Although I'm not into 1/96 models, I drove up to Rocky Mount, NC today and then headed south and then west to go home this afternoon. One of my modeler friends from the Piedmont area of NC had invited me to come by and see their fall Fleet Run on the City Lake. Good weather (a bit breezy) and met some nice folks & their models. There was a lot of talk about 3D design and printing of parts and in one case a complete model designed and parts printed in 3D. This seems to be one direction that ship modeling in the 21st century is headed - and what I saw was very positive towards using this medium for a lot of highly detailed parts.
Many of the models were in an incomplete but functional state, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. One, however, I had to post because is was simply outstanding - keep in mind it's 1/96 scale -so you would expect it to have plenty of detail. USS ARIZONA (BB39) - time period and modeler, unknown - I simply didn't meet the guy who built it - but, I can find out.
It's this kind of model that keeps me up at nights thinking "maybe I ought to build an ARIZONA or perhaps PENNSY".
I think most of these guys post over on the Warship Models Underway website.
Anyhow, I had a nice time, met some good modelers and exchanged ideas which helps all of us.
Hank
