HMB Endeavour's Longboat by RichieS - Artesania Latina - 1:50 scale - first build

[RichieS]

First build and log for me, slight delay in getting started when AT sent the full HMS Endeavour instead of the Longboat version, but all sorted quickly by AT and am now building. 

 

Managed to get all the ribs dry fitted, quite a bit of play in the parts, but some lego blocks seem to have worked in making sure everything was square. 

I dry fitted the deck after gluing the ribs to make sure alignment was OK and so far seems OK 

 

[RichieS]

Onto fitting the bow and stern filler pieces along with the false deck at either end. Waiting for the glue to cure before proceeding further 

 

[RichieS]

Deck is now fully fitted and glued into position. Fitted with minimal sanding required. 

 

First rails fitted. Hadn't lined up starboard rail correctly and it was too high. Luckily spotted it before the glue had cured so managed to fix it without any issues. 

 

Getting the rails in was a bit tricky and heard some nasty cracking sounds from one of the cut outs for the ribs. Luckily it's where it is being glued and not noticeable. 

 

[RichieS]

First couple of planks bent and glued into position. Just need to finalise the twist at the stern once the glue on other ribs has cured. 

 

[RichieS]

Planking continues. Only one real mishap so far, on my second plank I didn't quite get enough bend into it before gluing. As it was tapered, when holding for the CA glue, I heard a crack and noticed a horrible bulge right on the bow. Luckily it was on the bow and won't be visible from the inside of the ship, so have cutout the offending section and scarfed a new section in its place. Hopefully once sanded, filled, sanded some more and painted it won't be visible on the outside either. 

 

[allanyed]

Did you spile or prebend the planks via the method in Chuck Passaro's video series on You Tube?  If they are pre-shaped  you don't need to force the planks or any clamps.  Forcing the planks (edge bending) usually causes lifting and is a difficult thing to fix.  The ship's boats in the photos below were planked without the use of clamps.

Allan

Edited March 12 by allanyed

[RichieS]

Allan, yes I tried prebending all the planks prior to installing and thought I had got them quite close to what was needed, but obviously not. I don't think the thinness of the plank (approx 1.5mm wide at point it snapped) helped, combined with my inexperience. 

My plank bending has certainly improved as I've had more practice and it is starting to get more acceptable, but I think I'll brush up on chuck's bending guide again. 

Thanks for the help. 

[allanyed]

1 minute ago, RichieS said:

I don't think the thinness of the plank (approx 1.5mm wide at point it snapped) helped, combined with my inexperience. 

Hi Richie

For a first build it looks like you have taken a lot of pride in your work.   Learning how to get great planking takes practice and yours is really pretty good, especially as it appears you took care to reduce the breadth of the planks as they approach the bow.  The species of wood and thickness of the material will have an effect as well.  For ship's boats planking my go-to is holly.  From W.E. Mays book on ship's boats,  the bottom planking was typically about 1.125" thick on longboats. (0.6mm at 1:48)   I tend to go a tad heavier so I have some material for sanding the planked hull.   

Allan

[RichieS]

Allan, 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm not sure what type of wood Artesania supplied, but is all quite good consistency and 1.5mm x 5mm. 

I deliberately picked this kit as I thought it would give me a good introduction to most elements of ship building (not too much rigging was a bonus) and once I have some experience I'll be able to pick ships that I may be able to make with some degree of competence. 

[allanyed]

16 hours ago, RichieS said:

I deliberately picked this kit as I thought it would give me a good introduction to most elements of ship building

To learn really good and useful techniques that will carry over to future builds you may want to consider one or more of the three kit beginner series designed by David Antscherl.  https://modelexpo-online.com/Model-Shipways-Shipwright-3-Kit-Combo-Series_p_5465.html    I wish this kind of quality and expertise were available when I started building.

Allan

[RichieS]

Allan, 

Thanks for the tip on possible future project. I looked at that kit the first time around, but sometimes isn't easy getting things imported to Ireland from the US. There are a few UK stores that carry them as well, but Brexit has hit that supply route as well. 

I'll see if I can source from Europe somewhere as it would be a very good kit to build up my experience before tackling into something more complex. 

Richie

[RichieS]

Planking completed. Plenty of errors, particularly for the first few planks. Towards the end I started to get the hang of it and got the shaping of the planks a lot better. 

Hull sanded, filled and sanded again. Think it needs a bit more sanding with some higher grit paper to get it smooth enough for paint. 

