by Marty Shay
Jolly Roger Pirate Ship (Lindberg)
This is the old Lindberg “Jolly Roger” Pirate ship kit. It is also marketed as “The Flying Dutchman”, well I can understand why it might end up “flying”............ I enjoyed doing the “Captain Morgan” so I decided to try another. BIG mistake. If someone were to give you this kit it would be an indication that they don't like you. The “Captain Morgan” was a fun kit to build, this one wasn't. Purchased for $17, I want a refund.
Let me list the good points of the kit first: Hmmmmmmm.....Oh, I know, light bulb goes on over head...........you'll get a lot of play value out of it with your cat......................As I was saying...................
This kit sucks. Vacuform sails. Part numbers and instructions don't match. Instruction photos don't match the kit. No history of the ship is given so there is no real starting point for research, it looks like an Eighteenth Century Brig but not quite right. The hull form resembles the Revell Constitution but again not quite. The part fits are awful, the stern on mine is about 80% putty. Huge gaps and mis-matches. Locator pins don't locate. If you are silly enough to try this kit, big hint here, the crows nest platforms have to be trapped between the mast sections you can't slide them over the assembled masts as the instructions show. Did I mention vacuform sails????? Yucko. The extensive molded in detail is wasted because nothing aligns properly, Whoever designed this kit obviously never bothered to actually try to build it.
One interesting tidbit did come out of this project. We think of the “Jolly Roger” as a black flag with a skull and crossbones on it. Historically a black flag meant that there was plague aboard and to stay clear, a form of quarantine. The expression “Jolly Roger” came from a red flag which many privateers would raise which meant “to the death” the French expression for it being “Joule Rouge” pronounced “Jooolaay Rooooosheeeeee”. An image of a skeleton with an hourglass was added to the red flag meaning “surrender quickly or die”.
