Zvezda 'Brigantine' what is it?!?

Cheers, and interesting twist! I is certainly a distinctive hull shape.

I have tried to find a source of this without luck- do you know if such drawings have been published?

 

Will 

Billyboy wrote:

Just picked up one of these kits very cheap assuming that if it was terible it would be good for parts. 1/100 is close enough to the more common 1/96... Now I have 'shook the box', so to speak, it looks like a nice model, so I will be happy to build it in full. But what is it supposed to be?? After Googling it, all I can find is references to an 'English Brigantine'. http://www.tudayshobbymodels.com/prd_model_ship_kit_Brigantine_100 It looks rather like  an ex- Heller type of moulding to me. I know this company did make copIes of Heller models in the past. In terms of the real ship, I assume it would have to date from the time after Brigs fell from favour, the later 1860's- end of sail. If no one here has any strong objections I rather fancy making this model into a representation of vessel at the very end of merchant  sail, let's say 1920's, and sailng under the flag of what today politicans call 'developing nations'. My grandfather sailed in various RN vessels in the 1930's and remembered spotting in ports some once-beautiful schooners and brigantines sailing from Indonesian ports and various trading posts whose flags he could not identify= that clearly had been built in the UK maybe even 40-50 years previously. Any ideas or pointers would be very useful. I would like to do this little model justice! Will

The shape of Heller/Zvezda's brigantine matches well with Björn Landström's drawing of a late 19th century french brigantine from St. Malo, used in fishing on Labrador shoals.

Cheers Drednought! quick reply- I was still spell checking my original post!

I suspected this was a reprsentative model, but wanted to check. As stated above, I intend to build it for fun, and one of the areas I would like to change is the bow, as it simply does not conform to any shape I know of= it looks almost mediterranean, although I imagine it would look ok as a French polar expedition vessel too!

 

Stay tuned! 

cheers,

 

Will 

Billyboy wrote:

Just picked up one of these kits very cheap assuming that if it was terible it would be good for parts. 1/100 is close enough to the more common 1/96... Now I have 'shook the box', so to speak, it looks like a nice model, so I will be happy to build it in full. But what is it supposed to be?? After Googling it, all I can find is references to an 'English Brigantine'. http://www.tudayshobbymodels.com/prd_model_ship_kit_Brigantine_100 It looks rather like  an ex- Heller type of moulding to me. I know this company did make copIes of Heller models in the past. In terms of the real ship, I assume it would have to date from the time after Brigs fell from favour, the later 1860's- end of sail. If no one here has any strong objections I rather fancy making this model into a representation of vessel at the very end of merchant  sail, let's say 1920's, and sailng under the flag of what today politicans call 'developing nations'. My grandfather sailed in various RN vessels in the 1930's and remembered spotting in ports some once-beautiful schooners and brigantines sailing from Indonesian ports and various trading posts whose flags he could not identify= that clearly had been built in the UK maybe even 40-50 years previously. Any ideas or pointers would be very useful. I would like to do this little model justice! Will

This ship is one of three using the same hull and a number of other parts that Heller was trying to save money on mold costs. The original threesome was produced by Heller and consisted of the polar exploration ship Pourquoi Pas, the English Brigantine and the Occident, a steam/sail powered vessel. In the center of each hull piece was a slot for inserting the various different parts. In your case you will insert some planking, in the paddlewheeled Occident the slot would be for the wheel houses. The PP would get a similar panel to the Brigantine. All would have different parts to mate to the stern. None of which BTW fit terribly well, so keep that putty and carving knife handy! The new company has reissued these same three with a name change for the Occident to the Sirius. Probably the most accurate or at least closest to being accurate would be the PP. The original ships were molded in black plastic and sold in thin flimsy boxes. I have at one time or another all of them, including the re-issues. They have fit problems and the usual problems associated with plastic masts and spars but if you look at them as fun projects rather than museum replicas they are just fine. WS