Endurance by theoracle09 - OcCre - 1:70

[theoracle09]

Hi folks, thanks for the likes and following along. Another big picture update for this post, as I wanted to show the technique I'm using to seize blocks and also create chainplates. These two tasks have taken a lot of time, but I'm so happy with the results I believe it to be worth it. I also find it oddly cathartic to drone away while listening to movies in the background, so it's not so bad. Let's start with seizing blocks. Back on page 1 of this log I mentioned building a seizing machine, and boy it really came in handy.

 

First step was dragging the end of the thread through some CA and wiping off with a towel. This gives me a needle, without needing a needle. I thread it through an eyebolt (a reminder that all eyebolts are soldered and blackened, so they're completely closed) in one direction and then go back through the same way, leaving a loop.

 

Using a drop of CA I glue the thread to the sides of the block. I make sure the rigging hole is oriented towards the eyebolt.

The thread is pulled taught until the eyebolt is in the general area it needs to be. I'm shooting for the block to be one-block's distance away from the eyebolt. On the left side of the machine I've attached a single thread with a CA glue needle. This gets threaded through the hole in the block. The right side has an alligator clip which holds the eyebolt.

The loose end from the spool (which is through the eyebolt) gets run through the left side and fixed to the pegs. This part is a bit finicky, and it's not super repeatable. Everything needs a certain tension to look good at the end, and the thread needs run through the eyebolt and lie on the block a certain way. Practice definitely helped here.

 

The machine handle is rotated and the tension is held on the thread coming from the spool until I see rotation begin to happen with the block and eyebolt. I can start letting the spool out, which rotates the block and eyebolt more, all while keeping things tight. It's hard to explain, but after my second one I was able to reproduce the result I'm looking for.

 

Once the thread from the spool has been wound up to the base of the block, I clip on a clothes pin to stop rotations and insert a needle threader at the base.

 

I'll cut the thread from the spool, leaving around 3-4" so I can pull it with the needle threader through the gap at the base. Before pulling all the way through I bring the loose end through the loop that's created, creating a single overhand knot. There are three threads running through the left side of the machine, so I grab the thread attached to the block (not the thread running through it), release it from the pegs and bring it back to the middle. I'll cut both loose ends, and apply a drop of fray-stop on both sides.

 

The two on the left in the following pic are the first two I made. The next 4 I had figured out the correct way to lay the threads, the correct winding tension, and a better knot to complete everything. The furthest on the right just came off the machine and has fray-stop at the base of the block. Once it's dry it'll be the same color.

And there we are installed. I left off the 3 furthest aft as I want to build steering gear and make sure everything fits before getting attached to the hull. Does anyone think they're too tall? Should the seizing be shorter?

 

Steps M would have you drill holes into the bulwarks rail for the foremast deadeyes. I'm not sure why OcCre decided to do that when making a channel for them would be just as easy. I fabricated them from 2x5 hull planks and then started considering chainplates. The plans call for brown thread, but I wanted to attempt to upscale this detail by creating them from brass. Here's a photo that shows them pretty well.

 

Since this post is already getting long with several more pics to go I won't detail the amount of times I failed to solder something I'd want to use on the ship. However in those failures I learned how to get better with each one, and now I have some truly stellar pieces (in my opinion) to use. And what's weird, I'm excited to get back to the bench and make more!

 

Alright so to start I made a small jig by just nailing the two sizes of deadeyes to a flat board. The deadeyes are really out of scale, but I decided I'm not interested in changing their size by buying aftermarket. I looked into making them but don't want to put the effort into it. I'm pretty sure I'll stain them though.

I started with the foremast, and according to the plans the thread should be nailed 30mm below the deadeyes. Since I'm going to be using a channel on the white trim stripe, just like the other two masts, I noted the deadeyes will have moved down 10mm from their previous position. This means I'll want 20mm between the bottom of the deadeye and the nail, because I don't want to change the position of the nails. This works out because the main mast has a distance of 23mm, and the mizzen mast has a distance of 20mm. With that said, I start by marking 10mm on a length of 0.5mm brass rod. I begin the bend around the deadeye there, and using the headless nail and pliers I aim for the shape in the pic above.

I mark out 20mm below the deadeye and use another headless nail to make the bend. After cutting the excess, considerable time is spent using pliers and magnification to make it as straight and tight as possible. It also needs to lay as flat as possible.

I use a piece of steel flat bar as a building surface with magnets. The magnets and putty are used to hold the chainplate down. I found it's best to get the shape as close as possible and not rely on the magnets to shape the piece. I had one I had to throw away because during filing it sprung apart. With the solder all over it it's just faster to make a new one.

In the pic above I was more focused on "tacking" so I could remove some magnets and have more room with the iron. The iron is, well, ferrous so the magnets will attract it if I got too close. That was really annoying to find out the hard way. This was when it hit me it's better to spend more time getting it to lay correct on its own rather than force the shape with magnets. Then, only 2 magnets are needed to hold the piece and the entire length can be soldered at one time. I use a liquid flux first, then put solder on the tip of the iron and apply.

Pic above: The top attempt is 30mm from bottom of deadeye to nail and is made with 0.7mm brass rod. I don't know why I thought it needed to be 0.7, but it's way too big. I also wasn't able to successfully solder it. The 0.5mm rod was much easier to manipulate and shape, and looks more to scale. The middle attempt is also 30mm, and I started figuring stuff out so that's when I actually measured for the correct distance. The first two were just practice to see if I could do it. The bottom attempt is almost passable, and will probably be used on the non-display side since they take so long to fabricate.

 

With practice things get better, though. Here was my final attempt (for now, I'm actually going to post this and go make more! I find it really fun.)

When each piece was complete I used steel wool to shine them up and they got placed in a small plastic shot glass of hydrochloric acid until I had 4 large and 3 small complete. They all got washed off in water, then processed in brass black two times. The final step was to rub each side with paper towel, buffing them up.

The progression goes from left to right, and I'm pleased to see my technique improved with each iteration. As mentioned I'll still use the "not-so-good" ones but they'll be on the non-display side. There's a bright LED light directly over them so they appear very shiny/silver in the pic. In real life, though, they're a deeper, darker color which I find extremely pleasing against the black hull.

 

Phew, this is a super long post for two tiny details. I hope this is helpful for anyone to help create these things!

 

Thanks for reading!

[Quimp Slattery]

13 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

I hope this is helpful

 

It certainly is. I'm left wondering how you get the deadeye to fit tightly into the strop?

 

Also as an ex-electronics tech, I applaud the improvement in your soldering. May I suggest a little more time cleaning the oxide off the brass, then a little more flux and a lot less solder.

[theoracle09]

1 hour ago, Jack-in-the-Blue said:

 

It certainly is. I'm left wondering how you get the deadeye to fit tightly into the strop?

 

Also as an ex-electronics tech, I applaud the improvement in your soldering. May I suggest a little more time cleaning the oxide off the brass, then a little more flux and a lot less solder.

 

Thanks for the tip Jack, I'll give it a try when I make more. As for getting the deadeyes to fit tightly the short answer is...they don't. Before soldering I made sure the strops can fit on to the deadeyes with a bit of coaxing. I'd say they're loosely fit in the strop, but they do stay there once they slip in. But it's not as tight as they could be either. Once tension is there with the shrouds, it shouldn't be noticeable. If it is, I can still squeeze the loop around the deadeye to shape it better.

[theoracle09]

Hi everyone, a quick question before I update progress. Take a look at this bow pic:

 

I've made steps toward installing the bow railing and am wondering what to use through the stanchion balls. For the aft part of the anchor deck I can see in the pic above it's metal, so I used brass wire for that railing portion. The rest of them look like they have a rope or steel braided cable running through them. My question is, what color would the rope be? Or rather, what should I use? I could either use brass wire which matches all the other stanchions on the ship, or a scale rope. If I used wire it'd be white to match. However if I go the scale rope route, should it be tan or white? Black? The wire would match, and so I'm leaning towards that route the more I think of it. I can just imagine friends and family over the years asking why the bow stanchions don't have a wire rail but all the others do. This is a situation where artistic interpretation may override historical accuracy, but I'm curious what others think.

 

The 1-ball stanchions needed to be cut down because I couldn't find any 12mm in stock anywhere. A bench pin and a jeweler's saw made very fast work of it. I also get to keep the little cut offs to be used adding details elsewhere.

Don't mind the solder in the next pic, I need to file it down still.

I wasn't able to use the drill press to drill the stanchion holes and I can't seem to understand how to use a pin-vise while keeping it straight up and down. They'll get adjusted once they're glued down.

