Subject: SMML17/06/98VOL214 shipmodels@wr.com.au --------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://warship.simplenet.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Hobby shop in Detroit 2: Re: 1:350 scale models 3: Re: I promise dear this is the LAST one I will ever buy!!! 4: Yamatoholica (Humour Allegedly) 5: Revell's Constitution 6: Yamatoholicism 7: CV-6 interior colors 8: CV-6 air group 9: Revell's Constitution 10: 1/350 Scale Models 11: Re: French Books in the US 12: Revell 1:480 Yorktown 13: Revell Forrestal 14: Book Search 15: 1/1200 SCALE SHIPS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John Philip Downing Subject: Re: Hobby shop in Detroit >> Do you know any hobby shop in Detroit? I need the name and the address, because, the next week I will go to this city. << Well, there aren't any shops in Detroit, but in the suburbs. My favorites: 1. Rider's, on John R. about 1/4 mile south of 14 mile road (West side of street), near Oakland Mall, in strip shopping center with a Target and Sports Authority. Great selections, even some resin ships. This shop is much better than others in the Rider's chain. 2. Old Guard, two locations: One on Van Dyke about 1/2 mile south of Metropolitan Parkway (16 mile road) on the East side. The other on Ford Road (zero mile road) about 3 blocks east of Merriman Road (north side). These are smaller, but specialize in "quality" modelling. Plastic, some resin, books, etc. 3. West Point Hobby, on Seven mile road (south side) about 4 blocks E of Beech Daly. Plastic only. 4. About 70-80 miles north in Flushing is Dean's hobby shop. They specialize in used kits, but are strange in that put things on the shelf for display that aren't really for sale. Last time I was there they had a good selection of Japanese resin in 1/700. Sub tenders, light carries and torpedo boats that the big 4 + Skywave haven't done. All japanese prototype. Lord knows what they might have now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Reidar.Berg@notes.dynoind.com Subject: Re: 1:350 scale models My wish for the future is to see HMS Warspite (1940 fit) and the Italian "Littorio class" as injection moulded kits in scale 1:350 I guess they would sell better than hotcakes........ Reidar, Narvik, Norway ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Mike Settle Subject: Re: I promise dear this is the LAST one I will ever buy!!! >> Anyways with that thought in mind, I am going to be in LA during the first half of July, can any members give directions to the best hobby shop in town please? But keep this thought in mind, our idea of a freeway in this neck of the woods is two lanes, driving around LA for me has the appeal of taking a ride with the Light Brigade. So could if possible have very precise directions, from the Woodland Hills area to wherever I can go and spend my 25cent dollar :-( Thanks << Keith, The IPMS/USA National Convention is going to be in Santa Clara, California, July 1-4. Convince the wife you have to go, and take several thousand dollars to spend. It will be the largest collection of vendors you have ever had in one place to part you with your vacation cash. You won't have to wait to take that vacation to England, White Ensign Models, and many others will be there. Mike Settle ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Ritchie_deutag, Colin" Subject: Yamatoholica (Humour Allegedly) >> Where's Greg(Eaten by Yamatosaurus Rex I expect) So you don't think its a good idea to change the list from SMML to YMML? << In a word NO This rampaging beast can only be stopped by electricity, preferably 20 volts right through the frontal lobes, may make the eyes water a bit, but its worth it in the long run...... You know what they say about modellers who have to work with Realllly big kits, must be trying to compensate for something, (let your imagination run riot) so a 200th scale, 4ft long monster , must be something really big, (or small!) to compensate for! As for me, pass that 1/1250 Corvette.... You know its going to really wonderful when the wretched thing arrives, Greg locked in a cupboard for 3 weeks, just fondling the plastic, and stroking the GMM set, peace and quiet. That is until he starts building the thing, maybe its about time to call Oshkosk, and get them to mount a pre-emptive strike from their 1/72nd Enterprise. Hey this is fun, better than working anyway! Colin Ritchie (modeller of Yamato sinking aircraft) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: DKrakow105@aol.com Subject: Revell's Constitution Hello Felix! >> During what period in her career does this model represent her? I met someone who said that the kit shows her as she was launched. Any