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PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:32 am 
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I plan on building the Trumpeter 1/700th USS Ticonderoga as the USS Kearsarge after undergoing the SCB-27A modification. I have already acquired the new island from Model-Monkey along with the electric escalator. I have the 5/38 single guns and the 3/50 twin guns on order. I know that 14 3/50s were installed, but need a diagram showing where they went. I also know that 8 5/38s were installed, a pair on each quadrant of the flight deck, but again, need a diagram. I have only found one photo showing the location of where the port forward pair go, but a diagram would work much better. All of my searches have been fruitless except for the one photo that shows the port front pair. Thanks for any help that you can come up with.
Later,
Dave


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 5:28 pm 
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[quote="BB62vet"]anj4de,
Here is a close-up of the photo you posted:

The item you've discussed (in the red box) is the ULQ-6 ECM enclosure & sensor framework (the sensors have all been removed). This probably would have been added in the mid-1960s as it is quite similar to the ones we had installed in NEW JERSEY (BB-62) in 1967-69. Here is a photo of her in Long Beach 1981 prior to her modernization:

(Also, the sensors have all been removed). Here is a picture of both of the units during our 1968-69 deployment:

Hope this helps!
]

(Cut out the photos to reduce redundancy)
If you're building a model of the Essexes with this antenna, ask around the people who've built an Iowa in 1980s fit if they used the Gold Medal Models PE set, which also has parts for the 1968 Vietnam era NJ, including these antennas. (I would help, but I'm turning a WW2 1/700 Fujimi into the Vietnam era NJ.)


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 11:54 am 
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Mark McKinnis wrote:
task force 58 wrote:
Which members of the class can be built out of the Dragon 1/700 USS Princeton CVS-37 kit?

DML used to sell them separately but have long since discontinued those after market sets.


I see that at https://www.cyber-hobby.com they have several of the Dragon 1/700 Essex class carriers available (maybe they have reissued them?).

They have have one of the airwing references available: 1/700 WWII USN Carrier Wings Set B https://www.cyber-hobby.com/collections ... ings-set-b

I have already asked through their contact form at https://www.cyber-hobby.com/pages/contact-us about the other references that are of interest for a post WWII Essex class airwing:

7077 USN Carrier Wings Early Jets Set A
7078 USN Carrier Wings Early Jets Set B

Maybe if more of us ask them and show interest they might also re-relasese these.


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 5:10 pm 
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Mark McKinnis wrote:
Poor sales could be attributed to the fact that the cheapest Intrepid Kit I could find on Ebay is $180 with shipping. I own two of them. One will be Intrepid 1957 and is getting a lot of extra love for adding a few sponsons mods and a 1957 air wing. Add $300 to that one for a total of around $480. One will get kit bashed into an Oriskany with the aid of a Model Monkey Oriskany Island ($80) plus a 1972 Air Wing with L'Arsenal F-8, Trumpeter A-7E, and L'Arsenal E-1/C-1 aircraft for another $200. So Oriskany ends up being a $180 = $80 = $200 = $460 kit. At those kind of prices you leave the casual ship builder out of the market.

This forum leaves the impression that we are average builders but I would venture to guess that we represent the far extreme part of the market that has the resources to build eccentrically detailed model ships.


I understand your point, Mark. But I don't think we're as far away from main stream as you portray. Yes, the initial price is in the $200 range. Just about the same price range as a good quality HO diesel locomotive (here's Athearn's latest announcement http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/01242 ... 012420.pdf ) or an RC car. And the basic kit does build into a good model even without all the extra details we will buy. So someone who wants to build the kit can get started at a not-unreasonable starting price. If someone want s something cheaper, those kits are out there, and if someone want to go to more detail, this is a good starting point. Obviously, someone who wants to go to more detail can spend a lot more.

I got the big photo etch set for the Intrepid kit and it cost me about $200. Add for the era-specific radar dish, correct decals, and replacement whip antennas (thanks, SSN Modelbau!) and it's easily another C note. Aircraft can easily go another hundred or more, depending on how many you want to show. But other modelers fall into the same situation. Look at all the trick suspension parts and motors for RC cars! And how about those model tank guys with their basic kits, and then they add full suspension and metal tracks. (Check out https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/radio-control/tanks/) You can get an RC Tiger I for a little over $1200, but if you want an RC M1A2 Abrams, it's gonna run you $1700 to get started. You want RC activated turret and barrel? That's extra! We may actually be the low-priced alternative if we stay away from RC.

