Hey y,all — I gotta share this . I just acquired at a flea market ,this model (TRUMPETER ?)I know , that,s what it says . The kit is 1/200 and its a former soviet destroyer .This kit is labeled " COURAGEOUS" .The box is full of chinese writing and it was (notice ,I say ,was ) based on a former motorized kit . I know , I know , What a dum-dum ! What a shock when I opened the box!!! This box is full to overflowing with some of the finest ,and most detailed plastic molded parts I,ve EVER seen !!! This model, is of a ship from 1954 . The other side of the box is labeled WASAN PLASTIC MODEL CO. from GUANGDONG ,CHINA , The date of mfgr . is 2000. This just goes to show you , the box can throw you off ! I expected mediocre molding at best . I WON,T HAVE TO USE PHOTO-ETCHED PARTS ANYWHERE BUT RAILS , STAIRS , LADDERS AND GUN DIRECTOR AND SEARCH RADARS . How.s that for a real pleasent surprise!!! If you see one and the box has a little sticker that says STATIC MODEL , and if you want a handsome SOVIET/CHINESE destroyer GRAB IT !!! This kit was a very pleasant surprise , believe me . I would like to find more of these !! TANKERBUILDER
You got the Trumpeter #03609 kit. I have not seen it in person and am glad that it is a good kit.
Trumpeter has 14 1:200 scale kits whose quality do vary a bit. The best are the #03612, 3613 and 3614, which are the Russian SOVREMENNY class destroyers. These three usually sell for $40-50 in the US. The other earlier ones can be had for $10-25. There are plenty of listing for these kits on Ebay. (Search for “Trumpeter 1/200”)
I have the #3603 Harbin and the #3612 Soveremenny. Both are wonderful kits for the money. In fact, I consider the #3612 Soveremenny my best ship kit, bar none. The 3612 comes with its own PE set. I bought a generic 1:200 railing PE set for the Harbin kit.
The Trumpeter “Courageous” kit is a Soviet WW2 destroyer of the Project 7 class. Several of these ships were transferred to the PLAN (Chinese navy) in the 1950s as the “Anshan” class. The Trumpeter kit is more or less accurate for these ships at the time they were transferred, so you can also build it as a post-war Soviet ship. I believe Trumpeter also produce an “Anshan” kit in later fit with missiles replacing the torpedo tubes.
As you say, it’s definitely one of Trumpeter’s better 1/200 kits, and a bargain at the current retail price! Their Sovremenny is also excellent, though it does have some accuracy issues (such as the shape of the 120mm turrets) and some of their more recent PLAN ships, such as the Shenzhen and Harbin, are also pretty good. Be warned, though, that some of their earlier 1/200 Chinese warship kits, such as the Jiangwei class frigate and Luda class destroyer, are seriously crude - almost Lindberg quality! They can be improved, but it will require a lot of scratchbuilding, and good reference photos for these ships can be hard to find.
If you’re interested in 1/200 scale warships, you’ll probably also be interested in the Nichimo range. They produce a couple of IJN WW2 destroyers (Kagero and Akizuki), some post-war Japanese ships, and a couple of subs (Type IX U-boat and a WW2 IJN type), as well as the Yamato. All the kits are quite pricey though, the destroyers sell for about £60-70 retail in the UK and I think their US price is over $100. They are, however, very detailed and accurate kits which only really need PE rails + ladders and a few touches like AA gun sights to complete them.
Thank you E-PINNIGER! I will be on the lookout for these ships !I really shouldn,t say this BUT ,being as how this is a flea market find , I only paid $7.00 for this kit ! tankerbuilder
Only $7 for Courageous 1:200? that’s damned cheap! I still don’t have it yet. I agree with keilau that Sovremenny 1:200 is one of Trumpeter’s best big-scale ships. I have two built and still have one in stock.
I built the Courageous. This was the second kit that I built. It was a lot of fun and I agree it has a lot of nice details. I paid $5 for the kit. I spent a great deal more for the paint, railing, etc.
I also have the ShenZhen and the Sovremenny 956. Since I am new at building model kits, I will tackle them next year.
When I received the Courageous, it came in a crused box. So it was a surprise, when I finished.
Hey JEFFRY ! – When I bought mine we had to find a bag big enough to putit in . The box was in such bad shape ,that I expected to have parts missing . I didn,t have to go the paint and etched brass route as these things are fairly common at the shop . I will buy paint and p.e. whether I need it right then or not . I am going to try to get the other two . tankerbuilder
Can anyone give the hull dimensions on the 1/200 Courageous?
I’m heavily into scale detail AND conversion to R/C. It easier these days on account of micro-sized components. I’m pleased to see people giving these rather obscure kits, on account of the subject matter, a second glance.
Incidentally, I have seen pics of a built-up 1/200 Zhuhai (Luda Class missile destroyer) and it wasn’t all that bad.
My Courageous is 22" long by 2" wide. The ship Chinese Anshan Destroyer is 433’ long by 42’ wide. Hope this helps.
