HM Bark Endeavour 1758-61 by DaveBaxt - Caldercraft - 1:64

[DelF]

Hi Dave. Excellent work on the carriage sides. One variation you might want to try some time is to start with a single rectangular block of wood, mill the shape of the carriage side into it in one go, then salami slice off the individual sides with a thin saw blade. I found the best way to get the curved shape on the lower edges of the carriages was to use a file. At least you only have to do it once with the salami method.

 

On the axles, you may want to try a method I used to make fids on my last build:

 

The final detail in the tops are the fids. These are supposed to be square or rectangular, but at this scale I can only do round holes. So I cheated by making each fid in two parts, each part a piece of 1mm square boxwood with one end rounded. With the boxwood held in the lathe (just as easy in a drill) I pressed the end against the 1mm hole in a metal drill gauge to round off the first couple of mils.   

 

 

Should work with axles, and any decent wood should do.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Derek

[Gregory]

1 hour ago, DaveBaxt said:

I stll need to figure out the best way to make the axles , whether or not to start with dowel and machine flats or start with square material  and shape the ends which go  and I think are round and not square through the trucks.

I've shared this method when it has come up before..

 

I use a brass collet with the desired opening in a small rotary tool.  It's great for getting small round stock from square.

Let me know if you want more detail.

 

For the half circle, you might try making a template, tracing with a pencil and using small sanding drum with a rotary tool.

[DaveBaxt]

1 hour ago, Gregory said:

I've shared this method when it has come up before..

 

I use a brass collet with the desired opening in a small rotary tool.  It's great for getting small round stock from square.

Let me know if you want more detail.

 

For the half circle, you might try making a template, tracing with a pencil and using small sanding drum with a rotary tool.

Gregory T

 

2 hours ago, DelF said:

Hi Dave. Excellent work on the carriage sides. One variation you might want to try some time is to start with a single rectangular block of wood, mill the shape of the carriage side into it in one go, then salami slice off the individual sides with a thin saw blade. I found the best way to get the curved shape on the lower edges of the carriages was to use a file. At least you only have to do it once with the salami method.

 

On the axles, you may want to try a method I used to make fids on my last build:

 

The final detail in the tops are the fids. These are supposed to be square or rectangular, but at this scale I can only do round holes. So I cheated by making each fid in two parts, each part a piece of 1mm square boxwood with one end rounded. With the boxwood held in the lathe (just as easy in a drill) I pressed the end against the 1mm hole in a metal drill gauge to round off the first couple of mils.   

 

 

Should work with axles, and any decent wood should do.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Derek

Thank you Derek for your input. I have seen this method done before and have been considering doing it this way . Instead I have used some 1.5 mm planking strips which were the same height as the carrages and machined about 6 sides in one go. This has saved me cutting it on the saw, however I think your idea might be better for getting the curve on the bottom right. At there moment I am just playing around to see what comes out best and might try both ways to see how they turn out. I can,t quite make out if your photo is on a lathe or is it on the miller. Are you milling flats on the dowel or turning square stock on the lathe and if so how do you get it centered in a 3 jaw chuck? Best regards Dave

[DaveBaxt]

1 hour ago, Gregory said:

I've shared this method when it has come up before..

 

I use a brass collet with the desired opening in a small rotary tool.  It's great for getting small round stock from square.

Let me know if you want more detail.

 

For the half circle, you might try making a template, tracing with a pencil and using small sanding drum with a rotary tool.

Thank you Gregory for your input and help. Which is much appreciated. I can see how this would work with use the collets I have for  Dremel. but again how do you get around gripping square stock. Unfortunatley I do not own a sanding drum ( Next power tool on my list) so may have to try doing it free hand or somehow using my Dremmel  rotary tool . I thought about drilling two carriage sides together with a piece of wood in between but think the drill required would be too large to bit either my drilling machine or my miller. If you have any more detail on using the Dremmel for turning the axle would be much appreciated. Best regards Dave

[Gregory]

9 minutes ago, DaveBaxt said:

Unfortunatley I do not own a sanding drum

The quantity shown here is really overkill, but I was referring to the little Dremel sanding drums..

 

Sanding Kit

 

As for holding the square stock, I rounded off the axles after the carriages were assembled,

but there would be more than one way to approach it.  You might hold it firmly in some padded pliers or clamp.

 

 

I just carefully pushed the tool onto the axle.  There is the possibility of twisting the axle off, which I did a couple of times,

so practicing is in order to get a feel for how it works.

 

[DelF]

41 minutes ago, DaveBaxt said:

I can,t quite make out if your photo is on a lathe or is it on the miller. Are you milling flats on the dowel or turning square stock on the lathe and if so how do you get it centered in a 3 jaw chuck?

Hi Dave. It's in a lathe, but a drill would do equally well. It's square stock and as it's only 1mm centering isn't really an issue. You just need to spin it fast then press it into the 1mm hole in a drill gauge to round it off. Dead easy. It's a very similar method to Gregory's.

[DaveBaxt]

8 minutes ago, DelF said:

Hi Dave. It's in a lathe, but a drill would do equally well. It's square stock and as it's only 1mm centering isn't really an issue. You just need to spin it fast then press it into the 1mm hole in a drill gauge to round it off. Dead easy. It's a very similar method to Gregory's.

Thank you again Derek. I think I get your meaning , but will have to get myself a steel drill gauge as I only have a plastic one at the moment. Good to hear from you again.

[DaveBaxt]

29 minutes ago, Gregory said:

The quantity shown here is really overkill, but I was referring to the little Dremel sanding drums..

 

Sanding Kit

 

As for holding the square stock, I rounded off the axles after the carriages were assembled,

but there would be more than one way to approach it.  You might hold it firmly in some padded pliers or clamp.

 

 

I just carefully pushed the tool onto the axle.  There is the possibility of twisting the axle off, which I did a couple of times,

so practicing is in order to get a feel for how it works.

 

Thank you once again Gregory and I can now see what you mean.. I now have a few different ideas to try and hopefully I will be able to produce something that works out ok. Best regards Dave

[DaveBaxt]

I managed to round up the square anxles using my Dremmel and a suitable collet so thank you Gregory for the Idea. I used the kits Trucks but they didn,t clean up too well and I think next time I might make my own or at least clean the ones up using my lathe .( Once I figure out how to hold them together and grip them in a 3 jaw chuck). All in all after 2 weeks work on only 6 of them I am reasonably happy with the end product for my first attempt at making my own. Here is a couple of photos of the progress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

I have now glued the lower bulwark capping rails into position, fortunately the capping rails are already made from 1.5 mm sheet so no awkward edge ways bending to do, However I am now  faced with something  to tax my poor brain. There  40 pieces known as the timber heads which do not fit into the slots which are already cut into position on the lower cap rails. I have two solutions which would work, first one is to fit a dowl/ 1mm brass bar under each timber head but this has minimum contact area. No 2 , reduce the size of the bottom  at a depth of 1.5mm to make them fit.  but this will reduce the height of the timber heads from 7 mm to 5.5mm. If the main drawing is the correct size then these need to be 7 mm. A third choice would be to make new timber heads, which I am not sure if I want to go down this road if it can be helped.

 

I finished up machining the ends of the Timberheads so they would fit into the slots. I did make them such a tight fit so decided to drill holes and fit brass dowels for added strength.

I then worked my way from forward to aft gluing in the Timberheads into position and then fitting the upper capping rail using PVa glue. However before doing this I painted the underside of the upper capping rail but not the slot where the top of the stantions fitted.Here is a photo of the upper capping rail clamped into position using fold back clips. Just the aft upper rail to fit.

Edited November 16, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

Top capping rail completed and swivel gun posts glued into position. I am beginning to wish I had left the painting until everything was glued to the hull. It was necessary to remove the paint so the glue would take better so once everything is glued into position onto the hull it will need painting again. I then moved onto the ladders and the fenders. I temporarily stuck some sand paper to the hull using two sided tape and then shaped the fenders to conform with the hull.

