James H

1:65 HMS Endeavour Artesania Latina Catalogue # 22520 Available from Artesania Latina for €231.40 History HMS Endeavour was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, with the Navy purchasing her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land". Commissioned as His Majesty's Bark Endeavour, she departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun. She then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the islands of Huahine, Bora Bora, and Raiatea west of Tahiti to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain. In September 1769, she anchored off New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasman's Heemskerck 127 years earlier. In April 1770, Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay. Endeavour then sailed north along the Australian coast. The ship was largely forgotten after her Pacific voyage, spending the next three years hauling troops and cargo to and from the Falkland Islands. She was renamed in 1775 after being sold into private hands and used to transport timber from the Baltic. Rehired as a British troop transport during the American War of Independence, she was finally scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island in 1778. Relics from Endeavour are displayed at maritime museums worldwide, including an anchor and six of her cannon. A replica of Endeavour was launched in 1994 and is berthed alongside the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney Harbour. The NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour was named after this ship, as was the command module of Apollo 15, which took a small piece of wood from Cook's ship into space, and the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule C206 was christened Endeavour during Demo-2. Abridged extract from Wikipedia The kit Firstly, this kit bears no relation to the Endeavour kit of years gone by. This is a totally new development in that the construction is entirely different….different parts, methodology etc. Artesania, simply put, are not the same company from those years ago, but the new owners have taken on a lot of the old inventory while also developing entirely new releases, such as Endeavour, Vasa, and Soleil Royale etc. The Endeavour kit that is available today should not be viewed with a connection to the past. Artesania Latina has designed this new kit using the research available to them, and by studying the full-size replica which resides in Australia. They have also incorporated into it the ability to fit it out with their LED lantern set, by means of adding the various holes needed to thread cables. That set is a separate purchase to the kit, but we have it here and will show it as a separate article. The one thing which does have the original Artesania feel to it is the glossy, tough box that these kits are still packaged in. Artesania’s on-shelf presentation is as nice as it ever was. Inside the box, all parts are initially bundled within a large, cellophane wrapping. Remove this and you’ll find the timber and metal parts are within another wrap, and all of the timber strip bundles are also wrapped, as well as held together with an elastic wrap, which I quite like. Note that the planks are supplied as half-lengths, so not full bow to stern. Also there are the familiar Artesania Latina clear plastic fittings boxes. These are just a few on-bench images before I opened things up properly. Timber strip Artesania's timber strips are definitely of a nice quality, being consistent in thickness and width. As I've stated, the hull planking is supplied as halves. My measurements show this to be 2mm x 5mm x 300mm lime strip. That's quite thick stuff to get around that very bluff hull, so I suggest you soak these beforehand, or use another tool such as a plank nipper to manipulate the material. Plenty of material is supplied for this. In fact, four whole bundles. There's no apparent stringiness or rough surface. This is just as well as Endeavour is SINGLE PLANKED! In a world where POF tend to be double planked, Artesania has bucked the trend with this. The 2mm wood should give the modeller plenty of leeway when it comes to sanding things, but getting the hull fairing right is very important. I also have to say at this point that the only part of the hull in which actual timber will be shown is a band around the width, the wale, which is given another layer of 0.5mm x 5mm strip unidentified timber. The rest of the hull above and below this is entirely painted. The quality of the remaining timber strip and dowel are as good as the lime, with no splitting, fraying, rough cut edges or any other defect. Wooden parts EIGHT sheets of plywood parts are supplied with Endeavour, in various thicknesses. All parts are cleanly laser cut and the material in my sample has no warping. I know some of the older AL kits had a strange spongy core to their ply, but this appears to be replaced with good quality ply in the new kits. One thing I did notice is that the single-hole rigging blocks are supplied as laser cut parts, for some reason, and you need to drill your hole in them. Not too keen on that idea. Here's the parts to show you the