USS United States by Josh Williamson - Revell - 1:96 - PLASTIC - Frigate

[Josh Williamson]

Hello again Model Ship World forum - 

 

I was planning on doing another Bluejacket Shipcrafters model after completing the Revenue Cutter and Spray kits last year.  My wife came across this older kit of the USS United State frigate in a garage sale, and picked it up.  I must admit I was not as excited about it initially (because of it being plastic), but after researching some nice versions that others have made with this kit, decided to make it the next one on the bench!  

 

I have been working on it for a few months now, so I am going back to January images to start piecing together the build...to get back to current.  

 

Here's the first few set up pictures, and painting out the hull - - 

 

[Bill Morrison]

I have a question.  Are you planning on building her out-of-the-box or are you going to modify the kit to more accurately reflect th Frigate?  There are contemporary paintings that can be sourced to change her quarter galleries and transom.  Unfortunately, there is little else to research.  I will follow your build with great interest.

 

Bill

[Josh Williamson]

I have read some of the documentation about the differences in the transom.  I'm not sure I know enough about the current consensus on the arrangement and number of windows to really make an educated guess on what I will build. I have seen the paintings that tell different stories!

 

This also brings me to another issue I am faced with: my kit actually provided me with the "CONSTITUTION" transom, so I have at very least a custom-built transom (or heavily modified) to even fit the parts together in a way that approach the USS U.S.

 

From the best I can tell, the rest of the kit is correctly packaged as USS United States.

 

 

[Gregory]

Do you have another angle of the quarter galleries?

 

They look a lot like the Constitution model and not the United States..

But it might be the angle of your pictures..

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Gregory

[Josh Williamson]

Gregory-

 

Good question.  I think you may have caught on to something.  This is looking like Old Ironsides quarter galleries...

It looks to be a fairly mismatched kit it seems. 

 

-Josh

 

[Bill Morrison]

Yes, I have paintings of both the quarter galleries, which were single level like the Constitution and the President, which was more rounded at the top.  The kit's transom is flared out unlike any of the paintings.  Of the two kits, that of the Constitution resembles reality than does the kit's.  Note that the transom for the United States should be higher than that on the Constitution because of the roundhouse aft.  There is a nice illustration of the ship in the Osprey publication American Heavy Frigates, 1797-1860.

 

Bill

[Bill Morrison]

One more comment; the Revell kit of the United States includes the lower gallery molded on, with a separate part for the upper level.  It is easy to leave it off.

 

Bill

[Josh Williamson]

Thanks for the input and pointers.  I am going to attempt to scratch build/modify the transom that I have (Constitution)  to match the USS United States transom drawing per kit.  One step at a time!

 

Stay tuned - 

[Hubac's Historian]

Alright, I am in!  This looks like it will be a fun project, and your painting skills are evidence of a thoughtful, meticulous approach.

[Bill Morrison]

Good luck! Please let me know if I can be of any help.

 

Bill

[Josh Williamson]

Thanks guys!  In the meantime, a project is underway with the mating of the Constitution's lower half of the transom and the new scratch built USS US:

 

 

[Josh Williamson]

I did find the 

On 3/23/2022 at 6:08 AM, Bill Morrison said:

One more comment; the Revell kit of the United States includes the lower gallery molded on, with a separate part for the upper level.  It is easy to leave it off.

 

Bill

 

Bill,

 

I did find these upper gallery parts, so at least there's that!  I am curious if others have found the Constitution transom in the United States Revell kit -

 

-Josh

[Josh Williamson]

Working on some of these details for the "frankenstein" transom...

 

Hoping that with some TLC on the painting, I can add some detail to clean this up.   Still a little rough.

 

-Josh

 

[Bill Morrison]

Josh,

 

I honestly don't know.  It is probable that others have done so given that you found one.  But, you really made out on that deal! Good job!  It's also interesting to note that the Revell transom for the Constitution is also inaccurate for the 1812 period but not for the 1924 refit on which the kit is based.

 

Bill

[Gregory]

I believe the plans for the Revell kit were drawn by George F. Campbell and is a loose interpretation of the Hull model.

 

 

Hull model

 

Revell stern.

This is a photo from 1945 that should be the same as the 1927 restoration.

 

It is not  much like the Revell kit but very similar to the current configuration.

 

 

This document form the Constitution museum, says the latest restoration was an effort to restore the 1812 configuration, but does not mention  what the present appearance of the stern is based on. 

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1833-2010Restrtns.pdf

 

If there is contrary evidence I stand to be corrected.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Gregory