Good Morning Everyone,
I’ve noticed that Revell of Germany is releasing their 1/96 scale kit of the HMS Beagle again. I missed getting this kit the last time it was released so I was wondering if any of you could offer me insight or advice about this kit before I pull the trigger.
I have that kit in my stash - I was just looking at it yesterday. Mine is an older release and it claims to be 1/110 scale! The biggest fault on mine (I don’t know about recent releases) is that there are over a dozen mold release pin marks on the top surface of the deck. Some are sunken, and some are raised. All are a PITA to remove! However, there is a wooden deck available to cover this. Ratlines are solid styrene and don’t look like rope at all (if this is a problem to you). And on my kit, the sprue containing all the rigging blocks was badly molded resulting in much flash and mis-alignment. 3D printed blocks are available (at an extra expense). Besides all that, it is an attractive model - if you want to put in the extra effort and expense.
I’t not really the Beagle.
https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/130733.aspx
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HMS Bounty, Admiralty plan
HMS Beagle plan
Better hull plan
Significant differences:
The hull shape is definitely not the HMS Beagle, the Beagle had much finer (pointy) hull lines forward. The stern of Revells Beagle is definitely the Bounty.
The Bountys hull looks like a harbour barge compared to the “sleek sailing yacht lines” of the Beagle.
Revells Beagle looks like an Egg-Ship
Let’s just call it a fictitious ship named the “HMS Mongrel”! Still a nice looking model - if you work out it’s molding defects.
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Could be the HMS Bassett, resembles a Beagle but heavier and more “rounded”
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There has actually been a HMS Bassett, an armed trawler in WW II.
Some ships are handsome, some are indifferent and some are positively ugly.
I would rate the WW II Basset as positively ugly, with a bow only a blind naval architect could love.
The sailing HMS Bassett would have been the first ship of the name and the trawler the second.
Rebox of 1961 molds. Other than better box art its the same 60+ year old tech. Anything resembling the real vessel is purely coincidental. H.M.S. Beagle, Revell H328:98 (1961) (scalemates.com)
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Given what it isn’t, are the moulds based on any identifiable real ship?
The hull parts are the HMS Bounty kit by Revell.
Their Bounty is reasonably correct considering the age of the kit but Revell has modified parts, including the deck, so it would be better to go after the Bounty kit ti build HMS Bounty.
To build HMS Beagle I would start from this book:
Likewise for the Bounty:
Just for reference:
HMS Bellona, slightly older than the Bounty.
Ship design progressed towards faster ships with sleeker lines.
The Bellona was built as a warship, the Bounty was built as a merchant ship.
It could be assumed that warships were more likely to be designed for speed than merchants.
The design evolution from the days of Bellona to the Bounty resulted in a merchant ship with
“faster” lines than the warship.
Trying to tweak one hull into resembling another ship is likely more work than scratch building the whole hull. Not to mention all the other details.
Build the Beagle kit as the HMS Mongrel or HMS Basset if it is already in the stash.
Stay clear of it otherwise.
Perhaps 15 years ago, I completed a plastic viking ship. I built a lot of balsa aircraft as a kid and have long wanted to try building a true wooden ship, either a kit or from plans. Does anyone around here build models of that nature?
Sounds like it is like Johnny Cash’s Cadillac. Johnny Cash One Piece at a Time {LYRICS ON SCREEN} (youtube.com)
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I’m getting confused in my old age! 
My above description of HMS Beagle is actually that of the Bounty! But the information is correct, at least as far as my model is concerned.
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Me too! But if you want to really confuse things, you could try building her as the Bounty built in 1960 for the Marlon Brando movie, and which sank in Hurricane Sandy in 2012. For Hollywood purposes this vessel was upscaled from the original, I think about 150% by dimensions on double the displacement. That should give even more leeway in adapting the kit…
Cheers,
M