standard to expect in Endeavour: These are single-hole rigging blocks (above) There are a few things of particular note here. The bulkheads are not as you would normally see. These are made up from several parts which create what is more of a frame than a bulkhead. The parts also are joined by a dovetail. The stand is actually designed to accommodate, should you wish, an LED illumination module. AL have sent us one of these and I'll shortly post a review. All external keel parts are also in ply instead of solid timber, presumably because they completely painted. Two ship's boats are included, built up from frames that sit on a jig. All parts are also laser etched with numbers, and a parts plan is also included in paper form. Photo Etch This single sheet of photo etch appears to be a stainless finish, or at least not nickel plated, to my eyes. The quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a contemporary manufacturer, in that the etchings are clean, detailed and the connection tabs are slight so should be easy to cut through. Just remember that any PE part will need the connection nub filing down before fitting. You are also advised to use a decent quality etching primer so your paint can get a proper grip. On here you will see parts for the stern, chainplates, windlass etc. Fittings Two trays of fittings are supplied. The larger one contains some 0.25 rigging rope, brass wire, cannon, swivel guns, cast anchors, eyelets, pins and various other cast metal parts. The smaller box contains hawse cable, turned wooden capstan, deadeyes, larger rigging blocks, metal tube, eyelets, parral beads etc. Flags Endeavour also comes with some flags. These are a sort of plasticised material. You may want to source something a little thinner for your model. Rigging Cord A further pack of rigging cord is supplied in a clear blister pack, in black and natural. Sizes can be seen in this photo. Sails I've never been a fan of fitting sails to ships, but in case you wish to, then AL have supplied a full set for you which are nicely sewn from a material which is off-white in colour. There are no bolt ropes on these, so you may want to sew your own onto them. Templates Two sheets of paper templates are included. These are to lie onto the completed hull in order to provide locations for cutouts and other details such as wales etc. Instructions As mentioned in our Santa Maria build, AL kits do not come with any printed instructions or plans. The latter, quite frankly, isn’t needed due to the sheer depth of information in the electronic instructions. The manual comes on a DVD and is over FIVE-HUNDRED pages long! That would of course pose a logistical problem and extra cost for Artesania to include. It also poses a logistical problem for the modeller who will need the means to read the electronic manual at their workbench. Some computers, like my MacBook, don’t have a DVD drive. In instances like that, you can always go to the Artesania site and download the entire manual and save to either your internal drive or to a USB pen drive. Artesania’s instructions are very much full-on, in that nothing is left to the imagination. Every single stage is clearly illustrated and annotated with clear part numbers and symbols to declare whether something needs gluing or not. If you want to see the whole manual, click HERE. Here’s a few images from the manual, just to give you an idea: Conclusion Artsania's new Endeavour kit is most definitely a different beast from the original one from many years ago, and AL obviously aren't too worried about mixing things up a little and incorporating ideas from contemporary kit designs. I would definitely not recommend this kit for a beginner, simply because of the single-planked hull. I would like to have seen that done from at least two 1mm layers, so care will be needed to make sure you prepare the hull before you start to lay any planks. There are some very nice touches, such as the windlass with its folded metal body and brass gearing. Another things I would change would be the laser-cut single rigging blocks. They really do need to be replaced with proper rigging blocks. Artesania still know hoe to play to their target market, as this kit clearly shows, and the introduction of these new designs to their range is very welcome. Other new designs are their Soleil Royale and Vasa, constructed in roughly the same manner. It's wonderful to see Artesania Latina back at being a player within our hobby. I cut my model shipwrighting teeth on AL kits, so have that fondness for them. My sincere thanks to Artesania Latina for the sample looked at here. To buy this kit, head off to the link at the top of this page, or contact your local hobby supplier for availability. ALSO available for this kit: HMS Endeavour figure set Available from Artesania Latina for €20.65 This is a set of 14 crew figures for Endeavour, comprising of crew, some with separate arms etc. and also some PE parts for ship navigation instruments and ensign. Note also the extra metal parts which contain more arm parts for holding the supplied rifles. Casting is nice for this scale, and colour notes are supplied on the reverse of packet.

