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Friday, May 28, 2010

English Man O War?








Here are some images Revell's 1/96 scale English Man O War. Is it a bird? no, Is it a plane? no, Is it an English Man O War circa 1588? no,. Then what kind of ship is this then? Actually no one is quite sure. In 1970 Revell released a kit called The Spanish Galleon (now there is an overused term) but it did not look anything like a Spanish Galleon. Then in 1972 Revell released for the first time the English Man O War circa 1588, and guess what? Both the hulls on the Galleon and the Man O War were exactly the same and bearing no resemblance to neither or either. Actually the appearance of ships from that time period are a bit sketchy as the idea of drawn up plans were only then just coming into use. But one things for sure they didn't look like this. I think if one were to build a real ship like this it would capsize a soon as it hit the water. It is speculated that Revell hired some Hollywood types to design this model. During that time period model building had lost a lot of appeal and so you saw companies like Revell trying to sell their wares to people like home decorators where accuracy was not really so much an issue. And here I come along 20 years later "awww geee that ship looks really swell!" and I buy it and build it and it looks great. This model is interesting in that it represents a time in model kit history where accuracy was not the be all and end all as it is today, and besides it makes a nice display piece.

1 comment:

Pat Tillett said...

Another interesting story. Whatever the the actual ship is, you did a fantastic job on it. the level of detail and paint is amazing.