Q-Ship Sea Raider Decoy Boat

Hats off to Lindberg for producing this one of a kind of model. Easy instructions and decent detail make this a great choice for kids as well as adults.

Currently building this kit as the Shanghai Queen a generic early 20th century tramp steamer. Considering the age of the kit, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the parts, especially the hull halves, fit together with nice tight seams with little or no gaps. The detail is sparse in places, in fact the entire kit is rather simple in design in keeping with it originally being motorized as evidenced by the motor mount and prop shaft guide bulkheads still included on the parts trees. Decals are provided for the portholes, but I drilled them out using the locating circles molded in the parts, or by referencing the boxart and photos of an actual ship. The ventilators come flat faced, but with some careful drilling, a concave opening can be achieved. Sinkholes in the plastic are relatively non existent, except for the underside of the hull, but a little putty and sandpaper will quickly clear them up. As I mentioned before, the general detail is rather basic, which is why I'm using a doner kit in close to the same scale to provide such things as boat davits, anchors, etc, to dress up the Queen. While by no means a craftsman level model, the kit is a fun little project for a few nights or a weekend that goes together quickly and easily, and would make for an excellent starter kit for a child that wants to enter the hobby.

Not the most challenging model to build, however if you put a little extra time into doing some rigging for the cranes and the antenna, you get a very nice result.