Subject: SMML03/10/98VOL321 Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 16:43:29 +1000 (EST) shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Landing Ship Dock (LSD) @ 1/288 by Lindberg 2: Re: HMHS Britannic 3: Re: Re: FSM & ship articles 4: Camouflage Website help 5: Re:1/350 replacement parts 6: Carrier aircraft 7: Re: Aircraft Recovery 8: Re: 1/350 replacement parts 9: Re: rigging 10: Renwal 1/1200 Navy 11: Re: AC recovery 12: Re: 1:700 Waterline ships 13: The Ark's pom pom directors 14: Re: Ark Royal 15: Fast Battleships 16: Re: Magazines 17: Re: Seaplane handling... 18: Re: Liberty Models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: RCClem@aol.com Subject: Re: Landing Ship Dock (LSD) @ 1/288 by Lindberg >> Does anyone know what class of ship the kit represents? How accurate is the kit? << In response to Tom's question: Lindberg's LSD kit is about 1/288 scale, or about 1" = 24 ft. The box art and decals show the LSD 26, for the USS Tortuga. She was commisioned during WWII but was too late to see any action, despite what the box art shows. LSDs 1-18 were called the Ashland Class (LSD-1) 13-15 were called the Casa Grande Class 16-27 were the Cabildo Class Note that the differences during WWII were minor and mostly involved the height and complexity of the superstructure. Also, the number, type and placement of AA guns varied. I am going to try to revise my copy of this kit to be LSD-3, the USS Carter Hall. Sadly, most pictures I've seen are post-war, and many of them had by then been fitted with a superdeck and had lost several guns. The kit is still in the box, but it appears that the molded on railing could be removed and replaced with photoetch. I'm still looking for a good PE kit at this scale. The kit does not have the flat bottom that many kits from Revell and some from Lindberg seemed to have. The quality of the guns and fittings may encourage you change them out. I'm just happy that someone built this kit so that I could make it for my dad. Other Listees have offered the following for accessories: See HR Products at www.msn.fullfeed.com/~hracct/ GHQ Models at www.ghqmodels.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: RCClem@aol.com Subject: Re: HMHS Britannic >> Larry O. suggested the following, on which I'd like to comment. I have the Revell Hospital Ship Haven (#H 320-169). The kit scales very closely to 1/480. Unless there was another smaller scale issued, the 1/480 Haven may not be much help to you. The box art shows a red bottom with no waterline stripe (what's the name for that, i forget!). White hull with 3 red crosses and a green stripe per side. At least 3 red crosses on flat spots visible from the air. I hope this helps you some. << HMHS Britannic wore the traditional hospital ship colors: white hull, with a red stripe down the middle interrupted by large green crosses. If the recent SS Haven hospital ship from Revell-Monogram is 1/720 scale you could use the decals from that kit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: Re: Re: FSM & ship articles Hi Rusty, Hmmmm... >> Kit reviews are done as they come in. They hand the kit to an unsolicited reviewer and they are given a deadline to have the review submitted. This is just a coincidence that more ships are showing up there. I wish WEM or some of the other resin ship manufacturers would send kits in for review. It would increase their sales and bring ship modeling to the forefront. << Rusty, over the past 3 years, we have sent Finescale SEVERAL ship kits, and a load of etched brass details. A couple of the ships and brass sets got the "new products" photo treatment, but all the kits disappeared without trace...several hundred dollars worth! None of our products have ever been built or reviewed for FSM, from our 1/700 HMS Penelope to a 1/350 HMS Nurton...and how's about this one!! I E-mailed FSM... also faxed them with the same request on at least 3 occasions.. asking if they had a good reviewer/builder who could do justice to the WEM 1/350 HMS Hood.... and I believe at that time, you were doing stuff for them.. I offered to send the kit for free, for this purpose, and we didn't even get a reply!!! This is despite the fact that our monthly advertising bill with FSM is several hundred dollars.... can you offer any explanation? A customer and friend Ian Ruscoe offered his services a couple of years ago, re. reviewing armour and ships and doing build features.. he has sent off 2 very well written and illustrated build articles, complete with photographs, and these, too, have disappeared... therefore you can understand our reluctance to send anything else as these kits seem to be disappearing into a Black Hole.. or more than likely, into someone's "loft insulation". Cheers, Caroline P.S. Did you get your WEM 1/700 HMS Bluebell kit?? http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Sheridan, John" Subject: Camouflage Website help I am in the process of putting together a website devoted to Naval Camouflage in the 20th Century. The site will be geared toward the shipmodeler but it will contain historical information as well. I need help from fellow SMML'rs to help bring this idea to fruitition. I have lots of data on USN warships but very little on foreign Navies, especially Great Britain, Germany and the IJN. I will even take data on the Yam*** and even those dreaded Flow** Class ships . If you have data on your favorite navy, I would be very interested in hearing about it! I do have a flatbed scanner, so if you have drawings, photos, etc. I can copy them and return them right back to you. You can reach me at http://jrsheridan@earthlink.net John Sheridan @ Microscale Decals http://www.microscale.