Background

Atlantis Model Company was founded in 2009 by the former owners of Megahobby.com, Peter Vetri and Rick DelFavero. Atlantis manufactures injection-molded plastic model kits and hobby related products. When they started Megahobby.com back in 2000, they had dreams of becoming more than just another retail hobby shop. They wanted to become an actual model production company like the Aurora Model Co and Revell-Monogram. As Megahobby grew, it gave them the opportunity to create Atlantis and finally come out with our own branded model kits. On August 29th, 2018, Atlantis purchased the tooling for many plastic model kits from the new owners of Revell, Revell Inc. USA-Blitz Partners. These molds were from the tooling banks of Monogram, Revell, Aurora and Renwal, some dating back to the early 1950s. They were stored in Revell’s Elk Grove facility in Illinois and represent Automotive, Aircraft, Ships, Military, Figures, Space and many other interesting subjects.

The Kit

This Atlantis 2026 release of the Fire Boat - Harbor Fire Department is packaged in a standard rigid top opening upper box with all parts contained in the lower box. The box top features a close representation of the original box top cover. The original Lindberg kit [Kit No.803, probably released in 1959] wears “The Lindberg Line” on the bottom of the hull. The original decals were simple with “Fire Department” in white for both sides of the hull. Another release was in 1964 [Kit No.771] as the Captain T. Ahearn Fire Boat with an optional huge propeller powered by a rubber band. A set of four Lindberg boats was released in 1991 as “Waterfront Four” and included the Fire Boat, Tuna Seiner, Tug Boat, and Tow Boat. You will often see these kits referred to as 1/60-scale, but they are actually 1/160-scale [N-Scale].

This kit consists of thirty-four injected plastic styrene parts, all in tan. The completed kit is 5.5” in length. Two pedestals are provided for a stand. Decals cover the “Detroit Fire Department” and “FDNY firefighter” printed in black. Two sets of white numbers are also provided: “9” and “8”. I would note that this is a box stock build and that no additional parts or modification to the parts were pursued. I started the build by washing all parts in Dawn and warm water to remove any mold release. I can’t tell if it is really needed on this kit, but once you have had paint peel off because you didn’t wash the parts is as good as a reason as any.

I kicked off the build by gluing on the rudder and painting the hull with Mr. White Surfacer 1000. I then masked to create the white hull stripe and painted the hull Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red. Once dry, I again masked the hull and painted the lower hull Tamiya TS-14 Black. The main deck and the superstructure decks were painted Tamiya TS-46 Light Sand. I glued the two halves of the cabin and the two halves of the pilot house with its fairings next. They both took a bit of filling with Wild Bill’s Hobby Town IC-2000 Black Super Glue and sanding to be seamless and then were painted with Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red. I processed the smokestack the same way, painting it Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red, before masking off the top of the smokestack and painting it Tamiya TS-14 Black. All water cannons, spotlights, and engine vents were painted Vallejo Game Color 72.058 Brassy Brass. The crow’s next was cleaned up and assembled next and was painted Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red. The mast behind the pilot house was painted AK Dark Aluminum. All spotlight faces were painted AK Aluminum with the faces of the engine vents painted AK Flat Black. The four water hose reels were Painted Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red with the water hoses painted AK Light Tan. The cabin porthole frames were painted Vallejo Game Color 72.058 Brassy Brass along with the water manifolds. The lifebuoy floats were painted AK Flat White with AK Aluminum straps. The ship’s propeller and the two pedestal stands were painted Vallejo Game Color 72.058 Brassy Brass.

Once everything was assembled, I added the decals for ‘Detroit Fire Department’ and white number ‘9’. They settled down easily with Tamiya Mark Fit decal solution. I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color washes to weather the fire boat, using a combination of Black, Dark Brown, Brown, Pink-Brown and gray. The final coat was a shot of Tamiya TS-80 Flat Clear.

Overall Evaluation

I spent a lot more time on this model than I thought I would, but that is part of the fun. There was lots of sanding to remove pin and sink marks, but to me, that was to be expected on molds from 1959. There was more detail than I had expected, but there is still opportunity to upgrade this kit if you desire. I spent some time trying to research if there was an actual fire boat that this kit was based on but had no luck. The decal sheet is a consistent highlight from Atlantis – no more fighting with sixty-seven-year-old decal sheets! The best thing is this classic kit is available again, and it’s not at collector’s prices. I have already purchased another kit with the intention of adding a bit more detail.

My thanks to Atlantis Model Company and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great kit.

Highly Recommended !!!