Repost from NavalWargaming6000@groups.io, which nobody reads…
About 10 years ago I was visiting The Last Square hobby shop in Madison WI, USA. While there, I spoke with a gentleman affiliated with the new American ownership of the Figurehead 1/6000 line of naval miniatures, and he expressed interest in new master models to be used in extending the line. We came to an informal agreement whereby if I could provide a suitable model, he would produce castings based on it. I decided to start with a British WW2 War Emergency DD, as Figurehead was missing late-war British DDs. Going further, I decided to produce a model which would be cast separately from its base, as that is how I prefer my 1/6000 ships, and removing them from the bases is a lot of work.
I started with this side-view plan (From amazon.com/British-Destroyers-Earliest-Second-World/dp/1591140811) of a War Emergency DD of the U-class (same as S-class ITO dimensions). I also had access to some top-view plans in March's "British Destroyers" book.
From overall published dimensions, and the above plans, I produced the following sketch, with dimensions in 1/000s of an inch. One of my requirements for this model was that it be visually compatible with the existing Figurehead line, and this required 2 deviations from scale. Firstly, the Figurehead ships vary slightly as to scale, with 1/6300 being "average", so I settled on 1/6300. Secondly, the Figurehead ships tend to be exaggerated in the vertical dimension. I wasn't comfortable doing the same, so I compromised by modeling a portion of the underwater hull in my model. The idea was that the buyer could either paint it "as-is" for a compatible "too-high" appearance, or file down the waterline slightly for a scale appearance.
I used white styrene plastic, which was initially formed into a solid rectangular block, with dimensions a few thousands over the target maximums to allow for wear and tear during handling. Because this plastic is slightly translucent, it is harder to do a visual check of overall appearance, so I resolved to use a more opaque plastic for future models. The first attempt lacked the proper sheer at the bow:
The second attempt was better:
Here is the model with deckhouses and other detail added on the main deck. Unfortunately, due to using a fast-set adhesive, the after deckhouse ended up slightly too far aft. Not enough to matter though in 1/6000 and certainly better than the existing DDs, so forging ahead:
Here we have the forward superstructure and funnel added:
Note that all shapes on this model are of necessity abstractions, both for simplicity, and in an attempt to avoid overhangs. However, I wasn't happy with the abstracted director/rangefinder installation at the rear of the bridge, so redid them, incidentally breaking and re-doing the 40mm hazemeyer while I was at it. Note how the after deckhouse is slightly out of position, relative to the plan. At this point, we still are missing the searchlight platform detail, and the ships boats, giving the area around the stack an empty look.
Despite its unfinished state, I took the model up to The Last Square, and showed it to the owner, who IIRC seemed OK with it. I suggested that he could package them in sets of 6-8 ships, but with variations to reflect minor differences typically seen in the prototypes. This lead to a more detailed discussion of the mold-making and casting process, as I would have needed a set of preliminary castings to modify into the variants. In turn, this lead me to worry about different degrees of distortion along the 3 axes due to the casting process. It occurred to me that I could compensate for this by his casting a test "block" from a plastic block of known dimensions. I could then check on the distortion in all 3 axes, and determine if I needed build compensatory "inverse distortions" into the masters. This is where the interests of the enthusiast (me) and the businessman (him) began to diverge, as he was reluctant to do this. So I dropped the project (no hard feelings though). …
BTW, here is the most interesting of the variants (HMS Savage with the prototype twin DP 4.5" mount). There would have been only 1 per pack, as there was only 1 in real life:
experiments to find a better way to mount aircraft for wargaming.
