WW2 British Merchant Vessels?

[Jon Rivers]

Hi All -First timer…never been much for forum’s but I need help. If all goes well hopefully can meet for some games.

Trying to collect the entire Op. Pedestal from WW2. Preferably 1/3000. Royal Navy Ships are OK but the Merchant Vessels are a nightmare to find. Navwar and Shapeways aren’t helpful either as I dont want generic types. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pedestal#Order_of_battle

Jon

[Schlesien]

Not an easy one.  Here is what I did:

-Port Chalmers: navwar N9005
-Clan Ferguson (Cameron class): North Head
-Melbourne Star (ref cargo liner, Imperial star class): Mick Yarrow 3260, Large Merchant Ship
-Brisbane Star (ref cargo liner, Imperial star class): Mick Yarrow 3260, Large Merchant Ship
-Almeria Lykes (Type C3 cargo ship): not sure, had it from a different battle
-Santa Elisa (ref cargo ship): not sure, had it from a different battle
-Rochester Castle (ref cargo ship): not sure, had it from a different battle
-Empire Hope (ref cargo liner): Mick Yarrow 3104, Avila Star
-Glenorchy (cargo): Mick Yarrow, 3054, Liberty Ship
-Dorset (cargo): navwar N9016
-Deucalion (cargo): North Head
-Wairangi (ocean liner): Mick Yarrow 3017, Circassia Liner
-Waimarama (cargo): navwar N9034
-Ohio (oil tanker): not sure, had it from a different battle

There really is nothing that matches up exactly to the tonnage of the ships.  I thought these ones came close enough.

For the ones I am not sure about, if you want I can dig deeper to figure out what I used.

 

Eric

[Jon Rivers]

Thank you!

Do you know suppliers for the Force Y Freighters Troilus and Orari and the Force R tanker RFA Dingledale?

If you could dig for those last 4 that would really be appreciated:

Almeria Lykes; Santa Elisa; Rochester Castle; Ohio Tanker

[Not Connard Sage]

I’m afraid you’re going to have to make some compromises. Merchant vessels are poorly represented in 1/3000, and outside of Navwar, MY and North Head there’s not much else apart from Liberty ships, Victory ships and generic types. Wargamers are happy to use substitutes and surrogates for non-warships. 🙂

Davco used to have a fair range of merchant shipping, but it seems to have vanished since the company was sold.

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Schlesien]

Santa Elisa: navwar N9001

Ohio: Mick Yarrow USS Neches, Fleet or Civilain Oiler/Tanker

Rochester Castle: navwar N9006

Admeria Lykes: navwar N9001

Not sure about Force Y Freighters Troilus and Orari and the Force R tanker RFA Dingledale.

[AdmiralHawke]

Not Connard Sage wrote:

I’m afraid you’re going to have to make some compromises.

Exactly this. Models of these exact ships in 1/3000 (or any scale other than perhaps 1/1200) mostly don’t exist. So the only way to get models of the exact ships would be either to design your own for 3D printing or commission someone to do that for you.

The good news is that (a) there is a wide range of 1/3000 merchant ships available and (b) most Second World War merchant ships were of surprisingly similar designs. The typical 1930s ocean-going cargo ship had a central superstructure with a single funnel, while most tankers had a forward superstructure and a small aft superstructure with a single funnel. If you look hard enough, as Schlesien did, you can find a diverse range of ships that don’t look generic. Most of the merchant ships used on the Malta convoys were fast, modern ships.

What I would do is find pictures of the actual ships (e.g. Troilus https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/3345.html and Orari https://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/717.html) and then seek the miniature that most closely resembles the ship.

The next problem is that finding pictures of some manufacturer’s models is much harder than you might expect.

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Davco used to have a fair range of merchant shipping, but it seems to have vanished since the company was sold.

The Davco range hasn’t vanished. They are available from Navy Models & Books here: https://navymodelsandbooks.co.uk/product-category/davco-13000/. I bought some a few months ago.

But you have to look hard through both merchant ships and auxiliaries:
– Either Cimmaron or Altmark would give you a large modern tanker for Ohio.
– Amarapoora is a single-funnel cargo liner that might work for Troilus.
– Aikoku Maru is a (then-) modern single-funnel passenger cargo liner.
– Tokyo Maru is a modern single-funnel cargo ship.
– Kormoran is another modern single-funnel cargo ship. I presume Komet and Thor are too, but don’t have them.

No idea where you could find a model of Brown Ranger in 1/3000 though.

[Not Connard Sage]

AdmiralHawke wrote:

 

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Davco used to have a fair range of merchant shipping, but it seems to have vanished since the company was sold.

The Davco range hasn’t vanished. They are available from Navy Models & Books here: https://navymodelsandbooks.co.uk/product-category/davco-13000/.

 

Sorry Admiral, I didn’t make myself clear. I know the Davco range still exists, because I bought some a few months ago too, but to my recollection they used to have a larger range of merchant vessels compared to what NM&B offer now.

Unfortunately, my old paper catalogues went for recycling a long time ago so I can’t check. 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Not Connard Sage]

AdmiralHawke wrote:

No idea where you could find a model of Brown Ranger in 1/3000 though.

As it goes, Navwar do a Ranger class RFA – N1710 Gold Ranger  🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[AdmiralHawke]

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Sorry Admiral, I didn’t make myself clear. I know the Davco range still exists, because I bought some a few months ago too, but to my recollection they used to have a larger range of merchant vessels compared to what NM&B offer now. 

Got it. I think Navy Models & Books does offer the entire original Davco range, it’s just that the merchant ships and auxiliaries are not well organized and some of them are hard to find on the site.
– British merchant ships are listed under Merchant ships, which slightly unhelpfully mixes Second World War era ships with more modern ones.
– Japanese merchant ships and auxiliaries are listed under Imperial Japanese Navy Auxiliaries.
– German tankers and armed merchant raiders are listed separately.
– There are also some US transports in the (hidden) Landing Craft, Assault Ships and Transporters category.
Frustratingly few of the listings have photos, though you can see some in the pictures of the convoy packs.

I believe that some of the Davco and Navwar merchant ships (e.g. Amarapoora and Scottish Borderer) are identical because they were originally produced jointly.

[Jon Rivers]

Thanks for the info guys – I knew I would have to compromise but didn’t know if there was some extra place to buy these ships that I wasnt aware of.

As an aside I am also finding difficulty with Italian Submarines and Italian CRDA (MS) boats. What do people use for:

MS boats

Acciaio Class Submarines

Argo class Submarines

Brin class

[Author]

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