PF Naughton

Hi, Your model looks incredible

Hi, I think others have brought up worthwhile points about some of Patton's accomplishments, so I won't repeat them here, but will add that an additional important point is to look at where Patton more or less started in WWII, where he was sent to take over from General Fredenhall. A large accomplishment for Patton was in his ability to take what some describe as a somewhat broken command and make it into an effective fighting force. To me that was prhaps one of his greatest contributions to the war because it helped show that the US forces had the potential to fight toe to toe with the other combatants in the European/Mediterranean/North African theaters. As a side note, while I agree that there were stronger and weaker leaders on all sides during the war, if I were to pick a single leader whom I feel whose reputation might be a bit over praised I would actually probably pick Rommel. While I do not consider myself to be an expert on military issues and WWII in specific from some of the things that I have read it appears that Rommel had many strengths but that he also displayed many weaknesses too and to be hoenst may have really been in over his head in both North Africa and later in France prior to, during and after D-Day. When I read about some of his actions both during the initial invasion of France, in North Africa and later back in France there appear to be several instances where his actual ability to be part of a bigger battle, as well as his ability to manage at a level above that of a Division commander actually seem at least partially detrimental to the rest of the forces he was fighting alongside with. In particular his lack of communications with his high command during the invasion of France left them in the dark and could have had some potential detrimental side effects, as it made it difficult for them to try and coordinate an overall strategy. Later his potential over reaction at Arra probably helped sow confusion among the German High Command. And later in North Africa, although I forget the specific battle name, I recall reading how one evening he went off with his command vehicle in search of the UK/Commonwealth rear areas, effectively leaving the rest of his command leaderless, and alos putting himself at a real risk of capture, all for no real gain or benefit. Additionally, later in/during the aftermath of the 2nd Battle of El Alemain, although it was not totally his fault, he ended up having to withdraw his armored forces at a relatively high speed (at least as far as military units could travel at that time) effectively leading to the Italian Infantry units which had been supporting those armored units to fend for themselves (if I am recalling correctly). In the end to me his biggest/greatest achievement did eventually appear to be the Battle of Gazala,but overall to me he appeared to have too many other questionable lapses in judgement that I am left feeling that perhaps his reputation may in fact be a bit overblown.

Hi, Your build looks really nice

Hi, That'simpressive looking (so far ). Can't wait to see more

Hi, That looks great. Can't wait to see more.

Hi, Yout picturs and build look really nice. That poor tank looks like its had a rough time in service. 😬

Hi, Something to consider when talking about container ship capacity is that it is often typically statd in terms of 20 ft Equivalent Units (TEUs), eventhough a large percentage (though not all) of the containers shown onboard, in the OPs original images) are 40ft Equivalent Units (FEUs), where 1 FEU is considered equal to 2 TEUs. For instance, as highlighted in the marked up image below, the FEU container stacks are ID'd in Red, and the TEU stacks are ID'd in green.

Hi, Your photos look great. Can't wait to see kore of your build.

Hi, In addition to the above, similar to Heller and their 1/400 offerings, a long time ago FROG released some shipmodels in 1/500 scale. In general, as others have noted a good scale for builds will probably come down to what you want to build, as while 1/700 may be very suitable for larger vessels,smaller ships like corvette, frigate and even some destroyer kits can be kind of small overall at that scale. One way of looking at things is that at 1/72 scale many torpedo boats and similarly sized craft scale out to kits about 1 to 1.5 ft in length specifically, an ELCO Torpedo Boat would notionally be about 80/72 = 1.11ft, while a Vosper MTB would notionally be about 73/72 = 1.01ft,and a German E Boat would be about 114.6/72 = 1.59ft at 1/144 scale ships like mine sweepers may scale out to about maybe 1 to 1.25ft in length specifically a WWII minesweeper like the Bangor Class would be about 162/144 = 1.125ft at 1/350 scale many WWII destroyers can scale out to about a foot (plus or minus a an inch or two) specifically a WWII era A Class Destroyer would be about 323/350 = 0.92 ft, while a Tribal class would be about 377/350 = 1.08ft, and a Fletcher Class would be about 376.5/350 = 1.08ft at 1/700 scale a battleship can scaleout to about a foot (plus or minus a few inches) specifically, the KGV class ships would be about 745/700 = 1.06ft, the Richelieu class would be about 813/700 = 1.16ft, the Iowa Class would be about 887.25/700 = 1.27ft, and the Bismarck Class would be about 792.67/700 = 1.13ft As such I tend to kind of pick a scale that seems best suited for the ship size I hope to build, though for some intermediate sized ships like WWII Corvettes, Frigates and other Escorts its not always easy to find a good size and alot of the time you kind of just have to go with what ever scale that there are kits available. specifically, a Flower Class Corvette at 205ft overall would only be 205/350 = 0.59ft in 1/350 scale but 205/144 = 1.42ft in 1/144 scale (or 2.85ft in 1/72 scale) similarly a Hunt Class Destroyer Escort would scale out to 278/350 = 0.79ft in 1/350, scale, an Evarts Class Destroyer would scale out to 289.5/350 = 0.83ft in 1/350 scale, and a River Class Frigate would scale out to 301.25/350 = 0.86ft in 1/350 scale

