I bought this kit around 2000 and did a bit here and there over the years, but life was too busy and she was not a priority. Retirement came along which has enabled me to dedicate more time to the ship, especially in the last 12 months. If I was to start a new kit now I certainly would not buy the Corel version, the instructions and plans are next to useless. After the hull was completed I mostly scratch built the rest as the parts included were very poor quality. Lots of reading, research and learning new skills later I can see the end in sight, maybe a few months away. Any comments and helpful hints are most welcome, cheers.

MartyB

I made the Mizzen Channels according to the Corel plans; then someone pointed out to me that they were very different from the Karl Heinz Marquardt book on the Endeavour. That was my next purchase. Since then I have tried to stay honest to the book and to photo's taken when visiting the replica in Fremantle. I like the look of the replica so, veering away from period correctness, I have painted the hull white. After all, I have only myself to please with the finished product.

The red colour was in these pics was way too red so I have since changed it. The new colour looks much better however, in photographs, it still looks very bright.

I wasn't happy with the original thin ply anchor strip so replaced it with some spare thin timber strips. It looks better to the naked eye than in this photo but I am still not completely happy...

Great to see you post your build here Marty. Looking forward to seeing your progress with this beauty.

cheers

Pat

Thanks Pat, I am almost finished posting the older photo's now. Things will slow down soon (like my snail pace progress ;-) )

I used redgum for the railings and stanchions, not real bendy but very strong and keeps a good edge.

The bowsprit is made from Kauri pine, excellent for this, the masts and spars (thanks again Pat). The only way I could get it close to the correct shape was to soak it for about a week and then use the paracord to bend it; then left it in the vice to dry. If I remember the origin of some of this timber rightly, a piece of an old Melbourne tram lives on in my Endeavour.

The windlass took me a fair amount of time to make. Coming up with a process that I could use on my lathe (a fairly basic mid-size one) took some experimenting. I drilled a hole through the centre of the barrel the size of some dowel, then tapered each half and finally filed the flats using the lathe index settings as a reference. The only pieces I used from the kit were the ratchets and pawls, the rest was rubbish.

A really nicely made windlas Marty, looks great!

cheers

Pat

Great to see an Endeavour build going, yours looks great. I also have one in my stash (the 1/64 Caldercraft one), think mine might also be a "retirement" project at this rate! I will follow your excellent build for inspiration.

Thanks everyone for looking in and for your comments.

As this is my first build I unashamedly admit to borrowing other builders' ideas/methods for making various components. With regard to the windlass I was stumped until I saw the method Banyan used. The simple idea of drilling through the barrel meant that, when reassembling the cut components using a piece of dowel, everything was very easy to line up. Otherwise I may have ended up with a windlass looking like a dog's breakfast. Thanks Pat!

For the pumps I used a combination of brass tube, copper, redgum and dowel. It was handy to have the spear act as a pin to secure the pump to the deck. I have had to reglue one of them after knocking it, just as well my hobby room is nowhere near the house.

Some fittings...

I tend to jump all over the place and not do things in a particular sequence, it keeps me interested and can help in planning ahead, for me anyway. The masts and spars are again from Kauri, planed on a jig to an octagonal shape, then shaped and sanded on the lathe. This brings me just about up to date apart from a couple of other parts where I went off on a tangent, again.

Hey, some nice fittings and mast work Marty, you're making significant progress.

cheers

Pat

Very nice masts. What did you make the mast hoops from that are on either side of the Wooldings? They look very neat.

Marty,

A beautiful job on Endeavor. I have one on order . I like your organization skills your shop is neat and tidy. Enjoy the way you are making and organizing you masts.

I will monitor this log with joy. Thanks

Guy

Thank you for the kind comments AJohnson and waister, I do appreciate it.

For the mast hoops I firstly tried the wood shaving method, taking some shavings from a piece of pine, but this wasn't very successful (I can't remember exactly why). I ended up soaking some thin planking strips for a few days, then taped them to a pen with a similar diameter until they dried. For support I put them over a dowel and cut to thickness with a scalpel. Because they are quite thin and have a grain, the odd one splintered when placing them around the masts but a touch of superglue and clamping solved this with a light sand when dry. The superglue retains quite a shine which spoils the look so I coated the whole masts with some matt estapol.

Thanks Guy :-) A sign of too much free time on my hands in retirement me thinks...

Thanks, that is a neat solution, I shall try that out on my next build.

Hello all. Not having done this before, I am after some advice. I have glued on the deadeyes and chainplates to the channels leaving the chainplates hanging. I have placed a dummy lower main mast and used a piece of string to mark where I think the plates should be anchored. Should I pin them now or wait until I actually start the rigging? I'm concerned that they may get damaged if not secured to the hull; and also, if they are not pinned where they should be the shrouds and chainplates won't be in line.

Also, I can't find a reference for the raking angle of the masts but I guess I can measure the angles from the KHM book.

Thanks, Marty.