Glencoe ss united states

It's the only game in town, larger scale plastic for the ship. Otherwise there's the smaller Revell waterline model, which is maybe a little sharper. But they are both old.

Like the Lindberg President, it would take a lot of work to make right. There is however a lot of PE around at 1/400.

Well, it has a pretty rotten reputation. The hull proportions are way off, and the details don't amount to much.

It's a re-packaging of a kit produced by ITC back in the fifties. At that time the ship was new. She'd been built under a big government subsidy, with the understanding that the Navy could use her as a high-speed transport in wartime. I believe the plans were classified when the kit was released. (The underwater hull lines were still classified until relatively recently. So ITC had a good excuse for getting the hull form wrong.

Unfortunately the only other United States kit is the even older, and more simplified, Revell version. Ocean liner enthusiasts, unfortunately, just aren't well served by the kit manufacturers.

But is it still a worthy model to put on display? Or is it not worth getting

That, of course, is up to the individual modeler. I personally wouldn't buy it. But the choice is entirely yours.

Problem is, i cant seem to find any good pictures of the model, so im not entirely sure

R.M.S.Titanic

Problem is, i cant seem to find any good pictures of the model, so im not entirely sure

 

Squadron put out an old Glenco  kit of Dewey's ship at Manila Bay the Olympia. It came with PE & wood decks. It made a very nice build. I don't know how accurate it is, but it sure looks nice. Here are a few pics of it.

   Of course the PE & wood decks make an old model look good. I believe it was around $60 & well worth it. I really enjoyed building it. 

I have that Encore kit and it's nice. But, the original molds were Revell, and that made a difference.

Glencoe released the ITC Oregon.

Gene, that Olympia started out as a Revell kit - one of the best ships the company ever released. As your model demonstrates, those additional parts from Squadron make it possible to turn it into a real show stopper.

Glencoe reboxed the old ITC USS Oregon. Turning that one into a serious scale model would be a big project.

I have to say I'm not impressed with the review to which Ed kindly linked us.   The reviewer made no comments on the kit's resemblance to the real ship. I question whether he actually knew much about the subject. His summary of the ship's history contains some pretty big mistakes. (The US was NOT the biggest ocean liner ever built, or the world's largest ship. The Queen Elizabeth, built twenty years earlier, was larger in both displacement and overall length.)

 John & GM, I am glad you told me that as age does make you a little fuzzy. I knew I had PE for the Oregon & maybe the Olympia. I built one as the Indiana #1 the first battleship. My brother served on the BB58 Indiana in WW2 in the Pacific for 3 years. Whatever model it was turned into a pretty one. Fine Scale had it on the cover & that got me to build it.

Which kit was this? I would have to check because I forget.

Well, before we totally hijack this poor fellows thread, I'll say this.

RMS, there's a fine model of the Lusitania on 1/350.

I will guess that you've built the 1/400 Academy Titanic.

After that, you would find the Glencoe SS US a bad model.

That Lusitania, originally a Entex kit, more recently sold by Gunge, is a really good contemporary to the White Star ship and not far off on scale.

And the truly horrible Pyro Olympia, which Lifelike reboxed, and the even more horrible Pyro Maine.

RMS, the transatlantic ships really are ignored.

I look forward to your posts.

Hi;

   Well , you got it here first . The model of the U.S. has glaring faults of course . Look where she started . That said , you can make a silk purse out of a sows ear . How well , by doing a good job building it .Most folks don't know that it's incorrect as all get out .

    Funny thing that model ,. I got to measuring her and the thing worked out to become a much different ship . Which ship ? Well , simply put , without much massaging she made a very good looking model of Matson Navigation's ship -The Lurline . She did the Los Angeles , Hawaii, San Francisco , triangle run .

 I think the ship was originally intended to be a Generic of the President and Matson Liners . She looks a lot like that out of the box . S.S. United States ? Maybe , but you'll have some work to do .Good luck !  T.B.

Hmm Tanks, if you can see that I'm impressed. Of course you've stepped through a fair number of watertight doors than I ever will.

The Lurlines are 600 or so long, United States more like 900. Sure the scale can be changed, but you know all the boats look small and the overhead gets pretty low.

