Which lightship is the best?

I know, it depends on where you live. I really want only one model of the lightships. A local gift store has had their A-B at 1/2 price forever, and I cannot decide. I only have room for one... but which one?

They have Chesapeake, Huron, and Portsmouth - all 'Special' with glass cases. They also have the sardine 'Lori' and yacht 'Kim'... that sardine boat is neat with it's detailed little folk, but the theme will be lightships, er, lightship - I just want one! Which one has the best/most accurate detail, interesting history, etc??

Thanks!

John

I'm partial to the Lightship HURON. The last lightship to serve on the Great Lakes. In lower Lake Huron close to Port Huron, my hometown. It is unique among lightships being painted black vs. the standard red.

Lightships are named after the station they serve over. There never was a station named 'Portsmouth' - that name was given after the ship was retired and placed in the city of Portsmouth.

Chesapeake is the only one of the three you mentioned that actually still is floating. (Huron is nestled in 'dry dock' next to the St. Clair River.)

These are great additions to your Harbour Lights collection - and at half price - you could add all four ships.

That's right John, you can find room for all of them, can't you? All four for the price of two? I wish I had that option when I bought mine!

I'm kinda partial to the "Chesapeake" myself!

Nothing against the Huron, but red shows up better on a display than black. I would choose either the Chesapeake or the Portsmouth.

I have all the AB's and display all the AB's. For half off you should take advantage and buy a couple more.

Bob

Living in Huron, OH, naturally I would get the Huron lightship. Oh wait. That is the one I got.

Tom

I would buy all three lightships at that price and alternately display them if you only have the physical room for one. If the shp is willing to sell them at half off then he is breaking even on what he has invested. I'd gamble and offer him 60%off and tell him you will take all three. Then you will have the complete set minus The Columbia(my least favorite). If you hold to your guns and only buy one then I would go with the Portsmouth(I like the hull style the best).

Rich

Thanks for all of the great input. Actually, I am now more confused than ever - guess I'll try for all three!

John

Be sure to keep us posted John on what your final outcome is. I don't think you'll be sorry that you get all three especially at the price that your getting them for.

Rich

Sadly, yesterday's mail included my MC bill. It now exceeds the GNP of many third-world nations! I'll wait a day or two to let it settle - cool off. Hmmm, where does my wife store hers?

Actually, I can't decide - I may wait too long to decide, but those 1/2 off stickers - and the ships themselves - have been there a while. Decisions.

Thanks for the help, Rich & everyone else.

John

I know that I'm alittle late on responding but I've had the opportunity to visit all three and I'm a bit partial to the "HURON".

For myself I may lookat this situation a bit different. I have been interested in light ships for quite a while now.to me there are two factors.I dont have any AB's reason no room.If I had a situation where I could get 50% off I would take chesapeake and huron and leave portsmouth where it is.The only
thing I would like to see with these light ship replicas to make them more meaningful is the hull #.Bill O'Brien

Postscript to my indecision...

My wife presented me with the sardine boat 'Lori' Friday as a very early B'day present. She knew I had had better weeks. She saw the smile - and heard my "Oh well!" when she told me that the store no longer had the lightships on display and that this one was a boxed 'spare'. I knew I would wait too long.

Fearful I would find the remaining huge boxes, Alaina retrieved them from her closet minutes later, and my lightship fleet was complete. She was correct - that store no longer had them on display! I now have the Chesapeake, Huron, and Portsmouth as well. All four are 'S' variants with glass cases.

I didn't even notice the difference in case size (The Lori's is shorter in height.) in the store. I am not sure where to display these guys - the 1/2 off and price stickers must be removed and the glass cleaned first. I guess I was just fortunate she couldn't remember which ship I wanted... so she bought them all. They also found a new undisplayed Yacht 'Kim', but she knew I hadn't seen it and didn't 'want' it (yet!). I assume she didn't do better than 1/2 off as they wouldn't budge earlier.

Well, they are quite nice... but more display space - and, gads, where to put those boxes? Thanks for the helpful suggestions, everyone!

John

WD-40 will get those stickers on glass off.

You are really hooked now. I'm proud of you. Your now in debt just like the rest of us, but, you won't be sorry I'm sure. I save only the burgandy/white box the lightship came in and threw the rest away. I beieve that is the only box with the sticker on. I folded it up and stored it with the rest of my folded up boxes.

Rich

Rich,

Great idea, saving just the model's box. Of course, I just rearranged my box storage last night, putting those case boxes on the bottom. One lightship came without any box while another had a numbered outer (Huge!) white box.

I had already used 'Goo Gone', a citrus-petroleum mix, to remove the stickers - then glass cleaner. I am about to move the lights around on the rather large shelf over my desk, designed for and formerly full of G-scale trains. I wonder if I can make room for that 'Kim'....

Yes, all of this is so addictive! Sadly, my cc broke in half above the magnetic strip... but I can still call the numbers in! Ha! Now, if only the NASDAQ would 'climb' like my cc bill!

John

My favorate is the Portsmouth. I think the detail is really the best of all the lightships that were made by Harbour Lights. The only thing that I don't like is there was never a Portsmouth lightship and I was surprised that Harbour Lights made that one. Hal

Hal, I wasn't aware of that. Although never called Portsmouth while it was commissioned, this tells the story of her different stations and why it's called the Portsmouth today.

http://members.aol.com/valights/portsmth1.htm