Today is May 24th, the 64th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait, one of the most dramatic naval battles of WWII. How do the large plastic ship model makers recreate this important event? You can buy the Bismarck in just about every scale, and from just about every major plastic model maker out there. Almost all of course show her with the black and white diagonal stripes, that she did NOT wear that fatal day. You can get it in 1/350, 1/400, 1/720, 1/700, and 1/600 scales. You can also get Prinz Eugen in 1/400 and 1/700 scales. The models for both ships are very accurate, well made models. So what does that leave the British side? Ancient models of the Hood, in a rig she wore early in the war, and not accurate for her last battle. 1/400 Heller, which I understand is the worst Heller ship model out there, 1/720 Italeri, not bad but flawed, 1/700 Tamiya, good except for being the wrong rig, and the 1/600 Airfix model, which is semi-good, despite being an ancient kit. I don't count the terrible Linberg kit, which is really just a bathtub toy. Price of Wales is a bit better represented, at least being made in both 1/350 and 1/700 scales by Tamiya. Suffolk is made in a decades old kit also, by Airfix, but Norfolk is totally ignored. Why do modelers insist on buying every piece of German stuff that comes out, and ignore the ships that really won the war?
Same reason why the U-Boat service is held (rightly) in esteem, whereas the actions of Allied submariners is arguably forgotten by the mainstream. For example, the British were engaged mostly in confined waters - North Sea and Mediterranean - possessing both the problem of shallow water and concentrated air surveillance, rather than the wide expanse of the Atlantic. Moreover, they were engaged primarily in countering enemy warships rather than lumbering convoys. In the Pacific, the American submarines wrought havoc on the Japanese merchant fleet, all but ending seaborne trade. (Admittedly the Japanese had less resources and less of an emphasis on ASW than the allies.) I am taking nothing from the bravery of U-Boat crews, but as their losses rose, their reliance younger and less experienced crews and commanding officers helped to fuel their colossal casualty rate. One could put a good argument that their British and Americans counterparts were, overall, the more professional. How that stands in relation to model ships, well... Richard
Why do modelers insist on buying every piece of German stuff that comes out, and ignore the ships that really won the war? Probably the same reason why TV, especially cable history channels are obsessed with the Nazis. I suspect its to do with the perception that the Germans were efficient and professional, while the allies, especially the Brits, were incompetent bumblers. Not true, of course, as Dirty Dick says. The Germans did have some good kit, but so did we and some of theirs was as bad as some of ours. Perhaps its because evil is more fascinating than good. Read Rex Warner's fantasy novel "The Aerodrome" for a discussion of these dichotomies. P.S.: I have built the Tamiya Hood and the Airfix Suffolk - the latter had to be considerably improved and I hacked the bottom off and made it into a waterline model. I now build model ships from scratch - very slowly since getting involved in these forums [fora? fori?] and because I've just moved house. Adrian
There are some quality programmes about the Nazis "in the can", such as "A Warning from History" currently being reshown on Saturdays. But for the makers of cheap programmes, such as for cable, the attraction is available film footage, to which they only need to add a voiceover narration. However, the volume of Nazi related programmes has declined sharply compared with four or five years ago. As for naval warfare, I suspect that there is simply more German footage around. For instance, I cannot recall ever seeing much footage of HMS Hood, or British submarines in action, whereas the Germans sent journalists to see on operations to a much greater extent.
There are some quality programmes about the Nazis "in the can", such as "A Warning from History" currently being reshown on Saturdays. But for the makers of cheap programmes, such as for cable, the attraction is available film footage, to which they only need to add a voiceover narration. However, the volume of Nazi related programmes has declined sharply compared with four or five years ago. As for naval warfare, I suspect that there is simply more German footage around. For instance, I cannot recall ever seeing much footage of HMS Hood, or British submarines in action, whereas the Germans sent journalists to see on operations to a much greater extent. That would explain when you watch the cable documentaries the occasional scene being repeated or used on a number of different but related war subjects/ matters, sometimes twice and three times in the same programme.
I would very much like to see many of those ships represented. There are also 1/700 models of Rodney and Nelson, which my brother built...and then he threw out when we cleaned out our parents' house, to my displeasure. I have seen 1/700 British destroyers and MTBs. It's also interesting to note that the only American ships from Pearl Harbor that get models are Arizona and Pennsylvania, both 1/720 ships by Revell. Not bad models, with traversing 14-inch turrets and 5-inch casemates. There was a larger one of Arizona for a while, too. But all the other ships that were lined up there that morning are not represented by models. The Japanese folks at Tamiya made Enterprise and Hornet (complete with B-25s for the latter), but not California, Nevada, or West Virginia. I once saw a 1/700 USS Indianapolis, but no other American heavy or light cruisers. I have seen 1/700 Fletcher-class destroyers, LSTs, and Essex-class carriers. No CVLs, no CVEs. Tamiya made some third-generation American battleships...Missouri, New Jersey, Iowa, North Carolina, South Dakota. No Alaska, no Guam, and no New Mexico or Tennessee. Very annoying. I have a boxful of 1/700 ship models at home, including the entire Japanese Pearl Harbor strike force, the Shinano, the Fuso, the Ise, the Deutschland, and the Prince of Wales. I'd like to build those ships.
I have been trying for years to find an affordable model the Casablance class of CVE. My dad served on the Fanshaw Bay and watched (among other ships) the Gambier Bay pounded and sunk by Kurita's surface fleet in the Battle Off Samar. I wanted to build Dad a model of his ship, but all that I could find was the $200 Tom's Modelworks Gambier Bay. At the time, that was more than I could afford, but now that Dad has passed away, I wish I had come up with the money............ I found this recently: http://www.modelboat.com/model41.html REALLY expensive! I found an old Strombecker directions for a wood carved model of the Gambier Bay. It looks like it is from the early 1950's. I wonder if dad made it? tom
Awe, go on ahead and buy it, Tom and the parts that go with it. It's only money. Hah! Tell that to my WIFE!! tom
Hah! Tell that to my WIFE!! tom You'd probably have about as much success at convincing yours as I would mine.