What I see is a progression from what I'll call the typical modeler to the serious ship modeler. We don't just 'build plastic models' anymore. We recreate large scale military ships in era-specific configurations with precise professional level details. Some even take it a step farther and add lights or possibly even radio control. Do you cringe when someone asks you if you build model ships? It's just like the guys who build expensive model train layouts or have an RC submarine up on a stand in their garage. We have progressed from mere models, and we need to stay strong and explain to people that what we do is far more intricate and involved than mere 'plastic boats'.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 9:14 pm 
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It’s not really about how expensive a kit and its accessories are, or how much extra effort is put into building a model, It’s about numbers. Economy of scale. Sales, profit, volume.

It’s difficult to get accurate numbers, but in general it goes like this:

Approx Current World population: 8 Billion
Approx Number of hobbiests? 6-7 million?
So for my purposes, let’s assume that the following numbers break down nice and evenly, although we all know that most of us are into more than one aspect of the hobby.

The major branches go something like this,

20% 1377044 Trains
19% 1308192 RC Airplanes
16% 1101636 RC Cars
12% 826227 Plastic models –Airplane
9% 619670 Plastic models -Car
7% 481966 Plastic models –Armour
6% 413113 RC Boats-Racing
4% 275409 Plastic models -SciFi
3% 206557 Plastic models -Boat
1% 68852 Plastic models -Other
1% 68852 RC Boats-Scale
1% 68852 Lego
1% 68852 Meccano/Erector
100% 6885222

In 1995 Revell/Monogram sold more than 5,000,000 model kits. The Fokker Dr. 1 model kit alone sold over 100,000 copies. The worldwide most successful plastic model kit ever is the Revell Titanic, Over two million copies have been sold in the last 30 years.

Major Model Kit Companies produce 25,000 to 100,000 units, give or take, for each model kit they produce. The molds cost Millions of dollars. The research and CAD and design and packaging also are a major investment. For example, a $150 retail kit is worth maybe $50 to the company. They have to sell 50,000 kits to make 2.5 million, which may or may not recover their costs.

Now look at the market. Approx 200,000 Plastic Boat modelers. How many of those will shell out $150 for a 19xx era 1/350 ship? Counting on vets and other non hobbyists isn’t going to keep the lights on at the factory. It’s amazing that we have such a huge selection in this day and age. It’s really a great time to be a ship modeler. But we will never get everything we want.

Obviously my numbers are very generalized, but they serve to make the point I’m trying to get across.
Also, I’m aware of small production run model kits in the 5000 unit range that are cheaper to produce, but the economics remain the same. Companies take gambles making products for a fickle market. They have to make a profit to remain in business.

And as Steve said previously, the proof is in the sales. Hours of work and only a few islands sold.
Reminds me of Gold Medal Models, Loren had to focus on Train PE to make a profit. Ship PE just doesn’t have the volume to keep the heat on in the winter.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:54 am 
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I can respect your numbers, Admiral. But I wasn't talking about islands. I can work through that. If need be, I can buy one of ModelMonkey's islands and slice-and-dice it and the island that comes in the kit, or whatever it takes to make it come out. We are, first of all, modelers here.

I was talking about Gallery/MRC's sales numbers. I contend they missed the mark because of a lack of understanding of who would be most interested in the model. Instead of recognizing the importance of the Hancock and the Ticonderoga to Vietnam veterans, they saw their primary source of sales as based on the Intrepid floating museum.

I believe a lot of the reason for this is generational. It's natural that we understand the world and history in terms we can personally relate to. I'll use ModelMonkey as an example, but only because we've already included him in the discussion. He has mentioned putting food on the table for a family of six. To me that says that he's not from the Vietnam generation, and was probably born after Vietnam was ended. What he knows about these ships comes from what he's learned about history and seen on the Intrepid. Unfortunately, America has let much of the Vietnam story stay buried because of the fear of waking that 'sleeping dog'.

However those veterans, especially veterans who served on the three carriers, are now largely retired and may be very interested in something related to their past to get involved with. What was perhaps one of the most important parts of their lives is fresh in their minds, and the minds of their families who may have heard the stories, so coming across a model of the Hanna or Tico might prompt an impulse buy that traveling to the Intrepid Museum might not.

