USCG Taney WHEC-37
by Tim Reynaga

1/303 USCG Taney WHEC-37 (Revell)

This is Revell's 1/303 scale U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney, a golden oldie dating from 1956. A fairly accurate kit overall, it unfortunately suffers from many plastic model kit shortcomings typical of the time: indifferent parts fit, simplified weapons, heavy details, and of course those awful solid molded hand rails. Intended for the baby boomer child market, early issues even had the parts divided among sprues molded in white, black, and orange-brown plastic so kids wouldn't have to paint them! This semi-toy approach makes this kit a quick one to assemble but a bit of a challenge to detail. Still, it was one of the first plastic model ship kits ever, so I guess it can be forgiven for being less than today's state of the art.

Subsequent issues over the years (sometimes as the Campbell, more often as the Taney) have appeared in all white plastic with new box art and decals. The model is a pretty good representation of the ship as it appeared in the early 1950s, with only a few minor inaccuracies:

Gold Medal Models (GMM) set 300-17 REVELL USCG CAMPBELL / EASTWIND photoetched brass and HR Products white metal weapons go a long way to update this classic kit. I built this model as a gift for my dad who served aboard in the 1950s, so I went all out and added other refinements as well:

MAIN DECK:

HULL:

SUPERSTRUCTURE:

WEAPONS:

MASTS AND RIGGING:

Tim Reynaga


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