1/700 scale Enterprise{Brig/Brigitine 1800's "tall ship"}

This has the possibility of becoming one of those threads about "Do you want to model the vessel that was in the movie, or the vessel that it was trying to portray?"

 But in this case, it isn't HMS Rose and HMS Surprise.  :-)

 Prof. Tilley gives us a good idea of the lack of reference material for the real Enterprise.

 In the movie, the brig Lady Washington stood in as the Enterprise.  You can find photos and some rudimentary drawings of the Lady Washington at http://ladywashington.org/.

 Lady Washington, acting as Enterprise (also starring as HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl), is a beautiful, and active vessel.  When not in front of a camera, she sails up and down the West coast, providing sail training cruises for folks and ladling out a heaping dose of education about the days of sail.  You should get a lot of atmosphere from their website.

 Rick 

Unfortunately the first Enterprise is one of the few vessels of the American sailing navy whose plans have not been found.  Any reconstruction of her would require a great deal of guesswork.

There's a good source of 1/700 sailing warship kits.  The British firm Skytrex (www.skytrex.com) makes quite a range of them, covering the British, French, American, and Spanish navies.  Click on "ships," then on "Meridian Trafalgar series."  (That, at least, is how I remember the site layout.)  I've only bought one of these kits, H.M.S. Victory, but it's a remarkably detailed product.  The hull is cast white metal, as are the masts (better replaced with wood or wire).  The sails are photo-etched brass (better replaced with paper).  The primary market for these kits is, I think, the wargaming community, which requires a certain amount of sturdiness in such models.  But the kits are definitely worth a look from the serious scale ship modeler.  Strongly recommended.