Hi. I’m looking for an HO scale boat, either freight ore ore or coal boat. Basically I’m looking for a nice model to build. It may or may not end up on the layout even though there is a plan to unload Iron ore at a dock. Do anyone have any tips for a highly detailed boat that would fit on a 50’s layout?
Thanks, Magnus
Magnus,
Suggest you Google Nautical models, then look for 1:96 scale models of typical ships (I presume you are referring to the oceangoing variety, not the specialized design found only on North America’s Great Lakes.) For your era, I would look for models of the WWII Victory ship or US Maritime Administration C-1. Both are fitted for general cargo, but might carry bulk coal in captive service.
Because of its density, ore is (and was) handled in specially-fitted ships. Models may be available.
The Great Lakes bulk carriers were a very different proposition. They were too big to leave the Upper Great Lakes (wouldn’t fit the Illinois River or the locks in the Welland Canal) and were specifically designed to carry ore east and coal west, with hatches spaced to match the bunkers in docks that were sized to match the standard ore cars. By comparison with the C-1 and Victory ships, they were HUGE. (The Cleveland Cliffs shipping line modified a Victory into a medium-capacity lake boat by adding two 100-foot sections to its hull!)
Even the C-1 will be a large object if placed on an HO layout - about 1.3 meters long. The Victory is slightly longer.
OTOH, when compared to a modern supertanker or post-Panamax container ship, the C-1 looks like a bathtub toy.
Chuck (ex-Merchant Marine cadet, modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Sylvan Scale Models makes both a Great Lakes Ore boat and a general cargo freighter in HO. They are about 3-4 feet in length. The former matches up with Walthers Ore Dock pretty well. I have the ore boat kit but haven’t assembled it yet. It seems to be a quality kit though it was pretty expensive ($275)
Here is there website.
There is another company out there that also makes a larger ore boat called BearCo Marine:
http://www.bearcomarine.com/plastic.htm
This is 6 feet in length which was just too large for my layout.
I recall seeing on this message board awhile back that one company that was advertising an ore boat kit had collected money from people and then fallen very behind schedule in releasing the kit. Don’t recall the name of the company so something to watch out for. Clearly, it wasn’t Sylvan since their kit is available.
That was Resin Unlimited. They were marketing an uncompressed, full-scale HO model of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Beautiful [pre-production] model - but they didn’t realize how difficult it is to mass-produce large hull sections in resin, that will fit together perfectly. That’s why they kept pushing back their production schedule until giving up completely.
BTW I’m glad I wound up cancelling my pre-order and getting a Sylvan model instead - at ~9ft length, the Edmund would’ve wasted too much precious space in my trainroom![:D]
Thr Resin Unlimited site is http://personal.pitnet.net/jasond/ruhomenf.htm
That was exactly what I was looking for. A modell with superb detail. So if it it doesn’t fit on my current layout I can put in a display case somewhere(huge one!) and just look at it. Any other suggestions, they are all great so far. I really think that the Sylvans look pretty good to but I feel that they lack that last bit of detail.
Please everyone, more tips, they are all great so far.
Magnus
That was exactly what I was looking for. A modell with superb detail. So if it it doesn’t fit on my current layout I can put in a display case somewhere(huge one!) and just look at it. Any other suggestions, they are all great so far. I really think that the Sylvans look pretty good to but I feel that they lack that last bit of detail.
Please everyone, more tips, they are all great so far.
Magnus
My personal kit-building philosophy is that a kit is a starting point. I don’t expect most structure kits to provide the detail level that I’m interested in. That’s my job, and I really enjoy it. Model shipbuilding is a hobby unto itself, and if you look around you’ll find a lot of detail parts available for ships. (Here in the US, I see racks of ship parts at train shows.) Of course, it may take a bit of research to figure out where these things belong on a particular class of ship, but that’s all part of the fun, too.