I picked one of these up at a model show a week or two back for £10. The box was a bit ratty and there were no instructions, although I found some without difficulty at Scalemates. I remember seeing this kit in model shops (remember those?) back when I was a youth, or maybe it was the Heller 1/75 one? Either way they go for about £30 on the 'bay so I was happy with the price.
It doesn't look very accurate and there aren't many crew, so I acquired the Orion Roman Sailors, which has 20 rowers to man the - er - 52 oars the ship has. I also bought the R C Anderson book Oared Fighting Ships and based on that, I wonder if the kit is really worth taking any trouble over. Biremes may have been used any time between the Punic Wars and Actium; it appears some were converted triremes and some triremes were biremes with outriggers; as well as biremes and triremes there were fives, sixes, sevens and other types all the way up to fifties and sixties, which obviously is no longer describing the banks of oars. There was a thing called a liburnian, which also had two banks of oars but wasn't a bireme; they didn't have bowsprits because they got entangled when ramming; and thus the mast should be about where the foremast would be if this were a three-masted ship, instead of amidships.
It may just be a fun build-and-forget effort. Has anyone built one? How do they compare to the (I assume more accurate) Mantua, Occre etc offerings?
It doesn't look very accurate and there aren't many crew, so I acquired the Orion Roman Sailors, which has 20 rowers to man the - er - 52 oars the ship has. I also bought the R C Anderson book Oared Fighting Ships and based on that, I wonder if the kit is really worth taking any trouble over. Biremes may have been used any time between the Punic Wars and Actium; it appears some were converted triremes and some triremes were biremes with outriggers; as well as biremes and triremes there were fives, sixes, sevens and other types all the way up to fifties and sixties, which obviously is no longer describing the banks of oars. There was a thing called a liburnian, which also had two banks of oars but wasn't a bireme; they didn't have bowsprits because they got entangled when ramming; and thus the mast should be about where the foremast would be if this were a three-masted ship, instead of amidships.
It may just be a fun build-and-forget effort. Has anyone built one? How do they compare to the (I assume more accurate) Mantua, Occre etc offerings?