USS Currituck seaplane tender (Revell) - completed build pics

Modeling Subjects Ships
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I usually post my non-sail ship models on Modelwarships.com, but with the recent discussion of the Revell kit reissues I thought I’d post this one here first.

This is the recently reissued Revell kit of the seaplane tender USS Currituck (previously also issued as USS Pine Island. The scale is about 1/420, close enough to 1/400 for me! It includes a PBM-2 Mariner flying boat in the same scale, which is actually quite detailed and accurate in appearance (more so than the ship itself…)

It’s an ancient kit (early 1960s or late 1950s I think) and its age is very obvious from looking at the kit parts. However IMHO the reissue shouldn’t be dismissed as just for collectors or nostalgic modellers who built the original in the 60s - with some work it can build an impressive model of an interesting and unusual subject. It’s certainly the only seaplane tender kit I know of and it’s unlikely Trumpeter will be releasing a 1/350 example any time soon!

As a guide, the overall quality of the kit (fit, level of detail, etc.) is very similar to the USS Montrose/Randall and Glasgow T2 tanker kits also currently available. In fact there are many similarities between the moulding style and parts breakdown of these 3 kits (the superstructure parts that are divided horizontally through the portholes, for example), and they’re similar in scale - presumably they all date from the same late 50s/early 60 period.

The most annoying fault of the kit is the flat-bottomed hull, which is halfway between waterline and full-hull. A lot of Revell’s earlier ship kits have this “feature”. It can be fixed by either sawing the hull off at the waterline or carving a new lower hull from wood, though I ended up doing neither of these :rolleyes:
Really I should have waterlined it, but when displayed on a stand the flat hull isn’t too noticeable.


I added various extra details and bits including railings (cut-down Heller parts), 20mm AA guns, 5" gun and director details, anchor chains, crane cables, etc.

The ship is painted in its WW2 camouflage scheme. I’ve since found that during WW2 this class had heavier AA armament (more 20mms, mostly fitted on the sides of the superstructure) so it is not strictly accurate, but looks a lot more interesting than the post-war overall grey scheme. (If I’d known beforehand, I’d just have scratchbuilt the extra 20mms and gun tubs)


Similarly, the PBM-2 Mariner flying boat is painted in a WW2 two-tone blue scheme with grey lower surfaces. The gun barrels were replaced with fine brass wire. Oddly the “stars and bars” decals had no white areas so these had to be painted in. I also added a Curtiss Seahawk seaplane from the similarly scaled Hasegawa Iowa-class (which has 3)

As the model represents the Currituck during WW2, it is moderately heavily weathered, using drybrushed acrylics and oil washes. This is the first time I’ve used oil washes on a ship model smaller than 1/250 scale and it works surprisingly well, particularly for representing the rust streaks on the hull.
Rigging is very minimal as I don’t currently have any rigging material thin enough for this scale, hence I just added a few lines to give an impression of rigging.

Anyway, whilst it’s not near the standard or quality of a new-tool 1/350 kit, I’m pleased with the final result and it makes a unique addition to my ship collection. I’d recommend this kit to anyone who doesn’t mind putting the time + work into improving a 50-year-old kit. As mentioned before, it’s similar to the Revell Montrose and T2 tanker kits so if you’ve built one of those, you know what to expect! Generic 1/400 PE and/or resin parts for AA guns, radar, railings, boats, etc. would go a long way towards improving this kit, if they’re within your budget.

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I love it! I built the old T-2 tanker a few years ago, cleaning out the 1/400 photoetch scrap box as I went. I convertrd it to “civilian” tanker by cutting away the gun sponsons and using my own initials on the stack. It’s anchored in a calm sea. As a kid I had all three; the flat bottom was great for pushing around the carpet!!! Great job on the tender. Go ahead and put it in the water…ya know ya want to[swg]. G.L.

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Very good! I have USS Pine Island still unbuilt, and you make me feel like building it.

BTW, Edward, I have several boxes of “Tarantul” and “Pauk” corvettes by Mirage in 1/400 scale. Did you ever build one? What do you think of them?

Michel

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Here’s what Dr. Graham’s book, Remembering Revell Model Kits, has to say about this kit. It’s a rather interesting one.

It first appeared in 1956 as the U.S.S. Norton Sound, which was a seaplane tender converted to a guided missile test ship. The missiles (of various types, which were duly represented in the kit) were launched from the big seaplane deck aft, and a helicopter platform was added to the foredeck. The Norton Sound was a pretty freakish ship, and seems like a rather odd choice of subject for a company that, after all, was just introducting the public to the concept of plastic warship models. (One of the Revell executives at the time was fascinated with guided missiles, and pushed the company into releasing a big series of them - none of which sold particularly well. One wonders if that individual had something to do with the choice of the Norton Sound.)

Other ships Revell released that year included (as Epinniger suggested) the tanker (in its original incarnation as the S.S. J.L. Hanna), the attack transport Randall (*Haskell-*class, chosen as a tie-in with the novel and movie “Away All Boats”), C-3 freighter Hawaiian Pilot (recently reissued by Revell Germany), hospital ship Haven, riverboat Robert E. Lee, and guided missile cruiser Boston (modified from the earlier *Baltimore-*class heavy cruiser). That year also saw the release of Revell’s first two sailing ships: the 1/192 U.S.S. Constitution and 1/110 H.M.S. Bounty. Quite a year for ship modelers.

Things slowed down a bit the next year; 1957 saw only five new Revell ships: the Coast Guard cutter Campbell and icebreaker Eastwind, the sailing ships Santa Maria and Flying Cloud, and the biggest plastic warship yet, the carrier Forrestal. (I vividly remember the latter. The flight deck was molded in a darker color than the rest of the kit, and came wrapped in a sheet of tissue paper.)

Apparently the Norton Sound wasn’t a best-seller; it stayed in the Revell catalog through 1959, but never got reissued (except in the “Guided Missile Fleet Gift Set”). In 1958 Revell modified the molds to make the seaplane tender Pine Island. (The modifications included the deletion of the helicopter platform and, obviously, the replacement of the missiles with that wonderful PBM.) That one got reissued as the Currituck in 1961, and as the Pine Island again in 1968, 1973, and 1979. (I think it was also one of the “Special Subjects” releases in the eighties; Dr. Graham’s coverage stops with 1979.)

It obviously doesn’t represent the current state of the art, but not a bad kit for its time. I think it may have been Revell’s first attempt to represent 20 mm guns as separate pieces; the older kits, including the attack transport, depicted them as horrible, Y-shaped blobs cast integrally with the decks.

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I’ve got one of the Tarantul kits (the Hiddensee) awaiting construction, as well as a number of WW2 Polish ships (WW2 and earlier ships are my main interest, though I still build a few post-war and modern subjects) from the same manufacturer. They all seem to be quite good kits although the moulding of fine details such as masts and AA guns seems a bit “soft” compared to Heller for example. Still, with “new-tool” 1/400 kits of such esoteric subjects at such affordable prices (most of the smaller ships are under £5 in the UK) you can’t complain too much.

Unfortunately, it still has the integrally-moulded 20mms - I had to cut them out (not easy as they’re in small round gun tubs) and replace them with guns from the spares box. Luckily there are only 2 20mm guns…

By far the most detailed and accurate part of the kit is the Mariner flying boat - the shape of the fuselage + wings is fairly accurate, and the panel lines and rivets, whilst overscale, are quite finely engraved. (Compare it to the Seahawk in the photo, which is very “chunky” and crude despite my efforts at sanding + reshaping, and is from a kit produced 15-20 years later) I wonder whether the plane was made as a larger model and then pantographed down?

Anyway, thanks for the comments.