Endurance by theoracle09 - OcCre - 1:70

[clearway]

it certainly does explain the steam pipe you are talking about- if you google steam anchor windlass you will get plenty of pics - normally a couple of horizontal cylinders aft of the drum with a couple of con rods leading to a gear shaft driving a large central gear wheel-  to be honest though the windlass is so far under the anchor deck (forward of the WC and lamp store) it most likely wont be missed by anyone looking at the finished kit.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

8 minutes ago, clearway said:

it certainly does explain the steam pipe you are talking about- if you google steam anchor windlass you will get plenty of pics - normally a couple of horizontal cylinders aft of the drum with a couple of con rods leading to a gear shaft driving a large central gear wheel-  to be honest though the windlass is so far under the anchor deck (forward of the WC and lamp store) it most likely wont be missed by anyone looking at the finished kit.

 

Keith

 

Thanks Keith. I think you've convinced me not to mess with it. The bulkhead is painted black so having the anchor chains coming through the bulkhead and down through the quarterdeck should hold about the same angle on the chains coming off of a windlass that wouldn't be seen. I'm planning on blackening the chain (if I can), or more likely will be buying black chain to replace the brass.

[clearway]

I blackened my studlink brass chain for my terror build using "birchwood casey brass black" but it took a few goes - if you look at the pic Jorez added on bottom of page three you can see the conrods leading to the drive shaft from the cylinders.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

Interesting...so it worked? I have the same stuff. I attempted to use it on the stanchions for the chest ironwork and it worked really well on the top and bottom surfaces because I sanded them. The edges though still had whatever coating is on them and didn't take the black at all. I assumed the chain is coated in the same thing so wasn't sure I should even try it. I'll give it a shot though before I buy new chain.

[Jorez de Saint Nazaire]

I blackened the chain but it possible to buy black one. It is what I did for the command of the steering

[theoracle09]

Hi folks, today was a saga and a half, but I'm happy to report the starboard side has been completely planked. Yay! I couldn't continue on the remaining bands until the upper bow was complete and I had the anchor hawse holes drilled. I was worried about that spot, and I was right to be worried. I broke a bunch of shaped planks trying to make the bend and finally lost my marbles and had had enough. It's getting second planked, so I just started throwing glue and wood at it until I got it sealed up.

 

I added a ton of wood glue/sawdust and let it dry most of the day for good measure. Next up was installing both garboard planks. This was relatively event free, although I think I should've added a stealer to it as opposed to the plank below it. Either way, things went smooth.

After the bow dried for a while I started sanding. It went by quicker than I thought, and the result is smooth and convincing. I'll inspect it more tomorrow, but I think the shape is 95% there. I used some galvanized picture frame wire with a hook in one end to grab the thread and pull through the anchor holes. And before anyone asks: yeap, one of the planks popped up when the hole was drilled. I glued it back down no problem, but could've been avoided by gluing the sides of the planks in that area.

I threw the measurements to the wind more or less at this point and my final plank was a ridiculous 1mm wide in some spots, but I got it sealed up and covered all the gaps with my wood glue/saw dust mixture. It'll dry overnight and get sanded down tomorrow.

The stern ended up requiring 3 full stealers and 1 drop plank.

While finishing up the stern I grabbed the rudder support piece and tested out the 2-bladed prop I have. It only needs 1.5mm of movement forward to fit, so I'll be doing that once the port side is finished. It won't change the shape of the hull too much.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Jorez de Saint Nazaire]

Hi Josh,

 

I remembered that the last planking (fore part) was difficult with always "clinker effect"

Do you  soaked the planking ? I used also a electric  plank bending (from AMATI). it is magic

 

Before to start the second planking I suggest to fit the keel.

 

Very nice stealer !

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   Its great to see the thought and detail you are given to the area under the forecastle deck.  The photo Jorez posted may indeed be the starboard side of a 'typical' windlass of the time, which would look the same on the other end of it.  Since the area we're talking about is mostly inclosed, I'd say that any suitably sized windlass (either form another ship model or perhaps can be found found under accessories sold somewhere) would suffice.

 

  BTW, I like the look of brass on a model - whether 'correct' or not.  And brass will slowly get a brown patina over the years (might take 3 or 4 decades for the full effect), but I'd like to think that someone might be keeping the model long after I'm gone.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Tomculb]

Here's what I'm planning to do for a windlass. The photo is what I did with BlueJacket's Spray kit.  The windlass drums were supplied with the kit, and can be ordered separately from BJ and probably others.  The center part is just a piece of wood I shaped.  For Endurance I'll paint it all black.  Not much detail, but good enough (for me, anyway), since it won't be very visible under the anchor deck.  But at least there will be something there looking a little like a windlass.  