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: Re: 1/350 replacement parts >> I have had a hard time understanding why HR is so popular. They only support odd sizes (who builds in 1/384?) and don't have good customer responce, as far as I've seen. I'm much more pleased with Joe Zappa at Liberty Model Productions. All of his parts have been very clean and hey - they're in 1/350! His address is Liberty Model Productions, P.O. Box 204, Sharpsville, PA 16150. He's got a repeat customer from me. << Geez, Duane, you must be under 50... :-) 1/384 was a somewhat popular scale several decades back when most standard US shipmodel scales (until recently) were primarily increments of 1/32". 1/350 is a relatively new scale and appears to be limited to resin and injection moulded kits. I don't know of any traditional wooden kits in this scale. With a few exceptions, HR is the "only game in town" when it comes to cast metal fittings for WWII vessels in the most commonly-used traditional scales. This doesn't mean it's the best, only that it has the largest selection over a range of scales. BlueJacket Shipcrafters offers some WWII britannia fittings in 1/192 and 1/96, and a couple other places offer 1/96 and 1/48 resin items. In these larger scales, the best I've ever seen are the 1/96 scale resin castings from John Haynes, which are sold through the Floating Drydock. Al Ross -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: Carrier aircraft Could someone let us know, please: 1. Which aircraft come with the Tamiya 1/350 Enterprise, and 2. Which aircraft come in the additional Tamiya 1/350 aircraft sets... and what about a 1/350 Sea Stallion for the Flightdeck 350 range??? Cheers Caroline White Ensign Models http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Doc Data Subject: Re: Aircraft Recovery Actually, if the ship slows to 5 knots or so, the water behind the ship, even given there is activity from the props, is smoother than along side. There is usually a small eddy within a few feet of the hull itself and right in the middle, but the water can get pretty smooth back there as I remember it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Doc Data Subject: Re: 1/350 replacement parts Does Joe Zappa have a page up somewhere listing his parts? I can set him up with a simple listing at no charge if he does not. I am always looking for good 1/350th parts so putting up a listing would help me as much as it helps him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: SantMin@aol.com Subject: Re: rigging >> I was wondering what fellow modelers use to attach their rigging. I'm working in 1/700 with flyfishing line (dairiki 7x) and I'm not having much luck attaching it. Any help or tips is most appreciated. << If it's at a point that can be tied, I tie it and secure it with cyano. If not, I drill a small hole, dip the end in cyano, and insert the line into the hole. I work with line down to 9X and it works fine. Bob Santos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: John Philip Downing Subject: Renwal 1/1200 Navy I dug up an instruction sheet for the old Renwal kit of US Navy vessels. These are from the 1950s, I believe, and are rather crude. All are full hull, but I cut them down to waterline when I built them. This is a Renwal "Blueprint" model, which I think means that part of the instructions is printed in blue. Kit number is 625. The ships are: Battleship BB-56 USS Washington Carrier USS Hornet, CVA-12, with an angled deck, 3 A3D bombers. Guided Missile Heavy Cruiser CAG-2 USS Canberra, with four Terrier missiles. Guided Missile Light Cruiser CLG-3 USS Galveston, with two Talos missiles. Guided Missile Frigate (#14) USS Dewey with two Terrier missiles. Destroyer USS DD-933 Barry Destroyer USS DD-537 The Sullivans Destroyer Escort DE-213 USS Wm. T. Powell LST-759 USS Eddy County Attack Cargo Ship AKA-103 USS Rankin Attack Transport APA-215 USS Navarro SSB(N)-599 Patrick Henry It also came with a vacuformed base into which you could set the models, making them look like they are waterline. They were later released (6 each) as Task Force A and Task Force B. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: AC recovery >> They mounted a large roller on the fantail. I'm not sure how they dealt with the prop wash, but maybe it helps smooth out the swells. I'll look up the references and list them tomorrow. << I believe the Ya****o recovered AC from the stern did she not? Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Cadman Subject: Re: 1:700 Waterline ships I'm a new subscriber and have resumed my interest in 1:700 Waterline ships after an absence of 10 years. My preferences are primarily Pacific theater 1942-43. My current fleet is lacking in cruisers I have several of the Matchbox San Diego and Indianapolis kits, but need more variety and detail! I see that Skywave has a Cleveland class cruiser, and that many kits are available in resin. I have never built a resin kit yet, can someone clue me in as to how the building differs from injection molded plastic? Also does anyone have a list of American cruisers that are offered in 1:700? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "lamkeel@email.msn.com" Subject: The Ark's pom pom directors Dear Smellies Reading over the last month about the pom pom directors carried by the Ark Royal, I will not get involved with the discussion about how many, or whether they were all connected. Suffice to say that all the Octuple (8 barrelled) mountings were capable of on the mounting 'local', (handraulic) control. Whilst not wishing to get involved in the politics of this (or yellow tops to turrets), in my researches on weapons over the last few years, I found the BR (Book of Reference) or naval Gunnery Manual for the "2 Pdr Pom Pom Director, Marks II, IIA, III and III* of 1940. The differences were in the electrical circuitry and valves etc. so there are no visual changes of note. ----- Anyway, I have drawn this director in detail, on my sheet L/O/64. Other items from similar sources, plus large gun shop photographs or from the original Vickers Armstrong drawings include: L/O/66 The 8 barrelled (2 pdr Mark VIII Guns) "M" Mark V Mounting of 1938. L/O/84 A-E The 8 barrelled (Pom Pom) Mark VI* R.P.10 Mounting of 1945. (This one is even more complex, with remote power control etc). L/O/52 A-D The Quad. 2 Pdr Mark VIII Gun on Mark VII Mounting. 1938-45. Other later, gunnery directors with Type 285 radar aerial arrays are shown on L/O/101 A-B. I have other information to draw when time permits. Till then I'm still on my Flower Class Corvettes. One item that I have been after for some considerable time is the RN or RCN Foxer. Any ideas as to where I could find "original" drawing please. Yours "aye" John Lambert. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Sanartjam@aol.com Subject: Re: Ark Royal Hi SMML, If anyone is tired of the Ark Royal thread, please accept my apologies, but I have what I hope is one last question (or two). The Ark Royal clearly had four directors (HACS, if you will) that must have been at least for controlling the 4.5" guns. Did those four directors also control the 8-barrel pom-poms or were there, as one post has suggested, six pom-pom directors? I have looked at the plans (yes, including the one in British Carrier Aviation), and I cannot figure out the positions of any pom-pom directors; can anyone help? Thanks. Thanks very much to Bradford Chaucer for the information on copyright law. To respond to another post on the subject, I think that, although the copyright laws of various countries may vary some, there has been much more uniformity in recent years due to the Berne Convention (the treaty on copyright law), which even the U.S. has signed on to. (If I am wrong on this, I'm sure Bradford can set me straight!) Cheers, Art Nicholson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: Rob & Heather Weilacher Subject: Fast Battleships I am planning my next project, which will be a South Dakota Class battleship circa 1944-1945 in 1/700 using the Hasegawa kit. I have several questions: 1. Which 16" gun turrets are the most accurate - Fujimi, Hasegawa, or Aoshima (or none of the above), or is there an after-market available ? 2. What was the U.S.S. South Dakota's camo scheme? A book I glanced at said measure 22 throughout the war (Haze Gray with Navy Blue up to the lowest deck point and 20-B on the decks). Pictures I have seen don't appear to show the Navy Blue, just overall Haze Gray ??? 3. Any idea where a good plan or overhead photo of the U.S.S. Alabama can be had (circa '44 or '45 - not '42)? 4. Any general improvement tips (I already plan to use Tom's Modelworks fast BB photoetch and the Skywave US weapons II kit for upgrades of secondary armament). Thanks, Rob -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: DrT388@aol.com Subject: Re: Magazines I'm with you in that I don't like the new publication because of the lack of ship articles. I to e-mailed them with my objections and indicated that I was not going to renew my subscription. As with you I haven't received any feed back. Maybe if we all indicate that we are not renewing our subscriptions they may (Big MAY) return to the other magazine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: tomkremer Subject: Re: Seaplane handling... >> The ship tows a large net in the water beside the ship (I don't think they did it behind the ship to keep the plane out of the ship's prop wash). << >> Actually, I have several references from the USN, IJN, and RN that show that they did tow the nets directly behind the ship. They mounted a large roller on the fantail. I'm not sure how they dealt with the prop wash, but maybe it helps smooth out the swells. I'll look up the references and list them tomorrow. << Heim mats (the "nets" described above) were towed from either amidships or off the stern, depending on where the seaplane handling facilities of that particular ship were located. Midships facilities and seaplane recovery were considered easier, safer and more efficient and could be used over a broader range of sea conditions for the obvious reasons... no prop wash, less pitching motion, etc. Best regards, Tom Kremer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: Ives100@aol.com Subject: Re: Liberty Models >> I 'm much more pleased with Joe Zappa at Liberty Model Productions. All of his parts have been very clean and hey - they're in 1/350! His address is Liberty Model Productions, P.O. Box 204, Sharpsville, PA 16150. << Duane Two questions; does he have any other scale other than 1:350 and is there a catalog available? Thanks! Tom Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume