Bewildering big balsa battleship bonanza

After one of the recent Fletcher Pratt games I ran at the Sheffield club I was approached by Richard Hawes, a fellow club member.  Richard told me that in the late 1970s/early 1980s his father, John Hawes had scratch built a number of warships in 1/1,200 scale.  Was I, asked Richard, interested in seeing them with a view to using them in games?  I leave you, gentle reader, to guess at the degree of enthusiasm I displayed on hearing this news.

The following Wednesday, Richard turned up with a number of boxes and invited me to inspect the contents.  He then suggested I take them home for a proper look.  This generous offer led to me spending a jolly hour the following Saturday in my garage being ever more astonished at the treasures the (rather dusty) boxes contained.  The photos below were taken during that inspection and are no doubt already having the same effect on readers of this blog.

US ships.  The box is a normal foolscap boxfile.

A small box containing large numbers of destroyers.

Another box file  - this one contains a fair chunk of the IJN.

British and German ships.

If pressed to pick a favourite this would be it - a box of French and Italian warships.

Just when you were bemoaning the lack of carriers!

I have now carried out a closer inspection (and done a lot of gentle dusting!).  Virtually all of these are made from balsa wood and plastic rod - the latter particularly delicate.  Some ships (particularly light cruisers) are rather overscale but hell, who cares?  I was (and continue to be) completely blown away by this collection - so much so that after further negotiations I am now the fleet's proud new owner.  Quite by coincidence, Richard's collection of 15mm figures has also grown considerably.......
More on this stunning acquisition as I repair (and use) the models.

Oh, and to save your eyesight and sanity I have already made a rough count.  About 150.