His Majesty's Barque Endeavour 1768 - 1/96 model by Shipyard

[Kevin WS]

That model was a great idea! Display with the ship!

[Tapcho]

Thanks Whulsey, it's good to be back and modeling again.

Rata, or roasted chickens to captain and wardroom officers.

Thanks Kevin, let's see if there will be more. When you study the subject you get interested in many different things not just the ship. Like what living in ship was like during these long voyages, how the men were dressed, what they eat and so on.

Anyway I got what I neede from the hobby shop and now we can proceed plating the hull. More later.

BR Tappi

[Tapcho]

Ok the final skinning started. From the inside as I planned. I inserted red panels to hull sades that rise above deck. Those were ridiculous thin and difficult to cut. Despite their size they went on nice and clean. Then I trimmed the hull to the height of those panels and got my reference point to start the outside plating.

The topside turned out ok and clean aswell, I was surprised I must say. Just a tad short panels at stern but that can be remedied. Those strong vertical seams between panels will dissapear under some external hull parts (clever design by the way). All and all parts fit has been excellent.

But the bottom. Oh my I'm not satisfied at all. Allthough I took every precaution I could think of and prepped and worked the parts carefully as I can the result does not look good. At least to my eyes. The beams show through and the surface is bumpy plus the panel edges don't meet nicely.

If someone is in need of humility/modesty lesson just take up on ship modeling. I'm in need of a good nightsleep to be able to return to my ship again in the morning.

BR Tappi

[Kevin WS]

The bottom is fine - they are difficult to do.Here are some more ideas...

------------------------------------------

You have the other side still do. Varnish this and sand it to get the finish you like. Then plank it. That will be your "good" side - you can only display one side at a time!

---------------------------------------

Consider varnishing the whole bottom anyway and then giving it a LIGHT sand to make it even. Varnish again.

If the gaps are "big" between the various panels use a little filler. Get some wood filler - the type that is like hard putty that you soften or thin with water.

Use this on the gaps. You then run a damp cloth over which will remove the excess and smooth it. Varnish it again to now protect the filler.

[Tapcho]

Thank you Kevin for the advice and ideas. Something like that needs to be done. Last night I came up with option to sand and paint the underside (that’s done even to the model presented in kit booklet hahhaa) or display it ’sailing’ that is a waterline model. After breakfast I’ll continue my practises but now more of that java. ��

BR Tappi

[RdK]

Hi there!

No worries Tapcho, she's coming along nicely.

One thing one can do with the shipyard models is to cut out the individual planks instead of the "three in one part" and glue them individually. Also, glued first on a slightly thicker cardboard they may come more stiff, avoiding the "ribs effect".

Also, I like to bend the pieces along its length and perpendicular to it so the card is not so "straight" but smoothly follows the lines of the hull.

It is not easy to make a 3D hull with its complicated curves from 2D paper but you do well!

Don't get discouraged! And like you say, it can be remedied...

Rgds,
Radek

[RdK]

Oh, by the way:

When the first planking shows the "ribs effect" you can always glue the final planks only with a drop of glue where the beams are, leaving the part in between with out glue, so it will nicely curve following the lines of the ship and not the "rib effect". But this is better done with a slightly thicker card than the one that comes with the model.

-R

[Tapcho]

Thanks Radek, usefull advice once again. I think the mistake I made was when reading the instructions I made the assumption that the final skin panels could be glued as is. Now that I've looked the instructions again those can be interpeted the other way too > laminate them on 0,5 mm card. Would have made huge difference I guess. Well, you model you learn.

Other thing I learned is that never judge your work under the workbench lights. Too direct, too hars. Check the appearance under indirect lights only.

I did pre-form all the panel in every direction imaginable and the tool I used is a bookbinders bone folder. Very handy tool and works with heavy cardstock too. No need for steaming.

Few pictures: freehand cutting skills re-juvenated, pre-formed wales and finally the hull under much forgiving indirect light (took my photobooth out, a tad too small for this project though). All is well, starboard side done I'll turn to port side now.

After that look at the overall appearance as a whole and decide if further actions are needeed. I'd love to finish this model as intended without any paint jobs. But we'll see. Thanks again both Kevin and Radek.

BR Tappi

[Tapcho]

Three days of planking, varnishing, sanding and varnishing again. Plus a lot of cosmetic surgery here and there but she's beginning to look like a ship. I had some issues with the stern mainly with the captains quarters area. The build directions suggested a tad too thick wall assembly and with that I ended having some fit issues. It was a gap between the side planking and the stern planking. Ended up adding small filler pieces but luckily those get mostly hidden under the gilded decorations. Maybe those fool the spectator too.

Other thing was the rudder. When the captains quarters we're built you assemble the rudder shaft walls too. Now that the hull was closed I notice that the angle of the shaft is wrong and that the shaft is a bit too narrow too. So the rudder had to be modified too. All done now and everything looks acceptable.

Kevins advice of varnishing and sanding gave to hull a nice wear and tear look. Pleases my eyes time being. I might end up giving it a opaque white wash in the end though. We'll see. I move on to build the deck furniture - hoping it would be more 'cut, fold and glue' joy.

BR Tappi

[Rata]

Impressive work, skill and dedication Tapcho.