Endurance by theoracle09 - OcCre - 1:70

[iMustBeCrazy]

A few more photos:

 

The interior of the 'ritz', obviously gutted during the fit-out and I think modified during the voyage. Note the door in the aft bulkhead (I'm happy to see it as it just had to be there), no ladder and no visible skylight (but it's shown in exterior shots actually I'm not sure about that now, I think we only see a canvas cover on the voyage which could be covering stores ??? Not sure.). Strangely it looks too wide but that must be an illusion.

 

https://www.gettyimages.com.au/search/2/image?family=editorial&phrase=endurance ritz

 

A view forward along the bridge deck (is/has anybody added the skiff to their model?)

 

:

 

The galley door, port wing bridge and companionway:

 

 

 

[theoracle09]

Thank you for the kind words, Johnny!

 

Thanks Craig. Here are a few more of the interior of the ritz I've been able to find in addition to that link you posted:

 

Additionally, here's another shot of the port wing. It's interesting, as both this pic and the one with Mrs. Chippy and Blackborow show a square opening in the wall. Any ideas what this may have been?

 

 

I'm not too sure I'll be bothered enough to model that skiff. I'm already planning on replacing the lifeboats with ones from Master Korabel, and by then I believe I will have spent more on upgrades than the actual kit itself!

 

I do plan on scratch building the aft companionway to better match that same pic (with the skiff in it). I'm not using the steering gear deckhouse, but it does have a curved top that might just get re-purposed into being the companionway. In pics, it doesn't appear to have a sliding top, unless the entire top itself slides.  But it is definitely a different shape to what OcCre provides. Here's another angle I've found from the London shipyard.

 

If you zoom into it, you'll notice rectangular windows that aren't in the kit either.

[iMustBeCrazy]

20 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

show a square opening in the wall. Any ideas what this may have been?

Those are the 'ritz's' windows, two per side, originally over the tables (see post #11 and also marked on the plans).

 

23 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

If you zoom into it, you'll notice rectangular windows that aren't in the kit either.

Three per side. Each one about 3mm long at 1:70 at a guess.

 

The plan sort of suggests it slides but that might be my brain making suggestions, anyway it has sufficient head height that it doesn't need to slide.

 

[clearway]

I agree Craig- on the original plans all the windows on the ritz are straight sided with slightly curved top and bottom frames and the walls are panelled - it looks like they tongue and groove planked over it and added round portholes with the one pictured left square. Regards the hatch near the ships wheel, if you look at the top picture on this page (with the gut in the hat in the doorway) you can make out the sliding hatch.

 

Keith

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 8/20/2023 at 5:53 PM, clearway said:

the windows on the ritz are straight sided with slightly curved top and bottom frames and the walls are panelled - it looks like they tongue and groove planked over it and added round portholes with the one pictured left square.

Keith, we basically have two situations, pre and post departure. We have photos from both but we don't always know which they represent, for example the one above with the cat and rectangular window could be either.

That shot also shows a round porthole aft of the galley door and there is another showing a cook skinning a penguin and a porthole forward of the galley door. Another of the wreck shows a round porthole in the forward galley bulkhead inboard of the galley stove.

These I am pretty sure existed post departure. Of the rectangular windows or any other windows in the 'ritz' I think we only have the following pre departure shots. EDIT: The shot above has the cook skinning a seal, obviously post departure.

 

 

 

These shots are facing aft (unless I'm really wrong) with the galley behind the photographers right shoulder.

 

The shot below is also facing aft. The 'ritz' has been stripped, two rows of columns have been added along with partitions down each side (the left one has a sign reading 'The Billabong'). The area behind the partitions can only be 2-3 feet and probably have bunks you crawl into from the end, but that's a guess. The partitions also hide any windows/ports. EDIT: The door at the end is new and opens to the main hatch. This shot is looking forwards.

 

 

The photo below is facing forwards AFT, it again shows the partitions left and right, it shows the table top hanging from the right hand columns with the trestles behind the man on the right. It shows a heating stove with a water boiler on top and a doorway which could access the pantry or perhaps a W.C. In the forward right is the entrance to the galley an office?.

