HM Bark Endeavour by rvchima - FINISHED - Caldercraft - scale 1:64 - yet another

[rvchima]

Barrels?

 

The kit came with a little bag of nice wooden barrels, but, like the oars, is no mention of barrels in the instructions or plans. Where would these go? Lashed to something on deck somewhere?

[rvchima]

Boat Storage

 

The longboat and pinnace go in cradles on deck. They look awesome up there.

Eight spare top masts are lashed to the tops of the bits fore and aft of the boats. While I was making spare masts I went ahead and made another set. That way I could use the worst ones as spares and the best ones above.

The spare masts are lashed in place. If I'd known I would be doing this much lashing in 2018 I would have paid more attention in Boy Scouts in 1968. The longboat and yawl are lashed atop the spare masts.

Someone please tell me why I spent so much extra time and money on a curved grating kit for the main deck hatch. Now I totally understand why Pat Banyan built his model with only 2 boats aboard.

My wife Cinda Chima is an author of popular young adult fantasy novels. She posted a photo of my model similar to the one below on Instagram the other day, because her latest series includes scenes with pirates. Her post has 161 Likes right now. I told her I don't have 161 Likes TOTAL in all my posts on MSW.

Edited July 4, 2018 by rvchima

[BANYAN]

You've done a great job on those boats mate; they look really good.  I am still debating about the locations/stowage of the boats but I have left them as is until I finally get about finishing the others.  At this stage I think I will leave them as they are and place the other two on rods besides the ship to simulate them being in the water   Cheating I know; but a lot easier.

 

Your build is looking great; look forward to updates.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[DaveRow]

Hi Rod,

Your Endeavour is coming along very nice indeed.

I keep an eye out for updates all the time.

[rvchima]

Swivel Guns

These are just a couple of pieces of PE brass with a nail through the center soldered together. Bend up the tabs and attach the brass barrel with a piece of wire, then solder the wire. Like always I used Novocan black stained glass patina for the black color.

[rvchima]

Anchors

I decided that I could safely attach the forward anchors now. I left a coil of line to attach to an anchor buoy eventually.

[Fernando E]

Hi Rod, arriving a little bit late on your build but now have found it will follow along if ok with you. I plan to do the Endeavour in the not too distant future and was looking at the Caldercraft kit to buy and put under the workbench.

The kit looks very good (as does your workmanship!) so am keen to see how your build progresses.

 

Cheers..........Fernando 

[BANYAN]

You're making great progress Rod; looking good.

 

If it is not too late, leave the swivels off until you have your shrouds, backstays etc and rattlin done, some of them may get in the way

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rvchima]

Fernando,

Welcome aboard! I should explain that, in the model airplane world, what I am doing would be called standoff scale. It looks pretty good if you stand off a ways. If you want serious attention to detail check out Pat Banyan's completed build or  Dave Rowe's nearly completed build.

[rvchima]

I just bought an interesting book at a local used book store. "The Neophyte Shipmodeler's JACKSTAY," by George F. Cambell, published by Model Shipways, 1962. It's 59 pages softbound and full of labeled drawings of sailing ship parts. It explains pretty well what things are called, how they work, and how they changed over time. It even explains what a jackstay is. There is no index but it's easy to flip through and find a relevant drawing.

 

My favorite part is

The Rigging

It has been truly said that the rankest amateur can successfully rig, though he know not his mast from a hole in the ground.

 

The original price was $2.50 US. I paid $8.99 for a 56 year old copy. And amazingly Modelexpo-online.com still has it for sale for $12.99.

[rvchima]

Holiday Break

My wife and I are leaving tomorrow for a week-long cruise through the Columbia River gorge on a modern stern wheeler. It covers the most of the width of the state of Oregon. Then we'll rent a car and visit Portland, Oregon, Mt. Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park, and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I'll post photos of any interesting river craft. Back in mid August.