I'm not explaining it well, but I feel that the number of people who would be interested in the Intrepid/Ticonderoga/Hancock based on memories of the Vietnam war were misunderstood and under-estimated. As a result, I am of the opinion that the product didn't reach the full sales potential it might have if marketed differently.

Your mileage may vary...

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 8:24 am 
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Dano, I get what you're saying, however, I'm pretty sure the choice of Intrepid had more to do with the ship being available as a reference for research. I know sometimes that Trumpeter and other companies reach out to 'experts' for information, which influences their decisions and 'helps' research, but mileage varies on the data rec'd and language interpretations can get mixed up. then there is the translation of reference material to CAD by people who don't necessarily have any subject specific knowledge and if you don't have someone very knowledgeable and passionate guiding the process, you tend to get more mistakes creeping in. As someone who has helped design kits, I know first hand how easy it is to miss things.

My experience with vets leans more toward people who would like a model, but don't have the skills or desire to build one, so they seek others to build for them and unless they find a generous individual that does it for free, they usually don't have the money to invest in a professional build.

I'm inclined to believe that a kit of a museum ship would have better impulse sales than a retired ship. It's common that ships that were sunk and have large media presence sell better than others that do not. Hence the abundance of Bismarck, Titanic and Yamato kits!

I also believe that if you wait long enough, eventually a different version of the kit will appear, although, I'm disappointed that a newer 1/350 Nimitz hasn't shown up yet! I suppose there are enough variations of the 1/700 kits out there that take up less space, but I prefer larger scales.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 9:28 am 
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I tend to agree with Admhawk on the availability of data as a driving force to Intrepid vice Tico or Hanna. I also tend not to think that a museum ship has much to do with it given that we don't have a CVS-12 Hornet, CVS-10 Yorktown, or CVT-16 Lexington although Intrepid probably has more foot traffic than the other three.

But, even with the real ship parked in NY they still got it wrong! I posted some research ( viewtopic.php?f=84&t=155695) I did on the Gallery kit against some plans and it is 5/8 inch short. That is causing some issues for James' attempt to scale up his SCB-125 Flight Decks for the other versions of the SCB-125 ships. His decks are actually scaled correctly.

Even so I am about half way through an Intrepid 1957 version. Got the air wing done at least. I am going to attempt to convert one Intrepid Kit to an Oriskany next.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 10:59 am 
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Steeplecab, you are correct. I am not a Vietnam veteran. I was born in 1963 while John F. Kennedy was president. My wife and I have 4 kids, 2 in college and 2 in high school, all at home.

You are correct about what I know about Essex class ships and where the limited information I know about them comes from - history, veteran accounts, information from subject matter experts and researchers, an intensive study of ship plans and photos, and visits to museum ship Yorktown.

What I know about aftermarket sales comes from personal experience. I'd like to share what I've learned with all of you as it may be similar to what other vendors and model companies have learned.

Modelers tend to buy products and models of subjects that they are emotionally tied to. Model Monkey ship products for Arizona, Hood, Titanic, Bismarck, KGV class, Fletcher class and Iowa class and museum ships sell reasonably well. Products for other ship subjects don't sell as well or at all. Products for model aircraft sell far, far better than products for model ships.

Best Model Monkey sellers are generally products for model aircraft: 1/32 scale Bristol Beaufighter cockpit, 1/24 scale P-51 Mustang wheel wells, and 1/24 and 1/32 scale Supermarine Spitfire exhausts. For ships, Fletcher class 5" mounts sell more than anything else. For superstructures, Arizona 1941 is the best seller, hands down.

Cold War subjects just don't sell. The only Cold War subjects that sell at all are Mk.56 directors and "Frog-eye" 5"/54 mounts. There has not been much interest at all for Cold War islands. For example, except for just 2 islands, none of the Model Monkey Essex class SCB islands or Forrestal class islands offered for sale at the Toms Modelworks table at the IPMS Nationals in Chattanooga or at Telford this year sold. They were returned to me and still sit in a box months later waiting for a buyer. All of the Yorktown CV-5 class islands sent to those shows sold at the shows. No Essex SCB island for Forrestal class island has yet to sell enough of them to pay for the research and time needed to create them. None.

Having said that, I am very grateful for those of you who have purchased or will purchase an Essex SCB or Forrestal island. Thank you!

