Is there any interest in County Class heavy cruiser hulls? I made a hull mold for the bulged Kent subclass years ago (also usable for the Spanish Canarias Class). It's fate after the closure of Strike models is uncertain. I have excellent plans for the 2 ship Dorsetshire/Norfolk subclass (non-bulged); the hull is identical to the 4 ship London subclass. If there's enough interest I'll make a mold for those ships after I do the Java hull. I've wanted to build HMS Dorsetshire in China Station colors for years.
I've had some pms about the County Class hulls. The general opinion is that HMS Suffolk and Cumberland are the best of the 13 County Class ships for rc combat due to their cut-down sterns, which allow more depression of the stern guns and closer hits. I've already made a mold for the 7-ship Kent subclass, which includes Suffolk and Cumberland. Strike bought it but is no longer making the hulls and it's unknown if the mold will be sold to another hull maker or when/if the hulls might be produced again. Given that situation and people's preference to build the Suffolk or Cumberland I might make another Kent sub-class mold instead of the non-bulged County subclasses. This would be a slightly different and more accurate hull than my first version. The first mold had length and beam intermediate between the Kents and the slightly longer and narrower Spanish Canarias Class (a licenced near copy of the Kents) so it could be used for either; I had only a few frames to work from and had to 'guesstimate' the rest. The PM plans will have many more frames and are likely to result in a slightly different hull shape. (An alternative to making a new plug would be to see if Strike will sell the Kent/Canarias hull and turret molds back to me, saving a lot of work.)
Stephen is waiting for a possible deal for all of Strike Models' hull molds so isn't willing to sell the Kent/Canarias mold back to me at this time. It might become available but there's no timeline. I'll wait several weeks but if the mold's still not available will make a new mold specifically for the Suffolk and Cumberland, the only Counties with cut-down sterns and the best of the County Class ships for rc combat. I have the pine master for the turret mold. I'm ordering several cruiser plans from Profile Morskie, including the bulged and non-bulged County sub-classes. There will be time to build 3 hull plugs between now and the return of weather warm enough for mold production in April, so a County hull will be added to the Java and Tre Kronor projects.
