Scale: 1:96. A small, intricate, amateur made model that was given to the National Maritime Museum by the Festival of Britain, in 1952, following the closure of the exhibition (it could possibly have been displayed in the 'Sea and Ships' section of the Festival). Obviously made by somebody with an informed knowledge of the actual ship, it is highly detailed though not particularly well made. We can see that the ‘Weather Observer’s’ superstructure, boats, masts and all upperworks were painted a canary yellow to maximise her visibility. It depicts a vessel built by Hall, Russell & Company, of Aberdeen, as the ‘Flower class’ corvette HMS ‘Marguerite’, which was launched on 8 July 1940. She was 190 feet in length, 35 feet in the beam, and a displacement of 1020 tons. After the Second World War she was transferred to the Air Ministry, renamed ‘Weather Observer’, and fitted out as a floating meteorological observatory in 1947. She was one of four such ships operated by the Air Ministry in the North Atlantic. Every six hours the crew would launch hydrogen balloons to record the temperature, humidity and pressure at 50,000 feet in order to help forecast the unpredictable British weather. The ship was scrapped at Ghent, Belgium, on 8 September 1961.