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Saturday, January 27, 2018

Bronco Chih Yuan in 1/144 Scale


So, I must be living under a rock. I came across this model recently and thought it was new, the sprues are embossed "2015". The Chih Yuan is turn of the century Yalu river combatant and was sunk in 1894. Typing in Chih Yuan brings you to a Wiki entry "Chinese Cruiser Zhiyuan", being somewhat illiterate on this subject, I finally realized that this is the same vessel. There are several english versions of the Chinese name. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool and at around $100 a good deal.


Here is my take on this kit, call it a review. It comes in a nice sturdy box, good instructions with basic color call outs. There are two schemes, the white (above) and a grey, in which the white is replaced by grey.


What was especially appealing to me was the one piece molded hull. Very nicely done.


Here is the ramming end of the hull. As you can see, very nicely done. Dragon is a nice touch, the model is essentially "steampunk".


Parts details are well done and consistent throughout. The railings can be made in plastic or etched brass. Personally, I'd use the plastic, it's very thin and looks better than the flat brass.


Main guns (in open turrets) are slide molded.


Here are the air vent thingies, notice they are molded as one part, which will contribute immensely to my joy.


Here are those PE sheets and the plastic railings. All in all I am looking forward to the building. This kit is well done, not overly complex and an interesting subject. My only complaint is a lack of figures. There is some aftermarket (wood deck and turned guns), we shall see if I fall victim to this or not at a future date.

A full sized (working?) replica was also built in China.

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