This class of feeder ship debuted in the early 1990s, and new ones are still being built. This ship has a capacity of about 540 TEUs, or 270 40' containers. At just over 20" long, it will fit in small harbors. I've seen this class of ships all over the world, either in person or through Google Earth, from both large and small shipping companies. It has a side-launched rescue boat. I'm showing it with a full load of containers—the container stacks are not included, and are available separately.The ship has custom photo-etched railings and stairways, and many custom details such as winches, masts, ventilators, davits and lifeboat. A built-up model, custom painted and decaled, without containers, is $750.00 US, plus shipping and insurance. An undecorated full load of containers (three high, not four as shown) is $100.00 US. A load of containers painted and decaled is a special order; ask for a quote. A complete kit containing all details (but not the load of containers, and commodities like paint and glue) is $225 US, plus shipping.
EXCELLENT ! I have a LOT of containers, just need to figure out a way to make room for a water area large enough !
That's unusual! Most of my customers want a ship, without realizing how many containers it takes to fill them even halfway. I've got a 614' 2200 TEU coming soon, which means about 500 containers on deck. I will be offering stacks of containers soon.
Jeff, I've been wanting to do a container ship dock for awhile now and probably would build the module with the dock as the edge of the module, then bolt on a separate piece with the ship. I came up with this approach so it would fit in my car. I just need to do more research on the dock details so I can lay the track in a semi-realistic manner. Pete, you mentioned the Maersk Alabama on the other site, are you serious about it? I ask since it's 508' length overall, and 70' beam would work with the module I'm thinking about building. James
Very serious about the Maersk Alabama. I meant to have it out last week but ran into trouble cutting the hull of the N scale version, and haven't resolved the issue. I have the superstructure designed and built. It's a medium-size ship for me, as I hope to introduce a 614' Z scale container ship soon, have the 610' N Scale Laker (William A. Irvin) in production, and have shown a 730' Z scale Laker (and then the N Scale version). It's just a matter of time, and solving some software issues with cutting the large pieces. Cutting styrene is a bit harder than I expected, due to the drag on the cutting blade.
Excellent Pete. You're producing a great addition to our scale. Send me a PM on the Alabama when you get to the point of announcing it formally. The feeder ship sure is nice too. James
I hadn't thought much about the Z scale version until now. I design in N scale for 0.5 mm (0.020") styrene. I'm always hoping I can then reduce the plans to 72.727% to Z scale, and use 0.38 mm (0.015") styrene, which is close enough (75 vs 72.72727. . .) I'm using an immensely powerful BlackCat cutter that is also immensely finicky about blade depth and cutting force and speed. Once I get it set for 0.5 mm styrene, I hate to disturb it for 0.38 mm styrene. Make a mistake and it will cut straight through the supporting cutting mat, or snap a blade, which are about $12 each these days. The problem is that everyone is just now learning how to use these bigger cutters, so there's no learning history. And the software is bad for serious work. I guess it's great for scrapbooking and cutting intricate flower designs, but I'm cutting architectural marine stuff.
Pete, No rush on my part, so if it takes quite a while to get to it, that's fine by me. I just wanted to let you know you have an interested party here. James
I've got a show this weekend in Cincinnati; next week I may try to cut the Z scale hull from .015 styrene and see what happens. I'm really at a loss (as are others) about the problems cutting .020 styrene for large parts.
