Hi,

I don't know if this is already known to you (in my finest English today !), but I found this while surfing:

http://www.modellisticamonfalconese.com/Foto2004_SCARAZZOLO1.html

by Cav. E. Scarazzolo. Scale is 1/100, model is 2,50 meters long. Most impressive.

Ciao

Frank

That is very impressive. I'm guessing that's scratch built? I really like seeing some of the lesser known ships get their due. The Italian Littorio class, like the Roma, was one of the better tween war Battleship designs. She deseverd better than her fate. Trivia question: What dubious honor did the Roma achieve?

Those Italian ships were very colorful. I also like the clean lines. I've only seen them in 1:1200 scale. The only thing I know about Italian battleships is that the Brits caught them in Taranto Harbor in 1940 and whacked almost all of them in a daring torpedo attack. This event was not lost upon the Japanese who decided to mimic it at a little place called Pearl Harbor on Dec.7th......infamy. I believe all the ships were subsequently raised and had a few fisticuffs with some British BB's I think the Italians faired poorly in the match, but did fight bravely despite popular beliefs of Italians running from battle. Someone (POLA) made a 350 scale kit of some Italian crusiers. Wish they would come out with a few of these Battleships, wouldn't mind adding one of these to my collection.

Wasnt she the first ship sunk by a guided missile? If I remember correctly she was hit by a german glide bomb rolled over and blew in half. Anyway, thats one impressive model. One of the best Ive ever seen.

Jeremy

Yep, Roma got hit by two Fritz X bombs, one of the earliest guided missiles. That was no shame on her, I don't think any ship in the world at that time, or probably now, could have taken hits like that.

Steve, the ships in Taranto were mostly WW1 rebuilds, very similar to what we lost at Pearl. Sadly the Italian Battleships lived up to the reputation the Italian navy has now days. They spent most of their time in port, or trying to avoid the RN. The light ships, especially the midget subs, more than made up for the big boys lack of aggressiveness.

Rodger,

also the escorts - torpedo boats, destroyers, corvettes - had a hard time according to their losses. Not to forget the fast attack crafts (MAS 500), who did (together with few subs) most of the axis work in the Black Sea.
The Deutsche Kriegsmarine was in a similar situation after the loss of Scharnhorst: the "big guns" stayed in port. There were only the U-boats and the small coastal vessels (and few destroyers/torpedo boats) seeing action.
Personally I like the Regia Marina for their beautiful ships and their air recognition stripes.

Cya

Frank

For anyone interested, there are kits for the Italian heavy crusiers. Minihobbies (Trumpeter) does one in 350. The others are in 400 by Tauro. For $15 I think I'm going to pick up the 350 scale one from Squadron.