ATTENTION SAILING SHIP MODELERS!

Modeling Subjects Ships
21

I had a look at that Model Expo site you mentioned, at first not so bad, lots of kits in the low to mid $100 range as I expected. Then I started seeing the larger ships, Yikes. Ok, I can see the point relating to price, I looked on ebay and found a number of the 1/96 USS Constitution around $50-60, the wood 1/93 USS Constitution nearly $500. I remembered the Revell kit being closer to $100 when I used to see it in the LHS and would have guessed $250-300 for a good wood version. I also see the issue with scale, I would have expected the wood ship models would have been a bit more uniform in this regard but that appears not to be the case. They seem to have as little regard for scale as the plastic model industry outside of the larger 20th century war ships.

jgonzoles / jtilly thank you for your replies. As I said I have a passing interest in ship models but really don’t know all that much about them, obviosly even less than I thought. I read discussions here bemoaning the errors in many of the kits available (probably quite justified based on the age of the kits). I like the 1-1 sailing ships when I’ve had the chance to see them, and having grown up across the bay from the SF maritime museum, I had a chance to go onboard several as a child and I guess they stuck with me.

I wish you luck with your quest to find a kit maker with the interest in reviving the plastic sailing ship kit. The more of these threads I read the more I want to build a sailing ship.

Since I have you here I was rather taken with the Model Shipways Harriot Lane civil war gun boat kit, any comments on the kit?

I’d also be interested to know if there is a kit of or at least resembling the Balclutha? That ship is probably responsible for my interest in sailing ships, it made quite an impression on me as a child.

http://www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/balclutha.htm

Thanks

22

Its a good idea to contact the manufacturers and making proposals for new kits.
But sometimes I fear, that the response: … “we have forwarded your proposals to
our special departments…” also could mean: We have thrown it in the waste paper basket.

About Revell of Germany I can tell you good news in this case: They have a very big ear
for customers proposals. They strongly substitute modelers clubs when they plan modelshows.
And at bigger events guys of the development department are present and they talk with
modelers about their proposals and wishes. So they just launched a new “Classics” series
in Germany with limited reiusses of old kits, and if possible, with the old boxart.

There ARE new sailing ship kits: Zvezda had released a “Hanse Kogge” two years ago
and now it was taken over in the product line of Revell of Germany (which makes
the kit cheaper…). Its a typical merchant ship from northern Germany, from
around the 14th century. And Trumpeter had released a big kit from a chinese war junk
as well.

A pair of rarely seen russian sailing ships have been reissued by ALANGER : The “Orel”
and “Goto Predestinacija”. They can be compared with older Pyro ships, the main
flaw are the very thick ratlines made from soft plastic. Formerly these models were
produced by a russian company named OGONEK in the 1980s and they were rarely seen.

AOSHIMA of Japan has issued a series of formerly IMAI sailing ships in larger scale,
but they are very expensive unfortunately…
These models had great detail and were finely engraved. We hope to see more coming back.

If we could make our beautyful hobby more interesting and attractive for the youngsters, we could save our hobby from fading and encourage the manufacturers to invest in new tools.
In my modellers club there are only two members younger than 30 years…

23

We’ve mentioned the two Zvezda cog kits several times here in the Forum. I haven’t bought one yet, but they have a good reputation. One Forum member, jwintjes, a European historian who knows far more about this period than I do, commented that the layout of the kits’ deck planks isn’t consistent with the surviving evidence; the surviving cogs have planks that run athwartships, whereas those of the kits run fore-and-aft. Jwintjes was quick to emphasize, though, that the cog was an extremely ubiquitous ship type, and it’s entirely possible that not all cogs were planked the same way.

In addition to the Russian kits Woxel59 mentioned, our good Forum friend Kapudan Emir Effendi has brought our attention to a newly-established Russian firm called Flagman. It’s announced several forthcoming sailing ship kits. It’s obviously too early to tell what they’ll look like, but there’s reason for optimism. The company’s 1/350 German WWII U-boat got a very favorable review on the Steel Navy website.

Those “Revell Classic” reissues are indeed of enormous interest. Both the American and European branches of the company have done things like that. Back in the 1980s Revell Monogram had a big “Special Subjects” program of reissued kits that people like me gobbled up; several of them are still awaiting my attention in my attic. That range, unfortunately, did not include a single sailing ship kit. Neither does the latest batch of “Revell Classics”: http://www.revell.de/en/products/model_kits/services/info_channel/revell_classics/?id=821&L=1 , though the “regular” catalog of Revell Germany does include some old Revell sailing ships (including that infernal “Beagle,” and a Gorch Fock that I’m pretty certain is a reissue of the old U.S.C.G.C. Eagle from 1958). Let’s hope for more. I sure would like to see the return of the Flying Cloud, Golden Hind, Mayflower, and Charles W. Morgan.