[Haliburton]

Rod, a very nice build.  FYI we were on Vancouver Island last week. 2 hours northwest of Victoria is botanical beach near Port Renfrew. I highly recommend a visit if you have the chance. Scott

[BANYAN]

Enjoy your trip Rod; sounds like an interesting and enjoyable cruise.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Fernando E]

Hi Rod, enjoy the break.....sounds like a great trip.

Cheers...... Fernando 😎

[rvchima]

This morning I was tying 3mm blocks to eyebolts, getting ready for the tops. Near the end one block went flying. Far. I got down on my hands and knees with a flood light and searched the floor, with no luck. Then I swept the floor. Still no luck so I gave up.

 

Two hours later I was washing dishes, and felt something on my head. The block was in my hair.

[rvchima]

We are cruising through the Columbia River gorge in the American Pride, a "stern wheeler" with two steerable props  and a free-wheeling wheel. At 295 ft it's about twice the length of the Endeavour.

Edited August 1, 2018 by rvchima
Better image

[rvchima]

 

I've been back from my holiday for a couple of weeks and promised to post a few photos. Here's a view from the stern of our ship. The wheel is just spinning freely in the water but it sure looks cool.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon has the Columbia light ship anchored outside. Our ship docked right next to it.

The museum was packed with ship models like this model of the Columbia Rediviva, the first ship to "cross the bar" into the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest in 1792.

They also had a second edition of the logs of Captain Cook, who explored the Northwest coast on his third voyage in 1778.

I'll skip the photos of Portland, Oregon, Mt. Rainier National Park, and Olympic National Park, and end with this photo of the harbor in Victoria, BC. The domed building is the capitol building of British Columbia. The Royal BC museum is just off the photo to the left, and our hotel was the building on the right with the pointy tower and flag. What a beautiful city.

 

I've been busy building masts. Give me a couple of hours to take photos and I'll be back.

[rvchima]

Bowsprit, Fore Mast, Fore Topgallant, Main Mast, and Main Topgallant Complete. 1 year, 9 days, 411 hours

I actually completed the bowsprit and jibboom before my holiday but didn't have time to post. I did the rest over the last 2 weeks. Here are some detail shots.

I

 

I really like this drawing in Parkin's book of the Endeavour with only the main masts and standing rigging. I am toying with the idea of stopping my build at that point. This would make for a much more compact display case and probably save me 6 months. What do you think?

 

Then I could get to these other projects waiting on my shelf sooner. That would be an Aeronaut kit of the Prinz Eugen heavy cruiser, a vintage Sterling kit of a P-61 Black Widow night fighter, and a Bomarc missile kit by Madcow rocketry. So many projects, so little time ;^)

 

 

[Fernando E]

Hi Rod and good to see you back at the shipyard and I hope your holiday was relaxing.

 

The Endeavour is coming along very nicely and I'm looking forward to seeing your post on the rigging and to find out how difficult (easy!!!) it is on this build.

The Admiral surprised me by giving me a copy of Ray Parkin's HMB Endeavour (1st Edition no less ) which means she wants to see more of me at my shipyard! Having a look through the book plus the fold out plans makes me even more keen to start on this model sooner rather than later but I'm planning on one more build before the Endeavour which will give me more practice on planking etc and hopefully fewer mistakes in the future.

 

I'll leave it to you to decide on whether you will finish the Endeavour with the standing rigging only. I've seen a few model displayed this way and they look just as good as a finished model....personal preference is to do all the rigging and no sails.

 

Good luck with the rest of the build and with whatever you decide. I'll keep on watching with interest.

 

Cheers............Fernando  

[BANYAN]

Glad you enjoyed your trip Rod; and thanks for posting pics.

 

Mate your call on the masting and rigging - whatever 'floats your boat' so to speak.  The main thing is do you like it displayed like that - if yes then go for it.  it certainly is a different adaption of the 'stub mast' display.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[DaveRow]

You have been busy Rod,

Nice paddles. The remake >> better than all brass.

 

 

[rvchima]

Masts Completed, 1 year, 24 days, 456 hours

The masts alone took 58 hours. They are still in separate sections and are not attached to the ship.

The deadeyes are set into the tops. 

[rvchima]

Yards

I've got all the yards, flagpoles, and booms shaped. Thanks to Pat Banyan I ordered a jack, ensign, and commissioning pennant from Cornwall Model Boats. The main yard and main topsail yard are rigged.

Oh s**t - I forgot the stunsail booms on the main yard! I've seen how Pat Banyan and Dave Row both made their fittings out of brass tubes and wire soldered together, and had visions of deconstructing the yard to slide the bands on. Then I looked at the Caldercraft plans.

The rings are pot metal, almost no cleanup required. The bands are photo etched brass that just go 2/3 of the way around the yard. I looked back (longingly) at Chuck Passaro's thoroughly detailed 132 page plans for the Syren that I built 5 years ago. Chuck said that there is no need to solder the fittings because there is absolutely no load on them. No way to solder the pot metal anyway, so after a little metal work, a drop of CA, and a little paint, the stunsail booms were done. I put the booms on the fore yard before I rigged it ;^)

[rvchima]

Tying Blocks

Dave Row kindly posted detailed instructions for seizing a line to a block and attaching it to a yard. His method is pretty much how blocks are attached on real ships and the results are perfect. But it does take a while. I experimented and found a method that is a bit easier and looks OK to me.

Hold the block in a spring clamp in a vise. Note to self - make sure the holes in the block are vertical so you don't tie the line over the holes. Slide the line behind the block.

Tie the line with a tight square knot. Remove the block from the clamp, loop the long end of the line over the top, and put the block and line back in the clamp.

Use the short end of the line to tie 2 or 3 tight half hitches around the loop. This approximates the seizing but is easier. The fake seizing line is the wrong diameter but mostly gets hidden against a yard anyway. Don't glue anything yet.Voila, the finished block.

Slip the loop over the yard and pull the long end of the line to snug it in place. Put a drop of CA on the knot and around the block, then trim the short end of the line. It takes me about 3.5 minutes per block.

 

This method doesn't look so good for blocks attached to a line, like the blocks hanging from the ends of the yards. For those blocks I am using exactly the method described by Dave, seizing them to the line with a separate, thinner line. That method requires a third hand to hold the seizing line. I used a couple of strong neodymium magnets to attach a micro clip (from my model rocket days) to my spring clamp. See Dave's post for the rest.

[BANYAN]

Very nice mate; a lot done in a shortish amount of time - the masts look good.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[DaveRow]

Hey Rod,

Masts and Blocks coming up nice I see.

Making good progress. You'll catch up to me at this rate....

 

[rvchima]

Belaying Pins

 

With advice from Pat Banyan I realized that I would need some belaying pins and sheaves in the four bits on deck. Neither are shown on the plans for the bits, but running rigging plans do show lines connecting to various points along the bits. The kit only included enough wooden pins to fill the holes along the winch, so I ordered some more from ModelExpo-Online. I broke the bits away from the deck and added sheaves and pins.

These are the tiniest belaying pins I've ever seen. I've had splinters bigger than this.

But the pins are in and I'll have something to tie off to.

[rvchima]

Yards

The yards are complete!

[rvchima]

Bowsprit & Jib Boom

 

After 6 build logs I finally invested in a decent photo backdrop. It's just a long roll of heavy gray paper 53 inches wide and 36 feet long. I chose gray so the standing and running rigging should both be visible against it. Here's my highly professional photo booth.

You can see that I've installed the bowsprit and attached the stays. Here's a better look.

Isn't that gray background great?

 

[rvchima]

Standing Rigging

I stepped the masts and started the standing rigging. Here's my jig for setting the deadeyes at a constant height  - two pieces of wire glued to a piece of wood as thick as the deadeye hole spacing.

and here are the lines of deadeyes from fore to aft.

I've been using beeswax on the linen chord but there sure is a lot of fuzz when I zoom in ;(