Hi, doese anyone know if the revell kits of the tanker glascow and the cargo ship Hawaii Pilot are good ktis. Any other good cargo kits out there that are good builds at a good price. Thanks
Both are reissues of extremely old kits. Please forgive a post-middle-aged modeler’s exercise in nostalgia.
The “new” Revell Germany Hawaiian Pilot appears to be a straight reissue, including the original box art. The original C-3 freighter kit appeared under that name in 1956, and was molded entirely in white plastic. (My source is the bible on the subject, Thomas Graham’sRemembering Revell Model Kits.) It was in the Revell catalog under that name through 1959. In 1962 it was reissued under the name S.S. Dr. Lykes; if my memory serves, the only change from the original was the decal sheet. (The new version had “Lykes Lines” in huge white letters on the sides of the hull.) In 1964 the kit reappeared yet again, this time in grey plastic in the guise of a Navy cargo ship, under the name U.S.S. Burleigh. (That was one of Revell’s typical deceptions of the period. The real Burleigh didn’t look much like that.) This time it had some additional parts, in the form of 5-inch and 20mm guns.
Kit collectors assumed for a long time that they would never see this one in its merchant livery again. That’s probably why, in Mr. Graham’s book, the original Hawaiian Pilot is listed as one of the more valuable Revell ship kits, with a going price in 2004 of $120-$140. I suspect the recent announcement of the Revell Germany reissue caused some kit collectors to fall on their swords.
The T-2 tanker originally appeared under the name S.S. J.L. Hanna in 1956, molded in dark red. It apparently was one of Revell’s weakest sellers; it was only on the market for a couple of years, and seems never to have been reissued in civilian markings by Revell U.S. (Apparently the collectors’ market didn’t think much of it either; Mr. Graham gives it a value of $50-$70.) It did reappear in grey plastic as the Navy oiler Mission Capistrano, with a gun outfit about like the "*Burleigh’*s, in 1964. (Again, it wasn’t an accurate model of that vessel; the real one was of a different class.) In that naval guise it got reissued a couple of years ago, I believe. I haven’t seen the kit Revell Germany is currently marketing as the Glasgow, but I suspect it’s unmodified from the original.
Both kits, according to Mr. Graham, did make one other appearance (under their original names, Hawaiian Pilot and J.L. Hanna) in the U.S. The two of them and the harbor tug Long Beach were boxed together as a “gift set” called “Merchant Fleet” for the Christmas season in 1956. In that set the freighter and the tug had pre-painted red hull bottoms. Mr. Graham values that set at $500-$600.
Both kits were typical products of their time. Their hulls were of the odd “semi-waterline” configuration Revell was using those days: they were chopped off flat at a level somewhere around the empty line. They had no propellers; their rudders were represented by stubs, showing the portion that would be visible above the water when the ships were empty. But each kit included a pair of “stands,” shaped like trestles. (Why anybody would mount a waterline model on stands like that is something of a mystery, but several other Revell ship kits of the fifties were made like that.) They had overscale “guardrails” molded in solid plastic along the edges of the decks. The superstructures were molded in layers, with the bulkheads split halfway up; the portholes were represented by semi-circular cutouts in the layers. (That was considered high-tech scale modeling at the time.) The Hawaiian Pilot was considered one of the most difficult plastic models of the time because its superstructure included dozens of tiny plastic deck stanchions, which had to be glued individually into sockets and adjusted so they touched the deck above. When my mother bought me the kit that task was totally beyond the capacity of my 6-year-old fingers. (My older brother managed to get most of them in the right places, but some of his were leaning over. He also painted his hull black. I left mine white, of course - which made the white decals on it difficult to see.) The Hanna didn’t have any deck stanchions, but it did have one really cool feature: you could look through the engineroom skylight in the after superstructure and see the engine. (Well, a shape molded into the deck below that looked sort of like an engine.)
