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Endurance by OcCre 1:70

Well, been busy with my Endurance the last few weeks. So here's an update.

I redid the hull. I was not too happy with the paint job I did. So I did some research and came up with a plan. I sanded it down and filled in some gaps to make it smoother.
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I used OcCre's paint and finished it off with matte acrylic varnish.
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After 1 coat...
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After 2 coats...
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And after the third coat. I used very light coats of thinned out paint. The third coat was almost dry brushed. I applied it in very long strokes with light pressure.
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Much happier with the hull. Not perfect, and I could have faired it some more, but there were a few spots that were not repairable. Overall, I'm very happy with the hull.

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Looks good. As it is a working ship a few imperfections in the finish will give more of a weathered look. After I have painted some parts I sand back randomly as if paint has been knocked off.
 
I had done a lot of prep work on all of the deck furniture beforehand. So once the hull and deck were complete, assembly happened pretty fast. I decided to go with the stanchions provided by OcCre. I looked around for something better, but in the end I went with these because I thought they looked more to scale. And I blackened them, which I guess I shouldn't have, but it was too late. The stanchions on the ship were white. But the black supports the theme I'm going for, and I think they look pretty good. I also used some thin silver-gray thread I got in a previous kit. It looks more to scale and also looks a bit like wire, which from the pictures of Endurance looks more accurate.
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The aft deck in the pictures of the sunk Endurance showed what looks like a wooden rail, not what the kit wants you to use. I'm also going to cover this with cloth. In the pictures it looks like the crew built a canvas screen around this section of the stern.
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And I don't know if its a thing, but my crew tied the anchors together on deck. In the pictures I've seen the anchors were stored on deck on top of the davits. I tied them together because they kept sliding around while I was working. So, hopefully this is something crews back then did.
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The deck is all but done. I have a few little things plus the smoke stack. OcCre sent the wrong diameter wooden dowel, 10mm instead of 12mm, so it's a little small. I can go to the hardware store and get a 12mm, or I was going to look for a thin brass tube. I wanted experiment with that. But not sure how well the paint will stick to it, and I don't have a soldering iron to attach the rings to it. I'll experiement.
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And I'm using the supplied 3-blade prop. I know Endurance had a 2-blade prop, and I looked all over and couldn't find one the right size where shipping costs wasn't prohibitive. I thought of trying to remove one blade, and move one of the remaining 2 blades to line them up, but again, no soldering iron (sounds like its time to invest in one). Even if I had a soldering iron I'm not sure how it would work with this material, which feels like a soft lead. So, I'm knowingly going less historically accurate and will just have to live with it. It looks good anyway. And I'm going to place the ship in a diorama, so it'll probably be submerged anyway.
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The deck is all but done. I have a few little things plus the smoke stack. OcCre sent the wrong diameter wooden dowel, 10mm instead of 12mm, so it's a little small. I can go to the hardware store and get a 12mm, or I was going to look for a thin brass tube. I wanted experiment with that. But not sure how well the paint will stick to it, and I don't have a soldering iron to attach the rings to it. I'll experiement.
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And I'm using the supplied 3-blade prop. I know Endurance had a 2-blade prop, and I looked all over and couldn't find one the right size where shipping costs wasn't prohibitive. I thought of trying to remove one blade, and move one of the remaining 2 blades to line them up, but again, no soldering iron (sounds like its time to invest in one). Even if I had a soldering iron I'm not sure how it would work with this material, which feels like a soft lead. So, I'm knowingly going less historically accurate and will just have to live with it. It looks good anyway. And I'm going to place the ship in a diorama, so it'll probably be submerged anyway.
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Very good progress. I took the same approach of building much of the deck furniture as small projects before adding to the hull.
 
I've built several OcCre models. It's always interesting to me to see the same parts and pieces used on one model are the same parts and pieces that are used on other OcCre models. Nice work by the way.
 
I've built several OcCre models. It's always interesting to me to see the same parts and pieces used on one model are the same parts and pieces that are used on other OcCre models. Nice work by the way.
Thanks, Mr. CA! Yeah, one size fits all I guess. I understand that for the price of the kit they have to standardize some of the pieces. On the Endurance I've done a good bit of kit bashing and customizing. It's made this project more challenging and more interesting. Even tailoring the pieces they provide has been fun.
 
I'm searching for thread for the standing rigging. The thread they supplied is cotton. It's good thread and easy to work with, but I wanted to go with Gutermann polyester to avoid the fuzziness with cotton thread. I found these 2 spools. From what I've seen, kit thread for standing rigging is usually brown to represent tar build up on the rope. Seems the consensus on SoS is that black is too black. Of the 2 thread colors below, which do you think is more realistic looking? The one on the right is straight brown. The one on the left looks more tar-like in my opinion, but looks like there's some green in it. What are your thoughts? Hope the photos are good enough.
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