Tiger, 1570, Finished

Completed 1/350 model and photograph's of my new galleon "Tiger", 1570, by Julián Fernández de Sevilla Campos of ModelJShip.

Tiger, 1570

Tiger was a small Royal galleon built in 1570. Tiger had a burthen of 120 tons (Baker's Rule), 200 tons BM. She carried a crew of 80 sailors, 12 gunners and 8 soldiers. Her armament consisted of:

Gun Deck: 4 British Culverins

                   8 British Demi-Culverins

                   8 British Sakers

                  10 Light Guns

In 1588, Tiger fought in the battles against the Spanish Armada under the command of John Bostocke in Admiral Howard's Squadron.

Inspiration for the model came from Joseph Wheatley's illustration in "Historic Sail". This shows a light Elizabethan galleon, possibly Pelican/Golden Hind. Although the Golden Hind was decommissioned before the Armada events of 1588,  she is a reasonable basis for a Tiger conversion which did fight the Armada.

Joseph Wheatley's illustration in "Historic Sail"

I asked Julián Fernández de Sevilla Campos of ModelJShip to attempt the conversion using Zvezda's new 1/350 plastic model of Golden Hind. Julian did his usual amazing job, adding a new tiger figurehead, a higher poop deck, higher gunwales in the waist, additional gunports and a new quarter gallery. Crew were added using converted Langton Miniatures figures.

The photographs of Tiger were all taken by Julian. My fleet now comprises Revenge, Tiger and San Martin.

Before: the basic Zvezda model of Golden Hind

Conversion required

Conversions made

After: the fully converted Tiger

Admiral's Barge 1/350 scale

Julián Fernández de Sevilla Campos of ModelJShip has made for me a scratch-built Admiral's barge for use with my 1/350 scale Zvezda Armada. 

The idea came from the Sir Oswald Brierly painting "The Spanish Armada Sailing from Ferrol" of which I own a David Law engraving (see earlier Armada posts). This picture shows a barge rowing towards the bow of the San Martin. The idea was to build a barge for Admiral Medina Sidonia befitting his exalted station. Here is the barge as per Sir Oswald:

Julián came up with the idea of using two Langton 1/300 metal barges to create the length necessary for this model.

He then added the Admiral's quarters in the stern, rigged the boat and added a crew of converted Langton 1/300 sailors. The finished result is a unique and very fine addition to the ships he has already built for my 1588 collection. The photos are all the work of Julián.

This boat went through several iterations. Thanks to some helpful criticism at the Anchorage website and TMP, plus Julian's insistence on perfection, I present, the new Admiral's barge of Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada.