I am building my third Sterling American Scout C-2 Cargo ship and would like to know if anyone knows a link where I can go to see some drawings of a C-2 Cargo Ship of the shape of the bow beneath the water line and the location (if any) for a bilge keel. Those of you who have built these models in the past know that details like this are not included in the original building plans from Sterling and our models spend more time on the shelves than in the water so details are important.

A few pictures of my last AS C-2 project and the bow of the Sterling Missouri from information and pictures I found.

Thanks,

That's what I'm talking about, 95 hits and nobody has any information on this subject which explains why I couldn't find anything. I guess there isn't much information on the costruction of them out there. Well, here's where creative license comes into play, I'll post some more pictures of what I might assume this beast looks like under the waterline as I go along.

If I remember correctly the U.S navy used these hulls to build a class of escort carriers. The Long Island, and Bouge Class. If you do a good search you may find some drydock photos or other info you need. Good luck. Tom

Navsource might have a few images you can referance, but
because of the age of the ships, few if any of the catalogue
actually have pictures...

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/13/13idx.htm

Look through the early AK series. There should be several C-1 thru C-3 ships.

Here are some pics of the FLYING ENTERPRISE. The ship was not a C-2, but
used basically the same hull form.

Due to the big box-shaped hull, bilge keels would be redundant, They would slow the ship, and be liable to damage everytime the ship tied up next to a pier when empty.

http://www.teesships.freeuk.com/1129flying2.htm

I found the bow, as Sterling's kit modeled it, was pretty much correct, at least for a model that was going to do a lot of sailing and mine did. I shipped a trunk from the UK in 1957 and it arrived in Boston on the American Scout . I walked the full length of the ship and decided the that I would build the model at some time in the future. My first attemped met with disaster on the way to California in 1962. when the moving truck carrying our furniture overturned. The next attempt came in 1985 and I kept the Hull the same. The ship is retired now but it was a very good sea boat. I have photos if anyone want to see it [ I couldn't get the file to upload here ] just E-mail me. fjkilby@aol.com.

I think the bilge keels would be about 1/3rd the ships length. She definitely had them, as they would control the rolling of the shipp in a sea way.
I'll look in my book on merchant marine stuff this weekend and see if I can come up with anything.

Originally Posted by Jerome Morris

I think the bilge keels would be about 1/3rd the ships length. She definitely had them, as they would control the rolling of the shipp in a sea way.
I'll look in my book on merchant marine stuff this weekend and see if I can come up with anything.

Thanks, I'm almost at that stage of the construction. Finding any drawings of these C-2 in detail is a challenge.

Ed

I believe drawings of the American Scout are included in the Smithsonian Institution's Maritime Administration Collection of Ship Plans. Here is a link to their page regarding their catalogs.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/shipplan.htm

Pete G.

Ed, Looking through the book, Merchant Ships, A pictorial study. By John LaDage I found:
The C-2 with a raked bow which was to reduce the ships bow wave.
On another page was a description of the bulbous bow, Which I believe was NOT put into this ship design. The bulbous bow was only incorporated into ships that had speeds from 15 to 25 knots. American Scout was a 15 knot ship. So, this tells me that the greater cost of building the bulbous bow was not worth it on this class of ship.
So, the bow on picture of the Missouri is not what the American Scout should look like. American Scout had a "standard" raked bow with a typical bow.
Hope this helps, and sorry for not having any pictures. The book really didn't have any pictures that shows a full top to bottom raked standard bow.

I found an old Maritime Administration Catalog. The drawings carried by the Smithsonian are the same today as in the older catalog, but I know the prices have nearly doubled. I recently replaced a set of SS United States Drawings that were loaned out and never returned. My SS Unoited States Plans Booklet of 16 sheets in 1/16" scale was listed at $57 in the catalog I have and is now $107.00.

There are two sets of C-2 drawings in 1/16"scale. One is for a C2-S-B1 built from 1944 thru 1945. These plans apply to 71 ships built by the Moore Dry Dock Co., Oakland, CA. The general arrangement and Outboard and Inboard Profiles are listed at $5.00 each, so they are probably no more than $10 or $15 now.

They have a lines plan in 1/4" scale listed for $15, which is probably closer to $30.00 now. It would be an accurate rendering of the hull.

The second group of C2 ships is listed as the C2-S-AJ1. A total of 64 ships were built to this design at North Carolina Shipbuilding, Wilmington, North Carolina, only from 1943 to 1945. They have a general arrangement and capacity drawing in 1/16" scale for $7 (which should be ablut twice that, now) and Rigging drawings, but no lines drawing, so the hulls may have been the same for the C2-S-B1 and C2-S-AJ1. I don't know which yard built the American Scout, and both series seem to have been built in the same time frame, so it will take some additinal research to see which set of drawings is applicable, unless any history information in the kit lists the builder.

Pete G.

Thanks Pete, I'll follow up on this Monday and keep you posted. Ed

American Scout was a C2-S-AJ5, built by North Carolina Shipbuilding, Wilmington, North Carolina. She was one of ten such ships in her sub-class.
Jonathan

I thought I would post a few pictures from the construction of the American Scout. As previously stated this is at least the third one of these Sterling Scout models I have made over the years.

I bought this from someone who's dad collected kits, the price was fair according to what they go for on Ebay and the box was never opened. Unfortunately it was perhaps one of the last of the Sterling American Scout kits that were made after they were sold, they must have wanted to get a few more kits in circulation. Every piece of balsa in the kit were different thickness, for example one bulkhead was 3/16" and the corresponding one was 3/32", more important none of the pieces were identified, guess they ran out of ink. This was no task for someone who hasen't built this kit at least several times before to be able to identify at least 95% of the parts from past experience.

What I decided to do is make every piece of the cabin and deck booms out of plastic, I wanted that perfect finish and didn't want to spend days on trying to match balsa pieces deck by deck that were of varying thickness, not to mentioned many were just so poorly punched from the sheets.

As most everyone does I placed the parts on the hull so I could enjoy the fruits of my labor. I'll keep posting a few pictures during various stages of the construction.

Looking great so far.

Pete G.