 

 

Now, a couple of questions: What happened to the skylight or is it still there? Where does the chimney for that stove come out, the stove must be nearly under the binnacle?

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by iMustBeCrazy

[theoracle09]

6 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

We have photos from both but we don't always know which they represent, for example the one above with the cat and rectangular window could be either.

That particular photo is post departure, as that's of Perce Blackborow who was a stowaway that wasn't brought to Shackleton's attention until after they had left Buenos Aires.

 

6 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

Where does the chimney for that stove come out

I can't definitively say this chimney is for that stove, but there is a chimney that comes out of the forward port side of the ritz in these pics: (which I think you mentioned in your post when talking about that porthole on the ritz inboard of the galley stove).

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Once more, some pictures new to me ... ferreting out "Getty" branded images (or any others that really are in the public domain - due to prior publication under the old laws - but have been since "copyrighted" by various organizations in possession of them).  I have a collection of 'turn of the 20th century' post cards (most of them printed overseas, often Germany) with no copyright information on them (being ephemera at the time) - ergo they were public domain from the moment they hit the streets.  YET, I'm seeing the same images on various internet sites where the holder has 'slapped' a so-called 'common law' copyright on the image ... hmmmm, perhaps they imagine that whatever spots, postmarks, folds, tears, etc. make them unique and fair game to anyone who wants to try and claim them as theirs.  Yup, I've seen multiples of the same postcard in multiple sites ALL 'claiming' ownership.

 

  Not to worry, all one has to do is Photoshop out blemishes, foxing, postmarks, etc. and you have then created your own 'new' image ... and no would-be hoarder can lay claim to it.

[clearway]

the stovepipe is for the galley stove and is fitted towards the front of the ritz. The galley occupied the port forward side and an entry way/ staircase leading below decks to starboard with the "ritz" taking up the rest of the room leading astern- well i aint tearing my ritz off and adding the square window now😁- On the pre conversion plans i have for Polaris the plans show 3 square windows  each side on the ritz- and even the  the ones on the quarterdeck are square.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

53 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  Once more, some pictures new to me ... ferreting out "Getty" branded images (or any others that really are in the public domain - due to prior publication under the old laws - but have been since "copyrighted" by various organizations in possession of them).  I have a collection of 'turn of the 20th century' post cards (most of them printed overseas, often Germany) with no copyright information on them (being ephemera at the time) - ergo they were public domain from the moment they hit the streets.  YET, I'm seeing the same images on various internet sites where the holder has 'slapped' a so-called 'common law' copyright on the image ... hmmmm, perhaps they imagine that whatever spots, postmarks, folds, tears, etc. make them unique and fair game to anyone who wants to try and claim them as theirs.  Yup, I've seen multiples of the same postcard in multiple sites ALL 'claiming' ownership.

 

  Not to worry, all one has to do is Photoshop out blemishes, foxing, postmarks, etc. and you have then created your own 'new' image ... and no would-be hoarder can lay claim to it.

 

You have good points Johnny. I don't know if my attitude is the right way to think about it, but I've never cared about copyright because I'm not profiting for the material I am referencing. I'm not profiting from the material I produce, either, and have zero interest in doing so. I don't know who owns the images I post, and have no inclination to find out. Getty seems to have the majority of images, but I've also going to google images and searched different key words to find the lesser-known images I've posted.

 

27 minutes ago, clearway said:

the stovepipe is for the galley stove and is fitted towards the front of the ritz. The galley occupied the port forward side and an entry way/ staircase leading below decks to starboard with the "ritz" taking up the rest of the room leading astern- well i aint tearing my ritz off and adding the square window now😁- On the pre conversion plans i have for Polaris the plans show 3 square windows  each side on the ritz- and even the  the ones on the quarterdeck are square.

 

Keith

 

I'm with you Keith; while I'm striving for historical accuracy I mentioned in my first post I'm only shooting for 90% or so. The square windows in the ritz don't really interest me enough to cut them in and figure out trim, or suggesting glass, etc.