 

I also finished up the gangways for the bridge deck, and applied the first railing to the mizzen deck (not glued down!) The stanchions needed to be ground down using a bench grinder otherwise they stuck out from the bottom of the planks. The gangways could be 1 or 2mm wider, but I'm not going to make them again (as these are the second sets anyway). They can be removed of course, which will make it really nice during the rigging stage. In fact, I thought of an idea of posing the crane with a gangway in the hook, hanging down and on it's way for installation. My wife wasn't so sure, but when the time comes maybe I'll revisit that. It'll depend on how she's displayed as I haven't decided what the rigging configuration will be.

The shroud channels were glued on. The fore skylight is looking awesome, but don't worry it's not glued!

And then the aft companionway received its handrail, the companionway glued down, and some trim stained and added. The drydock pics show a handrail on the port side of the companionway (on the inside), and I doubt it makes sense to have a rail on both sides. So yes, the handrail on the starboard wall is not accurate. Artistic interpretation takes hold again. The port side is being displayed, and the viewer would never see it if I put it on the port wall. To give someone an idea of the forethought that went into this though, I chose the starboard side as the display side specifically because I saw the rail on the port wall. Not everything can work out though and adjustments can be made when need be.

 

Edit 9/19: Turns out there actually is a rail on both sides as seen in this video.

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by theoracle09

[iMustBeCrazy]

2 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

The rest of them look like they have a rope or steel braided cable running through them.

From the kinks in it and the guy sitting on it my guess would be galvanised steel cable. The colour was probably dull grey with rust flecks. You could look at braided fishing line (probably with CA or epoxy wiped into it) or multi strand stainless fishing leader.

 

 

[clearway]

i have yet to go on a boat or ship that didn't have handrails both sides of a laddrway so you were right to add it.

 

Keith

[Quimp Slattery]

4 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

 

 

Nice sofa.

 

You are doing some good work here. I like the efforts you make to understand what's going on, the various functions of the parts of the ship etc. It's making an entertaining log.

 

Will you incorporate the cloth/rope wrapped sections of rail at the bow? I guess that are done like that to make them more comfortable to perch upon for the late evening pipe of baccy?

[HakeZou]

4 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

The rest of them look like they have a rope or steel braided cable running through them.

1 hour ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

From the kinks in it and the guy sitting on it my guess would be galvanised steel cable. The colour was probably dull grey with rust flecks. You could look at braided fishing line (probably with CA or epoxy wiped into it) or multi strand stainless fishing leader.

 

 

 

There's another photo (from the docks in London) that has a better view of those railings. They look more like rope to me, but could be steel cable. 

[Quimp Slattery]

2 minutes ago, HakeZou said:

They look more like rope to me, but could be steel cable. 

 

Perhaps that's what the steel cable looked like when it was new?

[iMustBeCrazy]

20 minutes ago, HakeZou said:

They look more like rope to me, but could be steel cable.

Starboard side aft of the aft stanchion it bends up, there is also a kink aft of the next stanchion forward, I really doubt it's rope.

[Quimp Slattery]

46 minutes ago, Jack-in-the-Blue said:

I guess that are done like that to make them more comfortable to perch upon for the late evening pipe of baccy?

 

My more useful second guess is that they are wrapped to cover the broken strands of steel rope which would have been a menace when folding the rope back to clear the anchor.

[theoracle09]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I'm leaning towards steel cable being used because of the kinks that are shown and can explore the thin fishing leaders, thanks for the suggestion!

 

I think the easiest solution might be to make some thin scale rope with white thread and lay it up as tight as it'll go. I'm thinking the cable would have been painted at one time, so white would work. There are two eyebolts on the caprail where the railing thread terminates and I could seize them with black thread for some interesting contrast. That sounds better than using the 0.7mm brass rod, and I wouldn't need to hunt for fishing leads.

 

However, I've seen discussion in other Endurance threads that the shrouds were steel braided cable and I'm wondering if they could be reproduced using the fishing lead. I used to be able to splice an eye in steel braided cable and it's not very difficult, so can the same be done to fishing lead at scale? 

 

After my update earlier I got back to work and decided to attempt something for the steering gear. Here's a teaser pic of progress, I'll have a proper update with lots of pics tomorrow.

Edited September 16, 2023 by theoracle09

[theoracle09]

1 hour ago, Jack-in-the-Blue said:

Will you incorporate the cloth/rope wrapped sections of rail at the bow?

It's not something I'd considered but could give it a shot. I do want a messy deck as if it's being lived and worked in. Do you have any suggestions on how to achieve the effect? I'm thinking something to wrap around the rail that's really fine but frayed, like a thin fabric. I'll look more into it!

