New sailing ship kits

I think the Revell/Occidental "San Gabriel" was intended to represent the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's ship. I don't know how accurate it is, or if this is one of the many historic ships (Santa Maria, Mayflower, Golden Hind, etc.) about which little information has survived.

I've spotted the Zvezda "lifeboat" on eBay a couple of times; I suspected it might have been a boat from one of their larger ships boxed seperately. What size is it, approximately? It looks like it might make an interesting model, and certainly a contrast to the usual large ships represented in model form.

jtilley wrote:

There is one other sail/steam paddlewheeler kit on the market: the venerable Pyro/Lifelike/Lindberg Harriet Lane (currently to be found in a Lindberg box labeled "Civil War Blockade Runner).

Don't forget the Airfix Great Western (widely available now as it was reissued for the 2006 Brunel anniversary) and the Imai Susquehanna! Revell also produced a kit of the Great Eastern, although this had both paddle and screw propulsion as well as a sailing rig.

jtilley wrote:

Lindberg kits are quite common in American hobby shops - at least in my part of the country. How hard they are to get in Europe I have no idea.

Very, unfortunately, although some of the landing craft (1/32 LCVP, 1/125 LSU/LCT, and 1/250 LST) were released here in 2004 for the D-Day anniversary and still aren't too hard to find; the 1/350ish Hood and Bismarck/Tirpitz also appeared in shops at about the same time. (Of all the unique and interesting ships in the Lindberg/Pyro range, why on earth did they have to resurrect those two clunky old pond toys, when there are vastly better kits of these ships available in both 1/350 and 1/400?)

I managed to get the Harriet Lane on eBay from a US seller, and still paid rather over the odds for it, about £25 including shipping (it was an old Pyro box, but Lindberg examples don't seem to sell for much less). I also got the USS Carronade ("Bobtail Cruiser") for about the same price. The problem with buying from US sellers is that the shipping cost is often as much as or more than the cost of the kit itself. To be fair, many Heller and Airfix kits, and quite a few Revell Europe ones, seem to be hard to find in the US, so the problem isn't all one-way.

jtilley wrote:

There seems to be some question as to whether Lindberg kits are currently being produced or not.  On another Forum thread there was an announcement that the molds had been acquired by a group of new owners, who plan to distribute them under the name "Hawk" (no connection to the old American kit manufacturer of that name). Lindberg kits are quite common in American hobby shops - at least in my part of the country.  How hard they are to get in Europe I have no idea.

 Over on Steelnavy.com, there was a recent post about this.  The poster said that he had contacted Hawk, to ask about the Lindberg/Pyro American President Liner, and gotten a reply from the President.  He said it was a very nice response, though not the one he wanted.

The poster went on to say that, according to his source, that Testors sold the "Hawk" name and molds to the new company.  Some of the old kits (no ships, yet) are already in the local shop using the old "Hawk" graphics.  Some of the other kits, like the Lindberg 1/125 Minesweeper and 1/96 Nantucket Lightship, are due out later this summer, according to the poster.

In Jeff Herne's original post here, IIRC, he said that the Harriet Lane was one of the kits planned for release by Hawk, along with several others.

Around here (Boston area) the only Lindberg ships in the shops are the two "Pirate" ships.  I haven't seen the Harriet Lane (Civil War Blockade Runner) or the Morris-class Revenue Cutter ("War of INdependence Schooner") in many years.  

I'm looking for the schooner now-- I hope it is on the re-release schedule.  Any leads to a shop with the Lindberg kit would be appreciated as well....! 

That "San Gabriel"is very bad indeed, the sort of thing that would make a great decor item. Just add a little Herb Alpert and youre set. Not a good scale model though. The medievel ship's boat is great, and the price is fine. Their cog is pretty good, despite the decking, and apart from the high price I'd love to build it sometime. What makes it so expensive?

Hmm, even my local Hobbytown USA has a couple of those Lindberg kits. Naturally, They turned up shortly after I got my "Captain Kidd" off Ebay.

Here in Europe they surface hardly if ever on ebay, let alone in hobby shops; it took me ages to get the revenue cutter. Funnily, when they appear, they don't sell for that much.

Anyway, I guess I'll pay closer attention to transatlantic ebay.

Jorit 

There seems to be some question as to whether Lindberg kits are currently being produced or not.  On another Forum thread there was an announcement that the molds had been acquired by a group of new owners, who plan to distribute them under the name "Hawk" (no connection to the old American kit manufacturer of that name).

Lindberg kits are quite common in American hobby shops - at least in my part of the country.  How hard they are to get in Europe I have no idea.

Ah, the Harriet Lane is still available? That is indeed good news - I was under the impression the kit is out of production now. I guess I'll have to start looking around for it.

Jorit 

Very interesting, Jorit.  I thought that "Conquistador" thing looked vaguely familiar.  The Revell kit in question apparently never got much distribution in the U.S.; I don't recall having actually seen it in the flesh.

In selling that small boat as a separate kit Zvezda is following in the footsteps of Heller, which did something similar with the small boat that was included with its Xebec kit.

There is one other sail/steam paddlewheeler kit on the market:  the venerable Pyro/Lifelike/Lindberg Harriet Lane (currently to be found in a Lindberg box labeled "Civil War Blockade Runner).  Pyro pirated the original release, back in the very early fifties, from a Model Shipways solid-hull wood kit (which is still available, in a somewhat modified version, from Model Expo).  The plastic version isn't a bad kit - especially in view of its age.  It's one of those that I recommend for newcomers to the hobby.

The "Conquistador ship" is in fact the Revell San Gabriel that was released quite some years ago; if I remember correctly that was originally an Occidental kit, and I guess that's where Zvezda got the mouldings from. Similarly, the Zvezda Nina is not a Heller repop, but a new release of the Occidental kit (which isn't a bad one at all).

As for the "lifeboat", that is the boat that comes with the cog incarnation that is dubbed "Crusader ship" (for some reason I can't find it at Squadron right now); effectively that's the cog kit with a few additional parts and that boat. Offering it separately is apparently aimed at those planning a diorama around the cog (perhaps a port scene), and personally I think it's a nice idea.

More news from Zvezda this year will be a "Carthaginian" warship (which will of course be another rendition of the trireme); they also have some more old Heller kits in their range, including the Porquoi-Pas and the "Brigantine" completing what they call the Sirius (which is all the same anyway in many respects); to their credit, the Sirius/Orient/Occident/Whatever is the only transitional paddle wheeler on the market at the moment and makes for a fun build.

So, unfortunately nothing new under the sun yet; currently, Zvezda seems to try to get as much out of their moulds as possible, which from a marketing point of view is of course quite understandable. I don't understand some of their choices, though. Instead of selling the cog as a "crusader" ship I would probably have tried to put into a 100-years war context; Jeanne de Clisson's black "Vengeance" with red sails might sell better in France than either a crusader ship or a Hanse cog.

Well, I'm still keeping fingers crossed for the Emhar Viking ship... 

Jorit