I disagree with a couple of minor details on his plans of the Bounty, but he was a fine draftsman and a master modeler - a far better one than I’ll ever be. I believe most, if not all, of the plans he drew are available commercially, and he wrote a lot of articles for Model Shipwright, The Nautical Research Journal, and Model Ship Builder.
I’m terrribly embarrassed to admit that, until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t sure whether Harold was still among us or not. I got fairly well acquainted with him when I was working at the Mariners’ Museum (where his wonderful colonial schooner diorama resides), but that was thirty years ago. I just did a Google search on his name, and was saddened to read this: http://lbvfh.com/Archives/2003/Feb03/hahn.htm . He was surely one of the most skilled and influential ship modelers of the late twentieth century - and a true gentleman. He’ll be deeply missed. Let’s hope somebody, some day, sees fit to bring Harold Hahn’s books back into print.
As for Lindberg - I’m afraid we can’t hope for much from that source. I don’t have any special insights into the company’s situation, but on the basis of other Forum threads I have the impression that Mr. Petit has retired from the company and it’s ceased production. The company website still seems to be functioning, but how many of the kits advertised therein will ever actually appear is anybody’s guess.
If I had to bet on any plastic kit manufacturer to bring us a new sailing ship, I’d probably put my money on Revell Germany. As Bill pointed out, that firm may have the distinction of having produced a genuinely new sailing ship kit more recently than any of the others (except the Zvezda cog and the Emhar Gokstad Ship). I’ve never seen the Revell Batavia “in the flesh,” but it gives every sign of being a nice kit. (I would have said it came out in the eighties rather than the nineties, but I may well be mistaken about that.) The Revell Germany Alexander von Humbolt and Passat (or was it the Pamir?) also are relatively recent releases that look good. On the other hand, these are also the people who brought that infernal “Beagle” back to life - and can’t seem to figure out the scales of their various H.M.S. Victory kits. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, but I have trouble being optimistic.
I am in full agreement that it seems unlikely that there will be any new sailing ship kits. That said, it doesn’t hurt to keep trying. I have written similar letters to Airfix and to Revell of Europe/Germany at least once monthly for several years. As for the Batavia, the release date was in 1996 according to the instructions.
I also agree with John that RoG seems the best hope. I have noted a minor trend that Revell might be designing kits of the historic sailing ships that have either been restored (Dom Fernando) or rebuilt (Batavia) in the major European maritime nations. I know that The Netherlands are rebuilding De Zeven Provencien, so, perhaps, . . .
The question itself takes me back to the first sailing ship kit that I built – the little (5 inches or so) Airfix HMS Shannon. About a dozen or so parts with the sails and yards in one piece!
I was about eight at the time and I think it was the first kit I attempted to apply paint to . . . paint the yards brown . . . oops!, got some brown on the sails! . . . paint the sails white . . . oops! got some white paint on the yards . . . etc., etc . . .
I think that in my early teens I built most of the sailing ship kits around – Revell and Airfix being the only ones available in the UK at the time
I tended to prefer the Revell kits because they fitted together best – Airfix rarely seemed to be able to supply two symmetrical hull halves in the kits I built.
My own favourites were the Revell 1:225 Victory and their 1:96 Santa Maria and (I don’t think its available anymore) Revenge. The one exception was the Airfix Wasa that seemed to go together quite well and was a good test of painting skills. Of course it did have those awful ‘peg-in-the-hole’ cannons but even so I felt that I got a good result.
For a first time sailing ship kit I would be inclined to avoid Heller. They tend to be a bit ‘quirky’ and although probably the best of the genre they can also be amongst the worst. Even though I think their infamous ‘shroud and ratline machine’ is unfairly condemned, it does take a bit of getting used to
Professor Tilley—Thank you for providing the obituary of the late Harold M. Hahn, a person I admired for his professional work in ship modeling, draughtmanship and intense research in all of his modeling subjects. Because from time -to-time, I noticed advertisements of his ship modeling plans in such publications as the Nautical Research Journal, I had assumed that Mr. Hahn was still alive, even though he was a WWII vet well up in his years. Mr. Hahn’s passing will be missed by the ship modeling community, as his work was a accurate departure from the usual “how to” ship modeling books and tomes.
Mr. Hahn published 14 plans of ships during the American Revolutionary era of American and British vessels that participated in one form or another in that conflict… The exception is the French frigate, LA LICORNE (The Unicorn), launched in 1755. I found many illustrations of the French frigate LA RENOMMEE (The Fame) which is almost identicle to LA LICORNE. Even though both vessels were launched a few years apart, they could almost be considered sister ships. Using Harold Hahn’s plan and instruction from his book “Ships of the American Revolution and Their Models”, LA RENOMMEE model has only progressed to the above photo.
Last Christmas, my wife purchased a Euro Model kit of the British East Indianman, FALMOUTH. So as not to disappoint her, the Euro Model kit is in the first stages of masting and rigging, while the model of LA RENOMMEE languishes in storage until FALMOUTH can be completed. When the kit is finished, return work on the LA RENOMMEE will be posted on the Forum.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
I admire your work! I have to admit that I have never considered scratchbuilding as being much too time intensive. Perhaps after retirement . . .! [t$t]
