Subject: SMML10/6/98Vol206 shipmodels@wr.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: New Tamiya Yamato! 2: Re: Flower class corvette, typical! 3: Moskva Plans 4: Re: 1/400 Potemkin kit 5: catapult 6: Re: LST kit 7: TAMIYA (1/72) TORPEDO BOAT SERIES 8: Liberty Ships 9: Re: U.S.S. North Carolina 10: Another Yamatoholic 11: Re : YA? 12: Victory, Golden Hind and Mayflower ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS INDEX 1: WHITE ENSIGN MODELS 1/700 HMS KASHMIR 2: Re: NORTH CAROLINA catapults 3: Wanted: LSD and USS Guadalcanal 4:**SURVEY** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Percy, John" Subject: New Tamiya Yamato! Everyone, go check out this web page at HobbyLink Japan: http://www.iac.co.jp/~hlj/pages/tamiya/tam31113.html Tamiya had at there show new Yamato/Mushasi molds. Bottom line: sleeker bow, better superstructure. Check out the comparo pics at the above link. One word: WOW! John Percy mailto:jpercy@clariion.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Les Pickstock (Les Pickstock) Subject: Re: Flower class corvette, typical! >> 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 << It never fails does it? We've all had this happen. You spend 6 months scratchbuilding the most obscure subject and Revellogram bring out the kit. I searched high and low for this kit, when I finally get one... Oh well I bet you charge more than I paid for mine and thats a certainty. Les Pickstock ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Moskva Plans I would like to build a scratch-built Moskva class Russian helicopter carrier. I've been looking for any scale drawing for a long time. Does anyone know of a source to get these plans. ANY help would be greatly appreciated. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: 1/400 Potemkin kit I agree with Collin about the quality of Heller kits. I bought one of the old Heller Potemkin kits at a swap meet a few years back. Considering the age of the kit, it was very well molded and extremely accurate. It built into a really nice model. As a matter of fact, it's the only model this size to accurately show how the yardarms intersect with with the mast! Why model companies to this day give us the "Christian cross" looking mast structure, I'll never understand. The Potemkin kit was re-issued as the Aurora by a Russian company, but the molding isn't nearly as clean and crisp as the Heller kit. I believe Heller issued the kit under the Aurora name as well. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Torgeson Roger A Subject: catapult John, The Floating Drydock in its list of ordnance pamphlets shows a Battleship Catapult item number EP-1 it goes for around $3.50, A few years ago I also obtained from them a very good drawing of a catapult. A better idea if possible, would be to grab the camera, a lot of film, and visit the USS Alabama in Mobile. I remember being able to get right up to the cats. In fact at the time of my visit in 1996, for some reason one of the catapults was mounted backwards, the end that should have been facing forward was facing aft. If its still that way you could get good photos of both sides. If you or anyone can make a visit don't forget to bring a 50/100 foot tape measure. Roger Torgeson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: louellet@uism.bu.edu Subject: Re: LST kit >> I have the Lindberg motorized LST model, and would like to make something reasonable out of it, specifically USS Hunterdon County, LST 838. Has anyone written a detailed article on how to fix up this model and make it look at least close to the original? Have you built it and made it look good? I have no idea on the accuracy of the Lindberg kit, but I have on my bench now an LST kit from "The Naval Base". The kit is copyright 1994 and is in 1:245 scale. I'll be making it LST 938. The parts look good, with clear detail, don't know about fit yet. Individual stanchions are provided. << David, The Naval Base LST kit is the old Lindberg kit, minus the motor. They either purchased the molds off Lindberg, or had Lindberg do a run just for their use. I just picked this kit up at the IPMS Region One - NOREASTCON 27 in May. Someone entered this LST kit in the ship model category of the contest. That person opened up the bow doors and dropped the ramp from the main deck. They obviously had to scratch build the door interiors, and the forward portion of the cargo area just behind the doors. I believe the modeler replaced the stacks with plastic rod stock. The stanchions may be out of scale, like most plastic one are, but they could easily be replaced with brass rod. In this scale, wire or fishing line could be used for the lifelines. I wish I had brought my camera; I have only my memory to go by for building my LST when I get to it. The Naval Base box cover does have beach eye view photograph of two LSTs. You can see a little of the door construction and interior from this photograph. Does anyone out there have the old LSD - Landing Ship Dock that Lindberg(?) produced? It was also a motorized kit that had a well deck with many LCVPs or LCMs in it. I think it was Lindberg, because the 2 landing craft included with the LST kit look just like ones that came with the LSD kit. Now that Loren Perry of Gold Medal Models has done specialized photo-etch kits for many of the Revell odd scale ships, maybe he can take on the Lindberg landing craft and ships. (Hint, Hint) Larry Ouellette Volunteer, USS Salem (CA 139) U.S. Naval & Shipbuilding Museum, Quincy Massachusetts http://www.uss-salem.org/ (USS Salem model kit information available) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Ćeljko Hanich" Subject: TAMIYA (1/72) TORPEDO BOAT SERIES Hi again, First , I want to say thank you for all fine people out there, that gave me valuable info regarding Bismarck and Tirpitz references. It seems that there are still a lot of modelers interested in that part of naval history. What I am now looking for are references (web sites, pic, books, plans ...) of two out of production Tamiya 1/72 scale torpedo boats: Vosper Fast Patrol Boat Perkasa (item 79001), and Japanese Torpedo Boat PT-15 (item 79002). Are there any previously published reviews of those kits (colour scheme wanted). They don't look bad at all for me (knowing their age), but there is a lot of room for improvement. Any good detail-sets out there? Your help will be highly appreciated. Cheers, Zeljko ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: John Prall Subject: Liberty Ships My Grandfather served on board a Liberty Ship during WW2. The name of the ship was John M. Scoffield.I was wondering if anyone knows the number for the boat, and if the 1/350 Liberty Ship from Iron Shipwright can be converted to this particular boat... Thanks, John Prall ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: louellet@uism.bu.edu Subject: Re: U.S.S. North Carolina "John O'Brien" wrote: >> 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.) << This is a commendable project. I first visited the USS Massachusetts in Fall River MA in the late 1960's or early 1970's. My fuzzy brain cells seem to recall one catapult and a Kingfisher installed. Also a Japanese mini-sub. When I next visited in 1995, there was no trace of catapults or the Kingfisher. The mini-sub is in the PT boat building. >> 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. << Try the Floating Drydock and Taubman Plans. I don't have their web addresses handy, but they all carry ships plans and some weapons and equipment plans. They may be detailed enough to scale up to 1:1 for a dummy catapult. Maybe Loren Perry of GMM can photo etch a 1:1 scale version for you! 8-> >> 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. << I know a few of us listmembers do volunteer work on 1:1 scale ships. Anyone else out there volunteer at a Naval Museum or aboard a museum ship? I look forward to the forthcoming Salem/Des Moines class model from Classic Warships. I'll have a handy full scale reference. Larry Ouellette louellet@uism.bu.edu Volunteer, USS Salem (CA 139) U.S. Naval & Shipbuilding Museum Historic Quincy, Massachusetts, USA http://www.uss-salem.org/ See site for Salem model kit information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: JGordon262@aol.com Subject: Another Yamatoholic Duane Fowler's desperate, wimpering cry for help struck a resonant chord in me, as I had a repressed memory flashback of a kit I worked on, and off, and on, all of last year and now sits in its resting place high in the rafters. It remains unfinished. It's a Yamato, in 1:350 scale, but not just any Yamato, but an "authentic" Lifelike model from God only knows when or where. Some tell me that it's an old Pyro reissue, others claim it is Otaki in origin. No one knows for sure. This kit featured some of the most wretched instructions I've ever had the displeasure to read. This thing was meant to be motorized, with detachable superstructure and decks to get at the batteries. Brittle plastic parts are marred by huge seams and