I’m surprised with a user-id of Tankerbuilder you are not familiar with Trumpeter. They are the new 800 pound gorilla in the plastic modelling world. You might look at their line of armor kits, especially their newer releases.
I saw these 1:200 warship kits by Trumpeter in St. Louis, Buffalo and Chicago hobby shops 3-6 years ago. I cannot find them anymore. I would say that Russian and Chinese modern destroyers had very little appeal in the US market despite the high quality per price ratio. It is not surprising that few modeler know about them. You can still find all 14 1:200 scale warship kits on the Trumpeter-China web site, but the latest Trumpeter-Stevens International (2008-2009) catalogue list only 3 1:200 ship kits. They are the two Russian SOVREMENNY class destroyers and the yet to be released USS Arizona.
Some of us had been burnt by the older 1:350 Trumpeter/Minicraft ship kits and may stay away from them. There some gems among the old 1:200 scales.
It is good that Tankerbuilder rekindle the interest in these obscure kits. It is modeling all about.
Firecaptain, the “Trumpeter” brand does not guarrantee a quality kit. See this post last year.
Hey FIRECAPTAIN – The moniker comes from my proffessional field which is a modeler of train scale ships (prefferably h.o.) and tankers primarily . I do V.L.C.C. types , L.N.G.types and old pre-panama and early post panamax types .I used to be an actual captain for a well known oil company(their name will not be mentioned ). Soooo , there,s where tankerbuilder came from. I don,t do ARMOR since BANDAI stopped doing their great little 1/48 scale line of really varied and excellently molded GERMAN armor subjects .Thats alright ,because I buy a lot of TRUMPETER ships anyway . I just thought ,WOW what a flea market or yard sale find !! ----tankerbuilder
Hello tankerbuilder
The following are four pictures of the ship I have recently completed. This is the second ship I have built. I used “N” gauge railroad rails on the ship. I cut off the bottom third rail. Since I am new to ship modeling, I was not aware of photo-etch railings at the time. I am learning more everyday in researching ship modeling.
Jeff
WOW, that looks fantastic! Fine work you’ve done there and the camera work really shows off this kit. You got something there; first ever build-up (that I’ve seen) of one of these obscure destroyers. I presume you followed the kit’s painting instructions assuming it was in English? I’m going to have to get one of these kits.
Are the decks green? Colorful model if so. Again, well done and thanks for sharing the pics. [#toast]
JEFFRY – I,ll have you know I like what you did . I will always applaud the use of material other than ship specific when the need arises .You made excellent use of the rails . If it meets your criteria ,that,s all that is important . Good job and keep up the inventiveness .!!! tankerbuilder
I have not forgotten this particular model and have been trying to source one. I think 1/200 scale is becoming a favorite with Nichimo and Trumpeter being about the only producers of this ship scale.
I’ve seen the Trumpeter “Anshan” available and was wondering if it was a “2 in 1” kit. Does it contain parts to represent the earlier fit of torpedo tubes (in place of the later missile launchers) when it was accepted by China from the USSR or does it only contain the parts for the modernization refit? The reason I ask is because Jeffry has posted pics of an “Anshan” but it has torpedo tubes amidships and aft like the “Courageous”. Somewhere along the line, after acceptance into the PLA Navy, missile launchers were added, hence the presumed difference in the two kits.
You fellows are the only ones I know of who have seen the in-the-box contents of this type of destroyer. Thanks.
i have a 1/200 chinese modified LUDA with hanger and helo deck. looks like a fun build. railings are molded and a tad thick but not bad.
Information on Soviet WW II destroyers and early PLAN ships are difficult to find and often conflicting. The best organized information on these ships are on Wiki and we all know how reliable Wiki info are. According to Wiki, the Courageous (Отважный) WW2 destroyer is an Ognevoy class ship and scrapped in the 1960’s. The PLAN Anshan class have 4 ships that were the older design ex-Soviet Gnevny-class destroyers purchased in the 1950s. The Chinese later added HY-2 anti-ship missiles and removed some of the torpedo tubes. The Ognevoy class was a later design and a bigger ship, 2950 tons vs. 2009 tons full load, and 4 meters longer. Apparently, no Ognevoy class were completed before WW2 ended. I wonder how are the two Trumpeter kit different.
Jeffry seemed to have built the PLAN Anshan in the as purchased configuration with torpedo tubes. The Anshan kit was re-released in 2010. I also wonder if the later release still a “2-in-1” kit?
Harquebus, Nichimo and Trumpeter are not the only two producers of this ship scale. Here are two 1:200 ships from “Lee”:
- Lee’s Chinese ‘Jiang Hu’ Class Frigate 1:200 w/ local made PE rails - by “Tuk”:
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- Lee’s Chinese Destroyer 1:200 - by “Tuk”:
I remember the good old days when 1:200 scale destroyer kits were cheap and plentiful. I do not see any c.c. Lee kit anymore. Are they still available anywhere, China, Hong Kong?