Hi Simon,
I'm in awe of your superdetailed schematics and these decks really look the part.
As someone who gets possibly a little too obsessed with details sometimes, I'd recently been delving into the world of non-slip stud patterns on the bow and stern plates (mainly on type IXs, but also type VIIs).
Looking at photographs, I'd pretty much convinced myself at one stage that the pattern on most boats was this one - not to scale - (I'm calling this Type A):-
With this pattern you can make equilateral hexagons out of the studs.
Am I right in thinking that my eyes are looking at this pattern in your schematics here Simon?
I realise that there's probably some variation with boats out of different shipyards, but just wanted to make sure you'd also seen the boats with this type of pattern - not to scale again - (which I'm calling type B):-
With this pattern, you can make square shapes within the studs.
I'm just mentioning it because as I said, for a while I was convinced that I was looking at pattern A in photos, because of the effects of perspective, when I was actually looking at 'B'.
For example, when looking from a low angle from the stern, my eyes were seeing the hexagons, but when I carried out a small experiment (yes it was becoming a sort of obsession), I realised it was the effect of perspective.
Of course it's very hard to tell properly in photos unless they are taken from almost a plan view of the deck and close enough to see the studs.
I have definitely got photos of the type B pattern on type VIIs but have not yet come across one that definitely shows a type A.
I'd be very interested if you've come across a photo that definitively shows a 'Type A' pattern though?
I've been looking for a close-up on the U-995 to see what that has, but not found one yet.
Cheers Bob.
