Trumpeter Cheng Ho: Has Anybody Built this kit?

Hello,

I'm sorry to say but this kit is crap. It's totally out of proportions; a ship of that length to breadth ratio at that size simply cannot float. If you want to have a rather reasonable representation of those ming treasure ships, I suggest you seek out Imai's 1/144 Pechili junk model. Pechili junks are 7-9 masted giant junks that were built in much later times (18th and 19th centuries) but their overall shape is strikingly similar to those of ming treasure ships and their size also is very close. You can use the basic hull of Imai kit and scratchbuilt convenient superstructures to have a more or less accurate model of a ming junk.

cheers

The kit is total work of fiction, no doubt about that.  There are some serious discrepancies about the rigging and the ropes to the capstans, and as for the plated 'figurehead' and dragons for the bow.....well, don't ask.

On the other hand the way the sails have been produced and are assembled is intriguing and, finished, it would certainly be a conversation piece.  It would also be easy to incorporate radio control apparatus inside the vast hull.

"a ship of that length to breadth ratio at that size simply cannot float."

That's rather silly - it may not be able to sail, but what knowledge and authority do you have to claim that it wouldn't float?  Wood floats - even a lot of it in one big mass.

Wood floats, mostly; but ships float by displacement, they make a hole in the water that weighs more than the ship does.  Which is why it's important to keep the water out.

Otherwise the sailing career of Wasa might have been longer.

i am starting it. using capstan bars, dorors and the anchor as a guide it scales out to around 180', not 400+' if they even existed. the chinese are building a replica and it won't be more than 200' long. looks like it will be a fun kit. mine will be quite colorful with a black hull with ivory lower hull, trimmed in black and red and yellow/gold. red sails. mounted on 5 bolts sleeved with bamboo. paintoing woll definitely be the most important aspect.

it's not historical so enter it in sailing ships or fanatsy category. i plan to write an article for my club newsletter about this. i wouldn't buy one, a friend who now does museum quality wood ships gave it to me along with 18 other plastic kits.

i will be calling mine "possible representation of little documented chinese ships of the early 1400s. who can really argue much of anything.

BTW pretty much all the websites actually refer to the same 2-3 references.

velotrain

"a ship of that length to breadth ratio at that size simply cannot float."

That's rather silly - it may not be able to sail, but what knowledge and authority do you have to claim that it wouldn't float?  Wood floats - even a lot of it in one big mass.

Kap is a published authority on late 19th and early 20th century navies. I have read and enjoyed his articles.

Of course he made the observation you take exception to... 6 1/2 years ago. Probably doesn't much care to reply at this point.

CapnMac82

Wood floats, mostly; but ships float by displacement, they make a hole in the water that weighs more than the ship does.  Which is why it's important to keep the water out.

Otherwise the sailing career of Wasa might have been longer.

Actually Cap the hole (displaced water) weighs exactly what the ship does, no? At least when it's standing still. If all of the ships in the sea, weren't, would the level of the Ocean be lowered?

I have no idea what Kap meant, but I trust his word. His dissertation on the Navy of the Ottoman Empire sparked my interest in pre-dreads.

Ah, the joys of statics & dynamics.  

Mixed in with the fun which is displacement buoyancy

To follow long tradition, let us consider Queequeg's coffin (with apologies to metric readers) and assign it to be a nice neat 3' x 6' x 2' in dimension.  Applying our calculator, that is 36 cubic feet.  Seawater weighs (functionally) 65 pounds per cubic foot.  Therefore the fully submerged displacement volumetric weight is 2340 pounds..  

Let us assign a weight to the coffin of 60# and the famous harpooner of 160#.  Subtracting that from the displacement weight leaves 2120 pounds of buoyancy; one ton of force is at hand to free the casket from the sinking Pequod.  

If we apply the numbers in reverse, 220# is equal to 3.38462 cubic feet of seawater.  Dividing by the 'plan area of 18' feet gives us a draft depth of  0.188 feet, or 2-1/4"   This leaves a very high freeboard of 21-3/4" until the sodden Ishmael clambers aboard the fortunate flotsam.

At this point in the lesson, there is usually applied a trick question in which the students are asked to presume the lid has come loose, and to calculate the roll angle at which the lip would admit seawater and scuttle the coffin.

but, yes, things float by pushing the rest of the body of water they are in a tad higher--it's just hard to see spread out across the several undered thousand square miles of the ocean surface.  This can be demonstrated with a small glass filled to the brim with water (in case of a need to cipher, fresh water is 62-63#/cf) and lower a golfball into it.  The displaced water will spill over the edge of the glass.

Ain't math fun?  

holy thread revival batman lol

thanks for that explaination iv never understood displacement before