Cardboard model ship
A cardboard model ship is a scaled-down replica of a ship made of cardboard . The detailed or idealized kits or blueprints for ship models based on real prototypes are offered in various scales . In Germany, the 1: 250 scale is most common in model shipbuilding.
history
Models of ships have been built for a very long time. Ship models made of clay and wood were found in ancient Egyptian graves (around 2000 B.C.E.). Over the centuries, noble woods, ivory and various metals were used as materials for model ships. Some of these materials were very valuable and could only be processed by experts. For example, only wealthy shipowners as individuals or, as groups of people, wealthy parishes, for example, could afford ship models. Only with the use of cardboard as a material did ship model construction become widespread.
While model building sheets were initially made using lithography , cardboard model making finally achieved a breakthrough with the invention of offset printing at the beginning of the 20th century. The development of cardboard model ships in Germany goes hand in hand with Kaiser Wilhelm II's enthusiasm for the navy . He saw Germany's future on the sea. Rich families could buy expensive metal ship models for their children. For the less well-off layers, the cheaper cardboard offered itself as a material.
Since the 1870s, a large number of publishers have issued model building sheets for cardboard model ships. The Schreiber-Verlag from Esslingen am Neckar played a prominent role . He had been issuing model building sheets since 1877 at the latest. These handicraft sheets were tailored to target children. The classification as a toy led to a pejorative perception of cardboard model shipbuilding.
At a cardboard model ship exhibition in 1989, Siegfried Stölting from the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven used the sheets from the Schreiber Verlag to show that the level of detail a model has varied depending on the political situation. In times of turbulent foreign policy, only very simple models were printed, practically as a kind of propaganda, while in quieter times the constructions became much more detailed.
Since the 2000s, interest in cardboard ship models has increased significantly. As a result, more and more publishers are bringing cardboard ship model kits onto the market.
Publishers (selection)
Schreiber-Verlag
Schreiber-Verlag , founded in 1831, offers cardboard model ships in scales from 1:50 to 1: 400. The largest ship model from this publisher to date is the model of the Imperator from 1914.
After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Schreiber-Verlag began selling new models in the late 1940s. The buoyant Bremen from 1959 on a scale of 1: 200 is a highlight . With this, Schreiber tied in with the full-hull models from the pre-war period.
The J.-F.-Schreiber-Verlag and its successor companies have not been producing any warship models since the 2000s at the latest and have not issued any reprints.
Lehrmittelinstitut / Möwe Verlag
In the early 1950s the Lehrmittelinstitut (LI) began in Wilhelmshaven with the edition of the later very well-known Wilhelmshaven model building sheets . While Schreiber only released a submarine and the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier on naval ships after the war and otherwise did without militaria, the Lehrmittelinstitut constructed the Bismarck and other units of the Kriegsmarine as one of its first models in June 1956 . In mid-1956, the model building sheets for the civil ships Santa Teresa and Hamburg were created .
With the waterline model, the LI developed the most common construction technology for German cardboard model ships. This typically had a longitudinal frame structure with inserted transverse frames on a floor plan section at the level of the waterline . Particularly wide ship models had double longitudinal ribs. A first full hull model was developed with the model No. 1218 of the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus - SSN-571 of the United States Navy , 1958 or earlier, which could be built either as a waterline or full hull model.
Most of the LI models are designed on a scale of 1: 250 in order to be able to compare them. At the same time, a differentiated line code was introduced. From the end of 1957 the ships became more detailed. At the beginning of the 1950s, the LI also tried the scale 1: 500. Until the early 1960s, the LI remained the leading cardboard ship model publisher not only in Germany. The largest models are the Forrestal and Nimitz aircraft carriers .
The LI also published the model magazine Möwe from 1957 to the early 1960s . This has been published again since 1988 - until today. After the LI was closed, the Wilhelmshaven model building sheets were initially published by Jade-Verlag, and since 1988 by Möwe-Verlag without interruption.
Verlag Junge Welt
On the eastern side of the inner-German border, cardboard model ships were published by the Junge Welt publishing house. These ships also went through a development from simply constructed to more detailed ships. The Stralsund ferry (1: 200) or the atomic icebreaker Lenin (1: 200) should be mentioned. These models from the GDR are constructed on a scale of 1: 200 or 1: 500.
Alster Verlag, Hamburg
The low point in cardboard model shipbuilding from the mid-1960s lasted until around the end of the 1980s. Although the designer Peter Brandt tried a new start at Alsterverlag, Hamburg in 1977 with the Peter Pan and the Hamlet (all models in 1: 250), the time for a new start was not yet ripe.
German Maritime Museum
A brilliant new beginning was only achieved by the German Maritime Museum under Dr. Stölting with the extremely successful exhibition Ships made of cardboard in 1989. Since then, the DSM has published models of ships, navigation marks and port facilities (locks, docks, cranes) in a wide variety of scales and degrees of difficulty. A more sophisticated model would be the Seefalke salvage tug in 1: 100, the Bark Seute Deern from 1919 in 1: 100 or a Hanseatic cog in 1:50.
Hamburger Modellbaubogen Verlag (HMV)
The Hamburger Modellbaubogen Verlag was one of the first publishers to establish itself on the new wave of model making, breaking new ground in terms of model making with the SMS Sachsen tank corvette by Markus Wiekowski in 1993. HMV is based on the tradition of the Wilhelmshavener Lehrmittelinstitut (now Möwe Verlag) in terms of scale and line coding. In the past, you often had to make your own supers and details yourself , but HMV now offers models that have been designed down to the last detail. Even interiors are shown or cutaway models published, e.g. B. Bremen from 1929. At the latest with the models of the HMV, cardboard model shipbuilding can no longer speak of toys or model ships. Ship models of this quality require the knowledge of experts. The small cruiser Undine of the Imperial Navy was the first model from this publisher to have an underwater hull. The most elaborate model to date is the Bismarck . The HMV temporarily offered photo-etched parts for super, as some components such as cardboard railings are difficult to reproduce true to the original. This publisher now offers tailor-made laser-cut detail sets for such components.
The Scheuer & Strüver GmbH, which the Hamburg Modellbaubogen publishing belonged, filed for bankruptcy in October 2009. A former employee of the company acquired all rights and model building sheets associated with the publishing house at the end of 2009 and continues to run the publishing house from a new company headquarters under the old name HMV Hamburger Modellbaubogen Verlag .
Passat publishing house
In 1992, Joachim “Aki” Schulze, up to then co-owner of Möwe-Verlag, founded the Passat-Verlag together with 3 other partners, which also offers models on a scale of 1: 250. This publisher essentially only publishes one model sheet per year, but it is very detailed. The first model to be mentioned is the Passat sailing ship , which gave the publisher its name. With the lightship ELBE 1 ("Mayor O'swald"), the publisher was the first to offer detailed sets that match the model and were produced using the photo-etching process.
Publisher cfm, Munich
Munich-based cfm-Verlag has its 1: 250 scale ship models drawn mainly by Polish designers. Furthermore, cfm is now issuing crane models from the former GDR on a scale of 1: 250 as a reprint, such as the icebreaker Lenin mentioned above . One of the highlights is the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , which was very richly detailed, but was built on a hull that was too small in the first edition. The second edition fixed this bug.
Central German cardboard model publisher, Berlin
The Mitteldeutsche Kartonmodell-Verlag in Berlin looks after ships, but also buildings or other technical equipment from the GDR. The ship models are drawn in 1: 250, for example the Greif formerly Wilhelm Pieck . The models from this publisher appeal to the viewer and are more aimed at model builders who do not want to build a highly complicated model. The cardboard is a little thicker than Möwe or HMV.
Other publishers
Conysmodellbau from Berlin self-publishes Baltic Sea ferries, including Germany from the 1930s. The models can be supplied in 1: 250 or 1: 160.
The most important Polish publishers are JSC (founded in 1991 in Gdańsk-Oliwa ) and GPM, which offer their models in 1: 200, 1: 250 and 1: 400. Most of the time, their range consists of warships from various nations. So you can find many Japanese and British warships. JSC offers models of Dutch origin under the name Scaldis . Former engineers from the Danzig shipyard are among the designers.
A small family publisher called Shipyard , founded in 1985 by Lidia and Krzysztof Klyszynski, offers historically accurate models in 1:72 and 1:92 scales.
Cardboard model ships are also available as free downloads from some small publishers such as the British D. Hathaway or the American Walden . The free series Civil War Buff's Historic Paper Models also comes from the USA . So far, seven models of ships from the Civil War have appeared.
Free models for download and independent printing on paper in high quality can be found on the website of the Japanese camera, scanner and printer manufacturer Canon.
literature
- Siegfried Stölting (Ed.): Ships made of paper. Cardboard model making today. Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 2005, ISBN 3-89757-280-X .
- Working Group History of Cardboard Model Making (AGK) e. V. (Ed.): On the history of cardboard model making.
- Möwe , newsletter of the LI / Möweverlag, Wilhelmshaven.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website of the museum for cardboard model making ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website of the cfm publishing house
- ^ JSC website
- ↑ VESSEL Company - Build Your World of Imagination. In: model-vessel.com. Retrieved May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Vehicles - Paper Models - Canon Creative Park. In: creativepark.canon. Retrieved May 14, 2019 .
