Gavin our illustrious admin PMed me and suggested I share a little bit about my day job and #1 collecting area. I run a site called 1250Ships.com that deals in 1/1250 scale ship models.
A little background. Model ship collecting has its roots in the interwar period with British and Continental manufacturers who produced models in either 1/1200 or 1/1250 scale. The models were waterline and showed the ship as she would appear on the surface of the ocean.
After World War Two the hobby exploded in Germany. While UK and US based companies continued to produce models using spin casting techniques the Germans developed flexible silicon moulds that allowed more and more details to be included. A quality arms race is on going in the hobby with new technologies being employed to produce more detailed models.
Most of the models are cast in metal and hand finished. Production runs vary. Items from the largest company, Navis/Neptun, are essentially unlimited. But many makers are one or two man operations and produce limited runs. Some go as low as 25-30 pieces though 100-200 is more common. With a few exceptions the models come fully assembled and painted. Just like good diecast you just have to take them out of the box and enjoy them.
Here are some recent models-
This is a World War II Royal Navy P-Q class destroyer. It gives you a great idea of the size of these models compared to a US penny. This model was produced by a company called Optatus- they are based near Berlin.
Jumping up in size a bit here is the Japanese battleship Ise after she had been coverted into a hybrid carrier/battleship. This is a Neptun model. Neptun is the largest of the 1/1250 producers and is based south of Munich. Neptun covers World War II and their sister company Navis covers World War I.
Navis/Neptun also has a special series called the Spider Navy featuring fully rigged models often with special paint schemes. This is the famous HMS Hood with rigging, flags, and painted decks.
Just so you don't think there are only warships here is the freighter Nabob produced by Carat. Nabob has an interesting history. She is shown here as a German freighter of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line in 1952. But the ship was orginally built as US aircraft carrier Edisto at Tacoma, Washington. She was handed over to the Canadian Navy and renamed Nabob. She was damaged in World War II and laid up rather than repaired. Post war NDL purchased her and converted into a freighter.
And yes- there are aircraft at this scale. Have to have something to put on the carriers and modern helicopter equipped ships. Pictured is an HS-34 Sea Bat of the Italian Navy circa 1964. Hand painted with photo etched rotors.
Just a small sample. By one count over 19,000 models have been issued in the 1/1250 or 1/1200 scale. And while some of those are duplicates (diecast has the Spitfire and Mustang, ships have the Bismarck and Titianic) most are unique. My site has several thousand pictures on it- you are welcome to browse around and enjoy them.