Poorly designed ship model kits or those that are plain made-up (edited by admin)

[mtaylor]

Wayne,

 

Given that there's Federal agencies including the Smithsonian involved and, as I recall, some criminal investigations that have never been closed, the denials don't surprise me. 

[thibaultron]

When the city of Baltimore acquired the Constellation as a museum ship it was claimed she was the frigate from the 1700s and thus the oldest continuously commissioned ship in the US. Her configuration however was not a frigate. The city claimed she had been rebuilt over the years and had her back dated to "correct" this. She was displayed for years this way (I visited her many times when I lived in Baltimore). About 20 years ago research showed that she was actually the second ship to be named in the line, and was actually a Sloop Of War built in the mid 1800s, not a frigate. There is a book "Fouled Anchors" that tells the story.

She has since been rebuilt to her original as built state.

As to how accurate the kit is to the frigate configuration, it as least looks close to what I remember. I've been tempted to buy this kit, if only because that is how I remember her. She did at least look like this at one time, even if she was at that time a fantasy model herself. I wish someone would come out with a kit as she is corrected.

[CharlieZardoz]

I'd be nice if someone made a new kit of her (cough- Model Shipways...) to represent her accurately and also not in such a weird scale (1:85?) I just repurchased and old book Modeling the USF Constellation by Gilbert C. McArdle and inside the prior owner had included the old Baltimore pamphlets with the erroneous history. Quite the collectors item they really tried to convince you lol.  BTW anyone look at my post about the Black Prince?

[BareHook]

Black Prince may be mixed up with the CNS Alfred a BlueJacket Kit

 

CNS Alfred: copied from www.shipmodelersassociation.org

"The ALFRED was a converted merchantman of 440 tons which carried a compliment of 220 men with 20 each 9-pounder guns and 10 each 6-pounder guns. They think John Wharton of Philadelphia originally built her in 1774. She was originally the merchantman BLACK PRINCE which first made two voyages to England as a merchantman before being requisitioned for a warship by the Continental Congress on November 4, 1775. She was renamed for Alfred the Great, the ninth-century British king credited with building England’s first fleet. Her first commander was Captain Dudley Saltonstall.

The Alfred was the first flagship of the new Continental Navy in 1775, flying the Grand Union Flag of the United Colonies. She was made flagship of Commodore Ezek Hopkins’s eight-ship squadron (including COLUMBUS, CABOT, ANDREW DORIA, PROVIDENCE, FLY, HORNET, and WASP), which occupied Nassau for two weeks in March 0f 1776. On board the ALFRED on her voyage on October 26, 1776, was one lieutenant John Paul Jones, when the ALFRED left New London for a cruise off Nova Scotia during which ALFRED captured nine enemy ships before successfully returning to Boston on December 26th. The British supplied many of the supplies and war material needed by General George Washington and his army by just such seizures of British supply ships originally intended for the British.

The following August, under Captain Elisha Hinman, ALFRED and RALEIGH sailed for France for military supplies. Returning via the West Indies, the two ships were engaged by the British ships HMS ARIADNE (20 guns) and CERES (14 guns) on March 29, 1778. As a result of this battle, ALFRED was captured and acquired by the Royal Navy at Barbados. She only lasted in the Royal Navy for four years, however, as she was then sold out of service in 1782.

There is a fine kit of this model put out by Bluejacket Shipcrafters based upon the research of Larry Arnot who produced the instruction booklet for this kit model that is a textbook on the details of 18th century naval design and outfitting. The model is to the scale of 1:96, is of solid hull construction and comes with brass etching details. This is not a model for a beginner if the modeler intends to fully rig the model."

 

P.S. I have this kit on my shelf waiting...

Edited November 17, 2014 by BareHook

[Chidokan]

I think I would prefer the sellers to tell me what was in the box, rather than a potted history of the ship.... take for example HMS Victory....

 

I know what interests me about the ship, am looking for a kit, so how do I tell why one manufacturer is better than another apart from the price and scale???

A photo is nice, maybe a few zoomed shots as well, but I cannot tell if, say, cannon barrels are brass, cast white metal, or if I have to turn them myself by looking at a photo as it could well be blackened.

On a rating of one to ten, how good are the plans/instructions?

should I choose UK over Italy as my source of model?

what wood has been used in the kit?

Is it plank on frame, or bulkhead, or solid body?

beginner/or expert level?

 

its a bit of a minefield without the forums here.... !!! anyone find answers to the above on a shop site??

I would not like to just walk into my local model shop and ask, as he specialises in train sets, even though he sells the usual ranges from the big suppliers...

[rshousha]

Hello Again, 

 

In my humble opinion, there are now enough connections out there for people to make up their own kits, in whatever scale and whatever quality level they want to make. For instance, using advanced CAD software, I can develop frames for any ship in any scale, as long as there are line drawings. I can also supply single-shot photo-etch parts. Once you have frames in hand, there are several excellent manufacturers of strip wood out there. After that, there are people like Chuck Passaro, who makes absolutely lovely blocks and ropes. After that there are several websites where you can get 3D printed parts for some other bits. 

 

The only thing missing are the decorations and those will be available within two to four years, in my opinion. So, really, we should be thinking in terms of the "virtual factory" instead of trying to figure out which kit is best. I think the sky's the limit in terms of what people can do with modelling these days. 

 

Best Regards, 

 

Rick 

[mtaylor]

Chidokan,

 

Have you seen this:  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/4339-announcing-the-model-ship-world-ship-kit-database-project/   It's a work in progress but an excellent resource.   Also, most folks post kit contents very early in their build logs.