I've spent quite a bit of time debating the scale issue.. how much I should care about it (which I've determined is likely less than how much I actually care about it). I've been walking around the map so far looking at everything, throwing in a bunch of NPCs, going back over the blueprints, checking original photos as well as screen grabs from the 1997 movie, and I think I've come to a conclusion.
At present, I am using the ever ubiquitous 16unit = 1foot measurement found everywhere online. But it feels too big. Part of that is described in various places because the player's eye level is around 4feet, while the model overall is around 5, if I recall correctly.
I had previously toyed with changing the scale to 12 units = 1foot, and I did find that the scale seemed more fitting, but it would mean a buttload of work. In addition, it would mean many areas fore and aft of the ship would either be inaccessible due to dimensions being smaller than the player collision hull (32units), or I'd have to enlarge these sections quite a bit, which would also screw up the scale.
Spending quite a bit of time walking around the map I've found now I think what bothers me the most about the scale is the height. Previously I found even rooms - such as the bridge - were far too big, not just tall - but looking at the blueprints again, some of the scale starts to show. For instance, the bridge is just over 5 stations long. At that part of the ship, stations are 36 inches apart. Which means the bridge is just over 15feet long, or around 4 and a half meters long. Well, when I take that information and go back in game, I kinda feel like I got it right.
While I cant seem to find a reference at the moment to the height of the bridge (or any other Boat Deck level location), it seems I had used 8'6" previously. Given other decks are generally 9' tall, I think this is an appropriate setting.
So, long story short (too late!) I think what I will experiment with a bit is going on a scale of 16units = 1 horizontal foot, and 14 units = 1 vertical foot.
With that in mind, I'm posting the screenshot below, which on the left shows what that scale would look like for the bridge (again, 8'6" tall), and on the right is the original 16unit. The actual total difference is only 17 units (136 v 119).
I think at this point if I'm not happy with the new 14unit vertical foot scale, I'll stick to what I have and move forward with this.
Where I had left off last time - before getting all caught up in this scale issue - was that I was hitting the brush limit. I had started converting some things into Propper models and that seems to work well for what I'm trying to achieve. I still have things I will be converting so that I can then continue working on the ship. Not counting passenger rooms, most other spaces have been built with the exception of areas in the Orlop and Tank Top (engine rooms, cargo/food stores, etc). Once I've got everything built I'll want to add in some minor details to rooms, as you see in the shot above I added telemotors and wheel. Extremely preliminary, but eventually I want some kind of detail in here. Right now I'm thinking that likely all this detail will be Propper models. Ill also be converting the staircases (both Grand and both 2nd class) to models as well. Should give me back about 500 brushes.