page_title: Ship model
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: Ship model / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: English: Model of a ship at the Naval History Museum in Mexico City
context_page_description: Ship models or model ships are scale models of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people.
  Ship modeling is a craft as old as shipbuilding itself, stretching back to ancient times when water transport was first developed.
context_section_description: In the early part of the 20th century, amateur ship model kits became available from companies such as Bassett-Lowke in Great Britain and Boucher's in the United States. Early 20th century models comprised a combination of wooden hulls and cast lead for anchors, deadeyes, and rigging blocks. These materials gradually gave way to plastic precast sets.
  The development of tinplate and improvements in machine tools enabled significant advances in ship modelling from 1900 onwards. Thin, workable sheets of iron could be coated with tin to prevent rusting, then mass-produced as parts of ship model kits. The process was pioneered by French ship model manufacturer Radiguet, which produced a line of zinc boats with pressurised steam engines, wooden decking and brass fittings. The speed of production for tinplate vessels enabled one 1909 manufacturer to produce ship models of speedboats that had competed that year in Monaco.
  Ship modelling in the United States experienced a boom in the late 1920s when Popular Science magazine published an extended series of articles and plans for famous ships by modeller and former Navy officer E. Armitage McCann. McCann, who, according to Popular Science was the ″recognized leader of the ship model building hobby″  of his time founded the Ship Model Makers′ Club in 1929, with him as secretary and treasurer and marine artist and fellow ship model builder Gordon Grant as president.
  The world's leading magazine for this hobby, Model Boat, is published from the UK by MyTime Media and has been in print continuously since 1950. In recent years, widespread internet access has played a major role in promoting ship modelling, offering enthusiasts the opportunity to show off their work and share techniques.  Internet sites such as Modelwarships.com, Steelnavy.com, or Model Shipwrights are oriented to plastic model ship builders, while others such as Hyperscale focus largely on aircraft or other subjects can regularly feature plastic ship models as well.
caption: Model of a frigate at the Naval History Museum located in the Palacio de Correos de Mexico.
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