1/1200 scale harbour

 

For those unfamiliar with the 1/1200 world it is the traditional scale for British waterline models and dates back to the early 20th Century.  ‘In 1911 the British Admiralty placed an order with Bassett-Lowke, an already well established model maker, for the supply of a substantial number of 100 ft to 1 inch waterline ships which were to be used as a teaching aids for the Royal Navy.‘ (Derek Head – Bassett-Lowke Waterline Ship Models – page 19). The public appetite for waterline ships models [was] whetted by an event which took place at London’s Earl Court Exhibition Hall in 1913, namely the Imperial Services Exhibition.  In honour of the occasion, Bassett-Lowke had been commissioned to produce a special display of 100′ to 1″ warships of all nations to illustrate the comparative strengths of the different navies in relation to type and numbers of vessels. This attracted considerable public attention and really brought miniature waterline models into their own.’ (page 12 ).  It has been suggested that the scale was used as it was an accurate representation of a ship seen at a mile distance and while that might well be the case the ease of conversion must play a part. The continental equivalent is 1/1250.

Over the last hundred and thirty nears since the earliest models the quality of the detailing has changed beyond all recognition.

A 1/1200 scale harbour.  (1″ = 100′)

This layout was built over a weekend. The time period is meant to move from relatively recent through the 1970’s to a World War II convoy assembly to a ‘conservation’ town, seaside pier and marina.  The naval base is similar with the more modern vessels to the ‘north’ and earlier vessels to the ‘south’ of the main quay.  There is no relation to any harbour now or in the past with a broad spectrum of buildings ranging from Polish Palaces, Lincoln Cathedral, Tower  Bridge and New York Piers not to mention Edinburgh and Stirling Castles being used! 

However all the vessels are ‘real’.

 

1 A1 010rc

CRUISE SHIP and LINER and FERRY berths

 

2 A2 024

CONTAINER Berths

1 A1 023

3 A2~3 025

TANKER BERTHS and NATO forces, 1960 – 70’s below

4a harbour A 3 36

TANKER, BULK CARGO and CONTAINER BERThS

A3 Tankers 046

TANKER BERTHS with Falkland support ships

4b harbour A 34 AB12 057 Act019

 

B1 007

1950 and 60’s

B2 016 C1 013 CD 34058rc

D1 027WORLD WAR II Basin

D3 030 D3 028 D4 029 D4 031 harbour B nb 035 harbour A cont056 harbour AB3 037

harbour A4 034 47a harbour mouth

For update see the post entitled ‘WATERFRONT’.

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s