Subject: SMML9/6/98VOL205 shipmodels@wr.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: 1/400 Ships 2: Matchbox corvette 3: Prinz Eugen 1:1 Scale Pieces 4: Bismarck painting 5: Yamato Armoured AA Mounts 6: Bismarck & Tirpitz 7: Nichimo 1/200 Yamato 8: U.S.S. North Carolina 9: Flower class corvette ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS INDEX 1: Task Force 72 Web Site update ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John Philip Downing Subject: Re: 1/400 Ships >> Even with the additional photo etched accessories, you could almost literally buy and build the entire Heller line for the cost of one, perhaps two large resin kits. If acquisition cost is an issue, and it's a big one to me, then I would heartily recommend the Heller kits. And, by the way, there are other 1/400 scale kits, though most are out of production. Some great collectibles include the Nichimo Yamato and Musashi battleships in 1/400 scale, among the most beautiful battleship kits in that scale I have ever seen. I have been fortunate enough to capture a Musashi kit; still looking for the Yamato. << I remember once owning an Otaki 1/400 Nagato, which I thought was a fantastic kit. But I sold it many years ago when I switched to 1/700, and have never seen one since. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Ritchie_deutag, Colin" Subject: Matchbox corvette >> Having recently become the proud owner of this kit I can assure you that you can still get them but you'll have to work at it. The original Matchbox versions can be bought second hand (as I did). Try an inquiry on the newsgroups Rec.model. scale and model. rc as many were bought for conversion to radio-control. Keep an eye on the modelling press. The moulds for this kit became the property of Revell/Germany and they have or intend to re-release it. So watch the hobby shops for green Revell boxes the size of a small dining room table. (Trust me you'll not sneak this one in the house un-noticed) Be warned though I waited the best part of 20 years to acquire this kit so don't be disappointed if you don't succeed at once. << Ah the memories, I bought the Corvette 10 years ago I think, you could still get them fairly readily in those days. I gave it to myself as a xmas present, well no one else was going to. Picture the scene, its Xmas eve, I'm not married at that stage, my parents are in the US visiting my aunt, and I've got this beautiful kit in front of me. How long did it take to finish it, 3 months, Nah, 1 month, slow coach, I'll tell you how long it took me, I was rigging it on the 1st of Jan, yup 8 days. I hasten to add I didn't see much of anyone that festive period, (my mother's idea of Xmas dinner that year was a frozen turkey dinner left in the freezer, sniff, sniff (sad story huh!) What I do rember of the kit, (and I still have it in the house in one piece), is a serious lack of detail, especially in the bridge area, the guns are really shapeless blobs. The fit being OK, except for the deck at the stern. The handrails are suprisingly easy to do, (individual stanchions with fine plastic rod to run between them. David Parkin of Flightpath in the UK were working on various detail/conversion sets for the kit, but none ever appeared, (yet). Overall a sleeping giant of a kit, and one I would love to try again, (properly this time), Pity they never followed it up with a Tribal/H Class etc ....(now that would have been fun) Nostalgically Colin Ritchie PS - As for sneaking kits in, my wife does cross stitch, and she has more unmade kits than me, resulty, I buy what I want, within reason, (no 350th Repluse for me this year Caroline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: DKrakow105@aol.com Subject: Prinz Eugen 1:1 Scale Pieces Hello As most of you know, the Prinz Eugen survived WWII and was used by the USN in two atomic blast tests at Bikini Atoll. Before sailing for the Pacific, the USN scruntinized the ship and removed many items for further testing, including both 20.3 cm guns from turret A, and the 6 Meter optical rangefinder over the bridge. In 1979, a propellor from the capsized Prinz Eugen was returned to Germany and is on outdoor display at the German Naval Memorial near Kiel. Inside the memorial, the Honor Roll from the Prinz Eugen, in its original frame, is on display. My question: does anyone know the present whereabouts of the guns, or any other Prinz Eugen artifacts? If so, may they be photographed? David Krakow ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: DKrakow105@aol.com Subject: Bismarck painting Shane Concerning the color illustration in "Discovery of the Bismarck", I am sorry, but I can't be more specific. At the moment, that book, and all my other Bismarck references, are in storage on the other side of the Atlantic. I only recall comparing the illustration to the photos, and noting a few errors and omissions. I have never seen the Aoshima 1:700 Bismarck, but I suspect the Matchbox version is better. Matchbox usually gets poor reviews, but I think their kits are basically good. David Krakow ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Duane Fowler Subject: Yamato Armoured AA Mounts Hello Greg, J. Skulski's "Anatomy of the Ship: Yamato" has excelent drawings of the AA Mounts. It is interesting to note that while most of the armoured AA mounts had rounded edges, the last ones added in 1945 had squared edges. If you are going to make cast copies of the other mounts, you might want to square them off. Regards, Duane Fowler ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Duane Fowler Subject: Bismarck & Tirpitz For Bismarck information, try: The Battleship Bismarck (German Navy at War, Vol 3) by Ulrich E. Herzog, ISBN: 0887402216, published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., December 1990 You can get it directly from Schiffer Publishing, or from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It has many photographs of all different parts of the ship. There are lots of