HM Bark Endeavour +++FINISHED+++

[Ray S]

Hello all,

 

Over the last few days it has been a tad warm here (other places may be hotter!) and I took the decision to abandon my kit-building for the duration. Instead, I read a book. It was by Kieth Julier and was 'Period Ship Kit Builder's Manual'. I have three more to go through for extra advice.

 

By the time I had finished it (22 hrs after starting it), I realised just how little I knew about the nomenclature of sailing ships, and the sheer amount of rigging that is involved. This has all been as some sort of attempted 'research' for restarting a couple of wooden boats that had been begun in the dim and not-so-distant past. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed @Bertie McBoatface's two threads, I think he may have made one who had dipped his toe into the wonderful art of wooden boat building and retreated, to advance again and try, try again. I have even been on Vanguard Models website and downloaded a couple of their instruction guides, and am rather tempted by one boat called 'Saucy Jack', which is a Barking Well Smack from 1836. 

 

The two I have started were the Artesania Latina Clara Bell and their 'Titanic's Lifeboat' Both have some serious issues in what I have done so far and I hope to be able to correct one of those issues, but they will probably make a fair test best to go through the learning process like Bertie has done.

 

As things have cooled down now I hope to get back to this asap.

 

All the best everyone,

 

Ray

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Ray S said:

Hello all,

 

Over the last few days it has been a tad warm here (other places may be hotter!) and I took the decision to abandon my kit-building for the duration. Instead, I read a book. It was by Kieth Julier and was 'Period Ship Kit Builder's Manual'. I have three more to go through for extra advice.

 

By the time I had finished it (22 hrs after starting it), I realised just how little I knew about the nomenclature of sailing ships, and the sheer amount of rigging that is involved.

 

I have that one too! As well as a few others. Reading those reminded me of when I was younger and reas The Scale Modeller's Handbook or some such title and learned about mysteries like masking tape and filler. I trust that all of these nautical mysteries will one day be as unremarkable to me as Tamiya tape and Perfect Plastic Putty. It's the love of the learning that keeps me going!

 

1 hour ago, Ray S said:

a Barking Well Smack

 

That sounds like something that would hit you in the face for propositioning the wrong lass in an east end pub. 😆

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

I have that one too!

In light of the forthcoming build, is the book by Keith Julier ... 'Period Ship Kit Builder's Manual' worth getting ?

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

14 minutes ago, Faraway said:

In light of the forthcoming build, is the book by Keith Julier ... 'Period Ship Kit Builder's Manual' worth getting ?

 

 

I just had a look in it again and I'd say yes. It has a lot of useful information.

 

There's a lot more in there than I retained from my first reading a couple of months ago so I'll be going back to it myself asap. There's an awful lot about boats that makes no sense to me until I do it - then I can revisit the book and understand the next level. With me though, reading a textbook is always a 'rinse and repeat' arrangement these days. 😃

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 7/13/2022 at 8:33 AM, Ray S said:

I think my camera is playing tricks - the hull is painted Humbrol 70 Brick Red and in my photographs always looks too light. I am sure I have read somewhere that a lot of the underwater sections of these older ships were actually painted white.

 

Hi Ray. I came across some information on hull painting which I thought you might fine interesting. Wolfram Zu Mondfeld Historic Ship Models (2005)

 

[Faraway]

@Ray S @Bertie McBoatface 

But which one ?

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/category/all?search=Keith julier
Can you help me out here chaps ?
Jon

[Ray S]

25 minutes ago, Faraway said:

@Ray S @Bertie McBoatface 

But which one ?

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/category/all?search=Keith julier
Can you help me out here chaps ?
Jon

 

Hello Jon, this is the copy I have:

 

 

It goes into pretty good detail about how to go about things, gives advice on tools to use (it was first published in 2003 so there may be alternatives now) and shows illustrations. Some of the photographs are slightly unclear, but I was able to see how to tie various knots for the shrouds/ratlines and how to get deadeyes attached. Some of the terminology became clearer with those images though which was a huge help. I would definitely recommend it taking into consideration how much I learnt from it!

