Ocean liners?

Well;

 Waddya know , " G " You are dead on correct . This is why I haunt the Library Marine History and such , section . Did you know that Jaynes did a few books quite a few years back on both freight/passenger as well as straight Liners ? They did one of pure freight vessels as well .

 There was a book published that covered the " Banana Boats " and others . There was also a complete history of the ships of the " Pineapple Express " ( Matson Lines ships out of Hawaii . )

I think the Titanic would be a good place to start for a model of the Umbria.

Certainly a lot of portholes to fill, but the 1/570 Revell Titanic hull becomes the 1/350 Umbria.

You Know :

 You can have any ship you want . It's called Kit bashing and or Scratch building .Find the hull that will serve and then get some research done and build away .

 So far I even have the unamed tramp steamer/liner that Bogie was in command of in a movie .The sky is the limit !

 True  ,some hulls are hard to find .Look for glue bombs at your local model shows ! I finally got two argentina/Brasil hulls as said bombs .One was partially to an aircraft transport anf the other was missing the top two decks .

 All I wanted was the hulls anyway .$2.00 bucks each . 

Well, this thread has been kind of discouraging. For a while there, I have entertained this fantasy of getting models of each ship that my various ancestors sailed on to reach North America, so I'm looking for models of specific ships (like the Umbria), rather than ocean liners in general, but still, I'm (mostly) looking for civilian, rather than military, ships, and I'm running into the same frustration you are. 

I finally got around to searching to see if I could find any of them, and have come up completely dry, if you'll pardon the pun. (At least for those ships that I've been able to identify. There are some branches of my family tree that I haven't found on passenger lists yet.)

I'm actually kind of surprised at the lack. I would have expected there to be a market for models of ships that people's ancestors sailed on. Maybe I'm just weird for even thinking of that.

jtilley

Ideal was the owner of ITC Models, which actually made some pretty good kits (by fifties standards) and picked some unusual subjects. It also made a number of remarkably sophisticated motorized kits.

Even before the days of injection-molded plastic, Ideal was producing wood airplane and ship models that, for their time, were among the best available at the time.

Go to www.oldmodelkits.com and type "ITC" and "Ideal Aeroplane and Supply" in the "Manufacturer" search box at the top for a neat nostalgia trip.

The Glencoe United States and France kits are indeed reissues of the old ITC ones.
 

MJames70

A good part of Glencoe's catalog of models of all types are old Ideal-ITC kits. About all they haven't repopped are the Cam-A-Matic action kits, if the molds even still exist. They were very pricey kits for their era, with some of the big ones like the nuclear carrier Enterprise and Halibut sub selling for $10. In the early sixties when most models were still a $1 or less, one can see how steep that price was. And it was also at a time when modelers were turning from action toys to wanting more serious scale replicas. After the ITC Enterprise hadn't been out very long, Aurora introduced its 1:400 Enterprise, that blew the ITC kit away in terms of being a scale model of the Enterprise.
 

Thanks, guys!  I never built anything from Ideal/ITC, when I was a kid.

Somone on Ebay has an Airfix 1/600 Queen Elizabeth...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Airfix-R-M-S-Queen-Elizabeth-1-600-Scale-Plastic-Model-A06201/272028977620?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D35851%26meid%3D59c1ac528454468f9529dca06d98ede9%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D291600601997

A good part of Glencoe's catalog of models of all types are old Ideal-ITC kits. About all they haven't repopped are the Cam-A-Matic action kits, if the molds even still exist. They were very pricey kits for their era, with some of the big ones like the nuclear carrier Enterprise and Halibut sub selling for $10. In the early sixties when most models were still a $1 or less, one can see how steep that price was. And it was also at a time when modelers were turning from action toys to wanting more serious scale replicas. After the ITC Enterprise hadn't been out very long, Aurora introduced its 1:400 Enterprise, that blew the ITC kit away in terms of being a scale model of the Enterprise. 

Ideal was the owner of ITC Models, which actually made some pretty good kits (by fifties standards) and picked some unusual subjects. It also made a number of remarkably sophisticated motorized kits.

Even before the days of injection-molded plastic, Ideal was producing wood airplane and ship models that, for their time, were among the best available at the time.

Go to www.oldmodelkits.com and type "ITC" and "Ideal Aeroplane and Supply" in the "Manufacturer" search box at the top for a neat nostalgia trip.

The Glencoe United States and France kits are indeed reissues of the old ITC ones.

As a followup, I just did a quick search at eBay for "SS United States" in Toys & Hobbies, and the results included these three auctions, two for the Revell kit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S-S-UNITED-STATES-PASSENGER-LINER-REVELL-0312-SEALED-BOX-IN-PLASTIC-WRAP-/222040697625?hash=item33b2a82b19:g:Jo0AAOSwoudW10Z2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1953-REVELL-MODEL-KIT-NO-H-31-2-198-S-S-UNITED-STATES-WORLDS-FASTEST/201534662469?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D35695%26meid%3D0c325f25a1d642dea6bafa356c4b9db3%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D222040697625

and a third billed as issued by Ideal Toys:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ideal-Toys-S-S-United-States-Plastic-Ocean-liner-Model-Boat-Ship-Kit-Used-w-box-/151882802408?hash=item235ceba4e8:g:wh4AAOSw4UtWRH~C

I never heard of any kits issued through Ideal Toys, though I'm familiar with Ideal, from my childhood.  And I wonder if that kit is an original kit or if it's related to the Glencoe kit mentioned previously.

Revell had a kit of the SS United States in its old, pre-merger catalog, too.  I it was an original kit, not related to any kit by any other manufacturers, but I'll have to check in Graham's book to confirm.

I had a kit of the Titanic, too, when I was in high school (graduated in 1982), by Entex, I think.  I don't recall the scale, but the hull was around 30" long as I remember.  Maybe 1/400?  I never finished it; at some point, I got the idea to convert it to an aircraft carrier, but I never finished that, either.  As I recall, it has some decent detail.

You can probably find either of those kits on eBay.

W.W.;

    Listen , If you really want to know , that model is actually the " America " and not the S.S.U.S. ! How can you tell ? The measurements between the stacks is about 60 feet shorter than the States .

      I didn't catch it until about eight years ago when I ran into a fellow that used to work for Gibbs and Cox who did the original builders Models !

 We were discussing the models available and he wised me up on that .There was supposed to be the length of two tennis courts between the stacks , But the America was built to a shorter plan.  T.B.     he stated that for historical reality the Revell Model is the closest all around except the load line waterline boo-boo . The model should be at the top of the line  when seen from the side . Not as if she were stripped and floating higher  !.  T.B.      P.S. With care and some scratch building the Glencoe/Pyro/Lindberg model , can be a Beautiful model . It takes time and inventiveness .

Tracy ;

    You have done something here .You succeedded in pointing out that any special Liner or warship will be found in 1/700 over the more popular scales used here in the States That sir , is the rub ! I can't , because of eyesight problems regularly work in the scale . Anything larger is more welcome .  T.B.

Admiralty ModelWorks has a resin Normandie almost done in 1/700. Website is down for the time being, but you can find them on Facebook and on the web in the future.

Just like in the other genres, civil subjects get no respect :-(  I like to build working civil boats and ships, and while there are maybe a few more than liners, the number is miniscule compared to warships.

I've got the Revell 1/400th QM2 about 90% done.  I have to be in the right mindset to finish it with the care it deserves, which is hopefully soon.

I also have built the Gunze 1/350th Lusitania and the 1/450th QEII and the photos are on here somewhere. Both nice kits.

I  also have the awful Glencoe  SS US, which is like a bathtub toy for a 4 year old kid.  It would take an act of God to get that kit in any kind of representative form. Beware of that one.

Wouldn't it be nice now that the SS US is apparently going to be saved, for Revell to do a 1/400th of it? And the ship exists in order to measure etc. onsite.

Revell has a Queen Mary in 1/570, Airfix has a Queen Elizabeth in 1/600, and I believe around a year ago wasn't there a France or Normindie I believe in 1/700 in resin that came out along with some pricey PE. There are also some nice looking Japanese pre-war liners/merchants that I would love to have.  Try "Old Plastic Model Kits" website, he sometimes has the old classics in stock.  Very pricey.

Also, come to think of it, the excellent (if expensive) Hasegawa 1/350 Hikawa Maru (the largest Japanese liner to survive WWII). And the same company's model of the same ship in 1/700.

I still want an an S.S. Inchcliffe Castle!

Meng Models makes a 1:150 scale TAIPING, a Great Lakes steamer.   It was released as part of a movie tie-in for the Chinese movie "The Crossing".

Mirage Models of Poland offers two in 1:500 scale.   The M/S Batory in several guises from pre-WWII to her appearance in WWII Operation Husky (Sicicly Invasion).  Also the M/S Pilsudski.

Airfix used to make a 1/600 France, but it's been out of production for a long time. A long, long time ago ITC did a France in 1/400, which was more recently reissued by Glencoe - but it's been out of production for quite a few years.

Airfix recently reissued its 1/600 Queen Elizabeth and Mauretania.

The lack of liners - and civilian ships in general - has been a sad feature of the plastic kit industry for a long time.

There are a few liner kits, including a Normandie, in resin - but they're quite expensive (if you can find them).

The best source of civilian ship kits, for better or worse, is the huge range of paper models published in Europe. Those things are remarkably sophisticated - and, to me at least, more than a little scary. But they're capable of being turned into mighty nice models.

Hi;

 If you look long enough you might find some .You won't find Any Normandie or Isle De France in any scale though .  T.B.

Normandie and France- no joy.

It's a neglected subject these days, but there are quite a few past and present. Google is your friend.

im actually currently building queen mary 2 1/400, and am personaly not really intrested in 1/1200 scaled ships, i like them larger, i prefer to build in /400 or /700, or around those scales, like the mauretania from airfix which is 1/600, and mary from revell that is /570

Revell has issued a 1/1200 scale kit of the QUEEN MARY 2. You might want to visit their web site to inquire if other ocean liner kits are available.

  Happy modeling   Crackers