What are the "must have" ships?

I want to add the Lexington CVA16 SCB125 and Oriskany SCB27.

Scott

My "Must Have" is HMS/RMS Chitral. One of the merchantmen designed with the potential to be quickley converted to an AMC.
I also sailed in her on her last revenue voyage under Captain Cousins from Sydney to London. She could be built as a liner or an AMC.
Dai

QUOTE: Originally posted by butchy Hi Paulnchamp the Big E may have been the most decorated US Navy ship in WW2. I'm pretty sure the New Jersey has her beat as well as the Mighty Mo ( More Wars LOL) But I do know the USS Parche SSN 683 was the most decorated US Navy ship ever...she was retired last November...

Some good points there, Butch. I guess we have to define what "decorations" are.
The Big E earned 20 battle stars, which to my knowledge is the most any ship has ever earned. That's what I was referring to .

Empress of Ireland.

It's a Canadian Thing... Edmund Fitzgerlard

Ocean Ranger, (it's an oil rig, but i think it counts)

It Is A Great Lakes Thing

Edmond Fitzgerald
Edmond Fitzgerald was a Gret lakes ore carrier that sunk under misterious circumstances.
However the case is closed:
The ship most likely sank because water made its way into one of the ships cargo holds because the cover was not properly closed. This resulted in the ship foundering and a loss of all hands. The robot that explored the wreck found human remains, and has dispeled "urban legends" of the crew being snatched.

There is a 1/700 resin kit of this vessel availible.

Seasick, did you just finish watching the History Channel again??

Al, you got me on those...should probably mention one of the Chesapeake Bay clamming schooners too (like the Meerwald)

Yes, I forgot the Nautilus...and a Victory ship (although the Libertys were first)...could add in the Hog Island steamers, Langley (first aircraft carrier), Hosho (1st IJN carrier), etc.,etc...

What about the Chris-craft Roundabout? Or the Army LT tug?

You can go on and on and on...

Jeff

A canoe......

Pre WWII battleships (1930's) besides the Arizona in 1/350.
1/72 of All types WWII PT boats.
1/350 of the Kirov class cruisers.
1/350 Knox class frigate.
I definitely agree with Kongo class Battleships or any Japaness Class battleships besides Yamato class (1/350).

IMHO, the one ship that has had the gratest impact on world history is the HMS Beagle.

Hmmmm....How about the Santa Maria? Or Cook's Endeavour?

Since we seem to be compiling a list that reaches into the hundreds, what about an American clipper ship -say, the Flying Cloud? Or the Cutty Sark? Or a Viking vessel? Or an English warship from the Stuart period - say, the Sovereign of the Seas, or H.M.S. Prince?

This is fun - in a slightly ironic way. It would be nice if the kit manufacturers thought in such terms. But it's pretty obvious that they don't.

Thought? You mean you actually wanted me to think about this and not just blurt things out??

Sheesh...all these stipulations being placed on my brain cells...

Jeff

Bismarck, tirpitz,enterprise,arizona,missouri that shuld be a good start

Well, I think I'll toss my in here... Noah's ark, USS Ranger (1 thru 7) the Essex CVA-9, and the Hancock CVA-19

Oh and Jeff... How could ya fer git the Nautilus[:0]

Great CG list to CG Bob!

I second the Harriet Lane. I am reading a book right now called Galveston, which has a fictional account of the taking of the Lane by Confederates. The book seems to stretch the non-fiction aspects a bit, but their description of her makes me want to sign on!
Other Facts about the Lane:
First U.S. Side-wheeled vessel BUILT with armament
The only ship to have fought on both sides of the civil war in more than one battle
The youngest active combatant in the civil war. (Captain's son fought boarding Confederates while his dad burned classified documents. This is detailed in the book Civil War Curiosites by Webb Garrison
Great List....
Todd

Ok, here's a personal favorite no one has mentioned. How about Farragut's flagship, the USS Hartford?

There's never been a kit of this ship as far as I am aware, so is there any way to model it besides buying a set of plans and scratchbuilding?

Phil

Actually there has been one Hartford kit. It was made by Aurora, back in the mid- to late seventies.

By the standards of modern scale modeling it wasn't much of a kit. It was, if I remember right, somewhere between 18 inches and two feet long - part of a small series of kits that were intended, I think, to fill a gap between the small (Santa Maria, Eagle, Flying Cloud, etc.) and large Cutty Sark and Constitution Revell kits. (The small Revell ones sold for $3 or $4; the big ones for $12 or $15. The Aurora kits, if I remember right, sold for $5 or $6.) The other kits in the series, as I remember, were the whaler Wanderer, the Bonhomme Richard, and the Sea Witch (which was, in fact, a modified reissue of an old ITC kit.)

They all featured rather clumsy detail (over-enthusiastic "wood grain" surface detail, for instance), and injection-molded plastic sails molded integrally with the yards. Their best features were the packaging; they had nicely-designed boxes, with paintings by John Steel.

A year or two ago a member of this Forum got hold of one of the Hartford kits, and we had a good discussion of it. I think he replaced the hopeless plastic spars with wood, and got a pretty good result.

I can't recommend that old kit as a basis for a serious scale model. But it does show up on E-bay now and then.

