Subject: SMML08/06/98VOL234 Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 08:35:27 +1000 (EST) 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: Rusty White's comments 2: IPMS Nationals...con't 3: Re: Nationals 4: Tamiya's Yamato 5: Re: SMML7/6/98Vol233 6: Re: Decking 7: Re: Classic Warships (was IPMS Nationals) 8: RE2: Revells HMS Invincible 9: Creating own photo-etch (was 1/250 Shinano) 10: new to me 11: Revell kit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Re: New Details Sets ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Terry Sumner" Subject: Re: Rusty White's comments Hi Rusty and all on the list. As relates to Rusty's comments on Aris and the judging for Best of Show, I concur. A similar thing happened at the IPMS Region 1 Convention in May in Massachusetts. I was on the panel of judges in the aircraft category and at the judges meeting, comments were made about the number of aircraft judges vs all the rest and how aircraft always seem to dominate. Well, the fact of the matter is, I couldn't recall the last time an aircraft won Best of Show at NorEastCon, nor could many others. Anyway, Aris was there and was also judging. After all the categories were decided and it was time to pick BOS, we all walked around to the various first place pieces and someone who had judged that category spoke for the model. In contention were; a beautiful scratchbuilt 1/24 scale He162, a stunning piece of armor (I'm not an armor guy, so other than knowing it was a tank, I forget what it was), a 1/700 scale WWII Enterprise aircraft carrier, an Me109 detailed to the max and a "41 Willys replica of the Stone, Woods & Cook drag racer from the late 60's. At the end, when it came time to decide, the winning entry was that gorgeous '41 Willys drag racer. Aris then asked this question of the group of judges, " How many of you guys consider yourselves to be aircraft guys?" About 3/4 of us raised our hands. "I rest my case!", Aris said. I'd be willing to bet most of the judges at the Nationals considered themselves "aircraft guys" also. Terry Sumner IPMS35079 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Jeff Herne" Subject: IPMS(USA) Nationals...con't Greetings all, Still recovering from a long week in California. The US Nats are over and everybody is reflecting on a great show. I'd like to thank everyone from SMML who stopped by to pick up a book, kit, or attend Alan Raven's and my lectures, or just to say hello. It was a lot of fun, and a great success overall. I'd like to congratulate the winners in the ship categories, since I don't have all the results, here are the names of the folks I know personally... Jim Gordon - 1/700 1st Place USS Cleveland (can be seen on Warship) Jim Gordon - 1/700 1st Place IJN Mutsu (can be seen on Warship) Bill Cianci - 1/700 2nd Place HMS Rodney Bert McDowell - 1/700 2nd Place USS Casablanca Glen Arnold - 1/700 3rd Place USS San Jacinto The Best Ship was Derek Brown's USS Texas, an exquisite scratchbuild in 1/350. Phil Toy was a close second with his USS California CGN...there were a lot of other fine looking vessels, including Dave Shirley's USS Northampton, Bill Cianci's USS Intrepid (which should have taken 1st in 1/700 carriers), a couple of real large scratchbuilt subs, a 1921 Arizona by yours truly, and a nice 1/350 Yamato.... The vendors were in full form, I noticed in the last posting Rusty White mentioned Classic and WEM...least we forget Tom's Modelworks and Iron Shipwrights, who, along with WR Press (Alan Raven and myself), Nautilus Models, Accurate Image Models, and Steel Navy, collectively dominated the entire first row of vendors. We never slowed down through the entire show. Bill Gruner from Pacific Front Hobbies was there as well, and tempted all of us with great product, as he usually does. As a modeler, it was fantastic, as a vendor, it was well worth the trip. I've already made reservations for Orlando, hopefully "DisneyCon" will be as good as SemiCon. We should have pics of all the winners, and those that didn't, on Warship within the next few days. Jeff Herne ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Sanartjam@aol.com Subject: Re: US Nationals Hi SMML, I wasn't able to stay to the end of the US Nationals in Santa Clara, so I was wondering, who were the winners other than Derek Brown? HIs USS Texas was really incredible, and deserved everything it got. There were a lot of other excellent models; anyone have any favorites other than the Texas? Anyone thinking about going to Orlando next year? I'm not wild about that locale, but I am looking forward to the US Nationals being in Dallas in 2000. Art Nicholson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Tom & Carolyn Harrison Subject: Tamiya's Yamato We have started a new brass set for the Tamiya's new 1/700 scale Yamato kit, in the $16. price range. Any suggestions? New set for Glenco's "Oregon" next month. TOM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: KDur597268@aol.com Subject: Re: IPMS(USA) Nationals >> I favored the Texas not because it was a ship, but constructing a perfect model in 1/350 is (in my humble opinion) much tougher than doing