Lindberg's HMS Revenge, circa 1577, box scale

by Lynn Dunn

A 34-gun English galleon of 440 tons and measuring 92 feet long and 32 feet in breadth, HMS Revenge was launched from Deptford in 1577. She was lost in her 14th year, after being cut off from her squadron and finding herself in the middle of 50 Spanish warships. Under the leadership of Captain Grenville, the crew of 190 men battled for 15 hours against 15 of the enemy ships, surrendering only when Grenville was mortally wounded. An ironic footnote to the battle is the fact that the battered Revenge sank during a storm with all hands ­ a Spanish prize crew. The Revenge had lived up to her name.

As with last month's review of HMS Ark Royal, this box has an artist's impression of Captain Grenville, inset to a picture of HMS Revenge in full sail. The artist (quite probably the same one that did the Ark Royal box) pays a lot of attention to detailing the Revenge, again right down to the rigging. Once more, this box art can be recommended as a painting and rigging guide.

The box was opened with some trepidation, as I feared that the contents would be a barely changed copy of the Ark Royal. In this, I was wrong - the Revenge is totally different. Looking into the box shows us two bags; one with a white plastic sails sprue, the other with three brown plastic hull and detailing sprues. A bobbin of brown-green thread is included, and this will blend in well once the vessel is assembled and painted. The sails are all on one sprue, and consist of the top, middle and main sail for the two main masts, the bowsprite sail, and two flying jibs. The foremast flag is also here, as is the name plaque. As with the Ark Royal, the sails and flag have moulded details on both sides, for example on-sail rigging, and the sails give the appearance of canvas; the corners have small holes ready for the thread rigging to be added. Moving to the other bag, the first two sprues hold one hull half and some mast parts each. Detailing is excellent; the hull has the impression of wood planking down to the nail marks, six cannon peer out of 'open' ports on each side with two more being covered, and the decorative patterns are clearly defined. The masts are slightly bent, but nothing that canít be fixed. The last sprue holds the deck, shrouds for the sails, the deck cannon, crows nests, etc. All sprues are well moulded with very little flashing; the exception to this is the last sprue, but most of the excess is located on/by the sprue, with only a few parts needing cleaning.

Instructions are again multi-lingual, and are broken into five major steps. The diagrams for the assemblies are clearer than that of the Ark Royal's, especially for steps 3-5 where all hull detailing is omitted - this makes the mast, sail and rig assembly much easier. Unfortunately, we have the same problem with the numbering system (you can't win them all) where item number can be confused with the paint code and repeat code. Directional arrows are reasonable; however, care is still needed while placing parts. Overall, the instructions are better than that of the Ark Royal.

Painting instructions are again poor. Once more, you just get a basic colour listed for five paints, with no suggested manufacturer. Without good artwork to guide you, it would again be almost impossible. Once more, there are no decals; flags have their details pre-moulded. Again, a large amount of dry brushing will be required for detailing these and the hull.

First impressions are that this is another exciting model, this time of an Elizabethan galleon. Once more, a completed model wasn't used to guide the box-art, as there are again discrepancies, e.g. the anchors are omitted. Once more, this will look good in a collection of sailing ships, but cannot be taken as being an accurate representation of the Revenge. Overall, this model is not really worth paying the full price for, but if found at a discount is worth picking up.