HM Bark Endeavour by KJackson - OcCre - 1:54

[Gregory]

35 minutes ago, KJackson said:

This means that I can stop before doing the other decks if needed.

Many ( most ? ) of the builds here depict treenails in one form or another.  All levels of skill are represented.

It is more of a modeling convention ( artistic expression ) rather than an accurate  portrayal of what one would expect to see on the actual ship.

Very few models would ever get built/finished if scale accuracy in every respect was the the goal

 

So it is really a matter of building your ship in a way that you are satisfied with the results, and satisfied that you are improving your skills in a way that encourages you to continue with the hobby.

[allanyed]

KJ, everyone has their own thoughts regarding all aspects of our hobby, none are wrong, but rather it is what you are looking for and what you like.  If you want to replicate the old masters, don't use treenails.  If you like the look of the treenails, go for it, but as in most aspects of model ships, err on the side of smaller, not larger.  If you can get them down to the 0.75" to 1" diameter range they will probably look really good.

Allan

 

 

[Gregory]

4 hours ago, allanyed said:

Note that contemporary models rarely, if ever, show treenails on the deck so at smaller scales better left out. 

FWIW, there are several contemporary models in our gallery that show treenailing on the deck.  

[KJackson]

Thanks both so much for your considered thoughts. Much to ponder.

 

I like the idea of treenails, and think what I'll do is finish them off on the lower deck. This will help me get a good idea about whether they look like I anticipated, before choosing whether to emulate on the top decks.

 

I'm also going to store away this thinking for my next build (a long way off), which will be at 1:64. At this scale, treenails will be best left off the decks.

[KJackson]

STEADY PROGRESS

I am getting faster at making treenails, though it is by its nature a slow and careful job. My DIY drawplate is working well, though the soft brass is starting to deform, and I will be buying a Byrne's one for future models as I don't think it'll last another build.

 

Photos of the progress so far, where I've been careful to keep each treenail down to 0.5mm. 

 

 

 

ANECDOTES

A new book arrived in the mail today. This one, while focused on the very popular HMS Victory, also contains a sheer awe inspiring amount of detailed information, measurements and drawings common to ship modelling and especially to ships of this era.

 

This book I believe has the foundations to become a seminal cornerstone of my slowly growing maritime history and modelling library.

 

 

 

Just as a courtesy, I'll be taking a break from the ship for the next couple of days as we're going camping with some enthusiastic friends. It's supposed to rain so please wish me luck! 🥲

 

Thanks for following along!

Kristyn

[Gregory]

One of the first books I bought over 25 years ago...

[KJackson]

PROGRESSING THE TREENAILS

I made some great progress on the treenails, finishing installing all on one side and half on the other.

 

 

Once the skewers had cured with wood glue for a good few hours and were sturdy, I then trimmed the excess off with a pair of side cutters as close to the deck as possible.

 

At this point, I needed to redo a couple that hadn't been installed far enough into the deck and came loose. 

 

 

As the final step I started to use a safety razor to cut close to the deck, ensuring each treenail was flush.

 

 

I'm pleased with the way these treenails are looking; small and close in colour to the deck enough that they're not too obstrusive.

 

This photo shows all treenails cut with side cutters (yet to be trimmed with the razor blade):

 

 

This final photo shows only some of the treenails cut to the deck with the razor (closest to the camera):

 

 

The treenails will be finished tomorrow and the lower deck installed on the keel and bulkheads.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by KJackson

[allanyed]

Not too dark, not too big, really nice treenails Kristyn.

Allan

[KJackson]

INSTALLING THE LOWER DECK

I finished the final treenails and cutting them down with side snips and safety razor.

 

 

I'm pretty chuffed with how they look; nothing too over the top. While they certainly took some patience to install (not to mention my fingers took a beating), I'm happy with the effect and plan to emulate on the top decks.

 

 

 

 

When installing the lower deck, I noticed a visible gap between the two halves. Both false decks are butted squarely against one another; the gap is at the planking layer only.

 

I think I will replace the centre-most plank on the port side, and bring it over a smidge to better fill this gap, though I welcome suggestions.

 

 

Next is installing the top deck beams, and that all essential camber of 2.8 and 3.0mm depending on deck. To do this, I'll be scratch building a filler on top of the kit supplied beam supports.