the same thing in 1/24. << With all due respect, this sort of comment coming from a "head judge" upsets me. It's totally beside the point, it's just not true, and I personally think it's a spurious grounds for judging. That last is just my beef with contests. By the way, it wasn't a Handley-Page, it was a De Havilland. It reminds me of people who assert one scale over another, or say that Rachmaninoff is more difficult than Mozart. OK, I'm primarily an aircraft modeler, and would never presume to judge ships, but I have nothing but respect for ship modelers and aspire to building ships myself. I'm working on three. The comment itself addresses a few points: 1) Large scales admit no error whatsoever, and they demand a level of detail non-existent in small scales. Correct shape of fuel line bushings and so on... 2) Semi transparent forms (structure showing through) are extremely difficult to achieve in the way the D.H.9 did; there are many other points which I think level the playing field. 3) The level of craftsmanship in both models was far beyond a "Mine was harder" approach. Come on! At this level we're talking purely artistic values. I don't begrudge the Texas anything at all, glad it won, but it only won by a tiny percentage as you pointed out. This does not vindicate the Texas as a "superior model", as you put it. A comment which, by the way, belies your comment about not voting the way you did because of ship favoritism. I'm sorry, I would not respond this way if you didn't announce yourself as a "head judge", and I admit I probably don't really understand the judging process. But Mr. Alcorn's work is in no way "inferior" or "easier" than anything in that or any other model contest. I think it's great that ship models made as strong a showing as they did, it's about time. But gloating does not become you. The Nationals should be an event with more dignity. Ken Durling ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Foeth" Subject: Re: Decking I recently made a new deck for Tirpitz(1/350), because the original is made for an incorrect hull width, by cutting it from Evergreen's enscribed plating, which works really well. Raised deck lines look horrible when washed with oils, after you made some corrections on the original deck. The styrene plate I used was the thinnest and finest I could find : Evergreen Number 2025 V-grove (spacing 0.64mm,t=0.5mm). To be certain I made a symmetrical deck, I counted the lines from centre to both sides about every inch and so I was sure the deck was right (Yes, this sounds crazy, but replacing a deck is too). You could also insert the deck upside down so now and then, if discrepancies switch sides, the deck is sloppy, else the hullpart is. You can't always make an entire deck out of one sheet, so make sure the sheet ends are placed where there is the most superstructure. This gap can also be puttied, so scribing is necessary afterwards, but is now very easy (I used my hobbyknife with curved blade to remove the putty from the grooves). I also tried scribing the entire deck from plain sheet, but this is time-consuming, irritating, difficult, unprecise, ugly, and did I mention time-consuming? I finished the deck, looked at it, and subsequently used it as a base to glue the evergreen sheets on (only a few days wasted). So much for the learning experience. By the way, cutting a deck to shape from a line drawing is a pretty precise process. You also have cut the superstructure parts from the original deck, but this GREATLY simplifies painting them (no masking!). I drilled holes in the deck where equipment should be located, so that they could be easily placed too, after painting. I agree this is a lot of work, but in my opinion, is a lot better that those raised deck lines, and worth the time and expense. Evert-Jan Foeth ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: louellet@uism.bu.edu Subject: Re: Classic Warships (was IPMS(USA) Nationals) Rusty White wrote: >> (IPMS Nationals news snipped> I have to say if I had to give a most improved product award over the last three years it would be close but Steve Wiper's kits have improved dramatically where he now puts out a first class line of line of models. << I'm glad to here that Classic's quality is now very good. Past discussions (here, or on rec.models.scale) left me with a feeling that their quality could be good or bad depending on the kit or the person reviewing it. I have the Classic IJN Kagero which looks good to me. The detail is sharper than styrene, but it does need some cleanup (especially the cast metal parts.) >> WEM has always produced high quality products but Steves early efforts to a bit of work to really fix up. I would (and do) recommend any of his models to anyone. So my most improved product award would go to Classic Warships. << Steve is going to produce the USS Salem (Des Moines, Newport News) kit this summer, so I am REALLY looking forward to getting this kit when it is released sometime in September. Thanks for the Nationals update. I'm looking forward to seeing reports from all the other list members who attended. 