I am a new member trying to decide which to build. I am new to wood ship modeling but have done plastics and wood flying models in the past. I am trying to decide between Amati's Robert E. Lee and the AL King of the Mississippi or the OcCree Mississippi Riverboat. Can anyone share experiences with any of these that would help me decide which to build? I expect to take my time and take a year or more to build it. Thanks for your help.
Alan

 

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After building a 1/85th scale ship, I have come to the conclusion that I will not do another ship smaller than about 1/70th scale. This is because I have trouble getting the details to look correct on anything smaller - I'm just not that good of a modeler. However, the Occer riverboat is so good looking (to me) than the others I would probably get that one. I would imagine others on this site will have a different opinion on that. Just my 2 cents.

Richard (actually I'm eating lunch, not drinking coffee - we need an eating lunch smiley)

 

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I have not modeled any of the three but have worked with kits from all three makers. I find the OcCre kits to be very superior.

 

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i would say go for the mississippi by AL .. thats a good kit to start with.. not so much hull working and rigging but still a challange..
i have some pics of it in my gallery

 

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I have lately been doing some reading and research on this type of vessel. I have built one plastic model of the Lee by revell and am currently modifying a Pyro version to improve the accuracy. I also have a Scientific wooden kit of the Robt E Lee waiting in the wings for my research to mature.

If you scratch below the surface of the subject you will realize that none of the kits are very faithful to the originals.

There was great variation in Western river paddlewheel steamers and the kits that you mention are of dramatically different vessel types. The Robert E Lee sold by Amati is of an actual vessel, the one that raced the Natchez VI and won. This vessel was immortalized in the Currier and Ives print of the "Great Steamboat Race." The Spirit of the Mississippi by OcCre is a fanciful representation of a fictional sternwheeler that is entirely artistic in nature. None of the scaling of individual elements is "correct." The model lacks the shear and deck camber typical in these boats. The same can be said of the Mantua "Mississippi Riverboat." The Artesania Latina "King" suffers from the same problems but appears to be marginally better in every respect.

The Amati "Lee" is by far the most "correct" model but it also has several obvious errors. If cost is not an issue my reccomendation would be to purchase a copy of the plans by Alan Bates (http://alan-bates.steamboats.org/mo...s-robtelee.html) for the Robert E Lee and his Steamboat Cyclopedium (out of print but is occasionaly available on ebay or Amazon) and then build a corrected model of the Amati Lee. My plan is to do this with my Scientific kit of the Lee. I am not sure how much of the actual kit will be used in the end.

My intermediate step is to do this with the Pyro/Lindbergh plastic kit of the Lee that I found on Ebay. Though not wooden models the Pyro/Lindergh models are pretty nice representations (not painfully inaccurate) that can be modified for accuracy without the daunting blank page feeling of a true scratch build.

There is a small but passionate community of steamboat enthusiasts that can be found through sites such as:

http://www.steamboats.org
http://www.steamboats.com/museum/
http://modelplans.steamboats.org
http://www.s-and-d.org/
http://www.sshsa.org/
http://groups.msn.com/allendalesste...s/welcome.msnw/

 

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didnt know that m8 thx for the info

 

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Boy, that is great information grmorris. Thank you for sharing and taking the time to type it all. This changes my whole perspective on which model to build in the future.

Richard

 

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Thank you all for your input. It is all very helpful. I have decided on the AL King of the Mississippi and have ordered it from Tower Hobbies. They seem to have the best prices.
Alan

 

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Hello, George.
Please let me tap into your knowledge and familiarity with Robert E. Lee kits. I'm interested in building a Robert E. Lee as close to 1/144 scale as possible. The Amati kit seems to be a tad smaller than 1/144, the Scientific and Constructo kits a bit larger. I say "seems" re scale of kits because of errors in listings (e.g., the Constructor kit is usually stated as 1/48 scale), and you cannot be certain how the models are being measured (e.g., re overall length, do they measure from stern rail to end of prow, or include the overhang of bow ramps?).
Right now I'm leaning towards the Scientific kit, mostly because of price. A number of Scientific kits have recently sold on eBay for an average of $50, compared to $400 for the Amati and $200 for the Constructo kits. What are your thoughts re scale, and value per dollar?
Cheers, Dean.

 

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Heads-up for sidewheeler fans. Thru July 31, ModelExpo has the Amati Robert E. Lee on sale for $339.99. The deal includes free shipping, a free set of 4 pliers, and no sales tax if not Florida resident. Offer code is W354. Cheers, Dean.