Where Can I Buy One Of These ?
I would like one myself, Skipper. This is a scale model of a Deutschland-class “pocket battleship,” carrying the fighting mast of the Graf Spee,, last vessel of that class. These ships were attempts to combine battleship-sized hitting power with cruiser-sized economy, in the role of long-range oceanic commerce raiders. They carried six 11-inch guns that fired 680-pound shells for a maximum range of 26 miles. Their diesel engines gave them a maximum cruising radius of something like 19,000 miles. They were designed for a maximum speed of 26 knots, but all three ships in the class reached 28 knots on trials. As Admiral Scheer proved in her raiding cruise of 1940-41, the “pocket battleships” were ideal for their task.
The Graf Spee achieved greatest notoriety of the three, being the ship cornered and scuttled in Montevideo Roads on December 17, 1939, after a three-month raiding cruise in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
A beautiful job, this model. I would love to raise eyebrows by pulling this baby into any marina anywhere.
“ME-109E,” of course, refers to the “E” variant of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter (single-engine inline-V Mercedes). This is the variant they called “Emil,” the variant in service at the time of the Battle of Britain.
On some TV show somewhen, I saw footage of oil-tanker captains in training driving scale model tankers around a lake. Looked like fun.
Posted by Anachronda
06/25/2005 at 01:26 PM
IS that a RC. or just a decked out boat?
It may very well be an RC (that means radio-controlled) model. I see a large antenna grid on the after mast.
Hmm. Such a model with an RC weapons system would definitely be worthwhile....
OCM, you are referring to the infamous Laconia sinking of 9/12/42. That was the work of Hartenstein’s U-156. Yes, it is definitely a possibility for a 9/12 posting. The attempt to rescue survivers became a snafu that resulted in a rescue-no-survivors order for U-boats. And that order was destined to be the most important factor in a 10-year Nuremburg sentence for their commander, Admiral Doenitz.
The PQ-17 fiasco is my next planned posting. Stand by on all decks.
Incidentally, there is a very GROSS typo in my original entry, a reference to an “inline-V Mercedes.” That should have been “inline-8.” Sorry about that, chaps. I hate hanging myself with that kind of rope.
My first thought was that this guy had found one hell of a hobby. I bet he gets some double takes when he shows up on the local lakes with that one. I thought I was alone in spotting the registration number but I thank Tann for filling in the info. I knew it referred to a german Messerschmitt model but had no details.
I was guessing that lives in Maine and took advantage of the first letters of the registry number there but the more I think of it the less sure I am. If it’s a model he may not be required to have it registered as other boats are.
Here’s a picture of Deutschland.
Well, that link turns out not to lead where I expected. Let’s try this one it’s Admiral Scheer in Gibraltar.
Right, Stin. Deutschland had a unique mast structure, whereas Graf Spee and Scheer were both built with the fighting mast shown on the model above.
During Scheer‘s 1940 refit, however, she was given a slim cruiser-style mast (the one on Graf Spee had become altogether too well-known and recognizable).
I cannot guess where this chap might live, but the more I think of it, the more I agree that this is an RC model. Damn! Must be nice to be able to finance hobbies on such a scale. I wonder if he built it himself?
I’m thinking that he probably did build it himself.
How about it, Skipper, enquiring minds want to know more.
Right! Who is this chap, Skipper? I have to compliment him on his tastes. Anyone who models pocket battleships is a worthwhile chap, to say the least.
Would you go waterskiing or duck hunting with this. Maybe both…
What an original idea!!! I’ve never seen anything like this. Its VERY cool. Since I am an air cooled Porsche racing engine builder who also loves WWII fighter aircraft (a staggering variety of awesome engine configurations like the Pratt & Whitney 4360 etc) and my good friend Ron is a WWII expert with a library of over 2000 books on WWII then after reading about the war quite a bit I became facinated by all mechanical technology and started researching many things the USA and Germany built during WWII and after. Now I realize that sometimes we have to go and kick some ass and this is one of those times. But I think that since someting like 19 of the Sept 11th terrorists were from Saudi Arabia we should (since we are in the neighborhood anyway) KICK THEIR ASS AND TAKE THEIR GAS!!
Posted by Paul "No Fear" Weir
06/25/2005 at 10:26 PM
