¹⁄144

A kit of this vessel has been available by Bronco in 1/350 scale but now it joins a growing list of naval kits made in 1/144. The Imperial Protected Cruiser Chin Yuen is a new kit of injected plastic and PE details.

History by Phil Greenwood:
The Chih Yuan was a protected cruiser designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth & Company of Elswick on the River Tyne in Northern England. It was one of a series of "Elswick Export Cruisers" built for the navies of China, Chile and Japan. The Cheh Yuan, and sister ship Ching Yuan, were built for the Chinese Beiyang Fleet in 1887. These ships had a displacement of 2,355 tons and had a speed of 18 knots. They were armed with 3 x 210mm, 2 x 150mm and 8 x 57mm guns and 4 x 457mm torpedo tubes. Though fast and well armed the Royal Navy though the class too lightly protected.

Commanded by Captain Deng Shichang, the Chih Yuen took part in the battle of the Yalu River on 17th September, 1894 against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship fought well, and badly damaged she tried to ram the IJN Yoshino (also an Elswick Cruiser built for Japan). However she sank under heavy fire before she could ram the enimy ship.

At the time of this posting, release date and pricing information is not known but we'll update this listing as that information becomes available.