1 lower side elevation looks to be correct and to scale so I've taken this as my datum line.

Edited February 11, 2016 by dashicat

[Cabbie]

Good Evening Dash

That was a big effort with the 2nd planking. She has come up an absolute treat,

with some very nice lines and curves. When you get some poly on her

the color of the timber will really stand out.

Cheers Chris

[dashi]

Cheers Chris,

 

Until this build I'd only used veneer for the second planking so using 1x4 mm walnut was a new and interesting challenge which required me to learn a new approach.

 

Basically, the first thing was to get the line of the wale or top rubbing strake in the correct position according to the kit plans. Then using a length of veneer I could work out when I needed a drop plank or stealer. As for bending I soaked for several hours and gently introduced a bend by hand. It wasn't until coming up the wale to the bulwarks when I discovered I could introduce a slight lateral curve to the wet strakes which I then drilled and pinned in place 1 at time and let shape over night. Indroducing this lateral curve helped to reduce spilling as I came up and over the curve at the bow.

 

As for not needing to trim at the bow that was more luck on my part and I think credit must go to the kit plans for getting the line of the wale or rubbing strakes in the right position.

 

But yeah one strake a day was a managable and enjoyable pace although that bluff bow gave me nightmares, but we got through that with minor scars so can take a breath now.

[dashi]

Update:

 

Marked and dremeled pins holes in the hull using a fine round routing bit which gave the cleanest holes for trennels. 

 

Marked and scored butt joins copied from photos of the replica, scored hatch, and anchor slide positions and dremeled trennel holes on both sides of hatch positions.

 

Darkened some mahogany filler with black filler for the caulking and trennels which I then filled all the holes and cracks with. After it had dried I sanded everything back to expose the wood finishing with 400 grit paying particular attention to the area of hull between the sheer strake and wale that I'm leaving as exposed wood like on the replica.

 

Then after masking off the area between the wale and sheer strakes I applied one coat of matt polyurethane to protect the wood from grease etc. when handling.

 

When I come to attaching the hatch covers I'll scrap the poly from their positions first. Not sure what the best glue would be for attaching the hatches?

[DaveRow]

Nice work on the hull Dashi

I'll look forward to see your shipyard progresses the build. 

 

 

Dave R