- Joined
- May 10, 2026
- Messages
- 10
- Points
- 28
Ok, here now is where I am after about 45 hours into my first build, the Endurance kit from OCCRE. I have to say, despite the complexities and issues inherent in the kit, which I'm working hard to overcome, I do think it was a good choice for me. As someone at a local hobby shop said to me, "you'll find some of the model building skills are transferable, and some are not!"
1. I did decide to plank the deck first so I could make sure the ribs would line up perfectly on the hull instead of gluing in the ribs and then added the false deck and decking. If it's glued and alignment is off then it would be a nightmare, avoided that potential mess.
2. I opted to use my Chopper to cut 60mm planks and attempt 3 butt planking rather than draw in the lines as the kit wanted...looks better and I learned more...but the width over the course of the run of a single strip varied wildly...so much so that I thought I had taken the wrong strips out of the box. The result was a bit of sanding as to not have side to side gaps between, planks. I then hand rubbed som Sapelli dye that was in the kit to darken the planking slightly rather than have a very light wood color. I probably should have bought 3mm wide planks as replacements instead of using the 5mm?
3. Getting the bulwarks in and formed to shape was far easier than I expected. I do wish I had sprayed rather than brushed the white paint, would have looked better. I do spray all my N scale model kits as at that scale brushing looks awful.
4. Hull planking, ugh, as you'd expect this is where I still have the biggest hurdles to overcome. Again the wood supplied could have been better. It just didn't like being bent, or soaked and bent, even in a small jig that I have. The wood tended to crack, not with the grain, but across as it was being formed around around a rib, it just didn't like it. I have a hot bending tool coming today in the mail that I will use to finish the bow in particular. I had to rip out the three planks on either side on the bow under the foredeck. I've cleaned it up and will work on applying the planking there over the weekend as well as finish forming a few other pieces.
5. I did work on cutting and inserting the stealers which was not as bad as I might have expected. I did work on sanding the other 90% of the hull and have to say I'm pretty pleased with it. Once I finish the bow I'll sand that, apply wood filler where needed, and sand that to shape before the final/second planking.
6. Plank nails...probably never again. The soft brass ones supplied are just too soft, driving them with a pusher tool was wrong, just plain wrong. The nail would hit a hard pocket of glue I think in the plywood ribbing and either bend over or wander/drift. Just a mess. I shifted over to using a small drill bit, I mean tiny, in a pin vise to carefully pre dill a hole by hand, about just 50-75% of the way in so that when I pushed it in the rest of the way it had some bite at the end inside. And I switched over to a harder small N scale track nail...much much better. Sanding tho with all those nails was challenge. I had to sit there with a hammer and small punch and carefully drive them deeper. Someone at the Constitution Guild even recommended taking them out altogether now that the glue has dried. My concern would be doing yet more damage to the wood now that they are driven deeper. So I'll leave them on this build and do the next build completely without nails...if it makes sense. The sanding has revealed that the form is really pretty good, I do like the lines, almost generally better than I had expected.
7. While waiting for the hot wood bend tool to come this week I decided to work on a few of the above deck structures as you'll see in some of the pics, ie the central companionway etc. They are not affixed yet however will do that at the appropriate time later.
8.Replacement parts and quality and historical accuracy: I've ordered replacement rigging, brass belays, turned brass stanchions, and I'm even going to use Evergreen Styrene piping to replace the ridiculous wood dowel for the engine exhaust. I'm hoping to figure out how to build the life boats with a better looking style of overlapping planking as the originals are built that way. I'm looking for the correct 25mm 2 blade brass or metal prop. I have high quality .020 wire to use for the handrails with the stanchions as the rope looks silly. I'll even scratch build the on board dog kennels as that is such an important part of the story. The rat lines on the Endurance seem to have metal piping to step on to climb up, not rope as the kit has supplied so I want to figure out how to do that as well.
Other misc odds'n'ends...our pooch loves sitting here next to me as I play Bach and build, he loves music!. And I've included a couple pics of the N scale Layout I've been building these past 5-6 years. It's double deck, all DCC, the engine facility of part kitbash and part scratch build. And it depicts Canadian Rockies and assorted industries. One of the things that has helped me with the Endurance is that these days the best train structure kits are wood laser cut kits. It's just a treat to work in 1:70 scale instead of 1:160! 1-2-3 blocks have been helpful, and as someone here said, you just can't have enough clamps!
And finally Frank Hurley's book of photos is fabulous. I'm amazed that through all of what they went through he was able to save so much. Having worked on the IMAX PBS NOVA film and gone to South Georgia Island on the expedition makes this all the more special for me. There is even a photo of Hurley hanging from high up on some of the rigging taking pictures which I may try to create as well.
That's all for now. I'll continue this log in a couple weeks and probably bring the work progress to the August Guild meeting before and of the fragile above deck bits are added.
Any and all advice, criticism, suggestion, clues, hints, redirection etc is of course more than welcome!
1. I did decide to plank the deck first so I could make sure the ribs would line up perfectly on the hull instead of gluing in the ribs and then added the false deck and decking. If it's glued and alignment is off then it would be a nightmare, avoided that potential mess.
2. I opted to use my Chopper to cut 60mm planks and attempt 3 butt planking rather than draw in the lines as the kit wanted...looks better and I learned more...but the width over the course of the run of a single strip varied wildly...so much so that I thought I had taken the wrong strips out of the box. The result was a bit of sanding as to not have side to side gaps between, planks. I then hand rubbed som Sapelli dye that was in the kit to darken the planking slightly rather than have a very light wood color. I probably should have bought 3mm wide planks as replacements instead of using the 5mm?
3. Getting the bulwarks in and formed to shape was far easier than I expected. I do wish I had sprayed rather than brushed the white paint, would have looked better. I do spray all my N scale model kits as at that scale brushing looks awful.
4. Hull planking, ugh, as you'd expect this is where I still have the biggest hurdles to overcome. Again the wood supplied could have been better. It just didn't like being bent, or soaked and bent, even in a small jig that I have. The wood tended to crack, not with the grain, but across as it was being formed around around a rib, it just didn't like it. I have a hot bending tool coming today in the mail that I will use to finish the bow in particular. I had to rip out the three planks on either side on the bow under the foredeck. I've cleaned it up and will work on applying the planking there over the weekend as well as finish forming a few other pieces.
5. I did work on cutting and inserting the stealers which was not as bad as I might have expected. I did work on sanding the other 90% of the hull and have to say I'm pretty pleased with it. Once I finish the bow I'll sand that, apply wood filler where needed, and sand that to shape before the final/second planking.
6. Plank nails...probably never again. The soft brass ones supplied are just too soft, driving them with a pusher tool was wrong, just plain wrong. The nail would hit a hard pocket of glue I think in the plywood ribbing and either bend over or wander/drift. Just a mess. I shifted over to using a small drill bit, I mean tiny, in a pin vise to carefully pre dill a hole by hand, about just 50-75% of the way in so that when I pushed it in the rest of the way it had some bite at the end inside. And I switched over to a harder small N scale track nail...much much better. Sanding tho with all those nails was challenge. I had to sit there with a hammer and small punch and carefully drive them deeper. Someone at the Constitution Guild even recommended taking them out altogether now that the glue has dried. My concern would be doing yet more damage to the wood now that they are driven deeper. So I'll leave them on this build and do the next build completely without nails...if it makes sense. The sanding has revealed that the form is really pretty good, I do like the lines, almost generally better than I had expected.
7. While waiting for the hot wood bend tool to come this week I decided to work on a few of the above deck structures as you'll see in some of the pics, ie the central companionway etc. They are not affixed yet however will do that at the appropriate time later.
8.Replacement parts and quality and historical accuracy: I've ordered replacement rigging, brass belays, turned brass stanchions, and I'm even going to use Evergreen Styrene piping to replace the ridiculous wood dowel for the engine exhaust. I'm hoping to figure out how to build the life boats with a better looking style of overlapping planking as the originals are built that way. I'm looking for the correct 25mm 2 blade brass or metal prop. I have high quality .020 wire to use for the handrails with the stanchions as the rope looks silly. I'll even scratch build the on board dog kennels as that is such an important part of the story. The rat lines on the Endurance seem to have metal piping to step on to climb up, not rope as the kit has supplied so I want to figure out how to do that as well.
Other misc odds'n'ends...our pooch loves sitting here next to me as I play Bach and build, he loves music!. And I've included a couple pics of the N scale Layout I've been building these past 5-6 years. It's double deck, all DCC, the engine facility of part kitbash and part scratch build. And it depicts Canadian Rockies and assorted industries. One of the things that has helped me with the Endurance is that these days the best train structure kits are wood laser cut kits. It's just a treat to work in 1:70 scale instead of 1:160! 1-2-3 blocks have been helpful, and as someone here said, you just can't have enough clamps!
And finally Frank Hurley's book of photos is fabulous. I'm amazed that through all of what they went through he was able to save so much. Having worked on the IMAX PBS NOVA film and gone to South Georgia Island on the expedition makes this all the more special for me. There is even a photo of Hurley hanging from high up on some of the rigging taking pictures which I may try to create as well.
That's all for now. I'll continue this log in a couple weeks and probably bring the work progress to the August Guild meeting before and of the fragile above deck bits are added.
Any and all advice, criticism, suggestion, clues, hints, redirection etc is of course more than welcome!
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