[1250ships]

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.

[admin]

Very Nice!
I apreciate your posting something about these.

[fileasfog]

Interesting, They are metal yet they are so small!
dp you have container ships?

[bsmith13]

Those are really neat! Who are some of the manufacturers, and do they have websites?

[1250ships]

Originally Posted by fileasfog

Interesting, They are metal yet they are so small!
dp you have container ships?

Lots of containerships. What happens in most cases is that the shipping company buys a bunch of models for promotional use and the producers add on some models for the collectors market. On of the big producers is called Bille:


Cap Ortegal- I liked this one because unlike most they did some multi-colored container stacks. Most of the containers are all painted the small color because that is easier and the shipping companies like it that way.


Los Angeles Express


Refrigerated containership Dole Chile


Ever Champion


From Rhenania a small feeder containership Aachen

[fileasfog]

wow, fascinating, so small yet so expensive.
Overall really beautiful.

[1250ships]

Originally Posted by bsmith13

Those are really neat! Who are some of the manufacturers, and do they have websites?

Many of the producers don't have web sites. Most of them are not web savvy folks. Here are some that do:

Navis-Neptun: Biggest producer offering a wide range of warships from both world wars. They set the standard for quality that everyone is measured against.

Albatros: Produces two series. AL series of ocean liners, passenger ships, and freighters and the ALK series of modern warships of Germany, Holland, the Great Britain.

Argos: Modern warships concentrating on the US Navy.

CM: Hamburg based CM produces mostly commercial ships and liners. Has a few warships with an emphasis on modern carriers.

Sea Vee: Considered one of the top 2 or 3 producers. Extremely limited quantities.

Konishi: Japanese producer. Slightly different as they use brass which has the advantage of making their stuff pretty tough.

Classic Ship Collection: Very high end models concentrating on famous liners (though they have lots of other ships too). Almost exclusively commercial ships.

Risawoleska: Obscure ships mostly with lots of Scandinavian ferries but really beautiful models.


A few of the notable manufacturers without websites:

Bille- make lots of modern containerships and freighters.

Rhenania- very high quality producer with ships ranging from the 1880's through today.

Superior- US produced line of 1/1200 kits of warships. They take some work but provide good value and are great if you want to do wargaming. Sold only by the manufacturer Alnavco.

Wirral- UK based producer who does UK merchant ships of the 1900s-1960s. 1/1200 scale and cast in resin not metal. Very good paint work on these models.

Saratoga Model Shipyard- US auxiliaries of the World War II period- oiler, tugs, ammo ships and so on. Just to include one example of Saratoga this is the US Navy oiler Patoka which was converted to be a mooring ship for dirigibles:

[hworth18]

Really cool stuff.. It reminds me of a ship collection I had as a small child.. All kinds of grey warships that actually floated in the tub.. I don't recall who made them or any other details except playing with them in the tub..

[Captain Eddie]

I don't collect ships (though I do have one) but the info and pics you provided were very interesting, 1250ships. Thanks for sharing!

[Ted in DC]

I'm also a 1/1250 scale ship collector, and one thing that's really good about that hobby is you can display and store many many more ship models than you can aircraft models. Also, there are a wide variety of ship classes available from all of those small producers. In time, I can see diecast aircraft covering a wider variety of prototypes as well, all the major and minor military and commercial types. The downside of ship collecting is the cost - you get a lot more metal for your money when purchasing diecast aircraft. For more on the history of that hobby, I'd recommend (as a happy customer) 1250ship's website, plus the Steelnavy 1250 ship message boards: 1250 Home

Any other crossover air/sea collectors out there?

There are some aviation-related subjects in 1250 scale ship collecting: all the aircraft carriers of course, plus the giant airships in naval use such as Akron and Macon. The Swedish aviation cruiser Gotland is now available with aircraft included. There's a neat air/sea combo available from Neptun, the Akitsushima plus Emily flying boat. Imagine if this were available in 1:72 diecast! (picture from Steelnavy website)