 

[iMustBeCrazy]

22 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

I do want a messy deck as if it's being lived and worked in. Do you have any suggestions on how to achieve the effect?

Leave it lying around my shipyard for a week?

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

10 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

Hi everyone, a quick question before I update progress. Take a look at this bow pic:

 

 

 

  Gosh, 'Looks like the planking in the upper band of the stern has the top edge beaded.  If one thinks the effect is due to caulking, look closely at the first plank above the protruding strake ... it is 'tipped' slightly at the top and shows that a beading plane was used to 'break' the edge with a 1/4 round beading plane - and stops at the join with the next plank (also seen on other planks in this band).  I've built some furniture and have used a beading plane to get the same effect.

  Narrow bead-board for wainscoting (done with tongue and groove - the Stanley #45 plane has these bits also) will have one edge beaded, so when the boards are put together you see a single bead between the planks.  ("wide" bead board will have a false bead cut down the center to make it appear as if wainscot was make of thinner components ... but on the Endurance, the wide planks shown have no central bead, as it is not needed.)

  This is a really cool detail that probably runs the length of this planking band (between wales) where it will be noticed when in port = showing the care that Polaris was originally made, and pride in workmanship.   When I get around to this project, it would be nice to incorporate this detail with a small custom scraper.

   

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[theoracle09]

14 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

When I get around to this project, it would be nice to incorporate this detail with a small custom scraper.

 

That'd be an interesting detail for sure, and I'll keep an eye out for when you get started. I'm not sure it'd be a large enough detail to warrant the effort spent to make it, but it'd be a really nice addition if it worked!

 

Speaking of time spent, I have completed the steering gear to about 95%. This was extremely fun to build because I've never scratch-built something to this level, and I'm extremely proud of how it turned out. Total time spent to create it was around 18 hours, and I'm happy to be done! A huge shoutout to HakeZou, Clearway, and Jorez for documenting their models which provided me inspiration.

 

Here's the reference I was going from:

 

I started by measuring the wheel from the center to about 2mm passed the tip of a handle, which gives me 12mm. This was the basis of the entire planning process.

Using 1.5mm brass tube (not rod, important later) I flattened a 3mm section and bent according to the drawing. Knowing I needed to end up at 12mm height, and using a "rudder" that's 4.9mm x 4.9mm (6mm high, not on the drawing yet), I could draw the angle and length and not have to measure anything. Two legs were created this way. The same process was done with the middle set of legs, which bow out a bit.

Leftover decking was used as bases.

The top drawing is a top-down view to help align the legs, and the 29mm is the distance from the aft deck cap rail to where I determined the position (rather scientifically) where the rudder protruded. The method? I stood back a bit and used a pencil to eyeball where the rudder would land. Place a dot, center it left/right, good enough. I spent some time thinking about what to use for the shaft and landed on a toothpick. It worked perfectly.

 

(In the pic below, note the brass tubes in the top left of the image. The bowed leg set took 3 attempts to get the bends in the right spots.)

I found out I was able to cut thin brass with a fresh xacto blade using a ruler if I do it on glass. I cut thin strips, 2mm wide, from a sheet of 0.2mm brass. It took a few minutes of constant cutting but I only needed 3 of them. If anyone has any ideas on cutting thin strips of brass I'm all ears. I know there are PE shears that exist, maybe that'd be better. I tried cutting a straight line with a bench pin but it's still not 100% straight.

 

The soldering was done on my steel strip with magnets. Each leg set got 4 connections, then filed down. The two straight V pieces need a curved bit in the middle of them, and I wasn't planning on trying to include it because I was already intimidated enough with the overall task. I decided to go for it anyway and I'm elated that I did. I took a small rotary engraver and cut a tiny hole on the inside of each leg, directly in the center of the tube. 0.7mm brass rod was bent and then installed. I put a piece of the same 0.7mm wire under the new piece during soldering so as to make sure it doesn't sag down and get crooked. This is one of my favorite details because it's directly centered to each leg. The piece was then filed.

The legs on the right in the pic above had depressions on the outside because it's tube and not rod. Maybe using a small peg to make the bend instead of the round bending pliers those depressions could be avoided. In any case, I dabbed a bit of solder on the top of both and spent time filing back to a curved surface. I think the effort was well worth it, as otherwise it would've been quite obvious. In the grand scheme of the ship, there's no reason to worry about that. But when I started this model one of my goals was to practice metalworking in some form or fashion. I saw the steering gear as the perfect opportunity to do just that.

