Airfix Endeavor

warshipguy

John,

I was in one of three LHS's a few days ago and they had two kits of the Discovery.  If you'd like, I will check the price and send you one.

As you know, I have been lobbying Airfix incessantly for several years about producing new sailing ship kits, even recommending a larger scale H.M.S Shannon. 

Anyway, allow me to second you by saying "Long live Airfix," may they give us what we need!

Bill

Bill,

Thanks much - but no thanks.  I most definitely am not a kit collector.  My embarrassingly large stash has just sort of happened over the years; I'm making no effort to collect tahe entire range of Airfix kits - or any others.  My wife would murder me if I did such a thing.

My recollection of the old Airfix Discovery is extremely vague but favorable.  (Airfix could always be relied upon to do the best it could with such subjects - given the limitations of the medium and the state of the art at the time.)  I also have pleasant memories of going on board the ship herself many, many years ago, when she was moored in the Thames near the Tower of London.  (I don't know what's happened to her since.)

She'd make a fascinating model.  I recall reading (in a magazine article somewhere or other) about one unusual feature of her rigging.  She was built and rigged with extraordinary robustness - all the latest wire rigging and iron fittings.  But mounted in her midships deckhouse was a set of extraordinarily hi-tech, sensitive navigational instruments, which could be thrown off by the presence of wire rigging.  So the rigging of the mainmast was of rope.  In modeling terms, the main rigging should look slightly disproportionately heavy.

Long live Airfix, indeed.

warshipguy

John,

I was in one of three LHS's a few days ago and they had two kits of the Discovery.  If you'd like, I will check the price and send you one.

As you know, I have been lobbying Airfix incessantly for several years about producing new sailing ship kits, even recommending a larger scale H.M.S Shannon. 

Anyway, allow me to second you by saying "Long live Airfix," may they give us what we need!

Bill

Bill,

Thanks much - but no thanks.  I most definitely am not a kit collector.  My embarrassingly large stash has just sort of happened over the years; I'm making no effort to collect tahe entire range of Airfix kits - or any others.  My wife would murder me if I did such a thing.

My recollection of the old Airfix Discovery is extremely vague but favorable.  (Airfix could always be relied upon to do the best it could with such subjects - given the limitations of the medium and the state of the art at the time.)  I also have pleasant memories of going on board the ship herself many, many years ago, when she was moored in the Thames near the Tower of London.  (I don't know what's happened to her since.)

She'd make a fascinating model.  I recall reading (in a magazine article somewhere or other) about one unusual feature of her rigging.  She was built and rigged with extraordinary robustness - all the latest wire rigging and iron fittings.  But mounted in her midships deckhouse was a set of extraordinarily hi-tech, sensitive navigational instruments, which could be thrown off by the presence of wire rigging.  So the rigging of the mainmast was of rope.  In modeling terms, the main rigging should look slightly disproportionately heavy.

Long live Airfix, indeed.

jtilley

Two kits are conspicuously missing from the list:  the paddle steamer Great Western and the Mayflower.  I've got a Mayflower; it's labeled "Series Eight."  I can't find a date anywhere on the box or the instruction sheet., but I think it dates from the mid-seventies.  Facing the table of contents page in the book is a big photo, reproduced from the company's catalog from 1976, of the entire Airfix range (or nearly all of it) as it existed in that year; the Great Western and Mayflower are near the upper left corner, between the Prince and the Victory.  So both of them were on the market by 1976. 

They both are listed on company's 1971 catalog i have. Mayflower is issued on 1971, Great Western on 1968, more info on this:

http://www.vintage-airfix.com/ships-large-scale-classic-ships-c-35_37.html

John,

I was in one of three LHS's a few days ago and they had two kits of the Discovery.  If you'd like, I will check the price and send you one.

As you know, I have been lobbying Airfix incessantly for several years about producing new sailing ship kits, even recommending a larger scale H.M.S Shannon. 

Anyway, allow me to second you by saying "Long live Airfix," may they give us what we need!

Bill

I started ths kit (in the 60s era boxing) a couple of years ago and lost steam with all of the scratch-building required to make it remotely accurate - not to mention the irremedial inaccuracies in the hull.

