Here is a quick look at the latest kit I removed from my kit stash and turned into something resembling a model of a ship. I say that because this particular kit was assembled along the lines of the drawing that it was packaged with. There was no detailed instruction sheet. In addition, I haven't found anything online which would show that the drawing was accurate in any way or form. Just to make things a bit more complicated, I can't seem to locate that drawing. So I'm not 100% sure of the identity of this ship. At this point in time, I'm guessing that it's the gunboat Chen Chung which was a member of the northern Beyang fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.
Based on its appearance I made the conclusion that it was one of a number of Rendel gunboats which served the Imperial Chinese Navy during the Qing dynasty. The name of ths ship is scratched onto the bottom surface of the hull but it's the Japanese rendering. And that name doesn't equate to any known Chinese vessel.
As for the real ship, my understanding that as a "flat iron" gunboat it was designed to get close to a target and blast away at it with its solitary big gun. I assume the gun could be elevated or lowered in its carriage. But it only could shoot in a straight line. So hitting a target that was off to the side of the ship involved turning the ship to face that target.
The kit itself was a relatively crude affair; its parts list was the forward half of the hull, the rear half of the hull, the funnel, the main gun, and the cover of the main gun. The mast and boat davits are made from brass rod. The ship's boats are from the spare parts box. My guess is that the kit was manufactured by the same person (or people) who release kits under the name Fairy Kikaku.