 

Thanks for following along,

Kristyn

Edited April 27, 2022 by KJackson

[allanyed]

Kristyn

How are you going to finish the tops of the treenails?  They really should not stay sticking up as at full scale they would be a huge tripping hazard.  A very well honed chisel will do the job followed by a good sanding.   You can also use a vibratory mouse sander before installing them into the bulkheads.

Really looking good so far.

Allan

 

 

[KJackson]

Thanks kindly for the recommendation on the chisel, Alan -

 

I've carefully chiselled down each treenail using this miniature Japanese chisel I have in my toolbox.

 

 

 

I then hand sanded down the deck, first with dry 240 grit, then dry 400 grit, before using wet 400 grit to pick up any loose fibres.

 

 

 

At this time I was able to apply a small amount of wood glue and use the sawdust from sanding to fill the large gap between planks between the two sides I noted previously.

 

I brushed the sawdust off with my model brush. I then wiped the deck with a damp cloth to make sure the whole thing was squeaky clean.

 

 

I applied a light coat of Vallejo's satin varnish, and will let it dry.

 

 

Some close ups of the final product (only three more decks to plank! Not to mention the hull! 😂)

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by KJackson

[allanyed]

Beautifully done!!   

Allan

[KJackson]

PLANKING THE FORECASTLE, QUARTER & UPPER DECKS:

Before moving onto the deck support beams and camber, I will complete the remaining decks - given I'm in the spirit of treenail manufacture!

 

Following the same process as with the lower decks, I completed the planking on the three upper decks.

 

For the forecastle and quarter deck I drew a ruled centreline and started planking from the centre.

 

 

FORECASTLE DECK PATTERN

Before planking, I double checked the treenail and planking pattern by referencing the replica's virtual tour and both Marquardt's and Parkin's plans.

 

Parkin's plans don't include the deck pattern, but Marquardt's did. Marquardt's aligned to the replica's deck.

 

 

On the forecastle deck there isn't any butting pattern, with each plank instead lined up side by side directly; on my model, each plank measured 100mm.

 

Excuse the graphite marks on the deck; these will be sanded off once treenails have been installed and the whole deck flushed.

 

 

 

 

Next up I'll complete the treenails for each. I won't record my process as carefully as it emulates that for the lower deck.

 

Kristyn

Edited April 30, 2022 by KJackson

[KJackson]

FINISHING TREENAILS

I've made progress over the weekend finishing up the treenails on the three remaining decks.

 

 

 

 

All that's left to do is to chisel each down and sand them back to a flush finish.

 

Then we can all move off from decks (hurray) and onto something else!

 

My trusty DIY drawplate has breathed it's last, and I'll need to find another when I get to treenailing the hull.

 

 

While Byrne's drawplate is lovely, my enquiry found shipping to Australia prohibitively expensive (significantly more than the cost of the part itself) so I'll see if I can find a local equivalent.

[shipaholic]

Good job on the decks, I now wish I had done my decks with tree nails like that.

cheers

Steve

[Dave_E]

REALLY nice job on the decks and the tree nails mate. 👍😀

[KJackson]

AND THEY'RE DONE!

I've chiseled and sanded down the rest of the decks and washed them down to get them nice and clean.

 

 

 

 

Really pleased with the results! I'm particularly thankful I tested the method out on the lower deck as by the time I got to these decks, the treenails were not only faster to produce but easier and more consistent on installation.

 

 

 

 

I'll apply the varnish and let these dry.

 

Onto the deck beams, and hopefully these will be installed to the ship herself in the next day or so.

 

Kristyn

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by KJackson

[KJackson]

21 hours ago, shipaholic said:

Good job on the decks, I now wish I had done my decks with tree nails like that.

cheers

Steve

 

20 hours ago, Dave_E said:

REALLY nice job on the decks and the tree nails mate. 👍😀

 

Thanks both for your kind words - especially coming from such experienced modellers I've taken inspiration from! ☺️

[KJackson]

EXPANDING THE WORKSHOP

I have good news and bad news.

 

The good news is that I have convinced the admiral of my need for a table saw. The admiral is bemused by this hobby, but tolerates it for my enthusiasm. Many warnings about counting fingers.

 

The bad news is that the Byrnes table saw, as with the drawplate, is just unjustifiable for its shipping costs to Australia. So I've settled for a nice entry level Proxxon KS230 that will get the job done and satisfy the admiral. Lose the battle, win the war.

 

It's yet to arrive but I'll do a little walkthrough once it's here.

