finally a new plastic tall ship model!!!

Billyboy wrote:

Jtilley- I can't claim to be an expert on Portugese shipbuilding either, which is why I was very suprised to see on this tourist's set of photos taken on the Dom Fernando ii e Gloria an extensive area of grating at the rear of the deck. It Doesn't couldn't be associated with the wheel, and it would also make fitting carronades in the stern ports quite tricky- a short captain maybe? http://caminhosdaultimanauportuguesa.blogspot.com/ Will

Fascinating pictures.  I couldn't find one that clearly shows the grating in question (at least on the tiny screen of my laptop), but Billyboy is in effect confirming that it's there.  This is just one more demonstration of how many holes there are in the English-speaking maritime technology world when it comes to warships of non-English-speaking nations.  Whenever I bump into a set of plans for a French (or Scandinavian, or Spanish, or Germanic, or, now, Portuguese) sailing ship I learn something that surprises me.

This also seems to confirm that Kapudan (as could have been assumed) was right about the "new" Zvezda kit's origins.  And that it has nothing to do with a French ship named Acheron.

I must say that after seeing those upclose hull photos i'm feeling less inclined to play the $45 for this kit. I think i'll pass on this one for the time being.

Those museum photos are great! That's what the world needs- more 3 euro ships tours. As for the grating detail, they seem to be spaced a ways above the deck which appears to be continuous under them. And there is a single line railing through big staples that runs around the bulwarks essentially where the grating is. And the gratings are flush with the bottom of the two rear gun ports, which have nets across them. My WAG is that it's an adhoc little quarterdeck, and that one wouldn't be incorrect to eliminate them and install two stern chasers there if desired.

Great pics. The guy's wife is now immortalized on FSM.

Do believe it's her blog and those are self-portraits.

As to the stern gratings, perhaps they were added while the vessel did duty as a stores ship? It may that they were not there when she was an active fighting ship.

Well, it looks as though Revell has bought these moulds too.

http://www.revell.de/de/produkte/modellbau/modellbau/produkte/?id=210&KGKANR=0&KGKOGP=10&KGSCHL=3&L=0&page=6&sort=1&nc=1&searchactive=&q=&SWO=&ARMAS4=&PHPSESSID=317185d37df75cb5d6bb96a4032c6fbd&KZSLPG=&offset=43&cmd=show&ARARTN=05413&sp=1

They are at least selling the kit  with her true identity as a portugese frigate. I'm happy with how my Zvezda model is coming along; The only really annoying components so far are the deck gratings which are cast in relief: so instead of just running  black wash over them to sort them, I have had to replace them with etched mesh.

I am still tossing up what to arm her quarterdeck/ spar deck with. The kit's long guns seem a little out of date, and lookingt those above mentioned photos of the restored vessel- a lot of her gun deck seems to have been given over to quite highly decorated cabins. This, coupled with her colonial 'showing the flag' role means I suspect the kit is very much over-gunned, by simply placing a long gun behind every open gunport. I have therefore omitted a few from her gun deck and might convert all of those I chose to keep on her spardeck to carronades. Any thoughts?

all in all, it's a good kit, and a worthy subject matter. Next up, a kit of HMS Trincomalee??.. yeah right.....

Will

oh, and re: the 'quarterdeck' grating tht caused some controversy in this thread- such  things were quite common on RN frigates of the era- here' an example.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/displayRepro.cfm?reproID=F8901-002&picture=2#content

I suppose they made working a flushdeck ship easier by allowing greater visibility for officers... or it's just one of those daft hierarchical things the conservative sailing navies clung on to in the nineteenth century?