Neither of these kits can be considered up to the standards of 2005. Both of them are certainly capable of being turned into good scale models, but it would take a great deal of work. (They’re on 1/400 scale; Gold Medal Models does make some photo-etched railings, ladders, and other parts that would help a great deal.) I personally, however, am going to be looking for one of those German Hawaiian Pilot kits, sheerly for nostalgia value. And I want to see if my 54-year-old fingers can set up those stanchions properly.
Outstanding review, Tilley!! [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Right on Tilley! Nice encyclopedia work!.. Really!
I built the Esso Glasgow a couple of months ago, and am currently waiting for the Hawaiian Pilot to come out. My idea was to bring together the main actors of the Battle of the Atlantic (i.e. a German sub and a “schnellboot”, an English corvette, and civilian ships - a tanker and a freighter).
It came to me as a surprise that Revell seems to be the only brand selling large WWII commercial ships. As you describe it, they’re using very old molds for the Esso Glasgow (compared to today’s technology); you can guess that from the prototype illustration on the side of the box, really horrible on top of that (which is why I hesitated before buying the kit).
I would just like to add to your reply that the Esso Glasgow I built has the words “(c) Revell, Inc. 1982 / 034209000” written on the bottom of the hull; so I suppose that they adapted the hull in the 80s… And although it was the civilian version of the tanker, the guns and firing platforms of Mission Capistrano were also provided, which could indicate that those parts came from the 60s. I didn’t pay too much attention to this at the time, but after reading your “article” I realized some parts of my model were older than thought! However, I couldn’t tell if there are still some parts left from the original 50s kit…
Anyways Madmaximmodel, don’t expect a lot of details from a 1/400 scale model dating from the 50s, 60s, 80s, whatever… Having said that, the model does have some interesting details that can be highlighted by some careful painting. And the railings, which look like concrete walls and are the main weakness of the kit, can be replaced with PE; that would surely greatly improve the model, provided you have the patience to handle the delicate carving.
All in all, the model looks pretty nice once finished and painted (I didn’t use any PE). It is, in my opinion, a unique chance to build a large commercial ship other than the usual Titanic-style liners (who knows how much time these models will still be on the market?). Above all, the characteristic WWII shape of the tanker gives the kit a rather unusual appearance which makes it interesting to visitors… Not mentioning the reference to the Battle of the Atlantic and the German U-Boats!
My only advice would be to get yourself a Mirage 1/400 U-Boat (especially if you already own the Revell 1/72 U-Boat) so that you can put it next to the tanker, making it easier to compare the sizes of the two ships! It looks really sweet! You can get German subs from the Polish firm Mirage (http://mirage-hobby.com.pl/index_model_en.html – don’t forget the PE provided by the firm itself); they have quite a range of U-Boat types, allowing you to build a late-war version with snorchel and improved AA guns: also an unsual configuration for a WWII German sub model…
Have fun in any case!!!
Imperator-Rex - Without seeing it I obviously can’t be certain, but my guess is that the Glasgow kit is the Mission Capistrano with different decals in a different box. That is, it contains all the parts of the original J.L. Hanna, plus the guns.
You’re right: there’s an enormous hole in the market where WWII-vintage merchant ships are concerned. The recent Trumpeter 1/350 Liberty ship goes some distance toward filling the gap; so, for that matter, do the Skywave 1/700 Liberty ships. Hasegawa makes a lovely 1/700 Hikawa Maru, an NYK passenger liner. (It’s been reissued - with genuine, honest-to-goodness modifications - as a hospital ship and a sub tender.) And some years ago Aoshima did several Japanese liners in 1/700 (I believe there were three or four of them - all actually the same moldings reboxed). Oh - and there’s the “sinking tanker” that comes with the Hasegawa 1/700 U-boat set. (You get about an inch of the bow and and inch of the stern, cut off at about a 60-degree angle. Great.)
For genuine nostalgia buffs - one of the rarest of plastic kits is the Aurora German raider Atlantis, and Lindberg made a smaller “Q-Ship.” Either of those could represent a merchant vessel - but they’re hard to find and the Atlantis, at least, fetches such high prices from collectors that it’s hard to conceive of anybody actually building one.
