N Scale WWII Warships Coming Soon

[pnolan48]

With social distancing (isolation in my case) I've had some time to continue a project I began in 2003. My aim was to build the most important US warships in N scale for my harbors. Getting 3D printers boosted this project along with turrets, superstructures, lifeboats, gun directors, radars, anchors, K-guns, stacks--actually anything above deck that was smaller than the 8" cube build space. So front to back I have a Benson, a Fletcher, an Atlanta-class light cruiser and a Portland-class heavy cruiser. I'm still figuring out the pricing on these, which are between 80 and 95% completed. Kit prices may go up and completed model prices down. I haven't figured out how much per hour a 3D printer is worth because I don't know how long they will last and how much human supervision they need.

[djconway]

Again all I can say is WOW! What amazing work.

[GM50 4164]

With social distancing (isolation in my case) I've had some time to continue a project I began in 2003. My aim was to build the most important US warships in N scale for my harbors. Getting 3D printers boosted this project along with turrets, superstructures, lifeboats, gun directors, radars, anchors, K-guns, stacks--actually anything above deck that was smaller than the 8" cube build space. So front to back I have a Benson, a Fletcher, an Atlanta-class light cruiser and a Portland-class heavy cruiser. I'm still figuring out the pricing on these, which are between 80 and 95% completed. Kit prices may go up and completed model prices down. I haven't figured out how much per hour a 3D printer is worth because I don't know how long they will last and how much human supervision they need.

I played a game in my Atlanta just a little bit ago. Learned a lot from World of Warships. Grandfather was in the Navy as well. These look great!

[MVW]

Way back in the '70s I played a naval war miniatures game called Seapower with my older brothers. It was a blast. I was surprised to see the game is still available, and the company is still selling 1:1200 and 1:2400 models of warships. We used cut-up index cards to represent ships, but that game was the first thing I thought of when I saw these little beauties. Great work!

And here's the link to the wargame, if anyone is interested:
http://www.alnavco.com/books.htm

Jim

[muktown128]

Pete,

These look really good.  Are you planning on eventually doing Baltimore and Cleveland class cruisers?  What about Gearing and Sumner class destroyers?  Destroyer escorts might be another good one, since it is a bit smaller than the other ships and might fit in N scale harbors easier.  I had quite a bit of interest in Navy stuff growing up.  My dad and 2 uncles served in the Navy and I was awarded an NROTC scholarship for college.  Unfortunately, my poor eyesight kept me out of the Navy.

[GhengisKong]

Any chance a USS Texas / USS New York? Both smaller battleships around 575 feet long.

[pnolan48]

I'll probably do the Baltimore and then perhaps the Clevelands. It may be a year or two. Sorry, probably no battleships. I know I priced brass 16" barrels a few years ago, and they were $$$$$. I can do all the secondary armament but the ships are large even at 575'. The Sumners and Gearings were based on a slightly enlarged (and also extended) Fletcher hull, so I'll look at it. The major work on the destroyers is building the hulls as almost everything else is 3D printed or photo-etched. At one time I planned to make molds and cast the hulls, but my experiences with smaller 210' hulls pointed out the expense and fragility of the molds.

[eja]

Cool...

Sailed on Fletcher class DD 674 USS Hunt ... don't need one but if I did ....

eja

[John]

What 3D printers are you using?

[pnolan48]

Monoprice Maker Ultimate (or Wanhao Duplicator 6). The three are workable and fairly well documented for repairs. I would say middle of the road for quality of prints. There are a number of modifications (such as dual printhead fans rather than the original single fan) that improve the quality but I haven't tried them yet. A glass bed is a virtual necessity--I would say that buildplate adhesion is the biggest weakness. The chat feature on customer service has worked well. One came non-functioning--one of the connectors on the motherboard was loose, so that was easy to diagnose and fix. I started with the $189 baby Monoprice Select printer, which was perfectly satisfactory, in fact sometimes better for intricate "spidery" projects. The build plate was just too small and the Bowden tube fitting broke, so I just put it aside.

These will print 40mm bofors only if I simplify them a lot and really can't handle 20mm oerlikons. I will be getting a cheap resin printer soon just to see the difference in print quality.

[LIRR]

[MK]

That must have been some sight back then!

[dem34]

That must have been some sight back then!

Indeed, then also consider that those Dreadnoughts were on the smaller end of Battleships and that modern Destroyers are a smidge larger. An N scale Yamato or even an N scale Helicopter Base ship would be absolutely massive.

[John]

https://tucson.com/news/retrotucson/rarely-seen-photos-of-the-uss-arizona-sunk-dec-in/collection_da38c166-ac2b-11e6-8ff3-674350ff0b87.html#77

[MK]

Great link!