 

I hope that helps,

 

Ray

[Ray S]

1 hour ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

Hi Ray. I came across some information on hull painting which I thought you might fine interesting. Wolfram Zu Mondfeld Historic Ship Models (2005)

 

 

 

Hi Bertie, thanks for that! The 'dirty white finish' sounds particularly useful for this brush-painter on my later builds! I may stear clear of using lead paint though.

 

Cheers again,

 

Ray

[Ray S]

5 hours ago, Ray S said:

I have even been on Vanguard Models website and downloaded a couple of their instruction guides, and am rather tempted by one boat called 'Saucy Jack', which is a Barking Well Smack from 1836. 

 

Ray

 

4 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

That sounds like something that would hit you in the face for propositioning the wrong lass in an east end pub. 😆

 

I did wonder if this would be a suitable subject for this fine Forum, now I know! YES!!! I just have to save up and buy one now...

 

Ray

[Faraway]

@Ray S Thanks Ray, as there is an ‘updated’ edition I’ll probably get that.

Jon

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 minutes ago, Faraway said:

@Ray S Thanks Ray, as there is an ‘updated’ edition I’ll probably get that.

Jon

 

I have the same edition as Ray. I bet there's little difference apart from the cover and binding. 

[Ray S]

Here are the other three books I have which may help me out:

 

 

This gives stacks of advice, a lot of which is useful for many sailing ships. I had the book in my very early teens, a long long time ago and in a far distant place (well, Suffolk anyway) and foolishly got rid of it. Then about five years ago, I wanted to re-read it, and Abe Books came to the rescue, and my bank balance did not suffer too much. Then in the Ross-on-Wye market area I was rummaging around the used book stand, and found these two:

 

 

 

I have not fully read either yet, but they are of a particular vintage, and seem quite quaint now, no computer-aided drawings at all, just sheer person-made artwork - fabulous!

 

Cheers, Ray

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, Ray S said:

they are of a particular vintage, and seem quite quaint now, no computer-aided drawings at all, just sheer person-made artwork - fabulous!

 

I've got some fine old books too. I'll do a display on the Beaglethread later.

[Ray S]

Today with the weather being a lot cooler I was all set to add the upper shrouds and ratlines to Endeavour. I had trimmed them out and found no ratlines loose from the shrouds (result!) and threaded my CA'd section of rope through the deadeyes, positioned the upper rigging next to the mast and said 'Oh bother' or something similar. Can you guess why from this picture?

 

 

The aft-most shroud was too far back, too widely spaced. The other three were fine. I double checked the Airfix instruction guide and I had threaded the shrouds correctly according to them. I will re-do them (tomorrow) but thread them as if I were doing the foremast upper shrouds, as they were perfectly aligned, and the deadeyes on both platforms look very similarly sized, as was confirmed by my pair of dividers. Here is the foremast result:

 

 

I think I need to reduce the number of horizontal lines too as there seemed to be one or two too many.

 

This next photograph shows why I really wanted to be able to tie off my own ratlines:

 

 

When I fitted the first set of shrouds to the foremast on another build, I had serious issues getting the threads tight (I have now worked out how to do that much better), so I decided to try and do my own. I drilled out larger holes through the board the deadeyes and associated rigging work went through, then used just a single thread to form the shrouds and a slipknot (once I had googled to see how to do one!) kept it all locked until I had glued it. That made the shrouds much better, but have not had success with the ratline knotting. Now having read the Kieth Julier book I will try and have another go, especially as reading it this time around it makes more sense that the last time I read it! This ship was always just going to be a test build for learning and will never be shown complete (if ever it is finished).

 

Thanks for looking and for the comments and likes,

 

Ray

[Bertie McBoatface]

10 minutes ago, Ray S said:

a test build

 

That's absolutely right. I think I'll be doing test builds for the next five years!

 

Bad luck on that shroud alignment. Maybe use dividers to check the deadeye spacing against the rigging aid? 

 

I have done no shrouds at all so far so your experiences aren't being wasted. Thanks.

 

[Ray S]

23 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

That's absolutely right. I think I'll be doing test builds for the next five years!

 

Bad luck on that shroud alignment. Maybe use dividers to check the deadeye spacing against the rigging aid? 

