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[Edward Pinniger]

I recently found a small wood kit of the J-class yacht "Endeavour" (1934); the kit is quite basic but I thought with the help of some reference material it would be easy to improve. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find any good photos of either the real boat (still sailing) or the Amati wood kit. All I can find are some very low-res photos of built Amati models, and a few photos of (very inaccurate) ready-built wood models.
Can anyone help? I'm reluctant to buy a set of plans (if they're available?) for a small static model bought for £1.50! - a few reasonably high-res photos of a built model should be sufficient to work out the fittings locations and rigging plan.

[DickyD]

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oramsmarineservices.co.nz/media/10374/endeavour-wip-page_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oramsmarineservices.co.nz/projects/endeavour.aspx&usg=__GHhpcpV-cdfZFNapFDkoenLVGz8=&h=452&w=700&sz=102&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=Jinq-XF2jlAy9M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJ-class%2Byacht%2B%2522Endeavour%2522%2B%281934%29%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

http://www.ultimatesail.com/JClass/1934-GBR-JCL-401.html

[mjed]

I too am really into the J Class and was really disappointed to find so little in the UK. Then I stumbled upon some really great stuff in the USA and folowing contact now have a site with 48" models on there. I Have got a Guy, Bob Underwood to agree to make me a 58" hull. Though it doesn't have the true elegant lines of the J, it is a compromise to get it to sail well.

Here are some links you may find interesting
http://www.pmycsail.com/catalog_1.html
http://www.jclassyachts.com/index.html
http://www.ludwigrcyachts.com
http://www.mjed.co.uk/jclassmodelyacht.html, follow my link to see if I can get a hull and let me have any other pictures anyone has or plans, close ups to help us nail these fabulous yachts as kits.

Mike

[Bradley]

Hi Mike,
Nice to see that you have joined Mayhem.   I would point out that Bob Underwood might be very unlikely to take on any more build projects, which is a shame as his hulls are beautiful.  You have already seen the photo of my hull but here it is for the benefit of Mahemmers -


Derek.   

[tigertiger]

John Dowd (JayDee) has a section of his website on his J Class Endeavour
http://www.john-dowd.co.uk/

[Bradley]

If anyone else is interested in this style of yacht (not just 'J' Class) they should have a look at a series of articles entitled 'Classic Sail', in Marine Modelling magazine, February to May, 1999, and June, 2000, using Bob Underwood hulls.  Bob used to have a large section in the 'bridgeboats' website but that has now disappeared.  It would be a great shame if his hulls and his moulding skills were lost as I know that he is rather reluctant to do any moulding at the moment as he wishes to concentrate on his model engineering interests.

Derek.

[roycv]

Hi Edward, I have posted 2 pictures of my Endeavour sailing.  She is built from the Amati 1 :35 kit giving a model about 1 metre loa.
Quite a lot of effort to convert from static to working, but the kit is very good and all laser cut.
If you want to PM me I can give you more info.
regards Roy

[roycv]

Hi Here is the other picture.
Roy

[Bradley]

Some interesting sites you have posted, Mike, especially the 'ludwigrcyachts'.   Pity they don't give any prices (apart from masts) but I should think that the hulls themselves are expensive and to ship them from the States would be prohibitive.

Derek.

[JayDee]

Hello,

The Links posted in this thread are pretty much all there is about the Endeavour to be found on the Web.
When I started building my Endeavour I was amazed just how little info was available.

The J Class models in the USA are mostly out and out racing boats, some are true scale.
Larry Ludwig sells Hulls, but expect to pay around £600 for one made and delivered to the UK.

The real Endeavour has been "Restored" by Elizabeth Meyer, at a cost of £6 million and now looks like a Christmas tree, with winches all over the deck, the rest of the deck is covered with ventilator cowls.

I am try to make a copy of the Original 1934 boat, which had FAR fewer winches and NO cowls !!.
The 1934 boat had no Teak, it was planked with Pine, because Pine is much lighter than Teak.
After all, it was a Racing Boat !.

John.  

www.john-dowd.co.uk

[kiwimodeller]

On one of the American sites posted above you will see mention of "the Canterbury J Class" being sold in the USA. These come from the Christchurch (New Zealand) Model Yacht club. Their website is :-
http://www.canterbury-j-class.org.nz/ The hulls are 48" long and all are made from the same mould. Mine is number 169 and I am sure they have made quite a few more since then. We have three sailing at our local lake and a couple more under construction. To me they are the ideal hull being large enough to be able to be sailed in a reasonable breeze but still small enough to transport reasonably easily. I dont know how the Americans handle and transport their 96" examples, The hull and lead for the keel are reasonably priced from the Christchurch club, equivalent to about 70pounds and they can also put purchasers in touch with club members who sell masts, sails and rigging. Presumably anyone in the U K wanting one would have the same problem as I have when ordering hulls from the the U K - that is that the freight costs more than the hull but if anybody is interested I would be willing to check it out, perhaps we could do a contra and I could send a J Class to someone who could procure and ship a Models by Design or Kingston Mouldings hull to me? Cheers, Ian.

