Over at the Naval Fiction message board where I try out my stories (working on #5 — but #4 was a total bust, I’ll likely never finish it), there’s a fellow by the charming nickname of “seasick” who’s an accomplished modeler. Every now and then, he’ll do a “scratchbuild” (made up of spare and improvised parts, not patterned after any particular vessel) ship, toss up a picture or two, and invite the readers to write about the ship. They get to pick name, type, nationality, vintage, and history of the ship in question.
It’s a fun little exercise. I’d never participated before, but I’ve seen the threads sometimes go on for four or five pages.
Well, I finally broke down and joined in.