Thanks again, Doug and everyone.
Jim, I am very leery of digitizing any of my plans except those that are already free on my
www.coatneyhistory.com and
Lou Coatney: Home Page webpages. Even with passwords, etc., it is just too easy for them to ... fly away ... :-) ... or for other designers to incorporate into other work.
The plans are for entire classes and would not be colored. The builders would have to paint/color them themselves for the individual ships. Actually, I've only painted a few: I really like seeing the lines on the light gray cardstock, but then I'm the designer. :-)
So theoretically from those 30 plans, you could make a couple hundred models of the historical ships.
1:700 is my personal target scale ... for wargaming ... I build *fighting* model ships ... :-) ... but they can be built at much larger scales for display or down to 1:1200. (See my thread about my prototypes to complement Airfix's 1:1200 Sink the Bismarck set.) I've even started a 1:1800 USS Wichita for Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures.
(As to miniature rules, I prefer my own, of course: Naval Action.)
What I'll be working on next is/are:
Fletcher class destroyers (1942 config.)
Sumner class destroyers - same hull (slightly wider) and stacks as Fletchers and even simpler superstructure)
Atlanta/Juneau class light cruisers - yes, I know they're widely available in 1:700 plastic, but they are one of my longtime favorite classes, and I lived in Juneau for 16 years.
Alaska class large cruisers
Converting my L&M and - another favorite - L/AA class British destroyers from manual to digital plans
Leander and Arethusa class light cruisers - since I've already got the turrets, etc., for the Sydney/Perth/Hobart class
More County class variants, although those waterline torpedo bulges of the early ships seem daunting
etc.
Note that China's Trumpeter now has BEAUTIFUL 1:700s of the Italian Vittorio Venetos, British Renown, Richelieu ... and is coming out with the reconstructed Queen Elizabeth/Valiant. (Why they did the World War 1 version first is a mystery.) And I am otherwise loathe to feed American dollars to the Chinese military machine.