I play and design military and naval history boardgames. Then I got into (naval) miniatures at a game convention in Seattle, but the 1:4800 to 1:2400 scales were too small to appreciate the models.
Unlike American model manufacturers, the Japanee had the marketing smarts to see the potential in 1:700 waterline models. However, with the exception of Allied battleships and carriers, they didn't get into our cruisers and destroyers. (China's Trumpeter is now doing that.) (Britain's Matchbox did do our Fletchers and the German 5.9" gun classes, but ...)
So I decided to take matters into my own hands and design the U.S. Sims class, British L&M and L/AA classes, and Italian Soldati class destroyers, as well as Australian Sydney/Perth/Hobart and Dutch Tromp - all manually designed with French curves, etc. Then my 13 year old son taught me ModelCAD.
You can see photos of my early models (with some plans) on
Lou Coatney: Home Page and I have more, colorized on CoatneyHistory - look down the index page.