I then moved onto the channels and used 1mm brass rod to give them added strength. I moved away from the plans and removed the wale altogether and ended up fitting 1.5mm square walnut underneath the wales. Unfortunately I did not have steel rod so hopefully brass will suffice.

Edited November 24, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

I will soon be ready to start on the gun tackle and steering tackle and although the kit suggests I use 3 mm blocks . However I believe these to be too big so will attempt to use 2mm blocks instead which is what I used on my last build the Bounty and that scale was 1:60. I must admit it was almost impossible but I persevered and eventually after destroying about 50% of my 2 mm blocks,I I eventually managed . So I am thinking of having another go and have lots and lots of spare 2mm blocks Ha ha.

                          Also looking ahead at the ships boats and how I am going do build all 4 of them. I think I will try making them in exactly the same way as the main ships hull and split each section of the planking into bands and follow chucks method of edge bending and tapering each plank but think I will need a less bands/zones. I also wonder if I need a jig to mount the keel and bulkeads on whilst planking or is it just as easy to hold the boat in my hand. Any advice or tips on planking such small boats and double planked as well would be more than grateful. Best regards Dave

[Gregory]

Have you considered Vanguard's ship's boats?

Various sizes and I believe 1:64.

 

Not double planked but others have had success with them.

 

You might try one to see how it goes.

[DaveBaxt]

3 minutes ago, Gregory said:

Have you considered Vanguard's ship's boats?

Various sizes and I believe 1:64.

 

Not double planked but others have had success with them.

 

You might try one to see how it goes.

Yes I have Gregory and I might end up going down that route but thought I would try building the ones using the materials supplied with the kit . Someone informed me that when building the Endeavour there would be another 50% of construction than my last build the Amati Bounty and now I think I know what they are getting at.  Once again thank you for your input. Best regards Dave

[DaveBaxt]

Finished of securing the channels by lining up the forward shroud with the aft of the fore and main mast and for some reason every drawing and or picture has the channels for the mizzen mast fitted further aft. Temporarily fitted bumkins, cutting out a section of the bulwark so that they lie flush with the upper cap rail. Also fitted both cat heads, and securing brackets for fish davit again temporarily. As I don,t want them damaged whilst carrying out other work. I continued on with other deck fittings including aft walkway over rudder post ,large 1.5 mm brass hand rail aft . It was also necessary to reposition the stanchions for the Taffrail  so that when I fitted the cleats they lined up with the centre of the windows on the transom. I also fitted the brackets for the flagstaff to the taffrail. 

                     All in all the above went fairly smoothly and I am now thinking of making up the lower dead eyes and their links/chains/plates. together with the tackle for the steering and for securing the guns which I think will take a ggod while before moving onto the ships boats. I know I keep putting this off but I want to complete as much as possible on the ship so I can put this to one side to make a bit of room in my workshop . Here is an update of the work so far.

Edited December 2, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

Nest moving onto the lower dead eyes and only 5 mm . I had lots of problems with these when securing them on my last build the Bounty and for some reason were larger at 7 mm. I secured them using CA glue and did not solder the links. It was therefore my intention to solder them this time using silver solder paste and my brand new Dremmel torch.

            Here is the drawing of the set up and part number.

First off  after cleaning all the brass parts in a pickling solution I soldered 248 and joined parts 248 and 232 together to see if I could manage using the solder paste and this seemed to be straight forward enough after pickling. Next up I soldered the split link which fits around the dead eye. I then found after drilling a small hole into the channel where  the brass tabs are to fit ,It was naearly impossible to get those tabs to fit in and eventually my soldering came away. 

                                    I did find that trying the same piece again without soldering or blackening and this seemed to work fine and was very secure without using CA glue. Here is a photo of two dead eyes in position. The left one is without soldering and the right one is after soldering ( which boke apart and is quite out of shape after fitting the dead eye after soldering. 

I will be quite happy with the one all my dead eyes are as secure as the one on the left and has been blackening. I also found that blackening with the dead eye in situ it does not turn freely to position the holes

I do wonder if people try and get the bottom of the chain plates in line with the water level and therefore in a straight line as it would also be necessary to use different size links which are not supplied with the kit, so I am also considering making my own and how difficult this would be. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

I have just notice that my heads on top of the windlass are facing the wrong way and will knead to be corrected at some stage. Also my timber heads look like broken teeth ha ha. I wish I had my table sander with compound angles to try and get this right. I think I will order some knew ones and have another go at the ones up forward. For the record I am having to do a lot of the work a few time to get it as best I can. No wonder it is taking me so long.All part of the hobby I suppose.

Edited December 2, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[harlequin]

16 minutes ago, DaveBaxt said:

I have just notice that my heads on top of the windlass are facing the wrong way and will knead to be correcte dat some stage. Also my timberheads look like broken teeth ha ha. I wish I had my table sander with compound angles to try and get this right. I think I will order some knew ones and have another go at the ones up forward.For the record I am having to do a lot of the work a few time to get it as best I can. Know wonder it is taking me so long.All part of the hobby I suppose.

things always look worse in close up.....looks great to me..

[DaveBaxt]

46 minutes ago, harlequin said:

things always look worse in close up.....looks great to me..

Thank you .It is always nice to get a positive comment.

[AJohnson]

40 minutes ago, DaveBaxt said:

Thank you .It is always nice to get a positive comment.

You going great guns Dave, you have lapped me, you already nearly up to the same point I am still at on my  Bounty and to think I have a CC Endeavour that has been gathering dust for the thick end of ten years, puts me to shame! 

[DaveBaxt]

7 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

You going great guns Dave, you have lapped me, you already nearly up to the same point I am still at on my  Bounty and to think I have a CC Endeavour that has been gathering dust for the thick end of ten years, puts me to shame! 

Thank you Andrew. I still don,t think I up to the standard of workmanship as some people on here including your good self are achieving, however i am improving all the time as I learn new techniques . I am also trying to take more time, but sometime I forget and end up starting on another section whilst waiting for glue or paint to dry. and jI just quickly do one more thing ........I should of coarse check and double check the drawings. Hopefully one day I will be totally satisfied but I doubt it. Thanks again for keeping an eye on me . Best regards Dave

[DaveBaxt]

I have made a start on the lower dead eyes and their associated strops and plates and finding this slow work with the ones supplied by Caldercraft. The channels are to be drilled so that the small tabs fit into the recesses but this has been a bit hit and miss. I have also came across what I thought would be a major problem.

                         Before fitting the smaller dead eyes to the mizzen channels I thought I would check the clearance of the upper cap rail and the shrouds unfortunately there was no clearance.l. Where have I gone wrong you might think. AS did I. I have checked the position of the upper cap rail and this would appear to be the correct height as is the position of the wale on top of which the channel fits. I have since checked the height of the mizzen mast in relation to the main and fore mast and there is something clearly wrong here. Assuming the Main mast is the  correct height, then the mizzen would appear to be too short. I have since checked this with 'The Rigging of ships in the days of the sprit sail 'by RC Anderson and even with the now longer mast there is still very little clearance if any at all. 

                             I have also noticed that the mizzen channel is only about half the width of the main channel and the fore channel is somewhere in between. the two.I wonder if anyone else has had this problem in the past with this build. Perhaps I should have double checked a bit earlier but fortunately I have not fitted the dead eyes yet. It is my intention to make new channels which will be the same width as the fore channels to give me sufficient clearance between the shrouds and the upper cap rail. 

                      For the record my last build ( The Bounty ) all the channels were the same width. Also I will need to check how accurate the main and fore masts are for there length height before moving  although the main shrouds are well clear of the upper cap rail. However I need to know this height of the main mast to work out the mizzen height. Hope this makes sense.

      

Edited December 7, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

After careful thought and thanks to Bob Cleek for answering these questions on the below forum . Also I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person to experience this problem with this particular problem. I have since found out that although the majority of the blogs I have searched through have not. One or two builds have had the same issues and have both increased the height and the width of the channel. If I decide to increase the height of the mast hopefully this does not cause any problems with the rigging down the line.

[shipaholic]

As you say Dave the channels should all be the same width and the mizzen the correct height otherwise the mizzen shrouds will foul against the Quarter deck rail

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by shipaholic

[DaveBaxt]

3 hours ago, shipaholic said:

As you say Dave the channels should all be the same width and the mizzen the correct height otherwise the mizzen shrouds will foul against the Quarter deck rail

 

Thank you Shipaholic for your confirmation that I am on the right track. I have looked at your build log many times and I think it was yours that gave me the initial idea. So thank for doing a fantastic Endeavour your workmanship is of a very high standard and an inspiration to us all.So thank you again. Best regards Dave

[Schubbe]

On 12/6/2021 at 5:42 PM, DaveBaxt said:

However I need to know this height of the main mast to work out the mizzen height.

Hi Dave,

I just remembered, that I read something about mast heights in a different build log. Here is a Link to where the conversation started:

 

 

 

I am not shure if it does, but I hope that helps…

[DaveBaxt]

10 hours ago, Schubbe said:

Hi Dave,

I just remembered, that I read something about mast heights in a different build log. Here is a Link to where the conversation started:

 

 

 

I am not shure if it does, but I hope that helps…

Thanks for the link Schrubbe  It is always a help . I think the builder on that log seems to have more problems the fore mast being too short. However I think I am somewhere near resolving this with the help of Shipaholic and the thread I previously posted. Their seems to be quite a few discrepencies with different manufacturers of which some are maybe using AOTS Endeavour and may not be entirely accurate. I don't know but a few people are suggesting this.

Edited December 8, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[DaveBaxt]

The channels and the lowerdead eyes are completed after soldering the chain links to the strops and then pinning them to the hull. My first attempt at soldering the links using my new soldering torch and silver solder paste which turned out quite well after using the smallest amount of paste possible on the end of a cocktail stick after pickling  the pieces for 15 minuites to remove any oxides and  finger marks etc.. It was quite difficult getting the strops to fit into the grooves on the channel and getting the little tabs to fit into the holes especially the very small ones but eventually I got the hang of it 

                                        I also increased the width of the mizzen channel to the same as the main channel in the hope that the mizzen shrouds would not touch the cap rail but unfortunately they still did. So I will need to increase the height of the mizzen mast or I might slightly increase the height of all three.  According to Zu Monfeilds book the History of modern ship the length of the masts are suggested by Caldercraft are correct if measuring from the bottom of the keel . However if the heel of the masts are slightly higher then this would then give the necessary height to give the reqiured clearance of the mizzen shrouds. Also according to'The rigging of ships in the days of the Spritsail by RC Anderson suggest the Mizzen cap should be half way up the fore masthead. However I still have not decided whether to adopt the above or try Shipaholics idea of just raising the mizzen mast so that the cap is in line with the main lower mast top. This would also give me the shroud clearance I need ( see thread on 

                 

 I would just like to thank everyone who contibuted to that thread and helped to understand the different information that people are faced with when trying to build something which is authentic for that period but still works . All very fascinating .

                            Here is a few photos of the channels and the dead eyes in place. I am quite happy with the results and how secure they seem compared to my last build the Bounty.                 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by DaveBaxt

[AJohnson]

Looking good Dave, you realise you are doing all the hard work and I will hoover up all your "tips and tricks" when I finally get around to doing my CC Endeavour! 😆 👍

[DaveBaxt]

52 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Looking good Dave, you realise you are doing all the hard work and I will hoover up all your "tips and tricks" when I finally get around to doing my CC Endeavour! 😆 👍

No pressure then . One issue I had with widening the mizzen channel is that the chain plates supplied were now no longer long enough  but fortunately I had some extra ones from a spare etched brass sheet I have.

                                  You might have to return the favour when I start on the Vanguard models which might be next up. Best of luck Andrew with your current build I am sure you could give me a good few tips. Best regards Dave

Edited December 10, 2021 by DaveBaxt