Yeah, don't go putting a tiny half-inch flag on a very Axis-looking ship and say that it was captured or something. If you cannot identify teams at a glance, from 20-30 feet away, you're doing it wrong.
We (the French) had planned on battling axis last NATs but ended up allied. So @Kevin P. 's Lutzow ended up running a 4" x 6" french flag. That's an example of appropriate flagging for an otherwise inappropriate ship. Don't put a tiny stamp sized flag on it and expect anyone to know what it's for.
I bought plans for Spanish light cruiser Libertad from Profile Morskie recently. Like Spanish heavy cruiser Canarias, which I made hull and superstructure molds for, Libertad is neutral so can battle as an Axis or Allied ship. As of Dec. 31 I'm going from daily work to one day per week and will start work on new cruiser molds. Work on the Dutch Java Class CL plug has already resumed; it will be followed by a London/Dorsetshire Class 'County' hull, and the Libertad. The limiting factor is a shortage of the 1/4" basswood I use to build the wooden frames for the plugs. I have enough to finish the Java plug and part of the County Class atm.
Dang. Sorry about the basswood shortage. I can't seem to sell any of my Basswood to loggers because all of the mills are either throttled or out of action. About the only thing I can sell right now is Aspen and red pine, both for construction. nobody even wants to look at my Hardwoods.
Thanks Mike, I might take you up on that. There's been nothing at the local Michaels for months but the hobby shop downtown gets supplies sporadically. I' m going there this weekend to buy whatever they have in 1/4" x 4"x 24 " sheets. I used 1/4" plywood for plug frames years ago but basswood is easier to work with. The last mold I did (Frobisher Class heavy cruiser in 2018) had a plug made mostly from basswood and balsa but there's not enough balsa available either. The new plugs will use my old technique of injecting expanding foam into the frames, carving to approx. shape, then adding a coat of spackle.
Mills not processing the wood probably explains the shortage, which started locally soon after Covid hit in late March. There's a fair bit available on ebay but shipping from the USA is so expensive I might switch to 1/4" plywood for the plug frames.
Bob I use cheap 2x4’ 1/4” plywood for plug frames, I get it at Home Depot or Lowe’s for around $5-10 a sheet. Works great in my experience and don’t need to worry about spiting like basswood. For foam I use the pink or blue 1” or 2” thick sheets, I found it easier to work with than any expandable foam which tended to swell or shrink with humidity
Oh yeah, the cheap stuff with a "Luan" core is basically Aspen with veneers of something more expensive slapped over it. That's going to be super close with regard to performance to Basswood. the fibers are slightly longer, but junk wood is junk wood.
Thanks guys, the local hobby shop has no 1/4" basswood and doesn't know when they'll be able to restock. Same with Michael's. I'll get some 1/4" plywood this weekend for the non-bulged County Class and Libertad plugs. I have enough 2" blue foam left over from an insulating project so will use that instead of expanding spray foam. I hope to finish cutting out the Java hull cross-sections and the keel pieces this weekend. I think I mentioned before that I was unable to buy my Canarias Class heavy cruiser hull, turret and superstructure molds back from Strike Models. That would have made another Neutral ship hull available again. If there's enough interest I can make another Canarias hull mold. This one would be more accurate because my first version had intermediate dimensions between the Canarias Class and British Kent Class (of which Canarias was a licensed near-copy); that allowed my hull to be used for either the British or Spanish heavy cruisers. Canarias and Baleares were a tad longer and narrower than the Kent Class.