[theoracle09]

9 hours ago, Jorez de Saint Nazaire said:

I remembered that the last planking (fore part) was difficult with always "clinker effect"

Do you  soaked the planking ? I used also a electric  plank bending (from AMATI). it is magic

 

Before to start the second planking I suggest to fit the keel

The clinker effect can be minimized greatly with edge bending per Chuck's instructions. I'm not sure what type of wood the planks are, but it seems quite brittle. I had issues bending the planks normally for the anchor deck "bulwarks" and had to use mahogany oddly enough. I soaked a few pieces for a while and tried that but the shaped pieces broke most of the time. What ended up working was finding Chuck's videos where he used a few drops of water and a hair dryer. However, even with that, edge bending didn't really work for the upper bow.

 

3 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

Its great to see the thought and detail you are given to the area under the forecastle deck.

I actually take no credit for this detail; Tom detailed it wonderfully in his journal and I'm just copying!

 

2 hours ago, Tomculb said:

Here's what I'm planning to do for a windlass.

Thanks Tom. That would be easy enough to recreate. Once the second planking is done I'll explore it more and see if having something under the deck makes sense.

[Jorez de Saint Nazaire]

15 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

Chuck's instructions

Hi Josh,

 

Could you give me the link to these instructions.

 

Thank you in advance

[theoracle09]

39 minutes ago, Jorez de Saint Nazaire said:

Could you give me the link to these instructions.

 

Bonjour François, here's the thread with the videos. There are 4 total. He uses a travel iron in the videos but on post #33 mentions the hair dryer.

 

I ended up making a small jig with pegs I can move around to be able to edge bend. The pegs are too small and leave imprints in the piece being bent, but serve as a base for creating shapes that can slot into the pegs.

 

[theoracle09]

I'm happy to report the port side has now been sealed. The starboard side has been sanded to 240 and I'm now waiting on the wood goop to dry on the port side to get everything smooth.

 

I installed 2 stealers and when it came to the third, I decided I'd had enough practice and just sealed it up. Thus, requiring more goop. It'll all smooth out and get covered just the same.

 

I'm also waiting on the stern to dry as well. Everyone is right to say it's easy to get them glued in backwards. I mentioned it a few posts ago, and I still managed to get them wrong the first time. Luckily I used wood glue for it so they came up easily enough.

 

I was taking a look at the 2-bladed prop I bought for this model and realized it doesn't look like the prop she originally had. I don't know why it took me this long to see that, but here we are. I'll be buying a 25mm brass one if I can find it, otherwise it'll get modeled and 3D printed.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Edited September 4, 2023 by theoracle09

[theoracle09]

Hi everyone! This will be my first time applying the second layer on a model, so I made an assumption that I didn't need to taper, or have any kind of plan. I was definitely mistaken, and the counter stern shows. If I were leaving this natural wood I would've ripped the planks off and started over. However, since it's being painted, things will get the wood goop as filler and then sanded. I'll also be priming and sanding the primer quite a bit to get a nice base layer for the black.

 

The port side is done, now to start on the starboard side.

 

I am planning on displaying the starboard side, so the port was done first as practice. I'll create bands and tapers for the starboard, so maybe it'll go a little better. The planks were quite frustrating in some areas, but I'm confident with filler, sanding, and priming I'll be able to achieve a nice smooth surface for paint.

 

Thanks for coming in!

[clearway]

22 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

The planks were quite frustrating in some areas

coming along now- the supplied 2nd planking in occre kits is splintery overscale nightmare stuff! That is why i replace it with walnut strip- but i do like to go for a varnished finish if going through the hassle of adding a 2nd layer on occre kits.

 

Keith

[theoracle09]

7 hours ago, clearway said:

the supplied 2nd planking in occre kits is splintery overscale nightmare stuff!

 

This is very true for this kit, and I'm wondering if going through the trouble of applying it was worth it compared to just filling and smoothing the stern filler blocks. It could also be my inexperience with second layers, who knows. Either way, both sides are complete and have had a few sessions of filling and sanding. The dreaded camera really shows the shadows, but to my eyes and hands I'd say we should be ready for priming tomorrow. I still need to finish up a couple of strips towards the bow, and complete the officer's cabin's portholes.

 

A fresh layer of filler has been laid down, hence the bubbliness.

 

I stopped trying to keep glue out of the rudder hole and focused more on getting transitions smoothed out. I'll probably drill out where it needs to go and round off the bit that goes in there.

