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Hi Tom, Steve and John! Thanks for reading! John - I wouldnt worry about me slowing down. In fact, I imagine before to long I'll be asking you to slow down! But I agree, it will be very fun to swap notes and troubleshoot. Will this be your first build as well?

So, here we go. First kit, first build post. My kit arrived in the mail from hobbylinc.com. I haven't seen that website mentioned on here before. The shipping was prompt and the price was good. The kit ran me around $90 which included shipping to Alaska. It's rare for me to find a website that will ship to Alaska, let alone one that charges me a fair price for the shipping. Thumbs up to hobbylinc.com for that one. I haven't had the need to contact their customer service for any reason, so I can't comment on that. It is an American company, based out of Georgia. My only real complaint about the order was the packaging job. The box the kit was shipped in was just slightly too wide, and the single piece of shipping paper inside meant the kit was able to slide around quite a bit during shipping. The kit didn't show any signs of damage so it's a moot point. After opening the kit, I went through and inventoried all the parts to the best of my ability. I also poured through the instructions, 1:1 pictures, and the photo instructions. As has been stated before on this forum, the instructions from AL are a little confusing to read due to the translation. I went through and dry fit all the bulkheads and the 2 mast supports. And that's about as far as I got so far. No pictures yet, because there just isn't too much to see yet. I expect this build will take a while, and that suits me just fine. Until next time.

And purhaps Mr. HMS Bellisle has hit on the reason no kit exists. If the National Meritime Museum charges that much to an individual for a copy of the plans, I can only imagine how much licensing fees would be to a company looking to mass produce a likeness of this ship. It's unfortunate that such a wonderful piece of history isn't made more available to the public. Especially considering the original ship is forever lost.

Don't get me wrong, John. I certainly haven't ruled out a scratch build. I am completely astounded by the scratch builds that I have seen on this site. I am a complete novice in terms of ship modeling. I am anxiously awaiting my first kit to arrive in the mail, and I think that's an appropriate starting point. Eventually, I hope to be as talented as the members I've seen, but for now...baby steps. Zach

Curious. Oh well. I will keep my fingers crossed that a kit manufacturer will include this as a future design. Zach

Hi John, Thank you for the reply. Is there any particular reason no kit has been produced? It seems like it's a fairly famous ship, and possibly one of the most 'modern' exploration sailing ships at just over 100 years old. Zach

My wife and I were watching a program on PBS a couple days ago about Shackleton and his challenging jouurney to the Antarctic, and my wife commented on his ship, the Endurance. "I want a model of that ship," she says, "Do that one next." I haven't even started on my first one (supposed to arrive tomorrow, can't wait!) and she's already planning the next one! So, out of curiosity I checked the standard places for a kit, but couldn't seem to find one anywhere. Does a kit for the Endurance exist? I have no doubt, if one were so inclined he could assemble the necissary information for a scratch build, but I have neither the capability nor the skill. Zach