Martes

It seems I had a kind of a stylistic breakthrough - I found a way to combine the Soviet aesthetics of the 1134B (Kara) cruiser and the British Type 82 Bristol - into one: And practically all it took was a single stroke of a pen. I simply enclosed the lower part of Kara's superstructure with the outer hull, leaving the original sheer line as a knuckle:

Escort cruiser and helicopter ops: And I even went as far as placing landing lights that weren't present on the original model:

The more or less final design for "as completed" Escort Cruiser, with rounded edge of the foredeck and other small corrections:

Thanks It was a great surprise for me at some point - not all old engines are that forgiving. There are some local quirks, of course, but still, it handles dozens of hulls in a scenario like a charm. *sigh* since I started the project around 2018 you are (checks notes) the second person to ask this. But frankly, I don't know. I constantly edit the models and there are several I'd really have to finish before considering a real release (Sane-designed 74 and 80-gun ships for example). Also I think from time to time to port the models over to Unity and run them on Ceto ocean, but that would mean rewriting the whole game logic. Considering the amount of public interest that's a bit bleak prospect. Or I simply have no idea where to get this interest.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/search/fubbs https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66391 https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-459439 Note that the plan has a second sheet with some internal arrangements.

And inevitable corrections after extensive testing. Moved the anchors a bit higher, corrected the curve of the stem, widened the black waterline stripe a little. Because it's all about how you read the silhouette at various lighting, camera angles and distances.

The Command Cruiser at sea:

And an initial sailing test of the command cruiser. The deck still has to be repainted, weapons properly configured. Otherwise, everything seems to work.

Preliminary texturing of the command cruiser is complete - the original model, unlike the large carrier, is a mess, and required a lot of corrections apart from replacing the hull, so it takes much more time. I still have to adapt the deck texture to rearranged armament, but the general look of the ship is already here.

Now it's Kiev's turn. Project 1143, a large ship combining STOVL aircraft, helicopters and heavy offensive missile punch, and yet not exactly carrier. Britain had conducted several studies in that direction even before the emergence of the Invincible concept - the so called Escort Cruiser of 1961: Of course in my version of Britain the ship would easily grow from 15kt to around 40, and would be developed in the same cooperation with Soviet counterparts, as the carrier above. There will be differences, though. The hull is a combination between British and Soviet forms (forward half is purely enlarged Colossus, aft run is Soviet, as it's their engine group). The flare of the bow is increased in a provision for potential quick removal of the missile armament and replacement with a conventional flight deck with a ski-jump (fitted for, but not with). Artillery is removed, the fore turret replaced with an additional twin Bazalt (Sea Boar in RN service) launcher, bringing the broadside to 10 missiles, and aft turret replaced by SA-N-9 (Sea Arrow) missile containers. The S-300 (Sea Serpent) remains in place, just as Sea Dart on Invincible. In - again - a case of Russian Reversal, this reality dictates an increase of East-of-Suez deployments, for which those ships, classified as "command cruisers" would be mostly dedicated, they would make a frequent and common sight in tropical waters - countering US carrier groups, delivering the will of the Queen and the Secretary General to the third world countries, before the inevitable showdown in the icy gray waters of South Atlantic.

After looking at the screenshots above I realized something is off with the hull - the same forward part I left from the artist's interpretation of the Soviet sketches (there are no real published plans for 1160 project, only several sketches and photos of a model), so I took the plans for Colossus-class carriers and used them to correct the lines. This, I think, makes the hull entry fuller, but more plausible - for this configuration. And now to sailing test:

Have to clear up some texture bugs, but overall the carrier works:

Oh, well... That probably had to be expected. As with most computer games, somebody figured out a way to extract the models and inject new meshes into it, and then I figured out how to use that. So now I can take the ingame models of project 1160 carrier and project 1143 helicopter carrier, and anglicize their hulls even more properly. The most simple and visible change is altering the shape of the hull forward, more or less in line with CVA-01 plans and other contemporary projects of aircraft-carrying ships. The sonar remains in place, but the cutwater is moved forward and the flight deck supports are shaped differently. Soviet originals above, modified British-style versions below. It's still very much work in progress, but I ultimately hope to see them in the water at some point.

Then textures + normal maps are your answer definitely. look at collections.rmg.co.uk by "planking"

There is no optimal workflow, unfortunately. There are multiple styles of plank covering, and some are easier to reproduce, while others aren't. The Dutch style in question is relatively easy (you can get away with through-cuts), but making some British ship with complex planking will be a torture. There are two options - either reproduce the planks by cutting the surface, or to paint them as a texture, and this depends on what the final destination of the model is. And then remember that most ships were covered by heavy amounts of paint that would, technically obscure the run of the planks, or had their bottom coppered, which makes a totally different picture.