The brake is made from a small sliver of 8mm walnut dowel. I took the same 8mm walnut to the lathe and came back with this:

This is when I learned my tools are way, way too big for a job like this. Are there mini gouges out there? I saw a guy use an old screwdriver that he ground to some sort of shape and it was perfect for scale stuff. I have a bench grinder, and I have an old screwdriver...but I don't know what the shape needs to be. I'll have to look more into the tooling.

 

Back on track, the barrel is 6mm in diameter and I originally measured 14mm long according to my plan view. Because I didn't measure twice, the piece ended up ~17mm long and I was set not to attempt it again using huge tools. I'll make it work! The barrel was drilled to 2mm (for the toothpick) and wiped with tung oil.

Now for the tiller, 3x3 walnut was tapered and drilled for 0.5mm brass rod to be the chain attachment point. The 4.9mm square rudder (6mm height) was trimmed in the same decking material to be the tiller band.

Ok, almost done! I glued the two sets of legs on the left and realized I was running out of room in the aft for the barrel. I ended up cutting the toothpick in the middle of the barrel after paint, and inserting each end. It's snug enough it doesn't need glue and I'm able to telescope each side in or out to get the perfect length. The mistake ended up working out anyway.

A few things to note: the wheel is not glued because I am probably going to paint it, but it should be closer to the brake. The real ship had a 10-spoke wheel and the kit provides an 8, so I need to decide if I care enough to replace it or not. Honestly, probably not. I also see the assembly needs to be elongated a touch, which can be done since it's not glued down and not connected in the middle of the chain barrel. I'll extend the aft legs all the way to the caprail, which will give more room to the chain connection point. The barrel received some black wash for weathering, then I sanded as lightly as I could the two raised bands for contrast.

 

Last but not least is the rudder tiller. I shuddered to think about drilling through the deck (flashbacks to under the f'csle ... ) so I decided sharpie would fake it nicely. I was right, because my wife came over and thought there was a hole there the entire time. I said it was just sharpie and she had to get really close to make sure lol. I drilled a small pilot hole in the center of the sharpie circle to insert a brass nail and clipped off the head. Drilling a hole into the bottom of the rudder allows me to just stick it on without glue or anything. It even turns!!

 

Thanks for reading this far!

Edited September 17, 2023 by theoracle09

[Quimp Slattery]

1 hour ago, theoracle09 said:

I'm extremely proud of how it turned out.

Rightly so! Well done!

[clearway]

Well done- think it took me versions 1.1, 1.2 then 1.3 till i was happy and might even alter mine again! I used the caldercraft 10 spoke wheel but not sure how readily available they are outside U.K.- Keith S and Daniel D used 10 spoke wheels from Syren on their Terror builds.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

9 hours ago, clearway said:

Keith S and Daniel D used 10 spoke wheels from Syren on their Terror builds

 

The 8 spoke wheel that came with the kit is 20mm in diameter. Measuring for the 24mm Syren wheel, I'd have 1 mm between the bottom spoke (if oriented north/south) and the deck. Is that enough space?

[clearway]

1 hour ago, theoracle09 said:

I'd have 1 mm between the bottom spoke (if oriented north/south) and the deck. Is that enough space?

equates to about 3 inches give or take so won't look too weird- upto you really. The Caldercraft wheel is 24 mm across the spokes so made my brackets to fit it- look at the pics on my log of the wheel assembly to see the gap between spoke and deck which is only about 1mm or so..

 

Keith

Edited September 17, 2023 by clearway
missed info

[theoracle09]

Maybe I'll give it a couple weeks before I mention buying more stuff for the ship haha. I just today got a cross slide for the drill press which I've wanted for some time now and is why I've held off on the belaying pin racks.

 

Speaking of the pin racks, @HakeZou graciously provided me with his rigging excel document as I have no idea about rigging these ships. I pushed some thread through some blocks on a Midwest kit one time, that's about it. I'd like to go as accurate as possible (or reasonable), and I need to go back through Hake's log to see if he added pins. @clearway I noticed on yours I believe you combined the two on the quarterdeck? Do they have the same amount of pins? Before I make the pin racks I'd like to be certain I have enough pins when I start adding things the plans don't include.

 

For the update, there's not a whole lot to talk about so let's see some pics. Rather mild update today.

