Almost finished with my first of 9 of these IMAI kits. I bought 9 of the late 70’s series from a seller. They are beautiful little kits- see the bottle of Solvaset in the pic below to let you know how small they are. I took jtilley’s advice and just did a very simple rigging. I am not good enough yet to do anymore really at this size model even if the instructions did told you how- (they don’t)…I added some Photoetch railings on bow and stern.
Thanks for looking…
Len Roberto
Looks good, I like the water base. Did it come with the kit or did you make it?
Jake
Nice looking little Eagle. This particular kit gives me a fond memory. It was 1978 and our LHS was having a contest. My mom had this kit and asked if I wanted to build it for the contest. I did and rigged it with full sail, the sails I made by gluing real thin cloth over the plastic sails, then pulling the cloth off the plastic when the white glue was dry and cutting out the shape. To my utmost surprise, got a best in show which was a big blue ribbon, a $50 gift certificate, and the model was displayed in the hobbyshop for I can’t remember how long.
I was one stoked 11 yr old for I had never won anything in my life until then.
Mom still has this model displayed in her china cabinet.
With your addition of PE, it really makes the model stand out as being more to scale.
Thanks for the pics.
Scott
Thanks guys for the comments…!
Jake- the base is a scrap piece of acrylic I had leftover from a past display case I built. For the water, I just used the thick Liquitex paint in the tube- because of the small size, I did not fool with the clear gel medium as normal and just used the thick paint. A little white drybrushed over the blue and Future Polish over the paint makes it glossy.
Len
A tddly little ship you vave there, thnks for the pics…
A handsome model of a beautiful and important ship! I gather you used some 1/350 photo-etched railing. That makes quite a difference.
This is the first time I’ve seen the contents of that kit box. Looks like Imai made some effort to depict the Eagle in an up-to-date (as of the late seventies, when the kit first came out) configuration, and to distinguish her from her three near-sister ships. They put the big pilothouse on the quarterdeck and didn’t include the old ship’s boats (as the old Revell kit did). And, most conspicuously, they put the notorious “Coast Guard slash” on the bow. Quite a few fans and groupies of the Eagle continue to regard that as a vulgar obscenity. But to omit the “slash” and include the pilothouse would be inconsistent.
The fact that the letters “Coast Guard” appear next to the slash, incidentally, narrows down the date a bit. The “slash” and “Coast Guard” were painted on Coast Guard vessels and aircraft during the Kennedy administration - supposedly at JFK’s personal suggestion. He wanted the public to be reminded of services they were getting from the federal government. During the first Bush administration the Secretary of Transportation (the CG was part of the DOT at that time) gave instructions that “U.S.” be added to the logo. As ships and aircraft came in for maintenance during the late eighties and early nineties, “Coast Guard” became “U.S. Coast Guard.” I remember visiting the Elizabeth City CG Air Station in November of '90. The Pelican helicopters all had “Coast Guard” painted on them, but a brand new, shiny Hercules that had just arrived had “U.S. Coast Guard.” I suspect the Eagle was among the first to get the “U.S.” She certainly had it when I went on board her to take pictures in the summer of '94.
I think you got just about the right amount of rigging. There’s enough there to give the right impression - and what’s there looks sensible. Mighty nice model. We’ll be looking forward to seeing the others.
Don’t get me stared on the “Racing Stripe!”
It is indeed vulgar and added to the Eagle later than the 60’s, When I was on her in the late 70’s she was still beautiful and white. The powers that be have little to no taste when it comes to ships. A group of us sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy suggesting they print NAVY on all those ships, U.S. NAVY if they felt identification would help. . .
Heard a rumor that the strip was to go but the U.S. Coast Guard would stay, half way there!
Don
Couldn’t agree more! I really think people can figure out what the Eagle is without that…thing…painted on her bow.
I did some research on the Eagle about ten years ago, when I was working on a line drawing of her for the Coast Guard Historian’s Office. The question of when the stripe got added didn’t come up; I was supposed to draw her in her then-current configuration. I do remember, though, watching the so-called “parade of the tall ships” (I hate that term) come into Newport, Rhode Island, for the bicentennial festivities in 1976. My recollection (which may well be wrong; my recollections frequently are these days) is that she had the stripe at that time. To sit on a hill overlooking the harbor approaches and watch all those sail training ships sail (or motor) past was indeed memorable. So was the sunburn I got on my then-not-quite-bald forehead.
If they’re even talking about taking the stripe off, that’s good news. The lettering alone wouldn’t be nearly as objectionable - and surely would serve the purpose President Kennedy had in mind.
You guys don’t like the red / white/ and blue stripe? I thinkk the Eagle would just be another bark without it. It shows that she is part of America and is indeed very clean and graceful with it. However, I do not care for the big black letters “Coastguard” alond her side. Reminds me of a container ship or barge.
Keep the stripe and ditch the letters.
Scott
jtilly,
I think you are correct, the Tall Ships Parade did induce them to add the stripe. . .I was on her in 1978 and do not remember the stripe, so maybe it is my old age!!
Scott, you are intitled to your opinion, but The Eagle is the Eagle and the only US Military ship of her kind, The CG ensign flying should be all we need to identify her.
Don
OOOO, I smell a controversy brewing!!! [:-^][swg]
[tup] on the stripe!!!
I think it adds a bit of color and really sets the ships/boats off. It is also, if I remember a recent article I was reading correctly, one of the most copied designs/looks for rescue craft, as it is so tied into the life saving mission of the USCG. I personally think the USCG vessels of all kinds, have a clean, purposeful, classy look.
I’ve seen drawings/paintings of cutters that don’t have the stripe and they just don’t look right. GRANTED, the stripe is really all I’ve known (born in '60). So maybe, I just don’t know any better! [:D]
No opinion really on the lettering, but, not to have it, I think, would kinda be like having a hot dog without mustard. (I’m not really sure what that means, but, once my morning medication kicks in, I may be able to figure it out…[%-)] )
Okay. I’m ready. Let me have it! [X-)]
Great looking model. Leave her as is.
Regards, Rick
In my personal opinion the Eagle looked better without the stripe. I have, however, noticed that all decisions made by the Powers that Be in the Coast Guard (and, for that matter, their Navy counterparts) have one conspicuous thing in common: they never ask me. I suspect my opinion on this particular, earth-shaking issue will have about as much influence as it usually does.
Guys, it could be worse, they could be selling advertising space on her sails. Think of the impact of seeing a big “GO NAVY” or “DON"T DO DRUGS” slogan on the mainsails.
Thats a chilling thought, the parade of sail gives into big business and sells sails to advertise everything from Coke to Viagra as they sail into New York Harbor.
[yuck]
Strip the stripe. What is the deal on it in the first place? Police cars are all painted up and loaded with lights so that you know they are there. Coast Guard cutters do the same. Why paint the Eagle like it’s a seagoing cop car? Do you actually think it’s going to pull some druggy cigarette boat over for a search?? What a waste of paint!
And by the way, Scott, the stripe isn’t a red and blue, it’s International orange and blue. They are complimentary colors and are at opposite sides of the color wheel- like yellow and purple or green and red. Mix them together and you get brown. They just don’t make an attractive combination. Yeecchh!
Oops, forgot in all the ruckus I created.
Len: Nice build by the way! I also agree with a previous poster on the amount of rigging you used. Good effect. [tup]
I have the Revell 1/285 (I think) kit and the Heller 1/600 kits to do yet. Even though the kits I have are not the most accurate, the Eagle makes a nice looking ship and these don’t do a bad job.
Again, Good Build!
Prof. Tilley’s memory is correct. The debut for the racing stripe was 04 July 1976 for Eagle’s entrance into New York Harbor OPSAIL’76. “Traditionalists were aghast”
The stripe is not the only humiliation suffered by the Eagle. Russell Drum’s new book “The Barque of Saviors” describes a bosuns mate’s recollection of the day Coast Guard photographers showed up on a windless day for a photo op. They had the Eagle reverse her engines to fill the sails…
Now there is a good diorama to mess with a contest Judge’s mind, full sails and a bow wake… with documentation!
Say what you will about the stripe, but I like it. Partially because I was a boy at the time and can remember being glued to the TV watching the 1976 “Operation Sail”. I would get all excited about picking out the Eagle out of all those tallships because she could be easily identified.
To the ship enthusiast, she can be identified by her certain features, but to the common public, she looks like just another sailboat without the stripe.
I have not seen the ship in person since 1978. Back then, it looked red, and in the pictures, it looks red. In person, if it looks like the bug puke safety orange, then I think they should change it to red to show the national colors.
Scott
I think the official name of the color has the word “orange” in it, but to my eye it’s definitely a vermilion red. There’s certainly a noticeable difference between that color and the one the Coast Guard applies to such things as Zodiac boats and life raft canisters.
It’s struck me more than once that the colors of the “Coast Guard Slash” are almost identical to those on Domino’s pizza boxes, as a matter of fact - but I think the Domino’s color is a bit more orange-ish.