There appears to be three critical issues regarding producing a sellable model: 1) authoritative reference availability, 2) market interest, and 3) there has to be a popular injection-molded plastic kit to put the aftermarket model on without the modeler having to do much scratch-building.

References. Subjects offered in the Model Monkey catalog are often limited by what can be researched. That's why you see the specific Essex and Forrestal islands that you do, and not others. Ideally, to produce an accurate island, 5-view drawings and photos are needed capturing the appearance of the island within a short time period. As you all know, islands changed appearance often and conspicuously. So, the drawings and photos need to show the ship at about the same time. Without sufficient authoritative references of the subject made at the same time, a reasonably accurate model cannot be designed. If the ship exists today as a museum ship, it is simply far easier to research its features, as Admhawk stated. The existence of the subject makes 1970-ish Intrepid, Yorktown, Lexington and Hornet good research subjects. Bennington, not so much. Mark is also correct in pointing out that even if the subject exists, mistakes in designing a model of it can still be made. With that in mind, models of non-existent subjects are certain to have mistakes.

Market interest. Like all Cold War subjects, SCB Essex islands for all ships of the class remain among my worst sellers. They are among the most difficult products to research and design. They are geometrically very complex objects, each one takes weeks to complete. Then, they don't sell, which is a time and financial loss for me and my family. Of those that do sell, it is the museum ships that customers seem to want most. This tends to indicate that modelers having a very personal, hands-on experience with a subject drives market interest. There is far less demand for products for sisterships that no longer exist, can be seen, felt, and walked on.

Veteran market. Obviously, a ship veteran can be emotionally attached to his or her ship. This, however, can actually spoil sales. Potential SCB Essex veterans/SCB island customers have repeatedly told me that if I could not produce the SCB island of the ship that veteran served on exactly as it appeared precisely during the time he served aboard will not buy an island from me. No other island will do. Unfortunately, that kind of bespoke project with no other sales potential is too costly to produce so I must decline. When I decline to research and produce that specific island for that one modeler's one model ship at precisely one moment in time, that potential customer follows through on his threat and does not buy an island at all. This has happened several times. This repeated experience indicates that, generally, Essex SCB veterans are not really interested in buying a model of their ship per se, they seem to be only interested in buying a model of their ship only if that model represents the ship at exactly the moment they served on it. That kind of subject is too specific appealing to too small a market to generate enough market interest to pay for the research and design effort needed to produce it.

With Essex SCB veterans generally not buying, and other potential customers not buying either, the SCB island market is not big enough to sustain more efforts to research and design more Cold War-era islands. A market with no buyers is not a market.

The need for a popular injection-molded plastic kit to put the aftermarket model on without the modeler having to do much scratch-building. On "the other site" last week, a modeler interested in building USS Hornet CVS-12 in 1/350 scale, asked how much work modifying the Gallery Models Intrepid kit would be needed to make an accurate Hornet. Respondents said a lot of work would be needed including changing the shape of the hull and moving an elevator. The modeler then said thanks and said that he would abandon the project based on the "lot of work" responses. Obviously, he will not be buying a Model Monkey Hornet island. One wonders if he decided not to buy the Gallery Intrepid kit, too. If so, that means that Gallery, a distributor, a hobby shop or other seller, and I lost a potential sale by an interested modeler. That conversation is very typical.

Sales for Model Monkey products for conversions are among my worst sellers. Modelers tend to buy direct replacements of inaccurate kit parts, not conversion parts. It also explains the reluctance of SCB Essex veterans to buy a similar island to the one they really want, and modify it to be the one they really want. Modification or scratchbuilding need is sales kryptonite.

The only islands that have generated enough interest to have paid for the work needed to design them are Lexington CV-2 class (specifically Lex at Coral Sea) and all of the Yorktown CV-5 class ships, in their Midway appearance. I now sell, perhaps, 1 of those per month. That's all, despite TWO Midway movies released this past year. One would think the movies, whatever their quality, would have improved sales. The movies have not improved sales of Yorktown class islands. It should be noted that customers of the Yorktown class islands are not known to be veterans of any of the ships, just very interested modelers.

Now, to address another issue brought up in the Steeplecab post, his presumption that I never served on a warship of any kind, anywhere, ever is correct. But I am a veteran.

