Scale: 1:96. A superb builder’s model of the oil tanker ‘Varand’ (1927), with finely made gold- and silver-plated fittings, and still housed in its original display case complete with matching table. The funnel bears the colours of the Baltic Trading Company, who lost much of its tanker fleet in the Second World War.

A typical medium-sized tanker of the inter-war period, the ‘Varand’ was built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne. She was 412 feet in length and 6023 gross tons. Her steam reciprocating triple-expansion engine gave her a service speed of a leisurely 10 knots. She was sold in 1951 as part of Baltic Trading Company’s programme to replace their surviving fleet now worn out by the strenuous service that had been demanded of them during the war. From that time until she was broken up in 1954, she was registered under the Panamanian flag and had three changes of name: ‘Sea Tempest’, ‘Fearless’ and ‘Golfo Grande’.