detail shots. Most are from the building, and so don't represent the "last sortie" paint. The new book from the USNI Press is also very good. Regards, Duane Fowler ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Duane Fowler Subject: Nichimo 1/200 Yamato I have a confession to make. I am a Yamatoholic. I had a life once. Yeah, I was just like any of the other guys. I had a good job, a loving wife, a dog and a chinchilla (OK, so the Chinchilla was a bit exotic). Then it happened. I stopped by the local hobby shop one day during lunch just to check out the WWII magazines and there it was on the top shelf: the biggest piece of injection moulded plastic I had ever seen. Something in me snapped and I had to have it. Hey, at that time it was only $129. Yeah, sure, a bargain. Well I started out slow. For the first year I only looked at it on weekends, barely opening the box. Then I tried a couple of parts, following the instructions, of course. Just as I was starting to get hooked and even filled the gaps along the deck edge with Bondo, I accidentally sprayed the deck with a can of gloss brown instead of flat. The solvent in the paint melted the Bondo and glue and the whole thing came apart. I didn't even look at it again for 15 years. But it was always there, lurking in the background. One day I heard that there was a book by a guy named Skulski about the Anatomy of the Ship. I was just going to take a peek. Suddenly I was hooked again. That's when I realized how crude the model really was and how bad the fit and details were. Pretty soon I was buying sheet styrene and rods and scratch building parts. I'd go through a tube of putty a day trying to fill all those pin marks and sink holes. My fingers were bleeding from the all the sanding. I couldn't keep a thing like that from my wife for very long. At first she was understanding, but then she found the other books. The ones all in Japanese so she knew that all I was interested in was the pictures. I couldn't help myself. I scratch built the entire crane before I realized some guy named Perry had a humoungus etched brass kit available. That was about the time that my boss started to notice all the strange emails I was getting. That was a year ago. Now my wife has left me, I can just barely hold onto my job to pay for my habit, the dog hasn't been seen in days, and although my chinchilla still seems content, I still have that huge monster occupying my entire dinning room table and it isn't anywhere near complete yet! I know I'm sick and need help, but maybe if I can just fashion the hand rails from some 1/400 or 1/700 railings... Somebody, HELP ME PLEASE! Duane Fowler ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "John O'Brien" Subject: U.S.S. North Carolina As some of you probably know, the U.S.S. North Carolina is beginning massive restoration effort. My father, a retired Navy man, is head of the engineering department at Sandhills Community in Pinehurst, NC, and one of his classes will be working with the museum to draw up the plans for rebuilding the catapults for the North Carolina's OS2U Kingfishers. When I told him about this list, he saw a great opportunity for gathering information for the project (and I saw a reason to finally submit my first post.) His class needs detailed information about the catapult construction. There is no plan to make the catapults function, but they do want to make them appear authentic. What they need are details about the construction, the size and layout of the truss assembly and rails - mainly the visible items. I'm sure any information you have on fast battleship catapults, or ideas about good reference materials, would be helpful. Technically, I guess this isn't about a ship model, since they're actually lucky enough to be working on the real thing, but I thought some of you might take some interest in this project anyway. John O'Brien ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Malcolm Subject: Flower class corvette It never ceases to amaze me........20 years to get a kit. We buy and sell these at the rate of 1 or 2 a month, but no we dont have one at present. Kingkit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Michael Kear Subject: Task Force 72 Web Site update This is to let you all know that the Task Force 72 web site is being upgraded significantly. We've started loading up a **LOT** more model content and the site is easier and faster to navigate. I happen to think it's better looking now too, but that's in the eye of the beholder. We've added lots more photos of our models in action, including a couple of Russ French's rebuilt HMAS Adelaide. This excellent model of the Australian OHP class FFG frigate never fails to turn heads because of the precise and crisp detail and she sheer awesome amount of fine detail. Here is a superdetailed model that only just fits in his car. It is in the configuration for the FFG Progressive Update Programme proposed by Tenix Aust. Russ told me on the weekend that Tenix are using a photo of this model on their official posters and advertising for the upgrade program. Also on the Task Force 72 site is a new Hints and Tips page. We've started it off with some tips from modellers in an internet group called the Model Wizards, and an excellent article by Task Force 72 member Allan Pew on how to make accurate and hard wearing ship railings in 1/72 scale. Please call in and have another look at our web site if you havent been in for a while. You can leave your email address on the home page if you want and we'll automatically send you an email when the site is altered so you don't have to keep calling in. Fair winds and following seas, Mike Kear, Windsor, NSW, Australia Webmaster, Task Force 72 Australia 1/72 Scale warship modellers, Australia Check out our web site at: http://www.healey.com.au/~mkear/taskforce72.html AFP Models - Warship fittings, semi-kits, hulls, accessories. http://www.afp.zip.com.au/models.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume