The Ship Model Forum

For all who want to make ... as me ... out of the Chen Yuen (also written as "Zhenyuan") kit a conversation to the IJN Chin'en, following informations:

The Chen Yuen was captured by the Japanese in the Sino War and pressed into service as Japans first battleship. In 1901 the ship was renovated and modernized. Following things were done:

a)
Replacement of the 150mm Krupp guns to rapid fire 152mm Vickers guns. 1 gun remained in the bow turret, the turret of the stern was removed and the 152mm gun was placed there with a full shield and 2 others were placed behind the main turrets on new extensions in level of the center main deck which were in half circle shape (on each side 1 gun with full shields.
b)
Between foremast and bow turret was a pair of 57mm guns with simple shields installed. The 2 in origin placed small boats there were deleted.
c)
8 x 47mm guns were installed ... 4 in the aft section (2 on each side) of the center main deck in front of the aft 152mm gun. Further 4 were installed in the center (2 on each side again) of the main section
d)
the aft mast was renewed with the booms
e)
On each platforms of both masts was a 37mm gun installed

Here some pictures of the Chin'en...

[u]a) Before renovation and modernization[/u]

[url=https://postimg.org/image/npdki84qt/][img]https://s26.postimg.org/npdki84qt/Cin_en_before_rebuilding.jpg[/img][/url]

[u]b) After the renovating and modernization:[/u]

[url=https://postimg.org/image/mkjicui9x/][img]https://s26.postimg.org/mkjicui9x/Chin_en_02.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.org/image/3thl2onph/][img]https://s26.postimg.org/3thl2onph/Chin_en_03.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.org/image/a9qjsrw91/][img]https://s26.postimg.org/a9qjsrw91/Chin_en.jpg[/img][/url]

Cheers,
Christian

A little late but thanks for the Blue Star info. I recently bought the new book from Piotr Olender, "Sino-Japanese Naval War 1894-1895". It has the same quote as earlier about the tops of the turrets being remved along with removing boats etc. It occured to me that none of the photo's of either Ting Yuan or Chen Yuan titled from dates corresponding to Yalu or Weihaiwei battles show the tops of the turrets removed. The only photo that shows this is the one of Chen Yuan in drydock after the war being refitted by the Japanese. Except for removing the boats, I think it very unlikely that the other modifications were carried out at Yalu. The chances that they were carried out at Weihaiwei is much greater as Ting Yuan was anchored and Chen Yuan was undergoing repair of grounding damage. Also there is a passage in the book about the Chinese admiral Ting Ju-chang being blown off the bridge wing that extended over the turrets. These were supposed to have been cut back when the turrets were uncovered. Any photo's that would confirm or deny this?

[quote="Dan Banks"]Gentlemen: Where are you getting the Blue Star PE set, having trouble finding an outlet? I am in the USA.
Thanks Dan[/quote]

Dan I think I got it through FreeTime. I bought the set almost a year ago. If they can't get it you may look on ebay or contact Internet Hobbies. I check ebay this morning and they did not have any listed.
Let me know if you need the address to Blue Star Admiral and I'll send it to you.

As a side note I really like the set and the wood deck too. They compliment the Bronco kit rather than giving you more of the same stuff provided with the kit PE. The wood deck details are amazing with the proper scale spacing whereas the kit parts are overscale. If you find it I highly recommend both of them.

(edit note:) Okay here you go http://www.ebay.com/itm/Voyager-1-350-Beiyang-Fleet-Flagship-Ting-Yuen-Wood-Deck-For-Bronco-BSD35007-/271326517886
The PE sets are listed as discontinued but I would check with Brandon at Free time anyway.

Gentlemen: Where are you getting the Blue Star PE set, having trouble finding an outlet? I am in the USA.
Thanks Dan

[quote="DariusP"]It's just an opinion but: IF Chinese followed European schemes of painting ships than yellow turrets were unlikely. I don't recall seeing a European warship of the period with yellow turrets. This blogger is also wrong on couple of other points. One being that Chen Yuen had only shields of the main guns landed before Yalu River. Bow and stern guns were shielded.[/quote]

Dang it, the yellow turrets would have looked good. Thanks for the input!

It's just an opinion but: IF Chinese followed European schemes of painting ships than yellow turrets were unlikely. I don't recall seeing a European warship of the period with yellow turrets. This blogger is also wrong on couple of other points. One being that Chen Yuen had only shields of the main guns landed before Yalu River. Bow and stern guns were shielded.

Another question this time about painting.
I found a few variations on the web from the kit version. One blog site had a number of very well done artist colorings. (hubin6678.blog.163.com/blog)
I was thinking of doing mine like the first picture on this blog. Basically the change would be for the fore and aft turret changed to yellow rather than white.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks DariusP for taking the time to look this up. I think I will skip the reels, as we have yet to find any on any in the photo's.

Mast ladders are provided with the Blue Star set, any tips for bending?

Can't help you with reels CG. Haven't found a single piece of info about them. Better news with braces BUT photographs in my files appear to show that there were 2 on the foremast and 1 on mainmast.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/A1fQ7HT.jpg[/img]

The one on the mainmast was in the same position as the lower one on the foremast.

[quote="DariusP"]I'm glad you are enjoying this kit CG. Which period of her career have you decided on?[/quote]

The ratlines by Blue Star extend to the edge of the main deck. Peter Rathgeb posted a period picture on the first page of this thread showing just that. however after she was transferred from Germany to China at some point these were moved to the superstructure. Based on that I will plan on the first configuration.

Now the Blue Star instructions (picture 1) show the mast support brace (B-14 and B-3) but did not call out where on the mast it goes. They give you enough of these for three complete braces. As you can see on my second picture of the rebuilt ship in China two can be seen on the mast, so I am assuming that one will go on the foremast and two on the aft.
You can see the cable reels marked a B31 too, but no indication where they go.

Another interesting thing Blue Star supplied a link chain for the anchors as well as a photo etch chain.

I'm glad you are enjoying this kit CG. Which period of her career have you decided on?

Got started on the Bronco kit, I must say I was very impressed with the quality and fit so far. The grey plastic is not to hard or soft and the lower deck they added under the main deck really helped to stabilize the hull. Plus they give you the option of where to cut for waterline. The added deck will help keep it in shape if you take that approach.
The detail on the guns are exceptional for injected molding.
The Blue Star PE and wood deck sets are very high quality as well. So far this is starting to turn out as a great kit.

Here is a couple of pictures from Virginia. Have no idea why they used iron, maybe it was the factories producing so much in the US. from 1860-early 1900's.

Yes, you guys did have your own way of doing things (like using wood in places where other nations used iron). Wood is cheaper than iron and iron is cheaper than brass. So, maybe for similar reasons, iron was used instead of brass? Wood/iron substitute seems to have worked well enough for its given purpose so, perhaps, iron/brass did so as well?

Give me few days to check if I can answer your other two questions.

[quote="DariusP"]Strange... I can't recall a ship of this period with propellers made of anything but brass![/quote]

American ships (ironclads and steamers prior to 1880) were mostly iron. (have not seen any that were brass) Mainers Museum Newport News Va. has a number of examples. Not sure what other nations were doing at that time.

Another question, I have the Blue Star PE set which include 6 cable reels. Anyone know where these might have been placed? I could not find any reels in the pictures I found online.

BTW: What brand of "buff" would you recommend? (Testors/TAM or other), I cannot find WEM Buff in stock anymore in the US.

Strange... I can't recall a ship of this period with propellers made of anything but brass!

I have the Bronco Ting Yuen kit and noticed the propellers are called out as gold (brass?).
My question is are they really brass or iron?
I have been to a number of museums in the US and seen the propellers of other ship of the time and all were iron.

[quote="Christian M."]Thank you very much for Information. :wave_1:[/quote]
No problem - I was actually very interested in that class - I was planning an 1898 W/if battle where Argentina tries to gain favor with Spain by joining them against America & the USS Oregon has to fight the Argentine Navy (just looking to collect the right ship minis for it).

[quote="GMG4RWF"][quote="Christian M."]Does / can anyone tell me from who is this Japanese battleship 3rd from above?[/quote]
I believe that is the Giuseppe Garibaldi-class Armored Cruiser IJN Kasuga. A prolific class built by Italy. they operated 3 (+1 other later sold) with 2-10" guns in single turrets. Argentina operated 4, 3 with 2-10" singles & 1 with 2-8" twins. Spain bought 1, the Cristóbal Colón, which was put in service without main guns (due to neutrality restrictions during the Spanish /American war) she was lost at Santiago. and Japan bought 2 but couldn't decide on the range of the 10" single or the RoF of the 8" twins so Kasuga took both (1 each) and her sister IJN Nisshin took the twin 8", the mixed caliber proved a poor compromise.[/quote]

Thank you very much for Information. :wave_1:

[quote="Christian M."]Does / can anyone tell me from who is this Japanese battleship 3rd from above?[/quote]
I believe that is the Giuseppe Garibaldi-class Armored Cruiser IJN Kasuga. A prolific class built by Italy. they operated 3 (+1 other later sold) with 2-10" guns in single turrets. Argentina operated 4, 3 with 2-10" singles & 1 with 2-8" twins. Spain bought 1, the Cristóbal Colón, which was put in service without main guns (due to neutrality restrictions during the Spanish /American war) she was lost at Santiago. and Japan bought 2 but couldn't decide on the range of the 10" single or the RoF of the 8" twins so Kasuga took both (1 each) and her sister IJN Nisshin took the twin 8", the mixed caliber proved a poor compromise.