Lack of Supply and Refueling vessels in various scales .

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

HI ;

I have to write this . After seeing the U.S.S. Sacramento AOE-1 In my latest Squadron Catalogue I got to thinking . Why haven’t the unsung supply and support vessels of our NAVY gotten a fair shake in 1/350 ? A great Dio - Rama opportunity is missed here !

Having to modify the Revell Hawaiian Pilot to a freighter moving goods between ships is NOT the answer .These ships many times , were purpose built for REPSEA work . Tankers too .

Now that said , How about the tenders that patiently stayed on station for subs , tin cans and other fleet units .Without them W W 2 would’ve a longer , harder fight to all concerned .

Now granted , in 1/700 the model of the Sacramento is 13.5 inches long in 1/700 scale . So what ? She’s modern .I am talking about those lightly armed , stoic vessels and crews from the middle forties to at least the late eighties .

I think they deserve their place in our pantheon of vessels . Besides , I am tired of turning liners into tenders and repair ships , or Freighters into APA’S and AKA’S for my fleet .Revell used to have to nice ones , even if they were not all that accurate .

Who cares ? If you are doing a Dio about Replenshment or Refueling at sea , you will put the work into them anyway . Besides a Dio or such an operation at sea in force one or two would be awesome .

When drawing fuel from the Midway , I can remember Big waves crashing back and forth between us and then the sea we were in anyway . A Tin - Can feels awfully small when the flight deck overhangs are almost over your head five or ten decks up !

It is also weird when you draw from a Tanker and her decks are awash with waves from the op , just like and at the same level as yours .The term " Island " fits these old ship’s structures well !

Just a thought . Hey ! Trumpeter and Revell and the rest . Read this . I think I render a good sentiment among model Warship builders . Tanker - Builder

2

I wonder how well Trumpeter’s two 1/700 AOE’s sold. If they sold enough to turn a profit I imagine we’ll see more…

3

I would also like to see the various tenders. My father served on the USS Frontier (AD-25), and I served on the USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16). Without the tenders, especially those forward deployed, it would be much more difficult to operate the rest of the fleet.

Bill

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Some stuff is out there in resin.

Link one

I’ve had to resort to making them myself:

5

Okay Now !

Those look pretty fair .You have the idea .Why the brighter than normal colors though ? I would expect that on cruise ships . Either way you have a nice start to a fleet of working ships

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I think it is the same reason there are far fewer kits of civil aircraft or military ones. Things that shoot and bomb just seem to be more interesting than ships other than warships. No one seems to want to build a trainer, or private plane, either. While I do build warships also, I really love building civilian ships, and treasure the civilian kits that mfgs do offer

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I just had another thought, looking at today’s threads in this forum. Count the threads about warships and figure the proportion of those to total ship posts.

8

Hi Don;

Sadly I know you are right . Back in the fifties though Revell had a good number of ships , the Oriana/Canberra twins and the Moore Mc Cormack Brasil/Argentina , the ubiquitus Hawaiian Pilot and a tanker as well as an APA and AKA that could be converted to civilian use .They also had a neat harbor tug that could bear a lot of conversions .

In this same period Pyro had the Tuna Clipper , Shrimp boat and North Sea trawler ( not to be confused with Revell’s " Spy Trawler " ) and the Shrimp Boat , and the S.S. President liner , Later to become Lindberg products.

Revell again had the S.S. United States, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and there were others .Otaki had the "Shell Welder " offshore transport tanker , which can now be found out of Russia .

Otaki had some small forty foot Coast Guard types too . Even back then those were hard to find along with Aurora’s " Wheeler Cruiser " .

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Well the AKA was probably the Renwal one. I bought the Shangri La recently when it was reissued and am reminded that Renwal made really nice models.

I had to move this year and got rid of a lot of stuff, including a cruddy old version of the Texaco North Dakota. I had planned to clean it up, replace the missing parts etc. but never got to it.

10

Revell (G) released the Columbo container ship awhile ago. That was a terrific ship, as nice as any warship kit. Only failing in my book is that there was only one container logo- I had to make inkjet logos of other container companies. There is a PE set for it that is very nice too.

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Ah DON ;

My dear friend The ship is nice , BUT , it’s 1/700 . I have to build bigger than that !

12

I’d like to see a T2 as they were configured in WW2, like the one I was on, the USS Sabine A0-25. It was called the Esso Albany before the Navy pressed it into service back in 1939. I’ve seen those, but not configured like she that was. I did see one, probably 20 yrs. ago and it was a big model, but not since then. I guess if they’re not a fighting ship, then they don’t make them. Just sayin’.

13

I agree. I would love to see more supply ship models. My first ship in the Navy was the USS Merrimack AO179, and I docommissioned her. I also served on the USS Arctic AOE8 as well. I have only found one kit by JAG of the Cimmarron Class Oilers and its missing some vital details of that class after their post jumbo ization. I would love to write to one of these companies but I know it would most likely fall on deaf ears.

14

Well yes but cant the Revell San Juan Capistrano/ J.L. Hanna/ Esso Glasgow be made to work?

Mine: AO-87 Sebec

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Now : See ! That’s nice .

A little light it seems .I remember the Oiler we went alongside of and it seemed like her decks were almost awash.

She was odd in that the bridge and deck-house structure were rounded on the forward ends . I do wish I could remember her name . She operated out of Pearl !

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GM;

Are there more pics of that Sebec somewhere?

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Sure there was a thread about T2’s a couple of years ago.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm150/6134rdm/DSC_0372.jpg

18

Can you gimme me a recipe for your water diorama? I’m about to try for 1st time!

19

Hokey, the most important thing is to get a photo of your ship underway and copy it down to the smallest detail. It’s a surprise how much different her wake may be from what you’d guess.

I painted the board black and laid on a couple of coats of clear Acrylic Liquitex.

Then I took a jar of the same, but Acrylic Matte Gel mixed with their Titanium white and globbed it on.

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Thanks!