 

Do you mind providing some measurements on your stovepipe? It looks to scale, so what's the height from the deck and the diameter of the tube you used? Also, did you make the top bit? I've been puzzling over how to create that as I don't have any brass sheet (other than PE sprue, if you call it that).

[clearway]

16 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

Do you mind providing some measurements on your stovepipe? It looks to scale, so what's the height from the deck and the diameter of the tube you used? Also, did you make the top bit? I've been puzzling over how to create that as I don't have any brass sheet (other than PE sprue, if you call it that).

Its an old billings stovepipe fitting altered to look more accurate- so the rain hat is turned brass from the fitting with 3 pieces of brass wire added. The pipe is 35mm from the deck with the rainhat 5mm above that- pipe diameter is 4mm.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

19 hours ago, clearway said:

Its an old billings stovepipe fitting altered to look more accurate- so the rain hat is turned brass from the fitting with 3 pieces of brass wire added. The pipe is 35mm from the deck with the rainhat 5mm above that- pipe diameter is 4mm.

 

Keith

Thank you!

 

Continuing to work on deck structures, I put together the chests rather quickly. I saw someone use the brass stanchions as hinges and really liked the way they looked, so I did the same.

Next up I moved ahead with gluing the bulkheads on to the MDF false keel. I used some steel corner brackets that I ensured were 90* to clamp the bulkheads in place.

 

With the bulkheads now secure I started working on the aft companionway. Since I'm changing the hatch, I decided I wanted the companionway door to be open, with the passageway detail visible. This is another change from other models I've seen: the aft companionway appears to only have one door in the pics. I've only found two pics, both of which are already in this thread, that show this opening, and the door appears to cover the entire space. Edit: There will be two doors.

 

I chiseled out the left bulkhead in the above pic so it doesn't appear so thick when viewed from aft. I then planked the keel with 0.6x5mm decking veneer so the opening in the bulkhead was flush with the keel. The inboard wall was planked with 1.6mm basswood, and then I planked the floor with the 3x1mm that comes in the kit. Finally the outboard wall was framed with spare plywood sprue, and planked with the same 1.6mm basswood.

 

I still need to paint the new walls the same white I'm using everywhere else. I'll be including a 0.5mm brass rod hand rail, but won't install it until I decide which side of the ship will be displayed. Next was planning the structure. I decided on 3.3x1.5mm mahogany strips, with slots filed out for the windows. I used a $10 micro engraver to remove most of the material, then needle files to square up the lines. All under magnification.

 

It's not fancy, and doesn't have joints like it probably should. The structure is ~8mm tall by 20mm long by 10mm wide. The slots are 4mm long, with 2mm between. After adding an additional strip to the top of the walls, and gluing it all together, we have this:

 

The glue will need to dry over night so I can sand it tomorrow without fear of it breaking apart. I'll sand down the roof to match the front and the back, then install planks and stain it. It'll have some trim to cover up the transitions as well, like the damage to the starboard side of the doorway on the aft bulkhead. I'm also going to sand the proper curve into the top of the doorway, but want it to be glued to roof planks first. Looking at the pics, I may need to increase the height of the windows so will consider that tomorrow as well.

 

Finally, I remembered the found-wreckage video showed a fly-in shot to the aft deck. I wanted to get more reference for the structure. In doing so, I also noted the confirmation, finally, of circular pin rails on the masts.

 

I have spent many hours going through videos and photographs trying to determine what the rigging actually affixed to. Were there actually eye bolts in the deck? Why? It seemed that spot was blocked, conveniently, every time I thought I was getting close to discovering it. I'm excited to finally spot this detail.

 

Thanks for coming in!

Edited August 21, 2023 by theoracle09

[iMustBeCrazy]

The aft companionway would appear to have two doors, the first two shots aren't conclusive but the third shows the left door still hanging:

 

And a brightened version of your last shot:

 

[theoracle09]

48 minutes ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

The aft companionway would appear to have two doors, the first two shots aren't conclusive but the third shows the left door still hanging:

 

And a brightened version of your last shot:

 

 Ah yeap, two doors. Thanks for the pics!