Thanks everyone, i think ill pass on this one, i already have the revell waterline version which looks much better, i have already built the titanic and Queen Mary 2 in 1/400, currently working on 1/350 and also have the lusitania 1/350, 

Yeah ;

    You can do the Lurline from that kit . It will take a little work but most is simple as ship models go .the hardest work is thinning things to scale and patching up here and there . The stacks would have to be changed and some of the lifeboat setup . Plus , there would be changes in porthole layouts .

 She is very close out of the box . I forget the scale , But I think it will be fairly easy to find P.E. that will work .Toms and G.M.M. both have Generic civilian offerings that would work  Twelve ports on each side of the bow in the white area . Chief engineer had his cabin on the Officers deck .

   On the ports , the engineers occupied the cabins at the forward outward curve in the foredeck area one deck below main , forward of the hold .  Decent ride either way .  T.B. 

Well;

 "G " I think that it's easy enough . Remember , When in the Big School out West , Ship Design and Power was one of my courses . In fact that was my major .

Watertight doors ? you mean those darned knee knockers ? Yup , More than I care to remember both in service and in civilian life .

 When I worked for Empire marine services we were a yard that specialized in ship conversions . This was in the late seventies . The Louisiana  yards started doing it cheaper , and our business went into the crapper .

    We even turned a C-3 into a liner for Epirotiki lines in Greece . That was interesting . Not bad looking either . Six of us from Empire went to Greece with the ship before conversion and rode her back after .

 Now that said , what makes the C-3 a good looking ship to many is that nice gentle sheer they had . Just awesomely nautical wouldn't you say ? T.B.

You are welcome  E.J.. Any questions ? Message me . T.B.

Yes I would say so. Same thing, or lack thereof, that made the Block Island ships so ugly.

" G "

   What always amazed me was the Lakers  . Straight shot stem to stern , bows like a liberty with a more vertical stem . But you know , they had their own kind of beauty .

      You could look at one and see hard work , but with a determined visage of getting the job done regardless , if the Storms of November did come early !

 Character is first here . You see a ship , any kind and what is seen ? Beauty , work or ridicule .There is all of that and more . After all , for instance , the Glomar Explorer wouldn't win any " Beautiful Ship " awards .

   You do know she was at the Suisun mothball fleet anchorage for quite some time , don't you ? That is one homely ship . But she did what she was designed to do .  T.B.

Yep. My client owns the Hughes Mining Barge from that whole adventure.

Very serviceable submersible dry dock. When he bought it it had the Sea Shadow inside, which he scrapped.

Yep. My client owns the Hughes Mining Barge from that whole adventure.

Very serviceable submersible dry dock. When he bought it it had the Sea Shadow inside, which he scrapped.

I have this kit and I left it unfinished at about 60%.  I removed all the thick out of scale railings and bought the GMM 1/400 set.  This is one of the few times I've  never finished a kit.

You should be aware that not only are there problems with hull accuracy etc, but the moulding is atrocious .  You will have to fill large mould ruts that are absurd when compared to any modern kit.  You could make a nice , if not fully accurate model out of it if prepared to do the work, but if you are not hell bent on a model of this great liner then I would  stay away.  When you open the box it literally looks like a toy.

I'll try to find some photos of mine.

Hmmm, " G ";

 You would have to update me on the Sea Shadow . I do know that there were guards on her even in Suisun .The best Sturgeon fishing I have ever done was about 100 yards astern of her !

     If you got to close they would warn you off .Yes ! They were armed too ! But what fisherman is going to be deterred from an Awesome Sturgeon or Striped Sea Bass just waiting for you . By a puny armed guard ?

     I got a lot of food from that area and don't regret a minute of my friends discomfort being so close to the " Glomar "     T.B.

I have heard it said that the Glencoe United States looks more like the smaller U.S. Line 'America'. I've never seen one out of the box but it's a pretty famous dog of a kit. 

Airfix recently reissued their 1/600 Queen Elizabeth if you want a pretty nice liner kit. It's an old mold but wouldn't take much to turn it into a nice model.

Fred

Yes !

    You can also tweak her in that direction if so desired . For the U.S. And the America she's actually too short . She does look to be a mold of a ship of six or seven hundred feet .

     Years ago While in service I built one to resemble the U.S.S. Dixie ! Didn't have to do much to her either except the upper deck mods .

   The Dixie was a Destroyer Tender ! Best ice cream machine in the Navy ! !  T.B.

In case you're interested, here's the Oylimpia in 1896:

U.S.S. Oregon, same time:

These were taken from a book printed back then.