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Revell`s Mayflower model

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  • Member since
    April 2006
Revell`s Mayflower model
Posted by armchair sailor on Friday, July 14, 2006 9:36 AM

              Just yesterday, at the local Goodwill store ( by the way, a good source of old model kits ) , I came across an old Mayflower kit by Revell. ( $3.99 !!!!!! )  My question is , what scale is this kit ? I know it`s a re-creation of the Mayflower 2  of the 1960`s and is really not a representative of the actual ship but was the re-creation of Mayflower just a fanciful representation or is it actually based on facts ? Also, what would be the coloring of the ship , if it was to represent a ship of the 1600`s. Wouldn`t it be a rather dull finish ? As the ship was an older ship at the time of the Pilgrim`s crossing, wouldn`t it be a rather beat up and junky ?   As a work vessel, would it have the bright colors represented in the re-creation or no coloring at all. I`m really not familiar with vessels of that time period so any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, this is a nice looking kit and one of Revell`s better efforts..................

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 14, 2006 10:28 AM

I beleive the kit is 1:83 scale.

It is based on Mayflower 2 built in the fifties and sailed accross the atlantic to where it sits now in Plymouth.

  • Member since
    June 2005
  • From: Walworth, NY
Posted by Powder Monkey on Friday, July 14, 2006 11:28 AM
Here is a link to a set of plans for the Mayflower:

http://www.all-model.com/list1/mayflower/mayflower.html

They should help with rigging.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Friday, July 14, 2006 10:23 PM

This is a surprisingly complicated subject, because Revell actually made two Mayflower kits.  I normally regard Thomas Graham's book, Remembering Revell Model Kits, as the bible on the subject, but (as Dr. Graham has graciously acknowledged in this Forum), this is a rare example of a piece of detail that he missed.

The first kit was originally issued in 1966.  (I'm confident that Dr. Graham's date is correct.)  It was about 16" or 18" long; I think the scale was somewhere in the vicinity of 1/110, or maybe a tiny bit bigger.  (I remember that the Pilgrim figures in the kit were smaller than those in the 1/96 Constitution and Cutty Sark kits, and certainly appeared to be in scale with the rest of the model.)  The kit came in the same size box as what my generation thought of as the "$3.00 kits" - the Bounty, Victory, Santa Maria, Eagle, etc.  (I think it probably cost $4.00 or $5.00 when it was initially released; they'd all gone up a bit by then.) 

A few years later Revell released a small series of "Quick-Build" sailing ship kits, which were designed to attract newcomers to the hobby - and to occupy a "price point" between the big 3' kits and the smaller, 18" ones.  Three of them (the Constitution, Cutty Sark, and Thermopylae) were scaled down, simplified versions of larger kits.  One, the yacht America, was a brand new kit.  And the Mayflower, oddly enough, was an enlarged version of the earlier kit.  It was advertised as being "simplified," but in fact the only changes (beyond the enlargement) were the omission of all the rigging blocks and the replacement of the wretched plastic-coated-thread "shrouds and ratlines" with even worse injection-molded plastic parts.  This, I'm pretty sure, is the kit that's on 1/83 scale.  With the bowsprit attached it was about 2' long, or close to it.

Later still, Revell re-released the original, smaller kit in a "Quick-Build" box.  This was the original, smaller kit, with the rigging fittings omitted and injection-molded "shrouds and ratlines."  Anybody who's confused at this point is not alone.  I think I have the story straight - but I'd be lying if I said I was sure.

At any rate, I'll stick my neck out and offer the opinion that both these kits are, in terms of historical accuracy, among the dozen or so best plastic sailing ship kits ever.  They are indeed scale models of the Mayflower II, the full-sized reconstruction that crossed the Atlantic in 1956.  She was designed by William A. Baker, Professor of Naval Architecture at MIT and one of the best in the business.  Mr. Baker made one deliberate compromise with reality:  since the ship was destined to be a floating museum and tourist attraction, he added a couple of feet of extra headroom below decks.  Otherwise, in the more than 50 years since he drew the plans for her, nobody, to my knowledge, has suggested that he made any major mistakes.  (Caveat:  we know so little about the real ship that there's plenty of room for interpretation as to what she looked like.  Several other people have drawn plans that look a little different from Mr. Baker's.  But I've never read any serious, qualified assertion that his version isn't reasonable.)   That includes the color scheme. 

Mr. Baker wrote a book in which she's prominently featured:  The Mayflower and Other Colonial Vessels.  It contains a good set of plans, including a sail plan.  (I've looked at the one Powder Monkey mentioned; it looks good too, though the one in Mr. Baker's book has more detail.)  Anybody tackling any of the Revell kits can do no better than to get hold of a copy of that book.

Either of those kits has the potential to be an outstanding scale model.  Good luck.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

  • Member since
    November 2005
Revell`s Mayflower model
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 22, 2006 6:43 PM
Thanks! I'm starting Artesania Latina's 1:64 Scale Mayflower. Those plans will come in handy!
-Special ed
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