C18th model ships

[Matt J]

can anyone recommend a 1/150 C18th ship model circa SYW, British frigate or ship of the line.

best I've found are crazy priced wooden kits or Revell's frigate 'united states' but this is a bit late (1797) would it work as a proxy.

thanks

Matt

[petercooman]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Revell-05414-1-150-Sailing-Ship-VASA-RVLS5414-/301031956668


Don't really know the difference between ships of that era, just saw this and thought i'd show it. Little too eraly maybe.

[Matt J]

Hi Peter

yeah I looked at the Vasa but about 100 years too early 

[petercooman]

Also found these:

http://ship.scale-model-kits.com/products/WASA---SERIES-9--1-144-SCALE--AIR09256.html

http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/627_1_1008608.html


No british ones though!

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Don't Airfix make a 144 scale Victory, shes an 1750;s ish ship.

IanS

[Hertsblue]

The French Heller company make a few 150th sailing ships which might suit.

http://www.heller.fr/fr/maquettes/23-maquettes-voiliers-classique

[Matt J]

victory is probably too big for what I'm after.

however the Heller le Glorieux may do the trick. Built at the right time 3rd rate ship of the line and used by both british and French.

thanks all 

[SnM Stuff]

The Heller Glorieux and Superbe are both 1/150th and the same kit with different stern sprues thrown in - lovely kits, although they suffer a bit from Heller's obsession with inflating the number of pieces (why make a gun in two parts when you can get it up to 4 ? ). 

Heller's Corsair is also 1/150th, although for some reason it looks "wrong" next to the Superbe.  The example I did was also really horrible to put together !  The plastic was soft and easy to mark, even with just a fingernail, the holes for lugs were very vague, and fitting the rigging cleats was an absolute nightmare.  Funnily enough, Revell's Bounty, at (officially) 1/110th scale, is the same kind of size as the Corsair, and looks nicer if you're looking for a ship-rigged brig to go with 10mm figures.  See pic below to see how they look next to each other.....

Another nice ship is Revell's 1/130 frigate.  It's also sometimes sold as a Lindberg kit, and variously marketed as the Jolly Roger, Flying Dutchman and who knows what else !  In reality, it is the French frigate La Flore from the 1770's, apparently based on a model in the museum of the Kennedy Presidential Library in Washington, although there is some doubt as to whether that model in turn represents a real ship or is more of a "generic" French frigate of the period.  Whether a real ship or not it's a lovely kit to build, really looks the part of a mid 18th century frigate, and (in most incarnations) has the advantage of pre-moulded ratlines rather than the frame Heller put in with the Superbe where you have to spend ages making your own.  Bear in mind that many British frigates of the period were actually captured French ones bought in as prizes anyway !

Something else I did was to take Revell's 1/225th Victory, and remove the lower tier of gunports.  Effectively, a kind of "reverse razee", to create a 64.  The remaining gunports were a little small, but the hull looked about right next to the Superbe.  She was also much more stable in the water than the other ships 


(Photo courtesy of Farnborough IPMS, of a couple I built - yes, that's real water !)

[rexhurley]

While maybe a touch too big being for 15s you could always try Peter Pig's Pirate range maybe 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great ships!

[Hertsblue]

Love 'em! But to get them to actually float takes the kind of lunacy we like around here. 

[Fenton]

With the rivers round here you just need to put wheels on them then they can roll along

[fateeore]

Zvezda make a brig in 1/100th scale, and some other ships that might make some useful conversions.

[WeeWars]

Good list of kits here, with pics of the kits.

http://www.radekshipmodels.cz/en/list-of-kits-and-accessories

[Matt J]

thanks weewars, that is most useful.

and thanks SnM, lovely models.

I think the corsair may also work as well for what I'm after. I putting together a Quebec project but not just concentrating on Plains of Abraham but also Beauport shore and some of the other skirmishes. For Beauport I though it would be nice to represent the Centurion and the landing craft (I was thinking the corsair may be modified for this purpose).

Matt