There’s virtually limitless room for nice, detailed models of merchant ships. I’d be happy if some manufacturer would do a generic tramp steamer - the sort that carried a big percentage of the world’s goods for most of the twentieth century. (I’d paint the name Inchcliffe Castle on it. If you get the significance of that name, you’re a real olde-tyme enthusiast.) Any manufacturers listening? Well, probably not. But such fantasies are fun - and harmless.
Speaking of 1/700 merchant ships from World War II, don’t forget the numerous offerings from Loose Cannon Productions - a Victory ship (what I am currently laboring over), a T-2 tanker, the Harriman freighters of WW I vintage, the C-1 cargo ship, several transports, and probably some I missed.
The Esso Glasgow I built was probably, as you say, the Mission Capistrano with different decals in a different box, but with a different hull as well (1982).
Wasn’t the Inchcliffe Castle one of those tramps involved in whisky smuggling a long time ago? Or is it related to Glencannon, “the Adventures of a talkative old seafaring man, Chief Engineer of the freighter Inchcliffe Castle”? Or maybe you’re just referring to the Inchcliffe Castle, a B-29 bomber that joined the US 444th Bomb Group on 6th Jan. 1945…
Imperator-Rex - You got it. I was thinking of the Glencannon stories, which (at my father’s urging) I read for the first time about 25 years ago. I believe some of them, at least, have been reprinted in paperback fairly recently. Great stuff. Hilariously funny, but the author, Guy Gilpatric, also knew his ships.
I wonder about the hull of that Glasgow kit. That it would have a copyright date of 1982 seems a little odd. Maybe the Mission Capistrano was reissued in that year. Mr. Graham’s book doesn’t mention it - but his coverage stops in 1979.
That’s a great shot of the Hawaiian Pilot. If you look closely you can see those blankety-blank stanchions on the superstructure decks. I wonder how many modelers back in the fifties figured out that the hull was cut off at the waterline - and that it would look more reasonable sitting directly on a baseboard than on those trestles. To my eye it would look best if the hull were sliced off a little higher up. Maybe I’ll do mine that way, when I find one.
For those interested, there are two previews of the Esso Glasgow available on the web :
http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/misc/ships/previews/spahrt2preview.htm
http://debrisfield.russellwild.co.uk/kitreviews/oiltankerglasgowoh/
Hope this helps!
Those reviews and photos make it pretty clear that this Glasgow is just a reboxing, with different decals, of the Mission Capistrano. I think what happened is that Revell renewed the U.S. copyright in 1982 (I don’t know how long such copyrights last) for a reissue of the kit in the Revell-Monogram “Special Subjects” series, which didn’t get mentioned in Mr. Graham’s book because his data stops in 1979. My senile memory, now that it’s been jogged, vaguely remembers seeing the kit in that guise at about that time.
I suppose we should be irritated with Revell for selling these antique kits as though they were new. But to us Olde Codgers they have quite a bit of nostalgia value. When I saw the Hawaiian Pilot listed as a “new release” on the Revell Germany website my reaction was to grin rather than grimace. Same goes for the old N.S. Savannah, which is also on Revell Germany’s list for this year.
hey i liked the review, but where can you get that book on revell?
I got my copy of Remembering Revell Model Kits via the Barnes and Noble website ( www.bn.com ). I believe the book is currently out of print, but if you go to the “Used and Out of Print” section you’ll probably find one - at a reasonable price. There are two editions. Mine is the second, “revised” one; I haven’t seen the first.
I also have the second edition of that book. It’s great reading! I bought mine off a guy at our Orangecon who was selling it for $40. I got him down to $15 before I bought it. Mine includes the price guide in the back, which is really interesting to read.
I just received the Hawaiian Pilot kit yesterday via airmail from England. I purchased it on ebay on 4-28-05. Can’t tell you what a joy it was for my 56 yo eyes to gaze upon this old kit once again. Yes, it definitely has some limitations by todays standards but for me it was like picking up a Gold Bar you see it was the first kit my Dad and I ever built.
