Scale: 1:48. The first battle-cruisers were launched in 1907 and their successors increased in size and power in the same way as battleships. HMS ‘Queen Mary’ (1912) was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co. Ltd., Jarrow-on-Tyne. At 700 feet in length and 89 feet in the beam, she was a colossus. She had a complement of 1274, and particular attention was paid to the crew’s amenities including, remarkable at that period, a cinema projector for the entertainment of the ship’s company.

In the battle-cruiser force at Jutland, on 31 May 1916, she suddenly blew up with the loss of 1266 men. The explosion was probably due to cordite flash.

This model, almost four-and-a-half metres in length, was presented to Her Majesty Queen Mary, who launched the ship in 1912. It was then displayed, for a long period, in the Royal United Services Institute Museum, in Whitehall, London.

A massive model of a massive ship, it is highly detailed, as one would expect of a builder’s model of such an importance. The ship’s boats are like stand-alone models in their own right; the portholes have been ‘glazed’ with surface-silvered glass; signalling lamps pivot on their mountings; doors have been drawn onto the superstructure, and some have even been drawn ajar, but the handles, hinges and locking mechanisms have all been modelled and separately applied.