Subject: SMML22/12/98VOL402 Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 23:37:56 shipmodels@tac.com.au Hi gang, Lorna & I would like to wish you all the best for the festive season. Greg also sends you his best wishes. I'd like to thank all the people who have answered queries this year & for those who have posted questions, I hope they were answered. All the best Shane & Lorna Jenkins -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Vosper/PT73 2: Weapon Alpha 3: Re: L'Arsenal and French Subjects 4: 1:50 Scale Prinz Eugen 5: Gravity Davit 6: Re: FRAM 7: Re: Profile Morskie Fuso 8: What Did You Get For Xmas Thread 9: USS SALEM (CA-139) Resin 1/350 Model 10: HMS Invincible Colours 11: RUSSIAN SHIP CONSTRUCTION 12: BISMARCK Aircraft 13: Re: USS Aaron Ward 14: Re: Das Boot 15: Re: Resin Models 16: Re: Colin's USS Enterprise 17: Enterprise thanks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Subject: International Maritime Modelling Website Update -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: Re: Vosper/PT73 >> I'm not sure of the accuracy, but the PT73 of McHale's Navy fame was a Vosper, I believe. In fact, the Revell Vosper kit is the same tool as the old PT73 kit. The figures look a lot like the crew from the TV show. << Compared to the factory drawings, this isn't a bad kit, especially considering its age. McH's PT73 was actually PT 695, one of the much modified, license-built Vospers. This series did not serve with the USN; rather, they were intended for the Soviet Navy. As such, they mounted two twin .50s, a single 20mm, and two Higgins MK19 torpedo tubes, along with SO radar and a couple depth charges. Compared to the original 70' VOSPER design, these were rather (IMHO) "uglied up". The smoothly curved scallop forward was replaced by an angular configuration and the hull was quite different below the waterline. John Lambert did a number of drawings of this type based on the original plans for PT 723 in volume 2 of Allied Coastal Forces, if anyone wants to see how they looked. Al -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Ralph E. Batykefer, Jr." Subject: Weapon Alpha Since we are talking about Fletcher FRAM conversions... Does anyone know of an aftermarket or add-on kit that provides a Weapon Alpha in 1/700th scale??? Thanks, Ralph Batykefer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Jeffrey Roberts" Subject: Re: L'Arsenal and French Subjects Art Nicholson hopes "L'Arsenal will put out resin kits of some neglected French subjects in 1/400, such as the La Galissoniere class light cruisers, the cruiser-minelayer Emile Bertin, the super-destroyers Volta and Mogador, and the super-destroyers of the Le Fantasque class" I absolutely agree! I'd love to see anyone put out a line of French subjects... After the Hi-Mold Richelieu and the old Heller kits which mostly did not cover WW2 subjects the modeller does not have much available able 1250th scale which is a pity because IMHO French ships of the period are among the most beautiful and interesting in the world. In addition to the four classes listed above I'd love to see a kit of the superb French heavy cruiser Algerie, one of my all time favorites. New kits of the Jean Bart, Strasbourg and Dunkerque would be nice too... Happy Holidays to all! Jeffrey Roberts North Hollywood, CA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: DKrakow105@aol.com Subject: 1:50 Scale Prinz Eugen Greetin's all! I wish everyone in our community of ship modellers here a Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year. I look forward to another year of enjoyable reading, friendship and information sharing. I also send greetings from two ship modeller friends of mine here who do not have computers, but who have benefitted from and contributed to this list indirectly. Gunther, whose beautiful 1:100 SMS Emden can be seen as a feature on http://warship.simplenet.com, and Gerhard who right now is very probably in his basement working on an awe-inspiring model Prinz Eugen in massive 1:50 scale. Gerhard has been working on his Prinz Eugen for the past 10 years. His primary building material is brass; the canoe-sized hull is laminated wood covered with fiberglass. The model is executed in excruciating detail, literally down to each rivet. The worksmanship is of a quality that rivals the famous models by Gibbs & Cox. Gerhard is 60 years old, he estimates he will be 75 when the model nears completion. Let us therefore hope he doesn't develop arthritis! As Tiny Tim said (the Dickens Character, not the greasy Ukelele player) "God Bless us all, every one". Cheers from Germany Dave Krakow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: The Codes Subject: Gravity Davit Hello List, A friend of mine who isnt on-line is looking for Gravity Davits in 1/196= 1/8 scale they can be in white metal ,plastic, Etc, anybody out there has any let me know. Also Im looking for a set of plans for SMS Derffinger as she would of looked at Jutland in the same scale... regards Bill Code -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Richa5011@aol.com Subject: Re: FRAM Another source of information on the FRAM conversions is a series of articles that appeared in the IPMS USA Quarterly (remember that?) back in the 1980-82 time frame. The series was written and illustrated by Larry Gertner. Somewhere in my files I have these, and will endeavor to dig them out over the holidays in case anyone is interested. Nat Richards Note from Shane: Good guess Nat. The issues concerned are as follows: Fletcher class DD Pt 1 Vol 15/2 Winter 1979 pp 78 Fletcher class DD pt 2 Vol ? Sumner class DD Vol 16/2 winter 1980 pp 79 Mahan class DD Vol 16/4 Summer 1981, pp 208 Gearing class DD Pt 1 Vol 17/3 Spring 82 pp 42 Gearing Class DD Pt 2 Vol 17/4 Summer 82 pp 44 Buckley Class DE Vol 18/2 Winter 82 pp 34 Also around the same period, there appears to be some ship articles written by Nat. I'll have to read up on the Quarterlies & while we're on the subject :-). Seeing as Lorna & I have "taken custody" of APMA's exchange mags, can someone enlighten me about IPMS(USA) magazines. we have "the Quartely, "The Journal" & "Update". Were these mags separate or were they just name changes? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: Re: Profile Morskie Fuso Hi Yunchi et al We have the Profile Morskie on the Fuso in stock at this time at 8.99 pounds. 1/400 Scale Plans and Lines, many detail drawings and a good selection of photos.. nice colour profile views of her in 1919 and 1940. We just heard March for the Anatomy of The Ship Fuso by the way... Cheers! Caroline -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Felix Bustelo Subject: What Did You Get For Xmas Thread Inspired by the news that Mr. Colin Ritchie received a 1/350 Enterprise for Christmas (nice score mate! Seems that you are going to need to lease some space at Scapa Flow at the rate you are going!), I would like to suggest that we start a "What I Got For Christmas" thread after the holiday. In this manner, we can all go oooh and aaah over the stuff fellow SMMLers find under their tree. Anybody second the motion? (Seconded by Shane) Happy Holidays, Felix Bustelo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: DaveRiley1@aol.com Subject: USS SALEM (CA-139) Resin 1/350 Model My resin kit of the SALEM arrived today from Classic Warships, and it looks very good. Patience has indeed paid off. Naturally, its length makes my 1/350 SOUTH DAKOTA look like a cruiser rather than a battleship. Dave Riley Portsmouth, RI -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Bruce Archer" Subject: HMS Invincible Colours Hi, Does anyone know what colours (hopefully in a FS no.) Invincible was painted during the Falklands? Thanx, Bruce Archer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Baker Subject: RUSSIAN SHIP CONSTRUCTION For Mr. Dougherty: Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Kuroyedov announced during his 28 August press conference that all work had ceased on the first (and only, to date) BOREY (named YURI DOLGORUKIY) due to the cancellation of its intended missile, which NATO calls (or called) the SS-NX-28. He said that a new, smaller missile (called the TOPOL-M and already under development for land-based use) was being developed and that the submarine would have to be redesigned to accommodate it. During its first two years of construction, the submarine had advanced less than ten percent toward completion. All work on the one and only SEvERODVINSK had ceased by the end of 1996 with only the after third of the pressure hull completed, according to Russian press sources. Four AKULAs remain incomplete, two of the AKULA-II variant at Severodvinsk, and two of the earlier IMPROVED AKULA-I variant at Komsomol'sk-na-Amure; Kuroyedov stated that he hoped to have two new attack subs completed in 1999, probably from among these four, but since his statement, the Russian economy (whose GPD is now slightly smaller than that of Latvia and whose military budget has now been cut to 2.6% of GDP by the Treasury) has had further serious relapses. As to the OSCAR-II class SSGN, the last unit, the TOMSK, was finally delivered earlier this year, and no further work is ongoing on the one other unit that had been started back around 1992. On diesel boats, the fourth KILO for China left the Baltic aboard a heavy lift ship at the beginning of December; there are NO more KILOs on order. Two variants of the AMUR design (a LADA for the Russian Navy and an AMUR 1650 originally intended for India but which now has no customer) were laid down at Admiraly Shipyard in St. Petersburg last 26 December, but work seems to have stopped. As to the disposal of the TYPHOONs, four had been stricken by the end of last year and another this year, leaving just one in service; under Nunn-Lugar funding, U.S. tax dollars are to be spent on cutting up TYPHOONs and other SSBNs/SSNs/SSGNs next year, according to a statement from Senator Lugar. Other SSBNs remaining active are up to four of the seven DELTA-IVs, about eight DELTA-IIIs, and--for a while longer--four of the older DELTA-Is; and this is a navy that at the beginning of the decade had 62 boomers in service! I have to follow the Russian (and over 180 other) navies in detail as editor of COMBAT FLEETS OF THE WORLD for the U.S. Naval Institute Press; our 1,220 page, 4,600-illustration 1998-99 edition is available now for $150.00 from the USNI or Amazon.com, and a CD-ROM version (with bigger pictures) is available for $129.95. I'm working on the 2000-2001 edition now. A.D. (Dave) Baker, III -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Diane Davis Whitney" Subject: BISMARCK Aircraft I think this topic came up last week, but I didn't take it down. Does anyone out there know the color scheme and code numbers for the AR 196 aircraft carried on the BISMARCK? Thanks. FLOYD WHTNEY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "mike.leonard" Subject: Re: USS Aaron Ward Bob Pearson asked: >> I am looking at the Revell 1/240 USS Aaron Ward. As I am primarily a WW1 modeler, were any of the ships in