Endurance by HakeZou - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:70

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Just the engineer in me pondering how the launching process would go for those lifeboats stowed on the racks, since the distance between the davits is less than the length of the boat end-to-end.  Maybe something like raising the boat, and then manhandling one end to get around the davit on that side somehow - then pivoting that davit to face outward.  Then the second end would be easier to 'get around' the remaining davit before turning the second davit seaward.

[HakeZou]

1 hour ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  'Just the engineer in me pondering how the launching process would go for those lifeboats stowed on the racks, since the distance between the davits is less than the length of the boat end-to-end.  Maybe something like raising the boat, and then manhandling one end to get around the davit on that side somehow - then pivoting that davit to face outward.  Then the second end would be easier to 'get around' the remaining davit before turning the second davit seaward.

 

Johnny, I had the same question and my initial guess was the same! After a bit of digging around on the internet, though, I found a better answer in the form of a British Pathé documentary showing a lifeboat drill on the RMS Aquitania. Both the Aquitania and the Endurance launched in 1914 and both use radial davit systems. (For those, like me, who know very little about davits, the key thing to know is that radial davits are operated manually and can be turned independently.) By turning one first and then the other, the lifeboat passes between the davits at an angle, allowing for a boat that is longer than the distance between the davits. It appears to be a job for four men, two in the boat and two at the bases of the davits; the men in the boats seem to be adjusting the pendant rope as needed to keep the boat level. On my model the midship davits are aligned as close as I could get to the spacing on the original ship, which really does allow the lifeboats to pass through at an angle. (I'll note here that the lifeboats with canoe-style sterns seem to be more-or-less in scale; the ones with transoms seem to me a bit oversized and out-of-scale. I don't have hard numbers on this, just a general sense of it.)

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Hake, thats amazing!  Watching the second boat from the front carefully - one can see that as the forward davit pivots inward, the prow of the life boat moves back enough to clear the davit ... and take note - while this is happening the rear davit tilts just a little toward the stern to accommodate the rearward motion of the boat.  The forward davit continues to pivot (probably winched by a man at the davit - while the rear davit may be allowed to adjust itself freely by releasing a clutch ... or actively winched by another crewman).  So the prow of the launch will clear the forward davit and as that davit continues to pivot fully out board, the rear davit just 'comes along' - perhaps assisted by engaging a winch for the outbound portion if its travel.

 

  That's a LONG way down from the deck of the ocean liner, and I noticed that some of the boats start tilting at what might seem an 'uncomfortable' angle due to the tackle on the ends being cranked down at different rates!  Of course, somebody would be watching for this (perhaps prompted by yelling from below) and adjustments could be made to bring the affected lifeboat back to an even keel.  Practice would improve performance.  Now imagine doing this at night on the Titanic ... going slowly down by the bow ... in freezing cold and with scared people in the boats.

 

  Fair sailing!    Johnny

[HakeZou]

We were caught up in the big storm blowing across the Midwestern US, with school and work cancelled today. Apart from shoveling snow and walking the dog, I managed to spent a good portion of the day in the basement working on my Endurance. I finished off the starboard ratlines and hung the quarterdeck lifeboat on that side. And now, the starboard side is done!

 

 

 

Remaining steps: main and mizzen upper ratlines on the portside, install portside lifeboats, add the final touches.

[BobG]

Spectacular, Hake!

[clearway]

looking good.... oh crap whatever weather you guys get normally hits northern Britain a few days later.... fingers crossed.

 

Keith

[HakeZou]

Keith, I hope that your weather hasn't been too bad! We were fortunate to have only a moderate snowfall here. Friends elsewhere in the Midwest, though, really got dumped on! Good weather for working in the basement, which led to me really getting on a roll this evening.

 

The port side—the main display side— is finished now, too! Since the rigging is so much more complicated on this kit than my previous ones, I've been tracking my progress there in a spreadsheet (the same one I used to figure out the paths of some of the ropes!). The final count was 210 pieces of rigging and 276 ratlines. Those numbers have been daunting for quite a while, but now are giving me a huge sense of satisfaction. Here's a profile shot:

 

 

In addition to finishing up the ratlines tonight, I installed the portside lifeboat davits and hung the lifeboats. Here are a couple detail shots of them. The midship. I'm really pleased with how the midship one turned out. The quarterdeck one is pretty good, but I wish I'd managed to get that one davit straighter. I also added some pieces of the heavier thread to function as the straps that stabilized the quarterdeck lifeboats. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remaining steps: Add the final touches. In my next post, I'll show some of the wood and metal pieces I've fashioned to finish things off. In addition, I still need to make some rope hanks and coils. I'm also planning to pick up something I can use for a more sturdy display base; the stand that comes with the kit seems a bit flimsy for a model this size.

[clearway]

looking good hake, and luckily we only got icy winds for the most part, but we had a few mental snow,hail, rain showers blowing through this afternoon but easing off now........ phew!

 

Keith

[HakeZou]

I've been working on my finishing touches. After studying the photos of the Endurance on Getty Images, I've settled on rope hanks for the belaying pins, some rope coils, the portable davit and its pedestal (from quite a few posts ago), capstan bars and a stowage box, and a smokestack for the stove in the galley. The last three needed to be fabricated, but I'm nearly done with them. I've also made 15 of the 26 rope hanks. 

 

On previous models, I've struggled to make good rope hanks. After reviewing the relevant section of Frank Mastini's book and a few YouTube videos (especially Tom Lauria's excellent tutorial), I can confidently saying I'm getting better. Still plenty of room for improvement, but that's why I've started with the ones that are least visible. Here's the method I've settled on:

 

The first step draws on Mastini's advice. I took my Exacto knife apart and placed the handle in a vice grip. Then, I tied a common whipping knot finished with a square knot, applied a drop of Dritz FrayCheck, and trimmed the loose ends. In the photo, you can see two hanks in progress, one with the loose ends already trimmed.

 

 

Next, I slid the coils off the Exacto handle. Following Lauria's advice, I used angled tweezers to wrap the backmost loop twice around the other loops. Then, I shaped them on brass wire. As I slid the wire through I gave the single loop a half twist. I pinched and stretched the hank to give it a more elongated shape. In the second photo, the hank in the upper left is rotated on the brass wire to show the angle at which the small loop is being set. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I added a drop of FrayCheck to the spot where the small loop wrapped around the others.

 

 

 

Finally, I hung the hanks on the belaying pins. This was by far the most challenging part of the task, since I had to maneuver my tweezers around the bridge deck, railings, bulwarks, shrouds, and all of the foremast and staysail rigging. The hanks kept flipping up, though, so I ended up applying some more FrayCheck and used a plank to hold the hanks back while the FrayCheck dried. I think I did an okay job, but am looking forward to doing the rope hanks at the forward end of the foredeck—they should be much easier to hang! (Apologies for the awkward camera angle...given the location, it was the best I could find.)

 

[HakeZou]

Today, I'm declaring my Endurance finished! First a few thoughts and then the glamor shots.

 

Overall, this was a tremendously enjoyable project and one that I think is well worth the time and money that will go into anybody's build. I wouldn't recommend this for a raw beginner, but for somebody who's done a few kits, this is accessible and will provide numerous opportunities to improve your skills. A builder like that will definitely be capable of making a model that will make them proud. For those (like me) who've only built fishing boats, this kit is a good introduction to tall ships with square sails. For an experienced builder, the opportunities for kitbashing and other improvements to OcCre's designs are plentiful (be sure to follow Clearway's buildlog for some inspiration). OcCre's hardware is mostly of pretty good quality. They are also quite generous with the hardware and building materials—you can make a lot of mistakes along the way, experiment, and build upgrades. The only exceptions are that there are not enough two-sheave blocks and I ended up buying more 1mm brass wire.

 

This was my first OcCre kit, but it won't be my last. They've done a great job designing a kit that should be of interest to a wide range of builders. The photo instructions are clear and the rigging plans (despite my quibbles with some of the details) are the best I've encountered yet. This was a really big step up for me skill-wise, but I'm really happy with how this turned out!

 

For others building the kit, a few suggestions:

1. Devote plenty of time to studying the rigging plans and working out how all of the ropes run. As I noted a few months ago, I think the rigging plans have some mistakes and some places where the paths of certain ropes don't make sense. I disagree with the recommended order (though I'm not sure my order was all that much better in the end). My rigging solutions are one option, but spend some time with the model in your hands to find your best solution.
2. The best upgrade you can make to the kit—which I didn't do—is to replace the kit's railings. 3-D stanchions and brass wire will look a lot better and be more stable than the flat stanchions and thread that OcCre recommends.
3. The second best upgrade would be the lifeboat davits. I fashioned my own, but there are probably some available in stores that would be closer to the ship's scale.
4. The third best, which I also didn't do, is to replace the smokestack and reposition the air intakes (which do not match the original ship). There are also lots of opportunities here to add small details that aren't in the kit's plans.
5. Frank Hurley's photos are readily available online and offer tons of details for inspiration. Hurley's archival collection is at the National Library of Australia, but you can also access many of his photos via Getty Images. 

Finally, the photos you've been waiting for. Apologies in advance for all of the dog hair, which is ubiquitous in my house even though she almost never comes down to the basement!

 

 

Thanks to all who followed along and, especially, to those who offered encouragement, advice, and tips along the way!

[Cathead]

Congratulations! Such a neat vessel, and a model to be proud of. I've greatly enjoyed following along and learning from your work.

[Jeff Titus]

Well done! A model to be proud of. Thanks for all the inspiration that you have given me during your build.

[clearway]

[BobG]

Congratulations, Hake, on completing this wonderful, historic, ship model! You've done a superb job and your build log is one of the best as always. This is a ship that I could see building someday since the book about the Endurance is one of my favorite accounts of early arctic exploration.

 

Can't wait to see what you decide to build next. Do you have any ideas yet?

[Melissa T.]

Congratulations - this is simply stunning. I always enjoy admiring the work of experienced modelers - gives me something to ultimately aspire to. Fabulous, fabulous work!

[ccoyle]

Excellent result!

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  So very nice HakeZou ! - I will refer to your build (and others) when I get around to this project.  I love the way you've put in decent steering tackle on deck astern.  Your addition of hanks on the pin rails is practical and attractive.  You have made great recommendations for enhancements, and one could add to them with:  Install chainplate from the lower deadeyes to the hull;  Use custom rigging rope made on a mini rope walk (done at home or purchased commercially) to limit 'fuzzies';  Copy the sails on finer material ... but even 'out of the box', Endurance is a fine intermediate kit.

 

  Fair sailing, mate !   Johnny

[HakeZou]

Thanks for your kind comments, everybody! The big challenge now is finding a place to display this model, since it's too big for any of my bookcases!

 

9 hours ago, BobG said:

Can't wait to see what you decide to build next. Do you have any ideas yet?

 

I already have Billing's Le Martegaou sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for me. It's a much simpler project than the Endurance, but one that I'm going to use to hone some of my skills. The ship is based on the early nineteenth-century tartanes and allèges that were used to haul freight in the stretch of the Rhone River below Arles and along the Mediterranean coast. 

 

7 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  So very nice HakeZou ! - I will refer to your build (and others) when I get around to this project.  I love the way you've put in decent steering tackle on deck astern.  Your addition of hanks on the pin rails is practical and attractive.  You have made great recommendations for enhancements, and one could add to them with:  Install chainplate from the lower deadeyes to the hull;  Use custom rigging rope made on a mini rope walk (done at home or purchased commercially) to limit 'fuzzies';  Copy the sails on finer material ... but even 'out of the box', Endurance is a fine intermediate kit.

 

I completely agree with you, Johnny. Straight out of the box, it will definitely make a good model; most of my model is just that. But the possibilities for upgrades, refinements, and kitbashing are endless! I should add that the deck fittings are not all that accurate, which offer another good opportunity for improvements. The dog kennels and gear boxes are very simplified, and there were more kennels (including on the bridge deck!). The hatch on top of the Ritz should be a skylight (the hatch provided in the kit properly belongs on the quarterdeck). It would be cool to see somebody make the kit with windscreens on the bridgedeck railings. I also noticed, much too late, that the forward bulwark on the maindeck was open between the stairs. If somebody wanted to show more of the expedition's gear or to make a diorama set in the Weddell Sea, Frank Hurley's photos can provide a ton of inspiration for detail—for example, how cool would this look as a diorama?! All this to say, ultimately, that with this particular community, I wouldn't be surprised to see a dozen buildlogs showing a dozen different versions of this kit! OcCre has designed a kit that makes a lot of things possible—and they've provided the supplies to do much of it.

[BobG]

1 hour ago, HakeZou said:

 

I already have Billing's Le Martegaou sitting on my shelf

 

The Le Martegaou is a very attractive model. I almost bought a similar model: the St Gilles Allege D'Arles by Soclaine at one time. I'll be looking forward to your build.

[Portsoy]

Hakesou-Lovely job on your model kit of the Endurance.

 

Do you know if the Endurance had the funnel and air vents painted in the same sand colour which is seen on the present day Discovery in Dundee?

 

They are seperate ships but close study of Hurley’s black and white images from the expedition appear to indicate the funnel on Endurance was not painted pure white, which would tend to suggest it could be the same colour on Discovery.

 

Would be interested to know.

 

Once again you have made a fantastic model of the Endurance, it looks great.

[Grey]

HakeZou,

 

Lovely work on this. I have perused this log quite a bit, and have a hearty appreciation for your candor where your experience was challenged. I am squarely in that boat, but likely a boat much farther back than yours. I have this kit waiting, and have identified places where I will reference this log in order to avoid pitfalls, as well as enhance the model where my in-experience will allow. It may be a bit optimistic for me to think I can tackle it now, but your can-do attitude to work through problems and challenges is inspiring.