[theoracle09]

I didn't actually wait to sand and continue on the aft companionway so here it is complete after the stain has dried.

 

I still need to paint the inside passageway walls, and I did end up increasing the height of the windows. The structure was built to sit directly on the deck, not on top of the decking that still needs to be glued on. I'll be adjusting for this fact once I begin the decking.

 

[clearway]

15 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

doing so, I also noted the confirmation, finally, of circular pin rails on the masts

yep- i think that shot is showing the foremast and front bulkhead of the ritz- on other pics the mainmast has a steel spider band incorporated into the swan neck fitting for the boom. On mine i have wooden pin racks fore and mizzen but will add the steel spider band to the main (might actually replace the mizzen one with a steel band next.

As regards eyebolts on the deck- yes heavy hauling lines (yard lifts, halliards etc) would have led to a block hooked onto the deck at the base of the mast to take the strain then to the belaying pins.

 

Keith

Edited August 21, 2023 by clearway
missed info

[theoracle09]

16 minutes ago, clearway said:

yep- i think that shot is showing the foremast and front bulkhead of the ritz- on other pics the mainmast has a steel spider band incorporated into the swan neck fitting for the boom. On mine i have wooden pin racks fore and mizzen but will add the steel spider band to the main (might actually replace the mizzen one with a steel band next.

As regards eyebolts on the deck- yes heavy hauling lines (yard lifts, halliards etc) would have led to a block hooked onto the deck at the base of the mast to take the strain then to the belaying pins.

 

Keith

This is interesting, thank you for posting it! I've seen the spider band that you're talking about as well. Once I get the decks in I'll be able to see how much space is between the main mast and the aft quarterdeck bulkhead. I may do a U shaped pin rail if I can't fit a circular one. Since I'm keeping the gangways, I like the idea of the rigging terminating under/between the gangways. I'll have to see if there's enough space to include blocks in that area to the pin rails.

[iMustBeCrazy]

The window proportions look much better, well done.

 

Main mast fore and aft:

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by iMustBeCrazy

[theoracle09]

29 minutes ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

The window proportions look much better, well done.

 

Main mast fore and aft:

 

 

 

In this configuration, with the gangways, where would the crew be interfacing with the ropes for the main mast? Since the spider band is pictured there, would there be a pin rail on the quarterdeck? Or, just that spider band? So the rigging would come down to blocks in the main deck and back up to the spider band on the mizzen deck.

[iMustBeCrazy]

6 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

In this configuration, with the gangways, where would the crew be interfacing with the ropes for the main mast? Since the spider band is pictured there, would there be a pin rail on the quarterdeck? Or, just that spider band? So the rigging would come down to blocks in the main deck and back up to the spider band on the mizzen deck.

This is getting a bit out of my comfort zone, my experience is limited to modern rigs for yachts up to about 42'. Someone with tall ship experience might have a better answer.

 

Generally when heaving on a line it should pass around the fixing it is to be tied off to (just a half loop). This provides a friction point making it easier to hold and tie off. It also changes the direction of pull.

Given blocks on the main deck there would be two three fixing point options, 1/ a belaying pin on the spider band  2/ a cleat on the main deck. 3/ There could also be a pin rail on the main deck (as per the foremast).

Depending on load there could be three teams of men involved, one pulling the tail of the line, one pulling the line down the mast and ( if using a belaying pin on the spider band) one pulling the line up through the pulley on the main deck.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by iMustBeCrazy

[theoracle09]

Thanks Craig! I'm still a ways away from permanently deciding, so for now I'll stick with the pin rails and not worry about the spider band on the main.

 

I received the timber for the deck today so I began on the anchor deck ... deck. I took a look through other build logs and I wasn't able to determine if there was a "right" way to deck the Endurance. The plan shows planks running the length of all decks with no butts, and I haven't been able to find any butts in any of her pictures.