 

It looks like I didn't finish rounding out the starboard anchor hawse. The port side of the bow really seems smooth to me, but the pic says otherwise. When I go to sand off the filler that's currently on it I'll pay some attention to that area. I think I've applied filler and sanded 3 times now and am pretty happy with the result. Primer will show more imperfections, so I can decide to keep filling/sanding or commit since the hull will be a matte black.

 

Oh yeah, the string acting as fish line for the anchor chains to go under the anchor deck became more of a chore keeping out of the way of me sanding. I ended up removing them. I have an idea using picture wire to get the anchor chains through, but at the end of the day no one would ever see or know if they ran continuously through the bulkheads or not anyway.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by theoracle09

[HakeZou]

Hi Josh, I'm late to the party, but wanted to chime in to say how great your Endurance is looking so far! It's been so long since I worked on the hull of mine that I don't remember it well, I just have vague memories of frustration working on the various curves around the bow and stern!

 

To chime in quickly on two things: First, I read somewhere that the pipes were part of a heating system for the cabins (apologies that I can't offer a source right now!). I'm sure they had other purposes to—delivering water to the galley and/or steam to machinery. Second, at least some of the photos that you are describing as the belowdecks Ritz are from the forecastle, labeled "Crew Space" on some copies of the plans. This photo, taken while still in London, shows the kinds of support columns and tables visible in some of the other belowdeck photos. (Some of the belowdeck photos are also definitely not in the forecastle, too.) 

 

If you haven't found it already, you may also find it helpful to take a look at the copy of the plans that the Shackleton family has posted on their website. The floorplan of the main deck clearly shows the winch that sits below the anchor deck (a detail I didn't think about at all when I was building my Endurance). 

 

I'm looking forward to following along as the build continues!

 

Hake

 

[Jorez de Saint Nazaire]

Hi Josh,

 

it is up to you but take care if you mastic too much it will be visible. even painted in black details of the hull (example the graiin of the wood) is visible at the end.

 

Courage ; "Fortitudine vincimus"

 

 

[theoracle09]

Thanks for the comments and likes! A big milestone complete, the hull is painted! I decided not to spend a ton of time priming and sanding, because I'm after the look of a well worked vessel. I also don't mind the grain showing through and quite like the effect I ended up producing. It took a few days of filling and sanding the second layer to cover a few wider gaps but overall I'm incredibly happy at the look and feel.

 

This has 2 coats of Vellejo Grey Primer sanded to 1000g.

 

(Out of order but that's okay) I sprayed white last on the cabin porthole areas and this inner bow bulwarks area.

 

Up close like this the mistakes at the bow are glaring. I find I need to spend more time fairing the first layer of planks to get a smoother result. Both port and starboard at the bow are heavily helped by filler.

 

The stern also fell apart more-or-less with the second layer. I was really happy with the first layer, and only decided to use the second because of the stern filler blocks. If I were to do it again I'd attempt to smooth the transition and paint on the first layer.

 

I've said the last few days I want the starboard side as the display side. My second layer planking performance has dictated the port side is now the display side. Funny how that works, right? In reality I haven't fully decided but based on the previous pics you can tell the starboard side leaves a LOT to be desired.

 

And we're caught up. Next steps are the trim which will be stained red mahogany before getting glued on. Then it's rub rails and hull decorations.

 

The hull has been sprayed with two coats of matte finish, which should dull further overnight. It looks really shiny in the pics right now.

 

I couldn't help placing the structures I've already built and taking a few pics. Nothing is glued down of course!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Edited September 10, 2023 by theoracle09

[theoracle09]

Hi folks, thanks for the likes and reading along with me. I wanted to go ahead and attach the rudder, so I took inspiration from Clearway's Endurance here and used a coping saw and a bench pin to cut the channels.

 

I only have brass sheet in different thicknesses, so I attempted to cut 3mm strips from it which didn't work. I then grabbed some 6mm copper tape and cut it in half lengthwise to have an adhesive 3mm strip. Much much easier to work with, but it's not as thick as brass. These strips could be doubled up I suppose, but I didn't want to attempt it as it's finicky enough as it is.

 

Holes were poked with a dental pick to simulate some sort of rivet. Then I added strips to the rudder post.

 

Both were painted by hand and then the rudder glued on.

 

If you look closely you'll see a gap big enough to give away the fact there aren't any rods or anything between the rudder and the post. This is just a suggestion of iron work on the rudder. I didn't end up drilling a hole into the hull for the rudder, I just cut it down and shaped the end to sit flush with the outside of the hull. No one will see it anyway.

 

Next up was staining the cap rails/lining and install once dry.