[edited]


Attachments:
Steve at Kandahar.jpg
Steve at Kandahar.jpg [ 520.36 KiB | Viewed 12797 times ]

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:02 pm 
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ModelMonkey wrote:
Now, to address another issue brought up in the Steeplecab post, his presumption that I never served on a warship of any kind, anywhere, ever is correct. But I am a veteran. After graduating from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, I served in the US Army for 20 years, "snipped"


Soooo..... You didn't accomplish very much?



:whistle:


JUST KIDDING!!!
Impressive career!! Well Done!! :thumbs_up_1:

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 3:10 pm 
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Steve -
Thank you so much for going to the time and trouble to explain the situation from a manufacturer's standpoint. That insight is worth far more than any speculation others of us may make. My modeling tends toward 1/72 aircraft so I can understand your comments about add-on or direct replacement parts vs. modifying existing assemblies for replacement parts. It's so much easier to start with the right part than get to a point with a partial build where one has to alter the assembly, risking losing all the previous work.

To clarify, I did not say you weren't military, but rather that the Vietnam war was outside your experience. I commend you for the dedication and excellence you brought to your own military service. (I'm sorry, but "Thank you for your service." is beginning to sound trite any more.) I'll save other comments about Vietnam for another time and place. This forum isn't an appropriate place for that.

I'll continue on in my efforts to recreate the Hancock as she sailed the South China Sea in '72. Items continue to appear on the market, and it appears the European modelers are perhaps more interested in US ships than Americans are.

I'm hoping that eventually someone will do a 1/350 model of the AOE-1 USS Sacramento. I would like to do a side-by-side display of the two together preparing for an UNREP. Trumpeter offers the ship in 1/700, so perhaps they'll consider scaling it up. As I noted elsewhere, it could be the 'ultimate accessory' for more modern US Navy ships of the line.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:20 pm 
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steeplecab wrote:
I'm hoping that eventually someone will do a 1/350 model of the AOE-1 USS Sacramento. I would like to do a side-by-side display of the two together preparing for an UNREP. Trumpeter offers the ship in 1/700, so perhaps they'll consider scaling it up. As I noted elsewhere, it could be the 'ultimate accessory' for more modern US Navy ships of the line.


Here here! I'd buy one!

Steve, a suggestion. Rather than do all the research for a particular ship and era, how difficult would it be to cut up your island base into components that the modeller could add to? Like a stripped island, with a few choices of bridge and platform layout? Just thinkin out loud.

I could assist with some of the design aspects if you wanted to try this approach. Might be something you build on as you go once you have the main components down.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 10:56 am 
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Thanks Dano and Darren.

Regarding cutting up the island and offering different platforms and bridges, I'm not sure it gains us anything.

Firstly, the problem isn't that there are insufficient islands, it's that there is insufficient market. To use an analogy, I can produce 50 different saddles. But, if customers prefer to drive cars instead of riding horses, those 50 different saddles go unsold no matter how many I make.

Secondly, each ship has truly unique features. Each ship had its own unique radar platforms, catwalks, equipment lockers, porthole arrangement, flag locker configuration, and exterior cabling configuration, all of which changed often (see example photos below). So there is no "type A" platform and "type B" bridge that will fit more than one ship so that customers can "mix and match" to suit.

And the basic island structures beneath the bridges, platforms and cabling are different, too. Some ships had the original small pilot house. Some had an enlarged pilot house. Some ships had two Mk.37 directors and towers, others only one. Some ships had big, boxy external electronic countermeasures stations either high on the starboard side or forward, an integral feature of the basic island structure. Other ships never had the station. Of those that did, the stations' size and shape varied between ships. That means that I would have to produce different types of basic island structures, too, which I have done for the islands presently offered.

Not only were the ships different, each ship itself was unique from year to year. For example, some ships had the electronic countermeasures station from 1968 but not before. So former SCB crewman/potential customer "A" wanting to build a model of his ship during his 1966 cruise doesn't want the box, but former same-ship crewman/potential customer "B" wants to build the ship during his 1969 cruise must have it. In other words, Hornet in 1970 did not look like Hornet in 1965, noticeably so. If I design a bridge, catwalk, flag bag and platform set for USS Hancock as those features appeared in 1968, they will only be good for Hancock in 1968 and no other ship at any other time, and not even itself at any other time. The Forrestals have exactly the same problem.

If the Navy tried to achieve the "perfect", universal Essex island, apparently, it never found it.

