Model Monkey USS Saratoga 1942 Bridge Tower

[ModelMonkey]

The design for a 3D-printed USS Saratoga CV-3 Bridge Tower as it appeared in 1942 (Guadalcanal + Eastern Solomons) is complete.

Link:
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/Model_Monkey

It is available in 1/350 and 1/700 scales.

A 1943 version is also available now and others are coming soon (1931, 1936 and 1944-45).

Features:
- fully assembled
- accurately dimensioned from US Navy Booklet of General Plans drawings
- detail locations confirmed by careful study of photographs of the actual ship
- bulkhead details properly sized and located
- proper venturi for 1942
- open pilot house windows
- open doors, ready for your favorite photo etch
- portholes (airports) properly sized and located
- detailed interior barbette bulkhead and openings
- raised 2-1/2 meter rangefinder tub
- heavy structural supports included
- light structural supports omitted, ready for your favorite photoetch

For some scales, it is available in both "Frosted Ultra Detail" and "Frosted Extreme Detail" acrylic plastics. Both are printed in the same acrylic plastic using the same $70k printer but at a different resolution. Ultra is the more economical option of the two and is printed in layers 29 microns thick. Extreme is printed in layers just 16 microns thick producing the best detail possible but is more costly because it takes nearly twice as long to print nearly twice as many layers (time = money).

[aptivaboy]

This is how I'd build her, as at Eastern Solomons, her greatest moment of glory. Superb work.

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

This is how I'd build her, as at Eastern Solomons, her greatest moment of glory. Superb work.

Bob

The version I've always wanted to build!

[Dan Banks]

Doesn't this time period also require a shortened funnel?

[ModelMonkey]

The version I've always wanted to build!

Christmas came early this year!

Doesn't this time period also require a shortened funnel?

Hi, Dan!

Yes. I'll be designing a short funnel once the 1930s superstructures are done, probably next week.

[Elvis965]

Doesn't this time period also require a shortened funnel?

Yes, but assuming one would be working with the 1/350 Trumpy Lex as a base, and not the Sara, you can easily accomplish that by leaving the top of the funnel above the .50 cal gallery off. And the .50 cal gallery, too, naturally.....

EDIT: Or, Steve could just design one of those, too!

I've never seen the 1/350 Sara, but I would think that would be a more difficult conversion to a 42/43 Sara than the Lex, which is a '42 version.

Beautiful work, Steve! Both islands look great!

Bob

[Dan Banks]

Great to hear. I am not really an aircraft carrier guy, but love the early ones built on battleship/battlcruiser hulls. By the way, did you know Peter Jackson was originally considering doing his King Kong in a modern setting, but couldn't imagine doing the last scene with jets and rockets.

[Brian K.]

Any chance for a 1941 version?

[ModelMonkey]

Any chance for a 1941 version?

Yes, it should be ready by Tuesday, October 27th.

[blw]

While we're discussing 1941 Saratoga, how about the widened and reprofiled front part of the flight deck?

[ModelMonkey]

While we're discussing 1941 Saratoga, how about the widened and reprofiled front part of the flight deck?

Great question!

There are some significant difficulties to do that properly in 3D printed products, and it has to do with the structure below flight deck level, where the widened part of the deck extends downward one deck level to a large, mostly enclosed platform with Bofors sponsons on either side of the existing, curved hull.

From a business perspective, analysis indicates that the volume of printed material required would make this part very costly, meaning few sales. This in turn makes the design even more costly because I, as a designer, must recoup the cost of design time and spread that across potential sales in order to sustain the business. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers", as the Mercury 7 used to say.

From a design perspective, there are at least two ways to do it (probably others):

1) Design a whole new forward flight deck section complete with supporting structure and sponsons below.
Pros: a perfect part.
Cons: Frankly, not cost-effective or practical to design for 3D printing. Better for a resin manufacturer to do if one would be willing. To design a 3D-printed part that would fit the kit's hull would be too time-intensive and costly in making several design-then-print iterations to achieve a part that fits well. In other words, it would require much costly trial and error, and a lot of time, to find that sweet design that would fit the kit's hull. The time issue drives us back to the business problem above.

2) Design just the flat surface of the flight deck itself with no supporting structure and leave that for the modeler to scratch.
Pros: Certainly doable and would only take a reasonable amount of time.
Cons: The modeler would have a lot of work to do! Would need to decide a logical place the new part should join the kit's flight deck and whether the planks should match the kit's plank widths or be scale - or just do the whole deck (in printable sections) with the same plank widths and the proper planking pattern (costly!). Probably need some advice from folks here to get it right.

Thoughts?