 

So I decided to add butts anyway because I really like the detail it brings in. It's a way to separate the grain and a classic part of the "model ship" look. I looked around and landed on this forum post and decided to do the same pattern. The measurements for a 20' plank at 1:70 works out to 87mm. For the ratio 5:2:4:1:3 the deck planks should be 87:35:70:17:52 mm. This is considered a 4-butt shift. It's tedious, but rewarding. I made a small jig to measure out the '5' ratio planks (87mm) as those are needed the most.

 

To represent caulking I used a king size sharpie on one edge of the plank only. Having the black on both edges was too much and I had to pull a few planks after finding this out. Additionally, sharpie on the ends didn't work because the grain soaked it in immediately. This is visible on the anchor deck in a couple spots but I'll hide it with a bucket or something. I switched to using a pencil on the ends, both sides, and I think it looks pretty good.

 

I made sure to leave enough hanging aft so I can sand it flush with the vertical planking I added. It was sanded to 400 grit and I'll add tung oil to it once the other decks are decked so I can do it all at one time.

 

Thanks for reading!

[clearway]

21 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

In this configuration, with the gangways, where would the crew be interfacing with the ropes for the main mast? Since the spider band is pictured there, would there be a pin rail on the quarterdeck? Or, just that spider band? So the rigging would come down to blocks in the main deck and back up to the spider band on the mizzen deck.

They also had cleats incorporated into blocks as well just to confuse matters even more! On the main mast apart from the tackle to use the boom and the halliards for the sail  the braces for the foreyards would lead there- if you look carefully there are also pinrails on the shrouds just above the deadeyes. I have Harold Underhill's "rigging the clipper ship and deep sea carrier" as a source of reference but havn't delved too deeply into yet.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

7 hours ago, clearway said:

They also had cleats incorporated into blocks as well just to confuse matters even more! On the main mast apart from the tackle to use the boom and the halliards for the sail  the braces for the foreyards would lead there- if you look carefully there are also pinrails on the shrouds just above the deadeyes. I have Harold Underhill's "rigging the clipper ship and deep sea carrier" as a source of reference but havn't delved too deeply into yet.

 

Keith

Ah yes, even more stuff to look in to! I won't be rigging for a while, but sometime between now and then I really need to start learning the different terminology and how it all works. I'm not too concerned with rigging it 100% correctly, but we'll see how close to that I do end up getting.

 

I finished off the quarter deck this evening. Cutting and prepping each plank becomes a chore after a while, so the observant among you will notice I opted to use continuous planks for the portion of the deck which is under the ritz. This won't be seen, so to save time I didn't worry about the pattern. I started by marking the deck with measurement lines and dry-fitting the first planks.

 

You'll notice the pattern in the following pictures because I marked the butts under the ritz with pencil so I didn't confuse myself.

The plywood deck had a twist in it after cutting from the sheet. I used machinists squares to hold it down while the titebond dried. This worked the twist out and now the deck lays flat. The measurements on the paper refer to the length of the first plank from the left. After that first plank, every plank in the run after it is the #5 plank, or 87mm. That's how the pattern is established.

And finished. The final planks under the anchor deck would be installed after the majority of sanding was done.

I started with 150g, then 240g, then 400g. You'll see here the pattern butt lines under the ritz are now gone. I also placed that ugly knot under the ritz on purpose. 

There's the smallest gap in the forward space on the starboard side under the anchor deck. It should easily be covered though by some trim. It fits perfectly otherwise.

Pic with the ritz more-or-less where it'll be installed.

Thanks for reading!

[theoracle09]

Thanks for the likes and looking in! I've completed the mizzen deck and a couple hours after that finished off the aft deck and began the bridge. I'm definitely looking forward to being done preparing planks and gluing decks. Something to note, none of the decks are glued in right now. I also grabbed some 6mm dowel and checked the mast fit after drilling out the deck planks. I noticed it's rather loose at the false keel (but nice and snug around the deck), and I really don't want to rig something up later to make sure the masts are raked correctly, and are straight between port and starboard. I'll be adding some shims at some point so all I need to do later is step the mast and it'll already be in the correct position and ready for glue.

 

Pic before I planked the aft deck. Nothing is glued down right now.

Everything is nice and smooth and I'm really happy with how the decks look. The timber I purchased seemed to have been mixed in with some smaller stock and I didn't catch it until in the middle of the quarter deck. It's rather noticeable if I take a close-up on the anchor deck. I'm not worried, I plan on having a busy deck, so it'll be easily covered.

 

I also didn't catch the color variations in the timber. My wife pointed it out on the anchor deck, but I think I like the different color of the planks. It's a little distracting right now, but once there's "stuff" elsewhere to look at I think it'll add to the look I'm going for, which is a well-used ship with a lot of different detail everywhere.

 

One thing I thought of while keeping my mind busy planking, for anyone building this after me, if you want to cut the bulkhead under the anchor deck to include that space under there, grab whatever planks you're going to use and lay them out on the quarter deck towards the bow to get a sense of spacing. If you plan it out correctly, you can cut your bulkhead at the precise width of whatever number of planks that'll fit between them and still look good.

[iMustBeCrazy]

1 hour ago, theoracle09 said:

Thanks for looking in!

You're moving along. I was trying to get ahead and was looking at the bridge deck access.

From what I can see of the wing bridges they are surrounded by solid railing and it would seem the companionways have a landing at the top with a right angle turn to access the bridge deck proper.

Then I found this:

It would appear that the starboard wing bridge and companionway were removed, the raw ends of the beams suggest that it was probably after getting trapped.

 

 

[Hunt270]

Just catching up on your progress! Looking fantastic. 

[theoracle09]

22 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

You're moving along. I was trying to get ahead and was looking at the bridge deck access.

From what I can see of the wing bridges they are surrounded by solid railing and it would seem the companionways have a landing at the top with a right angle turn to access the bridge deck proper.

Then I found this:

It would appear that the starboard wing bridge and companionway were removed, the raw ends of the beams suggest that it was probably after getting trapped.

 

 

Hmm, I hadn't noticed a wing missing before. That's a great observation. I'm going to keep both of them for this build, but it could be interesting to take it a step further and remove one/both of them if there were more pictures of that area when they were stuck in the ice.

 

12 hours ago, Hunt270 said:

Just catching up on your progress! Looking fantastic. 

Thanks Will!

 

Big picture update today. I used a penetrating oil on the deck to really bring out the grain and it really makes the sharpie caulking stick out as well, but it's not over-bearing.

 

After drying a few hours they received a coat of tung oil and were left alone to dry for another few hours. I then decided to glue them down, except for the anchor deck. It took 32 hours total to planks and finish the decks, so I was excited to get them glued in. This was a mistake for two reasons, one of which you'll see further in this post. The second reason being I talked about shimming the mast supports in the false keel and didn't do that. It would've been easier to accomplish this if I were able to pull the decks off to glue shims in, then replace them to check the mast fit. Now, I get to fumble-fart around under the decks with tweezers.

 

When the anchor deck is installed there's an angle of viewing where you can see there isn't a floor after the closets. See this pic:

 

So I added a few more planks.

 

This is much better. I also chiseled out the bottom thickness from the anchor deck between the two closets. I haven't decided if I'm using the 3x1 (which would hide it anyway) strips for the trim that the kit calls for, or if I'm changing it to something else. So if I do change it to something thinner, you won't see the plywood behind it.

To get the anchor deck glued in I'll need to first create the doors to the closets. I laid down some of the decking material on blue masking tape and started assembling two doors. The finished dimensions are 16mm x 9.8mm.

 

In the below pic, the one on the right has been sanded down to remove thickness. I didn't measure it, but if I'd guess the doors are 1.5mm thick or so. I sanded the top, removed from the tape, and sanded the bottom as well. They are very thin doors.

I need to do a better job cleaning up glue squeeze-out, as this is the reason the stain didn't take in the corners of the inside panels. All well, it's so tiny and hidden, it won't matter. I took a nail from the kit (I won't be using them for the planks anyway) and used a sharpie to blacken it. After the nail was glued in I brushed over matte varnish over both doors and handles to kill the shine. I really like the look of these doors, especially the knobs. There's a good chance I'll be replacing the brass doors with home-made doors similar to these (just a bit bigger I believe).

