Many thanks again Mark!

OK then, I made it! As usual touch and go at the end and I was so occupied with getting the thing made up I didn’t take as many photos as I should have but I’ll try to include all the procedures taken in this final instalment.
Photo 7 illustrates the barrels under construction following on from the moulds I made last time. From left to right there is a ‘bare’ resin casting, this one was using my old DWR resin which has now gone past its ‘use before date’, the detail produced is still pretty good but the part you can’t see underneath is very porous like a sponge, the actual solid barrels were made with exactly the same type of resin, just a younger bottle! Two of those are shown next in line during the painting procedure. I found it far easier to leave the ‘stub’ of resin in place to use as a handle, cutting that off at the end and sanding then painting the end piece separately. The barrels were first painted with Vallejo Tan Yellow acrylic and once dry brushed over with Vallejo Wood Grain, first around the barrel with a small soft brush and then up and down with a larger slightly stiffer brush to produce the wood effect. Once that was dry (sort of, time was short) the iron bands or hoops were painted in with my smallest brush using Mig Satin Black. The last two white barrels were cast in the same moulds using the DWR Roto Resin, the one you pour in and slosh around the inside of the mould turning it all the while until the resin begins to cure. This then produces a hollow barrel. The one with the plug attached would be the barrel laying on its side, the opened one laying on its side had a blemish underneath but this one was cut and sanded down at an angle, removing the underside for a half buried barrel in the sand. All of the barrels in the diorama were attached with two-part epoxy glue, the sunken half barrel had the epoxy applied thickly around the bottom with fresh beach sand sprinkled over to hide the glue.
The start of the base nameplate is shown in Photo 8. This is essentially the same procedure as the nameplates I’ve been making for the Chindit figure and since I haven’t actually got that far in his diary, this is a bit of a spoiler alert! The plate itself was cut from a sheet of 2mm plasticard and the edge framing, unlike the Chindit version with its square edging is composed of Plastruct 1.5mm quarter round styrene strip as it gives a more 18th century feel to the plate. Once the edging was done I used a 1mm flat strip cut to length and placed into the bottom part of the frame up against the edging to form a spacer. I then used a pack of Slaters 8mm plastic letters to form the title “Endeavour Reef 1770” as shown in Photo 9. The letters were fixed in place with just three tiny drops of Deluxe Card Glue, they only need to be attached to the plate long enough and secure enough to form the silicone mould to cast the nameplate in resin. Once the resin plate is done I can remove the letters and re-use them on other nameplates in the future (skinflint modelling at its best!) The little square pieces shown here are to glue on the back of the plate just for something to grip the plasticene mould floor in the next step shown in Photo 10. This is a very simple one piece mould, just mix the rubber and cover the plate but without those square pegs the plate would just float up in the liquid rubber. After the silicone had cured (not long in this heatwave) I mixed enough resin to fill the plate impression and very quickly used a cocktail stick to trace along the letters under the resin. This forces out any air trapped in the troughs and produces a good casting. The final result is shown in Photo 11, Almost perfect except for the ‘e’ in reef but not worth bothering over. The resin plate was then sanded smooth on the sides and rear and then given a coat of matt black aerosol primer before brush painting it with Vallejo Bright Bronze. When that was completely dry I then gave the whole painted surface a wash of Citadel Skaven Brown Ink, allowing it to collect around the raised letters and when that had dried I then carefully re-painted the letters in the Bright Bronze again to make them stand out more.
Mr Mandibles the shark started off in light yellow plastic, you might have noticed I didn’t include the Great White – it was getting crowded enough in there! The first task was to drill a hole into his underbelly and fix a 0.5mm brass rod into him to use as a fixing point and a handle whilst painting. I also drilled out and finished with a red hot needle the corners of his mouth to take the anchor cable rope later. He was first given a coat of Grey Primer aerosol before airbrushing Revell Matt White acrylic to the underside. This ‘splodged’ a little on one side so I then airbrushed the top and sides with Vallejo Sky Grey to even it out. Then adding the Mig Satin Black to the grey mix I progressively darkened his fins and tail before drybrushing Revell Matt White on the tip of the dorsal fin to create the ‘White Tipped Reef Shark’ actually this is WTRS Rex as he’s twice the size of the real thing in this scale! The gills were darkened with Citadel Shadow Black Ink and the mouth and teeth painted and washed. The short length of cable was glued into the right hand side of the mouth and the shark was then fixed in place on the diorama, his brass rod fitting into a previously drilled hole through the solid resin barrel before it was glued in place. I then attached the other part of the cable secured to the anchor to his mouth.
The last pieces of jettisoned debris were the cast iron ballast weights made from Plastruct 2mm square rod painted with gloopy Citadel Bolt Gun Metal and washed over with Skaven Brown Ink and a couple of iron barrel hoops – I wanted more but only had a four inch length of brass strip left. This was coiled around a metal hole punch producing just a couple of rings which were then blackened before gluing in place.
And finally, all that technicolour coral life! This was bought on Ebay from ‘serious-play’, a bag of Autumn colour lichen foliage and a smaller bag of coloured foam rubber pieces which I think are intended to stick to tree armatures, the cost for both was just a couple of pounds. The little coral ‘buds’ were glued to the rocks with Woodland Scenics scenic cement – a very watery pva based glue applied by a small brush to the rocks and then picking up suitable bits of foam rubber coral on the same brush and placing them in position. Once where I wanted them (or wherever they wanted to go) a second brush of cement fixed them in position. The larger lichen coral growths were pulled off the larger lichen branches and fixed in place with Deluxe Card Glue. Oh, and finally finally, the stones scattered about are not a part of the reef – they are also ballast from Endeavour's hold and bilges – a part of the Great Barrier Reef was formed in the volcanoes of England!
So there you have it – I enjoyed this short return to the joys of wooden modelling and I haven’t played with plastic toy sharks for many years!
Hope you all enjoyed the diary too!

Best of luck to everyone!

Robin.

Hi Robin,
I admire your attention to detail especially around the truncation straps and your unique setting.
Good luck.
Kind regards,
Garth