I must have a horseshoe up my butt.... another vintage kit fell into my lap. It is a NIB Sterling Missouri including the hardware kit. My model boat club has a display at a carnival in my home town, and someone from another hobby stall mentioned the kit to me - bought it sight unseen for $40. The box is in very rough shape but it seems to be complete including the plans, instructions, decal and flag sheet. The balsa even seems to be good- no dry rot or anything.

I will be building this as WWII setup, and of course converting to four props from the kit's one. This will be my first military vessel built, and I will be building it accurately to the period and with as much detail as I am able. God help us all.... Will be doing the original wood hull, but recreating everything from deck up in styrene for multiple reasons.

Wish me luck, and any advice will be very much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Dmon96

I must have a horseshoe up my butt.... another vintage kit fell into my lap. It is a NIB Sterling Missouri including the hardware kit. My model boat club has a display at a carnival in my home town, and someone from another hobby stall mentioned the kit to me - bought it sight unseen for $40. The box is in very rough shape but it seems to be complete including the plans, instructions, decal and flag sheet. The balsa even seems to be good- no dry rot or anything.
.

Congratulations on your luck!!!

That's one of the (few!) Sterling kits that we have no details of - no photos of the box art or scans of the plans and instructions. What's the chance of getting such scans? Or even scans of the die-cut parts?

Really? I would have thought this would be a very popular model.... any WWII buff would be a huge fan of the Mighty Mo!

I will see what I can do after I have time.... this week I am going straight from my job to the carnival to man our booth every day, then once finished there I go home to bed. Last time I did this for the forum, the only place to get this stuff scanned was halfway across the city. But as soon as time allows I will get them to you for posterity.

Really? I would have thought this would be a very popular model.... any WWII buff would be a huge fan of the Mighty Mo!

But not on our side of the pond Dmon. Back in the 70's a mate bought the "American Scout" kit and was due to follow with the Missouri, might have been only one importer for Sterling at the time , just had a look at catalog(ue) I have but no importers name. Might have been Roland Scott.

Regards Ian.

Interesting.... Being Canadian, I have no more connection to an American battleship than you do but I have a fascination with the Missouri due to it's role in WWII as the location of the Japanese surrender.

Here's a pic of the box

Thanks - artwork up on the web site now...

Originally Posted by wingman69

Here's a pic of the box

That must be an old kit.... the box for mine is a bit different, but with the same artwork

Would very much appreciate any advice or assistance on building the stern correctly- the Sterling was set up for only three props but the Mighty Mo actually had four, and as such the stern is completely different. Does anyone have plans for making the hull accurately?

I bought some boats off of a local guy and he offered me his MO, but I had no idea of how to put a price on it given the condition.


IIRC he bought the fiberglass hull for it and it had lots of detail on it but it had fallen into disrepair.

It also seemed like it would need an absolute dead calm body of water with the low freeboard and nearly 6' length.

Might want to make provisions for some bilge pumps.

Originally Posted by RaisedByWolves

I bought some boats off of a local guy and he offered me his MO, but I had no idea of how to put a price on it given the condition.


IIRC he bought the fiberglass hull for it and it had lots of detail on it but it had fallen into disrepair.

It also seemed like it would need an absolute dead calm body of water with the low freeboard and nearly 6' length.

Might want to make provisions for some bilge pumps.

LOL - one of my scratch builds is a 4 foot+ sternwheeler where the waterline is literally lapping on the underside of the main deck. You are right, a bilge pump is not a bad thing to have (and I have one in that sternwheeler).... but a low waterline does not scare me. I will be loading the foam into the hull, and superstructure will be tethered to the hull as well. Too bad you didn't grab that fiberglass Missouri- have heard that fiberglass hull is nice to have. I love building hulls, but on this ship I would make the exception- getting to be a real PITA to build it accurately!

Originally Posted by Dmon96

LOL - one of my scratch builds is a 4 foot+ sternwheeler where the waterline is literally lapping on the underside of the main deck. You are right, a bilge pump is not a bad thing to have (and I have one in that sternwheeler).... but a low waterline does not scare me. I will be loading the foam into the hull, and superstructure will be tethered to the hull as well. Too bad you didn't grab that fiberglass Missouri- have heard that fiberglass hull is nice to have. I love building hulls, but on this ship I would make the exception- getting to be a real PITA to build it accurately!

I still have a line on it, Im just not sure if I want to take it on.

If I were a WWII buff it would be a no brainer, but after witnessing some of his other work it would be a complete tear out and refit.

Im tearing into the Dusseldorf I got from him and its either wired with lamp cord and bits of extention cord, or solid core bell wire in place of proper servo leads with packing tape instead of electrical tape or heat shrink.

Oddly enough, with all the corners he cut he actually did a good job on the soldering, go figure.

Originally Posted by RaisedByWolves

I still have a line on it, Im just not sure if I want to take it on.

If I were a WWII buff it would be a no brainer, but after witnessing some of his other work it would be a complete tear out and refit.

Im tearing into the Dusseldorf I got from him and its either wired with lamp cord and bits of extention cord, or solid core bell wire in place of proper servo leads with packing tape instead of electrical tape or heat shrink.

Oddly enough, with all the corners he cut he actually did a good job on the soldering, go figure.

Ah, one of THOSE builders.... I feel your pain. I bought an Aerokits Sea Queen that was build with a hot glue gun a few years ago. I ended up completely dismantling the whole boat and rebuilding everything. For those who have never done it, it is a lot more work getting a "finished" model sometimes.

i have the complete kit from 20 yrs ago. what pics do you want?

I have two of these kits from the late 50s/early 60's. I think Sterling stopped these around 1960 or so. The box lengths are different with slightly different artwork on each. I am thinking I got two from different runs. I am planning to build one circa Jan. 1945 when she first joined the pacific fleet and the other will be a circa 1991 as she was upgraded for Operation Desert Storm. Should be a challenge.