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USCG Training Ship Eagle in 1/96 scale

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  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Friday, August 18, 2006 11:49 PM

The answer to the basic question of whether good enough plans are available to make such a kit is - yes.  The Coast Guard Historian's Office has quite a few accurate drawings of the Eagle, though they come from a variety of sources.  A few builder's drawings of the Horst Wessel (the Eagle's original name) survived the war.  In more recent times draftsmen hired by the Coast Guard have made measured drawings of her in conjunction with various refits and other projects - and I got hired to do an outboard profile/sail plan of her in her 1994 configuration.  If I remember right, the materials I got from Washington included such things as working drawings of the boat davits on the quarterdeck - which were recycled from a Treasury-class cutter that was being decommissioned at the time.

Whether an Eagle kit could be converted to any of the other ships in the class would depend on how picky the modeler was.  All five of them differed significantly in length.  I don't have all the dimensions in front of me, but if I remember right the Horst Wessel (later Eagle) was about twenty feet longer than the Gorch Fock (later Tovarisch). 

One source of confusion about all this has always been the set of plans drawn by the late, great Harold Underhill.  He made those drawings in conjunction with his book, Sail Training and Cadet Ships.  He was working from the original plans of the Gorch Fock.  In the text of the book, Underhill gives the lengths of all the ships in the class, and is completely up front about the fact that the plans only represent one of the ships.  Unfortunately the plans have been sold by several vendors over the years as representing the Eagle.  It's my understanding that, with the notable exception of the Imai 1/200-scale kit, every commercial Eagle kit ever produced (including the old Revell one) has been based on the Underhill plans.  (I don't know about the Mantua one - but frankly I have yet to see a Mantua kit that merited the label "scale model.") 

Another problem is that the Eagle has undergone many modifications in the course of her career - modifications ranging from armament (she carried a few anti-aircraft guns in her German years) to the change of name on her wheelbox to the construction of a deckhouse at the break of the quarterdeck to the painting of the "Coast Guard Slash" on her bow to the addition of a mass of antennas on her mizzenmast - and big electric floodlights at the top of each mast, to illuminate the deck during on-board parties and ceremonies.  I haven't seen her closeup since I made that drawing in 1994, but I'm quite sure she's changed in some noticeable way since then.  The kit manufacturer would have to be careful, and determine just what configuration the kit was to represent.

I agree completely that the Eagle would make a beautiful subject for a 1/96-scale plastic kit.  (Believe, me, though:  plenty of traditionalist ship modelers do think wood is the only "legitimate" material for a ship model - regardless of what material the real ship was made of.)  Maybe one of the big manufacturers will read this thread and spring into action.  And if anybody thinks that's actually going to happen - well, I can also get you a good price on a bridge in Brooklyn.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

  • Member since
    June 2005
  • From: Walworth, NY
Posted by Powder Monkey on Friday, August 18, 2006 9:25 PM
Mantua makes the Gorch Fock as a plank on bulkhead kit. It is listed as 1:90 scale.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Derry, New Hampshire, USA
Posted by rcboater on Friday, August 18, 2006 7:20 PM
The biggest (and best) plastic kit of the Eagle is the old Imai 1/200 scale kit.  It can be hard to find, but is better than the old Revell kit.

Webmaster, Marine Modelers Club of New England

www.marinemodelers.org

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Greenville,Michigan
Posted by millard on Friday, August 18, 2006 2:41 PM

Tory

   That would be a great idea.The Eagle would make a great model especially in that scale.The Eagle was commissioned in 1936 as the Horst Wessel.There where five identical ships built known as the "five sisters" They were Tovarish(Russia),SagresII(Portugal),Mircea(Romania)and Gorch Gock II(Germany).If you came out with one kit you could build these five ships the photo etch people would be able to come out with a lot of parts to change ships.

    The large's scale model of the Eagle in plastic is the 1/200 Imai kit.They also did the Sagres II. I'm working on that Eagle kit know.It very nice and very detailed,but needs photo etch,rails and stairs.That kits over thirty years old.

      Trumpeter or Zvezda are the only companies coming out with new sailing kits.Perhaps send a suggestion to them.

Rod

  • Member since
    May 2006
Posted by thunder1 on Friday, August 18, 2006 11:52 AM

Hi Tory,

What a great idea, it would make an impressive model in a larger scale. But the Eagle could only be representated as a training ship, only the paint scheme and a couple of deck fittings/small boats would make it a "customized" model.

Consider a model of the cutter "BEAR" in 1/96. Different paint schemes, mast arrangements, sails, and armament would make an interesting model. Heck the BEAR even carried a Grumman "Duck" in WWII, imagine a sailing ship model that could be modeled in different configurations over a 80+ year career! The kit would have a nice history book of the ship and all the parts required for the many modifications, pick your era! Well the chances of that be offered by a modeling manufacturer are about as possible as me being the King of England but its always good to wonder what if....you know the HARRIET LANE would make a nice 1/96 model... 

Warm regards

Mike Maynard USCG(Ret)  

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: New York City
USCG Training Ship Eagle in 1/96 scale
Posted by Goshawk on Friday, August 18, 2006 10:27 AM

In my last post regarding how to remove fuzz from rigging line, the thread wandered off into a question posed as to what would make a good subject if a major plastic kit manufacturer were to create a brand new tooled sailing ship kit for the mass market.

Many good suggestions were made, but I was wondering if the USCG Training Ship Eagle in 1/96 scale would be something worthwhile. To my knowledge, this somewhat contemporary well known sailing vessel has only been done well in 1/350 scale by Imai and is no longer in production. The old Revell kit, as has been noted, is plagued with inaccuracies not the least of all being an incorrect hull shape. So why not a large scale Eagle? And even the die hard wood ship kit builders would have to admit that a plastic hull would be a better way of representing the Eagles steel hull rather than trying to make a wood hull look like steel. As a matter of fact, as far as I know, the only wood showing on the Eagle is the deck, everything else is painted (save some minor trim work). So when you think about it, it really does lend itself to an injection molded kit.

So now the question that comes to mind is, do plans exist that can be used to create an accurate Eagle? Did any of the wood ship kit companies ever do a large scale Eagle? I know there were some small scale ones done in very simplified form, but I don't recall seeing one in 1/8 inch scale.

Can't you just imagine one in the same scale as your Revell Cutty Sark and/or Constitution? Now how cool would that be?

But alas, I guess the chances of it actually aver happening are slim and nil.

Maybe a resin kit...

Something to think about anyhow.

Tory

 

 

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