"Airfix's Impending Sink the Bismarck! 1:1200 Model Set" Topic

Lou Coatney writes:

I have it on firsthand authority that there will indeed be a complementary set of 1:1200 model ships which were directly involved in the Bismarck surface actions. It does amaze me that Rodney has never been done in plastic at that scale, as easy as she would be to design.

By the way, the old Eaglewall and Pyro 1:1200 Victorious goes for a small fortune on eBay. I have 2 of them, already assembled and not all that well. I have an unbuilt Pyro Norfolk kit, but the gun turrets are laughable.

For DECADES, I have been pleading with plastic model manufacturers to come out with task force sets. Back in the 1980s, I approached Lindberg models then of Skokie, Illinois, about doing so, emphasizing the unexplored play and gaming market. The marketing director pulled out an old Eaglewall kit of Exeter and asked me what I thought about that. Did Lindberg get the Eaglewall molds … or copies of them? I know they were supposed to have been destroyed in a warehouse fire, presumably in England.

Eventually, Lindberg did in fact come out with a task force set … of US Navy ships at various scales and of various periods. They couldn't afford new molds. Renwal came out with a full-hull set of 1:1200 contemporary US Navy ships in the 50s?, 60s? A complete set recently went for $483.00 USD on eBay.

In recent years, I've been pushing the idea on Telegraph newspaper blogs concerned about Airfix's possible demise. Maybe someone at Airfix/Hornby has imagination and acted on the idea. For sure, the set will be a collector's item and may be hard to get at the outset.

Of course you can get them all in metal from many different companies, and the ones from Neptun will be as nice or nicer than anything a plastic kit can offer…and it comes already built…

But then, you can never have enough boats…

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And up for preorder on a number of model sites.

But then, you can never have enough boats…

TruDat

$45 USD at Airfix USA… $7.50 USD ea

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More targets for my coastal forces!

I think these are re-issues of classic kits from the 60s. I like them. I have a set on pre-order already. Didn't Airfix once produce a Graf Spee set in 1/1200? Maybe if this set sells well they'll bring out every 1/1200 subject from the old days.

Now, what rules to use for wargaming 1/1200 naval gun battles in the 21st century?

The "Battle of the River Plate" ships were produced by Eaglewall in the late 1950's/early 1960's. They produced a whole series of battle sets, but I think only 3, River Plate, Capture of the Altmark, and Narvik, were ever completed. Serious ommisions were RODNEY & HOOD from the Bismark battle set, and all the Italian ships from the Matapan set, and AMCs and MACs in the Atlantic series. Years later, some of the original Eaglewall models were produced under the Pyro label, including Gniesenau, which was never produced under the Eaglewall label.

They started/addicted me, and many others, on the waterline ship models/naval wargames hobby, and are still looked on with misty eyes and much affection. Here's a thread from the Dockside website:-

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2/11d (14 pence) got you a battleship or carrier, 1/11d (9 pence) for a cruiser, and 1/6d (9 pence) got you 5 different types of U-boat!!!!

Bill

Clydeside Models

Here's a brief history of the late, lamented Eaglewall range, (& pics) from Iain McGeachy's website:-

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have a look at Joachim Thiele's excellent models!

Feckin' awesome !

Wish they'd re release the whole 1:1200 range though.

Tribal class destroyers have been OOP for about 30 years of more !

Cool, this might finally get me to give naval gaming a chance.

My great uncle was killed on the HMS Hood when it was sunk.

You can still often snap up those Tribals pretty cheap on ebay.

auction

Would now be a good time to mention that I have an Ark Royal and a couple of Counties,one modified as HMS London, and a set of Tribals one standard and one converted to a J/K class.

Fatman

As I am not a supporting member I would never suggest that anybody interested in these contact me on fatman_bear1@yahoo.co.uk to discuss these or some metal models I have

Fatman

Trying to look innocent and failing

Great conversion work on that Dockside thread, Bill Gilpin. It's giving me the itch. Where's my razor saw?

A department store in Windsor recently had a bin full of old airfix tribal blister packs on sale for 50p each .

One of my uncles was a gunner on the Hood, but he transferred off just before Denmark Straits. he transferreed to Repulse. His brother was also a gunner, on Prince of Wales.

Thanks for the kind remarks Zippy. David – I remember reading somwhere that Jon Pertwee, the English actor, (Dr. Who!) was taken off the HOOD with other cadets for officer training, in a drifter, as the battlecruiser left Scapa to tackle the BISMARK.

Bill

I never thought of ebay. Doh!

Supply in Windsor – recently ? Like recent recent or 10 years ago ? Where could they have surfaced from ? Bizzare.

How can you have a Bismarck battle set that doesn't include the Hood?

. . . although I suppose if you intended to start the battle 12 minutes in. . .

Or a "Sinking of the Scharnhorst" without the Scharnhorst, or a "Battle of cape Matapan" with not one Italian ship?

Eaglewall were also guilty of repackaging kits with different names – e.g. the Altmark became a "British tanker" for the "Battle of the Atlantic" series!

Nevertheless, they were the only game in town, and they were great! And, now that I produce my own model kits, I can appreciate how difficult it is to produce all the models you would like to – the spirit is willing………….

As a wee boy, for many months, I trapesed two miles every Saturday to a "Jenny a' things" (sold everything) shop that sold Eaglewall kits, and, every visit, the "wee wummin" in the shop, promised me that the Scharnhorst would "definitely be in next week son…….." Of course, it never was, and I soon realised that the said "wee wummin" would not have been able to tell the Scharnhorst from the Govan ferry….

However, many years later, in 1974, whilst visiting the famous Clyde Model Dockyard shop in Glasgow, I espied eight Eaglewall Gniesnaus. They were 75p each, so I bought 2, one to convert to Scharnhorst – I'm still kicking myself for leaving the other 6 lying on the shelf…………

I have this fantasy that I go up to the highlands one day, and find a wee "Brigadoon" shop or sub post office with stacks of unsold Eaglewalls on the shelves – all at 1950's prices…………(sigh)

And a Leander kit was misrepresented as Perth, Bill.

The latest photos of my complementary cardstock models set for the Airfix Sink the Bismarck are at

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I design my cardstock models with 1:600 or 1:700 in mind and 1:1200 is a REAL challenge.

I'm not sure if I can market the set, as expensive as things are to print and/or copy here in Norway, anyway.

Anyone want to trade the Ark Royal kit in this for a Suffolk or Prinz Eugen?

Hah! Good luck on that, ptdockyard. :-)

There is still a surplus of Ark Royals, let alone from the 1/720 Revell AR&Tribal kit. :-)

I've put my complementary Sink the Bismarck paper/cardstock model ship plans – colored – but not including cruisers Dorsetshire and Norfolk, which will be in my book of 30 or so World War 2 model warship plans – up on my CoatneyHistory.com webpage, folks.

Sorry to have missed this company! Still I did have almost all the Airfix ships at one time…

…anyone know of a 1/350 1944 CO class British destroyer model?