Old model ship kit to give away

[Cornhusker1956]

A family member recently gifted me a 1970s kit that he had bought for his father who had no interest in building a ship (he did RC planes).  The kit has sat in a basement for the 50 years and since he knew I did build boats he gave it to me.  After opening the kit I realized that it was beyond my fine motor skills and expertise.  I am willing to give the kit to anyone who is interested.

It is a Marine Model Company Red Jacket kit.  It is a solid hulled kit with no sails.  The instructions in the kit are sparse - one full scale sheet showing the rigging, deck layout (both views), and a few instructions on parts installation.  The instruction manual is a generic one produced by MMC.  It is not specific to the kit and is only 4 pages long.  The kit will be provided in the original box with all original documents.

 

If you have any interest please contact me.  The kit is being offered for free to a good home.  I will pay the cost of shipment.  I will provide my telephone number via a PM.

 

David Green

Fernandina Beach, FL

[Bob Cleek]

Like a lot of "Old Pharts," I'm familiar with Marine Models Company kits from years gone by. They were high quality kits for their time, equivalent to the old Model Shipways "yellow box" kits. What you see above is what you get. Their plans were generally well done, but don't expect an "idiot-proof" step-by-step instruction manual and laser-cut wooden parts.  Kit manufacturers fifty years ago in an age when most gentlemen had a certain degree of manual arts skills acquired from the osmosis of life, if nothing else, expected more of their customers that they would be entitled to expect from today's generation of "keyboard jockeys."   Regrettably, some of MMCo.'s metal castings seem to have contained a fair amount of lead and may be subject to deterioration from oxidation. They should be able to be replicated in cast resin, using the lead originals as patterns.

 

What these kits provided were a set of plans, a rough, machine-carved solid basswood hull, a few metal fittings, some dowel spars, and string. It would be an excellent "transitional" model, for one interested in the clipper ships and looking to make "the leap into hyperspace" to scratch building. (Or "go over to the dark side" as some may believe!) This is a 1:192 (1/16" to the foot) model which will limit the detail one will be able to provide and it will otherwise pose a challenge in terms of its relatively small scale but it is still capable of producing a nice model if built with care and attention. 

 

Red Jacket was the first ship of the White Star Line and had a long live in many trades. She appears to be very well documented and there is a lot of information and plans for her online.

 

 

A forumite build a very nice example of the very similar Bluejacket Shipcrafters' Red Jacket 1:96 scale solid hull model and posted a piece on the completion of that build. (See:

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[Jaager]

About the ship - Red Jacket at 1:96  was one of Wm Crothers  - Sea Gull plans.  Still available  at Taubman  (Loyalhannah Dockyard) B/W scan of original blue prints - time has made the contrast between the background and lines less than ideal.  They are both outside the planking -for solid carved like the above - and inside for POF - much detail -  probably too much for 1/8":1'.

One aspect is that the original ship was huge.   Crothers probably would have preferred a 1:48  except that this scale, not many of us could live in the same dwelling with a fully masted and rigged model that is that large.

1:16":1' is miniature scale and is probably too small for anything thicker than rice paper to be suitable as sail material.  It would need to be wispy / ephemeral - the rigging line is challenge enough.  It would almost take having a pet black widow spider to provide scale line starting material.  (I seem to remember reading that the spider once was used to make crosshairs for optics.)

The kit would probably be an excellent initial project for someone with an ambition to try scratch miniature.  The pre-carved hull gets you beyond that first significant barrier.

As is, this kit could probably produce a higher quality decorator model that could live in an office or library - in a case - always in a case.

[Cornhusker1956]

Members

The kit has found a new home.  I thank you for your interest and information.