Aaronw - I’m afraid I can’t think of a single kit representing a ship similar to the Balclutha (i.e., a late-nineteenth- or early-twentient-century, iron- or steel-hulled sailing merchant vessel). Heller used to make several big German stell merchant sailing vessels, but those kits have been off the market for many years. I guess the closest things currently on the market are the two versions of the German training barque Gorch Fock (one formerly Imai, the other a reboxing of the old Revell Eagle) currently in the Revell Europe catalog. For that matter, the Revell Passat (which I haven’t seen in the flesh), or any of the old Imai 1/350 sail training ships (several of which are still available under the Academy label) might fill the bill. Or have you thought about any of the Cutty Sark kits? The Cutty Sark has a composite-built hull (wood planks on an iron frame), but in terms of rigging and overall appearance she and the Balclutha have quite a bit in common. (I honestly can’t recommend the Cutty Sark as a first project for newcomers to the hobby, though.)

I can offer some comments on the Model Shipways Harriet Lane. The vessel herself was a beautiful, interesting, and important ship - the first successful steam cutter operated by the old U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (one of the predecessors of the modern Coast Guard). Her designer and builder was William Webb, a major figure in the American clipper ship era. Model Shipways originally issued its solid-hull Harriet Lane kit back in the late 1940s. It’s been revised several times since then, and the firm’s new owners, Model Expo, recently revived it once again ( http://www.modelexpo-online.com/cgi-bin/sgsh0101.exe?SKW=MODEL_SHIPWAYS,PLANK,ON,BULKHEAD@&FNM=08&UID=2008052710082732 ; scroll down to the picture of the Harriet Lane and click on it.)

It’s a fairly typical solid-hull wood kit - and better than most. The “machine-carved” basswood hull requires some final shaping, the bulwarks need to be thinned down to scale dimensions with a chisel and/or gouge, and the holes for the masts need to be drilled. Most of the fittings are cast in britannia metal, an excellent material that resembles lead but is far more stable. The spars are tapered birch dowels; the instructions show how to bring them to final shape. (Model Shipways instruction books these days are among the best in the business - and Model Expo is generous enough to provide downloadable versions on its website. Downloading and studying that instruction book would be an excellent way to get acquainted with the kit in advance.) The kit includes self-adhesive copper foil tape for the copper sheathing. I’ve worked with that material; it’s nice stuff, and gives a very satisfactory result. I suspect the tape included with the kit is too wide (I think it’s produced by a company that makes supplies for stained-glass window makers), but slicing it down to the scale width isn’t difficult.

The one criticism of this version of the kit that I can offer (on the basis of the ad and the instruction book; I haven’t built it) is that the stated scale is wrong. It should be 1/144, or 1/12"=1’.

This kit was one of those that, way back in the early fifties, got “pirated” by the plastic kit company Pyro. (The two owners of the original Model Shipways company called it “Pirate Plastics.”) The contrast between the original wood kit and the Pyro plastic version offers an interesting demonstration of the differences between the two media. Both are on the same scale. The plastic kit’s bulwarks obviously don’t need thinning - and the plastic hull is already formed to its finished shape. The paddlewheel boxes in the wood kit consist of solid blocks of basswood, the protruding portions of the paddlewheels themselves being represented by britannia castings that are to be glued onto the bottoms of the blocks. (You can see them in the photo of the kit components in the ad.) In the plastic kit, the boxes are hollow and the wheels are complete, rotating on a connecting shaft. (I think the kit may have been available with an electric motor in it for a while - though I’ve never seen an example in that form.) But the plastic hull below the waterline is smooth; Pyro made no attempt to represent the copper sheathing. (I imagine that self-adhesive copper foil tape would work nicely on it.) One could get into an endless philosophical discussion about which of these kits is “better.” The bottom line is that either of them is capable of producing a first-rate scale model. To get either of them into that condition would take a good deal of time and effort; the wood kit would take more.

