The first warship model that I can remember having was a polystyrene model of USS Missouri in about 1/800 scale with wheels underneath and that was followed by a Rosebud double-ended ferry in dark green plastic around 1/80 scale, again with wheels but including 3 cars without wheels! Around 1954, I was given a Christmas present of a wooden kit (Kielcraft?) of British India's Uganda and made an attempt to scratch-build a 1/600 scale waterline HMS Warspite from Balsa wood but that was unfinished when I decided to make a 1/1200 scale model of Ellerman's 1922 City of Paris in wood, card and florist's iron wire all before either Eagle or Triang appeared. Apart from completing Uganda and Warspite, I never went back to making large scale waterline models and concentrated on 1/1200 scale.
With only one shilling per week pocket money in 1959, I could only afford three Triangs (Sefton, Jutland and Varne) and a similar number of Eagles (Altmark, Achilles and Cossack) so I continued to scratch-build waterline warships in wood and card for wargaming until I went to college in 1963.