Ship models go to war

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

An interesting facet about ship models is their use during WW1 and WW2 as means to identify the ships of friend and foe. Needless to say that friendly fire was a constant and serious threat. I have a collection of these 1:500 (Teacher Scale) and 1:1200 (Recognition Scale) models. The sets come in wooden suitcase-like boxes and the ship models slide in and out on small plywood "blue boards", as they are called; usually, the ships name and the name of the model manufacturer are stamped on the bottom of the "blue board". The 1:500 models have solid maple-wood hulls and cast metal superstructures and guns; the 1:1200 are solid heavy metal with a fair amount of lead (Pb) content. Hence, some models tend to show lead corrosion which is caused by the action between the lead and the acetic acid etc. in the wood and in the air.

TEACHER MODELS
(1:500 SCALE)
GERMAN NAVY

Content:

TIRPITZ
SCHARNHORST
ADMIRAL SCHEER
PRINZ EUGEN
KOELN
NUERNBERG
MAAS CLASS
NARVIK CLASS


This is a full original set in the original box; the models are mounted on “blue boards”. This set was produced for the US Navy by Comet Metal Products, Richmond Hills, NY, in 1943. The 1:500 models are referred to as "Teacher Scale” models. Also, they are somewhat difficult to find now; however, they were produced in large numbers, and individual ships were sold to the public after the war. In addition to Comet, Framburg in Chicago and South Salem in Long Island also made some of the 1:500 series.
I also have the RN ships: HMS King George V, Ramillies, Illustrious, Renown, Fiji, Leander and one Soviet ship (Sverdlov) in this scale in my collection, but these are not boxed sets.

A copy of an interesting article on these 1:500 and the 1:1200 ID models: “Ship models go to war” by Edward P. von der Porten, can be obtained from me by email. (I have permission from the Nautical Research Guild).

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[Kit-Builder]

G’Day Ulrich (and everybody ),
I was surprised by the level of detailing considering they were just for general silhouette identities, very impressive.
These will make quite a collectable set in the future (“complete” historical collections are way more expensive than partial sets), something to hand down for a few generations more .
Thanks for showing us your “kit” collection and your work here on this site too .
Regards Steve