FSM's most wanted ship kits

Only commercial ship I have is the old Lindberg American President Liner. All the rest I have are warships. Tried to get rid of it several times but I guess I'm going to eventually build it in...something. Maybe a Walking Dead survivors retreat, that failed. ;)

Interesting . . . Most planked hulls are not made, " . . . the way they make real ships."  Most planked hull kits are actually plank-on-bulkhead, not plank-on-frame.  And, given that most steel-hulled ships are plated not planked, the POB method is most certainly not the way they are built.

Bill

warshipguy

Don,

I agree! I went to their store last summer and was very impressed with what they are trying to do.  I like solid hull wood kits, I have built certain plank-on-bulkhead kits and have enjoyed them, and I like plastic as well.  I cannot get enough sailing ships! (I do like modern ones as well, but there is nothing like a well-made sailing ship.)

Bill

 

I am a firm believer in solid hulls for anything but a multi-deck warship built with gun ports open.  All of my scratchbuilt ships are solid hull (bread and butter, actually) except one.  And for civil ship kits I certainly prefer solid hull.  Any reverence for plank and frame went out the window several years ago when I saw ads for an expensive wood plank on bulkhead Titanic!  Devotees of planked hull say "that is the way they build real ships." 

I don't subscribe, but pick up an issue every now and then.  However, my neighborhood bookstore/magazine stand has gone belly up, and it is a half hour drive to my closest one now.  I ge there seldom, and have not picked one up in well over a year.

They say reading books and magazines is dying.  Reading a mag on a cellphone or little tablet just isn't the same as reading hard copy. If I had to admit it, magazine reading is probably my main hobby, above model building and photograph!

Hi Don :

     Do you recieve the Magazine called Sea History ? There was a very sad article about Our Blue Riband winner . Yes the S.S. United States ! The Resto planned by Crystal Cruises and the S.S.United States Conservancy will NOT happen .Why ? Cost . Can you say 700 Million ?

    Now in the same issue they did a tour in a restored Andrea Doria Lifeboat ! N.M.H.S. Partnered With New York University College in Fort Schulyer To do it .

    A Society Award  was given to Captain Cesare Sorio for his support of the group . He was pictured with his ship the Flavia . In Port darwin . Interesting looking vessel there too .

     This mag also had a nice article on  the Tall Ship "Peking " She's going home to Germany .Plus a very nice article on  John A.Dahlgren .You know the Naval Gun Guy .

 All this information can be found in Sea  # 156 Autmn 2016. I have paraphrased the articles I read .

 I hope this isn't illegal . But I thought you would be interested .      T.B. 

Don,

I agree! I went to their store last summer and was very impressed with what they are trying to do.  I like solid hull wood kits, I have built certain plank-on-bulkhead kits and have enjoyed them, and I like plastic as well.  I cannot get enough sailing ships! (I do like modern ones as well, but there is nothing like a well-made sailing ship.)

Bill

warshipguy

Don,

Here is all the contact information:

A. J. Fisher

3 1/2 Center Street

Newburyport, MA 01950

1 (978) 462-4555

www.shipmodels@ajfisher.com

Bill

 

Thanks, Bill.  I met Mr. Fisher and his wife when I was just getting started in ship modeling, about sixty five years ago or so.  I did not build that many of his kits, but bought several plans to scratch build the subject, and always used Fisher fittings for them.  Nice that the new firm still uses the old logo.  So glad to see the firm back in business!

Don,

Here is all the contact information:

A. J. Fisher

3 1/2 Center Street

Newburyport, MA 01950

1 (978) 462-4555

www.shipmodels@ajfisher.com

Bill

warshipguy

Also, if you are interested in merchant sailing ships, A.J. Fisher has begun production again.  They are great for ships of the Great Lakes.

Bill

 

Wow, I hope they make a go of it.  One of his employees bought it when Fisher died, and ran it awhile.  He ran it awhile, then it faded when he retired.  I saw a year or so that someone had bought it and reopened, then it faded again- I lost all track of it.  Do you have a link?   I'll try googling it.

I believe that Revell and Airfix once did several passenger liners as well. But, I am not sure.

Bill

Personally, I think you can make a great argument for a kit of at least a RoRo.

Without RoRo's in 1990, III Corps wuld have been on foot though all of 1991

So, ok, we're never goinf to see an AOR, AOE, or even an AFS in anything other than resin, that's our ship building world.

As to wood kits--I love them.  There is just something unique in the hft of a well crafted wood kit (even ones that are more air than wood).  However, It's not my favorite medium for depicting steel (or FG for that matter).

I, too, mourn the passing of Midwest's boat kits.  I have to wonder if they had picked one or two scales for their kits (like 1/24 and 1/32, maybe 1/48) rather than fitting to about a similar finished size, if that might have helped.  Mind, their canoe kit at 1/12 (1"=1'-0") would not have been near as much fun at 3/4"=1'-0" (1/16), and abear at 1/2"=1'-0" (1/24).

Also, if you are interested in merchant sailing ships, A.J. Fisher has begun production again.  They are great for ships of the Great Lakes.

Bill

Steve,

Heller had planned on doing the Sovereign of the Seas but then went bankrupt and never revived the plans.  I would have loved that as a kit!

Bill

Revell also once did the Savannah, as well as the USS Montrose, the SS Brasil, and the SS Argentina.  Savannah was also released by Glencoe/ITC, and an obscure company called Adams.  I believe that Revell re-released the Savannah in 2005, but I am not sure.

Bill

Lindberg did several commercial ships.  I still have their shrimp boat in my stash. I figure I can really go wild in the weathering on that.

One that I really appreciated is Revell's Columbo Express container ship.  I bought the optional PE package, and that was a great build.  Only criticism was all the container decals were for the same shipping line, so I made scratch decals for several others to add some variety to the containers.

I want to build a RR ferry.  I am sure there is not enough demand for a kit, so I guess that will have to be a scratch project.

I believe that Aoshima has a Kit of a Japanese Fishing Vessel out at the moment. Also Hasegawa also do a Civilian Research Submersible in 1-72 Scale. That does not mean we could do with more civilian Vessels.....Cheers Mark

Bluejacket kits are outstanding!  My only issue with them is that they only represent American subjects.  I was fortunate recently to be the winning bidder on EBay of an early Bluejacket kit of a non-American subject, the Half Moon.  It is solid hull kit that fits quite nicely with the Model Shipways old solid hull kit of the Mayflower.  I wish that we had an American producer of wood sailing ship kits that would delve into European subjects as well as American.

Bill

John,

I have the Lindberg 1/48 JN-4 in my stash. I've emailed Wingnuts (some time ago) to ask if they'd ever produce a Jenny. I can't recall what their response was but in was not one that gave me immediate hope.

My dad, who was born in 1896, and who served in WWI in Pensacola, Florida working on Jennys - in those days one of the things mechanics had to do was go up with the plane - told me once that he crash landed in a tree. I guess he worked more carefully after that . (Although in all honesty I have no clue how it happened or whether or not he was piloting the aircraft at the time).

At any rate, I'd sure like to see a more detailed kit produced before my eyesight and fingers are unable to do any kit justice.

I hope everybody took note of Al Ross's post. The Bluejacket line is excellent. Sailing ship and modern warship enthusiasts should be wowed by some of those kits. I'm particularly attracted to the clipper ship Red Jacket ( http://www.bluejacketinc.com/kits/redjacket.html ) and the four-stacked destroyer ( http://www.bluejacketinc.com/kits/310destroyer.htm ). Yeah, the prices are high. But that's inevitable for a company that produces short runs of kits - and sailing ship modelers, in particular, might as well accept that short productions (and high prices) are going to dominate the genre for the foreseeable future.

One of the many things I like about Bluejacket's offerings is the variety. Some of the kits are designed to be challenging and time consuming. Others, like the two Al showed us, are designed to be built by newcomers - but they produce good, serious scale models. I'm sort of thinking about that revenue cutter, too.

Incidentally, I was saddened to learn that the model boat line from Midwest has been discontinued. But Bluejacket offers quite a few beginner-oriented kits that should fill the void pretty well.

didn't heller start one in 1/100 scale and then drop it ? , would love to see that one .

And, imagine a retooling of the Airfix Sovereign of the Seas (ne: Royal Sovereign). A great kit by 1950s-1960s standards as well. 

Bill

Come over to the dark side and build wooden kits...  Both power and sail types are available.  Here's one I just finished.  This is PAULINE, an 83' sardine carrier in 1/64 scale.

And, just before that, a revenue cutter from 1815:

Al Ross

The old Lindberg Jenny was a nice kit by 1950s standards. Aurora and Renwal also made 1/48 Jennies. But none of them came close to 2016 standards

Imagine an Eduard Jenny in 1/48, or a 1/32 Jenny from Wingnut Wings....

I would love to see some of the commercial boats from Deadliest Catch in kit form but I can't imagine there would be enough demand to warrant it.

Don't know if you'd consider it a commercial ship but Revell put out a very nice model of the "America" (1st America's Cup winner, thus the name attached to the cup). I think it was a 1/96 scale kit with cloth-like sails. Nice thing about it was that the sails are fore and aft type and you could display it on a fireplace mantel or a narrow shelf. Wish they'd bring that one back. The kit was from the mid to late 60's, I think.

John,

Since you broached the barrier between ships and aircraft, I believe that Lindbergh made a 1/48 Curtiss Jenny back in the 1960s.  I do not know if they still do so, but there are quite a few on EBay.

Bill

The article doesn't list any World War I ships, either. In fact none of the kits on my list made it.

Aoshima did 1/700 kits of the Ark Royal and Wasp with the submarines that sank them. How about a Lusitania and the U-boat that sank her?

My number one aircraft kit choice is the Curtiss Jenny in 1/32 scale - or any other scale. It didn't make the cut either.

Folks, we're in the minority.