 

I have done no shrouds at all so far so your experiences aren't being wasted. Thanks.

 

 

Cheers Bertie! I had thought about holding the rigging machine against the mast and MkI eyeballing the spacing after threading the shrouds but before doing the horizontals - it would be easy enough to adjust quickly then.

 

Ray

[Bertie McBoatface]

59 minutes ago, Ray S said:

 

Cheers Bertie! I had thought about holding the rigging machine against the mast and MkI eyeballing the spacing after threading the shrouds but before doing the horizontals - it would be easy enough to adjust quickly then.

 

Ray

 

Parallax error will get you every time, Ray. 😜

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

6 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

I've got some fine old books too. I'll do a display on the Beaglethread later.

 

Done.

[Ray S]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:01 PM, Ray S said:

The aft-most shroud was too far back, too widely spaced. The other three were fine. I double checked the Airfix instruction guide and I had threaded the shrouds correctly according to them.

 

Ah, bliss. I remember the feeling as I wrote (typed?) that yesterday - aggrieved that they had got it wrong. This morning, just for fun, I stupidly decided to count the ratlines on those wrong shrouds. I do not know why, but I do tend to count things (like when I go up or down stairs I always count them - even at home!) I ended up with 33 horizontal lines. Sensing a frisson of uncertainty, I checked back at the instruction guide and found that I needed 31! Doh! I think my heat-addled brain got mixed up with the instructions as it had stated '31 horizontal lines, notches 2-33' and I remembered the 33 when I was threading and counted to that notch instead when I was making them up.

 

Now I can feel aggrieved at myself, which is a much better thing to do than aim it at someone else. Sorry Airfix.

 

Anyway, I have now made up a new set of shrouds and ratlines, the CA is setting and I will find out later this evening how this lot goes when I fit them to the main mast.

 

Yours, one seriously humbled Ray

[Bertie McBoatface]

11 minutes ago, Ray S said:

Now I can feel aggrieved at myself, which is a much better thing to do than aim it at someone else. Sorry Airfix.

 

I hate it when that happens to me and it happens to me all the time.

 

I'm slowly learning to be nice to the manufacturers whatever happens because the odds are I've brought disaster down on my own head. (Except for HKM's Lanc.)

[Faraway]

20 minutes ago, Ray S said:

(like when I go up or down stairs I always count them - even at home!)

Well, thank the gods for that, I'm not the only one 

Jon

[psdavidson]

1 hour ago, Ray S said:

when I go up or down stairs I always count them - even at home

 

Always do it. I get disturbed when the count is wrong though.

Work is annoying, they are 14,10,13,14. Didn't they realise what it would do to me.... 🤯

[Ray S]

A major step today completed!

 

The re-making of the shrouds and ratlines has proved successful. I did them as per the foremast recipe for the shrouds, and did one less horizontal layer than suggested, and they fitted like shrouds to a mast! (or a glove, if you prefer):

 

 

 

I cannot remember if I mentioned it, but earlier on (last week) I started painting the yards black, and while I was at it, I put some of the thinned matt black enamel onto the shrouds and deadeyes where the CA had left a gloss sheen, and that worked quite well, so I will redo any other bits that need it with the rigging sometime soon. 

 

That is it for now from a very relieved Ray, thanks for looking and for the comments, and also for the comfort I have gained from knowing now I am not the only other counter...

[Bertie McBoatface]

44 minutes ago, Ray S said:

I put some of the thinned matt black enamel onto the shrouds and deadeyes where the CA had left a gloss sheen, and that worked quite well,

 

Top tip Ray, thanks for that.

 

The shrouds/ratlines look so much better this time. 

 

I count too. One of my favourite counting times is walking the dog up long steep hills, which happens often. I count paces from one to eight and repeat as I plod along. Often I realise that the hill was two miles back and I'm still counting so I have to sing a song instead to overwrite the counting program. If I'm tired and walking slowly, it's usually a sea shanty and If I'm jaunty, I'll try whistling a hornpipe. 

[Courageous]

Good progress. Ratlines are looking better and better.

 

Stuart