Greetings fellow Model Shipwrights.
My next project is going to be the Imperial Chinese Beiyang Fleet Flagship Ting Yuen. Has there ever been a ship with such a grandiose name as that?? More than likely, but I digress...

Here is the kit and its contents. PE railings included (halleluiah!!). 5 plastic sprues not including the stand.

First thing I noticed when I opened the box was this stamp, so how did I get it??

Here we have the accessories I will be using to hopefully enhance the kit.


Here we have the PE..
And finally

Brass cannon and other barrels. Where did that little PE railing offcut come from??
Anyway, this is the first Bronco kit I have built so the fit and engineering will be interesting to see.
Cheers
Warren

I have one on my desk right now - trying to get it finished between subassemblies on my Bismarck.

The kit is very nice - fit is excellent and the etch in the kit is almost sufficient - but only almost because the ratlines are missing - maybe I should invest in it north star etch ....

The colors are pretty but white and especially yellow has never been really paintable ...

Have fun. I did.

Cheers/Jan

Hello Mr Mox!

I am glad to hear all that. The PE set was very cheap at around $10. You can get it from White Ensign Models.

I find that it is easier to spray matt yellow than gloss to get the colour right, then hit it with a gloss coat at the end. Same with white.

I am reading your Bismarck blog and awaiting the arrival of my kit, but it won't be here for ages yet. Then I will wait for the release of PE sets for him before I build.

Thanks for looking.

OK. Plastic and resin have been cut.
First up a picture of the Orange Hobby barrel set.

The resin parts are there to be glued on to the barrels to replace the trunnions on the plastic guns.

Here is a close-up of the brass and resin. There is a little flash on the resin easily removed, although if you build the 1884 version you won't even see the trunnions.


As you can see the plastic guns are pretty good the way they are and I will not be using the brass barrel set with the Ting Yuen's sister-ship I will build one day. I am not even bothering putting brass on the smaller guns as I don't think there is any improvement over the plastic versions.
Anyway, that is all I got done today. This afternoon we went down to the local dam and our two-person Kayak had its maiden voyage. It didn't even sink!!
Cheers
Warren

Very interest ship Warren,

Will be following with much interest.

Si

Friend Warren .. you dont stop impressing me!! You are a machine!! Jajaj

Now to amusing ourselves!!!

Thanks Simon and Daniel.

Daniel, I have to keep churning them out or I will never finish my ever growing stash!

I have those kits sitting and waiting for me to either build then or leave them alone. maybe, this will prod me into building them. Looking forward to your project.

Greetings fellow modelling enthusiasts.

In other words, G'day.

Well the Ting Yuen is going fairly smoothly at the moment. The forward superstructure is finished. Here it is sans mast..


Then with the mast installed..

A bit blurry sorry..
Then we have the forward barbette..

These are not considered turrets as they have no armour on them at all, the wide cover is only that, a thin metal cover just to keep the sun off and the water out basically.
I am deep into the aft superstructure now..

The painting instructions are not always very clear and I am making quite a few guesses.
And I made a mistake and painted the black part og the hull before the white boot line.. DOH!!!! Painting white is hard enough at the best of times..
Til next time..

Off to a real nice start as usual Warren.....Cheers mark

First up we have the golden dragons on the ship's stern. These are PE. The plastic is very good as well but too hard for me to paint. I think these look better anyway.

Next up we have pictures of the aft superstructure.




Ooo those macro shots are cruel!!
Anyway, that's as far as I have gotten to now. Oh I forgot the aft mast is done as well but I am not gluing it in place until the superstructure is on the hull.
Until tomorrow, maybe..

Time for another quick update.

Some of the ship's boat. No PE here. Nothing but plastic from the kit.

The Ting Yuen appears to have carried two torpedo boats in its 1884 version. Here is one with the supplied PE railings,

The hull halves have been mated... ah hmmm.. These Berna clamps are great.
That's all for now. Will have another update this afternoon as I have done a fair bit since these photos were taken.
Until next time, same bat station, same bat time...

She is looking really good Warren.....Cheers mark

As promised this morning, another update!

As you can see the deck has been installed and the main guns put in place.

And here we have an overall view.

Then the gun covers and the PE around the base of the barbettes was installed.

Next up the completed flying bridge. It didn't call for wooden planks on the the little shed-like structure on the bridge, but I thought it looked better than brown paint..

Sorry for the slight bluriness, but this is where she has been left for today. Forward and aft superstructures have been installed and clamped to dry thoroughly.
Tomorrow will probably see the model finished as I only have the deck railings, the flying bridge and the ship's boats to install.. Best laid plans of mice and men maybe?? Ooo wait a sec, it is Christmas Day and I will be expected to play the host.. but then again I may just play the grumpy old man..
Cheers to all and I hope all of you out there have a Very Merry Christmas with your families, and Santa brings all the stuff you want.. But no socks and ties...
Until tomorrow..
Warren

You sure is fast moving, looking good!

Great stuff Warren, looks like it goes together really well.

Si

Thanks guys.
Yes Simon it has very good fit with only a couple of issues that needed clamps for , even with the wooden deck.
That line about 'best laid planes' etc turned out to be very prophetic. I woke up at about midnight with some chest pains. I went back to sleep eventually but went to the hospital Christmas morning where I spent the day. Did all the tests including a treadmill test and they said in the end I had an excellent heart and my fitness is great for someone of my advancing years. So I think it must have been a bit too much cheese the night before at the Christmas Eve party we went to.
Maybe I will get some done today...
Cheers
Warren

Well the ship is finished.

Overall view, complete with loosened rear stay wire )don't ask me how) that I will tighten with a little heat. (see why I hate rigging ships..)

Then we have the bow, or is that the stern??

Then the stern, yes this is the stern..

Then the main barbette area complete with flying bridge. The Captain and one other person where blown off this bridge when the main guns were fired. The Captain was unconscious for 2 days afterward and the other person's hearing was ruined forever.

Then we have the midships area (and some more dodgy rigging)

Then a view of the stern's boat area. Oh and look someone has left a length of cable on the deck (DOH!!)
And that's it really. The model will now retire to the display cabinet forever..
Cheers
Warren

Very nice work, a beautifull build!

Cheers/Jan

Thanks for that Jan.
It went very smoothly until I removed the masking tape from one side of the ship and the masking tape seems to have lifted the anti-fouling red leaving like a mottled effect over the hull. Oh well.. try, try again.
Cheers mate
Warren

She looks great, Warren! Very nice work indeed!

Thanks Russell.

Great build Warren, really captures the look of the period>

Now I have to build one of these!.

Si

Fit etc is very good Simon. The colour scheme os much easier if you build the 1894 version.
There are quite a few items where you need to guess the colour scheme and even what the items are. But that is part of the challenge of modelling I suppose.
Cheers
Warren