Pyro later reissued the plastic kit under the label “Civil War Blockade Runner.” (Ok, the real Harriet Lane was captured by the Confederates and did run the blockade. But the kit represents her in her Revenue Cutter configuration - complete with guns.) With that title it also appeared in Life-Like and Lindberg boxes; I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Lindberg “Blockade Runner” in hobby shops fairly recently. Lindberg recently had a change of ownership, and the new owners are bringing back quite a few old Lindberg kits that haven’t been seen in many years: http://www.lindberg-models.com/ . Unfortunately this kit isn’t on the list. Maybe we’ll see it again. In the mean time, I suspect it can be found in hobby shops, and on the web. I do hope it comes back; it’s one of the few plastic sailing ship kits I can honestly recommend as good first projects for newcomers to the hobby. With its brigantine rig it offers a good introduction to rigging, without a great deal of repetition - and a model built from either of those kits can be a thing of great beauty as well as historical interest.

Hope that helps a little. Good luck.

24

Then by all means let’s lobby Revell of Germany as well! I don’t want to buy their HMS Beagle (sic: HMS Bounty) to prove that I want new sailing ships. Again, we have each bought, rebought, and bought again every sailing ship offering that has been released, rereleased, and rerereleased. We need to make the manufacturers aware of what we want through the collective power of our voices and our letters. Keep sending the letters . . . eventually one may make it to the right people rather than reach the proverbial circular file. (Yes, I teach “Rabble-rousing” 101 in my government and U.S. History classes!)

Bill Morrison

25

jtilly, thanks for the info on the kits. I’ll be adding the gun boat to my to get list. I’ll have a look for the plastic but I do like working with wood and don’t get many chances to. This might be a chance to do something really different from my normal builds and could make a nice winter project when the weather shuts down most of my painting.

26

Just to keep everyone informed, here is a copy of my latest communication with Hornby Hobbies and their response.

Greetings once again!

I would like to continue my petition to have your company, as the owners of Airfix, begin producing more plastic scale models of sailing ships, particularly of the Napoleonic Era. If you are doing your market research by reading the many postings on modeling websites such as Fine Scale Modeler, you would see that there is significant interest in this proposal.

Sailing ship enthusiasts are dismayed at their treatment by the plastic modeling manufacturers, who haven’t released a truly new plastic sailing ship model in close to thirty years. We have loyally built and rebuilt all that companies such as Airfix have to offer. Yet, our interests are ignored.

Please consider our plight . . . we need more products. Read the many threads on the FSM website. Contact the many of us who are posting comments about what we would like to see. And, act on our recommendations! We implore you!

Dear Mr Morrison

Thank you for your email, I have passed it on to the relevant departments and in addition we do keep a record of all product requests, which we take into consideration when planning future ranges.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Lodge

Airfix Customer Care

27

maybe we should give them specific samples of what models you would like to see.

28

Enemeink,

I agree and already have done so. I am trying to make this a concerted effort by asking all other sailing ship modellers do the same. I believe that one person doing so will be ignored; more voices acting individually can also be ignored. But, if we act together, it can be highly effective in achieving our aims . . . more and better plastic sailing ship model kits.

Bill Morrison

29

I just took a careful look at the Revell Europe website. (The company seems to be calling itself “Revell Europe,” rather than “Revell Germany,” these days. Whether that implies any genuine change in the firm’s corporate structure I have no idea.) It’s a nice, well-organized website; I particularly like the availability of instruction sheets (some of them, at least) for downloading. The “online catalog” is conveniently broken down into categories, including one for sailing ships.

The list of sailing ships includes thirteen kits. Most of them are pretty easy to identify.

  1. Santa Maria. I’m pretty sure this is the grand old U.S. Revell kit from 1957. I haven’t seen it in many years but, given how little is known about the prototype, I suspect it can still be regarded as a reasonable reconstruction. It certainly has the potential to produce a nice model.

  2. “H.M.S. Beagle.” Some subjects are best not discussed. We’ve covered this one amply elsewhere in the Forum.

  3. Hansa Kogge. As I understand it, this is a reboxing of the recent Zvezda kit. I haven’t seen it, but on the basis of web coverage I have the impression that it’s a nice kit - and a first-rate “starter kit” for people just breaking into the sailing ship genre. I believe the Revell version is a good bit cheaper than the Zvezda one in some markets.

  4. Gorch Fock, allegedly on 1/253 scale. (I say “allegedly” because Revell Germany/Europe is notorious for screwing up scale designations.) I’m not absolutely sure, but I think this is a slightly modified reissue of the old Revell U.S. Coast Guard training bark Eagle, from 1958. If I’m right, it would actually be a good starting point for a scale model of the first Gorch Fock - the one built in the 1930s and seized by the Soviets after WWII as war reparations. As we’ve discussed elsewhere in the Forum, the old Revell kit appears to have been based on Harold Underhill’s plans for that class of German cadet ships, and is about 20 scale feet short for the Eagle - but (I think) right for the Gorch Fock. The serious modeler would need to remove a considerable amount of 1950s-vintage USCG equipment, most conspicuously the big motor boats.

