440 and Counting...

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Intro…
As a child my first model was the Peruvian monitor Huascar BAP, I was 10 years old. But use it as a toy and it broke. A few years later I had the English galleon HMS Ark Royal, remember that I build this models without paint and paste with glue, then take him to a pool and dump! So parts were separated and went down the drain of the pool.

About 13 years ago, I saw a documentary on the Bismarck. A few days later while passing through a hobby shop, I saw it, and bought it immediately. This first Bismarck was disastrous, so I painted gloss black with red and green, so fix it and give it away. But thanks to this ship my collection was started!

Here in Peru there were very few models of ships, but then I started to shop online and my collection grew with each passing day.

Some models were hard to get a new monitor Huascar, HMS Royal Sovereign, FNS Surcuof, Potemkin, St. Panteleymon, Super Yamato, IJN Oi & Kitakami, and so on.

For years admire the collection of the English modeler Phillip Warren, in 65 years had 432 warships using matchbox sticks, so my challenge was to reach a similar number. I know there are other large collections of boats but are not made by the same modeler, only are collectors who buy finished models.

I have now surpassed the 445 ships! And yet I have more than 200 boxes to assemble. About the nationality of vessels, I have completed the larger vessels (battleships, cruisers and aircraft carriers) of the Kriegsmarine and Imperial Japanese Navy. Also my intention is to complete all the navies of the Second World War.

The Breakdown…

In summary, I have ships can be classified into:
75 Battleships
87 Cruisers
63 Destroyers
60 Aircraft Carrier
106 Submarines
and many more boats, monitors, frigates, etc.

The Navies are:
Germany 77 ships
USA 97 ships
England 51 ships
Japan 137 ships
Russia 31 ships
and other navys like Peru, China, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, etc.

Over the years I learned a lot with practice and advice from other friends modelers. But the main obstacle I had to make my collection was not getting the boats in my country, besides that for a Latin American is 4 or 5 times more expensive to buy a model for the exchange rate.

Even so, I was always taking the time to find good deals and inquire about the number of ships had each army. For example, if a ship was a good price and that boat had had 10 sister ships, then bought 10 kits to make them all.

Besides arming and enjoy looking at my boats, I like children and young people interested in the story through my boats. Many Fathers tell me that her and their children spend hours looking at photos, reading the historical, see the videos… it fills me with pride.

Some of my ships have won modeling competitions, so I have 10 awards of the Navy of Peru, 3 of the IPMS Mercosur (18 Latin American countries), and several more of IPMS Malta, IPMS SOL, AMEL (Modeler Association of Lima), Airfix and some reports on television and magazines.

It's a dream to me that any navy association or marine museum somewhere in the world to showcase my collection so as to preserve and share with all these little pieces of history, remember the brave sailors and bring the story to reach of young people. And of course, are all invited to visit my blog to see each of my ships, classified by country, type and in alphabetical order. Each ship has its own history and videos.

the Blog...

Erick's Naval Blog

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About the Author

About erick navas (ericknavas)
FROM: LIMA, PERU

Hi, i have more than 470 modelwarships!... the ships are my passion!... please visit my blog: www.ericknavas.blogspot.com


Comments

Hi Erick, An amazing collection you have there, with some terrific boats. The collection can only get bigger Thanks for sharing some of the ships. Al
JAN 03, 2012 - 09:12 PM
Ahoy Erick Awesome collection. Very inspiring. Just one question where do you keep them all? I struggle with all my unbuilt ones at the moment. Cheers Sean
JAN 05, 2012 - 11:18 AM
Make sure to check out Erick's Blog. It is full of great information.
JAN 05, 2012 - 01:48 PM
Erick, great looking fleet. I have 684 built WWII ships all 1/700, BUT YOUR detail blows my fleet away. Again great job and I always look forward to your new post.
FEB 06, 2012 - 05:50 PM
what an amazing colledction Erick....my compliments to you sir.....truly inspiring tomake more and more models....well done Louis Malta
MAR 11, 2012 - 04:08 PM