Hi, Your build looks great

Hi, Your build is looking great so far. Pat

Hi, Your build is looking great so far (especially the rivets). Pat

Hi, Can't wait tosee your build. Pat

Hi, Those look fascinating. 🤔 Pat

Hi, Thanks for the info. Pat

Hi, I like your build. The 7TP was an interesting early war tank. Pat

Hi, Cool, thanks for the info. Pat

Hi, Out of curiosity how much of the ship was made out of fibreglass or aluminum versus steel (or other similar stuff) that would rust. Pat

Hi, Your build is looking great. Pat

Hi, Your propellers look great.

Hi, You tape "seams" look great. I'll be interested to see how the overall build tyrns out. Pat

Hi, Your build looks great. Pat

Hi, I haven't started my model yet, but I did find a free 3D model file of the Potemkin and another of HMS Majestic while surfing the internet to help me mess around with ideas on what my model build may end up looking like. After messing around with them for a bit I was able to chop down the hull of the Potemkin to its quarterdeck level to represent my ideas for the base hull. Although the Potemkin kit is in 1/400 scale, I intend my build to probably be 1/350 scale, so that my version of the Thunderchild will scale out to about 329.5 ft instead of the 376.5 ft of the Potemkin. I also deleted the forward funnel in the Potemkin superstructure and then scaled the superstructure block up by about 8/7th (in length and height, but not width) to give a rough idea of what a 1/350 scale scratchbuilt superstructure might look like on the cut down hull. I also moved the superstructure back a little so that the fordeck in 1/350 scale would be the same length as it was for the Potemkin at 1/400 scale. In reality when I get around to building my actual model I will probably use the existing Potemkin funnels and maybe even cranes and masts, but I will probably scratchbuild the rest of the deckhouse to make sure that the deck heights and such look right for a 1/350 scale build, but for now just scaling the existing superstructure block will hopefully give a reasonble idea of what I hope to accomplish. Finally, I took a 12 inch gun turret from the HMS Majestic model and located forward of the superstructure. I still have to revise the fore hull for the anchors and such, and I haven;t located most of the smaller calibre guns, but the image below shows what I have come up with. The red turret shown above the ship is a Russin 12 in gun scale to 1/350 scale, while the other turret on the main deck is the one that I copied from the HMS Majestice model. I'm not sure if the type of 12in gun used on the Majestic is the exact model that would be likely for the Thunderchild but for now it gives a reasonable idea of what an RN style weapon would lokk like for the build. Regards Pat

Hi, I just got my Potemkin model in the mail. As I said previously, I may not have a chance to start the build/conversion for awhile but I'm sure that won't stop my from working through trying to figure out maybe how best to try and do it in the mean time

Hi, Thanks @Bertie McBoatface. After messing around with the sketches, I decided to go ahead and order a copy of the Potemkin off eBay to mess around with. I don't know if I'll get to trying to convert the ship immediately, or how it will eventually end up, but this thread put a "bug in me" to maybe try and do something along the lines of what I have posted Pat