The Ship Model Forum

Have had this one in the stash for a while, motivated by previous intell that it represents the US Frigate Raleigh, built in Portsmouth, NH, c.1777. The common wisdom, i.e. the Finescale Ships forum, now has it that the kit represents the Frenchman La Flore. I looked at a couple of Raleigh images online and the Lindberg kit looks close, apart from some differences on the transom design, and possibly the number of guns. Happy to modify the kit's transom and the gun battery, if that's all she needs to be Raleigh. Sailing ship captains could alter rigging plans to suit their own tastes, so artistic license covers that. Suggestions appreciated.

Considering its age, it is a very nice kit. I am sure it is the La Flore, or at least that is what it was called when originally issued. There aren't a lot of older frigates available, except for the myriad Constitution kits, of course, so the Lindberg kit is a good base for conversions, IMO. I used it to build a British frigate, HMS Undine, which can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/sfscalemodels/HMSUndine#

Also, depending on how concerned you are about historical accuracy, you might have to make adjustments in the length of the model to reproduce the proportions of the Raleigh. I also wouldn't be surprised if modifications of the head and especially the headrails weren't needed in addition to changing the transom. Also, I think American quarter galleries were a bit more modern by the time of the Revolution than those found on the La Flore.

I found a nice history of the kit here: http://www.internetmodeler.com/artman/publish/flships/Lingberg-s-Jolly-Roger-Pirate-Ship.php

I look forward to seeing your build if you do decide to convert the kit to the Raleigh.

Cool - Thank you for this intell, guys. This kit is still on my "manyana" list, but it's slowly working its way up that list.
Not sure I would do a major mod of the hull's proportions, but if it's close enough for the Undine, maybe it's worth doing as Raleigh. One fascinating aspect of 1700's ship construction is that sometimes they were built by rote and plans for a given hull didn't even exist, until captured by the RN and her lines measured in their yards. Hence the inconsistencies in the frigates, SOLs and others bought by Congress, etc.

More plausible deniability. And that's what really matters, after all.

Well, my HMS Undine was a fictional frigate from a novel by Alexander Kent, so I didn't have to worry about matching the dimensions of any actual ship. But I agree with your point that we probably don't know as much about the ships of that period as we think, even the comparatively well documented ones. Look how ideas about the Constitution and Constellation have changed over the last few decades, after hundreds of years of different ideas being accepted as gospel. Of course, I may not be a good reference since I am just as happy to build a fictional ship as a real one (or happier, really, it's my preference), but I say go for it. It will be a pretty frigate, anyway, and those are hard to come by in plastic kits.

Von:

Check out this build of the kit as the Vestale:

http://www.modellboard.net/index.php?topic=31798.0

Hope this inspires you.

Mike E.

Michael - that link is fantastic! Love what the guy did for his wood deck effects. The diorama of La Flore careened is also very cool.

Inspiration, indeed!

Thank you VERY much for this thread!

I have been wanting to build Hornblower's HMS Lydia for some years and need a good plastic kit to base her on. I bought the Revell frigate Fernando II e Gloria but I see too many problems with the conversion.Your descriptions of the Jolly Roger/La Flore looks much more likely.

Woo hoo!

- Leelan