The Ship Model Forum

The floater nets we offer are designed true-to-scale and replicate standard 10' x 2' x 2' baskets. Note that aircraft carriers had larger baskets.

Also note that the photo-etch baskets you have may not be scaled properly. Photo-etch baskets made by different PE vendors are known to be sized a bit differently. Depending on which PE nets you have, our nets may fit inside your completed baskets.

PM coming.

I guess if these nets are to be used inside the PE, you need to bend it around them. In my case the nets are glued together, installed and painted, I doubt that the resin would slide clean in, or was it designed underscale enough?

Hi Steven,

I'm not sure I understand your post. Are you asking us to design a new set of nets for aircraft carriers? The nets we already offer can be placed inside photo-etch nets by the modeler, if desired.

I noticed an item for US carrier builds that is still unavailable and that bugged me during the builds of my own projects, it could be solved with a 3d print. If you replace the floater net baskets of e g. the Dragon Independence class kits or the Trumpeter Essexes, the PE parts of WEM or Pontos create the box structure of the basket. That is obviously hollow and doesn't contain the floaters that should be in it. In 1/350 these should still be discernible as strains but they can be printed in a few standard blocks. For one Essex you need at least 40 of these blocks.





I found out that you have the nets, but I bet it is not as translucent as a PE net with a resin part in it.

Wonderful news! Thank you, Steve! Definitely going to purchase that one!

Looking forward to my long-stalled-out 1:350 Pennsylvania project coming back online!

- Sean F.

That's exciting news!

Good news, a 1941 Pennsylvania boat deck is in the design queue.

While possible to modify an Arizona deck, it would be difficult to do so. Pennsylvania's boat deck's features were very different. For example, Pennsylvania's incinerator was located below the boat deck, not on it. The incinerator's smoke pipe passed up through the deck and was mounted to the funnel differently.

The circular tubs for 1.1 inch Chicago Pianos were positioned closer to Turret 2 barbette. This makes the splinter shielding footprint aft to the 5"/25 mounts different.

Pennsylvania had 2 very large, boxy water tanks next to the funnel on the starboard side. Arizona did not.

The skylights, vents, and ready service ammunition lockers are positioned differently.

There are some differences in casemate bulkhead details.

All of these conspicuous differences are captured in the Pennsylvania boat design which is about 75% complete as of this writing. I can't say with certainty when the model will be ready. It will be available in 1/350, 1/426 and 1/700 when done.

It will not be available in 1/200 (too big).

Might a 1941 Pennsylvania boat deck be a future possibility? Or should I just buy an Arizona one and modify it?

- Sean F.

Happy to make the vents available for you. Please give me through the weekend to get that done.

The skylights are a bit more problematic. Not sure when I could offer those.

Perhaps some good news for you and others: a 1936 Arizona boat deck is in the design queue. Like the 1941 boat deck, skylights of the correct type and configuration will be present, integrated with the deck. It will be a little while before I can get to that project.

Cheers!

I would like them to be made available separately if possible as I am working off and on a 1936 Arizona. Having all of those vents and skylights would save me a ton of scratch building.

Good news, they are included with our Arizona boat deck.

If you are asking to have them made available separately, that is certainly possible.

Steve, will these be available in 1/350 scale?

Thanks for the quick reply! I hope everyone is well again soon.

I regret to report that cage masts are discontinued.

If printed with our tech, the masts would have to be smothered in supports. It would be impossible for most modelers to cut away the supports without destroying the masts. Hopefully, Shapeways' successor, Maneuvo in The Netherlands, will at some point open a marketplace so that independent designers can resume offering products printed by them.

Shapeways used a different technology than the kind we use. Shapeways' tech used wax to support overhanging features during printing. The wax was melted away in a low-temperature oven at the factory before the models were shipped to the customer. That kind of technology is far too costly for us to obtain.

I am sorry for any disappointment.

We're temporarily closed due to an injury. We hope to be able to reopen this weekend.

Steve, another couple quick questions, have you had any luck determining if you can print cage masts in house (1/200 scale) or are those gone indefinitely, and when will your website be taking orders again? Thanks

Steve, thank you so much!

Hi Abram,

Great hearing from you!

Happy to make the vents available. I'll have a page up in the catalog shortly, photos later this week.

Cheers!

Hi Steve, I'm sorry if you've covered this before or if I missed it on your website, but have you considered selling the USS Arizona boat deck vents in 1/200 scale as I believe they are missing in the kit? Again if you've already covered this I apologize.

Hi Roberto,

Thanks so much for your compliments! Very glad to read that you are very happy with your new Saratoga CV-3 products!

Regarding our 1971 Independence island being a good match for 1976, we don't know enough about her 1976 appearance to answer your question with any certainty. You might consider asking if any island features changed much from 1971 to 1976 on the Calling All Forrestal-class and Kitty Hawk-class Fans thread. Some experts there are likely to know. Link:
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4708&p=1022004#p1022004

Regarding ventilators for Mauretania, I regret to say that there are no plans to research and design Mauretania conversion parts for the 1/350 scale Lusitania kit.

Thanks again and very kind regards!