Well
I stumbled across this little kit while searching EBay and
bought it! It's of a 1950's U.S. Army Transportation Corps Tug
build out of Holland Michigan. Not sure if they where built
anywhere else? This is just one cool little tug!! You can check
out some pics of a real one operated by the
Great Lakes Maritime Academy here.
Jim Cleveland owner
of Frenchman River Model Works sells a number of kits and
details for train layouts. This tug of his while setup with
crane-barge would be a nice addition to any layout. Which by the way they sell
69' barges as well!!
It's a pretty simple
kit really, with two main parts: Hull and deckhouse. Length is
about 6.25" Beam 2". A detail bag has a number of parts to
spruce things up.
Main parts have
some very good detail. Deckhouse just needs a bit of fitting.
The windows frames-portholes are thick, typical for a resin kit.
Some careful grinding would do nicely. Windows have a sheet of
clear plastic to work with. The instruction booklet is very
detailed in the construction which makes up for the lack of
pictures.
Conclusion is it's a nice good quality kit of a great little
tug. At $43.75 it's a bit pricey, but Jim definitely puts his
time into his models!!
Vessel Details
Name: Anchor Bay
Hull #: 00012
Official # U.S.
ARMY
Builder:
Roamer Boat Co. Holland, MI
Built: 1953
Length: 42.5
Width: 12.5
Depth: 16.58
Here is a photo
while she was with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Image from
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
