1/96 USS Kearsarge - work in progress

 Hey -jtilley --Do you know which ship was put out (a clipper ?) that had a square stern?? I,ve got two in seperate boxes . the original boxes have long since bit the dust along with the instructions, But the interesting thing is , although they both look like clippers of some sort ,one has 16 guns!!! The one with the guns has a finely molded flash free hull and the other has a smooth hull with NO attempt at simulating wood ! I am just curouis as these will probably be my winter projects .They both are about 31" long without rigging of any type !  Can you identify them . There is no name or copyright mark on anything !!      TANKERBUILDER     P.S.They BOTH HAD (I threw them away) metal embossed decks (three sections each).

The square-sterned clipper kit with a metal deck is probably the Marx Sea Witch. The same ship was also produced by Aurora in around 1/96 scale; this is all-plastic and has a detailed hull, so may not be from the same moulds. Lindberg have recently reissued a 1/96 Sea Witch; not having seen inside the box, I don't know whether it's the Marx or Aurora kit (assuming they're different!) It definitely has a plastic, not metal, deck.

Here's a link to some photos of the Marx kit: http://www.rubylane.com/shops/charmingandcheap/item/8316

As for the one with guns, I have no idea! Anyone know if Marx produced any subjects other than Sea Witch (not counting the "Swordfish" reissue of the latter)? 

Is there any possibility you could post photos of these kits? Even if there are no boxes or instructions, someone might be able to identify the ship

First of all, I believe the EPinniger is building a very nice model of the USS Kearsarge. His deck work is also nice, for a teak deck. However, warships seldom used teak for anything. Teak splinters had a habit of causing poisoned wounds among sailors, hence, it was avoided by most navies.

I hate to seem overly critical, but in reality, American and British sailors holystoned decks to a near bleached-white appearance rather than the heavily weathered look created by EPinniger. There should be little in the way of weathering on the Kearsarge. It may be an appropriate look for French or Spanish ships, but I would look twice.

Bill Morrison

I have a copy.  Afraid he does not have enough to make finding the book worthwhile.  A couple of pictures is all.  He tried to cover a lot of items in a small book.

I have both the Marx and the Lindberg kits.  They are not the same models.  I tried connecting them, side by side, no go.  While they look the same, the Dragons on the bow are of different design.  Also, the Marx kit uses a metal, printed, deck.