The first set of chainplates have been installed. I stained the deadeyes Espresso, and pretty sloppily at that. They could do with another coat to even out the tones but I've decided I like the striations. The 4 bigger ones have gaps in the strop, but the 3 smaller ones are snug, and were a pain in the butt to get in. I'm thinking I can just sand a small slot on the back side if they really can't go in, then for the starboard side I'd sand the slot on the outboard side so as to be invisible to the viewer.

 

Speaking of I have settled on a background for the display. I'll either find or create an old-timey map on faded parchment of her voyage south, with notes in cursive scribble of where she became encased, her drift route, etc. I'm excited to make something and will definitely post for anyone to use. It'll be a digital graphic that I can have printed. I need to know the final dimensions of the ship first before I begin modeling/planning the case.

 

Back on track next I tackled the bow railings. I used some white Guterman thread and created a 3-strand (2 threads per strand) rope.

The port seizing was done on the machine and I tell you, the machine is worth it to build (but you should definitely buy Chuck's version). I couldn't do nearly as good of a job by hand, and I tried (not by choice!). I installed the port eyebolt and ran the tail end through the stanchions which were already faced correctly and glued down. Then I installed the starboard eyebolt and ran the rope through, glued it together so I could cut it, and then sat there wondering how on this green Earth am I going to wrap it 100 times?!? Well I tied a knot and gave myself  plenty off the bobbin and started wrapping. It was bad. I couldn't figure out a way to make it happen, so for anyone out there doing this type of procedure, don't glue the stanchions in. Seize one side, thread on the stanchions and install to mark where the second eyebolt is, then take off the ship and use the machine to seize it.

 

What I did, I glued the rope into the first stanchion and cut the end off. Before the cut I smeared CA all over the end to the first stanchion to maintain it's straight shape. I seized it on the machine with massive difficulty due to it's short size and then installed. A tiny dab of glue on the outboard side makes it look like it's a single piece of rope.

I found some of those brass bits from another kit and they looked like the right size for the ends of the steam windlass. I don't want to use them now because they're really nice and it'd be a shame to hide them under they deck, so I sloppily made a couple on the lathe. I'm going for the same overall shape as what Tom posted because it's going to be so far under the anchor deck it doesn't need to look realistic. Next was blackening the chain, which worked beautifully.

I ran the lengths through steel wool and then dropped into hydrochloric acid for 30 mins or so. They got rinsed in a baking soda/water solution and then dried on paper towel. I don't touch them after the acid, I just use tweezers. Into a small shot glass of brass black and I use a toothpick to stir it around. I've found if you leave the brass is for too long you'll get flakes and the black won't stick. Out of the brass black and into two rinse cups. After drying for a time I ran them through a papertowel, taking off any flaking and buffing at the same time. The image above is after buffing, and no black comes off on my hands and it's nice and shiny.

I really doubt that's how big it was on the real ship, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time on something that'll barely get seen, if ever. It's a nice detail to have though.

Edited September 18, 2023 by theoracle09

[clearway]

Nice bit of work there Josh-  i have fitted 11 belaying pins on each pin rail but i think they should be split though not as far apart as occre have them- there will also be 8 belaying pins on the collar near the base of the mast.

 

Keith

[HakeZou]

Just getting caught up—beautiful work on the steering gear, Josh! 

 

To save you some time: I did not add any belaying pins. If you are going to fully rig the sails, you will probably need to do so, however.

 

As you study OcCre's plans, note that in the M steps, the rail at the bow has 6 pins and the four rails on the bulwarks have 5 pins each. In the final rigging diagram showing the anchor points, two of the rails on the bulwarks only have 4 pins, while the others only use 4 of their 5 pins. I did add some ropes beyond what OcCre calls for, so I filled all 26 pins. You may want to consider adding spider bands, too, to replace the eyebolts on the deck around each of the masts; at least one of the photos shows a spider band on the main mast, so the eyebolts are simplification from OcCre. (I went with the simplification for my Endurance.)

[theoracle09]

Thanks for the comments on the belaying pins guys, I sincerely appreciate it! I saw someone's Endurance on another site and they added pins but I can't seem to find the darn log again, or the site it was posted on. I'll need to keep researching, and then sit down and trace each line and check off on a sheet each run.

 

Another question: I have Petersson's "Rigging Period Ship Models" but the author notes it's only for one ship during one time period. Does anyone have any suggestions on rigging books that will benefit this model? @HakeZou you posted a link in this post to a manual of some sort, but the link is now dead unfortunately. Would you happen to have a copy?

