Hospital Ship Models

One of the Shapeways designers makes one in 1/700, and the price is fairly high, reflecting the huge size of the ship.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/JEA9EXJMU/mercy-class-hospital-ship?optionId=60655587&li=marketplace

... and the material used to make that model at that price is Shapeway's more inexpensive nylon material that has a pebbly/porous surface finish.   The shapes are there but it just doesn't look right.   The material cannot be effectively primed & sanded.   (I've tried to.). Perhaps if you were to slather putty over it and sand back it may look somewhat better.   The model does not look to be available in Shapeway's finer plastics, which cost more per volume unit

Twenty to twenty-five years ago there was a resin/brass kit of the San Clemente tanker on which the class is based.  There were options available to make the hospital ship versions.   According to ModelerJoe's kit list it was made by Cascade Modelwerks

Hi;

     The only ones I remember are Revell's pale comparisons to any ship real or imagined. They weren't bad, Just not completely correct. Know what I mean?

you mean these?

http://www.modelerjoe.net/shipmodellist.html#RevellHaven

http://www.modelerjoe.net/shipmodellist.html#RevellHope

i'm working on 2 of them with 1 during ww2 & the 2nd when it acquired the heli-pad.

Britannic is a straightforward conversion from Titanic.

Ed,

Even 20 years ago, the Cascade Modelworks kits were not widely available.  And the big San Clemente and tanker kits were even rarer.  I don't think they produced very many of them at all.
On the Shapeways kits, I had lost track of which material was which, and whether the lower-cost method was still unacceptable.  I have been looking at a CAM ship escort carrier which is around $35 in the cheaper material and $95 for the finer material.  I guess I will have to wait to afford the $95 product.

Thanks,
Rick