The ship was launched in 1636 and the box illustration confirms the model is very much an example of a ship of the early 17th Century. "Phew, I'm safe" was my thought but then in my reading about the Anglo Dutch wars (three of them,) I spotted the illustration below.
The English warship "Sovereign" or "Royal Sovereign"was launched in 1637 (as Sovereign of the Seas in fact) so unsurprisingly looks very similar to the Couronne. Whereas Couronne had a service life of barely twenty years, Sovereign fought in all three of the wars against the Dutch and was one of the most impressive vessels in the English fleet. Over the course of sixty years I expect the ship had many refits, but I am happy for it to look like a ship of an earlier age to show off it's veteran status.
The kit is a very similar size to the Phenix, with very good moulded detail. The keel at just over 3 1/4 inches is the perfect size for Royal Sovereign (127 ft.) This kit does have the guns of the broadside showing along its flanks (although not the 100 guns reputedly carried) and has great detail of quarter galleries and turrets shown. The stern is disappointingly plain compared to Phenix with a decal supplied as the decoration, so I will have to paint on a bit more of the "gingerbread" that this ship was notorious for.
The sails of this kit are proper injection moulded sprues. They are much better detailed and more robust than the Phenix kit, and there are more of them. The part that becomes the deck of the ship has some cannons moulded to it and also appears to have a cover over the lowest portion of the deck. I am not sure it this is a permanent structure or something like the nets rigged in later periods to protect the deck crew from falling debris in a battle?
I am very happy with this model. Due to the period look there will be little opportunity to kitbash multiples into a variety of ships (probably a good thing when I think about it!) but it will make a unique and interesting flagship for the English fleet.
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