Nice to see L'Hermione out again.

Please remember that not everyone has the time, inclination or workshop space to produce the parts needed to scratch build. I know I don't. That's why I'm happy to work on quality kits. I sometimes feel that there are folks on MSW that look down both on kits, and those that build them.

Personally, I prefer pictures. With a video, you have to take time to watch it instead of scrolling images. If I see a video log, I tend to ignore it.

Here's some box art for you.

Will you be building this kit as a build log?

Saucy Jack is now complete, and it's a short break from the cave before I head back in to work on Ranger. Here are the finals. Hope you like them. Chris is now compiling the manual and box art, so it won't be too long now before this will be on sale.

The Endeavour will be online within the next week too

Wonderful stuff, and I like the breeze effect on those sails 👍

Just a quick, interim update before completion in the next days. Saucy Jack is probably one of the easiest boats to rig, even with the shrouds and rats. Very little timber work on mast/spars too. Here are a couple of the parts I made for this, ready for rigging blocks. The bowsprit is now added. The sails are first dyed in liquid RIT dye (Tan) and left in for a little longer than normal. I wanted these fairly light to suit the white hull underside and pear wood colours. Too much contrast would've hurt my eyes. Jack is finally masted and her full size is now clear. Yes, she's quite dinky! Proper rigging starts with the shroud lines wrapped around the masthead. And then tied off via 3mm deadeyes. I told you it was only a small update! More very soon when she's fully complete.

I've increased it to 200kb Some sites I'm a member of only allow 10k for a pic (!!!!) and max size of about 50px x 50px 🤪

Welcome to a fellow northerner. I love Manchester. Lower Turks at Shudehill is one of my favourites, and the Vine on Kennedy Street. 🍺

Cheers. It's been a lovely build too. I think I added another update just after that, while you were posting. Hull final pic shown. Here's the wood grain technique from the instructions I did for the VM ship's boats.

And onto today's second part of my update. I do it this way now so there aren't 30 - 40 pics in one post. The companionway is a nice, simple assembly. Nothing difficult to fathom here. The rudder can now be permanently fitted, and the tiller shaped and glued into place. PE rudder hinge straps are now painted and glued into place with CA gel. The channels on Jack are very narrow, and engraved lines on them indicate where you need to drill through and insert shortened brass pins for some extra strength. I also deepen the engraved holes on the upper rails, going into the bulwarks about a millimetre or so. The channels are then glued into place. Notice the area on rail left unpainted, where the engraved position was given. That was masked while painting the rails, so there's a good, clean gluing connection. Jack's stern frieze is now painted white and glued into the green panel. Jack's bowsprit is roughly parallel to the bottom of the keel/waterline. As the bowsprit is from 4mm dowel, I used a 3mm piece, wrapped in some sandpaper, and used the bowsprit post as a guide for sanding down the gunwale and bulwark to accommodate it. A simple task that took no more than a couple of minutes. Other ironwork is now fitted, such as the bulwark cleats, eyelets and belaying pins. 3mm deadeyes are now fitted to the chainplates and secured to hull. The brass pins will then be painted over (not shown on these pics). Saucy Jack's completed hull! Next up will be masting and rigging.

Another update.. This time, it's finally fitting out the hull before masting. This is where things, for me at least, come together quickly as I've already made the deck fittings, during the early stages of this build. That's the sort of stuff I do between gluing frames and planks. Here you see the fishing hatches from the previous update, now fitted. Then the belaying rack, mast base and eyelets in situ. Then the forward hatch is built and fitted. The windlass on Jack is supplied as a 3D printed part and looks very nice. The windlass side posts are designed to trap the 3D part, allowing a little freedom for things to move so you can properly and evenly mount the assembly to the deck. The drum would've been wood, so this was painted with Tamiya Desert Yellow, then oil paint dragged with Raw Umber and Raw Sienna, creating a grain effect. With the windlass mounted, the bowsprit post knee and base are added. The windlass pawl is also fitted to the bowsprit post, made from PE. The capstan on Jack is quite small compared with the other fishers. Please ignore the last picture where it's popped apart slightly at the top.