this class completed before the end of WW1? If so are there any easily obtained references showing these ships and details that may differ from the kit? << Easily obtained references? Well, I'd start at the http://www.navsource.org site to find photos; look for the destroyer categories. There are some books on the subject but most are pretty hard to find these days, e.g. Alden's "Flush Decks and Four Pipes". Other sources for pictures are the Floating Drydock and Real War Photos, who put out catalogs of what they have available. I just got a listing from a gentleman in Connecticut who has a large number of negatives of four stackers in San Diego, 1919-20. Some are of excellence quality and available in different sizes. I don't believe any of them actually participated in operations during WW1, but a lot of them were done up in dazzle camouflage patterns when commissioned in 1918-19. This was a huge class of ships, as you probably know, and as such no two were exactly alike. Mike Leonard Alexandria, VA USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Ives100@aol.com Subject: Re: Das Boot Several of the European contingent of the SubCommittee (notably Johann Sauers) have additional information on the model submarines used in "Das Boot". I'm not sure that they didn't bring one of the models with them to the '96 SubRegatta at the Sub base in Groton, CT. SubCommittee website is at: http://www.wolfsong.com/SubCommittee? Tom Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: Ives100@aol.com Subject: Re: Resin Models Best beginning source is probably Mike Ashey's "Building & Detailing Scale Model Ships" from Kalmbach Books. He has a good deal of information on resin kits, as well as information on the joys of bending and attaching photoetch parts. Definitely a wrothwhile book for ship builders. Tom Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: rsalmon@ionet.net (Robert R. Salmon) Subject: Re: Colin's USS Enterprise >> My wife, bless her has awarded me the Tamiya Enterprise for my Xmas, (GMM Brass in Feb for my Birthday). Like most people embarking on this monster, I'm trying to sort out just what need to be done to make her more accurate. The usual vestigial hanger deck will be added etc. But my question concerns her air wing. I want to model her a year or so after the 197?-1980/1 re-fit that saw the new bridge installed. What was the air wing, and what were the aircraft markings? Since I really an aircraft modeller, I can foresee a fair amount of work being done to add tanks, weapons etc to these little puppies prior to their instillation! Any help would be most appreciated << A really good resource for modelling the Enterprise and her airwing for this period is the book "Airwing Enterprise" by Michael O'Leary and Eric Schulzinger. This book was published several years ago by Osprey Aerospace and may be out of print. Its' ISBN is 1 85532170 X. It is an outstanding reference for the Enterprise's airwing during the early 1980s, but only a fair reference for the ship itself. I located this book several years ago while I was on vacation in Houston. Interestingly enough, even though I found this book in the colonies, it still had a price on the dust jacket of 19.95 pounds. I hope this helps. Robert Salmon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Colin Ritchie Subject: Enterprise thanks Hi there fellow SMMLies Just a quick word of thanks to everyone who took the time to e-mail the list, or me directly re my request for help with the Enterprise , (my wife was heard muttering loudly last night as she wrapped the box with several square feet of wrapping paper!). Oh BTW Rusty, I had a similar experience in reverse in a model show, I beat an Enterprise with my Tamiya 1980's New Jersey, (OK The Big E wasn't that hot...), so size doesn't always matter I guess! . As for the comments re other carriers, I have a special reason for working on Enterprise, (we were born on the same day, yes really)(The day she was laid down or launched Colin? Shane:-)) ), but yes a Nimitz class would have been more attractive as regards additional sales. Ultimately however I'd much, much prefer a USN WWII carrier in 350th, who knows maybe the much rumoured Midway/Enterprise will put in an appearance this coming year, after all the Treadheads got their Xmas present early this year with the Dragon Wagon. Once again thanks guys, (you know who you are ) And have a great Christmas and a super new year Colin Ritchie PS Caroline, don't break anything serious when you're hurtling down the side of a mountain will you! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Felix Bustelo Subject: International Maritime Modelling Website Update Seasons Greeting to all SMMLers! I am please to announce the latest update to the International Maritime Modeling website - http://members.tripod.com/~Febus65/imm.htm The updates are: In-box reviews of the Airfix HMS Amazon (Type 21 ASW Frigate) and the venerable Revell 1/429 USS Arizona Photoetch Reviews of WEMs 1/600 Modern Royal Navy Set and Modern Royal Navy Rails and Heli-netting and GMM Arizona Ship Set designed for the Revell kit. Updated the Kit Lists with additions of OzMods and Lone Star Models resin kits and expanded the list of Heller and Aurora kits (my thanks to Douglas Martin of Scotland for his input). Updated my Links page with some new and interesting URLs, including a link to SMML's own Frank Allen's page on the HMS Hood. Please stop by and may Santa be good to you! Cheers, Felix Bustelo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume