RESTORATION OF HMB ENDEAVOUR...A look at the process of a typical restoration

The model was presented to us as a well carved, well sparred and rigged replica of the ship sailed by Captain Cook to chart the oceans and coast of the ‘New World’
The model has been painted in the colours of the replica ship lying in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
 Our commission was to strip the hull of all new paint and return it to its original varnished natural timber with dark brown painted bulwarks, stern and sacrificial keel.

Unfortunately the paint that had been used was plastic based acrylic household variety and therefore extremely difficult to remove as sanding with a Dremel melted the paint and clogged our sanding flip wheels.

Therefore we had to hand scrape the hull etc. Thus adding much time to the prep job.

Worse was to follow when we found the end grain areas fore and aft had areas of rot that hadn’t been cured prior to painting. This resulted in deep penetration of paint into the grain areas of soft wood. Had clear epoxy sealant been applied prior to painting these problems would in the main been avoided.
On completing our stripping of the hull we found areas of rot had been filled with grey epoxy filler. These areas have had to stay as and are apparent under our varnish.
My comments here sound depressing but luckily most of the paint penetration and rot is concentrated in the bow and stern and the main sides of long grain present well.

The two plastic ships boats were removed and we carved a new long boat from Australian cedar.

The stern gallery and port and starboard cabin windows were repainted and gilded as per Captain Cook’s instructions when he commissioned her. This work was carried out at his own expense.

All the plastic blocks have been black painted. It was customary at that period when navigating the tropics to apply a tar solution to stop rot.

The printed red ensign and Union Jack were removed and we printed new ones of the correct size of design.

The aim of any restoration and conservation of a model is to keep as much the original work and patina of aging as possible. This we have done and the model presents well and has, I believe, lost little of its original model maker’s individual craftsmanship.