"Kit Build and Review; Zvezda 1/350 Golden Hind" Topic

Continuing my lock-down mission of completing old projects I built another of the Zvezda ship models that have been gathering dust on my "to-do" pile for over a year. This is an excellent kit and (aside from all the decals) a very easy and quick build. link

thank you for the write up!

Nicely done.

Excellent report, Sir.

Thank you. I enjoyed your report and pictures.

It brought back memories of the Airfix Golden Hind that I built over 40 years ago. You had the better experience by far.

Very nice. ZVezda has great ships of 1/350. It is a pity that they did not want to make new models.

ModelJShip, You are so right, I would love to see a couple more different kits from them. There isn't much selection in 1/350 otherwise. I am forced to contemplate scratchbuilding

BTW does anybody know the scale of the Airfix Golden Hind and Mayflower kits?

You know that is totally out of scale with your ironclads, right? What were you thinking?

Scalemates lists Golden Hind as 1/300 scale and declines to specify the scale of Mayflower.

- Ix

Yellow Admiral, Of course, isn't it half the fun of gaming to have to constantly build new terrain to go with your "yet another scale" addiction? They don't mesh well with the 1/1200 scale Ships of the Line that I already have or the 1/2400 scale ones that my buddy has either. My gadfly attention span prevents me from higher-order thinking like that until well after the purchase.

Thanks for the pointer on the Airfix Golden Hind

My gadfly attention span prevents me from higher-order thinking like that until well after the purchase.

LOL! A common problem.

Miniatures gaming is by nature extreme dedication to indulging whims. Once started down that road, the distinction between "better" whims and "worse" whims is difficult to discern. Also, a labor of love never seems like "too much work", until the love fades. It's easy to build up boxes of "little" projects that seemed like they'd be easy to knock out quickly, but dragged on and then got boxed to make room for the next "little" project.

- Ix

The worst part is that I come from a modeling background, IPMS competition and all that, so when I see a well executed model the urge to build it just for the sake of it sometimes overwhelms me. Then the practical side kids in and I ask myself "What sort of wargame can I use this model in?"

And off I go down another rabbit-hole!

So, where are the crew?

Anton Ryzbak, there are a total of four diferent ships from Zvezda.

San Martin
link

Revenge
link

Golden Hind (I did another ship name Tiger)
link

Santa Maria ( I did a conversion to do a spaniard Nao)
link
link

I also did a conversion using a San Martin + Revenge. Called White Bear.
link

I hope this inspires you to make your own models.

@ModelJShip, I bow down before your mastery, those are some stunningly beautiful models. Next to them my efforts are like a monkey flinging poo.

I was looking for something to use as an Ottoman galley, as you are clearly more conversant than I am in such matters what is your opinion of the Revell "Spanish Galleon" in 1/450th scale?

d88mm1940, That is left to masters such as ModelJShip, I thought about it briefly but I am challenged by rigging, 1/350 figures are simply beyond me.

Anton Ryzbak,

I did some time ago a spaniard galley, I used a model from Old Glory miniature in scale 1/300 very close to 1/350. I add the link: link

These models dont have a quality of the sculpt like Zvezda but they are enought good for a good paint work and the range is large, you can see some galleys.

I also add the linke where you can see my Galley named La Real using a model from Old Glory.
How was make:
link
Finish photos:
link

Anton Ryzbak
ModelJShip has also been an inspiration to me.
I used Tamiya's 1/350 Japanese crew. They were great, being plastic you can easily glue them in place.
I also experimented with the metal etched figures. They're flat, but paint thickens them out and with sails mostly blocking the view fore and aft, you mostly only see their fronts and rears.
I'll try to post some pics soon.
By the way, your stuff looks great.

@ModelJShip, Your work is both inspiring and intimidating, I would be afraid to use such masterpieces in a wargame. I was unaware of the Old Glory range, I will take a look there.

d88mm1940, You tempt me with your suggestion. I monkeyed around with some 5mm ECW figs as crew but they were HUGE so I let that idea go, now you have me rethinkinh my position.

Somebody please tell me that the 1/350 Pirate ship listed as being from Zvezda isn't a re-box of the Revell model.

Anton Ryzbak, You have done a good job with your models. Show them with pride.
Regarding the Old Glory models, I personally think that the hulls of the boats is quite good for collections intended for games, which I think is what you are looking for. The rest of the elements (sails, masts, anchors, ratlines) that are in each model, are made of metal and have very exaggerated finishes in my opinion. The white metal sails are completely inadvisable to use the models on the table, an excessive weight. My recommendation with Old Glory is to buy the hulls and add the extras by other means, either by 3D printing or by buying supplements from other companies like Langton that has a 1/300 scale range and talking to the owner can provide you with partial material on its models such as ratlines and brass sails, metal mast anchors, all of them much better quality.
Regarding mixe ranges of ships with different scales. I have my reservations, Old Glory is 1/300 scale while Zvezda is 1/350. Apart from this, Old Glory has more exaggerated finishes than ZVezda, which increases the feeling of de-escalation. If possible use a small OldGlory galley to represent a large galley in 1/350 scale. I did it adding the extas and complements of the Napoleonic Xebec from Langton miniatures. But with the rest of the boats I do not recommend it because the difference in scale is very noticeable.