Model Monkey News

gott_cha · Post by **gott_cha** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:29 pm

100% agree! This am I received an order from Shapeways (Steve's designs) and a small order from His personal web site, the Quality is hands down much better and so is the value in the Items He produces.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:29 pm

Thank you, everyone, for the very positive comments!

Yes, Model Monkey products printed in gray resin are designed and printed by me in my workshop using a "Form2" 3D-printer manufactured by FormLabs.

Model Monkey products printed in metal, white acrylic ("smooth fine detail") plastic and "white versatile" plastic are designed by me but printed by Shapeways in their factories in The Netherlands, or New York, or by Shapeways' third-party partners world-wide.

I do my best to keep prices reasonable despite the high cost of the printer itself, the mechanical alcohol bath, the UV light booth, photosensitive gray resin, and bunch of other consumables necessary to create the models. Hopefully, Model Monkey products help give your older, favorite kits, and less-expensive kits, new life and an accuracy boost, comparable to far more expensive kits.

Some celebrities have offered their support, too, so I thought I'd pass their remarks along to you.

John W. · Post by **John W.** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:50 am

Jon C Ryckert wrote:As a customer of Steve 'Model Monkey' Larsen who has purchased quite a few items recently, I am very happy with his products. They are definitely a big improvement over Shapeways.

Absolutely agree with Jon. The picture of the HORNET island above really was for me. It arrived this morning and I can say without a doubt it is a better product than the Shapeways identical product. I would say your view of the difference between the two suppliers for the same part designed by the same designer will come down to the scale. The striations in the Shapeways part are pretty much always the same size independent of scale. So they will be more annoying the smaller the scale of the part. In 1/350 they were annoying enough to me that sanding and smooting were required, often at the expense of details such as molded-on piping on the part. (Not sure how a sand blaster works all that well since it would seem to remove both high and low striations equally thus not changing anything.) Looking at the new parts which arrived today, there is no doubt in my mind that much, much less prep work will be required. With the caveat that the part is still inside its 'cage', I can say that there is almost no noticeable striation effect on the large, flat surfaces of the island which are visible where there is no cage. It looks like cast styrene in texture and smoothness. In fact, not every plastic part is perfect WRT mold lines or ejector pin marks. In short, at this scale this method of 3D printing is quite a step forward from what we (certainly I) were talking about in glowing terms just two or three years ago.
Well done and thanks, Steve.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:33 pm

Thank you, John! Glad the islands and funnel got to you in good shape. They are huge!

For 1/700 scale aircraft carrier fans, here are some Essex class SCB islands in both Korean War-era straight-deck configuration and Vietnam War-era angled-deck configuration. Each island has unique detailing. There are differences.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:13 am

For those with the classic Sterling USS Missouri BB-63 kit or an Iowa class hull from The Scale Shipyard, here is a 16"/50 cal. turret in 1/192 scale. The same design is available in 1/200 scale for your Trumpeter or GPM kits, will look identical, just 4% smaller.

The turret is followed by 1/84 scale Royal Navy Blomefield long-pattern 24-pounder cannons for the Artesania Latina or D'Agostini Model Space HMS Victory kits. Note the cannons feature King George monograms. This design is also available in other popular scales including 1/100 for your Heller/Airfix kits and 1/146 for your Revell kit.

gtbred · Post by **gtbred** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:02 pm

Steve did a kick ass job on my CVA-62 Indy island.

Daytona675R · Post by **Daytona675R** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:42 am

Steve, just out of interest - are you still considering including the New Mexico class superstructures into your portfolio?
Thanks and keep up with the wonderful job!

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:45 pm

Thanks, Mardis and David!

Daytona675R wrote:Steve, just out of interest - are you still considering including the New Mexico class superstructures into your portfolio?
Thanks and keep up with the wonderful job!

I regret that project has been canceled. As plastic New Mexico class kits have gone out of production, the demand for New Mexico class products evaporated.