  5. “Ghost Ship With Night Color.” The photo makes it obvious that this is the old U.S. Revell “Walt Disney’s Peter Pan Pirate Ship,” from 1960. It’s a reasonably accurate and well-detailed replica of the amusement park prop that used to be at Disneyland in California; that…object, in turn, was based on the work of the Disney animators in the 1953 movie “Peter Pan.” It bore virtually no resemblance to any actual vessel that ever floated, and neither does the kit. Revell U.S. is currently selling it under the label “Caribbean Pirate Ship.” (Note the meticulous avoidance of the phrase “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Apparently Revell didn’t pay a licensing fee to Disney.)

  6. U.S.S. Constitution. Obviously the 1/96-scale kit from 1965, surely one of the ten or twelve best plastic sailing ship kits ever. Thank goodness it’s still available in this form; Revell U.S. has dropped it. The German version appears to be the only one of the big, 3-foot-long Revell sailing ship kits currently on the market.

  7. Gorch Fock (1/350 scale). I think this is a reissue of an Imai kit - one of the big series of 1/350 sail training ship kits that company released in conjunction with the big “tall ships” festivities in 1976. Those kits were waterline models, but Imai later released modified, full-hull versions of several of them; I think this is one of them. Given their tiny size, they were nice kits.

  8. Passat. I’ve never seen this one in the flesh; I think it may be a genuine original Revell Germany product. (Heller made a model of this ship, but it was bigger - 1/150, I think.) I couldn’t get the website photos of the model to come up on my computer, but I was able to look at the instructions. They’re quite impressive. Given the small scale (1/250), it looks like the designers did a creditable job of reproducing a highly complex subject. And the rigging diagrams are remarkable. They simplify the rigging of the real thing, of course, but they do so intelligently and rationally. I think I want this kit.

  9. H.M.S*. Victory*. Obviously the old U.S. Revell kit from 1959. Given its age, the limitations of the medium, and the small scale, it’s an excellent kit and a good basis for a scale model - for those who can handle its miniscule size.

10*. Alexander von Humboldt*. I haven’t seen this one either - and the website doesn’t offer a photo of it or the instructions. I believe it’s an original Revell Germany product from the 1980s, but I’m not absolutely sure. I don’t have any grounds for comment on it - beyond the fact that those bright green sails certainly are…unusual.

  1. H.M.S*. Bounty*. Obviously the old U.S. Revell kit from 1956. I’m considerably more familiar with this one than I’d like to be: http://www.hmsvictoryscalemodels.be/JohnTilleyBounty/index.html . For its day it was a superb kit. It obviously doesn’t represent the current state of the art, but in many respects it’s superior to the much more recent Airfix version.

12*. Cutty Sark*. I’m pretty certain this is the “medium sized” version originally released in 1976. I think it may have originated with Revell of Great Britain (which has long since ceased to exist), but I’m not sure. Dr. Graham’s book - for which I have the deepest possible respect - contains a rare error regarding this kit: the book asserts that it’s a modified version of the Revell Stag Hound. It isn’t. It’s a reasonably accurate, though much simplified, rendition of the Cutty Sark. (For a while Revell was selling three versions of that ship: this one, the grand old 1/96 kit, and a reissue of the little 1/350 Imai one. The latter two, unfortunately, seem to be gone for the moment. I’d especially like to see the big one come back. There are some plastic kits that should always be available.)

  1. U.S.S*. United States*. The description of this one (“one-piece hull”) makes it obvious that it’s a reissue of the Monogram kit from the late seventies. It was part of Monogram’s brief effort to entice newcomers into the hobby by offering “simplified” sailing ship kits. It does indeed have a one-piece hull, yards molded integrally with the masts, and various other contrivances designed to make it buildable in a few evenings. As such it’s a rather interesting piece of ingenious engineering, but probably not of much interest to serious scale modelers. (And it doesn’t have the raised quarterdeck that the real ship did.)

That’s not much of a repertory, but it certainly surpasses, in both numbers and quality, the two (count 'em - two) sailing ship kits currently on the U.S. Revell list: The 1956-vintage 1/192 Constitution and the aforementioned “Caribbean Pirate Ship.”

