1/350 ship kits we'd all like to see!

Almost forgot, the armored cruiser, USS Tennessee (before she got her 'birdcage' masts!)

I got another one

The USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193)

For those who don't know about her, she was build by Howard Huges for the sole purpose of "Project Jennifer."

Since the K-129 had sunk in very deep water, a large ship was required for the recovery operation. However, such a vessel would easily be spotted by Soviet vessels, who might interfere with the operation and so an elaborate cover story was developed. The CIA contacted the businessman Howard Hughes, who agreed to assist.

While the ship did recover a portion of the vessel, a mechanical failure in the grapple caused half of the submarine to break off during recovery. This lost section is said to have held many of the more sought after items, including the code book and nuclear missiles. It was subsequently reported that two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners, who were subsequently given a formal burial at sea, in a filmed ceremony.

There are claims from unofficial writers (who provide no documentation nor source data) that the material recovered by the Glomar Explorer included nuclear missiles and various codebooks. It has also been suggested, again by writers with no first hand knowledge, that contrary to the official account, nearly the entire submarine was recovered and that the official CIA account amounts to disinformation to give the impression of an unsuccessful mission.

 

 

Getting back on topic, I second Davros' desire for the armed merchantman Jervis Bay. As long as we are fantasizing, how about a Rawalpindi too?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay_(F40)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rawalpindi

 

How about a 1/96 scale......

 http://www.geocities.com/submarineworks/virginia.html

Great analysis Bill. When you start your T-2 you should add this to a separate thread on that build.  The Montrose scaled at 1/375, or close to that. I don't think I ever checked the scales on my two T-2 builds and I don't have them handy, but if they are also 1/375 rather than the advertised 1/400, that's good to know.

The pictures of the light T-2s are instructive. Even those are probably ballasted down a little by loading seawater in the cargo tanks. They wouldn't go to sea without some ballast, both to get the propeller immersed and to avoid blowing around like a balloon on the water. Here's a pic of a really empty tanker.

 Fred

A significant omission from the list so far is BB35, USS Texas. She is the only surviving warship of the Dreadnought era and, if I am not mistaken, the only surviving USN warship to have seen service in both WW I and WW II. She is preserved near Houston, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife staff are most helpful in assisting with research. A 1/350 kit of her is long overdue, and would be a perfect subject for Dragon to undertake.

Mikeym_us wrote:

Thats actually good to know but where exactly is the actual waterline for the T2 class of tankers?

At Fred's suggestion, I obtained a very nice set of plans of both the T2 and the VC2 from the Smithsonian collection of U.S. Maritime Commission ship's plans.

Please excuse the home made large format photo shop, here they are with glasses for scale.

The tanker-

The Victory ship-

I'm delighted in particular with the T2 drawing, it was produced at/ by Marinship in Sausalito, CA which is about 5 miles from where I sit, visible from this room across the Bay. My future subject, the Mission Carmel, was launched from those yards in 1943.

According to the drawing, the draft is 29' - 11 1/2" call it 30' and the depth is 39'-3" which I would think was measured from the main deck. This leaves a freeboard of 9'-3"+.

These dimensions are listed as "moulded" i.e. on the inside surface of the cargo area, and are at design load. The drawing has a kind of artistic waterline fore and aft that scales about 10' below the main deck, so that's the dimension.

Here's one that looks full.

Here's one that exhibits the down at the stern attitude Fred suggested.

Here's a ship that looks very light.

While she looks fresh out of the drydock, and probably empty of most everything, the freeboard looks to be maybe 20', which would mean cutting down the model's hull by at least a third. (see why below).

The Revell T2, using the beam, scales pretty close to 1/375. As a note the Pine Island scaled about 1/425, both ship and Martin Mariner. I left the amount of freeboard alone as it looked pretty good compared to photos, and I'd think the ship's weight didn't change much.

Fred's listed the scale of his Victory, if I remember it was 1/400. The freeboard on the Revell T2 kit is about 32 feet. In this shot, before I owned the plans, I eyeballed a waterline, with allowance to be sanded flat.

That's a nickel on the poop deck for scale.

That tape line scales about 15' of freeboard, which after sanding off a couple hundredths will be closer to a fully laden ship. I think I'm going to relocate the waterline a little higher just to give her a more purposeful look.

I hope this answers your question.

Bill

 

 

Four stack Ruben James

Marine carrier

Thats actually good to know but where exactly is the actual waterline for the T2 class of tankers?

bondoman wrote:

The Revell Mission series tanker San Juan Capistrano is a T2. It's been recently rereleased as the Esso Glasgow, but includes the original guns/tubs. And the Revell Attack Transport Randall/ Montrose has also been rereleased, which is based on a Victory ship. See Onyxmans project. These are both 1/400ish scale, and incorrectly flatbottomed, but not waterline. The T2 in particular needs to be cut down to true waterline.

Just to expand on that a bit, the 1950s Revell "flat bottomed" kits that I'm familiar with, ie the "Esso Glasgow, Hawaiian Pilot, USS Montrose, have a waterline that is roughly at their light draft. The ships's would ride like that if they had no cargo, and maybe a limited amount of fuel, salt water ballast and fresh water in their tanks.  In the case of the Hawaiian Pilot and Montrose, they could reasonably be left with that waterline, although some work should be done to the exposed rudders and stern aperture. Also, at least part of the propeller would be visible at that draft. Those two types of ships have the engines located midship and would have fuel and ballast tanks in double bottoms along the length of the ship.

The T-2 is a different matter though. Her engine is aft, and tankers, up until only recently, usually don't have double bottom tanks. So a tanker without any cargo would ride down by the stern somewhat. For that reason the Glasgow, at a light draft and also on an even keel, is unrealistic and is best cut down to a deeper waterline.  IMHO

Fred

If anybody issues a 1/350 Victory I'll be mighty ticked off!  But I'd be the only one.

My pics, and I know I'm just dreaming:

RMS Majestic (1), or Teutonic

C4-S-A1 troopship

Fred

Thanks, Bondoman and Mike - good information in case (especially since it is highly unlikely anyone will issue these as true 1/350 new kits).

Cheers, Rick 

I'd like to see a kit of any of the ww1 German Light cruisers, they are some of the best looking ships!

flyguy wrote:

I'm not greedy , I'll settle for any of the Omaha class light cruisers .

I'm not greedy , I'll settle for any of the Omaha class light cruisers .

Here's my two cents worth

1. USS Maine 2. USS Olympia 3. Newport class LST 4. U-Boat type VIIc 5. USS Gato 6. US S-boat sub 7. British "Town" class cruiser---I think those would be interesting builds, especially the first two. I remember building the Revell Olympia when I was a kid and always liked it. It was one of the best model ships Revell made.

<tap tap tap>

 USS North Dakota.....

 

...or at least the Delaware class with parts to complete either 

The Revell Mission series tanker San Juan Capistrano is a T2. It's been recently rereleased as the Esso Glasgow, but includes the original guns/tubs.

And the Revell Attack Transport Randall/ Montrose has also been rereleased, which is based on a Victory ship. See Onyxmans project.

These are both 1/400ish scale, and incorrectly flatbottomed, but not waterline. The T2 in particular needs to be cut down to true waterline.

RTimmer wrote:

I forgot to add the following to my earlier post: T-2 tanker Victory ship Samuel B. Roberts Gambier Bay

Closest thing for 1/350 scale for the T-2 is the 1/425 scale Monogram T-2 from the Commanders series.

This same thread pops up every so ofteen and always gets lots of responses.  I think the last time we saw it, it went well beyond ten pages.  And, as always, I like to weigh in with my preferences.  I know some have been offered in resin, but these recommendations are for plastic kits;

Soviet nuclear battlecruiser Kirov/Frunze class

SMS Von der Tann or Seydlitz

USS California, post Pearl Harbor

WWII Gearing class destroyer

WWII Tribal Class destroyer

Did some checking on the Aoshima Kongo, and there seems to be some controversy as to whther it will be an 'earlier' or 'later' version compared to the Fujimi offering which is due out very soon.  Also, two more points about the Aoshima version; first, it is expected to be less expensive than the Fujimi version (it is also thought that it will be simpler, with fewer parts, and perhaps not quite as accurate, but no confirmation of this as yet), and second, Aoshima is implying that they may in fact produce the whole class, while nothing along these lines is being heard from Fujimi (yet!).  If the latter is true, this will be a good thing, but I expect there may be some production issues, especially if they plan on keeping the price down (the different ships in the class had quite a few differences in turrets, pagoda masts, stacks, etc).  On final point, the Aoshima version will not be available until some time next year, so if you just can't wait, the Fujimi version is the one to go for now!!  Sure would be cool if one of them decided to crank out a Yamashiro as well!

Aoshima coming out with a BB Kongo too?  I wish I had known that earlier (though doubtless it will be just as expensive!).  Perhaps they will come out with a Kirishima too!

How about upscaling one or two of  those 1/700 Japanese liners and commercial vessels. modelbob@hotmail.com 

searat12 wrote:

Nope, not Aoshima (who are busy cranking out all those lovely 'Takao' class cruisers), but Fujimi that is producing the new WW2 IJN 'Battlecruiser 'Kongo.'  I have one pre-ordered from Free Time Hobbies (and here is the link:  http://www.freetimehobbies.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=44631

Actually both.  Fujimi is the first out of the gate with preorders.  It has been the subject of discussion in the ship modeling boards.  Speculation is that they may do an earlier version of the BB.

 

Nope, not Aoshima (who are busy cranking out all those lovely 'Takao' class cruisers), but Fujimi that is producing the new WW2 IJN 'Battlecruiser 'Kongo.'  I have one pre-ordered from Free Time Hobbies (and here is the link:  http://www.freetimehobbies.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=44631

searat12 wrote:

aardvark1917 wrote: Old variety. Who's making it? Fujimi is coming out with a 1/350 Kongo (I already have mine pre-ordered!).

Aoshima is the other company reported to be doing a 1/350 Kongo.

Trumpeteer is doing the modern Kongo. 

aardvark1917 wrote:

Old variety. Who's making it?

Fujimi is coming out with a 1/350 Kongo (I already have mine pre-ordered!).

I forgot to add the following to my earlier post:

T-2 tanker

Victory ship

Samuel B. Roberts

Gambier Bay

 

Can't say it enough...SCB-27C or 125 Essex.

USS Midway/Coral Sea

Wasp class LHD

Anything "Barrow built" would be fine with me.

Albion or Bulwark (the new LPDs)

Any of the Falklands vetereans; Invincible. Hermes and Sheffield.

From WW2; Illustrious, Ajax and Indomitable. Also; the armed merchantman Jervis Bay.

Although we will soon get a kit of the Kongo; this is the WW2 version. I wouldn't mind seing an "as built" version with its three different shaped funnels.