First task was to remove all of the "hull planking" - raised (fortunately) lines which were all horizontal and parallel with the keel. I then rescribed planking to discover that port and starboard halves of the hull are not symmetrical - distances between wales and strakes are unequal - you get to choose between unequal plank widths between hull sides for conformity in numbers of planks or constant plank widths and different counts port and starboard. I need not mention the challenge to get the planks from both halves to match at the bow.

As is expected from a kit of this era, the underwater lines were "eyeballed" - the entrance isn't bad, but the run is too "square".

There is no anchor lining on the hull. I built it up with evergreen strip.

The holes provided for the anchor cables need to be filled and hawse holes need to be drilled in their proper locations.

Hull loading and airing ports have to be added (the side hull airing ports were interpreted as windows by the mold maker- which must be replaced). Again, symmetry is an issue.

The stern lights (windows) are represented by raised lines and are all wrong - and the entire stern is missing details which must be scratch built.

Artillery is too large - between 6 and 9 pounder size - and must be replaced or scratch built (4 - pdrs).

Deck furniture (windlass, gallows, capstan, etc.)  is all waaaaay too wimpy and must be scratch built.

Hatch openings with oversized gratings are provided in lieu of the actual skylight, companionways and planked hatch covers - which must all be scratch built.

The wheel assembly, which is usually the first thing a viewer's eye is drawnt to - is properly sized, but lacking appropriate detail - the spokes are unturned cylinders.

I can continue - and I haven't even started on the rigging.

The punchline for the Endeavour is the same for most sailing era plastic kits - be prepared for a lot of frustration and scratchbuilt or purchased replacement components if you want an accurate model. I do not intend to criticize - the kit designers of the 50s and 60s did not enjoy the benefits provided by Robert Gardier, Brian Lavery, Karl Marquardt, Jean Boudriot, Rif Winfield, Peter Goodwin, David Lyon, Peter Padfield, John McKay, Ron Coleman, etc., etc.

Although the market isn't there for the kit industry to catch up, we do live in a Golden Age of ship modeling based on the ever expanding data base available to us.

If you decide to go beyond an OOB impression of Endeavour, Marquardt's Anatomy of the Ship volume on Endeavour is essential, providing Parkinson's original sketches from the voyage and photos showing the evolution of Endeavour models - along with the usual excellent drawings. Of course.

The replica Endeavour is an excellent source for modelers - I think that the builder's did a good job in the reconstruction - but more importantly, study of the photos will provide information which is usually missing from most ship models - how did the vessel look when "broken in". Surface finishes fade and flake, lines chafe and wear components -  tar preservatives change the color of rigging components and get transfered to areas of the sails. Iron corrodes in a salt water environment, and along with the grime from the decks, drainage leaves behind stains on the hull.

I'll dig through my stash and try to provide some photos of my scrastchbuilt components in between playoff games. 

ALSO:  Those with an interest in Cook's voyages should check out the Captain Cook Society at http://www.captaincooksociety.com/  

Talking about Airfix  Classic Ships some great additions would be HMS Warrior and Brunel's Great Britain both preserved ships. Or the great German training barque Herzogin Cecilie.

jtilley

I also have a vague recollection that the Endeavour was released in two, slightly different forms.  All of the several I bought had vacuum-formed "billowing" sails (made from a cream-colored plastic that was considerably heavier than what Revell was using).  But I think the original version had "furled sails" molded integrally with the yards.  I'd be curious to know whether I'm right on that point; I'm not sure where my poor old brain is getting it, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would come completely from my imagination

I can't speak for the Endeavour kit, but I vaguely (I think I was about 10 at the time) recall that Discovery had both furled and full sails on the vacformed sheet and included ratlines which were of a soft, flexible rubbery material.  (EDIT: Oops, I see you've already mentioned that "feature"...)

EPinniger

Endeavour was definitely the first of Airfix's larger-scale sailing ships (I think Victory was the second).

You can see a preview of the kit on my site here - I'll be updating the preview eventually with better quality photos, but the ones currently up give an idea of what the kit is like. The biggest problem with the kit (historic accuracy aside) is probably the solid windows on the stern + quarter galleries.