I’ve never had any contact with any of the people who work for Revell Europe. My impression is that the company does have a genuine interest in the serious, adult scale modeler. (The recent U-boat kits, and the forthcoming 1/144 Fletcher-class destroyer, certainly confirm that - along with a number of other modern ships and quite a few downright outstanding aircraft.) Unfortunately the management’s expertise doesn’t seem to extend far into the realm of the sailing vessel. The web descriptions of some (not all) of those kits can most gently be described as stupid. The scales of several of them are garbled, and several of the the lists of “features” (“structurally detailed deck,” “one-piece rigging,” etc.) seem to have been written by somebody who knew virtually nothing about ships or ship models. I wonder whether the people who decided to reissue that infernal “Beagle” actually had any idea of how little the contents of the box resembled the real ship.

Model companies are run by human beings. The people running this one give the impression, elsewhere in its product range, that they understand scale modeling and genuinely care about the knowledgeable consumer. Maybe - maybe - if they were educated a little bit as to what sailing ship modeling is about, they could be pursuaded to take the same interest in that genre that they obviously do in aircraft, tanks, modern ships, etc. We can at least hope.

30

I totally agree with you. I was going to give them specific examples of ships that I would like to see added to thier lines.

31

I have enclosed my response to Mr. Lodge of Airfix.

Bill Morrison

Mr. Mark Lodge
Airfix Customer Care

Dear Mr. Lodge,

Thank you for your response to my email. As you are aware, whenever a consumer hears the phrase “We’ll pass your request on to . . .”, we expect that our request will be deposited in the circular file. In fact, many of my peers have advised me not to bother with my requests to Airfix because it is a lost cause. Your response gave me some hope.

I would like to specify which ships that I would like to see Airfix manufacture. Unfortunately, Airfix does not manufacture sailing ships to any standard scale; they range from 1/72, 1/144, 1/150, 1/180, and 1/200. I would like to see Airfix begin a 1/96 or 1/100 line and, perhaps, 1/150. The ships I would personally like to see include HMS Vanguard (Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of the Nile), L’Ocean (Bruey’s flagship at the same battle), HMS Elephant (Nelson’s flagship at Copenhagen), HMS Amazon (Captain Riou’s frigate at Copenhagen), HMS Shannon (the frigate that defeated USS Chesapeake), and Bucentaure(Villeneuve’s flagship at Trafalgar). I would also like to see HMS Bellerophon, the ship to which Napoleon surrendered, and HMS Queen Charlotte (Rodney’s flagship). Others have mentioned the Santissima Trinidad, the largest ship that fought at Trafalgar.

Again, thank you for your consideration. I appreciate that any new model kit involves a significant outlay of funds, but I believe that it is in the best interests of Airfix to do so. Other model companies have proven this, such as Trumpeter and Dragon.

I look forward to hearing from you again concerning these recommendations.

Bill Morrison

32

Relating to Dr. Tilley´s interesting article about Revell of Germany,
I can confirm his statements. Most of the models are reissues, sometimes modified.
“Gorch Fock” is indeed a modified “Eagle”. In the 1930s there were 3 training sailing
vessels built for the Kriegsmarine: Gorck Fock 1 (which after WW II became the russian
“Tovarishtsch”), “Horst Wessel” (after WW II US Coast Guard “Eagle” which probably
was the prototype for Revell´s model) and “Albert Leo Schlageter” which, after a
period as brazilian ship after WW II eventuelly became portuguese “Sagres” around 1960.
Gorch Fock 1 was a little bit shorter than “Horst Wessel” /“Eagle” and “Albert Leo Schlageter”/
“Sagres”. A similar ship was built for Romania , the “Mircea”. So “Eagle” and “Sagres”
were based on the plans of “Gorch Fock 1”, the hull was lengthened. “Gorch Fock 2”,
the current ship for the German Bundesmarine, was built on plans based on “Eagle”/“Sagres”.
Thats why Revell uses the same hull for both ship models, I only found out slight differences
on the upper deck structures. I hope, these informations aren´t confusing.

