Editing Scale model (section)

=== Ships and naval war-gaming ===
[[Image:Pendon's Madderport.JPG|thumb|right|[[Pendon Museum]]'s model of Madderport]]
[[Image:Zinnschiffe.jpg|thumb|right|[[1:1250 scale]] [[die-cast model]]s of ships]]
[[File:Scale down Model of Madagascar ship displayed at Surat castle (fort).jpg|thumb|upright|Scale down Model of Madagascar ship displayed at Surat castle (fort)]]
{{Main|Ship model}}
Michele Morciano says small scale ship models were produced in about 1905 linked to the wargaming rules and other publications of [[Fred T. Jane]]. The company that standardized on 1:1200 was [[Bassett-Lowke]] in 1908. The British Admiralty subsequently contracted with Bassett-Lowke and other companies and individual craftsmen to produce large numbers of recognition models, to this scale, in 1914–18.<ref>{{cite book| first=Michele |last=Morciano|title=Classic Waterline Ship Models in the 1:1200/1250 scale|publisher= self published|location=Rome|year= 2003| page= 5}}</ref>

Just before the Second World War, the American naval historian (and [[science fiction]] author) [[Fletcher Pratt]] published a book on naval wargaming as could be done by civilians using [[ship model]]s cut off at the [[waterline]] to be moved on the floors of basketball courts and similar locales. The scale he used was non-standard (reported as 1:666), and may have been influenced by toy ships then available, but as the hobby progressed, and other rule sets came into use, it was progressively supplemented by the series 1:600, 1:1200, and 1:2400. In Britain, 1:3000 became popular and these models also have come into use in the USA. These had the advantage of approximating the [[nautical mile]] as 120&nbsp;inches, 60&nbsp;inches, and 30&nbsp;inches, respectively. As the [[knot (unit)|knot]] is based on this mile and a 60-minute hour, this was quite handy.

After the war, firms emerged to produce models from the same white metal used to make toy soldiers. [[Lines Bros|Lines Bros. Ltd]], a British firm, offered a tremendously wide range of waterline merchant and naval [[ship]]s as well as dockyard equipment in the scale 1:1200 which were die-cast in [[Zamak]]. In the US, at least one manufacturer, of the wartime 1:1200 recognition models, Comet, made them available for the civilian market postwar, which also drove the change to this scale. In addition, continental European manufacturers and European ship book publishers had adopted the 1:1250 drawing scale because of its similar convenience in size for both models and comparison drawings in books.

A prestige scale for [[boat]]s, comparable to that of 1:32 for fighter planes, is 1:72, producing huge models, but there are very few kits marketed in this scale. There are now several clubs around the world for those who choose to scratch-build radio-controlled model ships and submarines in 1:72, which is often done because of the compatibility with naval aircraft kits. For the smaller ships, plank-on-frame or other wood construction kits are offered in the traditional shipyard scales of 1:96, 1:108, or 1:192 (half of 1:96). In injection-molded plastic kits, [[Airfix]] makes full-hull models in the scale the [[Royal Navy]] has used to compare the relative sizes of ships: 1:600. [[Revell]] makes some kits to half the scale of the US Army standard: 1:570. Some American and foreign firms have made models in a proportion from the Engineer's scale: "one-sixtieth-of-an-inch-to-the-foot", or 1:720.

[[Image:Japanese destroyer Harusame scale model.jpg|thumb|right|[[1:700 scale|1:700]] scale [[Japanese destroyer Harusame (1935)]] plastic model kit released by Tamiya]]