Hi, from Scotland

[Papa_Raigin]

Hi ,all. I have just started getting into the Ship Modelling hobby, And I am in the process of building a 1:50 HMS Bounty by Constructo. But my ultimate goal is to build a ship that is not really well known and I think is absolutely beautiful. It is from the Royal Scottish Navy of James IV and called the Great Michael. I have written to the National Museum of Scotland to see if I can get any information about i as I have done a thorough search for a kit and turned up with zero, so it looks like I am gonna have to do it from the ground up all by myself. I hope to do it for my grand-kids before I end up with a wooden jacket. If anyone here has any information on this magnificent ship could you please pass it on. I know and have read all the Wikipedia information. Thanks

[GrandpaPhil]

Welcome!

[BETAQDAVE]

    Welcome aboard!  Building a model of something that you have some connection to really helps to maintain your interest.  I have the same urge to build  a 3/16" scale scratch model of the Wisconsin schooner Denis Sullivan.  I have been aboard her, have taken numerous photos and even got some detail drawings from the architect, but I have been searching unsuccessfully for the hull drawings for years.  Better luck for you on your search.

[mtaylor]

Welcome to MSW, Papa-Raigin.  You might get help with researching if you post your questions here:  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/13-ships-plans-and-project-research-general-research-on-specific-vessels-and-ship-types/

 

There's a lot of knowledgeable folks here who don't often look in this subforum but do read the research area.

[Jim Lad]

Hello and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'.

 

John

[Mark P]

Good Evening Papa_Raigin;

 

Welcome to a very rewarding hobby!

 

I know something of the Great Michael's history, and it appears that there is very little documentary evidence surviving about her, a fact which has been mentioned with regret by other researchers into the history of ship development. Her dimensions are given as 240 feet long, with an internal breadth of 35 feet plus, supposedly, 10 feet of timber each side, which would give a total breadth of 55 feet. Ten feet of timber each side sounds highly unlikely, and would dramatically increase her displacement. Unless Lindsay, the Scottish chronicler who gives these dimension, meant ten feet in total, five feet each side. However, even assuming the breadth was 45 feet gives a length to breadth ratio of approximately 1:5.5, which is extremely unlikely for a ship built in the early 1500s, when most carrack type ships had a length to breadth ratio of between 1:3 and 1:4

 

I mention this only to make you aware that if it is not possible to be certain even of her principal dimensions, then there is no real prospect of having much of an idea of anything about her. As she ended up in the French Navy, their records might hold something about her, but it will not be easy to search there for you. 

 

This means that you have a choice between making a model of her based on pretty much whatever you like, or you will, unfortunately, need to search for a different ship to model. No ship from this period is known very well, as the evidence is scant, and reconstructions all contain many assumptions. 

 

I wish you all the best with whatever ship you model.

 

Mark P

[JeffT]