Antarctic Observation Ship SOYA (1st Corp)

In Answer to your question - NO. But , you can fill those areas with a generic set of P.E. from TOM'S Modelworks that has the parts you need .I am still trying to make up my mind to assemble the metal dogs and figure!

I have a stupid question. What does "Corp" mean in this context?

On the first day of my military history course every semester I do a little exercise on the blackboard for the students:

Cavalry: the part of an army that rides around on horses.

Calvary: the hill where Jesus was crucified.

Naval: having to do with a navy.

Navel: the part of the anatomy otherwise known as the belly button.

Corps: a large military formation.

Corp.: abbreviation for "corporation."

Core: the inside of an apple.

Corpse: a dead person.

Seaman: ...never mind.

So what's a corp?

I've got the one with the little snow tractors. Maybe it's 2nd, I don't remember.

One unlikable feature of the kit is the entire face of the superstructure is cast in clear styrene. It looks to be a real masking job for all of the many ports and windows etc.

Clearly it's a reference to a "mark" or conversion. 1, 2 and 3 are chronological. I would suspect it's one of those curious Japanese/ English translations that sometimes occurred. Perhaps a Japanese reader can tell from the box lid.

Well, that box says "Antarctica Observation 3rd Corps," which makes sense. I gather this is a different boxing than the "1st Corp" and "2nd Corp" versions mentioned earlier. I imagine "corp" was a goof arising in the translation from Japanese.

I can't blame non-English speakers for messing up such subtleties. That "core" and "corps" would be pronounced identically - and that there should be no such word as "corp" (with no period) - makes no sense. English is a crazy language.

About thirty years ago, the USNA (the one at Annapolis) had a bunch of diplomas printed up that included the statement "in testimony whereof, the seal of the Navel Academy is hereto affixed." It was, of course, a printer's error, and nobody caught it till the night before the commissioning ceremony. The newly commissioned ensigns were offered the opportunity to trade in their diplomas for corrected ones. Something tells me quite a few of those "navel" diplomas are still around.

First, to Tankerbuilder:  Yep, in fact, I did some research to discover which form of available railing configuration best matched the missing parts.  There are a bunch of different railing frets in 1/350th. Then I remembered how I started shipbuilding back in the 50's.  In those days we used wire to create the railings.  The problem here is the wire railing will look funny with the rest of the railings in photoetch.  So, I thought I would ask my question.

The figures are good to show scale.  I have seen them regularly when judging ships at the Butch O'Hare chapter (IPMS) contest these last few years.  They do add a lot to the presentation, but they are a bit, well,  flat !!

Now to jtilley:  I was surprised, during my research on the SOYA, to find it to be an honored vessel in Japan.  They now have it as a floating museum in Tokyo. It started life as a small ice breaking freighter before the war.  Obviously, it survived the 1940's. After the war, it was converted to this antarctic research configuration (big changes).  It went on a number of research voyages from 1957 through 1962.  Each time it returned, it was modified (sometimes drastically) to a new configuration to upgrade it for the next trip out.  Each of these exploration trips are referred as a "Corp".  The references don't explain if this "Corp" word is a translation of a Japanese word for the trips or if it refers to the separate groups of scientists on each outing.

BTW those famous ship kits are real classics. I also have the (unbuilt) Mikasa. Really a well-made model.

I wish I could afford the Gambier Bay...

Maxxom - very interesting.  I confess I didn't know that ship had such an interesting history.

There must have been a spelling goof somewhere, though.  I have no trouble believing that the Japanese have a word best transliterated as "Corp," but surely they didn't mean "1st Corp," "2nd Corp," and "3rd Corps."

Some day when you're in the mood to be thoroughly bored I'll tell you about my trials and tribulations in my gallant efforts to teach military history students how to spell "Philippines."

Icebreakers make interesting models.  So far as I know, the only other plastic icebreaker kit is the grand old Revell one (which has been issued as the Coast Guard Eastwind and the Navy Burton Island. I'd love to see an up-to-date kit for that class in WWII configuration - with two 5" twin mounts and a Grumman Duck.

