I know nothing whatever about the ship, but it does look interesting. I can’t, off the top of my head, think of another plastic kit that represents a ship built on the Great Lakes. (Can anybody else think of one?) Some of the detail looks a little bulky, but the written description of the kit is kind of intriguing.
And how unusual to have a kit release tied in with a movie. We haven’t seen much of that sort of thing since the Goode Olde Dayes.
Sylvan Scale Models makes several waterline model kits of Great Lakes tugs and freighters - from resin. Bearco Marine used to make some nice vac formed kits of lake boats as well.
Checked the web about the American Manitowoc builder. There is no listing for a ship with that name or tonnage built that year or any year. There are several ships built that year at 2711 tons. The site also lists what happen to the ship during its lifetime. There is no mention of any ship of theirs being converted and rename, interesting. I wonder if she was really built by Manitowoc.
Walters had a Great Lakes ore carrier in 1/87 scale HO as part of a set including a loader and an ore dock. A smaller carrier at about 270 feet, but they sold extra 75 foot middle sections to make her longer.
Interesting, but too many bucks for me. In addition to the Sylvan and Walthers kits, there was a 1:350 Fitz that was pretty nice. Forget the company. There were, and are a few wood kits of lakers- the old kits were fine but the ones available today are basically kid’s projects. One resin company was talking about a kit of the whaleback Christopher Columbus, but it seems to have not happened (it was going to be small- 1:700 or 1:1000.
One of these days I hope to scratch a CC. I love whalebacks!
I’d forgotten about that Walthers kit. I wonder how sophisticated it is. Those model railroad guys usually have pretty high standards.
If we define “Great Lakes vessels” broadly enough, I guess we could include the several sailing ships from A.J. Fisher, and the War of 1812 brig Niagara. One of our club members bought the latter; I don’t know whether he ever finished it or not, but he brought it “in progress” to meetings a couple of times. Looked like an excellent, though demanding, kit.
The more I look at the photos of that Meng kit, and the more comments on it that I read, the more I wonder what’s actually going on there. I’ll be interested to hear more of it, when somebody other than me buys one and reviews it.
The above mentioned ship is NOT the subject of this discussion, but it looks a lot like it if larger.
That leads me to believe that at a minimum the ship from the disaster was converted at the same shipyard.
As for the name, a lot of google search shows that Taiping is a common name for all sorts of things related to the Nationalist side of the Revolution.
Clearly not the name when (if) she left Wisconsin.
As is usual in this particular channel of this forum, I’ve learned a lot about something of which I knew nothing, and I thank you JT for that. Obviously my oversight as the disaster surely ranks at the top in Taiwan, the movie hoping to be the next Titanic.
I look forward to any information about her earlier life.
As for the model, as a snap fit kit in multicolored plastic for two C bills, it’s outside of my interest range.
The movie “The Crossing” is about a ferry full of people escaping China following the Communist take over in 1948-1949.
Enroute to Formosa, it collided with a smaller ship in a no-lights environment and sank with a loss of life estimated at 1000- 1500.
The cynic currently sitting in my chair will resist seeing a second go round of a movie premise rah wasn’t so great the first time around(Poseidon Adventure not counting).
Meng has a good product. No doubt they’ve looked at all of those Titanic models sold recently and see an opportunity.
But I really do want to find out what the real ship was.
I cannot find a shipyard called American Manitowoc. Does the copy mean " the American shipyard Manitowoc ( Shipbuilding Co.) ?".
Wow. I didn’t know anything about the movie beyond what the Squadron ad said. Thanks, GM.
I know Meng has a good reputation, but this kit looks like it may be intended for…well, a market other than serious scale modeling. I’ll reserve judgment till I see more about it, though.
In addition to A J Fisher’s sail stuff, he also sold scale drawings for several “lakers”, including a whaleback. Someone awhile back bought the Fisher stuff and was offering a couple of kits and most of the drawings. Don’t know if he is still in business. He was still using the A J Fisher trade name.
BTW, the shipyard in Manitowoc that built all the big ships is OOB, the yard was purchased by a yacht builder and used a different name. Some really nice ships/boats came from that yard, and there is a book published about Manitowoc ships, called Freighters of Manitowoc.
A.J. Fisher has had a website functioning for a couple of years or thereabouts: www.ajfisher.com .
The company apparently is headquartered in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I’ve been checking the website fairly regularly for a while; it advertises a few kits, with more promised - but I don’t think any of those additional kits have been forthcoming. There’s also a list of plans, a few machine-carved hulls, and an ad for a printed catalog that includes fittings.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen an A.J. Fisher kit. I know the firm was, along with Model Shipways, Boucher/Bluejacket, and Marine Models, one of the leaders in wood sailing ship kits for a long time. I probably ought to order that catalog and see what happens.
Has anybody else in the Forum dealt with A.J. Fisher recently?
I contacted them via their website when it re-opened. A little bit of A.J. Fisher history. He and his wife operated the business out of his home and garage in Royal Oak, Michigan. Since I was in Detroit, when I got into ship modeling in the fifties, and was not driving yet, I asked my Dad to drive me to that address. Mrs. Fisher graciously took care of my order in the house, and showed me a few of AJ’s models. She then offered to take me out into the garage to see the operation there. This was where many of the fittings were made. I watched them make belaying pins out of brass wire stock on this automated -though entirely mechanical- lathe. I met a man, the foreman, who I believe was Rod Iwin.
After Mr. Fisher died, Mr. Iwin took over the company. I later communicated with Mr. Iwin or his son, and found they were closing down the business. Supposedly OSHA requirements would require major capital improvements or the shutting down, which they elected to do.
Then, several years ago, either on this forum or the Seaways one, I heard someone had bought the operation and contacted that party, and got a list of what they were offering (got about the same info as Mr. Tilley) but have not purchased anything yet.
BTW, another query about an old firm. There was a company doing business as Great Lakes Memories who also had a lot of plans for Great Lakes vessels, and a Hulett unloader! I tried to find their website recently and could not. Anyone know if they have gone out of business?
When I was much, much younger one of my standard pieces of bedside reading was a ship model catalog from Polk’s Hobbies. Other Old Phogies may remember Polk’s. It was a huge, multi-story stop in the heart of Manhattan, with a different type of hobby on each floor. My dad took me there a couple of times.
Polk’s published a number of gloriously big, fat catalogs, including one of military miniatures and one of ship models. I used to gaze rapturously at the little, black-and-white photos of all the kits from A.J. Fisher, Marine Models, Model Shipways, Bluejacket, and I don’t remember how many others, dreaming of the day when I might have the money (some of those things cost more than $20.00!) and skills to buy and build them. Then there were dozens of pages of fittings, books, and just about everything else a person interested in ship models could want to find between two covers.
Newburyport, Massachusetts is a nice town. It has a good museum in the old Customs House; I judged a model contest there once. (Come to think of it, that was probably the last contest in which I participated.) And my wife and I took a ride up there a couple of years ago, while taking the leisurely road back from Gloucester to Boston. I don’t think A.J. Fisher was there yet; if so I didn’t know it. We may make it back up there this coming summer. If so, I’ll try to see what’s what.
I’d love to see another American wood ship model company in business, and my recollection is that the original A.J. Fisher had a fine reputation. But the current incarnation only lists five kits in its line. Three more are described as “coming soon,” and one other as a “future kit.” They’ve all held those designations for at least a couple of years, if I’m much mistaken.
It looks to me as though this may, in the most literal sense, be a “cottage industry.” Which is not to say that there’s anything wrong with its products.
Does look like a nice kit, but it sure does call for PE. There are many feet (prototype dimensions) of raililng on that thing, and it is hard to make decent railings in styrene.
Given it’s not a glue kit and comes with internal lightning, it seems to be a sort of hybrid kit to draw people who do not want to get involved with the use of glues, putties, paints and PE. Something for people who would see this as an attractive display piece to make with their own hands that can be done without out a lot of complications from ‘traditional’ scale modeling. Sort of like what the pre-painted snap kits were meant to be but on a more upscale basis.
I like the idea but the $200.00 price tag may loose casual builders and the lack of PE at that price may deter traditional modelers. Kind of a risky launch subject for their boat line of kits.