RGSM has about half dozen Houston kits, mainly Victorian era ships. Drop me a line and I can dig them out if you are interested. Email me at “riograndeshipmodel at yahoo dot com”.
Regards,
Doug
I have 6000 plus 1200-1250 ship models from dozens of makers, many makers long gone. Through the years I collected Houston’s almost by accident, many of them included in auction purchases of more scale 1200 type models. I usually rebuilt the Houston’s to more prototype proportions, raising the hulls, enlarging funnels, etc. Then, on a whim, having collected and rehabing a number of these waterline lead oddities, I decided to round out my Houston collection for a display of the man’ s work. While they matched nothing else in my vast collection of accurate waterline warship models, there was a certain regularity and charm in his models that appealed to me. I attempted to complete the collection by ordering 600.00 dollars worth of additional models from a man who said he had bought the molds from Mr. Houston. I’m sure many of you Houston collectors know the rest of the story.. the man stiffed me. I found s few more Houston’s on line from individual collectors but it appeared the Houston line was, in the words of John Cleese, in the dead parrot skit, “ bloody demised”. I was currently reviewing my Houston collection and noticed this blog. I thought I would see if I might add a few more of these models to the display I had once planned to make. Having pretty much collected all the scale 1200-1250 warship models available, I have become interested in the more eccentric area or scale waterline models out there. Those made by craftsmen, some living, some long far away..While this new area of my interest concerns hand fashioned wood and wire models of the Bassett-Lowke ilk, I include the metal creations of Houston, the early Clydeside models, the Minefigs, and of course the very first metal waterline warship models ever made, those of the Brighton Manufacturing Company, more commonly identified as “B.M.C.” I would entertain any information on these less scale items, especially the Houston’s.
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