"Any recommendations for Bonhomme Richard?" Topic

Hi guys. I was just wondering, if you were making a 1/1200 Bonhomme Richard model, which ship kit out there would you use?

I'm thinking for HMS Serapis GHQ's 50 gun Centurion might do, since she had two complete covered gun decks. What do you think?

Thanks,

James

Navwar make a Bonhomme Richard. I'd be tempted to tart it up with new masts, but they have it:

link

Ooh, they also have a Roebuck class, which Serapis was one of.

link

Richard was a converted Indiaman. The King of France had ordered that his East India Company build their vessels with gun decks, so that they could be impressed into service as auxiliary warships if need be. And so she was, but she was basically a big cargo vessel, a tub and a poor sailor.

"a big cargo vessel, a tub and a poor sailor."

With antiquated guns which had a tendency to explode

"a big cargo vessel, a tub and a poor sailor."

With antiquated guns which had a tendency to explode

And John Paul frickin' Jones!

Not sure about the French ships but the English Indiamen were built to avoid tax on tonnage which was measured by 'the length of the keel multiplied by the extreme breadth and the half breadth'. This produced ships that were long and thin with very deep holds. As a result Indiamen had a tendency to be 'crank' ie; would list to one side and had to be handled well in shallow water.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'd like to avoid Navwar from what I've heard of others' experiences, but maybe my options are too limited otherwise.

BR was just short of 1000 tons.
Langton does a Large Merchant ~ 1200 tons
and Medium Merchant ~ 500 tons
There's also a 64gun ex-Indiaman which is a 1200 ton ship.
GHQ has an Indiaman which I reckon is ~ 800 tons
Red Eagle do a Large Indiaman and Medium Indiaman though I haven't yet seen the models.

Yep, I used the Langton ex-East Indiaman for my Bonhomme Richard. Works fine at that scale.

I used the GHQ East Indiaman for mine James.

James,

Imagine your GHQ 44 gun East Indiaman painted like and American Frigate.

Model of Bonhomme Richard:

HMS Glatton was a 56 gun SOL converted from an East Indiaman. Might be a close approximation.

But Glatton was a two decker.

Thanks for the photo Vol, and the recommendation. That's a great looking ship. I had imagined GHQ's East Indiaman would be too large, but you guys have me reconsidering.

James,
If you look at the number of gun ports, I believe there are 13 or 14 per side on both the GHQ Indiaman and the Bohomme Richard. Pretty close.

Vol,

I really liked your photo of the BHR (formerly Duc de Duras, french East Indiaman), but was taken aback by the lack of a lower gun deck. I recall that the ancient guns on the BHR were on a lower gun deck, and two blew apart.

Maybe this:
google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.modelships.de/Bonhomme_Richard_I/gIMG_5745.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.modelships.de/Bonhomme_Richard_I/Bonhomme_Richard_I_eng.htm&h=266&w=190&tbnid=hzQ_pZomjjCthM:&zoom=1&tbnh=186&tbnw=132&usg=__W3YdCb3vfyFEd0DSI6qSIIJDyWo=&docid=hoDhT_R_PV6v7M&itg=1

is a better representation?

This page:

history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/bonhomme_richard-i.htm

offers many fine details.

Regards,

Kevin

28x12 pounders, 6x18 pounders, 8x9 pounders. There was only one deck with guns other than the quarter deck and forecastle. The lower deck ports in the linked model would have been at or below water line in all of the paintings and drawings I could find of the Bonhomme Richard. And several other models show no lower ports at all. So I am confused. What is the truth?

Kevin,
I found an article that stated Bonhomme Richard was large enough to be rated a 64, but never had the guns (only 42). So maybe the Glatton would be a better choice.

Vol,

I think Glatton would work quite well. So would GHQ's Centurion (James did one of these …). And if the lower deck of these models had too many gun port covers for someone's taste, well it should be fairly simple to rub some out.

I googled 'french east indiaman' in google images, and found some very nice models. Too many to list here. But our good friend James's 44 gun GHQ East Indiaman showed up in the fourth line. Well done, James.

HMS Glatton was 1256 tons and 163'11" long so close on the size of a 64 gun SoL.
Bonhomme Richard gives the impression of a rather smaller vessel.
Wikipedia lists BR as 998 tons and 152'…
Personally i'd think the GHQ model is probably the better fit.

Thanks very much for the discussion guys, I think I'm sold on doing up another GHQ East Indiaman as B.R.

I'm liking this color scheme a lot:

From here:
link