Paddleducks
Old Yahoo Group => Yahoo Messages => Topic started by: ushumgal on June 16, 2005, 06:07:42 PM
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Ok, I will inaugurate my membership in the Paddleducks forum by
dropping a potentially stinky question - I have a model (or rather,
two...sorry, PJ. *hangs head and blushes*) called the 'Oriental Star'
made by Minicraft in the 60s, I believe. It is obviously a rework of
an older kit, which I have never seen, called the 'Orient'. There is
a molded name plate that says 'Orient', and the 'Oriental Star'
version adds a rather exaggerated stern gallery/quarter gallery to
the model (practically a semicircle that sweeps from one quarter to
the other), which clearly originally had no quarter galleries and a
flat transom.
In general, the ship bears a very strong resemblance to the Sirius,
especially as pictured in a beautiful sketch on p. 231 of Bjorn
Landstrom's 'The Ship', and the 'replica' of the Sirius on p. 10 of
'The First Atlantic Liners'. Particularly striking is the shape of
the paddle boxes and the pattern of the vents.
Does anyone here have any info about this ship or this model? I
asked about it on the MARHIST list, and they couldn't find anything
by either name that even remotely matched the kit, though it could be
a coastal steamer that was not in their records. The best conclusion
I could come up with so far is that the vessel is pure fiction, and
that the design was losely based on the Sirius.
Best,
Jamie
LU2.DUB.SAR
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OMG..this gets WORSE!!! This happens to be merely one of the RAREST
plastic paddler kits in existence and you have TWO of them, Jamie???
I'm seething here!!!!
> It is obviously a rework of an older kit, which I have never seen,
> called the 'Orient'
Yep..the Minicraft model at 1:100 Scale is a honey from the look of
the boxart! I too have tried to find out if the "Oriental Star" was a
an actual ship and have had correspondence over this with a number of
people all over the world. There is some thought this may have been
originally a "Heller" kit from France and modeled after a French ship
called "L'Orient." Heller did put out a model of something called
"L'Occidentale" which MAY have been a paddler but I can't find
anything on it. I just searched the plastic kit review list and
there's no mention of "L'Orient" anywhere.
> In general, the ship bears a very strong resemblance to the Sirius,
> especially as pictured in a beautiful sketch on p. 231 of Bjorn
> Landstrom's 'The Ship', and the 'replica' of the Sirius on p. 10 of
> 'The First Atlantic Liners'. Particularly striking is the shape of
> the paddle boxes and the pattern of the vents.
>
> Does anyone here have any info about this ship or this model?
The only reference I have is from the Ebay model which came up last
October [Oct-12-01 - 1646712072]...which YOU probably snagged too!!!
" Nice 1:100 scale model kit of the "Oriental Star". The Oriental
Star was a steam powered paddle wheeler that made trans-atlantic trips
starting in 1938. This kit was made by "Minicraft Models Inc"
and is marked "Museum Quality". The box measures 20" x 13". It comes
with over 400 precision molded parts. When completed it is 22" long
and 14" tall."
I frankly think this reference is out to lunch! Rather unlikely a
transatlantic paddler STARTING trips in 1938!!! In any case, I scoured
the net, online ship databases and my books for info on such a ship
called by this name and absolutely ZIP came up.
> The best conclusion I could come up with so far is that the vessel
> is pure fiction, and that the design was losely based on the
> Sirius.
Well I'm not sure if it would be PURE fiction, Jamie. As you say, it's
possible (and even likely) they've based it on SOMETHING which
actually existed otherwise it would end up a pure "toy"..and this
appears to be a fairly serious model. I would be keen to get your
impression of the kit, quality etc ..Have you built one up yet?
We'll keep digging on this one..eventually something will come to
light...maybe by then my envy will have subsided!!
PJ
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I wonder if the 'L'Occidentale' has something to do with the small
scale (1/440 or something) 'Occident' kit that they recently reissued
- it is, in fact, actually a reissue of the small scale Great Western
(not the larger 1/144 version).
> The only reference I have is from the Ebay model which came up last
> October [Oct-12-01 - 1646712072]...which YOU probably snagged too!!!
>
> " Nice 1:100 scale model kit of the "Oriental Star". The Oriental
> Star was a steam powered paddle wheeler that made trans-atlantic
trips
> starting in 1938. This kit was made by "Minicraft Models Inc"
> and is marked "Museum Quality". The box measures 20" x 13". It
comes
> with over 400 precision molded parts. When completed it is 22" long
> and 14" tall."
>
> I frankly think this reference is out to lunch! Rather unlikely a
> transatlantic paddler STARTING trips in 1938!!! In any case, I
scoured
> the net, online ship databases and my books for info on such a ship
> called by this name and absolutely ZIP came
up.
Yeah, I didn't bother posting the 'historical info' on the box, since
it was clearly bogus.
> Well I'm not sure if it would be PURE fiction, Jamie. As you say,
it's
> possible (and even likely) they've based it on SOMETHING which
> actually existed otherwise it would end up a pure "toy"..and this
> appears to be a fairly serious model. I would be keen to get your
> impression of the kit, quality etc ..Have you built one up yet?
>
> We'll keep digging on this one..eventually something will come to
> light...maybe by then my envy will have subsided!!
>
> PJ
Well, I'm pretty certain that, barring the existence of an actual
"L'Orient", it is probably based on the Sirius 'replica' as seen in
First Atlantic Liners, or on a common source.
I haven't built either yet - I wanted to research the ship first and
see what would be accurate. It seems to be a very good, kit though.
I can't say much about the fit, but the molding seems very good, as
well as the detail. I plan to make a detailed review of it in the
not too distant future, complete with photos. I'll keep you
updated...
Jamie
LU2.DUB.SAR