She had 3 names:
Soya was originally built for the Soviet Union in Japan as the Volochaevets completed in 1936. Due to the deterioration in relations the Soviets never took delivery and the Ship was sold to a Japanese shipping company and renamed Chiryo Maru. In 1939 she was requisitioned by the IJN and renamed Soya.
Nichimo of Japan offers the Japanese icebreaker SHIRASE in 1/450 scale and the Japanese ice breaker FUJI in 1/300 scale. Both are of plastic construction.
OYSTER :
Don’t you dare stop in 1/350 ! That is one darned nice piece of work. Shoot,a 1/350 cat ! Oh! the ship is great too, and the forward bulkhead is outstanding ! T.B. P.S. Oyster - The whole piece is extremely Well Done .
Icebreaker kits:
Also in 1/400, Heller made the Soviet nuclear powered icebreaker Lenin back in the very early 1970’s, with the label Lenine. This appears to be an entirely different ship from the Zvezda 1/400 Russian icebreaker that has been released more recently.
Being a 1/700 fan, I am looking forward to building the Loose Cannon Productions Pierre Radison, as well as a variety of US “Wind” class ships with various outfits.
GMorrison said:
“Yes, icebreaker kits are about as common as lightship kits”
Funny you mention that. As soon as I saw this Soya kit I wanted it (I just preferred its look to that of the Revell icebreaker). I’ve since found a kit on eBay at a reasonable price, and by coincidence on the same day I found the Soya, I managed to find a kit of the (Revell) Trinity House Lightship “South Goodwin” kit as well. It’s hard to decide which one to build first, but I am looking forward to eventually building both.
That Revell lightship is a reissue of an ancient Frog kit. But it has an excellent reputation.
The only other plastic lightship kit I know of is the equally old Pyro one (later reissued by Life-Like and Lindberg). Bluejacket makes a wood lightship that looks mighty impressive - but costs a lot.
Several Forum members have posted photos of very well-built models built from the Frog/Revell and Pyro/Lindberg kits. A Forum search on “lightship” ought to find them.