Help me win a tour of the SS United States

[danl]

Hi all,

 

Hopefully this is ok to post.  Please let me know and or delete my post if it is not.

 

I'm hoping you fine members of the motorcycling community might be willing to help me win a tour of an awesome, rusty old piece of history (the SS United States) that has fascinated me since I moved to Philadelphia in 2001.

 

I have designed and built a scale model of the ocean liner SS United States for a contest being held by the SSUS Conservancy.  My model was designed at (1"=100' scale) in Solidworks and 3d printed.  I did the paint and assembly.

 

You can vote at the link below.  Voting ends on Sunday 6/14.  While you are there, check out the rest of the site to learn some more about the ship and the efforts to preserve it as a museum / event space / anything but scrap metal.

 

http://www.ssusc.org/instagram-contest-model-the-ss-united-states/?utm_source=Big+U+in+Dutch+News%2C+Spring+Maintenance%2C+Model+Contest&utm_campaign=Big+U+in+Dutch+News%2C+Spring+Maintenance%2C+Model+Contest&utm_medium=email

 

If two people on the same network try to vote, the second person will likely get an error message.  Using a phone with Wi-Fi turned off seems to work

 

There are a lot of really impressive models in the contest (although many are builds of a Revell kit), but I'm guessing that mine is the only submission by a member of the forum!!

 

Below are some photos of my model and the process.

 

Thanks!

Dan

[danl]

And a few more photos.

 

By the way, I think I really only need to end up in second place to win the tour.

[docc]

Nerts! I missed the voting by a day.

 

Good luck with the tour. At 15 months old, I was carried across the Atlantic to La Havre, France, on the SS America in the United States Line with my family as my father was being stationed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for his army career's "cocktail assignment." Of course, I have no recollection of the nine day voyage, but pictures reveal my mother to appear pretty miserable  - not a "cocktail assignment" for her I guess!

 

Thanks for sharing this, Dan! Keep us posted!

[danl]

Hi Docc,

 

Well I thank you for the vote you would have cast!  Thanks also to anyone who did vote for me.  I didn't end up winning the contest (which was a long shot at the end anyway).  The truth is I had been thinking about making that model for a while, but probably wouldn't have followed through if they hadn't held the contest.  I'm going to see if they have any interest in offering a tweaked version of the model as a fundraising item.  I think I could make it a snap together design that is printed in color and doesn't require painting.

 

That is very cool about your voyage on the America.  I imagine you have seen photos of that ships time as a troop carrying ship and it's ultimate fate.  I find all of that stuff fascinating.

 

Dan

[docc]

That history is fascinating! Three and half years later, we returned to New York via air travel.

 

As that was a Douglas DC6-C, that was something of an epic trip as well. At almost five years old, I do have some recollection of that voyage, but often wonder how my memories would have differed had we returned via luxury ocean liner!

 

My brother tells me the SS United States was fast enough to water ski behind. A bit worrisome, I would think, falling off the skis and expecting the great ship to circle back!