The Captain expresses a line of interest that takes a sailor I think to call.
I don't want to jack this thread, but it doesn't have much future since a 1/200 Trumpeter Titanic isn't reality. So here goes.
Working back to front, my suggestion of a 1/200 ish CL model comes from a recent interest in same.
1. Getting older suggests larger details, easier to see.
2. Owning a home for a long time constrains available shelf space.
3. I model as an excuse to do research, or rather I model when I find things in my reading that encourage a model.
4. Recently there was a thread about the CA Indianapolis that got me looking at Navsource and Mare Island photos.
5. In the background of the photos was a light cruiser, USS Vincennes.
6. Looking at available plastic, there've been a very scant few models of light cruisers.
7. Lindberg sold a 1/600 Cleveland for a while. It's what you'd expect, pretty basic but ok. It is the earlier round bridge version.
8. Resin models will not be a discussion here at this time.
9. Pit Road Skywave sold Atlanta class, Oakland class and Cleveland class full hull ships on 1/700.
10. The wiki pages are most useful for their footnotes. One book:
Norman Friedman, U.S. Cruisers, An Illustrated Design History p. 479. 1984 ISBN 978-0-87021-718-0
11. I'll be modeling light cruisers for a while now, and a bigger scale one would be grand. In the meantime, a couple of smaller Skywave models will do.