Saturday, December 16, 2017 - 08:05 AM UTC

By TODD MICHALAK

Happy to announce an early "short-bridge" Essex class island is now available for your 1943-1944 Essex class models.

1/700 scale: http://shpws.me/PiP7

1/525 scale: http://shpws.me/PiYf

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For those that prefer a late-war Essex class ship, a "long-bridge" 1/700 scale early Essex class island is now available for your 1944-1945 Essex class models. It will be available in 1/525 scale shortly.

1/700 scale: http://shpws.me/Pjjp

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Happy to announce an island for the Forrestal class aircraft carrier USS Independence CVA-62 as it appeared circa 1965-1971 is now available in 1/350 scale.

http://shpws.me/Pfn4

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Pleased to announce custom nameplates 3D-printed in real metal including a decorative nautical rope border are available. Nameplates for more than 50 ships are ready now. Requests for custom names are gladly accepted. Various font types may be printable. Real metals available include brass, bronze, silver, 14k gold-plated, 14k rose-gold-plated, 18k gold-plated and rhodium-plated. For those that prefer to paint their own or prefer a more economical option, the nameplates are also available in acrylic plastic.

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Happy to announce sets of cannons for 19th century warships are being designed. First design complete is the Royal Navy Blomefield 32-pounder long-pattern Cannon with King George monogram. This weapon was fit to ships-of-the-line such as 104-gun HMS Victory and 74-gun HMS Bellona. Victory carried 30 of these weapons at Trafalgar. Bellona carried 28. The design features King George monograms. Other scales are possible.

1/100 scale (for Heller and Corel, set of 6): http://shpws.me/PgBb
1/146 scale (for Revell, set of 8 ): http://shpws.me/PgDQ
1/180 scale (for Airfix, set of 8 ): http://shpws.me/PgDd

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Sets of US Navy Carron 1805-pattern copy 32-pounder Carronades are now available for your USS Constitution and USS United States kits. This weapon was also carried as the main battery of the frigate USS Essex.

These accurate, 1805-pattern models are intended to replace the incorrect 1840s-pattern carronade (actually an erroneous "gunnade") type often found in model kits which have a different shape, most noticeably, the shape of the breech (more properly called the "cascabel"). Even the carronades that appear on the real USS Constitution today are actually 1840-pattern "gunnades"! It is likely that US Navy warships built prior to the War of 1812, such as USS Constitution, had carronades that were indistinguishable from the British "Carron 1805-pattern" guns. These 3D-printed models accurately capture the features and dimensions of the Carron 1805-pattern carronade including its unusual stepped bore.

1/96 scale, set of 8: http://shpws.me/PgKb
1/146 scale, set of 24: http://shpws.me/PgN1
1/192 scale, set of 24 (some Revell boxings erroneously state 1/196 scale): http://shpws.me/PgLn

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Sets of Royal Navy 18-pounder long guns with King George monogram are now available for ships such as HMS Bellona and frigates like HMS Diana.

1/96 scale: http://shpws.me/PhK4
1/100 scale: http://shpws.me/Pha5

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Sets of US Navy 18-pounder long guns is now available for USS Constellation, USS Congress and USS Chesapeake.

1/96 scale: http://shpws.me/PhJe
1/100 scale: http://shpws.me/PhJ2