One of the fundamental precepts of Shipbucket is the desire for the most accurate parts while still maintaining the cohesive Shipbucket style and level of detail. Often these two concepts (style/detail and accurate scale) come into conflict. No where is this more apparent than when it comes to to missiles and their launchers. It has long been accepted that missiles are, for the most part, drawn much larger than scale. This leads to problems when they are placed on their launchers. One of the examples most noted by new people is that the RUR-5 ASROC can’t fit in the launcher:
This is obviously a problem when it comes to situations where the missiles and rockets are visible. While there are some situations where the missiles are close to the correct scale (such as various Russian/Soviet SSMs, and Talos), most are out of scale. When this missiles are put on launchers, one of two options becomes available:
- The launcher is drawn out of scale with the rest of the ship, but in scale with the missile, and runs the potential to degrade the drawing.
or - The Launcher is drawn in scale, and the missile is a bit too large for the rails.
The solution most of the time is a mix of the two, tending toward option 2. Sometimes however, the solution tends toward option 1, and then things can start to break down. An example of this is on the version of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates currently in the archive:
While this drawing has other issues, you can see that the launcher is out of scale with the rest of the ship, and, I feel, it detracts from the drawing.
Last December, several members of the board began discussing the redraw of the Oliver Hazard Perry, and they came to a consensus that Acelanceloet would be the one to draw it. He’s done some wonderful work on it, and kudos to him, and to Erik_T for finding some amazing references to work from. One point that came up during the drawing process was that the Mk 13/22 Guided Missile Launch system was out of scale, and was next to impossible to accurately place in the drawing. So, in consultations with Erik and Ace, it was decided to give the replacement of the Mk 13/22 GMLS a tentative go ahead.
Ace, working with sources provided to him by myself and Ryan Crierie; and the blessing of Erik and myself; redrew the part in correct and accurate two pixel equals one foot scale. The part is shown below:
As you can see, the new launcher is much smaller. Because of this, the decision was made that in this case (and this case only), it would be acceptable to leave the missile off of the launch rail, so long as it is still provided above on the missile line. This is made necessary by the fact that the Mk 13/22 is, notably, dramatically more compact than most other arm launchers.
Remembering the problems that cropped up last time a Mk 13/22 replacement was proposed, I then set about to update as many of the ships in the archive as I found feasible. I would like to thank Colosseum for providing working files for the Brooke class, and to the following artists, who took time out of their busy schedules to update their ships: Alvama, Bezobrazov, Acelanceloet, and Novice. So without further ado, I present the new Mk 13/22 ships as they are completed:
And the Ship that started it all, the Perry Class frigate:
Link to Ace's Thread where he posts the new Perry
Now, I didn’t get all of the ships done that I wanted to have done as schoolwork and sleep took on a priority last night, and I didn’t want to hold up this release any longer. I’m happy to answer any comments, questions, or concerns that anyone may have. While there are still 17 drawings left to update, four of them are Perry class, and 4 are Adams class; and as such will be comming off the line in the next few weeks.