USS Saint Paul heavy cruiser model

The St. Paul was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser.  I'm aware of one up-to-date styrene kit that represents that class:  the recent 1/700 one from Trumpeter.  I have the impression that it's a nice kit - though I gather it represents the ship in her World War II configuration.  (I don't know exactly what changes she might have undergone by 1950; I imagine her 20mm guns were removed, along with her aircraft catapults, and her radar sets probably were updated.)  Later edit:  there are some Korean War-vintage pictures of her at Navsource (www.navsource.org - click on "cruisers," then scroll down to the St. Paul).  It looks like her 20mm guns were gone, the 40mm ones had been replaced by 3" ones, and the catapults were removed - though the aircraft handling crane was still there.  One shot shows a Dragonfly helicopter landing on the afterdeck.

On the nostalgic front, there was a Baltimore-class cruiser among Revell's very first group of ship models. (According to Dr. Graham's book, Remembering Revell Model Kits, it was initially released in 1954 with the name Los Angeles, and reappeared with the names Helena in 1960 and Pittsburgh in 1967.  The scale was about 1/490.)  It was a typical product of its time:  extremely crude by modern standards.  Aurora also did a ship of that class, in 1/600 scale.  (Modern modelers have trouble taking Aurora warship kits seriously, but it's worth noting that the company was a pioneer in the concept of issuing kits to a consistent scale.)  If memory serves (as it frequently doesn't these days), the Aurora kit did appear at least once with the name St. Paul on it.  My recollection is that it was a somewhat more accurate and better detailed kit than the Revell one - but that's not saying much.

Those are the ones I can remember.  I imagine there's been at least one resin Baltimore-class kit as well.

If I were contemplating a model of this ship, my first choice would be the new Trumpeter kit.  Gold Medal Models makes a nice set of photo-etched detail parts for American cruisers and destroyers on 1/700; I suspect a Trumpeter kit dressed up with those additions would be mighty impressive.

Someone makes a resin 1/350, I believe Yankee Modelworks. Trumpy is the only one in styrene for the time being. St. Paul was heavily modified at some point in the 50s so careful research is needed to accurately depict her later in her career. Christoph Mentzel built an excellent model of her, so you could use that for research.

jtilley wrote:

The St. Paul was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser.  I'm aware of one up-to-date styrene kit that represents that class:  the recent 1/700 one from Trumpeter.  I have the impression that it's a nice kit - though I gather it represents the ship in her World War II configuration.  (I don't know exactly what changes she might have undergone by 1950; I imagine her 20mm guns were removed, along with her aircraft catapults, and her radar sets probably were updated.)  Later edit:  there are some Korean War-vintage pictures of her at Navsource (www.navsource.org - click on "cruisers," then scroll down to the St. Paul).  It looks like her 20mm guns were gone, the 40mm ones had been replaced by 3" ones, and the catapults were removed - though the aircraft handling crane was still there.  One shot shows a Dragonfly helicopter landing on the afterdeck. On the nostalgic front, there was a Baltimore-class cruiser among Revell's very first group of ship models. (According to Dr. Graham's book, Remembering Revell Model Kits, it was initially released in 1954 with the name Los Angeles, and reappeared with the names Helena in 1960 and Pittsburgh in 1967.  The scale was about 1/490.)  It was a typical product of its time:  extremely crude by modern standards.  Aurora also did a ship of that class, in 1/600 scale.  (Modern modelers have trouble taking Aurora warship kits seriously, but it's worth noting that the company was a pioneer in the concept of issuing kits to a consistent scale.)  If memory serves (as it frequently doesn't these days), the Aurora kit did appear at least once with the name St. Paul on it.  My recollection is that it was a somewhat more accurate and better detailed kit than the Revell one - but that's not saying much. Those are the ones I can remember.  I imagine there's been at least one resin Baltimore-class kit as well. If I were contemplating a model of this ship, my first choice would be the new Trumpeter kit.  Gold Medal Models makes a nice set of photo-etched detail parts for American cruisers and destroyers on 1/700; I suspect a Trumpeter kit dressed up with those additions would be mighty impressive.

Thanks. I was unable to find a Trumpeter kit of that ship with a Google search.  

The Trumpy kit is sold as USS Baltimore (early and late war versions available) and Pittsburgh (late war only), available from just about any online retailer, I recommend SprueBrothers, but which ever you like best will probably have it.

I built the Aurora St. Paul in the late 1960's. If you can find one, it was well molded.

bondoman wrote:

I built the Aurora St. Paul in the late 1960's. If you can find one, it was well molded.

I saw one on Ebay but it was $130.

Man, and for something that IIRC was about 12" long.

I have the Trumpy Pittsburgh 1/700. It is a very nice little kit. Seems to be well molded and with pretty good detail....at least for this scale.....comparible to the Skywave stuff. I believe the differences between this kit and the Baltimores is the stern and possibly the bridge area. The stern is molded as a seperate piece with details germain to each outfit, dual quad 40mm's for Pittsburgh vs one quad 40 for the Baltimore. Since the Baltimore was lead ship, later ships showed improvements on the design as they were built and some of are detailed between the two kits.

Mike V,

I built the Trumpeter PITTSBURGH as the CA-74 COLUMBUS recently, and posted some pics of the completed model in an earlier post on this forum.  It was my first Trumpeter kit, and I was impressed with the level of detail and kit quality, especially for 1/700 scale.  I would have preferred something in 1/350, but I enjoyed the build nonetheless.  I'm not a huge stickler for accuracy, I built it straight out of the box, no aftermarket stuff, adding only some line for rigging.  I recommend it.

Here are a couple of pics of the completed kit.  Sorry for the bad photography.

Better late than never, Hi Mike V and others,

I built the CA-72 1/700 by Trumpter (almost went blind in the process) and modified it to look like the CA-73 during the Korean Conflict, when my father served on her. He was there when the explosion took out 30 men in the front turret. He was on board from '51 to '54.

I too have been looking for a 1/300 scale or larger do build. About a year ago someone at TotalNavy on-line told me they heard a 1/300 scale of the St PAul was coming out...  http://www.modelshipbuilding.com/catalogue.html   I haven't seen anything since.

I bought one of those old Revell kits of the St Paul on Ebay several years ago. It was partially built and in pretty bad shape. I had one as a kid (my dad bought for me then, little did I know)

Good luck with your search, and please pass it on if you find something! - Alaska Modeler

Don Pruel sells a 1/192 Baltimore class resin hull.  It's just the hull though, you would have to scratchbuild everything else.

http://www.jdproduct.com/

 

If you want to really do it right get the 1/96 BALTIMORE by BaD Ship Models. It is an honest plank on frame that you can trick up as much as you want, very reasonable cost for this size  model ( the whole ship costs what one of the fancy hulls will cost you) and a ton of fun. You will need some space since it is 8'. New owners of the company with new laser cut wood parts and future upgrades coming. Everything you need to build a REAL ship not a 1/350 bathtub toy, that with all the add ons will end up costing you less than the 1/350. You do not need to be an expert but some experience will help. You won't need a microscope to build this boy and old eyes can do it. You can add as many toys as you want and p/e it to your heart's content. It is a beauty but requires an understanding sign. other. I have built several of the BaD ships and you will be surprised how good they are.