Bon Homme Richard 1:100

Product detailed description

History on Wikipedia HERE

History of the ship:

The ship, originally named Duc de Duras, was originally a merchant ship built in 1765 for the French East India Company. It carried goods between India and France. But on February 4, 1779, she was made available as a loan from King Louis the 16th to the United States for transporting materials.
Her first task was to escort merchant ships carrying goods and materials to the United States in June 1779.

Battle of Flamborough Head. 23 September 1779. Here Bon Homme Richard clashed with the Baltic Fleet under HMS Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. After 6pm a fierce battle broke out between the two ships, during which almost half the crews of both ships were killed within four hours! At first, the battle seemed to favour the heavily armed HMS Serapis. The English commanding officer called on the Americans to surrender. But they replied, "We have not yet begun to fight." Bon Homme's captain, Richard Jones, gradually began to benefit from a larger crew. A mutual attack to seize the other ship's deck was always repulsed. Eventually, after a stiff fight, the English surrendered at 10.30pm.
The Americans won but did not save the badly damaged ship by fighting and fire, and with a badly sealed hull. After another 36 hours of salvage efforts, the ship sank on the morning of 25 September 1779.
As a result of the battle, the French became convinced of the need to support the colonies and assist the Americans in their struggle for independence and freedom from British rule.
The dimensions of the ship were: length 46 m, beam 12 m, draft 5.8 m. The crew consisted of 380 men, and was armed with 28x 12 pounder guns; 6x 18 pounder guns; 8x 9 pounder guns.
The model of the ship itself is well executed. While we cannot expect Heller-like quality, the parts are moulded cleanly, with no burrs. It is a pity that at this scale some details are not better handled. However, it has several crew figures, including an active gunner - a loader with brushes for loading the guns. On the other hand, this gives the active modellers the opportunity to add a lot of detail to the model. The plan includes a pretty decent sketch of the rigging implementation, even with the fact that the kit remembered to include not only simple pulleys, but also enough tie-downs for the ship's arms. Overall, the model leaves a good impression on me.