The Duchy of Armagnac, since their secession from Glambria some hundred years earlier, had been struggling with maintaining a fleet in the shadow of the Glambrian and Albionic ones, maintaining their hegemony over the seas.
In one of the recent clashes with their northern Catholic neighbors, they could lay their hands on a 30-year old 2nd rate ship of the line, Majesté Catholique. The name did not ring well for them, so they added a new one and painted over most of the gilding and decoration with a black and yellow scheme.
Now the ship is named Le Pépé, and due to its solid build, large surface of sail and relatively little participation in armed conflicts ever since, she is in quite a good condition, forming the core of the Armagnac battle-line fleet.
The model is an 1/600 Heller La Couronne, made to a waterline model, with bamboo masts and canvas sails added. It is an old but very fine model, all things considered. I really liked building, painting and rigging it.
She might look very old for the first half of the 18th century, but with trimming the bow down a bit and adding the yellow and black paint scheme, I think I made it look modern enough.
The decal on the aft sits a bit too high, the black dots should overlap the chase gun ports, however, it's only a tiny mistake and doesn't rob the ship's good looks.
Another cheap source of plastic warship kits, Revell's Spanish Galeon, is also in the making.
I love the way this ship looks! I really like the paint scheme.
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