The Ship Model Forum

Model Monkey is please to announce a catalog containing all available products is now online.

You can see it here: http://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

Advice for 3D-printed plastics from Shapeways:

Cleaning your parts: during the 3D printing process, a waxy substance is used to support certain part features. Although the parts are cleaned by Shapeways afterwards, some waxy residue may remain. It can be safely removed with water and a mild water-based detergent like "Dawn" dishwashing detergent, baby shampoo (no conditioner), or "Simple Green" using an old, soft toothbrush, Q-tips or pipe cleaners. Customers report that "Bestine" and "Goo Gone" have harmed the plastic. Do NOT use any cleaner containing acetone, acetate or thinner containing Methyl Ethel Ketone (MEK). Acetone will attack acrylic plastic and damage it.

Curing and smoothing surfaces: during the "Frosted Detail" printing process, liquid resin is cured by ultraviolet light. Microscopic bits of resin may remain uncured. Let your parts sit in direct sunlight or under a UV or fluorescent lamp for a few hours to fully cure the resin. After your parts have fully cured, if desired, careful use of an inexpensive "air eraser" emitting common household baking soda can help smooth surfaces of Frosted Detail parts and remove any unwanted "frost" without harming detail. An air eraser, like an airbrush but much cheaper, can be found on Amazon.com. Models by Harbor Freight and Paasche are popular.

Primer and painting: for primer on "Frosted Detail" acrylic plastic, Tamiya "fine gray" is a good choice. Only acrylic paints meant for plastic are recommended. Enamel paint may not harden on "Frosted Detail" plastic. For "Strong and Flexible" products, a kind of nylon, only primers and paints intended specifically for use on nylon should be used. Other hobby paints may not adhere. Simply Google "primer for nylon" and "paint for nylon" for several good choices. Do NOT use any cleaner containing acetone, acetate or thinner containing Methyl Ethel Ketone (MEK). Acetone will attack acrylic plastic and damage it.

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Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

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Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Very nice! Now I could see what you have designed so far!

Aop

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On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

Wow!!! Very nice indeed, Steve!!! Easy to plan future projects with this!

Although, my wallet thinks otherwise!

Pizza anyone???

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Splendid!





Bob Pink.

Fantastic!!
Walt

Very nice Steve! Am I the only one that would love to see backdated USS Texas and USS New York parts on this catalog?
Sorry Steve! I'm still lobbying for them!

Thanks, everybody!



Still love to do it, but yes, you are the only one. Insufficient research materials remain the holdup. Very close, though, thanks to you and others, just not quite there yet.

To paraphrase advice about voting, enjoy the catalog and "buy early, buy often".

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

Jeff, what time period?

1941 before her August-October refit. I love the birdbath look on her forward fighting top.

Steve,

Excellent idea - perhaps other Shapeways artisans will follow suit!!

Hank

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HMS III
Wallburg, NC
BB-62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38) Late 1940 1:200
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144
Finished:
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Thanks so much! I hope the catalog makes it much easier to find the products you want.

Brooklyn and Cleveland class light cruiser fans, 6"/47 cal. triple turrets of three different designs in two popular scales have been added to the catalog. Other scales are possible. These designs were requested some time ago and I am happy to have them completed.

Below are some renderings of the Brooklyn class turret design to give you some idea of the details included. The Cleveland design is a bit different in detail (armored hoods, vents, etc. are different) as is the design specifically for USS Cleveland CL-55 and USS Columbia CL-56. Their turrets had the features of the earlier Brooklyn class minus one turret.

Special thanks to Phil Hayes, Ph.D., USNR, who sent scans of the original builders blueprints for these turrets he made at NARA. These designs are precisely scaled from those documents. Their overall dimensions and shape perfectly match the original builder's blueprints.

Each turret has unique features (turrets on the main deck have an access hatch and shell ejector ports on the aft wall, superfiring turrets do not, and the aft-most turret does not have a rangefinder). To help the modeler identify which turret is which, the model turrets have subtle raised numbers on the bottom of the turret overhang, in order, from bow to stern. These numbers can be easily sanded off if the modeler so chooses.

Chris and Lars, Baltimore designs are next.

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

Do you have everything what you need?

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Hey, how about doing the rest of the 1/700 cruiser to go with those nice looking Pensacola and Salt Lake City turrets?

Apparently there were not many interested in those nice Pensacola and Salt Lake City turrets...

See here:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=163454

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Lars (maxim) is correct. I'll have to pass. Thanks for the interest, however!

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

RMS Titanic fans! Accurately sized, shaped and detailed 1/350 scale cylindrical crane pedestals for Olympic class liners RMS Titanic, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic have been added to the catalog. Titanic cranes (50 and 30 cwt Stothert and Pitt, Ltd. cranes) will be available soon [edit: DONE!]. The cranes and their supporting pedestals are very conspicuous features of the ships and the model.

Cranes: http://www.shapeways.com/product/9Q6JSD ... d=60941713
Pedestals: http://www.shapeways.com/product/7ZC2PF ... edestals-8

These parts are intended as direct replacements for the inaccurately sized and detailed Minicraft/Entex/Revell 1/350 scale kit's parts.

Features:
- Carefully scaled and detailed from careful study of drawings based on Harland and Wolf plans as well as photographs of cranes on RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic
- each pedestal has unique details - number of doors, door positions, and hinge locations are correct for each pedestal
- pedestals marked for port (P) and starboard (S) on the sprue and oriented on the sprue as they should be on your model
- pedestals marked for location (forward well deck (“Bow”), aft A Deck promenade (“A Deck”), aft well deck (“Aft Well”), poop deck (“Poop”)
- perfectly matched to 3D-printed cranes (coming soon)

Because of the rivet and bolt detail on the cranes, the CAD file size for a set of 8 cranes is presently too large for Shapeways to accept (a whopping 119 MB - limit is 65). They may have to be offered as a set of four, two sets needed for one model ship.


Boxart: Scalemates.com

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

Hmm... seeing the latest item...

How about a set of the big lifeboat davits needed to convert a Titanic kit into a Brittanic?

- Sean F.

Already available in brass for $45 USD from Peter Davies-Garner who is very accurate with his products and models. See: http://titanic-model.com/brass.htm

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey

The Titanic cranes are ready, too. I was unable to get the CAD file size small enough to offer them as a set of eight, yet preserve the rivet and bolt detail. They are, therefore, offered as a set of four with lots of rivets and bolts, perfectly matched to 3D-printed pedestals.

Don't leave port without them.

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.

-Steve Larsen

Complete catalog of over 1,700 designs for scale modelers:
https://modelmonkey.wixsite.com/modelmonkey