Does anyone know if there is a kit available of the Paul Revere Class APA vessels? My step-father was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Francis MArion and I’d like to build it for him for his birthday or possibly kit-bash another kit. Any help would be graetly appreciated.
I am very interested on it. I served in TA Castilla (spanish name of APA 248) for a long time.
Hmmmm, I was thinking you might be able to take the 1/700 Loose Cannon Productions Haskell-class kit as a starting point, since the overall hull shape is similar, but it’d be a stretch in several respects: the Paul Revere class is 108-feet longer (doable with a big hull insert), 14-feet wider (much, much harder to fix), and has the unique pyrimidal kingposts fore and aft that you’d have to cobble together from either scrap PE or small-diameter plastic rod. It’s also a resin kit, which would be easy to expand lengthwise but not so easy widthwise … still, in 1/700 scale, 14 feet is about 3/8-inch at the widest part of the beam, not really THAT noticeable if you kept everything else in scale. Still, you’d have a fair amount of scratchbuilding ahead of you, although the basic superstructure shapes look mercifully simple and some could be scavenged from the Loose Cannon kit.
The Paul Revere class were built on C4-S-1A Mariner hulls. If there is a kit out there for a Mariner class cargo ship you have a good starting point. Looking at photos of the Francis Marion, and having a tour of duty on a Haskell class APA, I would say there is a world of difference between the gun mounts, cargo handling gear, and superstructure. I think it would be very difficult to make an acceptable representation of Francis Marion from the Haskell class kits out there.