[Bradley]

Many thanks for your input, Kiwimodeller.  I have just got around to having a look at the 'canterbury-j-class' website and found it very interesting, including fairly comprehensive build instructions for one of their 'J' Class models which will come in useful when I start on my boat, even though it is not a 'J'.
I think that it would work out quite expensive to buy one of the Canterbury boats for shipping to UK as the kit is $600 (NZD) which, I believe, works out at about £270 (GBP) and then there are the shipping and import costs.

Derek.

[kiwimodeller]

Derek I would have to go back and have a look at what they are offering now as the full kit was not available when I bought mine. I just got a hull plus the lead keel and a book of rules plus a CD on how to build for the equivalent of about 67pounds plus freight. I made my own ply deck and wooden mast and spars, bought some fittings and made others and bought a Hi Tec winch and rudder servo. I often referred to the Classic Sail series in MMI. I thought the whole thing worked out very economical but of course the freight to the UK might still be a killer. If two people wanted hulls it might help. I bought a 55" hull from Kingston Mouldings recently and freight  to NZ was 155pounds but when I put a second one in the box it only went up to 165pounds. I guess the freight the other way would be similar. Regards, Ian.

[Bradley]

Many thanks, Ian.  I don't need any more boats at the moment as I am up to the gunwhales with 'em , but your suggestion of multiple boats in the same order would be the way to go, especially with hulls only (and possibly fittings) where they can be stacked inside each other and boxed for shipping.
Best wishes,
Derek.

[roycv]

Hi all, the current full size Endeavour sits about a foot (300 mms) lower in the water with the luxury fitting out and she has a big propeller which I think intrudes into the rudder.
regards Roy

[a3nige]

http://cmnc.hippocampe.free.fr/page.php?lang=FR&id_page=endeavour

Scroll down this page for some good photos of a 1/10th Endeavour,
The site is French.

Nige

[Bradley]

Quote by a3nige -

Scroll down this page for some good photos of a 1/10th Endeavour

Nice one, Nige .  This looks like it may be one of those mentioned in the American website - 'ludwigrcyachts' (above).
What a beauty but I'll bet that it's a problem getting it into the back of the car.

Derek.

[mjed]

What model is the blue hulled Endeavour 07 picture above? Is this the nz model? It looks beautiful. I'm really pleased with the number of replies to this thread on the J Class and look forward to more information appearing. can anyone help with how to achieve the really great planking of the US model? http://www.mjed.co.uk/J%20Hull%205.JPG
There are apparently a number of 16 foot models appearing in France and doubtless being adopted in the USA. Too big for me I'm afraid!

[Bradley]

Here is another website worth having a look at -

http://www.ec12.org/

It is for the American EC12 which is a model of the full size 12 metres.  It seems to have caught on in America but has not reached the UK yet.

I must say that the 'hippocampe' website (above) is well worth a look at as this French club has all kinds of models from yachts to motor to steam.  Pity they don't come over to Warwick with some of their models.

Derek.

[tony23]

this is one to drool over!    http://www.classicsailboatmodels.com/endeavour.htm

[Edward Pinniger]

Thanks to all for the advice, photos + links! Sorry for not replying earlier, after originally posting I'd given up hope of finding any references for Endeavour (as I might have mentioned earlier, web searches just turn up either photos of the Amati kit box art, or pre-built wooden display models of very dubious accuracy).

Certainly some very impressive models of Endeavour out there - roycv's working model built from the Amati kit looks great. At 1m long it's certainly a good size for R/C, though waterproofing a plank-on-frame model might be tricky (given that sailing yachts need to be a lot more watertight than powered models, especially the deck/hull join and deck openings).

My kit definitely isn't the 1/35 Amati one, but a very simple Constructo "junior" kit, basically a solid wood hull, masts and cloth sails along with some metal fittings and bits of wood for the deck details. Not much but probably worth the £1.50 I paid for it in a charity shop! It measures 25cm overall making the scale 1/140. With a weighted keel, it might be buildable as a free-sailing pond yacht (not that I'm going to attempt this!) but the solid hull would make R/Cing near-impossible even for the most skilled "Footy" enthusiast.

[konewone]

J Class is my favorite also spent lot of time looking for good plans that have been correctly scaled from orginal plans to sail properly & finally found them "FREE" which was an extra bonus, there are full plans including sail plan for Enterprise plans not Endeavour sorry & also your find full plans for Tuiga, Hope it is helpful for some-one

Downloads here under vintage & J-Class http://www.nonsolovele.com/Plans&Models.shtml

Cheers K1

[JayDee]

Hello,

 Just had a mail from Larry Ludwick, ref shipping J Class hulls to the UK.

Quote ;
 "We have a guy looking to ship a hull to the UK (London) if you want in... you would cut the shipping cost in half... if you find another guy interested in getting a hull... the shipping cost would get down right decent."
**********
As mentioned earlier in this thread, the shipping cost are very high for a single hull, so here is a rare chance to really cut some costs.
Anyone interested should contact Larry,  [email protected]

John. 
 

[snowwolflair]

AMATI kit converted to radio