Now that those of us who have been begging for a lightship have got their wish with this years LS Overfalls, anybody have any thoughts on what we might see next year?

Maybe another lightship? or maybe an oldtime Coast Guard ship? Maybe something different ???

Perhaps John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard?

I'm hoping for another CG Ship. Old or new is good, old is better.

I would love to see another Coast Guard ship too!

Judy

We talked about the Navy Temporary Lightships for WW I awhile back and I suggested the Brant.
Maybe that one would be made?

USS Brant

I would love to see the Ambrose Lightship made.

Hal

I like all those mentioned so far, but Daniel's sounds the most interesting.

I think the 2009 Anchor Bay will be a USCG ship, but I'm hoping for either the Liberty or Barnegat lightship.

Their have been several historic navel vessels, coast Guard and memorable lightships that have been sculptured or suggested to Anchor Bay. A great lady of the lakes, however, that may considered by Anchor Bay is the "S.S.Edmond Fitzgerald". It is one that many of the Collector's Society in the Great Lakes Area have seen or know as it passed by nunerous lighthouse sentinels on it's passage through the lakes. On November 10, 1975 it sank in Canadian waters in Lake Superior north of Whitefish Point Lighthouse with loss of 29 never to be seen again. On the anniversary of November 10th a bell is rung out for each sailor at Mariner's Church in Detroit in memory of Captain McSorley and his sailors.

Every time I think about the Edmund Fitzgerald, I start singing Gordon Lightfoot!

Angus

The Edmund Fitzgerald was done twice in the Cheryl Spencer Collins lighthouse collection--once as the intact ship (a long piece) and once as a scene showing the ship sinking off Whitefish Point lighthouse (with the lighthouse on the piece).

What I remember from years ago that HL did review the idea of making the Edmund Fitzgerald. The main problem was how to fit a large ship into a collectable size. To show the whole ship would make it extremely tiny or to make it in the same scale of other A.B.’s the model would be very large and expensive. There was also discussion of making the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald so that only half of the ship would be made thus reducing the size, but HL thought it to be in bad taste.

All these discussion was before the two Cheryl Spencer Collins E.F. were made.


Not sure what scale the CSC-EF is but there is a wood model on Ebay that is 4" high and 18" long. Don't think it is to scale. I came up with something different.

With the actual Length being 729 feet and the full height at 39 feet a 4" high model would have the length of 74.8 inches

As I do recall, HL did make a prototype of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was sold at the auction at the end of the Mackinac Reunion according to my notes.

Anybody who attended got any photos???

I thought there was one made, but not going to the reunions I have to rely on what I hear from on this forum.

Sorry, I was a little bit too busy to take photos. Paul or someone may have some.

I will check my files, I remember shooting one, but don't remember if I posted it as a lot of the images went to HL for the Legacy..

Lee and Judy Hall with the painting and the greenware of the ship..

Thanks Paul.

Thanks Paul!

Great pic !!!

I can see why Harbour Lights didn’t go thru with its production.
It makes the Mighty Fitzgerald look like a toy. If the Edmund Fitzgerald was to be made I think HL would have to go with a larger size and shorten the length to where it still keeps it long look but short enough to make it look practical to display. In other words, use artistic design so this ship is even feasible to make. Still make it look long but not so ridiculously long that it wouldn’t fit in your curio cabinet. I believe that the model shown above probably is not scaled at full length.

Now the production amount. Bigger the figurine smaller the production. The production preferably around 500 to 750. 1500 max. Since this is an extremely popular ship it will have a chance to sell out even with a larger size and price tag.

Size I think should be around 18” and price around $150 ($120 if possible) and no more than $180.

Just some of my ideas. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

While I can see where the EF might be a good seller in some parts of the country, I don't think that it would be a sellout. In order to make it worth my money to buy it I would have to have plenty of detail and that would make it too big for me. I think that HL(Anchor Bay) should stay with confirmed winners like CG Ships or Light Ships. They tried once before to produce regular ships/boat and that didn't work very well. I'll pass on the EF.

Sorry, but I tend to just quietly read messages in the forums, but I'd love to give my two cents worth on this subject. Even might tend to help a big project along if more folks help pressure congress.

I'd like to suggest the Coast Guard Cutter STORIS. I admit to a bias, but she sure is deserving of a better fate than she has at the moment. I was stationed on her from 1965-67 at Kodiak, Alaska (my first tour out of boot camp).

The STORIS was built in 1942 at Toledo, OH. Her icebreaking hull made her perfect for patrolling waters off of Greenland during WW2. After the war she was transferred to Alaska where she has patrolled the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea ever since. In 1957, she along with two buoy tenders, were the first American ships to circumnavigate the North American continent by traveling through the Northwest Passage above Canada. She continued patrolling Alaskan waters enforcing fisheries laws, conducting search and rescue, resupplying remote Alaskan villages and breaking ice when needed. For eight years she was the oldest commissioned cutter in the Coast Guard and proudly wore gold numbers on her bow instead of the usual black or white.

Lastyear she was finally decommissioned and was transported to San Francisco where she was stripped of her Coast Guard identity and sits today with the rest of the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay. Last fall, many of us held a reunion of crewmembers in Reno and an effort was started to assist a group in Juneau who are desperately working to return the ship to that city to make an Alaskan maritime and Coast Guard historical museum out of her by 2010.

I'm thinking it would be a wonderful opportunity to help them in achieving this goal if an Anchor Bay replica was produced and perhaps a minor portion be donated to the effort to return her to a glorious future. It would also help just by making people more aware so they can urge their congressional reps to do something to save a piece of history. If you'd like more info and a few pictures, got to:

www.storismuseum.org

Thanks for reading.

Rich

I think the Storis would make a great AB release. She looks different then any prior release.

Great suggestion Rich. You should send this info onto TonyC if you haven't already.

I hope they can make her part of the Alaskan Maritime and Coast Guard historical museum.

That would be a fantastic now and then

With a little figure of Rich standing on the deck doing what all good bosun's learn to do in their early days . . . or, maybe even hanging over the side chipping paint . . .

I think it is fair to say that HL will stick with CG ships and lightships, which have proved to be reasonable sellers. If they alternate lightship and cutter, the next up would be a cutter.

You got my support Rich! It's also nice to see you back on board.

Sean

Word has it that no Anchor Bay release this year. Lets hope for one in 2010.

I'm predicting a CG Cutter the end of this year. I feel it in my bones.

Enough with the CG boats...how about an old lighthouse tender like the Shubrick? Would look great parked next to some of the original collection...

Would like to re-start collecting the Anchor Bay Editions. Only one thing that stops me from doing so........NO Glass Case. Dusting these invites disaster.

I have a source for the cases at a very reasonable price. The cases average about $40 with shipping. They come with a finished or unfinished oak base, are made out of clear plexiglass and come with a mirrored or unmirrored back. They can be made in any size you want and the top lifts off like the old Anchor Bay tops. And they don't break like the glass cases. I know that $40 sounds like a lot, but, when you consider the AB ships average about $100 and $40 for the case makes them a little bit less then the original AB with cases. I can also have a brass look-a-like plate made up for you and shipped to you for $18.00

There, that should have taken care of all your reasons for not starting to collect ABs again.

Rich,
I'd be very interested to know where you get your cases.

Roland - Here is the source of the cases for everyone. I now have 4 of these cases and have always gotten the unfinished oak so I could stain them a dark walnut to match my other Anchor Bay cases. The reason I don't have more of these is because I was making my own cases for a while but these looked just as good, was just as cheap as making your own and a lot less work.

"I have discovered a new source for Anchor Bay Display Cases. The cases come with a light oak wood display base and have an acrylic plastic display case. The company is a large manufacturer of display cases for sports, doll, NASCAR, etc. collectibles. I talked to the boss about modifying a 1/18 scale NASCAR Display Case(Model D00-0018W) from their website to the case outside dimensions of 12 1/2" W x 5 3/4" D x 5 3/4" H for the MACKINAW and he indicated that this would not be a problem and there would not be an additional charge over their normal catalog price of approx. $28.50-$33.50(depending on actual dimensions). The cost for each modified case will be approx. $28.50-$33.50 + $6.50 UPS shipping for a total of $35.00-$40.00 per case. For this price you can have a prefinished light oak wooden base or they will leave the base unfinished and you can darken the oak base as you see fit. You also have a choice of a mirrored or unmirrored back panel. It will take them a week to modify the case to the above dimensions and ship it to me. I saw one of their NASCAR Display Cases in Daytona and was very impressed with the quality. Needless to say, I ordered 2 of these modified Mackinaw cases.

In talking to Jeff Sampson at 1-888-742-5567, he also indicated that they would consider modifying any of their other cases for other Anchor Bay ships that did not come with a case. He said that he would welcome other inquiries about his products. The name of the company is Clearwater Displays located in Binghamton, NY. Their website is www.clearwaterdisplays.com and their phone number is 1-888-742-5567. They take credit cards and will accept your order from their website on standard available cases or over the phone for special modified cases."

I also recalculated the dimensions for the Mackinaw and have changed them on this post. I'm also listing, what I feel to be the best dimensions, for several of the other Anchor Bays to keep several of the dimensions the same so when you display them there will be some cases almost the same. They display a little better this way. Here are your dimensions:

Eagle - 11" Wide x 5 3/4" Deep x 8 1/2" High
110" Patrol Boat - 11" Wide x 5 3/4" Deep x 5 3/4" High
Taney - 12 1/2" Wide x 5 3/4" Deep x 5 3/4" High
Mackinaw - 12 1/2" Wide x 5 3/4" Deep x 5 3/4" High

Hope this helps and you may lessen any of these dimensions if you feel they are to large. It's your call.