confirmations to this? << I suspect the kit best portrays the Constitution after her 1939 restoration. Whether or not this restoration was based on a particular time frame, I do not know. One thing is for certain, neither the restoration nor the kit show the Consitition as launched. This is a pity since the Constitution originally had very elegant raked masts and a color scheme of a broad buff band across a black hull. The US Naval Academy Museum has a model of the as-launched Constition. The model was built by Donald McNarry, the master of miniature sailing ship models. >> Any thing terribly wrong with the kit's accuracy. << You will want to check your references concerning the rigging. The kit instructions show a very simplified rig. If you are feeling really industrious, replace the plastic kit blocks with wooden ones. They are available ready-made in packets from the wooden ship specialty stores like Model Expo, or you can make your own. The ship's boats can use some improvement and by all means, deep six the vac-formed plastic sails! >> Anybody out there in SMML land have any experience with this kit either directly or through hearsay? << Yeah, its one of my zillions of unfinished projects. I think its Revell's masterpiece, a great kit. I especially like the rendition of the copper plates on the hull's underside. It would be nearly impossible to do it any better by hand. Two improvements you may wish to consider: 1) cover the plastic decks with real wood planks. Kalmbach used to have a reference book which explained in detail how do this (it also had a chapter on building the Revell Constitution kit). I think it was written by Les Wilkins and is now out of print. use thin wood verneer or your cannon will appear too high in the gun ports. 2) Sand the fake wood grain and off the hull sides. You can rescribe the plank lines using tape as a guide. If you look at the hull of a full sized painted wooden ship, the wood grain is invisible and the plank lines are only very faint. Last, check out the Constitution links at: http://www.Naut-Res-Guild.org. There are Consititionaholics out there just as fanatic as the Yamato guys, maybe moreso. I am not permitted to associate with them anymore as I insulted one of their Chief Gurus...wanted me to send him a $100 "commission" to answer a couple of questions! David Krakow Frankfurt Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: DKrakow105@aol.com Subject: Yamatoholicism Colin Ritchie wrote: >> OK the Yamato was the biggest, maybe the most attractive capital ship ever built, mounting the largest guns, and under way was a magnificent site, powerful ,stately , shrugging off attacks like fly's << I guess there must be a genetic disposition to Yamatoholicism. I think she was damned ugly, no personality, no character. Am I alone here???? Dave Krakow ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Cataldo Torelli Subject: CV-6 interior colors Hi again and sorry for being in the worst time of my ENTERPRISEmania, I've colected much information about camouflage and colors of CV-6 wearing MS 32/4Ab, but I have nothing about interior colors. Should it be overall Deck Blue? Or one of the grays on walls and ceiling? Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my ................. Cataldo Torelli ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Cataldo Torelli Subject: CV-6 air group Hello James and everybody, I liked your post about Yorktown air wing for Mark (Hi !). Do you have the same information for USS Enterprise (CV-6) between Aug'44 and Jan'45? This is what I know: The CV-6 air group, in that period, was made up of F6F Hellcats, TBM Avengers and SB2C Helldivers, all in overall Gloss Sea Blue. There was also a three-plane detachment of F4U-2 Corsair night fighters. Ok, is all this true? What are the numbers of the air group, VFs, VTs, VSs, etc? Do you have info about aircrafts markings? Well, this is enough for today. Any help will be very, very apreciated. Thanks a lot, Cataldo Torelli Madrid, Spain ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Seitz_Mark/AMARC_FM@amdiss1.dm.af.mil Subject: Revell Constitution Felix, The Contstitution kit by Revell is supposed to depict her at the conclusion of the war of 1812. However, there have recently been some question as to the accuracy of various portions. The beakhead and bowsprit area has been called into question, as well as the height of the bulwarks around the quarter deck. In my humble opinion, the documentation does not really support the large mods required to bring it in line with the current "best guess" regarding her appearance. General impressions of the kit are that it build up nicely, even right out of the box. Suggestions