Did I really bid ...

Must have been having a bit of a brainstorm, but when this lot popped up on a search it looked interesting at the time. It was listed as "Large scratch built wooden galleon ship on stand, H 95cm x L 105cm" with only two images although there was probably enough to go on prior to the sale to gather some more information. It was obviously not scratch built, but was from a kit and it looked like a fairly modern one given what detail could be seen. I'd put a bit of £70 on and was working on there being a substantial fees bill, but that turned out to be less than I expected, even after someone push me to the whole £70. A quick run down to Tetbury yesterday and the model is now standing in the lounge.

It did not take long to establish that she is the Norske Love. A 68 gun, three-masted warship launched in 1765. Length 48.93 m, breadth 9.70 m, draught 5.07 m, displacement 1,076 tons, with a crew of 402. The Norske Love was originally named after the Norwegian/Danish coat-of-arms, and was renamed the Oresund in 1772. The vessel was used as a guard boat in the Oresund and other coastal waters around Denmark. The ship was deleted from the naval register in 1798. Information that is taken from the listing on the Billings Boats entry for their kit. So she will go well with my own model of HMS Victory when I get around to starting that Billing Boat kit. The Norske Love kit is selling between £350 and £400 so to have one for £90 all in is a bit of a bargin.

While there is some damage, mainly to the masts and rigging, on the whole it is in very good condition. Of cause the first thing downloaded was the instruction manual, and it's nice that BB has them all on the website. While I can probably make the parts that are missing, some of them would seem to be available from Billings as spares so there are a number of options. I am also very tempted to augment her with a set of sails which are also available. As with most of the models there is even a thread on YouTube of a build ( over 6 years ;) ) of the boat, and a library of images covering the fine detail that is in need of restoration. The starting point is a good clean, and that is when I realised that my miniature vacuum cleaner is also a victim of the losses as kit was moved around. Now to look to replace that which was not cheap when I purchased it, but is ideal for getting in behind the rigging.

Next step to add the jobs to the TODO list ... starting with downloading the videos ...