 

7 hours ago, HakeZou said:

You may want to consider adding spider bands

I'm doing a hybrid of sorts. I did not insert eyebolts into the deck before planking as suggested (to wrap the tails under the decks, for security) because I built circular pin rails to be glued to the masts. Clearway mentioned Endurance had eyebolts under these circular racks which would have blocks, then affix to the pins on the rail. You can see this in one of the found wreckage videos. I mocked this up but determined (without replacing the kit blocks) there wasn't enough room so I decided to just terminate at the circular rails.

[theoracle09]

Another huge picture update for a small detail, but I have learned a ton from people taking the time to document their processes so I want to give back and do the same. I'll post the finished pics first so you can skip the rest if you'd like!

 

The steering gear is now complete. It's not exactly so scale but in my honest opinion it's a better detail than the tiny deckhouse thing occre will have you build. I had fun building it, but I'm ready for a break from working on tiny brass parts!

 

To begin, I used the same steering gear pic I've posted previously and made a 2D image in Inkscape that looked like the outline of one of the chain blocks. I printed it out and used adhesive spray to affix to 0.2mm brass sheet. I wanted to cut the entire block out in one go, then fold it over to create the 3D shape.

I only made 1 block at this point, as a prototype to see if it were possible and if I had the patience for 3 more afterwards. Note the smaller diameter rod in the next pic, it's slanted a lot.

Looks good, so I documented the rest. I marked the drill holes by hand on the first one which wasn't accurate at all (but you can't tell once the chain is installed anyway) so I changed the pattern to include the holes and then cut out the remaining 3 with a jeweler's saw and bench pin. Starting out (with a 4/0 blade) I kept snagging on the down stroke and it was annoying. By the 4th one I had figured out the pressure (or rather, lack of pressure) needed to make continuous sawing motions. It was good to learn.

Holes drilled and the pieces shaped using needle files.

1.5mm brass tube was used as the bigger rod. After folding the pieces I put 1 on the end of the tube and soldered. Then cut it off the tube and soldered that end.

I used a liquid flux and a low-temp silver solder paste. It's the only paste I have and worked better than using regular solder. Here's a close up of what it looks like before I touch the iron to the rod.

My iron was set entirely too high so you can see the flux (and paste solder too I think) boiled immediately when I applied heat. I turned the iron down once I realized this. Next step is affixing the 0.7mm brass rod in the same way as the 1.5mm brass tube.

The smaller rod was filed all the way to the brass sheet, so you can't see it unless you look close. I should've left some sticking up, like the middle tube, to better match the pics. Additionally the blocks didn't have holes in the middle of them...so I should've soldered them closed or used rod, not tube.

 

Hooks were fashioned and then the end squeezed in pliers.

Blackened. I like the 'weathered' look from the splotchy blackening. If I spent more time cleaning (including sanding/filing) I'd have a more consistent result, but by this time my concentration was fried and I just wanted to be done.

Based on the size of everything I laid the plans down right next to the stern and figured out where eyebolts need to go. I didn't want it to interfere with the two seized wooden blocks that are yet to be installed.

Running the chain through the blocks should have been a dream, and it was, until I put the hooks in. I didn't bend the smashed portion 90* so it interfered with the chain running through. This made installation infuriating. In the process the outboard port block lost its hook, and with the chain already run through and attached to the block it was impossible to remove unless I wanted to risk further damaging things. It's such a small detail I just used thread to tie the block to the eyebolt. I also used thread to tie the chain to the two outboard blocks' 0.7mm brass rod. Notice the port outboard block got solder in the center tube hole. I actually like the look of that; not having holes. But again by this time I had spent many hours shaping tiny parts and just didn't want to go back through and add it then file back to shape. I think it's fine the way it is.

 

Lastly, I installed the chain running over the top of the barrel, not under like in the pics. So I woke up this morning and spent some time breaking the chain, unwrapping from the barrel, then re-installing. What an absolute nightmare. The original length was too long because it wrapped over the top so I had to remove some links to make it connect. I think if I were to really pull on the chain I could remove 1 link and get it tighter, but there's no chance I'll attempt it. It is what it is as you see in the pics.

 

Thanks for reading!

[clearway]

2 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

Does anyone have any suggestions on rigging books that will benefit this model?

harold underhill's rigging the clipper ship and deep ocean carrier covers our time period and nice work on the blocks josh

 

Keith

Edited September 19, 2023 by clearway
missed info

[theoracle09]

Hi folks, thank you for the likes and comments. Progress continues as all 3 masts have been built and stained, but they still need painted and blocks installed. That'll happen today, along with the mizzen deck railings. I started with the railings after my previous update but got seriously burnt out on soldering (punny!). So I switched gears and started tapering the masts.

