SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

USS Constitution in 1/350 scale?

6925 views
6 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Derry, New Hampshire, USA
USS Constitution in 1/350 scale?
Posted by rcboater on Friday, January 26, 2007 10:21 PM

Does anyone make a USS Constitution in 1/350 scale?  Or an HMS Victory?  (The only sailing ships in that scale I'm aware of are the Imai/Minicraft series of modern sail training ships.)

I realize it wouldn't be very detailed, but would make an interesting display next to models of modern vessels.

What about 1/700 scale?  I've doen a websearch, and found a number of metal/resin wargaming ships -- but are there any plastic kits of famous sailign warships  in that scale?   

(I know of none in 1/700, and only two in 1/600 -- the Heller USCGC Eagle, and I have an old Airfix blister pack HMS Shannon in 1/600, though there may be more....)

Webmaster, Marine Modelers Club of New England

www.marinemodelers.org

 

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Friday, January 26, 2007 10:35 PM

Several companies (Pyro, Lindberg, ITC, and probably others) have made small plastic Constitutions over the years.  One or more of them may have been somewhere in the vicinity of 1/350, but if so I'm not aware of it.  All those kits are quite old, and pretty crude; building one of them to a standard comparable to a modern warship kit would be a big, uphill battle.

On 1/700 scale the picture is much brighter.  A British firm called Skytrex (www.skytrex.com - click on "ships," then on "Meridian Trafalgar Series") makes a series of 1/700 sailing warships - British, American, French, Spanish, and generic.  The American range consists of the Constitution, President, and United States,the only kit rendition of the U.S.S. Chesapeake I've ever heard of, and the Essex.  (How about a diorama featuring the latter sailing alonside the Essex of 1943?) 

I have the impression that these kits were designed primarily for wargamers, but they're nice scale models in their own right.  I've bought only one, the Victory.  It has a beautifully-detailed, cast white metal hull, with separate castings for the poop deck, transom, boats, boat skids, and anchors.  The masts and yards are also white metal castings; my intention (if I ever get up the nerve to build the thing) is to replace them with wood or wire.  (The white metal ones are mighty flexible; maybe wargamers would find that an advantage.)  The sails are photo-etched brass.  (Again, that's probably for the sake of the wargamers; I'd be inclined to make them from paper.)  The shrouds and ratlines also are photo-etched brass - inevitably a bit out of scale, but not bad.

This little kit could be turned into a real show-stopper of a scale model.  I would, in fact, describe it as one of the four or five best renditions of the Victory in kit form.  (The others on my personal list:  the plastic kits from Heller and Revell (with the Airfix one a close runner-up), and the wood one from Calder/Jotika.)  Highly recommended.

 

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

  • Member since
    March 2012
Posted by Trulahn on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 10:53 PM

http://www.handcraftedmodelships.com/uss-constitution-limited-7inch.php

 

1/350 USS Constitution would be about 7 inches so that's as close a match as you can get.  Down side is that it's not a kit.  They only sell completed models.

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Carmel, CA
Posted by bondoman on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 11:34 PM

Zombie post...

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 9:02 AM

1:600 used to be a popular scale for sailing warships.  I believe both Airfix and Heller made quite a few, but they were all, I believe,  British or French.  There WAS a Victory in that scale- I have one in my stash- the Airfix one.

I wish they would do more in that scale, with PE for shroud/ratline assemblies, since those were almost impossible to do with thread.

I am positive I have also seen the Victory in 1:350.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    March 2012
Posted by Westpac'er on Friday, March 9, 2012 6:59 PM

Im building the Revell 1:225 Victory now, second one in fact, I'm not aware of anything smaller on the market now anyway.

Any run you can walk away from is good run.

  • Member since
    March 2003
Posted by jmcquate on Friday, March 9, 2012 7:28 PM

I have an old 1:204 Scientific kit in my stash. Solid resin hull with wood masts/arms and deck and metal fittings.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.