What Was Your First Ship?

My first model ever was the Airfix 1/600 HMS Victorious which I glued together in one evening at the age of 7 years old, ( build would give it too much credit and the event is now 46 years ago). One build had me pretty much hooked for life.

Julian

Either Airfix KMS Bismarck or Airfix HMS Hood;  don't recall which was completed first.

Built both- perhaps 1965.

Revell's 1/426 scale USS Arizona. Gave me a long-time love of the ship.

The Revell 1/720 Prinz Eugen. It must have been in 1970 or so but I still remember this kit being bought for me and building it with my dad. It could not have cost more that $2 or so.

My first model was made in the 50's, and I do not remember what it was!

Had to have been Revell's USS Arizona sometime in the late 70's.

 It was 1965, and I can't quite remember if it was the Mayflower, or the Half Moon, but it was definitely one of the little Pyro sailing ships- those things were really great for 5 year old kids (I kinda wish they were still around!)

Revell Victory 1959. Turned out nice. Paul

My first was the Carrier Hornet, back in the very early '90s. 1/700 scale I guess, I remember the box art but have no idea what company made her. I still have it too (and the B-25 Bombers that came with it) after all these years and a big move to another continent! Sure, some bits have come off and are lost forever, but I still have her!

Mine was the Revell hospital ship Haven, in 1956 (when it was new).  My first sailing ship was the Revell Santa Maria the following year (when it was also new).  I hate to think what they must have looked like when I got through with them; I was born in 1950, so do the math.  But my parents and my older brother thought they looked fine.

"Zuiho"

Memory is finicky thing, but I am quite sure the first ship was the Revell 1/426 Arizona.  I did a number of other WWII vessels after that, but I only clearly remember the Arizona.  The first sailing vessel was the Revell Cutty Sark.  I was all of ten at the time back in 1970.   However, as fragmentary as the memories are, they are recalled with fondness.  Glad to be back in the hobby now.  Cheers!

My first ship was either a Guillows or a Scientific kit, a Revenue Cutter.  This would have been mid-fifties. I was already an experienced model airplane builder.  Second kit was Constitution, from one of those vendors.  Neat thing about Guillows and Scientific kits is that they were affordable for teenagers, though the fittings were pretty poor quality.  Blocks were little plastic eyelets.  The wood was okay (these were carved hull, not POB.

My first ship, or model period, was the Revell USS Sullivans that someone gave me for Christmas about '64.  As several have said above, I was hooked!  First ship I bought was the Revell USS Arizona 1/426, because we had just moved to Arizona a couple years before and I thought that was so neat that a battleship was named after the state I was living in!  Then I read about its history and it immediately became, and still is, my favorite ship. 

You always manage to mess with my brain John, I was born in 1956 and you were already building ships.........................................................................................

Julian

Yeah, for better for worse I started at age 5 in 1956, with the brand new Revell DC-7.  I shudder to think what a mess of it I must have made.

Very sorry to have messed with your brain, Julian.  I sure wish I could figure out who's been messing with mine.  The other day I tried - hard - to memorize the names of the 22 people in one of my courses.  (I sat there with class roster in hand, looking intently at those young people while they were taking a written exam.  I warned them in advance:  "If you see me staring at you it may be because I suspect you of cheating, but it's more likely because I'm trying to memorize the roster."  The next day I was able to recall about six of their names.  I used to find that kind of thing downright easy.  Now, it seems, I simply can't do it.  On the other hand, I think I can visualize all the parts of a Revell Buckley or a Monogram Dauntless.  

My wife, who teaches psychology, assures me that this isn't an unusual phenomenon:  as people get older their short-term memory gives out, while their ability to recall things that happened years or decades earlier actually improves.  That's reassuring, but the problem sure gets frustrating.

BTW, Dr. Tilley, It seems you are the guy that is frequently crtiizing your memory. The one who remembers that 1956 hospital ship and a 1957 Santa Maria. That is not bad for such a failing memory. I cannot remember my first, but I have found memories of that white plastic hospital ship. By the time I built it, I had a fleet of ships, an air force, and an army! 

  Professor Tilley, if your memory is bad, mine is even worse at age 73. Somertimes, when I wake up in the morning, I have to think what is my real name. No not really yet, but pretty close. Often times, I have to ask my wife, who is 25 years younger than I, and who's brain is more lucid than mine, help in trying to remember an event, or other matters.

   My first ship model project in the early 1950s, was the clipper ship FLYING CLOUD, which I was very proud in accomplishment. Unfortunately, my model was wrecked when my late mother's friend and her 9 year old son came to visit our home while I was absent. While the ladies were busy gossiping in the livingroom, the young lad had the bright idea of taking my model into the bathroom, filling the tub full of water and attempting to make an imaginary sail around Cape Horn. Needless to say, my proud model made her final port of call in the trash container. This event did not dampen my love of model building. I'm still at it more than 50 years later.

          Montani semper liberi !    Happy modeling to all and every one of you.

                                                       Crackers     

Revell Campbletown. I was about 8-9? So long ago.........

I'm pretty sure my first ship was also the Campbelltown when I was probably 7 or 8 (with some help from my dad), but I think Revell's Missouri was the first I built on my own. 

 The first I can remember was the 1/700 CV6 ENTERPRISE!!!! I remember having the BB63 and two or three more CV6's and a CV8. Me and my two best elementary school buds always brought them to school. I guess I was 8 or 9. I am 41 now, btw.

                                            Jarod

Co-build with my older brother. I was 6 he was 8. Lindberg Nantucket light ship. Well, I held the pieces will he fitted them on.

I still recall the wonder of the tiny davits. Gulliver among the Lilliputians.

1/350 Tamiya Yamato,I tried it in the early 80's and I built it again around 2000

Can't remember any ships as a kid,it was mostly monster models,cars,and tanks.

My brother "helped" me build the revell 1/700 (or was it 1/720?) kit of the Arizona but it was more like I helped him build it.  The first ship I remember building myself was the little Pyro kit of the Half Moon.  I, too wish those little kits were still around.  The first modern ship I remember building was the Monogram kit of the U.S.S. Halsey.  I remember how cool it was that if you moved the searchlight the missile launcher moved with it.  I also liked the included helicopter which is what motivated me to pick that particular ship.  Both of these were in 1975 and I was 12.  I had had several years of model building experience by then but all in planes and tanks.  Now I do mostly ships.  Go figure.

Revell's USS Growler submarine {1/72 scale } in the early 1970's { I was 7 years old } , not sure what ever became of it but it looked nice, simple nice size but didn't require a huge fancy paint job. I think I have seen it under different names {USS Lionfish  ?} would like to build it again. Another memorable model was a wood solid hull tugboat given to my dad and I by a former neighbor of ours. Tried to build it but I think it was a little beyond my abilities at the time. For the life of me I can't remember the builder/ manufacturer. If I could find it I would like to build it . All  I can remember the box it came in which featured a pair of Elizabethan sailors eyeing a Spanish Galleon

My first ship was USS Jouett (CG-29).  I served as NTDS Maintenance Officer and later First Lt.  Now, there is finally a kit available of my first ship.

My first ship model was a Pyro Tabletop Navy 1/1200 HMS Dorsetshire in around 1961 or 62.  The British cruisers in that line cost $.39 in the original run, and the Prinz Eugen and British and German capital ships were $.49.  I think that wa just about the time that "Sink the Bismarck" was on at the theater  downtown.  That was some serious motivation.  Those 1/1200 constant scale models made the four Lindberg $.29 warship kits pretty confusing, since they were all different scales.

I think my first sailing ship was the Pyro Bon homme Richard - it was one with styrene sails and masts, while the other half of the series (Constitution, etc) had vac-form sails with masts of wood.

Rick

It was a USS Fletcher by Revell or Monogram.  It was back in the 70s when I was a kid so I can't remember who made the kit but it was fun to build.

My first ship......I haven't the faintest idea, other than it was a plastic kit, small enough to stuff in a Christmas stocking. The first sailing ship that I remember was the Marx "Sea Witch". I still have that hull, and some of the other parts. I would feel comfortably sure that I built my first ship kit in 1950, give or take a year.

I was in grade school (grade 6, I think) when I finally got my first ship model (my first model, actually). It was a Revell kit, the USS Sullivans, the scale of which I canot recall anymore. After watching an older friend build models, it was actually a dream come true.