Hard to believe that ships such as this were ever the scourge of the seas. Yet in the late 1700's and early 1800's these rather heavily armed ships were often seen in the waters of the Mediterranean along the Barbary coast (basically North Africa). They would stop unarmed or poorly armed merchantmen and either extol payment to allow them to continue on their journey or would steal their cargo or even the entire vessel. They particularly preyed on the ships of those countries that were seen as weak or that had no real naval power. The young United States was one of those, and eventually the US Navy was sent into the area to deal with the situation. They were successful in doing so and so were borne many US nautical traditions and heros. If you are a US Marine, then you know of this conflict as it is part of the first line of the Marine Hymn!

  Pop open the box and you'll be faced with two sprues of white plastic and a spool of black thread. The kit is free from any mold flash and well molded with raised detail. There is some flash on some of the ejector release areas. I haven't a clue as to the scale, but the hull measures about 5 inches from stern to the tip of the pointy bow. The hull is cast in a left and right side with the deck being trapped between them. The sails are plastic as well, so I'd recommend some ballast to keep the kit from being top heavy. There is a display stand which will help.

All of the parts have ejector pin marks on them. Clean up of those on the sails and ship's boat will be difficult, while those on the oars and other parts will just be tedious. There are no decals and even the flags are injected plastic. RIgging seems pretty simple and the instructions supply an excellent rigging diagram. The instructions themselves are well done and give color information in generic terms. All parts are labeled for those that don't know the difference between a fore mast and main mast (landlubbers!).

Not the kind of kit that you will see in most contests, but one that is a trademark of Lindberg. It is well done, relatively easy to build and definitely different. If you are tired of the usual (whatever that is for you), then perhaps you should start looking at some of these Lindberg kits.

Review kit courtesy of my kit collection.

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