My home office will have the following ships:
all in 1/350 scale:

Bismark
Yamato
Missouri
King George the 5th
Arizona
Nimitz class Carrier from Trumpeteer
and......... the USS Texas when ever someone makes one that's not resin

Garbage scowl

itfahey,

A 1/350 Kirov is the Holy Grail ...

i would like to see in any scale more seaplane tender sub tender etc
the unsunk hero sort of ships if you know what i mean

Having a second go!
I would like to see in a larger scale ie 1/300 to 1/100 Tribal (hopefully NOT Cossack), V&W, N class and in 1/72 a Fairmile B and D and a Bathurst class.
There are enough paint schemes in hese ships and variations, official and not, to keep any modeller, from the many countries that used them, in work for several lifetimes.
Also a Holland sub and HMS Dreadnaught.
My second 2/- worth.
Dai

Dai ... howzabout Warramunga in 1/200?

I believe the Navy has blueprints of "Noah'sArk" but they are TOP SECRET. My list would contain ships I've served on. ACME class MSO, Newport class LST, Adams class DDG and USS J.f. Kennedy I usually do armor and a/c but when I do ships they are usually 1/700. So far I've found all but the MSO and there seems to be no decent model of the JFK in 1/700...Rick

It is kinda amusing how this topic has turned into a ridiculously huge list, with all of us posting one or more favorite (and admittedly, sometimes obscure) choices.... It has kind of turned in to a "wish list" more than a list of basic subjects for a collection. (I certainly was one who joined in....)

I do think the original post was an interesting idea on it's own, though it was a rather vaguely worded question- "must have ships" -- what does that mean? It could mean a list of historically significant ships, or it could mean a list of the best of the basic subjects that many of us are likely to have in our stashes. It could also be interpreted as a list of important subjects in a common scale, or maybe a list of ships that you might have that non-ship obsessed folk whould have heard of or recognize. If that's not enough options, which country we live in will affect our choices, too.

Here's My interpretation of the question, and my first shot at a reply:

"Must have' kits for a collection are those that have these qualities:
1. Actually be available as a model kit, preferably in plastic, preferably in one of the standard scales.
2. Be subjects of historical (world or national) significance- I'm in the USA, so US topics are more likely to be featured in my personal version of my list....
3. Ideally fit into the collection ina way that ilustrates the evolution of technology over the centuries. That means that I may drop yet another WW2 ship from the list in favor of a ship from another era.
4. Ties are decided in favor of ships my wife has heard of...!

Here's my list, in order of how likely my wife is to recognize it:

1. RMS Titanic
2. Santa Maria
3. PT-109
4. . Mayflower
5. USS Constitution
6. USS New Jersey
7. USS Nimitz
8. Clipper ship (any, US or British)
9. USS Monitor/CSS Virginia
10. Roman bireme or trireme
11. Delta Queen or other Mississippi River boat

What do you think of my list??

-Bill

It fits your criteria quite nicely, although you should have both Disney's and Rickover's Nautilus together like you did Monitor/Merrimac (Virginia).

... and the Minnow.

In general I like rcboater's list (though of course I'd like it to be longer). My biggest problem with it, in practical terms, is the shortage of riverboat kits.

If there's ever been a Delta Queen kit, I haven't encountered it. The old Pyro Robert E. Lee (hardly a gem of the industry) may be floating around in a Lindberg box. Beyond that, I can't think of a single currently-available plastic riverboat kit. (Oh - Revell Germany makes a Rhine excursion steamer, but I suspect that one wouldn't count.) The Revell version of the Robert E. Lee hasn't been in the catalog for years, and the Lindberg Southern Belle seems to be defunct. Maybe the old Lindberg Clermont is still around, but I haven't seen it for a long time.

Bluejacket used to make a decent wood Robert E. Lee, but it's out of production too. At least one of those awful Continental European companies makes something that's supposed to represent a Mississippi steamer, but it hardly qualifies as a scale model.

All this is most unfortunate. Steamboats do make beautiful, fascinating models. This is yet another yawning gap in the ship model kit industry.

JTilley's right-- there was no Delta Queen kit. (I was thinking more about the type of vessel, and used the name as an example, forgetting for the moment that no such kit exists.)

SInce my last post, I realized I didn't have any submarines on the list- I think there should be one- not sure which one......

U-505 - Nautilus - Kursk - U-47 - Hunley - Turtle

I'd like to see a nice model of the USS Midway CV-45. I have the Kangnam model and it looks ok, but the planes really suck. I am going to do it for my son who is 9 and he doesn;t really care since there is one that resembles an E2C Hawkeye. I would take it in any scale.

Steve

I agree about the Midway, the Kangman kit hardly qualifies as a "scale" model.  Looks more like a toy since many of the parts are molded too thick.  I have it in my stash and am considering building it for next summers SINKEX operations at the pond.

Scott

u have opened a can of worms with this one my friend. now for my two cents worth(depending on our crappy exchange rate). all are in 1-350 scale. how about hms ark royal, nelson, rodney, uss ships:- langley, alabama, ranger, nevada, japanese ships:- kongo class, akagi, kaga, zuikaku and shokaku. the liner united states, hms hood of course. a wish list, yes, but you never know.