HMS Endeavour 1768 1:60 by Artesania Latina

[Takis]

Excellent work, Noel! I had built the same kit some 30 years ago, and -inspired by your project- I'm thinking of strip her down (mainly masts, sails and rigging), correct the mistakes I did at that time (since it was one of my first projects in model ship building), and build her again!
I think I'll probably need your help, I've sent you a message (please, check your message box)

 

[dhewes]

I started mine over 20 years ago untill life got in the way. It is covered with dust. I was wondering if I should start with a new kit or finish this one. This is my first build.
I may be missing some parts. Is there a part 230 and 231? If not scroll saw it is.

 

[NoelB]

Hello dhewes,
6 x part 230 (hounds) from 1.5mm Walnut and 6 x part 231 (fore and main top trestletrees) from 1.5mm Sapele

I hope you can get the dimensions from the photo.

Best of luck,
Noel

 

[dhewes]

Oh, Thanks Noel. The part look a little different then the drawing.

Dave

 

[NoelB]

Your build is looking great Dave, it would be a pity to leave it unfinished.

I hope you find the time to keep going with it.

cheers,
Noel

 

[dhewes]

Yes, I would like to work on it. I am working on other projects in my wood shop. That is my main hobby. After spending hours on my feet in the shop I like to sit down. When I do that I am watching tv. I am getting sick of tv so I would like something else to do. That is when I thought about building this ship or a new kit.

One thing I want tot know more about is how to "stropping a block with wire". At least that is what AI called it. I see we need to do that a lot so I want to get it right. Most ship building Youtubers tend to skip this because it is a repetitive task.

Here is what I found but it is a little different.

This one is the one I think we do.

If you find something on when you are on that part please let me know.

Thank you for working on this build with me.

Dave

 

[NoelB]

Thanks for those tutorial videos, I'm sure they'll be useful.
The anchors have wire wound hoops on the stocks and wire to fix the cable.
Do you use a particular knot or method for these?



I've been away from my model for a while with other projects too.
It's good to be able to get back to it again.

cheers,
Noel

 

[NoelB]

rudder
Fixing the hinges to the rudder proved to be quite a challenge as they would come apart just when they seemed about to fit together. I ended up gluing the axles in place while leaving a small gap for the hinge pieces. This allowed the top hinges to be fixed to the rudder then the lower hinges were pushed through the gap to be fixed to the hull. The supplied brads needed to be cut down to be shorter than the thickness of the rudder.



The lower hinge was fixed to the hull first and then the others were tacked on with one nail each side to allow them to be adjusted. It turned out not as neat as expected, I think partly because the axles were not properly aligned when glued, and I didn’t pay enough attention to the alignment, however the rudder does swivel freely.



Micro-engineering of the deck pieces:
anchor davits
davits were filed to shape and holes drilled for the mooring bitts, eyebolts and rigging.



windlass
Masking tape strips were used to mark out for filing the octagonal shape of the windlass lathes.
The holes were drilled then made square with the tip of a small square file.





belfry
The lintel was drilled for mounting the bell then the stands were cut and drilled for the cleats before being assembled.
A piece of brown thread was used for the bell rope.



pinracks
Two prefabricated pinrack stand pieces were missing from the kit so these were cut and shaped from the Walnut frame that had held the supplied six pieces.

 

[Tony Nienaber]

Hi Noel. I'm totally at a loss as to how I should start drilling the 6mm hole for the rudder. Do I drill from the bottom of the ship and if so precisely where? Thank you in anticipation.

 

[NoelB]

Hi Tony. I had the same sort of quandary.
The hole for the rudder was initially drilled from the underside parallel to the sternpost allowing a mm or so for the rudder hinges. When the hole was almost through to the deck I carefully drilled from the deck downwards at the approximate angle using a brad point drill bit. The centre of this hole was measured from the longitudinal schematic. The 6mm hole was then filed out to a 12mm squarish shape so alignment inaccuracies could be fixed and the rudder would swing side to side easily and fully. The ends of the hole have coamings fitted later on that will make them neater.

I hope this helps, best of luck.
Noel

 

[Tony Nienaber]

Hi Noel. Many thanks for your prompt reply. As a very inexperienced model builder I sometimes become frustrated when I hit a snag that prevents me from continuing with the build. It's wonderful to have your prompt and precise assistance. Also a thumbs up to this wonderful site.

 

[JoeF]

Great work well done

 

[Tony Nienaber]

Hi. Another novice question. I have completed the decking on the HMS ENDEAVOUR Artesania Latina. My quandary is the placing of the gunwales to the "outer edge of the decks" as given in the instructions. If the gunwales are placed on the top of the deck the hull planking is going to stick out beyond the deck. Please advise.

 

[NoelB]

Hi Tony,

I had the same issue and it made me recheck the placing of the frames but they were definitely as per instructions.
The top of the frames did not properly match the deck and were too wide in places and curved in too far in other places.

I thought it would not be a good idea to alter the deck to suit the frames. The frame tops can be filed back where they stick out and packed where they are too far in. When it came to the gunwales there were areas where it did not seem possible to "file the outer part of the gunwales following the inclination given by the upper part of the frames". The outer edge of the gunwales can be filed where feasible.

As the rows of first planking got near the gunwales, some off-cuts were used to pack out the planks so they would meet and cover the outer edge of the gunwales.
I had this trouble mostly with the aft counter that was much narrower than the deck.



Initially I glued, nailed and counter-punched the nails for first planking but then found that gluing was enough. The nails could be driven only part way to hold the planks until the glue had fully set and then they were pulled out.
The first planking was later filled where necessary and sanded to smooth it all out and it was made a bit easier by having no nail heads to worry about.

 

[Tony Nienaber]

Hi Tony,

I had the same issue and it made me recheck the placing of the frames but they were definitely as per instructions.
The top of the frames did not properly match the deck and were too wide in places and curved in too far in other places.

I thought it would not be a good idea to alter the deck to suit the frames. The frame tops can be filed back where they stick out and packed where they are too far in. When it came to the gunwales there were areas where it did not seem possible to "file the outer part of the gunwales following the inclination given by the upper part of the frames". The outer edge of the gunwales can be filed where feasible.

As the rows of first planking got near the gunwales, some off-cuts were used to pack out the planks so they would meet and cover the outer edge of the gunwales.
I had this trouble mostly with the aft counter that was much narrower than the deck.
View attachment 639947


Initially I glued, nailed and counter-punched the nails for first planking but then found that gluing was enough. The nails could be driven only part way to hold the planks until the glue had fully set and then they were pulled out.
The first planking was later filled where necessary and sanded to smooth it all out and it was made a bit easier by having no nail heads to worry about.

Hi Noel,
Once again many thanks for your prompt reply. You have solved a few issues regarding the first layer of hull decking as well.
With my limited experience I find that with with sufficient wood glue and good clamping too many nails are NOT required.

 

[NoelB]

Some more micro-engineering...

stairs
The kit supplied eight each of the left and right stair stringers and each stringer had nine grooves cut for fitting steps.
There are five stairs required so there were enough stringer pieces to allow for some rework.
I found the grooves in the stringers were not all evenly spaced so the left and right stringer grooves were matched up before attempting to glue in the steps.
The steps are made from 0.6x5 Sapele, the same as the second planking timbers, and there were plenty of off-cuts left over for this.

The two stairs on the deck each have three steps of width 13mm.
The one for the large hatch has six steps of width 10mm.
The two for the small hatches each have six steps of width 7mm.





gratings
The grating pieces were supplied with grooves already cut however the grooves were were not all evenly spaced and required matching before assembly.
The instruction photos show gratings with a smaller pitch than those supplied and they are shown with no outside edge.
I decided to assemble the gratings, keeping the outside edges for strength, and then add the coamings afterwards.


gun carriages
The kit included extra prefabricated side pieces of the four gun carriages.
The axle grooves on the top of the gun carriage sides were filed deeper to allow the brass reinforcements to sit flat.


boat
I think this is meant to be a small lifeboat as some other Endeavour model kits include a larger and more detailed longboat.
There were some discrepancies with the AL instructions for construction of the boat. The hull was supplied as cast metal whereas the parts list specifies it as art wood. The stern has a centre ridge whereas the instruction photo shows it as flat with no ridge. Also it was puzzling that the parts list specified Walnut for the side gunwales and then Samba for the poop gunwale.


I ended up grinding down the centre ridge so the stern could be covered with planking strips and make it look more like the instruction photo. An alternative would have the keel continue up the centre ridge using another piece of Walnut.


The floorboards were assembled separately and cut to fit using a piece of shaped card as a template.


The floorboards, planking, thwarts, eye-bolts and gunwale notches were added.

 

[AllanKP69]

I decided to assemble the gratings, keeping the outside edges for strength, and then add the coamings afterwards.

Smart thing to do!! This is the easiest way to be sure the grating has a solid outer band on all four sides.

Cannot tell from the photos, but keep in mind the battens always run fore and aft and the ledges atwhartships. From the assembly of the head ledges and coamings there appears to be a mixture of both.

I wonder why AL left out two pintles on the rudder. I am also curious as to why there is no gudgeon for the lowest pintle, if that is what it actually us.

Allan