Disar Model | Ship Modeler

While not ship modeling related, Disar, another relatively recent Spanish wooden model kit manufacturer, has released some new carriage kits that actually look quite nice. I haven’t been a big fan of the earlier Disar kits in general, primarily because of their product design (though I think their galleon Santiago de Compostella looks pretty promising). But, I’ve taken a closer look at a couple of these kits and they’re interesting enough to make me want to trying build one.

“Dog Cart” Country and Hunting Dog Carriage

Berlin Coupe

Faeton Siamese

Top Canopy Surrey

Part of the contents of the Dog Cart kit. Photo courtesy of Ages of Sail.

These new kits, all 1/16-scale and somewhere around 9″ long (dimensions in the kit descriptions appear to be of the assembled base), are now available in the U.S. at Ages of Sail for around $60. These kits all included bases that are made-up to look like cobblestone surfaces, making attractive displays. In any case, for a ship modeler, these might prove to be nice, quick distractions. Ω

I’m usually writing to promote ship modeling and products made for ship modelers. After all, the more promotion of the subject and more support for the manufacturers, the more interesting projects we’ll find to build. So, I was looking at some of the offerings by the Spanish wooden model company, Disar. They make some okay stuff, and recently, I’ve noticed some much nicer products coming from them.

The kits they produce seem to have decent wood with fittings stored in compartmentalized plastic box that is actually useful, long after the model is complete. Their instructions are pretty complete and in step-by-step photos style, and many of the subjects they produce are fairly unique – not just another HMS Victory or Bounty, etc.

I started looking through their downloadable product catalog for some information on them, and for those of you interested in buying their kits, they don’t sell them on their website, but you can get them from Ages of Sail and elsewhere. But, it was while looking through their catalog that I found something that made me laugh.

I found a diorama kit labeled The Battle of Trafalgar. The famous battle that saw the victory of the British fleet, but the death of Admiral Lord Nelson. the battle saw lines of French and Spanish 3-decker warships cut by the British lines. The classic, epic battle of sailors fighting from behind wooden floating fortresses. So, I’m not sure that this is a very good representation of that famous battle…

In addition, they offered The Battle of the Nile diorama. Again, a famous battle which saw a victorious British fleet was commanded by Nelson. But, again, I’m not sure who thought this was a good representation of that battle either…

Now, it might have happened, but I can’t understand the point of a ship’s boat battling with an enemy ship’s boat while the massive warships were engaged in battle. I mean, if you were in this scene, and you sank or captured the other ship’s boat, who would really care? It wouldn’t have affected the overall battle in any way, except maybe preventing the enemy from pickup up their own survivors from the sea.

I guess it’s an interesting product for someone, but I would recommend not trying to link it to one of these major battles. I think what’s best about it is the idea it suggests of putting a small boat model into a diorama. It’s a neat idea and dioramas are always fun to look at. Ω