1/1200 scale white metal napoleonic ships

[BonhommeRichard]

Red eagle miniatures has just taken over skytrex's production of 1/1200 scale napoleonic ships has anyone tried these ships are they good quality they have it as breaking news on there site so i dont know if anyone has gotten them yet

[David Manley]

They are OK. Better than Navwar, not as nice as Langton or GHQ. I have quite a few of them from 20+ years ago and I still like them. They do several types (e.g the later British 74s) that you can't get otherwise. I'm not a big fan of their masts and sails (the masts can be a bit spindly and bend easily, although decent rigging firms them up, even to the point of having a 74 's masts survive being dropped off a table a while ago. But for more recent modelling jobs I've replaced the Skytrex sets with Langton masts and sails.

I hope that helps.

[Volunteer]

Langton is the only manufacturer whose masts and sails are sturdy enough for rigging and gaming. GHQ, Davco, and Navwar make very soft masts you may as well just throw away. Davco's sails are nice but have no spars at all for rigging. Navco just throw everything but the hull away. All of these, except Langton, require extensive scratchbuilding to produce a decent ship sturdy enough for the gaming table. Haven't seen a Skytrex 1:1200 ship yet but I would bet they are close to Davco's quality. If so, then they would be as David says, not as good as Langton and GHQ, but miles better than Navwar.

[David Manley]

Skytrex are Davco

They really are horses for courses. Most of my models are now Langtons, but I have a few Skytrex/Davco as they were the best available when I started in the 1980s. I also have afew Navwar ones left - and in some cases with no more than a little work they do make up into lovely models (my favourite ship is actually an old navwar Dutchman, similar to Hornblower's "Sutherland"; she doesn't win any prizes for appearance but was amongst my first models in my collection and has weatehred some hard-fought battles). Skytrex masts are soft and a bit spindly, but if you rig them in the same style as the originals were rigged they are perfectly adequate for gaming; as i said, my cat lifted a 74 out of my storage box and dropped it off of a table onto a hard floor and the masts, rigging and sails survived with no ill effects.

For small craft I prefer Rod's models over all the others as they have a wealth of detail and character - plus he does quite an extensive range. For merchies have a mix of navwar and Skytrex - the former in particular as they are dirt cheap and their slightly dour appearance seems to fit the subject :)

[Volunteer]

Thanks David. I didn't know Skytrex and Davco were one and the same. I'm building my first two Davco's now, HMS Temeraire and HMS Agamemnon. It's interesting that the Langton Agamemnon configuration doesn't match the Davco ship at all? Makes me wonder which one was sculpted from the real ship class records, or if niether of them were? I also have 2 Navwar and 2 Davco HMS Indefatigables, and they don't match either, not even close. I am talking about number of ports, quarterdeck arrangements, stern design, you name it. Any thoughts?

[David Manley]

I would be inclined to go with Rod's interpretations

[Volunteer]

That's what I was hoping you would say. Unfortunately he doesn't have all that many "Named" ships to be able to determine the correct class for each model. Guess I'll have to do my own research, oh bother! Thanks David.

[Mark Barker]

I would be inclined to go with Rod's interpretations

Undoubtedly - Rod models the master directly from the ship plans held by the National Maritime Museum, can't get better than that.

Mark Barker
The Inshore Squadron

[Timmo]

Skytrex and Davco are not the same thing. The Skytrex models were the best when released but they still required quite a lot of work to make them look good. For example some of the amidships hammock netting was missing and the boats were on board. All of the Langton model sit too high in the water as if the ship is unloaded or hasn't got the weight of the guns on board. GHQ got the look correct and the hulls are the best castings of all – much cleaner, sharper and with better detail than Langton. Only Langton offers models at quarters.

I wish GHQ would reconsider and remaster their masts/sail arrangements as this really lets their models down. Langton has the most diverse range of all.

[David Manley]

Skytrex and Davco are not the same thing

No, they certainly are (or were, since the Skytrex range is now the Red Eagle range). They might have started out as separate companies but if so they merged many,many years ago. I remember buying from the old and long-gone Skytrex shop in Victoria and commenting on how the Skytrex ships came in packets that had Davco headers, to which I was told "same company". Nice an confusing at the time.

Skytrex and Navwar kicked off at the same time and had some collaboration over their 1/3000 WW1 and WW2 ranges, which is why for many years the stock codes for the same ships in both ranges were the same.

[Timmo]

David – I may have got confused with another range that preceded Davco/Navwar/Skytrex. I'm talking 30 years ago now but I had some 1/1200 ships which I've always thought were Davco. However when Skytrex launch their then new 1/1200 range, which I think they called Meridian, these were noticeably much better models than those I then had. I only build a few as they were taking me too long – I replaced all the cast sails with scratch built versions.