My copy of Arthur Ward's The Boy's Book of Airfix arrived yesterday.  (It was a good day for the mail:  the new FSM and the monthly flier from Squadron came too.)  I haven't had a chance to read the book  yet, but I can tell already that it's a fascinating one.

The appendix contains a list of all (well...not quite, see below) the kits Airfix produced between 1952 and 2009, by year.  I have to say the list is a little disappointing, in that it's just that - a list.  The kits are noted by name, with no notation of scale or any other attributes.  That leads to quite a bit of ambiguity.  (How many kits labeled "Spitfire" has Airfix released?  In that particular case the author does sometimes include a notation "Mk IX," "2nd Mould," or "1/48," but not always.)  It seems like it would have been useful to include the "series numbers."  (Airfix kits, in the Olde Dayes at least, were designated as belonging to "series."  The higher the series number, the higher the price.) 

I have the impression that the "Classic Ships" kits aren't among Mr. Ward's primary interests.  (They show up only rarely in the index, and there are relatively few illustrations of them.)  The potential for confusion in that genre is particularly nasty.  As us Olde Phogies know so well, Airfix made a series of tiny "Series One" ship kits (originally marketed in plastic bags), that were about six inches long or less.  In several cases the subjects in that series duplicated those of the bigger kits.  (I can think of  five off the top of my head:  the Golden HInd, Revenge, Victory, Mayflower and Great Western.  Would that the marketing forces had seen fit to do a larger version of H.M.S. Shannon!)  The little Golden Hind is, in fact, the first kit on the list, having initially released in 1952.  (I'm not sure why the famous Ferguson Tractor, from 1949, isn't on the list.)

Anyway, according to Mr. Ward's list the following are the dates of initial release for the Airfix "Classic Ship" series.

Endeavour and Sovereign of the Seas (aka Royal Sovereign):  1963

Revenge:  1964

H.M.S. Victory:  1965

Cutty Sark:  1967

H.M.S. Prince:  1968

Discovery:  1969

Wasa:  1972

St. Louis:  1973

Golden Hind:  1977

H.M.S. Bounty:  1979.

Two kits are conspicuously missing from the list:  the paddle steamer Great Western and the Mayflower.  I've got a Mayflower; it's labeled "Series Eight."  I can't find a date anywhere on the box or the instruction sheet., but I think it dates from the mid-seventies.  Facing the table of contents page in the book is a big photo, reproduced from the company's catalog from 1976, of the entire Airfix range (or nearly all of it) as it existed in that year; the Great Western and Mayflower are near the upper left corner, between the Prince and the Victory.  So both of them were on the market by 1976. 

I don't recall that I ever bought or built the Discovery, St. Louis, or Golden Hind, but I have extremely pleasant memories of all the others.  (Exception:  the Bounty.  I got a review copy of it when it was released, and I have to say it represented a step backward from the Revell kit of more than two decades earlier.)  They show their age now, of course, and I wish Airfix hadn't adopted the "dummy gun" idea, or the plastic-coated thread "shrouds and ratlines."   But when they were released they represented (with the notable exception of the aforementioned Bounty) the state of the art or something close to it.  Some of them (the Wasa comes to mind in particular) can still stand comparison with the best plastic sailing ship kits on the market. 

I think it's also worth noting that Airfix has never reissued any of those kits under any label other than its original one.  No Cutty Sark impersonating the Thermopylae, hokey "Spanish galleons," or fictitious names dreamed up to satisfy purchasers with nationalistic biases.  Just honest, reasonably accurate scale models, produced to something approaching the highest standards the industry could offer at the time.

The good news is that, of the eleven kits in the series, the newly-reborn Airfix has reissued six.  The missing ones are the Discovery, Prince, Revenge, Mayflower, and Sovereign of the Seas.  Since Airfix seems to be in good economic shape again, maybe we can hope to see those five again in the not-too-distant future.  I, for one, would be glad to see them - and if the company could be cajoled into giving us some more "Classic Ships," so much the better!  (I repeat:  an H.M.S. Shannon on a reasonably large scale would be a major addition to the market.  I could even turn a blind eye if the marketing department reissued it under the name "H.M.S. Surprise."  Or, even better, "H.M.S. Lydia.")

Long live Airfix.

I have the impression that the Australian replica is pretty good as such things go.  But any functioning, full-size ship has to comply with all sorts of standards (safety-related and otherwise) that frequently conflict with historical accuracy.  My suggestion is to get hold of a copy of the Conway "Anatomy of the Ship" volume and go from there.

I did find that book about the history of Airfix on the web:  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Boys-Book-of-Airfix/Arthur-Ward/e/9780091928988/?itm=1&USRI=boy%27s+book+of+airfix .  The price is a little steep, but a "member's discount" and free "express shipping" were irresistable; my copy is on the way.  When it comes I'll look up the sequence in which the sailing ship kits were released.

Thanks, guys, for the comments.

BTW, mention of quarter and stern windows brings up another question.  That replica that is in Australia has a number of nice photos on the net.  How accurate of a replica do you folks think it is?

I wish I had a big book with a list of all the Airfix kits, and their release dates, in it.  As I understand it, a fairly recent volume called The Boy's Book of Airfix fills the bill; it's on my wish list.

My recollection is that two Airfix "Classic Ships" turned up in the local hobby shop in Columbus, Ohio at the same time:  the Endeavour and the Sovereign of the Seas.  That would have been in the early sixties, I think.  Airfix kits at that time were bring sold in the U.S. under the "Craftmaster" label; I remember those big "Craftmaster" and "Airfix Classic" logos on the boxes.  I may be mistaken, but I think the Airfix Victory came several years later - with the Revenge, Discovery, and maybe the Great Western coming first.  But I could be mistaken about any of that; a 59-year-old memory is a dangerous thing.

I also have a vague recollection that the Endeavour was released in two, slightly different forms.  All of the several I bought had vacuum-formed "billowing" sails (made from a cream-colored plastic that was considerably heavier than what Revell was using).  But I think the original version had "furled sails" molded integrally with the yards.  I'd be curious to know whether I'm right on that point; I'm not sure where my poor old brain is getting it, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would come completely from my imagination.

Those old Airfix sailing ship kits were/are generally high-quality products (bearing in mind the state of the art when they were produced).  Some of them can still stand comparison with the best of the genre; the Airfix Wasa is one of my all-time favorite plastic sailing ship kits, and the Prince is on almost as high a level.  I just wish Airfix hadn't adopted the habit of putting "dummy" guns on lower decks.

Endeavour was definitely the first of Airfix's larger-scale sailing ships (I think Victory was the second).

You can see a preview of the kit on my site here - I'll be updating the preview eventually with better quality photos, but the ones currently up give an idea of what the kit is like. The biggest problem with the kit (historic accuracy aside) is probably the solid windows on the stern + quarter galleries.

It's not a bad old kit - but that word "old" needs to be given due weight.  If I'm not mistaken it was the very first of Airfix's "Classic Ships," originating in the mid- to late fifties.  I built it several times when I was (much) younger; I haven't seen it in the flesh for many years, but my recollection is that it was basic but sound.  The basis for a serious scale model is certainly there.

It's occurred to me more than once that it would make a nice companion piece for the Revell H.M.S. Bounty.  They're on almost exactly the same scale, are similar in size, and, obviously, closely related in terms of their histories.  Some of the Endeavour's crew figures, in fact, made their way into the complements of the models of the Bounty and the frigate Hancock that I built quite a few years ago ( http://www.hmsvictoryscalemodels.be/johntilleygallery.htm ).  The Revell Captain Bligh and the Airfix Captain Cook are standing side by side on both quarterdecks.

Since the kit was originally released a great deal of new research about the Endeavour has been done.  Robert Lightley did a beautiful, large-scale, cutaway model of her for the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich - and, as I remember, wrote up the project extensively for Model Shipwright.  (I'd have to do some digging to find the dates.)  And there's a volume about her in the Conway Anatomy of the Ship series.  If I were doing a model of her I'd certainly try to get hold of a copy of that book.  And, of course, even more recently than that a full-size reproduction of her has been built.  I suspect the people responsible for the reproduction may have dug up yet more information about her.

My guess is that the biggest weaknesses in the Airfix kit are omissions rather than outright errors.  But I'm confident that, with some effort, it could be turned into a beautiful model.

Good luck.