I happened to find a Revell Long Beach model at an antique dealer in Va. Beach, Va. It caught my eye because I served aboard her in '67-'68. The box was slightly damaged and, it turned out, the fuselage of the regulus missile and one of the boat davits was missing.
Since I wanted it for nostalgia, rather than value, I painted and assembled the model, whittling a regulus from the plastic tree. Although it's not to scale (a bit large) it looks darn good.
My only gripe is that the model is designed from the original ship designs, which were changed by JFK and the navy brass to get rid of the regulus and install 5"/38 gun mounts amidships. Since I was lead P.O. in charge of gun fire control, I'd rather have those guns on the model, but it wasn't to be.
If I can get hold of another one, I'll try to refurbish the model with parts from other kits.
My wife is not fond of the model, so it now sits on top of the toilet tank in my bathroom, which also has photos of ships I served aboard. My friends refer to it as the "heavy cruiser" bathroom. If I wasn't skinny, that would piss me off, I guess.
Hope we both have luck finding our kits. Oh, there is a model builder that will build a custom long beach model for you, but it looks expensive.
http://www.motionmodels.com.Take care,
JohnB
http://www.johnbushore.com 
