Ship Modelers Database
HMS Winchelsea 1764
Broken up in 1814 (sold out of service at Sheerness); no longer exists
HMS Winchelsea was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy's Niger class, designed by Sir Thomas Slade (who also designed HMS Victory). She was the sixth Royal Navy ship to carry the name, and one of eleven vessels built to the same 1757 Niger-class design.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kitNo image | HMS Winchelsea 1764 – By Chuck Passaro | Portland Scale Model Company | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 3 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Model Company | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 1 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 2 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | Winchelsea laser cut bulkhead starter kit | Portland Scale Model Company | — | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 1 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Model Company | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 2 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Model Company | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
No image | Winchelsea resin carving set | Portland Scale Model Company | — | Resin | Available |
| HMS Winchelsea 1764 | Syren Ship Model Company | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available | |
No image | Winchelsea resin carving set | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Resin | — |
No image | HMS Winchelsea Chapter 3 Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | — |
| HMS Winchelsea 1764 – By Chuck Passaro | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available | |
No image | Winchelsea laser cut bulkhead starter kit | Portland Scale Ship Co. | 1:48 (1/4 in=1 ft, O) | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
+ Link a build log- HMS Winchelsea 1764, 32 gun Frigate, POB 1:48 scale, Syren Ship Model
Uwek · Ships of Scale · HMS Winchelsea 1764
Combined kit review plus build log thread; builder explicitly states intent to add a build log after the review.
- HMS Winchelsea 1764 by shauer - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:48 Scale
shauer · Model Ship World · HMS Winchelsea 1764
Builder reconstructing an earlier build log with photos and narrative of chapters completed.
- HMS Winchelsea 1764, 32 gun Frigate 1:48, Syren Ship model by Trussben
Trussben · Ships of Scale · HMS Winchelsea 1764
Genuine build log with in-progress framing and gunport work photos across multiple pages.
Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Syren Ship Model Company: HMS Winchelsea (1764) scratch-build projectWebsite
Manufacturer page for the plank-on-bulkhead scratch-build project/monograph based on the NMM contemporary model, including a photo of the finished model.
- threedecks.org: British Fifth Rate frigate 'Winchelsea' (1764)Website
Detailed dimensional data (length of gundeck/keel, breadth, draught) and service timeline useful for scale accuracy.
- Wikipedia: HMS Winchelsea (1764)Article
Primary reference for build date, dimensions, armament, and service history of the ship.
- Wikipedia: Niger-class frigateArticle
Background on the Niger class design by Sir Thomas Slade and its sister ships, useful for modelers comparing hull forms.
Museums & archives
- Royal Museums Greenwich: Contemporary full hull model of the Winchelsea (1772)Museum
Describes the 1:48 scale contemporary dockyard model of Winchelsea held at the National Maritime Museum, the basis for the popular scratch-build kit; note RMG restricts reuse of its own object photography.
History
Service history
Although ordered during the Seven Years' War, she was completed too late for that conflict and was not commissioned until February 1769, under Captain Samuel Goodall, for Mediterranean service. In December 1769 she struck rocks off Cádiz, Spain, was severely damaged, and had to be refloated and repaired at Gibraltar; she went on to serve during the American War of Independence and remained active until being paid off in 1794. She was later fitted as a troop carrier (1799-1800) and served in the Royal Navy's Egyptian campaign of 1801, for which her crew later qualified for the Naval General Service Medal with the "Egypt" clasp.
Notable facts
In her later years she was converted to a convalescent/prison ship at Sheerness (from 1803) before finally being sold to be broken up in November 1814. A contemporary 1:48 scale full-hull dockyard model of the Winchelsea, built in 1772 and now held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, was one of several such models commissioned by Lord Sandwich to interest King George III and the Prince of Wales in the navy; that model became the basis for a well-known plank-on-bulkhead scratch-build kit and monograph by Syren Ship Model Company / Chuck Passaro, popular among modelers as an introductory scratch-building project. Notably, the ship was later commanded by Edward Pellew, one of the Royal Navy's most celebrated frigate captains.