Kevin Kestel remembers stopping to look at the magnificent model ships in the travel agency shop windows of Perth in the 1940s.
Working as a butcher in William Street, he knew one day he would take the time to build his own.
Now at 86-years-old he has put the finishing touches on a scale model of HMS Endeavour, the ship that carried Lieutenant James Cook on his voyage of discovery to Australia between 1769 and 1771.
The job of building the 1m high model ship from scratch took him three years.
Mr Kestel carved every piece of wood by hand and tied each of the 2000 minuscule knots of the model’s shrouds (the rope ladders running from the hull up the masts).
“You can build a bigger one, but they’re actually easier,” he said.
“I’m quite proud of it, I suppose.”
Mr Kestel said his next project would be a scale model of the Duyfken, after the replica recently berthed in Mandurah.
“I wouldn’t mind getting the Duyfken, if I could get some decent photos of it to make a plan,” he said.
Nathan Hondros
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
