Meet Steve Mulvey, he built a 5ft model of HMS Endeavour in his living room! (From Bournemouth Echo)

Meet Steve Mulvey, he built a 5ft model of HMS Endeavour in his living room!

11:00am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News By Jim Durkin

VICTORY NEXT: Former bus driver Steve Mulvey has built a 5ft model of HMS Endeavour in his sitting room in a bid to become self-employed

AN unemployed enthusiast hopes to carve out a living as a model shipwright with help from Captain Cook’s historic HMS Endeavour.

Steve Mulvey wants his hand-built scale replicas of Cook’s galleon to kickstart a small online business and turn his life around.

The 47-year-old constructed his first five-and-a-half foot Endeavour model more than a year ago. Now he’s working on a number of different sized versions of the same ship.

Steve, who lost his job as a bus driver in 2007, told the Daily Echo how he’d struggled to find continuous employment in recent years.

“But I’d been making models since I was a kid so thought it could be something I could do to become self-employed,” he explained.

Steve wants to sell his models through a website so he can start building versions of another iconic galleon – HMS Victory.

He said: “Some of the Endeavour models are quite big.

“Currently they’re at my Parkstone flat. I’m hoping to sell to private collectors, hotels or big offices.”

Steve originally bought a kit, but decided to use the plans to construct purpose-built pieces twice as big.

He invests thousands of hours into each model, taking around a year to complete each one.

“I use wood such as beech, walnut and pine and each piece of the ship is handcrafted,” he said.

Visit 3masters.co.uk for information on Steve’s models.