Endurance by kramer - OcCre -1:70

[kramer]

Hey shipmates! I started my second build, the HMS Endurance by OcCre, after completing the Albatros. I learned so much from MSW the first go around, I'm excited about this ship and adding in some of the detail I learned about by posting and following other awesome builds. It was a couple of months after I finished the Albatros that I started the Endurance, so to slow-roll into my new build, I started with the boats just to get going again. Also, the metal boat supplied by OcCre for the Albatros was very uninspiring (I understand as the Albatros is a beginner build), so I really wanted to build some nice boats. I've finished the boats and am ready to move on to the ship. Summer is not the best ship-building time, as we end up spending a lot more time outside, but I've gotten some done and am looking forward to working on it more in the fall. Here are some pictures of the Endeavor unpacked and my progress with the boats. The builders on this forum were extremely helpful with my first build, so please offer pointers and recommendations when you see me about to screw something up. Thanks shipmates!

 

[kramer]

And here are some pics of the boats...

 

[clearway]

welcome to the Endurance club.

 

Keith

 

 

[Joe100]

Gorgeous build so far, she’s a very interesting subject. Just a bit of history, she was privately owned by the expedition, so she didn’t carry the “HMS” prefix since she wasn’t a King’s ship. Endurance used the prefix “S/Y” for “Steam Yacht” as she had under her previous name S/Y Aurora. Aurora had been built for arctic sightseeing and hunting trips for the well-off. She certainly wasn’t the best ship for the Antarctic job and some of the expedition members and Shackleton critics did point out this detail on many occasions. However, she was available for purchase in the timeframe set out, but she wasn’t cheap. The fact she was vulnerable to the ice wasn’t lost on Shackleton or her crew. They knew full well that being trapped with any pressure meant the ship would be doomed. She simply wasn’t designed for the mission, no matter how well she was constructed. That said, she is widely regarded as one of the best built wooden ships of the era, but her hull shape just wasn’t conducive to Antarctic adventuring.  

[kramer]

Excited to be a part of the Endurance club! And thanks for the info, Joe. Great to know, I had no idea. You can see in my pics that I bought the book "South" with the kit, but haven't started reading it yet. I just dove in without doing much research, although I know there's tons of literature out there. 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Nice job on the ship's boats, mate ... about as good as can be done with the materials provided in the kit.  I have the same kit awaiting build (there are two builds in progress that must be completed first) and have watched the first posted build log (by Hake Zou) through completion - and will now follow yours.   The idea is to learn as much from others as I can from my own research before embarking on the venture.  I added a few comments on the review of the kit (in the Review section of the forum) on likely ideas to improve the model without adding too much expense or deviation from what is a decent intermediate kit.   Hake did a few, and has some excellent tips to do that will save trouble as you go further into the build.

  One idea I got from Rob's Glory of the Seas log concerned pre-rigging masts before finally gluing them into the hull, and that would be if one choose to install a circular pin rail near the bottom of the Endurance's masts and adding extra belaying pins (instead of relying on deck eyes as suggested by the kit).  Hake did make sure his deck eyes were installed with a bent end under the decking before gluing the planked deck down - that way they could not pull out at a most inconvenient time later.  Ropes (of sufficient length) were pre-attached to these eyes and pulled up for use later (rigging from the 'bottom up'), since having to tie them off from above offers substantial challenges if put off 'til later.  But if circular pin rails are installed on the masts (this is also true to the original), then a lot of spar rigging can be done separate from the ship (like Rob did for the Glory) since it can be tied-off on the pin rail before installing the mast.  Just a thought.

 

  Another opportunity is to create space beneath the forecastle deck (as per the original) by modifying the appropriate bulkhead and extending the decking beneath the forecastle deck.  The provided sails (while adequate)  could simply be duplicated in lighter material and they would look better.  There are many railings, to be sure, and I went to the expense of getting 3-D stanchions from the aftermarket.  Yet I may save them for another project I want to do at some point, and likely will make a mock-up jig for the various railing sections to mount the PE stanchions provided in the kit.  Then brass wire can be threaded through and bent as needed before soldering in place with either a very fine propane nozzle on a mini torch or a decent soldering iron plus a touch of fine, rosin-core electrical solder.  One used to get this at Radio Shack (I have a lifetime supply), but there must be other sources.  Once cooled, the soldering point will have become 3-D and the railings should look much better than rope railings (after painting).

 

  Using metal chainplate (rather than pinned rigging rope per the kit) would be a plus (one can bend one's own wire), and perhaps slightly smaller (darker) deadeyes that would be closer to scale.  Making rope or buying scale rope (from Siren Ships or Ropes of Scale) could be another plus, as it looks much better and has very little 'fuzz'.  Better blocks are optional, as are better belaying pins.

 

  Whatever you choose to do, have fun doing it!    Johnny

 

  

[Joe100]

No problem!

 

The book South! Wasn’t written by Shackleton, but rather ghostwritten by Edward Saunders. It’s still a good book and required reading, however it leaves out a lot of the things that made Shackleton look bad. If you want the whole story, and more of the real narrative, I can suggest others. Even Lansing’s “Endurance” whitewashes quite a bit. Once one digs deeper into the story, one finds Shackleton not always the good guy, and is usually the cause of his own problems. I own a first edition of South! myself, and it’s part of my Shackleton artifact “museum”.

 

Im not sure if Saunders/Shackleton mention it, but Endurance was built in the Sanderfjord framness shipyard, designed Angarud Larsen, and built by Christian Jackobsen, shipbuilder. I have copies of her original plans, stamped in the corner and signed by these men. Very interesting.

 

If you have any questions about Endurance or Shackleton in general, I’m sure I can answer them. He’s been an object of intense study for me for about a decade.

 

 

[kramer]

Thanks Snug Harbor Johnny! I'll check out Hake Zou's Endurance build log for some more tips. And thank you for the tips. I definitely figured out that rigging up was the way to go. I'll have to save this post and refer back to it when I get further along.  

[kramer]

Thanks again for your offer of help understanding the Shakleton story, Joe. Good info on the South book. I expect that at the rate I work on the ship this project will take me about 2 years. I hope to have an inkling of the knowledge of the Endurance as you have when I complete it. 

[Joe100]

Oh yeah, you’ll pick up a lot as you go. The Shackleton story sorta ebbs and flows depending on the time period. A decade ago, he was an all-conquering hero, however today we see him in a more realistic light. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he was a con artist, but I’m sure some of the people he owed money to would have thought differently. His poor preparations, especially for the Ross Sea Party, were negligent at best. Don’t get me wrong, I love his story, love it, but casting him as the greatest of all time is doing disservice to the story. At the end of the day, we have to remember he was always looking out for his image and always grasping at fame and fortune. He wound up with one of them in the end. 
 

Fortunately for Shackleton, the scales of history will tip in his favor and I doubt they’ll ever be any different. Im fine with that myself, however, I take a more balanced view of him, and sometimes what I’ve found doesn’t measure up. 
 

I hope you continue with your Shackleton research, he is always interesting and thoroughly entertaining. South! is a fantastic read and it will get your juices going, certainly. If you don’t want want to conquer the world after reading it, something is wrong. If you’re interested, I can send you some photos of some the items he used on his expeditions from my personal collection. 

[Glen McGuire]

Great subject and I will follow along with interest!  Also, I am horribly jealous of how well organized your workspace is!  Quite impressive.  Somehow mine gets hit by a tornado every time I leave and come back to it.  Not sure how that happens.

[Cathead]

Have fun with what looks like a pretty cool kit with some room for interesting upgrades, based on existing build logs.