 

A bit of a sneak-peak but the bowsprit has been shaped and installed. I never once thought of what the bowsprit hole in the hull would look like after planking so imagine my surprise when I went to insert it. Round peg, square hole. It took shaping 3 sides of the aft end of the bowsprit to get it seated correctly. No need to take a pic of that monstrosity...it's in the hull anyway :-). Tapering was done on the lathe, and shaping to fit in the hole with a big file.

 

Next up are the crazy-curved rails on the counter stern. I soaked the two pieces for around 5 minutes then slowly bent them around a Blaster can. To hold in place overnight I grabbed some velcro plant ties. I really hope this works, I don't have the best of luck when it comes to bending pieces to this extreme.

 

Finally, I was perusing some reference photos and came across a star I haven't seen before.

 

Also seen in drydock in London:

 

So I decided to add it.

 

I like the idea of easter eggs amongst the model, so we'll count the star as one of them. I'm planning on a Mrs. Chippy placed somewhere as well, and whatever else gets thought up.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Tomculb]

Nice work Josh.  You are now unquestionably well ahead of me, and now I have the privilege of following you.  I like the idea of at least a hint of planking showing through the paint. After all, ships of that era and the centuries before weren’t made of steel, and certainly weren’t made of fiberglass.  But on my model, where I’ve decided not to add a layer of veneer over the first layer of planks, I don’t want it to be obvious that the bulwarks are plywood and not planked.  So my challenge is to have the hull end up pretty darned smooth, but not so smooth as to make it look like fiberglass.  Filling and sanding the stern hasn't been as difficult as I anticipated, but of course I won't know for sure how effective I've been until it's painted. Finishing up the filling and sanding of the rest of the hull is what I’m working on now. I expect (hope) to get my first coat of paint on within the next couple of weeks.

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

7 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

If you look closely you'll see a gap big enough to give away the fact there aren't any rods or anything between the rudder and the post. This is just a suggestion of iron work on the rudder. I didn't end up drilling a hole into the hull for the rudder, I just cut it down and shaped the end to sit flush with the outside of the hull. No one will see it anyway

 

What a sensible idea! 

[theoracle09]

11 hours ago, Tomculb said:

Nice work Josh.  You are now unquestionably well ahead of me, and now I have the privilege of following you.  I like the idea of at least a hint of planking showing through the paint. After all, ships of that era and the centuries before weren’t made of steel, and certainly weren’t made of fiberglass.  But on my model, where I’ve decided not to add a layer of veneer over the first layer of planks, I don’t want it to be obvious that the bulwarks are plywood and not planked.  So my challenge is to have the hull end up pretty darned smooth, but not so smooth as to make it look like fiberglass.  Filling and sanding the stern hasn't been as difficult as I anticipated, but of course I won't know for sure how effective I've been until it's painted. Finishing up the filling and sanding of the rest of the hull is what I’m working on now. I expect (hope) to get my first coat of paint on within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Tom, that's nice of you to say. Even with the planks out-of-scale the grain showing through is still pleasing to look at, so there's that. I think the filler you're using is going to achieve a better result because the wood glue/sawdust I concocted shrank more than I originally thought, especially in bigger/deeper cracks. So when I thought it was the "last time" I needed to apply filler, I'd come back to it when it's dry and find that it in fact needed more.

 

With the ply bulwarks, I'm wondering if there were a way you could scribe some relief into the wood? Since the piece isn't flat anymore it'll be harder to get straight lines than if it were on the bench. But similar to the effect I used for the quarterdeck deck house in this post here.

 

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

 

What a sensible idea! 

Thanks Jack, and thanks for stopping in! I definitely don't mind cutting corners a little bit if it'll save me time and the result is hidden anyway.

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

4 minutes ago, theoracle09 said:

I definitely don't mind cutting corners a little bit if it'll save me time and the result is hidden anyway.

I just did my rudder in exactly the same way, and I think it looks fabulous. Mine isn’t quite as good as yours because the cut outs are the wrong shape but I can live with that.

[theoracle09]

A major milestone has been complete today: the hull is 100% complete! I think, anyway. All steps up to sheet M have been complete and as far as I can tell from here on out we're on deck superstructures and fittings. Well, I still need to add deadeye channels and there's the odd step M10 that should've been installed prior to the white 2x2 strips. I glued those strips in and then remembered HakeZou brought up the fact it'd be better to install them prior to those strips. He would be correct, and as I'm typing this I'm hoping I won't need to adjust the 1x4 on step M10.

 

The curved pieces from my previous update were the perfect shape for the stern. Just a touch of adjustment, which they kept very well, and I could glue them to the counter stern with CA. A note here, I was thinking I should bevel the strips prior to soaking and bending, but I didn't do that. Because I didn't bevel them I had the tiniest corner of the 2x2mm strip to glue to the hull. There are gaps if you look super precisely. I would suggest to future builders to bevel them, soak, then bend. I had no idea how to clamp them, so I just held it until it was firm enough to let go.

 

The nameplate and the star were painted and installed using CA. Everything was glued with CA, and you'll see as the glue dried I got white spots from the glue. I went back and painted over it, which covered perfectly. For the record I tried using wood glue for the curved pieces first but my lack of clamping ideas led to a lack of pressure, which made the pieces really easy to pop off. CA it was.

 

The bow PE was painted and sanded per instructions.

 

A note about the anchor hawse holes, I'm definitely happy with their placement considering they were drilled mid-planking. They may be a few millimeters off, but that's okay. If I didn't worry about running the chains through the hull and under the anchor deck, I would have drilled them at this point right after installing the PE. Either way, they're in good spots according to me, so it worked out.

 

 

In the pic above you'll see what I mean about CA glue leaving a residue as it dries. It's not where the glue was applied, but it creeps around the area for whatever reason. Once it's completely dry though, paint covers it nicely.

 

The final task was installing and painting the brass anchor hawse hole bits and a lot of black paint. Here's where we are currently.

 

Don't mind the clamp, I'm currently fighting a losing battle with the starboard trim piece there. This will be the 3rd time I'm gluing that specific end down. I clamp it for a time, take the clamp off, leave, and when I come back it's lifted a few millimeters. It's been a few days of this now. Super good stuff.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

4 hours ago, theoracle09 said:

CA glue leaving a residue as it dries. It's not where the glue was applied, but it creeps around the area for whatever reason

I think that might be staining caused by the aggressive vapour emissions from the CA. I’ve seen similar marks form on plastic surfaces a little distance away from the actual glue. Perhaps better ventilation, forced draught of some kind, is what we need?

 

The painted planking looks exactly right to me. It’s just like the real thing, as seen on ships like SS Great Britain in Bristol. Outstanding work!

[clearway]

I have had this when using CA on my rolling stock and armour kits- i now leave any areas glued with CA facing upwards if possible to allow the vapour to evaporate off (doesn't always work though but leaves less mess)!

 

Keith

[HakeZou]

Looking good, Josh! Beveling those trim pieces at the stern is definitely a good idea. I found them to be a real challenge, too!

[theoracle09]

Thank you for the likes and comments everyone. I have a big picture update, so I'll get right to it. I did end up forgetting a step a few pages ago, so I cut and installed the two angled pieces at the bow.

Next up I used some needle files to clean up the bollards. The filed versions are on the right. They received paint and were left to dry.

In the meantime I wanted to begin addressing the gangways from the bridge to the mizzen deck. Here's the reference pic I'm modeling from.

I started with the same 1x3 I used for the deck, with sharpie to simulate caulking. Because I already installed the stanchions, I could only fit 3 planks between. I thought the 1x3 was just a bit too thin, so I added some 0.6 veneer for thickness.

After painting the white borders, they're complete. I'll need to drill them and install stanchions at some point as well.

 

I started shaping the anchor davits next, which were then drilled and stained. The plans would have them touching at the aft end and not tapered, which isn't correct. They taper down to just above the deck, and I believe are rounded on the ends as well, so I did my best to depict that.

As the stain dried I kept staring at the gangway widths. They're definitely not wide enough, which is what I was afraid of. No matter, I built two more using 4 planks this time instead of 3. I also removed the railing section (luckily those three didn't receive CA glue) and drilled two more holes, closer to the middle stanchion. So the gap can then accommodate a 4-plank gangway. Here's a comparison of the two:

 

You can just barely see the previous stanchion hole under the 3-plank gangway. The 4-plank gangways cover them up. The paint glued the brass wire to the stanchions pretty well, so I had to aggressively(-ish) slide the stanchions on the wires to get them to fit in the new holes. Touch up paint was definitely needed.

 

And finally the quarter deck skylights were completed. The only things glued down now in the following pics are the bollards, bow pin rack, and mast bases. Oh, speaking of the mast bases, they were very undersized to the masts. It took a while with a round file because I was worried they'd break if I filed too hard. They all fit like a glove now though.

 

The kennels, chests, funnel, companionway, deck house, gangways, skylights, and anchor davits are not glued in. They won't be for quite a while, at least until the hull channels are installed, perhaps including the chains as well, we'll see. I just have things placed to remind myself of what I still have remaining!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

That’s a lot of clean and tidy work accomplished. Good going.