I was 8 yrs old then and have enjoyed modeling ever since. He’s been gone now for over 20 years and I have tried countless times to try and locate one of the old gems no matter what the price but never succeeded. When it turned up on ebay I finally snagged it for a fraction of the collectors price I was prepared to pay! Eyes got misty when I opened the box. It’s easier to cry now that I’m older. Went back to a time when I watched my Dad glue all those stanchions in place patiently one after another.
This will be one of the most fun kits for me to work on in years no matter how old or how goofy the rudder is. However I am going to look at the PE deck rails. Happy modeling guys!
Welcome aboard, Grimreaper. It’s good to know that somebody else reacts to these old kits the same way I do.
Thanks jtilley!
The newer kits are great to put together. Today they offer the detail that we had to scratchbuild as addon 30 years ago provided you could find good ref material.
I still have about 75 unbuilt Aurora kits about have of which have never been opened. The others that are open are fun to browse through and remember how I used to build them and fly them at arms length around the house playing Dawn Patrol.
I’m really glad that RG has decided to bring back some of those oldies.
Yeah, by todays standards they’re lacking but what great memories they pack inside those brand new boxes. And, with the wealth of info available online and the abundance of good ref material today you can take one of those “old gems” and really make a showpiece of it.
Later.
Grimreaper - Sounds like you and I are card-carrying members of the Olde Phogey Modelers’ Society. If you’ve got 75 unbuilt Aurora kits, half of them unopened, I hope you’ve made provision for their distribution in your will. They’re probably worth, collectively, several thousand dollars on the collectors’ market.
I agree with all your observations. Modeling in those days wasn’t the high-tech exercise in research and craftsmanship that it is now. But it sure was fun. And we learned a lot from it.
I remember, for instance, the “Whip Flying” craze. For the benefit of Non-Olde-Phogeys, this was a marketing ploy started by Revell. A group of its old aircraft kits got reissued with pieces of string, metal rings, and blobs of modeling clay supplied in the boxes. The modeler put the clay in the nose, tied the string to the ring, clipped the ring through a hole in one wingtip, took the model out in the back yard, and swung it around his head. (The instructions for doing so were surprisingly elaborate. They strongly recommended building the landing gear in the retracted position. If you ignored the instructions, the landing gear got retracted upon the first landing.)
Adventurous types like me went beyond the designated Revell kits and equipped anything with wings for whip-flying. We had an old-fashioned cistern in the back yard; the lid on it was held down by a big granite boulder that nobody could lift. When the string on my big Aurora B-29 broke and the plane made a beeline for that rock…Ah, sweet memories. And what a wonderful lesson in elementary physics.
Yes, I’m definitely a card caring member of that club along with several of my friends here in Kansas City. When I was a kid I lived 2 doors up from the corner drug store. Same store where my Dad and I got the Hawaiian Pilot. They had a counter in the back of the store that had 2 shelves inside that were filled with pastic kits. I used to spend a lot of time with my nose pressed up against that glass trying to decide which kit I would spend my nickels and dimes on. Those were simple times and your imagination took you on some exciting adventures inspired by some great box art. Whats really funny is that I can’t ever remember getting a kit home, opening it and thinking “What a dog of a kit!”. Every kit was GREAT.
Right now I’m struggling with the idea of spending a couple of hundred bucks on the old Aurora B-17 kit. Another oldie from the past that I’d like to recapture. I think I’ll build the Pilot first though. By the way you’ll love this…I bought those Aurora kits for $1.00 a piece about 25 years ago however I don’t think they’re worth a great amount these days with all the newer WWI kits flooding the market. I guess I could always put a few together and try WHIP FLYING them! hahaha
you guys arent old fogeys ,i started building revell kits in 1953 with the "missouri & the sullivans & helena. my no. 1 kit is the 4-stack dd that revell came out with in the 60"s . i still build revell kits of course modifying them etc.by the way do any of you guys have the proper painting info for the hull of the revell “bounty” ?also you are only young as you think . i get static all the time being "too old to be playing with trains & boats.