Line of Z Scale Ships Coming

Thanks, Fred. Overall, I'm pretty confident that's fairly accurate. I made some guesses and compromises on details, as I can't possibly design everything from a clean sheet of paper. The davits, for example, are quadrants--close enough, but without drawings any other type would be just as speculative. Same thing with boats and dinghies--if i had to master new boats and dinghies for every ship, the price would be triple.

I had a WWII Benson-class destroyer returned today for repairs. The model is at least 15 years old, when plans were iffy. I'm building a new version of that ship in 1958 FRAM form for someone else, from much better plans. I'm amazed at how much I had to guess in the late 90s, and how well I did guess! I learned long ago that there were very few clean sheet designs, which makes guessing easier. The bow of the 341' Benson is exactly the same as the bow of a 210' Raven-class minesweeper, for example. The interior is a little different, but the structure is the same. So I figure many items on most ships are just variations of designs from other ships.

Pete-- many ships used similar designs-- an example-Sun Ship put a tug boat wheelhouse on Port Welcome- and I'm sure the davits and boats were of a standard design. After WWII we had many Liberties, Victorys, and T-2 tankers. Many were Jumboized to increase cargo capacity. The T-2 Baltimore Trader was a straight T-2 with war time gun tubs and cement around the navigational bridge- The Maryland Trader's hull was lengthened, but she retained the midship house. The American Trader (T-2) was jumolized and the midship house was placed on the after house- making her a "Stem winder" a fore runner of the modern V and ULCC.
Even ships of the same class-DD etc had basic similarities but may have had improvements as building and technical advances progressed.
"Steeped in tradition--unhampered in progress"