 

Next up I was cruising other logs when I realized I totally forgot Tomculb's awesome details he included with the anchor chains traveling through the hull, through the first bulkhead, and then down below the deck where the rope/cable store would be located. I wanted to include the same detail, but already glued in my bulkheads and decks. No matter! I'll take a hand drill and make short work of it.

 

Sigh. Gotta show the mistakes too, right?! Of COURSE the spot I chose to drill was half on/half off the bulkhead under the deck, so when the bit hit it it caused the bit to push forward and eat the deck planks. As you can also see, I drilled bow to stern into the first bulkhead and caused major chip out from the back. This is the result of a momentary lapse of fore planning and it'll happen again, I'm sure. The cool thing is, it's totally able to be hidden.

 

I took two brass porthole inserts (credit to Tomculb here on the look and method) and filed them flat a bit, then chemically blackened and glued them in. Here's the result.

 

Ah, much better! Phew. The damage lies directly in line with the chain, so technically no harm done. And you can't see that back wall with the deck in place due to the black paint so all looks to be well now.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

[theoracle09]

Hi folks, another productive day in the shipyard. I wrapped up instruction sheet "A" and "B" by finally gluing the false keel reinforcement ply in. I've also glued down the anchor deck, so all decks are now officially down. One thing I didn't mention in my last few posts that some of you may notice, I'm not going to be using the eyebolts on the deck around the masts. I'm sticking with a circular pin rail. I did grab a block and did a mock setup for running the rigging through a block attached to the eyebolts and I determined two things: 1. I just don't want to fiddle with it; and 2: I'd have to raise the pin rail high enough to clear the block(s) attached to the deck, which is unrealistically high on the masts for the sailors to utilize properly. I may replace the blocks, which would lower that clearance due to smaller blocks, but I haven't decided yet. I still don't believe I'll mess with it, so the rigging will terminate at circular pin rails.

 

I began by trimming out the ritz with the supplied 3x1mm, then painting the off-white mixture. At the same time I trimmed the 3 deck transitions.

 

I ended up using the 3x1mm called for to trim the forward deck, so chiseling the space between closets didn't matter.

 

Next up I wanted to knock out the doors for the ritz. Originally I planned on making all 6 at one time to replace the brass doors supplied, but I got ridiculously bored after doing 4 of them so I'll save the remaining two for a later time.

 

I know others have moved the doors on the ritz to more accurate positions, but I was in a mood after making the doors so I just glued them on where the kit said to. I've got no problem with them being in the wrong spots.

 

 

The port side door has the handle on the aft side, and the starboard doors have the handle on the foreward. I was thinking, if the ship was moving forward and someone opens the door, the hinge on the forward side would allow the door to swing normally. If the hinge were on the aft side, it'd really whip open, or be more difficult/require more force to operate. I have no idea if this is true or not by the way, it just "sounds right". A few hours after the glue dried I came to the realization that the wind is coming from the aft, so perhaps the hinges should be aft as well so as not to be whipped open by the wind. Hmm.

 

At this point I had clamps on the hull because I glued in the false keel reinforcement pieces. I decided to just keep right on going with the ritz and marked the stanchion locations. I transferred this to a 3/4" thick MDF board using tracing paper, glued on with spray adhesive.

 

To note: these should be 12mm tall, but I couldn't find any in stock. I'm using 10mm instead. I considered somehow raising these up by 2mm, perhaps a small shim, but decided to keep my sanity instead and use them as they are. The holes were drilled with a press using the same diameter drill bit.

 

I'm using 0.7mm brass rod, not wire, for the top run. I don't know why I thought it'd be easier than it was, but it took considerable planning to make sure the corners are correct. This is my first time doing something like this, and I'm certainly satisfied with it, but knowing what I know now, the next one will be better. A big tip here is to grab the top ball of the corner stanchion with non-serrated needle nose pliers (with both runs inserted) and start twisting, keeping the stanchion straight up and down. Manipulate the rods at the same time. I was able to bend both runs most of the way, to get the corner stanchion facing 45* to both sides, then continue bending just the rods to the next stanchion location.