So pleased to have Artesania Latina with us on MSW. They really are the company who started me in this hobby, and by that token, responsible for MSW today.

A quick update! Work progressed on the lower hull. Sanding, filling, priming....repeat! Once the hull was unmasked, it was masked again for the upper bulwarks. I used Tamiya Flat Green for this, applied with an airbrush. This stuff applies real nice and seems like the sort of shade that working boats would've used. ...then the engraved wales. The align with the lowest etched line on bulwark, and is designed to nicely had the transition from bulwark to planking (plus any resulting pin holes!) ...then the upper rails. Again these fit in the narrow band just under the painted bulwarks. ....then lastly the gunwales. These are applied and then the rear gunwale is fitted separately. Belaying racks are now fitted. A small break from hull work now as the fish hatches and grating is assembled. Ok, more in a few days when hull will be fitted and totally complete.

Instead of Fair-a-Frame, just consider burning your money. A total waste of time.

You are 100% correct.

No wonder you struggled getting contact. That country hasn't existed since 1992 😆

With the null now planked, the MDF bulkhead ears can be removed. These are twisted and snapped off with pliers before any remnants are sanded flush with the deck. I found the maple deck to fit perfectly with no adjustment needed. This is gently bend before being glued into place. LOTS (!!) of clamps were used to hold it down around the edges so nothing decided to lift while the glue set. The inside waterway and timberhead parts were now added. The position for these two parts is engraved on the inner bulwark. There are no individual timberheads to bother you on this kit. A sanding stick is now drawn over the bulwark top edges, levelling and evening the surfaces. A waterline is now referenced from the drawings, and applied to the hull. Everything above this is now masked off and below, it's filled with dilute acrylic filler. More soon!

For the first planking, you could, if you wish, split the planks into halves to make it easier. You'll also need to start tapering very early on in this process. As is now the norm, the keels are faced with pear, creating a rebate into which the second layer planks will sit. This demarcation takes a lot of guesswork out of this process. Second layer planking is also in pear. Before planking, the outer, lower counter is added. This is first soaked and allowed to dry while clamped/taped to the hull. When thoroughly dry, it's then glued into place. The stern board is now fitted. The 'windows' will be removed later in the build. The outer planking starts with the addition of the upper bulwarks. These are glued and pinned into place. The position of the pins (shown), means the holes will eventually be covered by the wales. Second layer of planks now complete. These are added with CA gel and tapered/edge-bevelled so they fit as closely as possible to each other. I have added some as halves, but only in the lower area as this will be painted over. Before sanding, the engraved portion of the bulwarks is masked off, protecting that detail. She's most definitely looking the part now.

Time for an update. Fairing Saucy Jack is a breeze and seemed to take me less time that Fifie, Eyrcina, Nisha and Zulu. Dead simple. Just use something similar to a sanding stick and allow the material to curve over the bulkheads as you sand. Check a plank at intervals, to make sure you have maximum surface contact area to the bulkheads. A few of close-ups of the faired hull. The lower, inner counter on this fisher, is cut from a thin, maple veneer. This allows it to band around the curves very easily. This was now glued and taped/clamped while it set. The keel is a 3-part construction, with the prow and lower keel being fitted first. The rudder post will be left until after planking, so the tail end of the planks can be properly shaped to the MDF end. The sides of the maple counter are now sanded flush with the hull sides so there are no protrusions. Jack's bulwarks are single-piece items, with the lower engraved line being the one you need to align with the top of the ply deck. Get that right, and you'll have no problems here. Each bulwark was glued and pinned into place until dry. No glue was used above the deck though, as those MDF ears will eventually be removed.

I use Gorilla CA gel, straight from the bottle. The tip is fine enough to apply nice, small dots along the planks with some consistency.

That really is just gorgeous. I think you populated the deck perfectly.