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| Submarine Chaser |
Growing up with Matchbox toys, I was never really sold on the idea of diecast ships. However, I came across a lot of Sea King ships recently and was really quite taken with them. A lot of these seem to be Chinese copies of Matchbox originals, in different colours from the standard.
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| Convoy Escort |
Original or copy, they are nice toys, however these are desperately in need of some time in drydock.
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| Guided Missile Destroyer |
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| Aircraft Carrier |
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| Submarine |
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| Sub Chaser |
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| Convoy Escort |
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| Helicopter Carrier |
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| Corvette |
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| Frigate |
The difference between the original red decked Sea King and the duller chinese copy is apparent here.
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| Frigate |
In amongst the Sea Kings lot were two modern Triang Minic Royal Navy ships, single piece castings with hollow bases.
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| Triang Minic Invincible Class Carrier |
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| Triang Minic Albion Class Assault Ship |
At a toy fair recently, I picked up a handful of the matchbox Sea Kings Harbour playset accessories which include several small boats. I later found a partial playset with docks and harbour buildings.
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| Sea Kings Harbour Miniatures |
An original Corgi Juniors Tug, from the seventies which I picked up around the time when I should have been putting toys away in favour of more adult pursuits!
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| Corgi Junior Tug |
Kinder Egg and similar sweets always have a great range of watercraft, seen here with the Sea Kings Harbour accessories.
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| Kinder Egg Miniatures |
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| Tolo Chocolate Egg Miniatures (Above/Below) |
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| Unknown German Miniatures |
Along with the more elaborate models, I have some vintage ships of much simpler design such as these two unbranded German boats. The blue one is about an inch long.
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| Hong Kong Rack Toys |
The sixties were a time for rack toys and Marine Flotillas of army boats abounded. Unfortunately, this lot have lost most of the ordnance and accessories over the years. The crew have stayed with the ships though! I would have spent hours as a kid, bent over the sink playing with my fleet.
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| Sweet Premium Boat |
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| Blow Moulded Boat |
The most recent acquisitions are these Kellogs Baking Soda powered premiums. Putting a tiny amount of soda in the back or under the sub made them fizz along in the water.
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| Kellogs Baking Soda Boats and Subs |
They're very nice. I think I had some random minic ships at some point but plastic was the boat material of choice. Wouldn't mind building an r/c water borne model of some sort one day.
ReplyDeleteThat was great, with so many different types of model. A few boats are full hull, with the lower hull below the waterline modelled; others are waterline, meaning only the parts above the water are modelled. Some waterline models have wheels or rollers in the base, allowing them to be pushed along the floor like a toy car. Most model ships are either naval vessels or ocean liners - I only have a few examples.
ReplyDeleteShips are way cool! Never got into them myself, mostly because I didn't think it prudent to open up yet another collecting door, but I especially liked the "waterline models" which I think these are - the warships at least. And I probably built a Revell aircraft carrier or two in my day. These are beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteNice fleet you have there.
ReplyDeleteFenton