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) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Martin.Lamb@dtf.vic.gov.au Subject: Re: Revells HMS Invincible I had no problems geting into the Revell site, except that it's in German. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: khglam@ucdavis.edu Subject: Creating own photo-etch (was 1/250 Shinano) >> I have the kit in the box, you'll need to remove the molded on railings, and get some 1/285 wargaming aircraft to go aboard. The hull looks good, you have a large 3 piece flight deck, which will require putty and sandpaper to remove the molded-in deck lines...As for the island and the remainder of the ship, it looks surprisingly good. I'm doing a custom photo etch fret for mine, drop me a note if you're intrested... << Jeff: Thanks to you and all others who responded to my questions. I was in Japan last week, and resisted all temptation to buy the Doyusha Shinano kit based on the feedbacks in this group. Wound up spending the money on other kits in Japan and at the IPMS Nationals instead. I am interested in hearing about your custom photo-etch. How does one go about generating a photoetch? How do you create the mask of even and consistent lines, e.g. railings? Lots of patience, or is there a trick? How do you get the thin lines? All of the resist pens I've seen are relatively thick. What are the good sources for resist, chemicals, etc.? Maybe you can do an article for the Warship page. Thanks, Chung ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "John Clarke" Subject: new to me Hi Can any one tell me about these kits?? 1/700 USS Montana: Kit #SLP-5 mfd by The Imperial Navy, Imperial Hobby Products, PO 487, Wynnewood, PA 19096 They call it a "craftsman kit" Thank you for your comments in advance. John Clarke ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "John Clarke" Subject: Revell kit Hi Just got this from the Revell page. >> 05020 H.M.S Invincible Specification to the model yardstick 1:700 appearance month Oktober'98 length 299 mm of specification to original designation the aircraft carrier year of construction/period 1973 origin GB rate of 28 kn The H.M.S. Invincible belongs to the Helikopter/STOL carrier class of the Royal Navy. Without difficulties it can accommodate airplanes up to 25 and take also 1,000 men of the Royal navy also on board. One of their most important functions exists in the guidance equipped by task Forces, with a special radar facility with large range. << Unfortunately not all web pages are open to all user's, sometimes page owners lock out people from certain countries! Does every one know of the on line translation at http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate? John Clarke ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: New Details Sets NEW FROM FLAGSHIP MODELS 2204 Summer Way Lane, Edmond, OK 73013 WW-2 20mm A/A GUNS FM 350-9 Computer designed for razor thin detail with raised etched relief, this sets features 31 complete 20mm anti-aircraft guns that populated the decks of every US warship during WW-2. Each gun features, gun shield, shoulder rests and elevation wheel. Retail price for each set will be $10.00. Right now I have a limited amount in stock but I am expecting more very soon. Order yours now! BOFORS 40mm A/A GUN DETAILS FM 350-10 Computer designed with raised etched details, the photo-etching is so good you can see the cross hairs in the sights. This set was designed to add delicate detail to any WW-2 quad A/A 40mm gun mount. Included with the set are railing and gun sights for 23 Bofors quad gun mounts. Retail price for this set will be $10.00. Like the 20-mm guns, I have a limited number of these sets. I have already ordered plenty of stock and I expect them very soon. Order yours now. COMING VERY SOON!! ARLEIGH BURKE CLASS DESTROYER DETAILS FM 700-15 This set was designed to fit the new Skywave 1/700 scale Arleigh Burke class destroyer model kits. It was designed using actual Navy plans of the ship to insure accuracy. Photo etching is as clean and sharp as it gets and raised etched detail is featured on all parts. This set will fit both FLT-1 and FLT-2 versions of the Burke class. Retail price for this set is $14.00. We are expecting a full shipment very soon so order yours now. EARLY WAR FLETCHER CLASS DESTROYER DETAILS FM 350-8 This set was designed to fit the Tamiya 1/350 scale Fletcher class destroyer kit. Computer designed with raised etch relief on all parts, this set will turn the Tamiya kit into a masterpiece. This set is designed differently from all others on the market now. It was designed to fit only the "early war" version of the Fletcher (1942-43). This is the era the kit depicts anyhow. Our competitor's force the modeler to toss over 40% of the set in the parts box unless he wishes to build two kits. Our set puts 95% of the parts on the kit. It was accurately designed using many references and plans. The retail price of the set will be $30.00. The set is at the photo etcher now and I expect a test shot in the next three weeks with a full order to follow three weeks after that. Reserve yours now, so I can order plenty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume