Interesting Revell reissue

The Behar certainly deserves a model - if there's enough information extant to design one.  

We should acknowledge that when the kit manufacturers think seriously about merchant ships as subjects, there are problems that warships don't present.  Navies generally keep official drawings of their warships (though there are plenty of exceptions), and make them available to researchers at (by manufacturers' standards) nominal cost.  But there are no comprehensive repositories for merchant ship drawings.  They're all over the place - if those of a particular ship exist at all.  And commercial firms can be pretty difficult when it comes to merchandising their designs.  

But for the Inchcliffe Castle that wouldn't be a problem.  Or would it?  Do Guy Gilpatric' heirs, or the heirs of the Saturday Evening Post, hold copyright on the name?  I have no idea.

John,

I would like to see the British steamer Behar out of respect for the victims of those brutal murders. Inchcliffe Castle would also be interesting . . . but HMS Lion or Tiger would be fantastic!

Bill

Yes Stik they do. Varyag was built by Cramp in Philadelphia, and somewhat predates the Battle as it was bottled up in Incheon. That by the way is a really good model of a great looking ship. If you can find one, highly recommended. And, it shares a PE set with the Borodino/ Suvorov kit.

Edit: $ 39 on Amazon.

John- virtual hand raised high. Or how about HMS Ocean or any other ship from the Dardanelles Campaign?

SMS Goeben, esp. In Ottoman service. Recent geopolitics bring that to mind. Speaking to that, I need to get my Heller Potemkin back out and wrap it up.

I'm aware of, and impressed by, resin kits available for a lot of these subjects. But I spent $ 250 for the SMS Scharnhorst, which is more than I can afford to do more than once. 

The problem with Q-ships, from the kit manufacturer's standpoint, is going to be finding reliable plans for them.  Most of them were converted merchant ships; in many cases, I suspect, the guns were added without drawings.  That old Lindberg kit, if I remember right, is extremely vague and generic.

The whole field of merchant ships is wide open for model kit manufacturers.  I'd love to see a nice, ugly, British tramp steamer (preferably the S.S. Inchcliffe Castle - and if you know what I'm talking about, you're a genuine fan of maritime literature).  But for the moment, I suggest we concentrate on talking the Powers that Be into some capital ships and U-boats.  All in favor of a 1/700 or 1/350 H.M.S. Lion, raise your right hands.

The Germans were making some very advanced and large U-boats in the last years of WWI.  I would also I like to see some more Q-ships in 1/350 scale other than the Lindberg model that I have.

The last few posts illustrate what a remarkable time this is for the twentieth-century warship modeler.  The Revell German light cruiser kit is pretty recent; I haven't bought one, but the general consensus seems to be that it's an excellent kit.  Before that kit was released the number of World War I kits on the market was almost zilch.  The best probably was the old, old Revell 4-stack destroyer (with its bogus "wood deck planking").  Airfix had a 4-stacker on 1/600, and the Iron Duke.   ITC had an American subchaser (reissued for a while by Glenco).  That was about it, unless you count some capital ships that were built during or before WWI and kitted in much later configurations:  the Revell Arizona, the Airfix Warspite, and the Frog Revenge, and the various Hoods).  And I can remember when the first of the 1/700 Japanese waterline series kits appeared at the hobby shop where I worked.  (I remarked that it sure would be neat if, someday, one of those Japanese companies would release some ships from the Russo-Japanese War.  People looked at me like I was out of my mind; more than one said, "The what War?"). 

Now the situation looks completely different.  Two H.M.S. Dreadnoughts in 1/350.  The Zvezda and Hasegawa 1/350 Russo-Japanese War kits - and some nice 1/700 ones from Sealsmodel.  British and German WWI capital ships from ICM, Flyhawk, and Trumpeter.  And so on - not to mention the vast range of 1/700 and 1/350 WWI kits from the resin manufacturers.

Forgive me, but from the standpoint of a sailing ship modeler (who's been largely ignored by the plastic kit manufacturers for about 35 years), begging for a new Emden sounds kind of like modern warship modelers are getting spoiled.  As, I guess, they have every right to be.

WWI is, I think, a great period for warship modelers.  Some really beautiful ships (and some remarkably ugly ones) were built in those years, and it could easily be argued that the period 1900-1920 was the era when naval affairs had the greatest influence on world affairs that they ever had. 

I see reason to hope that the centennial celebrations will see a wave of new WWI releases from the kit manufacturers.  We're already seeing it in the form of WWI tanks, which seem to be pouring in from all over the place.  For warship modelers, the available WWI range has a long way to go before it can catch up to WWII and the modern period.  For now, I sure would like to see a British capital ship in WWI configuration in 1/350.  Or some WWI destroyers and torpedo boats in any scale.  And, for that matter, some armored or protected cruisers.  (I guess we could count the Olympia.)

And here's an idea for a 1/350 kit that would be pretty easy to manufacture and could sell at a reasonable price:  a World War I German U-boat.  There's a naval weapon that had a huge impact on history - and came close to making an even bigger one.  But the only WWI U-boat Kit I've ever seen advertised is resin (and I'm not sure it's available any more). 

These are great times for the warship modeler (if his/her wallet is deep enough).  Here's hoping for more WWI ship kits.

Doesn't Zvezda make some of the Russian ships?

Yes. The four main Japanese battleships- Shikishima, Mikasa, Asahi, and Fuji were all unique and built in Britain. 

Bronco has made a good job on the Chinese battleships and cruisers built by Stetten in Germany and Vickers.

all of which is to say there ought to be a wide audience.

How about a 1/350 Maine?

Hasegawa Mikasa correct?

Why really? It's a great model.

There's a grand total of one ship model in 1/350 plastic of the Japanese ships at either Tsushima or The Battle of The Yellow Sea.

HMAS Sydney.

Well it is German, so there is a chance, however slight, that Dragon or Trumpeter would do such a subject. But Hasegawa seems to be sticking only with Japanese subjects in 1/350 ships. And Trumpeter does seem to be all over the board in 1/350 ships, even doing a WWI subject or two, so with the 100th anniversary now upon us...

I still want a new tooled Emden done by Hasegawa,Dragon,even Trumpeter.

I like "Gentleman of War" by Dan Van Der Vat

The story of the Emden, is also told in the book "Guns in Paradise".  But I can't remember the author.

Yes, it is certainly not one of the original Revell USA classic ship kits.

I seem to remember that Emden was originally a Revell of Germany production.

I'm down for the Emden for the WW1 100th Anniv GB!  I hope to start building this summer on it, and I plan to use the GMM PE set.

How about side by side builds? ;-)

stikpusher

warshipguy

Why not keep both kits? Although both are sister ships, there are minor differences between the ships, which Revell does model. For example, Emden has two propellers while Dresden has four. Given the small numbers of WWI ships in injection molded plastic, there should be room for both on anyone's shelf.

Bill

Yup... two for ones are certainly a great idea.

Let me put it this way. In addition to the $15 kit there's a $40 PE set and easily 100 hours of build time.

Just build one and see how you feel about continuing before buying that second set of PE.

warshipguy

Why not keep both kits? Although both are sister ships, there are minor differences between the ships, which Revell does model. For example, Emden has two propellers while Dresden has four. Given the small numbers of WWI ships in injection molded plastic, there should be room for both on anyone's shelf.

Bill

Yup... two for ones are certainly a great idea.

Why not keep both kits? Although both are sister ships, there are minor differences between the ships, which Revell does model. For example, Emden has two propellers while Dresden has four. Given the small numbers of WWI ships in injection molded plastic, there should be room for both on anyone's shelf.

Bill

and from Revell's website

http://www.revell.com/germany/ships/80-5500.html#.U1wMRlVdVIE

Here's the working link: 

http://www.freetimehobbies.com/1-350-revell-wwi-german-sms-emden-dresden-combo

Well two in one for $30? I just may have to add some WWI ships to my 1/350 collection.

If you order the PE right from GMM you will save a $5 on each kit.  Not only is the PE cheaper from GMM, but their shipping rate is cheaper than Freetime.

It's a little hard to tell from the online description, as Freetime copied the one from Revell which is obviously translated and also historically a little "curious" but that's a different discussion...

There might well be two complete kits in there, or maybe one topsides and the two hulls.

But if there's two complete kits and it looks like there are that's a good deal. I paid $27 for the Emden on eBay some time back.

Thought though- the kit really needs the PE set as has been noted. Along with making the decision to model her on 1/350 scale, Revell also moved beyond previous practice of the plastic stanchion/ tie it with thread or molded railings and simply left open the locations where open bar railings need to go.

That means you'd need to get two sets of PE for this project, at $ 42 per. And I found that assembling and detailing this little jewel once was quite enough for me. The whole ship is only slightly over a foot long, and true to it's era there's a lot of detail to be added.

So I would suggest that anyone should buy the kit, gift the second ship to a friend and get one set each of the PE.

I believe the ships were repainted grey in Tsingtao before they left in August 1914. I painted my Emden grey as she was at the Battle of Cocos, however the white/ buff is really attractive and I do plan to paint Scharnhorst that way.

"The Last Cruise of The Emden"

By Hoyt.

I originally bought it for the photos, but they aren't really useful. However it's a great story and well worth the read if you can find it at the library.

Dresden was the only German survivor of the Battle of the Falklands although she was eventually tracked down and forced to scuttle.

I found that a really neat kit.  There is a book about the cruise of the Emden.  Forget the exact title.  When I built it I used the GMM PE set.  Model has won me several first place medals.  Only problem I found was poor fit of the main gun turrets into hull.  Be sure to trial fit this area, and correct as needed.

Yep it's a great kit. One thing that's a little unusual for Revell ships of it's era is that it's 1/350 scale. It's brethren such as the Ward, Burton Island, Campbell etc. were in all kinds of weird scales.

The difference between the two cruisers are the number of screws. Revell has a separate part (actually two because the bull is split vertically) for the lower rear part of the hull. It's a significant headache to get it all assembled and smoothed in nicely, but it can be done.

The PE is good.

My only other task was to replace the main guns. The real thing had a combination of open mounts, and open mounts with semi-enclosed shields. The kit provides a solid little turret like affair for the shielded guns. The idea is to paint the back of it black to look like it's open. It works, but I scratchbuilt guns and made little brass shields instead. I used some leftover 5" turned brass USN gun barrels from somewhere, some styrene rod and a little gizmology.

There's quite a few photos online of both types of guns. One's in a park in Sydney and one's in a museum in Australia.

The story of Emden is a good one, and really only begins with her sinking.

With the PE kit from GMM they should be very interesting build.  I pre-ordered the kit yesterday.