Did I once see a Soviet icebreaker from Zvezda, or some other Russian company? The old memory isn't sure.

My all-time ideal icebreaker subject, though, would be the USCGC Northland. She was built in the 1920s, with two 4" guns, all the possible modern features (including a cork-insulated hull), and a towering 2-masted brig rig.  Before WWII the sail rig was removed in favor of a single, tall mast, with a boom for handling a Grumman Duck - and eventually a radar screen on top. She made the first American naval capture of the war, a German trawler that had landed a weather-reporting party in Greenland, well before Pearl Harbor. After the war she was sold out of the Coast Guard, and eventually turned up carrying Jewish refugees to Palestine.  She became the first ship of the Israeli Navy.  (Just what the Israelis needed:  an icebreaker.) Talk about a fascinating subject for a model - and a potential conversion subject.

A few years ago I would have said that was an impossible dream. But with the obscure subjects coming down the pike from the best companies these days, who knows?

Soya was the name given to the Russian cruiser Varyag, after she was captured in the Japanese-Russian War. Our friends at Zvezda make a really nice model of that ship

Yeah;

   That forward superstructure bulkhead in clear was a definite pain to mask.    T.B.

So just to be clear, the boxes for the first two read " corps", which tends to suggest an analogy to the term as used in "Peace Corps" or "Marine Corps".

Yes icebreaker kits are about as common as lightship kits- I can think of two of those and they are old Lindberg and Frog kits. 

Now I'm confused. I thought at least one of the first two boxes said "corp" (a word that doesn't exist in standard English, except as an abbreviation for "corporation"), and we know for a fact that the third one says "corps" (which does exist in standard English).

Could somebody who's actually seen at least two of the boxes (or instruction sheets, or whatever) shed some definitive light on this earth-shaking subject? The Hasegawa online catalog is no help.

Hmm, took a trip over to Wiki to look this up.  

Varyag was indeed renamed Sôya, but the name was freed up when the crusier was returned to the Russians (by then Soviets),

By the by, 宗谷, Sôya is not pronounced "SOY-ah" but "SO-yah."  It's named after the Subprefecture on Hokkaido, Japan.

I also concur that we need more icebreaker kits--these ships typically have long and storied careers.  

I am in the same boat as the OP (pun intended).

I went out to the vault and the kit I have  is the  "1st Corps" and so labeled on the box.

And yep the PE is "2nd Corps" and so labeled on the bag, which is a Hasegawa product.

And, without posting them, images of the other kits box are labeled "2nd Corps" in English.

My Airfix >Discovery has cast on reinforcing plates on the prow....

Sounds like "corp" was somebody's typo somewhere along the line.  No point in trying to figure out whose; all's well that ends well.

i made a doozie of a typo in my last post: I typed "accept" when I meant "except." I've fixed it. 

It pleases me to think I didn't do stuff like that twenty years ago. But I suspect I did.

Other Soya tid-bits of trivia.

- Soya is part of the Museum of Maritime Science...if in Tokyo...a must do...plan 6-8 hours for the whole museum.

- In 2006 the Movie "Eight Below" was made. The Soya was the ship involved, The 2 surviving sled dogs...Sakhalin Husky, are related to the Japanese Spitz & Akita Inu. One is cased in the Soya museum, the other in Antarctica.

- The ship had a Cat Mascot...his name was Taheshi. ( yup, there is a rendering of him in the Photo Etch). Double click the 1st photo, He is in an orange life jacket on the aft flight deck.

This was my 1st 1:350 effort, and most probably my last...

Oyster, you sound discouraged. I don't see why. This is a fine model. I especially like the base - and the penguins, and the cat.

I may have the mind/spirit of a surgeon...

But,

Have been blessed with the hands/patience of a pipe fitter.

(no offense directed to the "Pipe Fitters" out there )

I am sticking with :48 & :32.

1/350 Photoetched cat in a life vest....

Yep.  That just about covers everything.

Great job btw!

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HAQG11

FWIW, As of this evening 8/8/14 Hannants had 1 left...

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.