The plans call for a simplified mast construction with cheeks, 2 crosstrees, ply platform, and ply mast top. I added the small fore piece based on Frank Mastini's 'Ship Modeling Simplified' and also planked the top.

I also added (book isn't in front of me...I think they're bollards?) rounded-over 2x2mm next to the lower mast for the shrouds to lay against. Since I squared off the top of the lower mast, I also planked the top of the mast cap, so the square lower mast doesn't slip through the cap. The cap is glued to the top mast, and everything else is glued to the lower mast. In this way, I can separate the two assemblies and install seized blocks before it all gets glued together. Additionally the bottom of the top mast has been squared off so as to be inserted into the mast top. Everything is snug, so I can install into the deck and check alignment without gluing the masts together, or to the deck.

 

The plan is to do as much rigging as possible off-ship, and then install the entire thing when need be.

 

As for the mizzen railings, it's a really simple task which takes time since I'm building it on the model instead of on a building board like I did the quarter deck house (formally called ritz). I thought I'd be able to bend the stanchions to achieve the required angle as on the real ship, but the wood wasn't happy about that so I had to pull each one individually and bend them 1 by 1. The port side is soldered and needs cleaned, the starboard still needs soldered. Then I'll airbrush the railings, masts, and booms all at the same time.

Lastly I've decided not to push for realism for the rigging because I'm in a bit of an odd situation when it comes to building experience, as rigging is where the experience trails off. Endurance will be my 3rd hull completed, but I haven't rigged any of them. My first project, San Francisco, was 'lost at sea' unfortunately during a move (the log is in my profile if anyone wants to see it from 10 years ago). The Newport is on the bench as a 95% completed hull when I started the masts but didn't have a lathe at the time so the dowel broke. I had to order dowel from overseas which arrived a week or two ago, so progress can continue on the Newport at some point.

 

All of that to say, I am going to use Endurance as a learning curve to the rigging so I'm not focusing on installing every little line on the square sails. As mentioned @HakeZou has blazed that trail and I'm more than happy to follow his additions for this ship, which are plenty and add a lot to the rigging plan OcCre provides. So please forgive the historical inaccuracies (if any, I haven't researched it or traced the rigging yet).

 

I have a strong suspicion Terror and Erebus are in my future and I can see from the logs there are a ton of opportunities to bash/upscale, so for future projects I'll have more experience with the rigging and would be more comfortable adding things.

Edited September 21, 2023 by theoracle09

[Quimp Slattery]

2 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

I think they're bollards?

 

Bolsters? I think I read about that a few days ago. 

 

The ship is looking really fine. Excellent work all the way.

 

2 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

I have a strong suspicion Terror [... is] in my future

 

If it's your first rigging job I wouldn't be surprised. (I'm so glad I only have one mast to deal with.)

[theoracle09]

11 hours ago, Jack-in-the-Blue said:

Bolsters? I think I read about that a few days ago.

 

That's it!

 

I've finished up the foremast. Since I squared off the planking of the mast top (the ply is curved), there's an eyebolt that gets installed at the bottom of the topmast that now won't fit. This holds the chain foresail sling, so I had to relocate it to the very top of the lower mast, just under the cap. Everything was already glued, so I drilled through from the back and was able to install an eyebolt with the chain already attached.

All blocks have beckets following the technique with a pin located here.

 

As for the mizzen railings, the entire assembly was too fragile to file the excess solder I left. There were parts of the balls that became flat, and most of the stanchions became un-soldered. The entire point of soldering it was to be able to paint it off-model without using a building board. I should've just cut a board, transferred the measurements, and built and painted it off-model like I did the deck house. Since that's the route that needs to happen, I went ahead and ordered new stanchions (I didn't have enough anyway, because I added more to the deckhouse than the plans called for.) I'll scrap the ones on the wire and eventually tear it apart and clean it up and use the pieces on other models. Not all is lost, I just have to wait a week or so to receive the new ones.

 

Once they're in I'll assemble them on the building board and paint without soldering. The paint will hold it together and will require touch up, but it'll be better than funky shaped stanchions.

[Tomculb]

Nice work Josh.  I particularly like the idea of planking the tops.  I will copy (intending it to be the best form of flattery).

 

Rigging isn't all that difficult, if you have plenty of patience.  I sometimes find myself staring at the model, or the plans, or both, for many minutes, just thinking things through.