Wonder if it’s an Ives?
A model of the Prinz Eugen would make a nice nightlight.
Could very well be, I was thinking Maerklin myself.
Quite true, the Tirpitz was launched in 1939 several months after the Bismarck. Naval tradition of any maritime country used to be you didn’t name ships after anyone still living, hence my suppostion that Grand Admiral Tirpitz was still alive when that toy was built. Whoever made it indulged ina bit of artistic license.
The US did take possession of two German warships after World War One, at least two that I know of. One was the battleship Ostfriesland, the other I don’t recall the name of. As per inter-Allied agreement any ships taken from the Germans were to be kept only for evaluation and then disposed of. Ostfriesland and the other German ship were eventually sunk as
Wow! That model is a beaut! Would that be a wind-up or live steam? Either way, me want it!
Knowing the size would help, but I’m guessing it’s a wind-up, there’s a whole lot of superstructure you’d have to get out of the way to access a boiler and burner assembly.
I’d love to have it myself! Not much room in the bathtub for it but I’d figure out something.
For the record: it is Marklin (I spell it the way it was marketed here in the ‘60s; someone tell me how to get umlaut characters on an iPhone), it is live steam, 34” long, and said to be completely and lovingly restored. You might not want it as much if you knew its starting bid was $17K and expected hammer price around $35K, let alone that your buyer’s premium is 25%.
I wonder how many of these and so many other German steam toys were destroyed during the Wilsonian hysteria whipped up to justify WWI, and persistent so many years after. But that is politics not relevant here, and recrimination will not bring them back.
i do wonder if there were railroaders on SP or D&RGW who had lost buddies in the later war and might have disliked or even sabotaged the ‘German’ diesel-hydraulic locomotives in service… I remember not liking the Quarter Horse for its commie origins, but that design certainly needed no sabotage from anyone; its own ‘engineering’ did that readily enough!
So it IS live steam! Wow! And at 34" it’s a big 'un, you could darn near ride it!
Yeah, my computer doesn’t do the umlauts either, hence my spelling it “Maerklin.”
As far as the idea of railroaders who were combat veterans sabotaging German made locomotives, I’d say anything’s possible, although without solid proof I’d never make the accusation. I do know the rage and hate can last a long, long time after a war and some men never get over it. US fighter ace Don Blakeslee hated the Germans to the day he died and would never attend any fighter pilot gatherings or symposiums where any Luftwaffe veterans were in attendance.
Don Blakeslee was a tough combat soldier, he’s been called “General Patton in a P-51.”
A tin toy boat for the rest of us:
It’s only 8 inches, but it’s also only 12 bucks! [(-D] https://www.tintoyarcade.com/battleship-espana.html
Well, isn’t that cute!
And you’re right Becky, $12 sure beats the heck out of 35 G’s!
I wonder if Overmod should shift this thread over to “Classic Toy Trains” just to see what kind of stampede he starts over that live steam Tirpitz?
I’d be happy with that cheap’un on my shelf. It reminds me, I was in a hobby shop in Munich in 2009 and they had an R/C model of the S.M.S. Emden- that thing was 6 feet long and exquisite! I don’t recall how much it cost but it sure wasn’t cheap. I wish I had the money whatever it was and I wish I could have safely stowed it in the overhead locker on the aeroplane home. Really, that thing was amazing.
Well, now that this thread’s been pirated by things nautical, and especially by that gorgeous live-steam Maerklin Tirpitz, have a look at this video I found.
And mind you, this is something that NO-ONE’s EVER going to do with that $35,000 toy ship!
Hillarious! [(-D] I think some of those barges are doing about 120 scale knotts! [(-D]
No, not you.[:)]