Malta era Mediterranean convoy ships in 1/700ish kit... any?

[Murewa]

Hiya, 

 

I normally make 1/48 aircraft and am making a trio of Malta era aircraft (Spit V, Re.2001 and 109G2). Below these three in flight, I am going to try (emphasis on try) to make a water base and have a period merchant ship in smaller scale for forced perspective. 

Never made a ship but got some great advice on water bases from Telford IPMS when there.

 

Does anyone know of a nice kit that would fit the bill of a Malta merchant ship of that era, the 1942 convoys? Or at least point me in the right direction of what to look for / best places to look / manufacturers likely to have something suitable. 

I had begun by using this site https://www.naval-history.net/xAH-MaltaSupply01b.htm which has a lot of the individual convoys ship by ship and searching for kits of them but haven't had much luck that way. 

 

Thanks

[dcrfan]

A liberty ship model.  There appears to have been several in 1/700 e.g. by Trumpeter and Skywave.

Edited December 15, 2021 by dcrfan

[Dave Swindell]

Niko do a resin model of the Ohio from the Pedestal convoy

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/niko-model-7083-ss-ohio-1942--197107

[Murewa]

16 hours ago, dcrfan said:

A liberty ship model.  There appears to have been several in 1/700 e.g. by Trumpeter and Skywave.

Thanks, I had thought about a Liberty. 

15 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

Niko do a resin model of the Ohio from the Pedestal convoy

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/niko-model-7083-ss-ohio-1942--197107

Thanks, might be a tad large but it looks very nice, I will have to measure my base and gaps between aircraft, 

[Graham Boak]

Niko also do one of the British utility merchant ships, both as a CAM ship and as a pure merchant.  Such vessels were more likely to be around at the time than the Libertys  I do wonder however whether either class would be present in such a fast convoy.  I would suggest that the overall appearance of these vessels are likely to be closer to the short central superstructure of the Liberty, but would have to bow to the expertise of others.  However it is possible to obtain the names of the ships in the convoy, and thus track down their appearance., for a more considered judgement. 

[Dave Swindell]

47 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

Niko also do one of the British utility merchant ships, both as a CAM ship and as a pure merchant.

I've got the Cam ship, but I'm not aware of any release of it as a plain Empire?

http://www.nikomodel.pl/index.php/en/resin-kits/ships-en/scale-1-700-en

[bootneck]

Hello Murewa,

 

You don't mention the size of baseboard you are using for you diorama; however, I would suggest 1:1200 scale for you ship or ships below the aircraft.   The ships that tended to do the Malta run where mainly Fast Empires and tankers, among others.   Virtually all the merchant ships that were on the Malta runs were produced in 1:1200 scale and can be obtained from Dave Willcocks at [email protected] .

 

The kits are resin and virtually complete, just needing masts to be added and a spray of grey primer.

 

Mike

[Graham Boak]

Hmm, I can;t see it either.  Not that the conversion is difficult.  I do wonder if it was an HP model, but can't find a listing other than Scalemates, which I don't think is complete.  I know that they no longer have their own website, but can be found on that of a German model shop.

 

If the Niko Ohio is too large then look into the 1/1250 ranges.  http://www.1250scale.com/.  Or indeed Dreadnought as above.

[Dave Swindell]

2 hours ago, bootneck said:

Virtually all the merchant ships that were on the Malta runs were produced in 1:1200 scale and can be obtained from Dave Willcocks at [email protected] .

 

Are those the old Len Jordan kits Mike?

[bootneck]

Yes,  he did the complete Pedestal convoy plus others that did the Malta runs.  It was one of his favourite subjects.

 

Mike

[Murewa]

On 16/12/2021 at 11:30, bootneck said:

Hello Murewa,

 

You don't mention the size of baseboard you are using for you diorama; however, I would suggest 1:1200 scale for you ship or ships below the aircraft.   The ships that tended to do the Malta run where mainly Fast Empires and tankers, among others.   Virtually all the merchant ships that were on the Malta runs were produced in 1:1200 scale and can be obtained from Dave Willcocks at [email protected] .

 

The kits are resin and virtually complete, just needing masts to be added and a spray of grey primer.

 

Mike

Thanks...that's great advice, thank you!