Q is for Question Time - WHW Navy?

First, let's get the most salient point out of the way first; I don't believe these are WHW, but they seem to be contemporaneous with the similar Wintershilfswerk stuff from the war years, we looked-at this morning. Although the title is now a bit redundant as what was a three-shot post has grown to a wider overview, with a/the second - better understood, definitely WHW - set's vessels also covered.

I don't believe they are WHW because they are too large, they are poorer quality than the better known DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz) - German Red Cross set of winter '40-41 (Types of the German Armed Forces/German Forces Today, although, as we saw earlier; it had several titles) and because they seem to have been glued to something - making them, originally, even larger?

 Steaming out of port we have a rather non-descript pair of warships, one a small battleship or cruiser, the other a rather large frigate or corvette? Between them something which appears to be the ill-fated Aircraft Carrier KMS Graf Zeppelin? I say that while repeating previous admissions of not being an expert on these things (sorry Granddad!) but the huge stack and long, straight-ended, parallel-sided, flight-deck both seem to suggest the Zeppelin?

The other side of the island is a simple flat formed from the tip of the 'more' male half of a two-part mould, and the ship has two small protrusions at sea level to help it balance upright on a flat surface, yet it appears to have been glued to something!

The two warships from both sides, there is a vague Bismarck/Tirpitz look to the main tower, but it's fleeting and not matched by the other details, with both vessels being pretty generic. They also - both - have signs of glue on the undersides.

The smaller ship, flanked by two vessels from the known WHW set, they are both far more accurate or detailed models, both have a bow-wave, and wash running down the sides and are manufactured in two halves, glued together; really, the only similarity is the silvery-grey polystyrene they are all made from?

They could be from a board-game, even a Nazi board-game, from the occasional frequency they (Nazi board games, not these ships) turn-up at auction (and provide an excuse for paroxysms of outrage from the Tabloids) a fair few made their way here, either before the war (as generic playthings) or after the war as booty/'war trophies' from liberated Nazi Europe? The bomb 'Engerland' set being unlikely a pre-war import, but still turning up from time to time!

They could be unattributed Nazi-era toys? Maybe an early attempt by Wiking to move away from metal, but the lack of accuracy argues against them? Although the plastic type was used for early Wiking vehicles. Perhaps penny-toys, sold from the toy-shops, market stalls or street-vendors of pre-war Germany?

Or they might yet turn-out to be WHW/KHW/DRK tokens, yet there is no sign of a hanger-hole or broach-pin attachment, but - as I say - they seem to have been glued to something at some point? Might they have even been mementos of the Zeppelin's slipway launch?

However, I have also seen a larger, longer submarine (above, about 11 years ago) included with a sales-lot of the 1940/41 set (stated March '41), it would sit well with the three 'unknowns' and has no sculpted wash along the water-line?

In Plastic Warrior's issue No.84 as described earlier, two sets were shown, including all six warships from that set; and clearly the naval vessels all have the waterline 'seascapeing', and all are shorter than the three question-marks above (and the 'archive' submarine), apart from the - more recognisable - battleship (largest model) which just-about matches the unknown Sub.

Any ideas on the biggies?

My suspected Nazi navy from both sets, in full cry, heading out en masse to meet the subject of this afternoons post, on the high seas!

 

12-06-2023 - Turns out they are an early Marx thing! US Sea and Air Defense [sic], could this be wartime, pronbaly not, they were mostly paper of wooden flats from Marx and Hassenfelt (and pthers), but I bey it's close to the end of the war, and rather that the KMS Graf Zeppelin, probably representing an Essex Class 'Fleet Carrier'?