I’m building the Jolly Roger/Flying Dutchman ship. Its a lenburg model about 16" long…not sure what the real scale is. Needless to say the parts are small. Does anyone know where I can find aftermarket cannons, rigging etc for this size ship? Its my first tall ship build. any tips as well?
Brian
To my knowledge no manufacturer makes aftermarket detail parts that are designed specifically for plastic sailing ship kits. (The market just isn’t big enough.) There are, however, several that make parts intended for wood kits or scratchbuilt models - and in many cases those parts are just as applicable to plastic kits. One of the best is Bluejacket Shipcrafters (www.bluejacketinc.com). The biggest probably is Model Expo (www.modelexpoonline.com). The latter sells a mixture of American and European fittings; they range in quality from excellent to overpriced, toylike garbage.
The kit Lindberg sells under the name “Jolly Roger” is a reboxing of an old, 1960s vintage kit that was originally the eighteenth-century French frigate La Flore. The one Lindberg now calls “Captain Kidd” is another reboxing. It was originally a German, two-decked, late-seventeenth-century warship called the Wappen von Hamburg. In their original guises, both of them were pretty good kits - especially in view of their age. But the “pirate ship” connection is nothing more or less than a marketing stunt; it’s highly unlikely - if not downright impossible - that any actual pirate ship ever looked like either of those vessels.
Incidentally - and I hope nobody takes any offense at this - the term “tall ship” isn’t used by serious ship modelers or ship buffs. It originated as another marketing ploy; it doesn’t have any real meaning. I think it dates from the hoopla over the “tall ships race” that coincided with the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations of 1976. “Tall ship” has about the same effect on an experienced ship modeler that “choo-choo” has on a serious model railroader.
If you browse this forum you’ll find several interesting threads dealing with those kits. Several folks have turned them into extremely impressive finished models. Several folks have used La Flore as the basis of conversions into their versions of H.M.S. Surprise, the British frigate that featured in the movie “Master and Commander.” (There actually was an H.M.S. Surprise, and she was a captured French frigate. The ship in the movie didn’t look much like the real one - or, for that matter, La Flore - but some skilled modelers have made some excellent Surprise models out of that kit.
Good luck. It’s a great hobby.
The figures that came with the kit measure 7/16" tall (+/-), which makes the kit approximately 1:153 scale. The lower deadeyes, at 3/32" are about the only replaceable parts, commercially available. Some of the smallest commercial blocks, could substitute for the largest blocks in this vessel. N scale ( 1:160 ) figures could be used to “fill out” the crew. They would be “shorter than average”, but could be mixed with the originals. As jtilley mentioned, the kit has been used to represent HMS Surprise, from Master and Commander. In several of these cases, the hull has been sectioned to remove two gunports on each side. In doing this, the scale becomes closer to 1:130, though, for the most part this is unnoticeable, where most kit parts are concerned.
thanks for the input…
I got an idea for this lindgerg model…maybe they should “rebox” it again and re-rerelease it because this thing is horrible. There are punch marks, sink holes on nearly every single part. the pre-drilled holes are either out of alignment or too big leaving huge gaps on the pieces. I worked on better quality 20 year old Revell-Monogram kits than this one. (and some of those where awful)
this thing wouldn’t be worth any after-market work. I was going to put canvas sails on it instead of the plastic ones, but i don’t even want to spend my time doing that.