Subject: SMML08/08/98VOL265 Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 16:55:35 +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: Injected kit wish list 2: RE: Plastic Injection Ship Kits 3: Various subjects (and a few models for sale) 4: Re: Plastic Injection Ship Kits 5: Re: Tribal class DD/HMCS Haida/Best looker 6: Typhoon/Akula confusion 7: Re: new Tamiya Yamato 8: Re: Plastic Injection Ship Kits 9: Re: Mission Capistrano 10: Re: Blast Shields 11: Re: Best Looking Ships 12: New Testors Paints 13: Plastic kits 14: Re: Typhoon hulls 15: Plastic Injection Ships. 16: Tamiya Yamato 17: What Ship? 18: 1/200 Gato/Balao ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Les Dorr Jr." Subject: Injected kit wish list Might as well jump into the fray: 1:700 Boston/Canberra CAG-1/2. Could easily be marketed as Baltimore class CAs with optional parts. 1:700 CLG, e.g., Pasadena, Little Rock 1:700 Fletcher-class in 1950s DDE configuration 1:700 Long Beach (CGN-9) Ha! Dream on! 1:700 Any other modern CGN/DDG/DLG Les ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "joseph w. reyna" Subject: (RE: Plastic Injection Ship Kits) My $0.02 worth: (getting down on knees, assuming a proper begging stance.....) Bill, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE talk your friends into releasing a 1/350 scale ESSEX-class carrier in both WWII and post SCB-update (i.e. with angled flight deck) configurations !! Think of all the variables we kitbasher / scratchbuilders could muster from these two kits -- "long" and "short" hull WWII carriers (with hangar-deck catapults!), post-WWII/Korean war liveries (with updated island and axial, not angled deck), Helicopter carrier configurations, ASW carrier configurations, VietNam War era outfittings, etc. etc. etc. The after market in supporting PE, aircraft sets (you hearing this WEM??) could similarly carry on indefinitely!! Am I in the minority if I state that this could be one of the most popular, if not THE most popular, 1/350-scale plastic model issue EVER? Got my fingers crossed on this one! Cheers. Joe Reyna ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: jpoutre@lehman.com (Joseph Poutre) Subject: Various subjects (and a few models for sale) Let's see, the following subjects are being bandied about, so I'll add my $0.02. Most beautiful ship: From a personal standpoint, the New Jersey. She'll be at her most beautiful the day she comes into NY harbor on her way to become a memorial; my ship will finally have come in. Most lethal-looking: Virginia or Connecticut class pre-dreadnoughts; guns sticking out _everywhere_ - every inch of the ship dedicated to shooting the enemy. They inspired many a cartoon warship in the 30s and 40s. About Bill Gruner's list of model suggestions: From a selling standpoing, the pre-WW2 BBs, Brooklyns CLs and New Orleans CAs would be good choices, as well as some classic 1/200 subs. The small combatants might not sell as well - not enough call among the general public, except maybe the Liberty ship. But since they'd be the only company making them, it might make their line stand out. How about a line in 1/350 of the various landing craft of WWII? Good full-hull 1/700 Essex and Ticonderoga CVs would sell - people love carriers, and there aren't any good models in WWII form. Maybe the warships of the Spanish American War, Russo-Japanese War and WWI? Unique, but less marketable than WWII. Pet projects (yeah, I know better): 1/700 Salem CAs Modern LSTs, LPDs and LSDs (an ignored area) Oilers, esp. Patoka class Sacramento class AOE (great for dioramas in any scale) Barnegat class small seaplane tenders About the CGH Jeanne d'Arc. The Heller model is inaccurate and doesn't reflect the version shown on the box. The Masurca twin-arm launcher was never installed, and the ship now carries 6 Exocet launchers on the forward superstructure - see any clear recent image of her. Pacific Front Hobbies now carries 1/400 detail parts for French ships, including a set of 6 Exocet launchers. Finally, I have a few models to clear out of my collection. Respond by email to me, not the list. Best reasonable offer takes each. Buyer pays shipping, at the rate of his or her choice. Lindberg USS Yorktown CV-10 in 1/525. The recent reissue, opened and pawed over, but all pieces present, though many fell off the sprue. ARII 1/700 Vella Gulf (VLS Ticonderoga class). Outer wrap opened, inner plastic intact (I picked up the DML 1/350 Bunker Hill) Revell USS Missouri (20" flat-bottomed version). Never opened. DML 1/700 Tarawa LHA. Outer wrap gone, inner wrap intact. Monogram 1/48 AV-8A. (It's a ship-based plane, OK?) Opened and fondled, but all parts intact. Joseph Poutre, aka The Mad Mathematician N2KOW Co-Webmaster, Battleship New Jersey Historical Museum Society http://bnj.quuxuum.org/ Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Sue & Ben Subject: Re: Plastic Injection Ship Kits Uh-oh, I almost forgot about this! Bill Gruner wrote: >> One of the bigger resin manufacturers is seriously investigating developing some plastic injection kits of naval subjects. These would be high quality kits with photoetch included. I have suggested that they consider, because of the absolute necessity to produce models that would sell very well, the following: 1. US Navy Destroyer escorts in 1/350 scale - Buckley, Cannon, Rudderow and Butler types. These could be built off of 1 basic