Dear Folks,
I have started the build of Amati's kit of the Endeavour "J" racing yacht. The 1934 UK cup challenger at a scale of 1:35. This will be a static build, as I am looking for a large sailboat model to act as a visual divider between my living and family rooms. Currently, I have a tramp steamer model on display at that location. With a hull length of 48", beam of over 9" and mast height from deck to top of mast of 5ft. The kit provides very good details in wood, brass PE, brittania metal fittings and full set of sails. She should be an impressive model providing that I can do justice to the build. The frames, keelsons, deck beams, etc. are computer laser cut from 1/4" thick sheets of birtch ply. I have started the build with the bow, or stem section of the hull, mounting and gluing bulkhead frames to keel. The hull will be assembled in 3 sections and then joined, primarily with deck beams. Then the hull will be double planked with lime wood, then mahogany as final layer. I have just finished the bow section, finding the fit to be very tight, which required a long process of sanding and fitting. The laser cutting is very precise and the frame goes together tight and straight. I must decide if I want to install balsa backing between the frames to provide a better platform for laying down planks and sanding the frame edges true to the proper hull curve. I see many hours of work ahead of me, but it is nothing I haven't done before and sure love the process of a build like this. I am really enjoying working with a large scale model and its a nice break from small scale work that I am more used to. Well, enough blab, I do hope you folks will enjoy this build as much as I'm hoping to. Regards, Dennis