New Revell 1/96 pirate ship (aka black swan, aka black pearl)

Isn't that the same as the Zvezda (1/72) kit? Thats certainly Russian on that parts bag!

Either way I think it's kind of silly, but what the heck.

The Zvezda one can be had for around $ 108.00.

Seems like last time around the Revell one was $ 107.00 and the Zvezda was $ 140.00.

My mind reels...

I won't go so far as to dub this kit "silly"; a good many modelers seem to be getting a good deal of pleasure from it. I haven't seen it in the flesh, but on the basis of photos it seems to be ingeniously designed and well detailed - if one can get past the mast growing out of the capstan.

I do think labeling it 1/72 in one box and 1/96 in another is pretty stupid. As I've said before, I have to wonder just how well the current management of Revell actually understands the basic concepts of scale modeling.

On the other hand, since it's not a model of an actual ship, who's to say what its scale is?

All that said, the idea of building a model of a "pirate ship" doesn't appeal to me much. Part of the problem probably has to do with the fact that I just finished my 31st year of working for a university whose athletic teams are called the ECU Pirates. Pirate logos flood the landscape of this town. The PR people call the university "the pirate nation." Last year I was told that I'd been chosen as a "Treasured Pirate." I was presented with a cheap blanket adorned with a pirate logo. (Whoopee.) On the way to work every day I have to drive under a railroad bridge with "Home of the Pirates" painted on it. (Several years ago somebody after my own heart painted out the P, so ECU became the "Home of the irates.") The campus bookstore periodically advertises special sales: say "aarrgh" to the cashier and get 25 percent off. (Is there any reliable record of a pirate, or any other rational human being, ever having said "aarrgh" to anybody? If so, WHY?) On a more academic level, our underwater archaeology lab is tied up with artifacts from the Queen Anne's Revenge. No pirate ship models for me, thanks.

I continue to hope that sales of this kit will be good enough that the fine artisans of Zvezda will turn their hands to some scale models of actual sailing ships. That's the best hope I personally can see for a renaissance of the plastic sailing ship kit. A slightly reserved bravo to Zvezda.

jtilley

 As I've said before, I have to wonder just how well the current management of Revell actually understands the basic concepts of scale modeling.

Or else they feel that their customers do not understand :-(

Honestly, in about equal measure.

my paternal grandfather, who passed away a half dozen years before I came along, was a serious modeler who kept it simple.

1/48- 1/4" = 1' -0".

He mostly scratch built his stuff, started any number of small cottage industries- he was COO at one of the largest agricultural tool manufacterurs in the Midwest, and operated the trains on club layouts with hand laid track at proper gauge.

the beauty of that being able to quickly assemble anything using any available measuring sticks around, cadging from the architectural model people (back when those were made by hand), and easily scaling down precut conventional materials.

President of the NMRA and I have quite a bit of his stuff. Lots of fabric insulated wiring and flashlight bulbs.

I think ship model scaling is a bit of a black art. Well known subjects- straightforward. Stuff like this, hard to say. My understanding of the real thing is that it's a facade on a barge basically. The best ship scaling method IMO is the horizontal dimension between major deck fixtures, like masts or turrets. But of course that takes drawings to refer to.

Somewhere there probably was a reference used by the original mold makers, but it may have been a photo of a modern Zodiac tied up next to it. I guess my peeve( and I'm not a peevish person although I do enjoy Beethoven) is that it get marketed as a different model. That may not be the case here.

LOL!

I had no intention of sparking such a "debate", although I am enjoying it. I merely thought I would offer a look at what is being offered in terms of quality, not accuracy, or in this case reality. I for one do not build models because I want something that emulates the real thing as closely as possible, except when I want to build something that emulates the real thing as closely as possible. I would probably build this one just for the fun of it and I am sure there are others that would as well. (there are a number of impressive builds already on site for the Zvezda kit, so someone is going to like this) Nothing wrong with silly if silly is what you like. Anywho... I remain impressed w/ the quality that I was able to see and hope that this is a sign of Revell's QC policies for all its models to come.

Indeed, arnie60!

Everyone knows I loved this kit.  It's huge, with nearly 1,000 parts... It really does have the best quality molding and detail of anything I've seen (only closely followed by some Imai stuff in molding detail, and the Imai stuff is of cooler subject matter).  It's a fictional subject, and it has a capstan around the mast...but that would be an easy fix for anyone who was shying away from this kit for that reason...and it doesn't have to be a *pirate ship*, just because the box says so!  :)

It's a bit spendy, but dollar-per-hour entertainment value is super low...I think I spent close to 150-200 hours building it, and paid $120.00 or so.  It's going for $110 on Amazon right now with free prime shipping (the Zvezda version)...

I think anyone who sees the kit in person will be impressed by it, especially compared to what else is available these days in retail.   I've already corresponded with Zvezda (last year) to tell them how much I admired the kit, and let them know they should make some new sailing ship model kits...I heard they are releasing some super-dinky kits soon (1/400?)....not exactly what I had in mind....perhaps they are testing the waters?

I've seen ads for two of those 1/400 kits: a Spanish galleon and the English galleon Revenge. I have the impression that they're aimed at the war game market.

Another 1/400 kit on the way: a Mary Rose from Airfix. There are now three tiny sailing ships in the Airfix catalog - the others being the Victory and Cutty Sark. It looks like Airfix is targeting the gift shops at the real ships.

That's actually a sad thing for me to hear...1/400 is ridiculous for sailing ship models...I wonder if the manufacturers think that only small children build these kits?  They must have sold enough Black Swans to get an idea of the market?  Or maybe not...they did sell the molds to Revell Germany, after all.

Here's hoping that Airfix will follow up with a larger-scale Mary Rose. (The company did that in the cases of the Victory and the Cutty Sark, though that was a long time ago.) the problem, of course, is that there are huge gaps in our knowledge of what the Mary Rose looked like. But there does seem to be a scholarly consensus about her overall shape - and we know a great deal about her guns and verious other features.

I'd love to build a model of her. I've only seen her once (about twenty years ago), but once you start reading about her it's hard not to get hooked.