WARSHIP MODELS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLV, Issue 6218, 5 December 1914, Page 1

WARSHIP MODELS.

FLEETS OF WAX, SILYEB AND GOLD. By the British Admiralty's orders perfect models are made in paraffin wax of every new battleship before it is laid down, and these models are tested in a tank specially erected for the purpose. The models are from 12 feet to 2i feet long, and the tank is 400 feet long and 20 feet wide. The models are made of wax because it is a material which does not absorb water or change its weight, and so that alterations can be easily made. Fleets not of wax, but of silver and gold, are kept by our King and also the Kaiser. The Kaiser's collection consists of model vessels made of solid silver, illustrating the development of sailing ships from the faraway days of the Vikings down to our own time. King Qeorge has a miniature fleet in gold and silver, which shows the progress of our Navy since the days of William the Conqueror,.every model being perfect to the minutest detail. Many of these tiny vessels date from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, when it was the custom of maritime towns to present them to Boyalists who honoured them with a visit-