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Jerry, Thanks for the link. Looks like a good resource. Take care. Ted

Hi, For those interested in giving SolidWorks a play: If you are a U.S. military veteran you can get the Solidworks student edition for about $25.00 on CD-ROM mailed only to anywhere in the U.S. The licence is for one year, but I have heard it can be renewed. I don't know this to be fact. A special form and a copy of your DD214 must be submitted. There seems to be no time restrictions in terms of when you were discharged. I was discharged in 1969 and that flew OK. The form can be downloaded, filled out, signed and scanned. The DD214 scanned. I scanned the two documents as a two page .pdf file. Solidworks says the upload size limit is 10mb, my .pdf document was 2mb and I still had trouble. After rescanning to a lower resolution and ending up with about a 500kb document, the upload went smooth. After Solidworks receives and approves your application, they e-mail you authority to purchase. The whole process took less than a week. I know this is a bit more effort that what most of us are used to, but Solidworks is a premier, big buck 3D modeller and a pretty good deal for $25.00. Be advised - The Solidworks edition you receive may require a 64 bit machine! I tried to copy and paste the link a number of times, but I couldn't get it to work. Here it is: http://store.solidworks.com/veterans/default.php?command=Step1 Hope this info is useful. Ted

Frank, You're right! Lots of good stories! The majority of my working career was spent either in the military or supporting the military as a Texas Instruments Field Service Engineer. Lots of travel, friends and stories! Ted

Frank, Thank you for the reply. My issue was with the drawing, not with the text. I have contacted Russ and he graciously helped me out with the missing bit and answered a query about W5 on the Outboard profile. Seems like with everyone I meet on this forum there is some kind of connection. Russ is located in Biloxi - I used to live in Biloxi. Terry (CDR_Ret) lives in Greenville S.C. - I used to live in Greenville S.C. You are in Sun Lakes , AZ - I don't know where Sun Lakes is located. But I did live in Tucson, AZ while based at Davis-Monthan(sp) AFB in the late 1960's, my oldest daughter was born in Tucson. It is indeed a small world! Ted SE Queensland, Australia

Mark, Small hic-cup! Russell's .pdf file has some of the text missing on the far left hand side (readers view) of the OUTBOARD PROFILE. Probably not important, but I'm not sure. Russell indicates this figure is from a Model Shipways plan. Would you happen to know the name of the ship this plan represents? I thought I might be able to get the missing text from the Model Shipways site if I knew the name of the ship. Thanks, Ted

Mark, Thank you! That plans should work just fine and there is great information in the file. Nice work! Ted

Hi folks, I decided to update my drafting skill-set and started looking at model engineering as an avenue. Although retired from aerospace, I have always had an interest in boats and ships. At this point in time, not really interested in model ship fabrication, but drafting and modelling efforts. I PM'd Wayne Kempson regarding his article 'Drafting Ship Plans in CAD, A Basic Introduction', I told Wayne that I felt his article was very interesting (although there was much that I did not understand) and a good starting point for me. I also asked Wayne his recommendation for a fairly easy plan to start with. Wayne sent me a very friendly response and advised to start with one of the ships from the Anatomy of the Ship series. He also recommended this forum as an invaluable resource. I went to the library and was able to check out AOS HMS Beach. Man, I'm excited now! I've got the profile, half-breadth and body plans. Very clear and readable. I'm ready to scan into .jpg and then import into TurboCAD. This is where the wheels come off. The profile and half-breadth plan cover two pages. I can't scan properly without tearing out the pages (can't do that, it's a library book) and the book will not lie flat on the scanner. The gap between the two pages leave some doubt as to where the edge of the figure actually is!!! So my rookie question - where can go on the internet to download the 3 plans (profile, half-breadth and body) needed to get through Wayne's tutorial? I'm not worried about any the type of vessel, I just need some useable .jpg files. To me this is a drafting exercise and an effort gain some knowledge about ship construction and terminology. Thank you so much for your time! Ted SE Queensland, Australia

HOW CAN I LEARN TO DO THIS?? I use SketchUp for simple barns and storage buildings. I wouldn't even know where to start with something of this level. I had no idea something like this could be done with SketchUp. Where can I find out about the method used for this extraordinary model?