decent sailing ship model

Cabrown,

I would start by doing as much research as I could to see if there is any information available about the Redoutable, her appearance, and her details.  Perhaps an enquiry to the Musee de le Marine in Paris could start you in the right direction.

I have the unbuilt Le Superbe; the history in the kit states that all the ships in the class were mandated to have the same figurehead.  But, we all know of the dubious accuracy in most ships' histories found in the plastic model industry.  However, you are definately correct that the Heller Le Superbe and the Le Redoutable were of the same class.  The Heller kit should be a reasonably good starting point.

Interestingly, my grandsons gave me a copy of the Osprey booklet by Gregory Fremont-Barnes Victory vs Redoutable: Ships of the Line at Trafalgar last year for my birthday. There is not one painting or illustration of Redoutable in the book except for one partially obscured view of her stern on page 70. There are few discernable details.

I will try to search as well.  If I can find anything that might help, I will let you know.

Bill Morrison

Question: If I wanted to build a reasonable facsimile of the French 74-gun Ship of the Line "Redoutable" from Trafalgar fame in plastic, would the Heller Le Glorieux/Superbe be a good starting point?

From what I have been able to discover, both the Redoutable (formerly Suffren) and the Superbe were both Temeraire class 74's. It's also my understanding Heller's Le Glorieux and Superbe kits are 85-90% identical. I already have a Le Glorieux in the stash and I don't relish putting out another $90 if the kits are virtually identical.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I remember building that kit in1981. When I first saw it in a hobby shop in downtown Bremerton, WA, I remember thinking that it would make for an interesting display.  It must have been because the model (mounted in a glass display case) disappeared when I got transferred back to Groton, CT.

Bill

Well how about that? Thanks, GM.

John, here's an earlier thread in which you list the name of the book, and author.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/130235.aspx

Well, dividing the 692-foot length of the real ship (per Wkipedia by the 22-inch length of the model (per GM's post), I get 1/377. Pretty close to 1/400.

That was one big, ugly ship - though certainly an interesting one. Some years ago I read a book (the author and title of which I've forgotten) about the laying of the first transatlantic cable. Fascinating story. On a couple of occasions the thing broke in mid-ocean - and the crew managed to bring it back up from the bottom. Pretty amazing.

The kit was definately one of those Revell mid-size kits and did not have any stated scale.  Given the size of the original, I wonder if it could be close to 1/200.  But, it would be great to see again.

Bill

CapnMac82

 

 

warshipguy

their kit of the Great Eastern

 

 

My childhood memories of that kit was that it was one of the "big box' kits; and more seen on the side of the Cutty Sark and similar boxes kept up on the top shelf of the hobby store.

That WOULD be a good one to see again.

EDIT: Scalemates lists it on 1/388 scale, about 22" long. 

warshipguy

their kit of the Great Eastern

I'm sitting back and waiting for the mid-sized USS Constitution, Cutty Sark, and that joke of a Thermopylae.  Unfortunately, that Constitution model only had four open gunports per side, the others being molded shut.

I would love to see Revell release another in that mid-size series, however. Does anyone remember their kit of the Great Eastern?  It would be great to see that rare kit back on the market!

Bill

jtilley

with three little howitzers

That turn of phrase gave me a bit of a twitch, so, I tracked down the instructions myself.

To my surprise the "blockade runner" (with 35 star US Flag o_O) had grown a fore topmast, a jib boom and a dolphin striker.

The guns are quite small pivot pieces.  Not any specific piece, just sort of scaled to be about a 3 pounder.  To track or tackle, either.

A resonable rig and rigging, though.

If you put a "watch" on "Revell Yacht America" on eBay they come up pretty often. Usually about $ 30 plus shipping, and it is a big box.

It's a pretty decent kit although there is a lot of room for improvement. Probably my one major tisk is that the sail hoops are molded to the masts. OK if you want the sails up, although how the sails would be attached to them is pretty unclear. And the sails, well they are either vac formed or to be cut from a sort of cheesecloth fabric, that has their outlines and reef points printed on them.

But it makes for a large impressive mantelpiece decoration.

You can read the instructions for the America on the Revell website. It is indeed the Civil War version (as a Union blockader, not a blockade runner),with three little howitzers on deck. It looks to me like back dating the kit to 1851 configuration would amount to little more than leaving a few pieces off.

John,

Scientific released many ships in pine as well.  It's a surprise whenever one opens one of those kits.

Anyway, has anyone seen the "new" Revell yacht America?  It looks as if it is one of those mid-size kits from the 1970's.  But, it is now back on the market.

Bill

The RoG kit looks to be the "blockade runner" version with cannons and what I guess would be cat heads for anchors slung overboard at the bows.

i don't suppose those are an effort to delete if the racer is desired (yes).

I was in the middle of a long post on this when my PC battery died. Such things happen for a reason so I will keep it short.

Model Expo has the Model Shipways Bluenose now for about $139, off of the regular $219.

Thats a good deal on what is most likely a very nice kit.

Worth every $.

Scientific Kits may be a nostalgia item, like Aurora kits, but not anything like what can be had elsewhere.

When it comes to the old Scientific sailing ships, watch out for one thing. A lot of them were made of balsa - the worst possible material for scale ship modeling.

I don't know how to tell, without opening the box, whether a particular kit is bass or balsa. I do know I bought a Scientific Flying Cloud many years ago and it was a piece of trash. Hairy, grainy, sloppily "carved" balsa hull, a couple of sheets of balsa with part outlines printed on them, a balsa deck sheet with printed plank seams, some balsa strips, some untapered dowels, and a bag of mediocre lead fittings. I can't imagine a lousier introduction to ship modeling.

But other folks on the Forum have bought Scientific Flying Clouds, in identical boxes, that have basswood parts. I took a look at a Scientific Golden Hind (the bigger one, in the blue box) once; it was a really nice kit. No balsa, and good, clear plans by no less than George Campbell.

I guess the bottom line is: beware of buying a Scientific sailing ship unless you can see the contents first.

A big piece of good news: the fine old Revell yacht America is back on the market. It's one of the company's December releases - in both Germany and the U.S.

Hi;

 There were at one time at least three that were fun along those lines .The " Bermuda Yawl ' By Monogram , The  Oyster Skipjack by Lifelike and a smaller single master by That very nice company out of Poland . little but nice .

    There have been many that have come and gone .Revell's ' Yacht America" .Which I think is one of the best . 

Philo426 - Your Scientific kit looks great! I found a Scientific Bluenose at a garage sale and, for my 1st wooden ship build, I'm hoping I can come close to the real ship. I'm currently working on 1:96 Constitution, so this will be my 'get away' time from the Connie. I've been trying to find information or builds of this conpany's models and I came across your kit. Thanks for posting this picture and it's nice to know someone who is familiar with these kits!

The latest FSM is timely for this thread.  Feature article on a build of the America!  Good article.

Yes they did indeed!The Constitution and Bounty for sure!

I got started with ship modeling with those old Scientific  kits.   I lusted after the Model Shipways kits but could never save up enough money- they were quite a bit more expensive than the Scientific kits.  Didn't Sterling also make some ship kits?  I know they built some RC ship kits, but didn't they also do some static scale ships?

Not quite a block,but it does require work!    

Don, you are right, I been to three shows this past year and there were no sailing ships on display only WW2 models.

At Nordicon- a Minneapolis contest/show, I was judging ships.  There were 11 or 12 entries in three or four classes- one sailing ship.  There are kits out there, and it may be that there are just not that many ship modelers out there who want to build sail.  It seems most ship models I see at shows are WW2 or contemporary.

I suspect that Revells old Constitution and CS models sell as much to lone wolf folks who are not ordinarily modelers but just looking for a sailing ship to display.  But I suspect most model kit mfgs look to hobby shop market for what is selling to modelers, and I suspect sail doesn't do well with most ship modelers.  If we want more new sail kits we need to buy more :-)

Ha Philo! No 

that kit started life as a block of wood and a ball of string.

1943Mike

The Constitution (Revell - 1/96) would be one that's usually available. Also, on eBay, you can usually pick up a 1/96 scale Cutty Sark. Neither of the aforementioned ships are inexpensive and both kits have tons of parts and require an enormous amount of dedication to complete. I am sure there are other sailing ship kits that others will recommend.

Mike

The old Scientific solid hull wood kits can be had rather cheaply.they do require a lot of work but can produce a nice model!Like my Sark!     

Indeed the America is a good model. I have one that I've been working on for a year. Unfortunately I fell down the well of AMS and am replacing the spars, adding a wood deck and replacing all the deck furniture.

But since I bought it on eBay, I get notices all the time that they are on sale and usually around $30 plus shipping (it's a big box)