Thanks, Jodie and Chris! I really appreciate your encouragement and patronage. Your continued support helps make all this possible so thank you, too, Jodie's wallet.Well, I didn't get the island done today but tomorrow it will go live.
Mark McKinnis wrote:
Awesome!!
Hi Mark, thank you, too!Mark McKinnis wrote:
...Do you have plans to attempt more in 700th scale? Maybe the three or four of us attempting conversions should start a thread to generate more interest???...
Let's see how this one sells before I commit to more Essex islands. There has been very little interest in the Essex islands designed so far, or surprisingly other products for Cold War subjects generally, probably due to the lack of injection plastic Cold War-era ships to put the products on.
After
Oriskany, I need to get back to the Forrestals for a little while. Along with you, Mardis Hall is anxiously waiting for one too but in his case it's an
Independence island in 1/350. Once Forrestals are done, I'll likely begin designing a
Pennsylvania BB-38 1944 superstructure. Many have been patiently waiting for that product.
Mark McKinnis wrote:
...As an after thought I was wondering what is your level of effort after you get the first island set up? Do you have to start from scratch for each configuration, Intrepid, Yorktown, Shangri La, etc. or can you leverage the first one to make the subtle changes between the other ships?...
All of the islands share one or the other of two versions of the same basic shape (the two island forms are "extended bridge" and "short bridge" - see rendering of the "short-bridge" version below). Note that the top portion, when viewed from the front, is correctly, slightly tapered. Many kits and aftermarket products miss the taper.
Attachment:
Model Monkey base Essex island form.short bridge.jpg [ 63.04 KiB | Viewed 2363 times ]
When researching the islands, I was amazed to find so many significant differences between ships of the class (differently shaped decks and bridges, different flag lockers, radar platforms, splinter shielding, deckhouses, door and porthole/rigol number and positions, exterior piping, etc., etc., all different, and noticeably so).
So, from that basic shape, the 3D designs are all made differently, some in just a few ways, others more so, in order to capture the conspicuous features unique to each island and therefore each design becomes essentially a new design. Depending on the complexity of the geometry and the availability of references, each island takes between 1-4 weeks working full time to research and design making them very time-intensive subjects and thus very costly to design (time = money).
Attachment:
Model Monkey Yorktown and Intrepid comparison.d.jpg [ 151.94 KiB | Viewed 2356 times ]
Once the design is complete, each design then has to be adjusted to meet printing requirements for the intended scale, meaning a unique design for each scale is produced. This means that there are actually more than one design of any one island. Printing requirements are much tougher to meet for subjects in smaller scales while trying to keep the design looking realistic. So there is an iterative process (adding even more time) in adjusting features until it will pass Shapeways design analysis software checks before being offered for sale. Until last week, the 1/700 Vietnam War-era island did not pass the checks. Once it passed, I was able to start adding all the details, and there are many.
Mark McKinnis wrote:
I was showing off the 1/350 Kearsarge Island the other day. Quite a piece of art!
Thanks so much! I'm excited to see your build finished. I think the SCB-27 island on a straight-deck Essex looks so cool.