A "First Rate" Pirate Ship, & Other Model Concerns

Over on eBay, I think they've picked up on my viewing habits, and alerted me to a huge price reduction on a model; "Blackbeard's Ship, now $17.99!"

Of course, it is not the "Queen Anne's Revenge", the ship that they assumed to have located in the waters off of North Carolina (this person remains unconvinced, and for a variety of reasons). "Queen Anne's Revenge" was a frigate class (really, a cargo ship and later a slaver in its very short life). At maximum, it carried forty guns (I think that converting the Revell "HMS Couldhavebeen" (Black Diamond) into a similar ship is possible). 

No, the kit that is being pushed on me is a Lindberg kit, and a much larger, and older, ship. Indeed, it is simply a renamed "Sovereign of the Seas", an early English first rate. 

Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, would have loved to have had a first rate. 

Not that it was likely. 

Anyway, this kit is the old Pyro "Sovereign", in about 1/225 scale. It is tempting, mind you, especially in light of the fact that I have a bit of money in my PayPal account. But I am a bit sore at what Lindberg did here. This is an old trick of their's, going back to at least the late 1960's. They produced two amazing model sailing ships, the French Frigate "La Flore" and the Dutch built Germanic "Wappen von Hamburg". Both models are incredible pieces of work for a company that wasn't known for such. In fact, in a short time, from about 1961 to 1967, they turned out a number of sailing ship models that were as good as some from better companies. Some were smaller copies of Revell ships (truly, almost down to part count); "Bounty", "HMS Victory", "Santa Maria", and "Flying Cloud". The two earlier models, the "La Flore" and "Wappen von Hamburg" were originals. 

Sadly, both were not great sellers, so Lindberg renamed them as pirate ships, with the 'La Flore" becoming the "Jolly Roger" and the "Wappen" the "Captain Kidd" in the late 1960's, early 1970's. Then both disappeared from the lineup, to reappear in the early 1990's with new boxes but the same names.

Prior to that, Lindberg had acquired the old Pyro dies by way of taking over LifeLike models. When the ships were initially released, the "Sovereign" was kept with her proper name, and wonderful new box art. Another ship, the French first rate "Saint Louis" was also released from the old Pyro dies (and that really should be the subject for another day, and a sad subject it is). In the early 1990's, the ships were renamed "Blackbeard's Ship" and "Captain Morgan". 

Which brings me to where we are now.

I'll give it a little more thought. There are other things I need to replace (a great many books and tools, for instance). But that price is pretty good.

I shall think on it some more.