 

I also appreciate the various links and historical information as this expedition and ship has, like you, fascinated me from an early age. You're cheating with your profession and historian's tenacity 😃

 

A lovely finished Endurance, and thank you so much for sharing your own expedition with her.

 

[HakeZou]

Thanks, Portsoy and Grey!

 

On 2/17/2022 at 1:01 PM, Portsoy said:

Do you know if the Endurance had the funnel and air vents painted in the same sand colour which is seen on the present day Discovery in Dundee?

 

They are seperate ships but close study of Hurley’s black and white images from the expedition appear to indicate the funnel on Endurance was not painted pure white, which would tend to suggest it could be the same colour on Discovery.

 

Would be interested to know.

 

Portsoy, your question about the color of the funnel and air vents is an interesting one (and one I didn't really think about myself!). I don't have a confident answer, but when I compare black-and-white photos of the Endurance and the Discovery, the funnels don't seem to match in color (of course, this assumes that the Discovery's funnel is the same color now as then). I'm looking at this photo of the Discovery, in which the funnel looks darker than in these photos of the Endurance (one, two, three). Note that photos one and two of the Endurance were taken in London, about a month apart; photo one looks like raw metal to me and photo two looks painted, though that may be a trick of lighting. In photo three, the funnel is clearly darker in color than the lifeboats, so it must not have been painted pure white. Not much of an answer, but hopefully the photos are something for you to chew on!

 

15 hours ago, Grey said:

Lovely work on this. I have perused this log quite a bit, and have a hearty appreciation for your candor where your experience was challenged. I am squarely in that boat, but likely a boat much farther back than yours. I have this kit waiting, and have identified places where I will reference this log in order to avoid pitfalls, as well as enhance the model where my in-experience will allow. It may be a bit optimistic for me to think I can tackle it now, but your can-do attitude to work through problems and challenges is inspiring.

 

I also appreciate the various links and historical information as this expedition and ship has, like you, fascinated me from an early age. You're cheating with your profession and historian's tenacity 😃

 

I'm still learning a lot, having only built five kits now, and I think that being honest about my mistakes and challenges is crucial to the learning process. It certainly sets up opportunities for others to offer advice and suggestions that have been helpful more often than not. I pulled up your introduction post and saw that you are particularly drawn to working boats. That's where I started, too. The kits I did before the Endurance were much smaller and simpler, and gave me a nice start at facing the challenges of woodworking (in which I was almost completely inexperienced). As a first kit, I think the Endurance would get pretty frustrating, but OcCre has made the kit pretty accessible to those of us without a lot of experience. Once you get to your Endurance (and any kits before that!), I hope you'll start a buildlog. These logs have helped me talk through the challenges I've come across and the MSW community has always come through with tips, suggestions, and encouragement.

 

As for the historical information and links: I'm really happy to leave bread crumbs for others to follow as they build their versions of the kit. We're fortunate in this case that so many of Frank Hurley's photos and film reels survived the expedition!    

[Grey]

On 2/20/2022 at 5:48 AM, HakeZou said:

I pulled up your introduction post and saw that you are particularly drawn to working boats. That's where I started, too. The kits I did before the Endurance were much smaller and simpler, and gave me a nice start at facing the challenges of woodworking (in which I was almost completely inexperienced). As a first kit, I think the Endurance would get pretty frustrating

I am definitely drawn to working boats--and as I spent time in Wales in college, I chose the Vanguard kit: Nisha.

It's on it's way! I will most definitely start a build log, and I'm looking forward, and encouraged by the reviews of the quality of Vanguard's kit. The manual that I've been reading--seems definitely geared toward something I can feasibly accomplish with satisfactory results. I feel I messed up, and was too eager to get it on its way, and didn't get the sails. I may regret that--or choose to get the coming before I get too far.

Very excited to get started. UPS is claiming a crazy fast time to my door from England...but we shall see. In the meantime, I'm cautiously labeling and cleaning up Endurance parts. 😃 

[HakeZou]

The Endurance22 expedition found the wreck of the Endurance! For those building their models, the photos and videos from that expedition should give you some interesting research materials. Here is the press release from Endurance22 and here is the photo/video dump from the expedition. Note that you have to download the mp4 videos in order to watch them, but the "Wreck AUV 4k Footage V2" footage is STUNNING!

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[gak1965]

On 2/20/2022 at 6:48 AM, HakeZou said:

this assumes that the Discovery's funnel is the same color now as then).

Discovery has actually changed a lot from its 1904 appearance. The deckhouses have changed, two masts were moved forward various amounts to improve sailing trim, and the rig modified to use split topsails among other things. As to the color of the funnel, I can't really say...

 

Regards,

George K