A former Shangri La crewman recently pushed very hard for a 1966-1968 island in 1/350 scale. He served aboard her in 1967. I reluctantly agreed then researched and made the island for him. The project took 3 weeks working full time. In the end, he didn't buy the island because, he said, no one made a set of Shangri La 1966-1968 photo-etch. To put that in perspective, ask yourself what you get paid for 3 weeks full-time work. That's what my family lost. The 1/350 scale 1966-1968 Shangri La island has yet to sell to anyone.

Since the SCB Essex and Forrestal island models just don't sell, and my family and I are already out weeks and $1000s on the research and time needed to design those islands that are offered, I cannot afford to design any new SCB Essex or Forrestal islands. As a big Essex fan, I'd like to design new islands. I simply can't afford to.

Having said that, I will be updating the last-fit Yorktown CVS-10 island with more detail and making the Intrepid CVS-11 island available in 1/350 scale per paying customer request. Other than that, unless the market changes, I must move on to other projects with far better sales potential in order to stay in business. I do regret any disappointment this causes.

[edit: fixed typos]

In the photos below, note the different shape of the large radar platform, different bridge configurations, and presence (or absence) of the large, boxy electronic countermeasures station and its variable location from ship to ship.


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CV-16 2009.09.19 021661d.jpg
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:02 pm 
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ModelMonkey wrote:
A former Shangri La crewman recently pushed very hard for a 1966-1968 island in 1/350 scale. He served aboard her in 1967. I reluctantly agreed then researched and made the island for him. The project took 3 weeks working full time. In the end, he didn't buy the island because, he said, no one made a set of Shangri La 1966-1968 photo-etch. To put that in perspective, ask yourself what you get paid for 3 weeks full-time work. That's what my family lost. The 1/350 scale 1966-1968 Shangri La island has yet to sell to anyone.


When I do special requests like that, I make the customer give me a non-refundable deposit. I'm not going to do any work if you're not willing to prove that you're ready to buy...


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:35 am 
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Model Monkey
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Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:27 pm
Posts: 3952
Location: USA
Even people who have put down a deposit later failed to follow through with a purchase. It is a very perplexing phenomenon.

So, my solution is simple: I no longer accept requests or commissions.

There is one market analysis technique that has proven to be a very accurate indicator of the sales potential of a product I am considering designing.

Go to Scalemates.com which is a model kit database and "stash manager" for modelers. Click a kit that's been around for awhile and see how many site subscribers have added that kit to their wishlist, how many have added it to their stash (ponied up some money for it), and how many subscribers have built the kit (ponied up money and time).

If 116 members have added the subject kit to their wishlist, 40 have it in their stash, and 20 have built it, the proposed aftermarket product is likely to be a cash cow. If the wishlist number is 0, the stash number is 0, and the built number is 0, the aftermarket product will probably not sell.

It's just one measure of market analysis among many, but it is a simple technique that is reliably predictable.

Other techniques have to be considered, too. For Essex SCB islands, the "Scalemates" technique is only partly reliable because of the nature of the relatively small market for Essex SCB ships. The Essex ship market is very specialized, as described in my earlier posts. The typical, potential Essex SCB aftermarket customer really, only wants an aftermarket product to build the ship exactly as it appeared when he/she or a loved-one or mentor served on it, or the museum ship they visited and have grown very fond of.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 3:54 pm 
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Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:06 am
Posts: 573
Location: Leeds, UK.
Wow! Trumpeter bringing out a 1960s CV11 USS Intrepid - excellent news!

Image
. USS Intrepid CV-11
. Item No.: 05618 Scale: 1:350

http://www.trumpeter-china.com/index.ph ... d=193&l=en


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 4:02 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:00 pm
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Location: Ottawa, Canada
It's the same kit as the Gallery one that was released a few years back, but now (presumably) the copyright has expired so they're free to sell it under their own name. The identical boxart is always a good giveaway for such things.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 4:48 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:11 pm
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Location: Niceville, FL
Hopefully, with this Intrepid re-release Trumpeter will finally start selling the extra aircraft sets that were hinted at way back when.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 5:31 pm 
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Location: Leeds, UK.
The Gallery kit was good, but can't find one anywhere, so a Trumpeter re-release will be most welcome. Hope the tailor made photo-etch is included too like in the Gallery kit.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2020 8:37 pm 
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Anyone know of a 1/500 Essex photoetch set? Best I saw was a 1/540 Essex/Forrestal/Midway PE set. Thanks!


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