 

Edited January 21 by RichieS

[RichieS]

First coat of paint put down after taping the boundary between the white and blue. 

Don't like the colour, so am going to put a couple more coats on once it's dried with a little bit of black to darken it to more of a navy blue. 

[RichieS]

Colour change is underway. I couldn't get the AL supplied paints to mix into a navy blue I was happy with despite looking up cmyk proportions. Decided to go red in the end. This is after 2 coats. A couple more and I'll be happy. 

[RichieS]

Painting the hull is now complete. Getting the rails attached at a consistent offset was a challenge so ended up cutting some scraps of wood to the correct length and clamped those into position as a guide for the rail. 

My plank bending must be improving as managed to get the rails to fix with CA and no clamps for the first time. 

 

 

[RichieS]

Deck planking is well underway now. Main deck complete. Got a new proxxon pen sander during the week and this made chamfering the deck planks a lot easier. 

Have also ordered my next project, the Amati Fife. It will be hard to complete this project knowing that one is waiting in the shipyard 

 

[allanyed]

Just as a helpful hint for the future, with the exception of a drop strake, all strakes seat into the rabbet at the bow.  They are usually tapered and never come to a point.  If there is to be a drop plank it is snubbed on the end rather being pointed. (see below)  Of course, if the hull is painted or coppered, this is not so noticeable.  It is a shame that some, NOT all, kit makers completely fail in this area.

Allan

 

[RichieS]

Thanks for the advice Allan. I'll be doing my next project in line with the advice on this forum. For my first build I decided to follow the instructions that came with the kit. I can see now that I would have got better results in following the advice here. 

 

Thanks

 

Richard 

[RichieS]

Thanks all for the likes and comments, it's greatly appreciated 

[RichieS]

Deck planking is now complete and it's had one coat of WOP. 

Pretty pleased with how it's coming together.  Certainly a steep learning curve to date. 

[RichieS]

Some of the mast supports now added. Have checked the mast fitting multiple times and it seems like everything lines up. 

 

I have noticed that I have a slight twist to the keel near the stern when fitting a few of the trim pieces. Thought I was careful when installing the keel and frames, but must take better care the next time. 

 

On to some of the deck fittings now before the masts and rigging start in ernest. 

[allanyed]

Extremely neat work!!!

I realize this was probably supplied with the kit, but how do the oars work on the single tholes rather than between a pair?  On the contemporary sources regarding British ship's boats that I have seen, when tholes were shown they have only been as pairs of tholes and all were made of wood.  I really am curious how these single pins would be used as they really do look nice.

Allan

[RichieS]

Allan, 

 

Many thanks for nice comments. 

I can only assume that the single thole pin worked similar to the picture below.  I have noticed some of the earlier builds of this kit (2014) have double pins though, so not how historically accurate this one is. 

 

Richard 

 

 

 

[allanyed]

Not sure about historical accuracy but the system looks like it would work.

Thanks again for sharing.

Allan

[RichieS]

I have finally managed to get back to building my Longboat after spending the last week building my hobby zone building slip for the Amati Fifie which is waiting in the shipyard. 

 

Now that I'm back to building the Longboat I have managed to complete the rudder assembly. A little bit of paint required to finish it. I have started drilling out the holes for eyelets in preparation for the rigging. The 0.5mm holes went OK, but I haven't tried installing the eyelets yet 😁

[RichieS]

I have progressed getting the masts installed 

 

Rigging has started. Enjoying it so far, but I haven't got to the tricky parts or the repetition yet

[RichieS]

After a bit of a delay I'm finally getting started on the rigging and sails. I forgot how much I dislike threading needles. Even with magnification it takes me ages, so progress will be slow. 

 

[jpalmer1970]

Great work for your first wooden kit Richie. It seems AL have revamped this kit which is good - and hopefully the instructions have been greatly enhanced from the old version. A single layer planked open boat is a challenge for any new builder as you can't hide any planking mistakes under a second layer! Well done with you work so far.

[RichieS]

Thanks for the kind words and likes jpalmer1970. It certainly seems from the various build logs and the photos of your endeavour build (which looks brilliant by the way) that AT have updated their model kit. 

 

[allanyed]

On 3/11/2024 at 2:58 PM, RichieS said:

I dislike threading needles. Even with magnification it takes me ages, so progress will be slow. 

Another great reason to forgo cloth sails as there is no cloth or sewing technique that is to scale if smaller than about 1:12 .   Silkspan seems to be gaining a bigger following, and with very good reason.   

Edited March 15 by allanyed