HMS Endurance by GiddyGibberish - OcCre - 1:70

[Giddy Gibberish]

Welcome to (yet another?) Endurance build log!

I'm very excited to be starting this build.  It's actually somewhat serendipitous that I have picked the Endurance.  I started ship modeling with a very long term goal of scratch building a close-as-I-can-manage replica of a ship captained by one of my ancestors, a barq called the Florence Treat.  Based on my research into model ship building and my modeling experience so far, I figure I'm 5 years from being able to start such an ambitious project.  I need more knowledge and skillz!  I started digging deep into other ship kits to build up my skills and wasn't finding much to inspire me.  I mean, of course I want to build the $1500 HMS Victory, but not just yet, right?

 

Then one day I was reading the daily page at Wikipedia (yeah, I'm that kind of nerd) and they had an article about Shackleton.   Well... down the rabbit hole I went!  I've since become super passionate about "the boss" and polar exploration in general.  Fram!  Terror!  Erebus!  Terra Nova!  I've found my niche!

So, this will be my second model ship and my first "official" build log.  Although I've completed one build (OcCre Polaris) and even started a log for it, my building was so far ahead of my posting I gave up and just closed it.  Rather embarrasing, really, so I hope to make up for it by doing a better job with this one.  I hope being diligent about this log will help me slow down and avoid mistakes.

I have to start by giving a big thanks to @Tomculb for his great Endurance build log.  I'm mimicking his format and official build updates like this will be in bold font.  I hope that is ok.

 

I found Tom's log when I was researching deck planks on the Endurance.  I was looking at Hurley photos while my kit was in the cart and I felt like the deck planks in the kit were too wide and too bright compared to B&W photos.  I had download the plans and watched the videos so I noticed Polaris used the same 5mm deck planks but at 1:50 scale.  I wasn't sure if it made sense use the same size planks for a 1:70 scale model.  Anyway, Tom's post about his planks showed up in my Google searching.  That was the starting point of my inspiration to try and take this kit up a notch and attempt to make it more accurate, something I had assumed was beyond my skill level.  I read every post and I highly recommend his log to anyone considering building this model.

 

Then, like the first leaf in an Ancestry.com family tree, Tom's log led me to many others and I've learned so many great details about this ship.  Each of those logs were like additional leaves that led to more and more information.  My build will draw inspiration from builds by @B-Ram, @HakeZou, @clearway, @theoracle09 and others.  I'm also very greatful to @Snug Harbor Johnny for all of the insight he provided in those other logs.  Truth be told, I feel very fortunate to be coming so late to the party of Endurance builders and being able to benefit from all of this prior information and experimentation.

 

I also hope to incorporate some unique modifications of my own.  As a beginner I was reluctant to keep a build log anyway.  Everyone here seems to have such great skill and knowledge, I felt I had nothing to contribute and it feels presumptuous to include myself among such history buffs and craftsman.  I was especially worried about keeping one for the Endurance... so many seem to start their Endurance log off with something like "Sorry for starting yet another Endurance build log"... I was wondering if I'd be violating forum policy if I started "and yet another", lol.  Anyway, having gotten over that feeling, I hope this will end up a useful contribution to the rich library of Endurance builds on this site.

 

By the way, I'm going to try and use the correct nautical terms which might make me sound smarter than I really am... please correct my mistakes!

On to the build!  I'll skip all the preliminaries and get right to my first changes which will be very familiar if you've followed any of those other builds. 

My first "cheat code" was in the stern keel area.  Not sure if there is a unpronounceable nautical term for that area (looking at you "gunwale" and "forecastle").  Tomculb pointed out the halfmoon cavity for the prop was wrong and Clearway pointed out there is an angle at the top.  Consulting the drawings on the Shackleton estate website, I cut out the half-moon and tried to mimic the angle from the drawings as best I could.  I estimated it to be between 20 and 30 degrees.  I played with the angle on the false keel to eliminate all the curve from the "moon".

I also noted that there is a slight tilt aft in the vertical part (which is why my estimate above is so broad).  I decided to not replicate that angle and cut it off straight.  I was worried it would cause alignment issues later with the rudder, etc.




Next up was adding the windlass chamber, WC, and lamp room under the fo'c'sle deck.  The OcCre model does not incorporate these areas and I'll be honest... this was a scary thing to do at the very beginning for a newb!  I was very worried about a fatal error that might require replacing a piece so I tried to be especially diligent.  From the drawings, I estimated the width of the opening to be 36mm at scale.  I drew a centerline on the bulkhead and measured out 18mm to each side and cut out the part of the false keel where the windlass will go.

 

As others have done, I also enlarged the portholes.  However, I chose to go with 3/16" instead of 1/4".  If I did the calculation correctly (ok, I'm lying... if Chat GPT did the calculation correctly), 1/4" would be a ~17.5" porthole which seems large for an arctic exploration ship from 1914.  Also when compared to the pictures of the portholes.  3/16" is 13" which seems closer to scale.  Having said that, I plan to add interior lighting (oops, spoiler alert!) so larger portholes would be nice, but I couldn't convince myself to go bigger at this time. 

 

I will be ordering (or 3d printing) porthole covers but they will be inset into the cavity from behind.  This may also require enlarging or beveling the inward part of the opening.  I'm going off photos like these (sorry but I could not find who originally shared these).  In the second photo, an adult male head is 9-10" tall from chin to top of skull.  I'm not sure who that is, but if they tried to stick their head out the porthole face first it looks like a they'd only have 1-2" clearance.

 

That's all for my first post.  I think my next update will be building out the WC and lamp room walls/floors.  If my deck timber arrives I may also include some information about that.  Thanks for checking in!

 

~Giddy~

Fair winds and following seas.

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Giddy Gibberish

[ccoyle]

7 hours ago, Giddy Gibberish said:

like the first leaf in an Ancestry.com family tree

 

Ha! I know all about that leaf!

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  There are minor adjustments to a couple OcCre bulkheads (noted in my kit review) to make the hull lines closer to those available for the ship - slightly reducing the 'flare' at the bow.  The book 'Endurance' is highly recommended - an amazing true story.  When it comes to classic ships in the age of Polar exploration, don't forget the Aurora - used by Shackleton in a prior expedition, and it was the 'other' ship in his last adventure - stationed on the opposite side of the Southern continent to pre-position supplies.  The Aurora had its own tale of a narrow escape - but was ultimately ill-fated (perhaps from the accumulated stresses).

[Giddy Gibberish]

Wow!  I was just reading that review this morning.  I was trying to decide if I was brave enough to attempt that.  I haven’t glued any forward bulkheads yet.  

 

I was trying to find a post you had made about replacing the blocks and sails but I think it was on someone's build log.

[clearway]

welcome to the Endurance club (really should kick start my build again)!- don't worry about making alterations, just go steady and think it through and you will be fine, and if worried about "another endurance log" just check the amount of Constitution and Victory logs on here 😉,

 

Keith