Saturday, May 14, 2011

Spenkuch Flat Ships

Here is a chance to combine my fondness for German zinnfiguren and ship modeling.  Spenkuch of Nuremburg was a maker of bleisoldaten (tin soldiers) from the later half of the 19th Century into the early 20th.  Spenkuch's main product line featured simple semi-round toy soldiers, in 30-40mm scale.

But they also marketed these flat tin warships as toys for German kids back in the heyday of Tirpitz and the Kaiser.  The ships for the most part are by no means accurate representations of real vessels, rather more in the nature of archetypes, or what the engraver fancied a warship should look like.  Most are engraved on one side only.  I purchased them as unpainted castings from Berliner Zinnfiguren. Although the designs are antique, BZ must have access to the molds as the castings seem to be of recent production.

Without further preamble, let's return to the days of unabashed imperialism. All figures painted in acrylics.

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