flash, and the bridge required Spackel to fill the gaps. To its credit, both early and late versions could be built up, and there were just enough guns to make the last version of the Yamato as it sailed to its doom off of Okinawa. I cobbled together enough references to accurize the model, and nearly finished it except for stern details such as crane and catapults. But this thing absorbed far too many hours of my time, many times with seemingly no noticable improvement, and I can only imagine the damage a 1:200 scale Yamato would inflict on the modeler's psyche and self esteem. Big Yamatos are cruel, you hit them with your best shot, and they mock you scornfully. You can put them away in a dark box, but you can still feel them watching you, waiting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Greg Lee (Listmaster - SMML) Subject: Y.A? Hi All, Well, I am starting to wonder if My order of Nichimo's 1/200 Yamato was the beginning of the end for me - I have enjoyed modelling to this point, but it sounds like my happy little world is gonna come crashing down on me when this Monster docks in my Living room. The 1/250 ARII Yamato was a lot of fun to build, Its BIG. almost 4foot long, and I did start to run down a little when it came to fitting binoculars on stands in the crows nest, and the other painfull details, Is the Nichimo offering THAT detailed? Will it kill me? Is this really a kit that separates the Hardcore Ship "BUILDER" from the hobbyist? Perhaps I need to start a SMML "Spin Off" mailing list, "Yamatoholics Anonmyous" or something, sounds like demand is there:-) Greg (Listmaster - SMML) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Martin.Lamb@dtf.vic.gov.au Subject: Victory, Golden Hind and Mayflower Airfix have released a range of small scale sailing ships featuring the Victory, Golden Hind and Mayflower. Does anyone know the scale of these ships to see what they're compatible with (if anything). Also does anyone know of passengers liners in 1/700 scale ? Yes, I've been bitten by the Titanic bug. Thanks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Dave Carter Subject: WHITE ENSIGN MODELS 1/700 HMS KASHMIR Hi Guys, Please check out photos of the WEM 1/700 HMS Kashmir kit at the following location..... http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/kash.htm both NAVIS and Plastic Ship Modeler magazine are running reviews, we have heard... COMING SOON (thanks for the advice chaps.. I DID find time!!), feature on the NEW WEM 1/700 HMS PENELOPE 1940, the *NEW* 1/700 HMS Dido, and the *NEW* 1/700 Sussex, and the *NEW* 1/700 HMS WARSPITE. Also check out the WEM 1/350 HMS Sheffield photo feature at: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350sheff.htm Cheers Caroline P.S. Thanks to Graham Holmes from Columbus for such a vivid and wonderful description of White Ensign!!! Anyone is welcome here anytime... just be prepared for welly country! White Ensign Models, Gardeners Cottage, Cowarne Court, Lower Eggleton, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 2UF, U.K. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: Re: NORTH CAROLINA catapults The Floating Drydock has plans for that unit in 1/48 scale. Order plan # CAT-1 ($5.00 plus shipping). http://www.usbusiness.com/drydock/ Al Ross ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: louellet@uism.bu.edu Subject: Wanted: LSD and USS Guadalcanal Hello, Does anyone out there have a Lindberg(?) LSD Landing Ship Dock they would like to sell? How about an Aurora USS Guadalcanal (LPH 7)? I am looking for these two kits to build, so I am not concerned with sealed, perfect condition boxes. As long as all the parts, decals, and instructions are there I am interested. The lowest price I've seen for a GUADALCANAL from a dealer is $60 and that is too much. I'm going to build every kit in my 'collection' someday. Honest! Larry Ouellette Volunteer, USS Salem (CA 139) U.S. Naval & Shipbuilding Museum, Quincy Massachusetts http://www.uss-salem.org/ (USS Salem model kit information available) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Greg Lee (Listmaster - SMML) Subject: **SURVEY** Just a short note to let ya'll know that I am still receiving reply's to the survey, so I will hold it over for a day or two until everybody who wants to reply does so. Sorry for any inconvenience, but I assure you, it will be worth the wait, we have had a LOT of people very interested in this. Greg (Listmaster - SMML) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume