The idea of what to include (or eliminate) in the design of a major part now becomes a discussion of its own. As pointed out, most 20th century and newer warships are pretty much painted in a few basic colors - which allows for the INCLUSION of small, detailed items to be incorporated into a larger part design, thus saving time in design and printing.
Case in point - while designing parts for USS STODDARD, I discovered that I did need additional details for items commonly found on the bulkheads, but which were not included in the kit I was using as a starting point - i.e. - elec. boxes and sound powered phone connection boxes. So, after determining the general size & nature of these items, I created them in 3D and printed separate parts for these as needed:
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144 scaled T-3 Elec. Conn. & SP Phone Boxes_2.JPG [ 14.24 KiB | Viewed 1224 times ]
As these are scaled parts, I can use these on my T-3 tanker project as well. The tanker also had additional controller boxes located here & there, so I created those, as well:
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Bulkhead 4 Button Controller.JPG [ 13.28 KiB | Viewed 1224 times ]
Since these parts are painted the same as the adjacent bulkhead, it wasn't necessary to print separate parts but rather include these into the overall design of the deckhouse at hand. In doing so, I've eliminated any possibilities of incorrect location of these items later, as well as simplifying the overall design process time. Once the deckhouse has been sprayed the proper color, it's only a minimal amount of time to carefully pick out the button/knob/cover points in flat brass to finish the painting end of things.
For extremely small and detailed parts (wenches, windlasses, deck components, etc. - I usually print those as one piece and then spend more time with a fine brush picking out the various colors needed.
Hank