Malachi

Huh? The Raa was one the better PotBS models, too low poly for modern standards, okay, but it still looks quite nice. And it was a real ship, the contemporary plans for her and her sister ship can be found at orlogsbasen.dk.

Sorry, I don´t get the "designed to be like a frigate" part. It´s designed to take huge loads of cargo (just have a look at the body plan and compare it to a real war ship like Chapman´s Vasa of 1778), not designed to sail fast and carry heavy armamet. And judging by the size of the ports, the lower gun deck is for 12 pounders, not for 18 pounders which you´d expect for a ship of this size. It would have been built for trading, not for battle.

your second link is a merchant ship, not a frigate. Care to elaborate?

Definitely something like in the first picture (great choice by the way, I love that movie). Ships were colourful - at least till the end of the 18th century - and only vivid colours would do them justice. Your sentence "Vivid colors are contrasted with death and serious war" sums it up quite nicely what sailing ships were about in my opinion: elegant, richly decorated machines of war which could fire a ton of iron with a single, devastating broadside. And one last thought, dunno if you´ve ever been at sea on a ship, but everything seems more colourful due to the reflective nature of the water, so a desaturated colour filter would be a move in the wrong direction.

The most probable colour scheme for a french frigate of the time would be black/yellow ochre like in this paintings: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11987.html http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13719.html The first one was made by Pocock, a famous maritime painter. His works often were commisions for naval officers, so they show their subjects in great details.

Updated my OP with links to plans/models

Most of the ships above are pretty well documented (monographs, original plans, models etc) , I´ll try to post more info on them this evening. And it´s great to see to see that you´re open to community suggestions for ships!

As the title says, post a ship and/or ship class you really want to see in NA Here are my favourites: Panteleymon-Victoria Russian, designed by B. Pangalo, launched 1721, 66-gun SoL Model: http://www.shipmodels.com.ua/eng/models/elite/panteleymon_victoria/index.htm Fleuron French, designed by B. Ollivier sen. and jun., launched 1729, 64-gun SoL, excellent sailor and one of the most beautiful ships ever made (in my opinion) Model: http://www.modelismonaval.com/magazine/barcelona2008/mmagerotte.html Plans: http://ancre.fr/Product.aspx?ID=3756252&L=EN A French 8-pounder frigate, ca. 1750 Doesn´t matter which one (Renommee, Sirene, Comete, Ambuscade, Brune, etc). Would love to see one of those in the game, beautiful ships, all of them Renommée model: http://www.modelismonaval.com/magazine/barcelona2008/elemaillet.html Renommée plans: http://ancre.fr/Product.aspx?ID=3765255&L=EN Ambuscade plan: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82055.html Comete model: http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/jacquesmailliere/La%20Comete/indexgb.html Niger-class frigates British, designed by Slade, first launched 1756, the ultimate british 12-pounder frigate Model: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66277.html Plans: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Winchelsea%252C_plan Iris (Ex-Hancock) American, later in british and french service, launched 1776, considered "the finest and fastest frigate in the world" for a couple of years. Plan: http://www.kotiposti.net/felipe/Pictures/Hancock_1776/hancock_1776.html A high res plan is available at the NMM (a digital copy is ~ 30 british pounds). Bellona-class frigates Swedish, designed by Chapman, first launched 1782, maybe the first successful 24-pounder class and their appearance definitely is different to other frigates of french or british origin. Plan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swedish_frigate_Venus_%281783%29-schematics.jpg A high res plan of the Venus is available at the NMM. Téméraire-class 74-gun ships French, designed by Sané, first lauched 1782 Model: http://www.shipmodels.com.ua/eng/models/elite/le_rivoli/index.htm Plans: http://ancre.fr/Product.aspx?ID=3702234&L=EN Endymion British, launched 1797, I don´t really like this ship, but the Conny needs something to play with Plans: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;authority=vessel-310436;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E

That´s not quite right. The french Medée was lanched in 1740 - which got captured by the RN and, together with the privateer Tygre, had a huge impact on british frigate design - followed by Sirène, Panthére and Renommée in 1744, all 'modern' frigates by the most common definition (ship-rigged, gundeck unarmed and below the waterline level, all guns on the upper deck and quarterdeck/forecastle). And there´s even an earlier example of a true frigate, the swedish Vita Örn, built in 1711, if I remember correctly. Edit: oops, sorry for resurrecting an rather old thread >.<

My favourite non-fiction books about the age of sail: "The History of the French Frigate 1650-1850" - ANCRE "Architectura Navalis Mercatoria" - F.H. Chapman "Fregate de 8 - La Renommee 1744" - Ancre "Ships and Science - The Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800" - L.D. Ferreiro "Remarks on the Navies of the English & the Dutch" - B. Ollivier, 1737 "Entwicklung, Entwicklung, Dokumentation und Vergleich der Achtzehnpfünder-Fregatten aus Großbritannien, Frankreich und den USA" - Boendel (thesis about 18-pounder frigates, very interesting read!) "The French Navy In The Seven Years War" - J.R. Dull There are many more in my library, but these are the most interesting ones (to me, at least )