Thanks Curt. It helps a lot. I am having a hard time dislodging my " It must be as close to the real thing as possible" mentality.
that mentality will quickly die as soon as you make enough ships... for me I think it took 3 before I got to the somewhat less detailed phase....
Being a scale modeler since I was 8 yrs old for me it was refreshing not to be so Picky over details and worrying about those details breaking loose from a model. After reading about the hobby and looking at pics of the ships I realized that these models have only 1 real purpose. To shoot and damage each other and sink each other. For me that took all the fuss and stress away from regular model building. I was one of those that was extremely particular on accurracy of the subject and if it was just out by 1 kazillion of a atoms out of place it would turn me off. Thankgod I got over that. So for this Hobby I can break away from that as I have my scale models to fuss over. My RC tanks for example are pretty good but not exact and if I had to chase down every inaccuracy my 150.00 tank would ended up doubling it's weight in aftermarket parts to and tripling the cost. Remember a RC combat model should reasonably look like it's prototype from 20 ft out. Cheers
Hi Curt: I see that you started late in life.. LOL For me, I was in the hospital a lot at age five, and my dad got me started on model airplanes to keep me occupied. Lately I have been playing with foamy, trying to make staircases, hatches and railings. All for a Liberty Ship!!! In the back of my mind is also working with fiber optics for operational running lights. This is going to be interesting. I am sure that once I hit the water with my detailed superstructure, that she will be the prime target for everyone on the pond. After being shot up a few times, that should cure me.
It will take some of the angst out. What works for me to satisfy how close I want the model to realistilcaly look is to add details that are expendable but are simple and relativley easy to repair or replace. Oh yes you will be targeted as the Vermin like nothing more than to knock off detail.I really get a kick when the superstructure details take hits and survive intact or slightly damaged or disloged. When I make the repairs I have some Captains who ask " Hey didn't I shoot that off last time we battled? It's still there?? Yup. In a battle I find it looks realistic to see bits fly off the model because that's what actually happened in a naval battle. So overall the battling satisfys my morbid fascination with destruction topside.
I really like the ships with the atlantic bow. I dont know why. I like the thin front end on the white hull.
Elegant is a great way to express it. I always felt that certain german ships had a certain elegance about them.
The line drawing shows the shape of the top edge of the deck. It doesn't show any of the hull because it is below the deck. The side view doesn't help at all. The pictures are all fractional shots and even the picture of the hull on end shows the sides of the hull via coloration so you really don't have a good visual comparison. Unless you are going for a museum quality model, don't worry about it! What is important is that she will look good on the water under power!
