New ocean freighter kit for N-scalers

[Loren Perry]

In the latest Squadron Mail Order (www.squadron.com) catalog update, the Chinese firm of Meng, known for its incredibly detailed armor and other high-quality kits, is about to release a 1/150 scale plastic kit of a Chinese steamship that looks like a typical 1930's - 1950's ocean going merchant ship. Announced price is $192.59 and the product number is MMOS008 with a published name of "The Crossing" Taiping Chinese Steamer. The scale is slightly larger than N-scale, but not noticeably so. It would be great for a harbor scene on a good sized layout.

[victor miranda]

hi Loren Perry,

Cool!

http://www.squadron.com/Meng-1-150-Taiping-Chinese-Steamer-p/mmos001.htm

is out of stock...

[djconway]

model boats like model trains by the time you see it its out of stock.

[sirenwerks]

FWIW, the narrative states that the model is of the ship AFTER being converted to passenger service.

[H Lee]

hi Loren Perry,

Cool!

http://www.squadron.com/Meng-1-150-Taiping-Chinese-Steamer-p/mmos001.htm

is out of stock...

The full statement on the web page is:
"Stock Status:(Out of Stock)
In-Stock:: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come first served."

[jimmo]

Hey Loren, are you going to make brass railing & detail sets for this?

[Loren Perry]

Hey Loren, are you going to make brass railing & detail sets for this?

Not this time. I don't make ship fittings in anything larger than 1/200 scale. Besides, Meng should be able to produce reasonably good fittings in this scale. The kit looks like it can be easily modified to a pure freighter by deleting one or more upper decks and adding some cargo handling equipment as needed. I see a lot of potential here for N-scale harbor modelers. And even better for us North American N-scalers, as the copy on the Squadron link states, this ship is actually an American-built Great Lakes freighter that was later modified by its subsequent Chinese owners into a passenger vessel.

[jimmo]

A Laker conversion would make decent little cargo ship in N-scale. A few years ago I converted a Shell Welder model into a pretty good laker-type ship.