for improvement: Replace the sails with cloth ones Replace the hammock netting with actual netting (the kit says three parallel lines to represent netting, but you can get netting appropriate to the scale from a fabric shop, and it's easier to install than the lines) Replace the blocks with wooden ones (this required correct "stropping", the kit blocks have little eyes) The guns, if you want to be accurate, need to be correctly rigged. The kit recommends the guns run out, and the retaining lines taut, but they should actually be slack. There is no run out tackle modeled, but this is an easy fix, albeit tedious. Any book on the subject will illustrate the correct method, and give you other ideas as well. If you like this subject (and I do), you may try the excellent 1/100 Victory by Heller. It builds to a beautiful model, straight out of the box as well. Best of luck, Mark Seitz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Felix Bustelo Subject: 1/350 Scale Models I agree with John, I would definitely like to see new 1/350 scale injection molded subjects. I too cannot really afford the resin kits, plus I like to buy the regular kits and work on them a little more to make them better (O.K. I am a masochist). Some may argue that when you add in the cost of photo-etch to the kit, the disparity in resin kit price (which almost always include the p-e) vs injection kit price narrows. Anyhow, on to the subjects I would like to see (a smell another survey Greg) A 1/350 HMS Hood would be great, I would definitely grab one. Since I like liners - I would really love to see the following: French Liners: Normandie, Liberte (ex-Europa), Ile de France US Liners: America, Leviathan (ex-Vaterland) Italian Liners: Andrea Doria, Rex Actually, I would love to see the liner subjects in any scale larger than 1/700. Felix Bustelo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Nowfel Leulliot Subject: Re: French Books in the US Thanks for the info on the availability of Marines Editions books in the US. I'm sorry for not responding faster to the request for an opinion on these books but Art Nicholson's post on SMML 6/6/98 Vol 202 sums up what I can say about these books: they are good but very expensive. Also the format of the series is not very consistent, by this I mean that depending on the author the books contains a varying amount of plans and/or colour plates. All in all and considering the price it's very much a question of see before you buy (not an easy proposition with mail order, I know). Personally, while I find these books pretty good, I also find the price a little too steep for my purse. But then again I'm lucky because I can read them in the public library anyway. Nowfel Leulliot ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Les Dorr Jr." Subject: Revell 1:480 Yorktown >> After Dr. Ballards anouncement that he found the Yorktown, I had to add the Revell kit to the ever growing list of modelling subjects. What I would like to do, is complete her as she appeared in the late 30's. What I need are biplane aircraft...Does anyone know of a source of suitable aircraft in this scale, about 1/480? << I have the kit also. Have not found any alternative aircraft in this scale. The aircraft furnished -- supposed to be SBDs, I guess -- look more like Northrop BT-1s. They would be OK for a late 30s Yorktown. BTW, Gold Medal Models has a new photoetched detail set for this kit. Supposed to include all sorts of goodies for this class. Les ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Les Dorr Jr." Subject: Revell Forrestal >> I'm building a Revell Forrestal, and getting close to painting time. Can anyone suggest colors for both the flight deck, hull (some kind of grey) and the below waterline (some kind of red). << I'm using Testors MM Flat Gull Gray for hull and superstructure. Looks like a good match compared to photos in the USS Forrestal Detail & Scale book. For the flight deck, you might try Testors MM Euro I Gray -- although I personlly think it's too dark. I lightened mine with a considerable amount of white. Les ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "David P. Judy III" Subject: Book Search Mike, Try Select Hobbies, Glastonbury, Conn. I saw it in their #19 catalogue. Phone # 1-860-633-9064, M-THURS- noon-9:30pm/ FRI noon-5:00pm Dave Judy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: Martin.Lamb@dtf.vic.gov.au Subject: 1/1200 SCALE SHIPS Does anyone know if there are any distributors of 1/1200 scale ships in Australia (preferably Victoria) Any information would be much appreciated. PS: What class is HMAS Vampire, at the Maritime Museum? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume