Nippon Maru 1:100

Product detailed description

Ship plans HERE
Complete accessories HERE
History on Wikipedia HERE

Nippon Maru is a Japanese 4 mast bark. She was built in 1930 in Kobe. The ship is 91 m long, and has a steel hull. The barque had 4 masts which towered 40 above the water and carried a total of 29 sails, and additional propulsion was provided by 2 diesel engines with a total power of 600 hp. She only occasionally sails to various sailing meetings around the world with a crew of volunteers. There are several links to this ship on the web, including this one HERE , which shows footage of a cruise to Honolulu.
The kits for this boat are produced in several scales, namely 1:100, 1:150. 200 and 1:350. From catalogues I saw that they make very similar models of about 3 other ships Nihon Maru, Kaiou Maru, Kanrin Maru.
Description of the kit - just the box alone makes a huge impression. Everything is precisely packed, stored in separate compartments. I was surprised that the huge, long hull is molded from one piece! Yet all the rails, windows and hatches, the markings of the hull sheet metal strips - everything is beautifully cleanly done all over the hull. All other parts are precision molded, including the rudder treads. The masts are moulded in one piece, just the basket platforms and other bits and pieces have to be glued on. Accessories include metal propellers, including shafts (holes are molded in the hull for them) metal radar ring structure, two types of ropes. The whole model can be built on a beautiful wooden base with golden posts. Again, the rigging plan is poor quality in my opinion, although how to tie and lead the basic rope types is in the plan.
That said, the kit is very nice, and the model will certainly be beautiful. I am confident that the model is large enough to carry a complete remote control rig for the engine.