 

INSTALLING UPPER DECK BEAM SUPPORTS

The next stage of the build is installing the beams for the upper deck. The beams are required for the 6 bulk heads immediately succeeding the first from the bow.

 

There are pre-fabricated slots on the relevant bulkheads within which each beam inserts.

 

 

The kit supplied 4x4mm limewood for the beams. It's a smooth material, good quality.

 

 

I hunt in my spare drawer and find a 5x5mm length of cherry I can use to craft the camber blocks on top of these beams after install.

 

 

The instructions call for 125mm length on each beam - I measure the distance on the model itself to double check, and it's accurate.

 

 

I measure the 4x4mm limewood a little over, as I want to sand back slowly to ensure a super snug fit.

 

As my table saw has not arrived yet, I use my Dremel saw attachment to cut the lengths. I'm not as accurate as I'd like to be with the Dremel so allow for an error margin.

 

 

 

I then use my lathe moonlighting as a disc sander to sand off the excess until each beam fits snugly.

 

 

I dry fit each in place before then gluing them down with wood glue.

 

 

As it dries, I make sure to clamp each beam square against the bulkheads.

 

 

 

 

Next I'll create the filler blocks following the template for camber created earlier.

Edited May 3, 2022 by KJackson

[shipaholic]

Hi K

Just something to note before you shape the deck beams, I remember when I did mine that as you move aft on the quarterdeck the amount of rise at the centre of the deck needs to reduce, i.e the diameter of the curvature remains the same as the deck width narrows. So at the aft most beam the centre is only raised about 1 mm. Make sense? I didn’t do mine mathematically just trial and error, and I just used small chocks on the centre of the beams at the rear of the quarterdeck because they can’t be seen anyway. Alternatively you could use template for the foremost beam and as you move aft use the same template but you will find that for the same curvature the shorter beams have to be less raised at their centre
 

cheers

Steve

Edited May 4, 2022 by shipaholic
Extra text

[KJackson]

7 hours ago, shipaholic said:

[...] as you move aft on the quarterdeck the amount of rise at the centre of the deck needs to reduce, i.e the diameter of the curvature remains the same as the deck width narrows. So at the aft most beam the centre is only raised about 1 mm.

 

Ah, yes this makes sense - given the maximum beam (the width of the deck) is a variable... the narrower the deck, the less the camber.

 

I'm visualising instead of a cylinder now, a hemisphere (if that makes sense) that the deck flows around

 

I wonder is that to ensure that water not only naturally runs off to the sides but also may run aft? The place closest to the ship's centre is highest.

 

Is this variation only on the quarter deck or on the upper deck too?

[shipaholic]

Only on the quarterdeck because it gets narrower towards aft. And it’s still a cylinder.
As an example exercise - Cut a piece of wood the width of the most aft beam, lay it on your template so that the arc intersects with the lower edge at each end, you will see that it is not 3 mm high at the centre

Edited May 4, 2022 by shipaholic

[KJackson]

INSTALLING CAMBER ON THE UPPER DECK

Today I had a hand at installing the upper deck, including the camber blocks as per discussion.

 

To do this, I first measured each of the widths of the deck beams and drew up some templates for the camber (6" for the upper deck and forecastle deck).

 

 

I remembered I had a flexible curve ruler in my art box, and used this instead of nails as I had shown previously to draw the arc.

 

 

I cut the 5x5mm cherry to its respective lengths and glued the template to one side.

 

 

I then sanded down the block, checking that the midpoint sat at 2.8mm, and that the arc was symmetrical.

 

 

 

 

Once all six camber fillers were dry fitted, I glued each down and clamped them square to dry.

 

 

And all dried, ready to install the upper deck.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by KJackson

[KJackson]

INSTALLING THE UPPER DECK

 

After the camber blocks had cured on the beam deck supports, I installed one half, then the other of the upper deck.

 

It felt good to get to this stage after so long preparing the decks.

 

 

 

Once clamps were off, I ran a bead of woodglue underneath along each seam to seal the deck and ensure it was solid.

 

 

Enjoy some close up of the details with the upper deck fitted.

 

 

 

 

 

Rest assured that I reclamped after taking these photos and will leave overnight. This ensured no gap between deck and beam.

 

Next up I will install the forecastle and quarter decks and their camber.

 

Kristyn ⛵

[KJackson]

INSTALLING THE QUARTER DECK BEAM SUPPORTS

I followed the same process as I had undertaken for the upper deck to install the support beams of the quarter deck.

