Now ,there,s a time capsule if there ever was one . Gee, if you look at the offerings they had including the “VICTORY at SEA " sets . You will find the state of the art” railing walls" blob guns and indistinct moldings and AZTEC temple steps on most of them too ! They were , by , todays standards poor renditions . But ,then again in the fifties what else did we have ?? What I have always wished for is if someone like TRUMPETER or DRAGON , heck even TAMIYA and HASEGAWA would do in 1/350 all the types that were in those sets . Back in those years there was no such thing as constant scale .The mantra was BOX size it . REVELL could knock the socks off all the stuff out there if they took the leap and came back with those ships in 1/350 across the board . Shoot , then all we would have to do is find the time to build them all and then a cabinet to put them all in . Oh , don,t forget the cabinet has to be lighted ! I actually tried a project on the U.S.S. RANDALL that worked after a fashion . Now that I,ve done it I am NOT going to strip it and use someone,s P.E. to correct it . I used “N” scale model railroad tank car walkways turned on their sides and sanded as thin as I could make them to use for rails . The ships with guns got the guns cleaned up and the barrels replaced with brass rod . It ain,t perfect , but I must say it doesn,t look to bad . I still have the U.S.S. JOHN PAUL JONES (I served on her for a while)That REVELL did and I was reading the instructions and they said to paint the walls , OOPS , rails , silver . That,s how inaccurate the kits were even the instructions . I started ignoring them after I went aboard my first ship on FLEET WEEK . What an eye opener that was ! Live and learn ! Catchya later tankerbuilder
I love the flat bottom series. Good basis for scratchbuilding.
Hey bondoman ! The old flat bottoms made for some interesting stuff.I took the civilian version of the T-2 tanker and after sanding away the bottom plate I epoxied it to a board and then did the water and all the outside stuff . Now ,when you lifted the engine room deck you couls see a full depth engine room with all the goodies . I still have that old thing somewhere unless my brother got it . I,ll have to check. I have been thinking about doing another and maybe this time it will be the “HAWAIIAN PILOT” C-3 MATSON FRIEGHTER ! Hmmmm. tankerbuilder
These old kits are great for kitbashing - the Hawaiian Pilot is shown by Revell as being 1:380 which means that in addition to the 1:384 fittings from H-R Products, you could also use some of the 1:350 aftermarket parts that are available now.
The USN seems to have done just about everything with the 492" C3 hull imaginable from escort carriers to AP transports and even seaplane tenders. I’m working to convert a Hawaiian Pilot to AV8 - USS Tangier, a ship with a great fighting record from Peral Hardbor through the end of the war - and the conversion doesn’t seem too bad (see the pic below), the biggest challenge looks like the big crane on the stern:
Looking at that photo I think if you picked up the old Revell sea plane tender kit (sold under several different names like Currituck, etc.) and an old Burleigh kit you would be most of the way there to the Tangier by bashing these two kits together. WS
There’s a nice 1/400 set of PE from WEM, I think L’Arsenal makes it. It has all kinds of stuff for the Currituck/ Pine Island kit like that crane boom. Actually I always thought the 20mms on the Revell kits were respectable, any thing larger is another story though.
That Tangier project looks good. I’m creeping along on a Bogue/ HMS Speaker made from the Hawaiian Pilot, and here Hasegawa comes out with a very nice 1/350 CVE Casablanca Class, although it’s very expensive.
Hey , thats alright . I never even thought of that one . I took the “HAWAIIAN PILOT” and turned her into a passenger freight type i.e.“BANANA BOAT”. The REVELL ships are ripe for all kinds of stuff and I keep my skills sharp by modifying them . I took the S.S. UNITED STATES and turned her into a CARRIER ! For my skills at the time I didn,t think she looked to bad . I also , way back when, took the REVELL model of the SAVANNAH and waterlined her and converted her to a “what if” new class of battlewagon . Ah those were the days . tankerbuilder