Hi Everyone,
Today I went to a local model show and picked up a sealed Airfix 1/72 scale “Special Edition” of Sir Francis Drake’s “Golden Hind”. I already have an early edition of Revell’s Golden Hind in my stash. I built this version back in the early Seventies when I was a teenager. I also have the Heller version in my stash too. Which kit is the best? What are the pros & cons of them? I am only familiar with Revell’s version.
Thanks for any assistance & advice.
Tom S.
In general, Heller’s sailing ship kits are very good. 
I think @Dioramartin has made a ‘Golden Hind’ although it is slightly second hand now.
Indeed, a disastrous displacement following moving home 2 weeks ago. I can’t recall which brand, built maybe 15 years ago – probably Revell.
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I completed the Airfix Golden Hind back in 2018. It had originally been bought at my middle daughter’s request for her when she was 9, she’s now 32! The stumbling block was phase 2 of the instructions - painting the complicated decoration to the hull made up of loads of small contrasting triangles. The joke is that there are no surviving records which accurately describe what the Golden Hind actually looked like, so the Airfix kit is based on a typical armed merchantman of the times. Anyway, here are the photos, I hasten to add, not my usual genre!
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My first thought to save this misfortune was to scratch some giant tentacles emerging from the sea and wrapping around the ship, and renaming the dio, “What happens when you stray too far!”. 
I havent looked,but SWAG is they are all the same kit, as often as companies swap molds. Check Scalemates. They should have links to reviews too.
Oops! Airfix, 1977- 97- 2009-18 all the same kit, different box. Golden Hind, Airfix 09258-4 (1977)
Revell: 1965. Zvezda -2013. Heller- 2021. (plus several Revell affiliates). actual scale 1/96. Timeline for Golden Hind, Heller 80829 (2021) - Timeline