 

Forward of the main mast the quarter deck ends. This wall (I can't find what it's called on a ship) will be visible between the levels of the upper and quarter deck so I wanted to pay special attention to it's finish.

 

This wall required minimal assembly and some clamping.

 

 

 

I wanted to check what this looked like before gluing down, so I persued my references and other Endeavour builds on MSW.

 

The replica Endeavour has this wall painted red (along with some additional details like vents).

 

 

I painted the face of this part in Red Ochre (from Admiralty paints) before gluing it down. This will save me accidentally getting paint on the deck later down the line.

 

 

I then cut and sanded down each of the beams and camber blocks. This followed the same process as my previous post so I won't elaborate except with photos.

 

 

 

 

 

While I wanted to install the deck tonight, I will things dry overnight.

 

The camber from the upper deck requires the red wall to bend and I want to make sure the glue is properly cured before putting additional strain on it.

Edited May 5, 2022 by KJackson

[shipaholic]

Hi Kristyn,

something I just remembered from my build and something I should have realised to advise you of earlier. You should have planked the upper decks after fitting them so as to cover up those notches where the frames are. Not sure what the Occre instructions say about when to plank the decks.

[KJackson]

1 hour ago, shipaholic said:

Hi Kristyn,

something I just remembered from my build and something I should have realised to advise you of earlier. You should have planked the upper decks after fitting them so as to cover up those notches where the frames are. Not sure what the Occre instructions say about when to plank the decks.

 

Very good catch! Not to worry, I can amend these easily enough by replacing the outermost planking against each offender.

 

Thank you - appreciate the heads up! The OcCre instructions leave much to be desired at times, as I'm sure you can appreciate haha.

[shipaholic]

Another thing, I’m not sure whether the instructions cover this, but I cut away that beam across the main hatch once the deck was in place

[KJackson]

Thanks, Steve -

 

I'll be sure to cut the beam away tomorrow. Really appreciate the advice! I can't imagine this beam would be practical in a real ship haha.

 

FITTING THE QUARTER DECK

I amended the upper, quarter and forecastle decks to shipaholic's recommendation, and then got to fitting the quarter deck.

 

This required a good bit of generous wood glue and many clamps to keep the deck against the camber set beams.

 

 

 

I note that the bulkheads sit out of the deck in some places substantially. I imagine this will be addressed when faring the hull before planking.

 

 

[KJackson]

FITTING THE FORECASTLE DECK

I spent a couple of days laying the beams and setting the forecastle deck.

 

Before doing this, to shipaholic's suggestion I removed the beam that was interfering with the main hatch.

 

 

 

My table saw arrived, so I was able to cut the beams to support the deck to a level of accuracy that had previously been beyond me.

 

 

The wall facing aft towards the upper deck required a little bit of installation. The instructions called for a 2mm strip of wood between the deck and beam. It was a job to ensure this strip was exactly centred and then buff against the deck and bulkhead supports.

 

 

 

There was much clamping to let parts dry to the slight bend.

 

 

This wall required a panelled face in the 0.6mm decking timber. I pre-painted this red ochre before installing.

 

 

 

The trickiest part was measuring and cutting the thin strip of red panelling between the deck and the top-most panel. I used tweezers to push it gently in place after dry fitting.

 

 

 

 

One of the next steps requires fitting the bulkwark around the ship. Before jumping into this, I've paused and am doing some research.

 

 

The bulkwark will be very visible even at the end of the build. Aside from needing to be careful that the bulkwark is clamped straight against the deck with no gap, I also revisited my references to check what the bulkwark looks like.

 

At this stage I noted the replica (as well as several builds on MSW) have these painted and without adornment. Reading through the instructions, I noted that these bulkwarks will be clad with 2mm thick wood down the line. This means I don't have to paint the bulwarks at this stage.

 

On my perusal, however, I noted Marquardt and the replica have recorded the Endeavour's waterways; the replica's are red.

 

I hadn't planned the pattern to include waterways but I figure, at this stage, it's the only time I have left to give it a good crack before altering the edge of the deck becomes more difficult.

 

 

 

So, before installing the bulwarks, I'll make the waterways.

 

The other thing I'm starting to read and consider is installing reinforced pilot holes for pedestal stand supports. If I'm to do that, now is the time.

Edited May 8, 2022 by KJackson