hull. << Yeah! DEs, what a cool idea! Especially the Buckley and Rudderow types. That has my unequivocal vote. It'd be a damn good idea. Bill, please let us know what comes of this informal poll. Cheers Ben Montreal, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Sue & Ben Subject: Re: Tribal class DD/HMCS Haida/Best looker Stuart Robottom wrote: >> One of these days I will go and visit the Haida! << By all means Stuart (or anybody else for that matter), do yourself the favor! She's in very good shape, if however in postwar fit. I should know, Toronto isn't that far from Montreal. ;-) Cheers Ben Montreal, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Sue & Ben Subject: Typhoon/Akula confusion Burl Burlingame wrote: >> Mr. Baker's analysis sounds good, although I thought Akula and Typhoon were different classes; hunters and boomers. << Mr Baker has it right however. Akula ====> NATO name given to said hunter-killer Typhoon => NATO name given to said boomer Akula ====> Russian Navy designation for what NATO calls 'Typhoon' (ie the boomer) Confusing, no? BTW Akula means shark in Russian. Cheers Ben Montreal, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "FERNANDO, YOHAN" Subject: Re: new Tamiya Yamato I picked up the new Tamiya 1/700 Yamato last week and have looked through the box contents and overall the kit looks excellent. There are a number of improvements over the old version including alot of added details on the superstructure and hull, a re-designed bow (sleeker and according to recent research more authentic), and improved main gun turrets. The turrets now have details such as ladders and the barrels are a la Skywave with molded canvas covers. A nice touch is the slightly flared tips of the barrels themselves. I'm sure that people will find some need of improvement through photoetch, but I think it will build out of the box very nicely none the less. The kit builds a 1945 Okinawa 'Special Attack' Yamato chock full of 25mm guns. The Musashi kit looks like the ship's original configuration. Sorry I can't tell much more as I have yet to start building the kit. Has anyone built the Yamato yet? Does it live up to expectations? Check out Hobby Link Japan for pictures of the kit at: http://www.iac.co.jp/~hlj/pages/tamiya/tam31113.html Someone was looking for pictures of the New Mexico class- look at: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4289/ (I believe the author of this page Steve Belanger also is on SMML...) Also if anyone plans on visiting the HMCS Haida in Toronto, make sure you are there at noon time for the firing of the forward guns... Yohan Fernando ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Mr J Owen" Subject: Re: Plastic Injection Ship Kits Ships that I would be keen to see as plastic kits would be in 1:700 scale only as I can't afford to diversify. Any British destroyers of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, but particularly Battle or Weapon classes. Any of the British Light Fleet Carriers many of which found themselves transferred to other navies or were used in an anti-submarine or commando role. British Colony Class Cruisers. An accurate model in 1:700 of an angle deck Essex Class Carrier with conversion bits and aircraft to model various versions. There are so many ships and so many modellers that most things will be well received if they are accurate or lend themselves to detailing or even conversion. Despite the fact that we, as modellers have our own preferences (see above), we tend to be attracted to some classes of ship outside these. Witness the earlier comments concerning Japanese battleships and British/Canadian corvettes. Jim Owen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "mike.leonard" Subject: Re: Mission Capistrano Doug Bauer wrote: >> In reference to the Mission Capistrano: I've been working for several months trying to convert the Revell kit into a decent representation of a WW2 USN fleet oiler ... Don't forget the parabolic main deck, which was intended to eliminate oil pooling if spilled, directing it to the gunwales and over the side. << Oil over the side! In today's Navy, nothing but a collision or fire could ruin your day faster, especially if you happened to be in a foreign port. We once had a minor oil spill in Majorca; stuff started to spray out of the fueling station. Used rags, buckets, and mops to control it. Anything to keep it away from the gunwales and going into the harbor. Ruined a brand new set of khakis in the process. Only lost a few gallons altogether, but the captain still had to put himself on report, as it were. MWL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "mike.leonard" Subject: Re: Blast Shields Dave Riley wrote: >> One of the biggest challenges I have had is modeling the canvas weather shields on 5" mounts and 6" and 8" turrets - in both 1/700 and 1/350 scale. << Personally I like to use epoxy putty, but a lot of people get good results with tissue paper coated with white glue, or even aluminum cooking foil. MWL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "mike.leonard" Subject: Re: Best Looking Ships I vote for some of the pre-WW2 USN classes, before they had to adapt to the realities of war and alter their appearance: Medium-Large: Northampton-class Heavy Cruisers Small-Medium: Porter-class Destroyer Leaders Mike ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "mike.leonard" Subject: New Testors Paints Just received a sample from Testors of their new line of Model Master acrylics. Here's what the promotional material says: 140 popular high gloss and flat finish colors in seven categories: Figures Finishing Materials General Purpose/Cars Federal Standard (FS) Luftwaffe/RLM Armor/RAL ANA & RAF (WW2 US & UK) The paints are supposed to be thicker for hand brushing but suitable for airbrushing with little to no thinning. A special thinner will also be available. More information is at http://www.testors.com. MWL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: PERATHJEN@aol.com (by way of SMML ) Subject: Plastic kits About 3000 ex-LSM sailors would like to see a kit of the Landing Ship Medium. It should be convertible to an LSMR, too. I won't vote for it as the most beautiful ship afloat, but we all sure would like to be able to build models that we could use to tell our progeny about our experiences in WW2 (the big one, as Archie says) And, for anyone who has ever needed one, the most beautiful ship has to be a hospital ship! Thanks for listening, Paul ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Baker Subject: Re: Typhoon hulls For Mr. Burlingame: The Russians, and before them the Soviets, have their own project numbering system for classes of ships as well as a project nickname system. The names used in the West until the breakup of the Soviet Union resulted in a flood of reliable information coming out of Russia about all sorts of things, including the navy, were assigned by a NATO committee; needless to say, the Soviets didn't get a vote. In the case of what WE call a "Typhoon," the Project number is 941 and the project/class name is Akula. What WE call an "Akula" to a Russian is a Project 971 or a Bars class unit. Oddly enough, the overall project name for the Project 941 AND its strategic missile system was Tayfun in Russian. If you want to learn the other actual class names and project numbers for nearly every surviving class of Russian warship, from carriers to service craft, see the new COMBAT FLEETS OF THE WORLD, published this spring by the U.S. Naval Institute Press; at 1,200 pages and with some 4,300 illustrations, it's a bit pricy, but we like to think its the most complete and reliable of the world's naval reference book. For much less than half the price of our better-known competitor, you get data on literally thousands of additional ships and craft, and generally in considerably greater detail. A.D. Baker, III, editor,COMBAT FLEETS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Lester Abbey" Subject: Plastic Injection Ships. Here's my tuppence worth for the aspiring Plastic injection ship manufacturer. I think 1/700 is the best scale - production volume is important. Larger scales tend to sell far fewer units because of 1. Price and 2. Modellers can make 2-3 1/700 ships in the time it takes to do 1 1/350. As to subject matter I offer two categories : My wishes (What I would but) and What I think will sell well. What I would buy 1/700 Texas 1944. a Decent 1/700 Bismark 1/700 Baltimore 1/700 McCauley (APA - "Wacky Mac) 1/700 Evarts class DE 1/700 Santee What I think would be Comnercially Successful 1/700 Texas 1944. 1/700 Baltimore 1/700 San Francisco 1/700 Helena (CL50) 1/700 Tiger (1914) Regards Lester Abbey Wellington, New Zealand ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Duane W. Christensen" Subject: Tamiya Yamato I just recieved my 1/700 Tamiya Yamato from Pacific Front. (Hi, Bill!) and it looks a hundred times better than the old one! I have not tried the fit, or checked the scale against my Anatomy of the ship book yet, but my bets are it will be sharp. Vote for best looking warship: Battlecruiser HMS Tiger (early rig) Duane ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Tim Stoneman Subject: - What Ship? In SMML 264, Graham Holmes asked the identity of the ship in the background of a picture of RICHELIEU in Raven & Roberts book. I am pretty sure she is the QUEEN ELIZABETH, not a KGV class ship because: 1. The only KGV (apart from PRIUNCE OF WALES) to get east of Suez before 1 Oct 44 (when RICHELIU arrived back in Toulon) was HOWE, and she had Mk V HA/LA Director Control Towers (HA/LA DCTs) whereas the ship in the photo seems to have Mk IVs (plus HOWE's 273 radar had been replaced by 277 before she went east, and the photo shows a 273). 2. The forward HA/LA DCTs in the photo appear to be Mk IVs, and seem to be at two different levels, a feature found only in QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT, as the DCTs were too close together to be on the same level. 3. The stbd midships pompoms are too far outboard for a KGV. 4. VALIANT had two round scuttles in the forward face of her lower navigating position - the photo shows four scuttles. 5. The photo appears to show the starboard leg of an after tripod mast - QUEEN ELIZABETH was so fitted from conversion, VALIANT only during her 44-45 refit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: Burl Burlingame / Pacific Monograph Subject: 1/200 Gato/Balao Don't know of any 1/200 Gatos or Balaos. But there are a couple in 1/192 coming out REAL soon. (Not from me!) Burl Burlingame Pacific Monograph, 1124 Kahili Street, Kailua HI 96734 A historical interpretation company. Visit our web site at http://www.PacificHistory.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume