Survey of wooden Mississippi riverboat kits.

[skipper1947]

I have been looking at Mississippi riverboat kits. To help me keep things straight, I decided to compile some information on each. I thought I would post it here in case somebody else finds it useful. I found 5 kits. I listed links to build logs that I found. Hopefully I did not miss any.

 

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OcCre: Mississippi. About $350, scale 1:80, length 740 mm. (29.1 inches)

http://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/occre/mississippi.html

Manufacturer site

http://www.occre.com/model-ship/mississippi.html#!prettyPhoto

Has interior detail and figures, see manufacturer site for more photos.

 

Build Logs.

Finished:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/1803-spirit-of-mississippi-by-micklen32-finished-occre-180-a-hopefully-accurate-rendition/?hl=%2Boccre+%2Bmississippi

 

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Amati: Robert E. Lee.  About $440. Scale 1:150, length 600 mm (23.6 inches)

http://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/amati-kits/am1439-amati-robert-e-lee.html

Manufacturer site

http://www.amatimodel.com/en/models/naval/classic/amati/robert-e-lee

Solid hull.

 

Build logs (note: there apparently is another kit by Scientific, I am listing only those from Amati).

Finished:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/6071-robert-e-lee-by-rodgerdodger-amati/page-5?hl=+amati%20+robert%20+lee

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/233-robert-e-lee-by-script-finished-amati-1160-mississipi-riverboat/?hl=%20amati%20%20robert%20%20lee

 

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Mantua/Sergal: Mississippi. About $550, scale 1:50, length 1050 mm. (41.3 inches)

http://www.modelerscentral.com/ship-model-kits/mantua/mississippi-river-steamboat/

Manufacturer site

https://www.mantuamodel.co.uk/1_Model_Boats___Ships/Sergal_model_boats/_734__Mississippi_59.html

 

Build logs:

Finished:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12537-mississippi-riverboat-by-chborgm-mantua-scale-150/?hl=%2Bmantua+%2Bmississippi

 

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Model Shipways: Chaperon. About $370, scale 1:48, length 876 mm. (34.5 inches)

http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=MS2190

 

Build logs: (Found 4, but none are finished?)

Unfinished, last update Feb. 2014:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5519-chaperon-by-harkinscd-model-shipways/?hl=%2Bmodel+%2Bshipways+%2Bchaperon

Unfinished, last update Sept. 2013

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3557-chaperon-sternwheeler-steamer-1884-by-gleason-model-shipways-rebuild/?hl=%2Bmodel+%2Bshipways+%2Bchaperon

Unfinished, last update Oct. 2013

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3029-chaperon-by-terry-oneill-model-shipways-plank-on-bulkhead/?hl=%2Bmodel+%2Bshipways+%2Bchaperon

Unfinished, last update July 2013

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/2152-chaperon-by-blucrsr-model-shipways-first-wooden-ship-build/?hl=%2Bmodel+%2Bshipways+%2Bchaperon

 

 

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Artesania Latina: King of the Mississippi. About $200, scale 1:80, length 660 mm. (26.0 inches)

http://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/artesania-latina-kits-and-tools/artesania-latina-king-of-the-mississippi-wood-ship-kit.html

Manufacturer site

http://www.artesanialatina.net/EN/model-ship-kits/advanced-ships/20505--mississippi.html

 

Build logs.

Unfinished but active. Last update 6/29/2016

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13709-king-of-the-mississippi-by-la-don-don-nelson-artensania-latina/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Unfinished but active. Last update 6/6/2016

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13354-king-of-the-mississippi-by-jparsley-artesania-latina/?hl=%20king%20%20the%20%20mississippi

Unfinished but active. Last update 5/12/2016

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/10721-king-of-the-mississippi-by-leecedar-180-artesania-latina/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Finished.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9777-king-of-the-mississippi-by-philg88-artesania-latina-scale-180-with-internal-and-navigation-led-lighting/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Finished.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9616-king-of-the-mississippi-by-maturin52-al/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Finished.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/6821-king-of-the-mississippi-by-dan-vadas-al-finishing-off-a-kit-started-by-someone-else-finished-restoration/?hl=%20king%20%20the%20%20mississippi

Unfinished. Last update April 2015

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5771-king-of-the-mississippi-by-intarsiabox-artesania-latina-180/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Unfinished. Last update Feb. 2014

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5192-king-of-the-mississippi-by-captcraig-artesania-latina-180-scale/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Finished.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/4064-king-of-the-mississippi-by-rick-artesania-latina-180-1st-ship-model/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

Finished.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3517-king-of-the-mississippi-by-robert1965-artesania-scale-180/?hl=%2Bking+%2Bthe+%2Bmississippi

[kurtvd19]

Thanks for the compilation.

The Chaperon did not operate on the Mississippi River.  It was used mostly on the Yazoo River and Ohio River.  It very well could have been used on the Mississippi as there were many similar boats on the Mississippi. 

 

Kurt

[michael101]

have you start to build one of the kits?

[Cathead]

Mike Dowling recently completed a very nice Chaperon build, and there are several other ongoing builds of other kits. Kurt didn't say so, but he's built an excellent Chaperon and can give a lot of advice and guidance.

 

To my eye, the AL, Mantua, and OcCre kits are not particularly realistic; they may build an attractive model but are rather toylike in appearance, very out of scale and not all that accurate. The Amati and M-E kits appear far more realistic if you care about that aspect of a build. I have not built any of these so cannot give a direct review but there are enough build logs for all to at least get a sense of the materials and scope of work.

[kurtvd19]

Skipper

 

The Chaperon is the only one that I would recommend as it's pretty accurate and the others are just vague ideas of what a riverboat was. 

 

A lot of research went into the development of the Chaperon kit and the kit builds to a very close copy of the actual boat.  I have a lot of historic photos of the real boat to compare the kit against.  There are plenty of historic photos of the boats you mentioned to compare to the photos of the kit - check them out and I think you will decide on the Chaperon.

 

Kurt

[Roger Pellett]

Assuming that this thread can be broadened to Western Rivers Steamboats, I would include the HO scale kits of upper Ohio River craft sold by ???. I can't remember the name of the vendor but he was at the Mystic NRG conference. I thought that these models were highly accurate especially the model of the small "pool boat." Similar but smaller than the W.P. Snyder preserved in Marietta, Ohio. Hopefully someone else can identify the vendor.

 

Roger

Edited December 26, 2016 by Roger Pellett

[kurtvd19]

Roger:

Thanks, I was going to mention the models by Train Troll - www.traintroll.com - and got ahead of myself and posted the previous bit - thanks for mentioning the Train Troll kits.

The top image is Train Troll's photo and the other two are of my completed model from the Train Troll kit of Smokey Duck.  This isn't a Mississippi River boat, but it does show the quality of the Train Troll kits.  The other two photos of the larger Mississippi River type boat are from Train Troll -the HO scale boat.  These kits are great.  The Smokey Duck is by far the best fit of laser cut parts in any kit I have built (or even checked out).

 

Kurt

[michael101]

Thank you all