I just happened to take a look at the Revell/Monogram website. Among the "New Products" announced is the good ol' Secretary-class Coast Guard cutter: http://www.revell.com/model-kits/ships/85-3015.html .
I guess the reappearance of any decent (if hardly state-of-the-art) ship kit by a mainstream styrene manufacturer is good news for the modeling community - especially if the kit represents a Coast Guard vessel. (Let's see: Academy is selling the old Imai 1/350 Eagle, and Lindberg - if it hasn't gone out of business yet - has a 95-foot patrol boat on its list. Are there any others at the moment?) But take a look at Revell's description of the Taney's "current" status.
I don't often attempt to communicate with plastic kit manufacturers; experience has established that it's usually a waste of time. But this time I couldn't resist. Here's a copy of the e-mail I just sent to Revell's customer service address:
"Dear sir or madame:
"I am a university professor teaching American history and military history, including naval history. I have also done a considerable amount of commissioned research, writing, and graphic artwork for the Historian's Office of the U.S. Coast Guard. Model building has been a hobby of mine for the past 54 years - since I was five years old.
"I noted with some interest the announcement on your website of a 'new' product in the form of the 1/302-scale Coast Guard Cutter Taney. I'm glad to see this kit on the market again. I built it for the first time shortly after it was originally released (as the Campbell) in (according to Dr. Graham) 1957, and one from the reissued "Special Subjects" version of the 1990s is in a closet waiting for my attention. It's a decent kit (though, like so many other serious scale modelers, I question the ethics of your telling the public that it's a 'new' one), and the appearance (or reappearance) of any model representing a vessel of the Coast Guard should be applauded. That service is a great one with which the general public ought to be more familiar.
"One thing about the 'New Product' announcement on your website did grate on me a little though: the statement that the ship 'is now stationed in Virginia, as a unit of the Fifth Coast Guard District.'
"The Taney was decommissioned for the last time in 1986. For the past twenty-four years she has been tied up to a pier in the inner harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, open to the public a 'museum ship.' She has been designated a National Historic Landmark. This webpage, maintained by the Historic Naval Ships Association, may be of interest: http://hnsa.org/ships/taney.htm .
"The thousands of people who visit the Taney every year may give a boost to your kit's sales; I hope so. What disturbs me about all this, though, is that just about everybody (in the U.S., at least) who has any interest in the Coast Guard, famous warships, the Second World War, or the city of Baltimore knows perfectly well that the Taney is a museum ship - and has been for a long time. Your web ad reinforces a suspicion I've had for some years now: that the people currently running Revell/Monogram know - and care - virtually nothing about the prototypes of the models they sell, and choose old kits for re-release solely on the basis of what somebody thinks will sell.
"I have a well-worn copy of Dr. Thomas Graham's fine book, Remembering Revell Model Kits, in front of me. It contains (as I hope - but don't assume - you know) a brief history of the company and the far-sighted, knowledgeable executives and artisans who founded it. I sometimes wonder what those people would think if they could see how the company operates today.
Sincerely,
John A. Tilley
Associate Professor of History
East Carolina University"
Any bets on whether I'll get an answer - or the webpage will get changed?
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.