Now to “Alexander von Humboldt”. This is a german made Revell kit. It appeared first
at the end of the 1980s. The ship is a training sailing vessel, which was rebuilt in
1986/1987 from a former fire ship into a three masted bark. The fire ship originally was built
in 1906 as “Reserve Sonderburg”, it was planned as a reserve fireship, when one of the
main fireships at Germanys coast had to be repaired. So it remained under different tasks
until September 1986, when it was rammed by Liberian motorship “Ocean Wind” and damaged.
Afterwards it was bought by a foundation “Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training”, to rebuilt
it as a training vessel for young people. The hull was painted green to give a memory
to the sailing ships of the german shipping company “Rickmers”. The reason why the sails
are green to is simple:(Dr. Tilley was wondering why…)
One of the founders of the training ship foundation is the big german brewery BECKS (also famous in the USA, I guess). The had made a contract for using the ship for advertising
over a long period. As the BECKS beer bottles are green, so the sails became green too.
When the advertising contract ran out, the sails were left green, because of the ship´s
special appearance. I have read, that the ship will be replace in 2009 or 2010 by a newer
ship. The training ship foundation has an own (german) website:
www.gruene-segel.de
(That means “green sails” in english). Another german modellers homepage, where pictures
of a nicely built “Alexander von Humbold” can be found is: www.modellversium.de

Then you have to click “Galerie” (gallery) and then you can search for the model.

I hope these informations from Germany helped to clearify some questions in this case.

Greetings to all! Axel Wolters a.k.a woxel59

33

As an addition to my report about shipmodels from Revell of Germany,
I had discovered another case of “model box engineering” (selling the same
kit under different names): The at present unavailable kit of the german
WW I sailing ship “SMS Seeadler” (Sea Eagle), from famous captain Felix Graf
Luckner, also was issued in the 1960s, and different times again, from Revell.
The scale stated on the box was 1:232. Indeed its the same kit as “Gorch Fock”,
with minmal modifications. “Gorch Fock” scale was stated as 1:253. This is clearly
a box-scale, regarding the age of the kit. The real “Seeadler” also was a 3 mast ship,
but had a different length in comparison to “Gorch Fock” so Revell probably stated
the different scale. The real ships had nothing in common, except the 3 masts, because
“Seeadler” was built in 1888 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was captured as “Pass of
Balmaha” by a german submarine and sent to Germany. An engine was added and it
was reconstructed as an auxiliary cruiser. The vessel had some succes but was finally
lost in the south pacific at the island of Mopelia. It had struck a reef caused by an
anchoring error. (Graf Luckner hat later stated, the the vesel was thrown on the reef
by a tsunami, to protect his crew from punishment). I luckyly have a (started)
kit of “Seeadler” (an early Revell “Authentic kit”) in my collection.
Maybe this one will reappear one day too ?

As an addition to the 1:350 scale Gorck Fock(ex IMAI), Revell of Germany also
offered the 1:350 scale “Cutty Sark” and “Amerigo Vespucci” in the same line,
these ships are well known in Germany too. I guess, the tools were leased,
because the old IMAI 1:350 scale ships mostly are offered by MINICRAFT now.
No idea whether they own the tools or just let produce models in China or
Korea under their name… Does anybody have more information ?

34

I can shed a little more light on the Eagle/Gorch Fock/Seeadler connection. It’s a rather interesting story.

Back in 1956 (at least I think that’s the date of the first edition) the famous sailing ship writer and draftsman Harold A. Underhill published a book called Sail Training and Cadet Ships. Like Underhill’s other books, it was illustrated with a series of well-drawn, fold-out plans. Among the ships covered was, of course, the class of German training barques that included the Gorch Fock and Horst Wessel (later U.S.C.G.C. Eagle). The text of the book included a discussion of the similarities and differences between the ships of the class - including the fact that all of them were different in length. The accompanying fold-out plans were of the Gorch Fock - as Underhill clearly stated in the text. (He explained repeatedly that the four ships in the class were near-identical except for length - and provided a table with the accurate dimensions.)

Underhill’s publishers, Brown, Son and Ferguson, sold blueprint versions of most of his ship plans separately, and published a widely-distributed catalog of them. This particular set of drawings was listed in the catalog as representing all four ships in the class. A person who bought a copy of the drawings and didn’t have a copy of the book wouldn’t know that the plans weren’t accurate depictions of all four.

I think it’s worth noting that Underhill himself never tried to deceive anybody on this point. (Neither, so far as I know, did the U.S. Coast Guard.)

Virtually every model kit, plastic or wood, allegedly representing the Eagle seems to have been based on those Underhill plans. That, I’m pretty sure, includes the Revell kit, which originally appeared in 1958. By then the real Eagle had been modified considerably from her original configuration. (The characteristically German double spanker rig on the mizzen mast had, for instance, been replaced by a single gaff. In the ship’s latest major overhaul, back in about 1990, the Coast Guard restored the double spanker.) I think the Revell designers took a careful look at the actual ship and, in effect, superimposed the various pieces of 1950s-vintage Coast Guard equipment on the Underhill plans, thereby producing a kit that looked quite a bit like the Eagle did in 1958 - but was about 20 scale feet too short. (I haven’t compared the original Horst Wessel drawings directly with the Underhill ones, but I think most, if not all, of the difference in length falls between the big forward deckhouse and the main mast.)