Thanks for your patronage and encouragement!

mister me · Post by **mister me** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:17 pm

Miguel wrote:One question Steve

Are those 1/350 Hood funnels with the same detail as the earlier FUD I got from your shop?
Because they look really good

And are they really shape/size different than trumpeter ones or is it "just" a better surface treatment (rivets and so on) ?

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:36 pm

Salut!

Excellentes questions. Oui, les entonnoirs Hood en r�sine grise sont imprim�s � partir du m�me motif 3D que ceux imprim�s par Shapeways. La r�sine grise a des surfaces plus lisses.

L�entonnoir arri�re du kit Trumpeter est l�g�rement plus petit que l�entonnoir avant. C'est une erreur avec le kit. Le v�ritable entonnoir arri�re avait la m�me taille que le v�ritable entonnoir avant. Les entonnoirs imprim�s en 3D ont la m�me taille.

Merci pour votre parrainage!
-----
Hi!

Great questions. Yes, the gray resin Hood funnels are printed from exactly the same 3D design as those printed by Shapeways. Gray resin has smoother surfaces.

The Trumpeter kit's aft funnel is slightly smaller than the forward funnel. This an error with the kit. The real aft funnel was the same size as the real forward funnel. The 3D-printed funnels are the same size.

Thanks for your patronage!

mister me · Post by **mister me** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:50 pm

Ok thx !

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:36 am

You're very welcome!

For 1/700 scale Essex class fans, here's the island of USS Wasp CV-18 as it appeared from November, 1943 through December, 1944. It was with this configuration that�Wasp�participated in several Pacific battles including the invasion of Saipan and the�Battle of the Philippine Sea, also remembered as the�"Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Feb 01, 2019 4:29 pm

For those building the Heller or Airfix 1/100 scale HMS Victory, here are 32-pounder and 24-pounder Blomefield long-pattern cannons for the lower two gun decks. They feature King George monograms. Two types of 12-pounders for the upper gun deck and spar deck are also available (images posted previously). The 24 pounders are not smaller 32-pounders. They are very different proportionally and have different reinforcement rings.

The cannons are followed by an Essex class enclosed electric stairway (escalator) in 1/700 scale. It is suitable for "straight-deck" Korean War-era and "angled-deck" Vietnam War-era ships.

Boxart: Scalemates.com

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:13 am

Here are three 1/700 scale Essex class islands in their WWII configuration each fit for 3 quadruple Bofors mounts. Can you spot the subtle differences?

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:09 pm

Good eye, David!

Lexington has a different venturi configuration, too.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 5:27 pm

Here are 1/700 scale islands for USS Yorktown CV-5 and USS Enterprise CV-6 as they appeared at Midway.

Photos are arranged with paired, similar views of each island to help make comparisons easier.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:34 am

For Lexington class aircraft carrier fans, here are the island and funnel of USS Lexington CV-2 as they appeared in 1941 through very early 1942 (raids on New Guinea), both in 1/700 scale. Lexington featured 8"/55 cal. twin-gun turrets at that time. Battle of the Coral Sea-appearance designs are available separately.

For the modeler who only wants the island, a matching fighting top for the funnel is included.

Captain Morgan · Post by **Captain Morgan** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:18 am

Nice to see my parts under construction.
I�ve been needing to use my old WEM Brewster Buffaloes.

Captain Morgan · Post by **Captain Morgan** » Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:30 am

ModelMonkey wrote:Good eye, David!

Lexington has a different venturi configuration, too.

Lexington seems to have an extra set of flag bags on port also.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:21 pm

Thank you very much, Cap'n!

For large scale sailing ship fans, here is a set of US Navy 24-pounder carronades in 1/64 scale for brigs such as Model Shipways' USS Syren (1803), USS Argus (picture below), etc. Carronades of various sizes from 18-pounder to whopping 68-pounder, of both US Navy and Royal Navy patterns, are available in several popular scales.

The carronades are followed by Deutsche Kriegsmarine 160 cm searchlights in 1/350 scale.