1:150 Chinese Steamer Taiping Wooden Deck Set for Meng Model OS-001 kit

A 1:150 wooden deck for the steamer Taiping

This deck accessory is cut to a model of the Chinese passenger steamer Taiping in 1:150 scale. You will not find the ship herself in the package; the set deals with a single but most visible thing: the upper surfaces, which draw the eye first on a finished model. Wood grain on them works with a depth that mere spraying with paint cannot create. The set is intended for the Meng Model OS-001 kit.

The ship that 1949 made famous

At the end of the 1940s the Taiping provided the link between mainland China and Taiwan. In January 1949 she sailed overloaded with refugees and with her navigation lights out; in the Taiwan Strait she collided with a cargo vessel and sank within a few tens of minutes. Over a thousand people died and the disaster is among the worst in the history of Chinese coastal shipping.

How to deal with the deck

Level the surfaces underneath beforehand and rid them of molding flash, because every unevenness prints through a thin layer. Tone it only once it is fitted, ideally with a heavily thinned oil shade, so that the grain stands out and the texture does not disappear. Paint the superstructures, the funnel and the fittings separately and mask the finished surface while spraying.

Who the set is useful for

• builders of civilian steamers and merchant ships who are bothered by an empty plastic surface
• anyone interested in Chinese maritime history and in period coastal transport
• modelers who do not want to draw the individual planks in by hand
• everyone who displays a model in a case where it is seen from above