 

I will say doing the bending was significantly easier to do off model than on. If I were doing this on the ritz I guarantee something would've pulled the wrong way and scratched the deck, or ruined the stanchion holes, etc. I'm saying all of this before I have to move it, so we'll see if I feel the same way trying to get it from the board to the deck.

 

I tossed around ideas for what to use for the second run. Having it be the same 0.7mm rod was out of the question. Pics show it to be smaller than the top, so I grabbed some 0.3mm black rope I made. I considered how it would paint, and then it hit me: moving it would be almost impossible. Then I stopped over-thinking it and grabbed the abundance of 0.5mm rod I have for eyebolts. Because of the number of 90* corners, I had to remove almost all of the stanchions in the above pic from the top 0.7mm rod to insert the smaller run. Knowing that, it made the rest of the runs much easier because I inserted and bent both runs at the same time.

 

The whole assembly is split into 3 different pieces. In the pic above, the middle stanchion in the run at the bottom left, the rods are split so they equally fit into the stanchion. That way I have the port, starboard, and then separately the aft assembly to move to the ritz, and the middle stanchion hides the break.

After several coats of paint, it's ready to move over. I'll drill the ritz sometime this weekend and see how bad it'll be to move over. I'm expecting a lot of touch ups, but I believe it'll transfer over just fine. I left the rods long on purpose to aid in keeping the stanchions on. I didn't use any glue at all, which might cause issues, but I justified it because the holes are so snug trying to remove a single stanchion would break a solder or CA joint. Probably. Maybe. I considered soldering it together, but recently attempted to solder the ladders together and had a terrible experience. The heat from one side would desolder the other. I really want to pick up a micro-torch soon. Something about using wet cloth or paper towel or something to keep the finished joints cool? I'll have to look into brass work more, and is something I want to improve on.

 

This is a long one, I appreciate you taking the time to check it out!

[clearway]

looking good- i split the railings into sections with the ends of the rod hidden in the ball stanchions- something i missed from my Polaris plans is the railings angle inboard slightly aft of the bridge wing to make room for the ships boats.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

Thanks Keith! I got the idea to split the rods in the middle of the stanchion from your log, so thank you for detailing that and logging about it!

 

That's a neat detail about the stanchion angles. I didn't consider this when I ran the rods, so I don't believe I'll be able to easily include it without significantly changing the length of the runs, which changes the corner angles, thus making the task infinitely harder because it's already painted. I'm going to have the boats positioned outboard, so I don't think I'll try and angle those stanchions. Had I caught that detail prior to running the rods I probably would include it.

[theoracle09]

Building the railings on a separate board is definitely the way to go! I'm sure I picked up the hint from a log on here, and I apologize I don't remember who said it. But either way it worked very well, and is how I'll do the remaining rails when it comes time (if it's feasible to do so.) It took longer to drill the holes (making sure they were precisely aligned with the marks) than it did actually transferring it over.

 

The rails maintained their shape and the paint acted as a glue, as long as I was careful. Tweezers and magnification helped be gentle, and having the drilled holes 0.86mm (stanchions are 0.85mm) helped to hold them in place. I could then slide each one up and apply the tiniest drop of wood glue, then push them down and clean up the squeeze out with a micro applicator.

 

I've viewed some brass soldering tutorials and have a better idea of how to tackle the railings in the future. I'm also going to re-try the ladders with what I've learned. The point is, touch up was needed because the railings shifted ~0.6mm in some spots. Even just soldering (or gluing) the corners would probably have helped, but honestly, touch up paint took 10 mins or less so it wasn't a big deal.

 

And here we are. I'm extremely proud of how straight everything is. I was a bit worried about bending it and keeping the stanchions straight up and down, but it really wasn't that bad.

Edited August 26, 2023 by theoracle09