The Ship Model Forum

Hello all! I am with American Scenic Design Inc, and we are working on a Naval Museum project. We are in need of 3d modeled versions of several US Navy ships (historic and contemporary). I can get the full list later, but how many folks out there do this kind of work or have already created these in a 3d/printable form? We are striving for high levels of accuracy, so needless to say the 'enthusiast' is a much better resource! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

make certain the models are not based on files from games like world of warships & similar.
how historic and contemporary?
https://archive.org/details/ship-design-drawings

Hello Mark B.,

It will depend on what ships you are seeking. There are a great variety of producers out there, creating models of ships that would not have sold many before the rise of 3d printing and STL files.
There is no real central source of data for all the manufacturers. Some friends of mine and I tried to do that, back before the modern proliferation of makers.
You'll also find variations in quality, both in the detail of the STL file used to print and in the resulting models.

I think we can help you, as a broad resource, find the models you seek if they exist.
May we ask which museum you are building for?

Joe

'Thanks Joe- what you describe (no central source) is exactly why I'm trying to 'cast a net' to see what I can get. We have a daunting task ahead of us for this project: we need to get or create dozens of fairly detailed ship models that will eventually be produced in 1/250. We have our own 3D modelers to work on them, but of course even then we need drawings and/or photo reference. I'm still working on the specific list of what ships/ship classes we need and will post it with specific requests as soon as I can.

Mark

1/250 scale makes for a big model. take a look at this site as might be some ship plans there you might be looking for. https://archive.org/details/ship-design-drawings

The US National Archives has blueprints for many US Navy ships and a few others.

Phil

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Without seeing a list of the ships required, your post doesn't offer much detail to offer a detailed reply.

I design and print my own ships in 1/72 scale to ensure the highest level of detail possible, after months of research. The appearance of ships changes over time, so the period for the displayed hulls is needed. Does the museum have access to or an in-house research library?

There is more work available than bandwidth to get large projects done, (for museum-quality work). In fact, I was talking to an interested museum last weekend while on vacation, and they are always needing models.

So yeah, there are those of us who build and print detailed hulls for discerning customers who can spot an error as well as notice a fine detail. As always, the first question after hearing what's needed is, "What's the deadline?"

Without seeing a list of the ships required, your post doesn't offer much detail to offer a detailed reply.

I design and print my own ships in 1/72 scale to ensure the highest level of detail possible, after months of research. The appearance of ships changes over time, so the period for the displayed hulls is needed. Does the museum have access to or an in-house research library?

There is more work available than bandwidth to get large projects done, (for museum-quality work). In fact, I was talking to an interested museum last weekend while on vacation, and they are always needing models.

So yeah, there are those of us who build and print detailed hulls for discerning customers who can spot an error as well as notice a fine detail. As always, the first question after hearing what's needed is, "What's the deadline?"