We discussed this topic at some length here in the Forum a couple of years ago. I think we pretty firmly established that all other Eagle kits are also too short - with one notable exception: the 1/200 version from Imai. A Forum member who’d sailed on board the Eagle got hold of that kit and compared it with some reliable drawings (they’re out there, all right); he reports that it’s an excellent, well-detailed kit, though it was only available quite briefly and is now extremely hard to find.

Imai also included the Eagle (along with the other three class members) in its series of nice little 1/350 kits. I’m pretty sure all of the four had identical hulls, decks, etc. (I suspect Imai also used most of the same parts for its 1/350 model of the Gorch Fock II, which is in fact quite similar to her predecessor - but not identical.)

Quite a few years later I got hired by the Coast Guard Historian’s Office to do a line drawing of the Eagle in her then-current configuration. The Coast Guard Historian, Dr. Bob Browning, had in his office several of the original Blohm & Voss builder’s drawings of the ship. (The drawings had the name “Horst Wessel” on them; there’s not much doubt about their reliability. It wasn’t a full set of drawings by any stretch of the imagination, but it did include a lines plan and longitudinal cross-section.) He also sent me copies of several more recent drawings made by Coast Guard draftsmen on the basis of measurements taken directly from the ship. Again, I think it’s worth noting that the Coast Guard has never tried to deceive anybody about the Eagle’s dimensions. I caught up with the ship (not without considerable difficulty) at Baltimore and spent quite a bit of time walking around her, taking pictures, and talking with the captain and the bosun; I think I can claim that the drawing I made accurately represents her configuration as of 1994.

A year or so ago I bought a biography of Count von Luckner that had just been published. It contained a certain amount of slightly sensationalistic material, but seemed to be generally reliable. Long after World War I the Count spent considerable time in the United States, devoting much effort to charitable causes - including the Boy Scouts of America. (He seems to have been a first-rate gentleman in every respect.) The book tells the story that, in about 1959, he was the guest of honor on the American TV show “This Is Your Life.” Olde Phogies like me may remember that show. Every week it presented the biography of a different celebrity, who got surprised when people from his/her past showed up in the TV studio. In this case the last “surprise guest” on the show was an executive from Revell, who announced that the company was about to release a model of the Seeadler - and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Boy Scouts.

The kit was released in 1960 (and, according to Dr. Graham’s book, reissued in 1968 with vac-formed “sails” added). I remember buying it about that time - and discovering, immediately upon opening the box, that it was a modified version of the Eagle kit. (Yards had been added to the mizzen mast, the Coast Guard motorboats had been replaced with some other, older looking ones, a couple of guns had replaced the navigation lights on the forecastle, and I imagine a few other changes had been made. But the hull, decks, and most other parts were identical.) The instruction sheet included a message from Count von Luckner “To the youth of America,” emphasizing that “the Seeadler never robbed a wife of her husband or a mother of her child” (which was true).

I’ve often wondered when, if ever, the Count learned what was really inside that box.

For many years Revell’s alleged Seeadler was just about the only plastic model of a World War I warship on the market. There still aren’t many - and that’s a most regrettable state of affairs. But I have to say this is one I hope doesn’t get reissued. As an exercise in deceptive marketing it’s on almost the same level as the Revell “Beagle.”

35

Well, I did my duty to the hobby yesterday . . . I found and bought two of the new Revell sailing ships (Passat and the Viking Ship). I feel lucky that I found them in one place!

Bill Morrison

36

I have also attached my letter to Revell of Europe and their response.

Dear Mr. Morrison,
thank you very much for your e-mail and your interest in our products.

Your product proposals and comments are collected in our
new-items-proposal-list. Due to the large number of comments and letters we receive,
it is not possible to include all the products proposed.
We do our best to offer a comprehensive range covering various themes.

Nevertheless we thank you very much for your suggestions and we will
include them into our proposal list for the coming years.

Regards,
S. Haller

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: William Morrison [mailto:bmorri6409@sbcglobal.net]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 28. Mai 2008 20:17
An: Revell Germany

MESSAGE:
Sirs,

I have been a loyal customer of Revell products for over 50 years. I
build ship models and love sailing ships. Thank you very much for those
new ships in your 2008 catalog. We builders appreciate your efforts.

However, we sailing ship builders are concerned about the lack of new
products to suit our interests. Until your new catalog, few plastic
sailing ship model kits have been released in the past thirty years. Those
that have been released are usually simply re-releases of older kits
that have little accuracy.

Therefore, I would like to recommend a new product line of plastic
sailing ships in either/both 1/96 and 1/150 scale. New ships could include
HMS Vanguard (Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of the Nile), L’Ocean
(Admiral Bruey’s flagship at the same battle), HMS Bellerophon (the ship
to which Napoleon surrendered), HMS Queen Charlotte (Rodney’s flagship),
Santissima Trinidad (the largest ship to fight at Trafalgar) and HMS
Shannon (the British frigate that defeated USS Chesapeake). The list of
possibilities is endless.

Companies such as Trumpeter and Dragon have revived interest in ship
modelling by virtue of their excellent new ship models of exceptionally
high quality. This effort has proven profitable for them. I believe such
an effort would be equally profitable for Revell.

Thank you for your consideration.

37

Bill, you’re lucky you found them at all. The Viking ship apparently has been removed from the catalog (again), and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Passat.

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To Dr. Tilley:

Thank you for the interesting additions and historical background about
Gorch Fock, Eagle and Seeadler. Now I remember, that in my Seeadler kit is
a copy of Graf (Count) Luckners letter to the boyscouts.
I could not reach the kit at present, because it´s buried in a box amongst
other unbuilt and vintage models in my hobbyroom which my buddies from
the local modelers club call “area 51” because it´s a forbidden area for them…

Did you already check the websites for the “Alexander von Humboldt” model ?
I hope that I could give you good information about the reason why the sails
are green…

To Bill Morrison: Yes, Passat and the Viking ship have been reissued.
The Viking ship was first issued in the 1980s, as I remember and its an
original Revell product, not an Aurora/Merit/Smer or Heller copy.
Second life was in the middle of the 1990s as a “Glow in the dark” ship, molded in
black and it came with a bottle of fluorescend paint. Now its´s back in original form.

Revell also two times issued a “Chinese Junk” in the last 20 years. It´s the old
Aurora kit, the tools went via Monogram to Revell. I never have seen another
version of this kit from Monogram or Revell-USA, only the german Revell-version.
Did Revell ever offer this model in the United States ?

39

is this a new kit or a re-issue?

http://www.airfix.com/airfix-products/ships/classic-ships/a07251-endeavour-bark-1120-a07251/

40

Enemeink - The Airfix Endeavour is one of that company’s oldest sailing ship kits; it may, in fact, have been the very first. I don’t know the date of its orginal release, but I remember building it when (I think) I was in junior high school. It’s not a bad kit - pretty basic, of course, but the overall shape seems sound, and it would certainly make a good basis for a serious scale model. It makes an interesting shelf mate for the Revell Bounty, which is on the same scale or nearly so. Several of the crew figures from the Airfix Endeavour are serving alongside Revell ones on board my Bounty and Hancock models.

Woxel59 - Your hobbyroom sounds like my attic - in which my wife refuses to set foot. The truth of the matter is that there probably are enough unbuilt kits up there to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

I’ve expounded with enthusiasm about the Revell Viking ship in several other Forum threads. It was originally released in 1977, remained in the catalog of Revell U.S. through 1979, and was the last genuinely new sailing ship kit released by the American branch of the company. (The first was the 1/192 Constitution, in 1956. Revell U.S. was in the sailing ship business for 22 years, and has now been out of it for 31.) In my opinion it’s one of the finest plastic sailing ship kits ever - maybe even the finest. (It has nothing in common with the old Aurora kit, which really bore no resemblance to a real Viking ship.) I don’t recall seeing it in “glow-in-the-dark” form; maybe that version only was circulated in Europe. (The excellent old Revell Golden Hind did appear over here for a while with flourescent paint, in a box labeled “Flying Dutchman.”)

That material about the green sails is most interesting indeed. The influence of corporate advertising, it seems, has no limits.

In the U.S. it’s sometimes difficult to tell which Revell kits originate with the American firm and which with the European. Genuine hobby shops and mail order dealers frequently carry Revell Germany/Revell Europe kits; the ones from Revell U.S. show up in any store that sells models. (In recent years the number of such stores has shrunk drastically.) I remember seeing (to my considerable surprise) what was obviously the old Aurora Chinese junk in a Revell box a couple of times; I’m fairly certain it was from Revell Germany. I don’t recall seeing it in a Revell U.S. box, but I could be mistaken about that.

Some Revell Germany/Revell Europe kits, it seems, never make it to the U.S. in any numbers. I never encountered the Batavia, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Passat.