I plan to build the Jolly Roger as a french frigate la Flore.
I will add details, make sails, masts and spars.
So, here is the start.
Workin on the boats and canon/carriages…
The big failure of the kit is that the spars (horizontal and vertical) are way too weak in the small scale, in styrene.
The wonderul Revell Charles W. Morgan has the same issue, it can’t be rigged.
If those are all replaced with a more sturdy material like wood or brass, a full rig can be set up.
Bill
Still finishing cannons
This is a great project! I have several of these kits and I plan to do one as a French Frigate just like you are so I’ll follow your build very closely. A friend of mine who has a you tube site just completed this kit as a pirate’s vessel and it turned out great too. Good luck with this project.
tjs
I built this one years ago, but kit-bashed it into the Black Pearl because there wasn’t a model available at that time. Sits on the top of my Pirates of the Carribbean pinball machine. Added flickering LED lower deck lighting and fiber optics in the cannons so they looked like they were firing. Tied it all into the game so they flashed at appropriate times in the game. Fun build, but all of the masts and yards need to be replaced if you want to do any real rigging. Have fun! I’ll be watching along with you.
Bob
I built the original model when it was originally released as the La Flore back in the early 1960s. I also have the original kit I bought as a memento from evilbay. The only problem I experienced was with the masts and spars being too weak for rigging, as GM says. I have to add now that the masts with the so-called “Pirate ships” is that the flags are also molded onto to masts as well. Otherwise, it is and was a very nice model kit that was far ahead of its rivals back in the 1960s.
The obvious solution is to scratch-build the masts and spars with wood.
Bill Morrison
Nice work so far it does make for an attractive model … 
La Flore was a beautiful ship that makes for a great-looking model today. Can we have some closeups?
Thanks!
Bill Morrison
Very nice Eugene, I love the look of a beautifully executed full sail tall ship.
Excellent topic for a thread Ziggy, I’ll be following your progress. I may beed to start looking around for budget copy of this model myself.
Thanks!it really can produces nice model,I got mine at Hobby Lobby when they were running the 40 percent off sale .
Hi;
i have done so many of these type ships for clients and I learned real quick that the rigging is to spindly and weak. So, I replaced it with brass rod and tubing. That will allow you to rig her properly. Don’t worry the K&S soft brass rod will taper nicely. It’s stiff enough to rig But, soft enough to taper with Emery Cloth.
I was in HL yesterday. It was a 40% off on models week, and they had that kit, so I picked it up. Will try to do like Ziggy and convert it to a French frigate. Now to look through my ship detailing parts and see what I can come up with. I am impressed- I never bought one of those before, and I am very impressed- molding is very good for a Lindberg kit, especially spars and rigging. I have never used plastic shrouds and ratlines before, but these are very good, so I will try them.
Hi Missileman2!
I believe, I think, I also could be dead wrong. I believe those molds for a bunch of those Lindberg Sailing Ships came from Heller. or possibly another company that wasn’t at the time familiar within the Sail Ship Market here in the States! If possible do not use those Plastic shrouds.
This particular one is original Lindberg.
https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/p/94708/946201.aspx?page=1
Bill
TB, I’m curious as to why you dislike them? And what you would use in there stead?
Interesting project. Will be here for the ride to see your Build of her and some nice work done so far too…Cheers mark
Mark, thank you for your kind words, I will try to move on with this project.
If it would ever stop raining, I plan to paint some plastic, the hull, the cannons, the ship boats and the main gun deck.
Please ask who ever you believe in, to grant me good weather
Hi
The reason? If they are anything like Revell’s they will get brittle over time and seperate from the masts at the top. If they are the molded ones you’ll never get them fine enough to look in scale. Promise not to laugh? Many have disparaged the Heller Ratline Loom. I have followed the directions faithfully and joining the horizontal footropes to them with teensy drops of Gel C.A. immediately flattened with a dry finger they work great for me. Oh, and they do look in scale!
I will digress a moment. I haven’t bought one of their kits for years. I don’t even know if they put the loom in there anymore! You know, like life, things in the hobby change!
Force9 has posted on his Revell 1/96 USS Constution build, hopefully this will motivate me to contine on this build