Subject: SMML02/03/99VOL472 Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 23:58:33 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Scanner DPI 2: Re: Casting plug removal 3: Re: Viking Models-Missing Parts 4: GMM set for 1/200 Yamato 5: Re: removing resin "blocks" 6: Arizona Propellers 7: Re: Casting Plugs 8: Re: Casting Plugs 9: Re: Skywave web site 10: Removing Paint -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Fletchers 2: March '99 Internet Modeler 3: Pacific Front: New items 4: Books for sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Mike.Dunn@dresdner-bank.com Subject: Re: Scanner DPI Rusty wrote :- >> Most folks use an ink jet color printer. The absolute best most of these printers can print is 300 DPI. So if you send a scan at 1200 DPI the printer defaults to 300 DPI. The highest DPI printers I know are Laser jet printers that can print 600 DPI. Some commercial grade printers may do better but much << Inkjets these daye are getting to a better DPI than ever before; the HP range go to 600x600 (although I could swear I saw one over 1000 DPI; must have been discontinued), and the Epson range (one of which I have) go to 720x1440 DPI. As to lasers - well, if you need hi-res, don't bother. 600 DPI is about the best you will get at an acceptable cost. I scanned in a smallish photo from a magazine & printed at A4 (held the scan res to 300 DPI but increased the picture size; printed at 1440 DPI) on photo paper - looks superb! Given a good scanner, good printer and good software, it doesn't take long to start getting good results. Mike -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Casting plug removal >> I still can't figure out how to remove a long, thin cylindrical part which has a casting plug along virtually its entire length which is usually wider than the part. I always seem to wind up with either a deformed or broken piece, a flat sided part or stitches in at least two of my fingers. Any ideas? << I had the same problem for years. I used to build vacuum formed aircraft and I hated the time and effort it took to sand the parts from the sheet. I bought a hand held belt sander from Micro Mark and it really works well. This thing, using the 60 grit belts goes through resin plugs like **&$%%^#$ through a goose. I use this thing on every model I build. I comes in super handy for a multitude of uses. It isn't cheap though. As I recall, it cost about $60.00 plus another $20.00 for the speed control. I can sand vac formed model parts out in less than 1/3 the time, with far greater control. While the cost is pretty high, I guarantee you will not be sorry you bought one. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. Ships and Tips http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Charles Stephanian Subject: Re: Viking Models-Missing Parts I just want to echo Ed Grune's comments about checking your parts against the parts list (in his post about the new Viking Models USS Texas). I recently bought the Viking Alvin kit...which is a pretty nice kit. Unfortunately, there were no decals and the parts list sheet was unreadable. I emailed them and, to their credit, they mailed a new parts list sheet right away, but said they were having problems getting the decals made and would send them along soon. They also said they were including a 10% discount coupon for my trouble (a nice touch)...except they forgot to include the coupon! I checked with a friend who had another of their submersible kits and he had missing parts....so, while I admire their choice of subjects and the quality of the kits, it seems like a good idea to check your kits when you get them....I sure hope they can get this problem under control... charles t. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: pl <"Patric.Lesage@wanadoo.fr"@wanadoo.fr> Subject: GMM set for 1/200 Yamato Where is it possible to find a GMM set for a 1/200 battleship YAMATO on internet because I am in FRANCE. Thank you for your help. P.Lesage Hi Patrick, Try the following sites: White Ensign Models: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models Pacific Front: http://www.pacificfront.com/ International Maritime Modelling: http://members.tripod.com/~Febus65/imm.htm I'm also pretty sure that any I missed will soon tell you :-). Regards Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: Re: removing resin "blocks" The best way to remove the casting gate from long resin cylinders, e.g. the torpedoes in that come with the Verlinden midget German subs, is with a #11 or a #10 X-acto knife, but NOT with the cutting edge. Place the point against the "block" and lay the blade against or close to the cylinder so that the point actually angles up, away from the cylinder's surface. Then, using the back side of the point, draw the blade toward you. This causes the blade to act like a scriber/scraper and actually cut away a ribbon of resin on each pass. Don't try to accomplish the the cut off in one stroke. Repeat the process altenating along the two sides of the piece to be removed. The reason for not using the cutting edge of the blade is that it will act more like a wedge in this instance and will be much harder to control, ergo, cut fingers. Also, it will tend to pry the piece off rather than cut it cleanly. When you are finished, there still will be a tiny hump of roughly triangular cross section. This is easy to remove with a sanding block. By the way, Boy Scout training notwithstanding, I find you have more control in this procedure by cutting toward yourself rather than away. Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Michael Connelley Subject: Arizona Propellers Hello: I talked to Tom of Tom's Modelworks yesterday and he mentioned that someone at the Naval Archives told him that the Arizona had two three bladed and two four bladed propellers, I presume according to a photo they have there. The two references that I have say that all of Arizona's props were three bladed. The one photo that I have which shows her in dry dock during her 1931 refit only shows the inboard propellers, which are both three bladed. It seems odd to me that the Arizona would have a mix of propellers, and it occured to me that the photo that the archives guy saw *could* have been taken when some of the props had been changed to the three bladed type and some of the old four bladed ones were still on her. Does anyone have any information, photos or insight into this? Are the Arizona's propellers sunk into the silt on the bottom of Pearl Harbor? If they're not then the National Park Service may have photos from when they did the survey of the site not too long ago. Cheers Mike Connelley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Bradford Chaucer Subject: Re: Casting Plugs >> Wait a minute; I'm supposed to remove those casting plug things? No wonder I don't do well in competition. Hell, this opens all kinds of new doors to << Yes, but your models will be much stronger if you leave them!! :-) >> The fact is, I still can't figure out how to remove a long, thin cylindrical part which has a casting plug along virtually its entire length which is usually wider than the part. I always seem to wind up with either a deformed or broken piece, a flat sided part or stitches in at least two of my fingers. Any ideas? << First real modelers don't get stitches, they just glue themselves back together with superglue! The parts you describe are a bitch to deal with. You have 2 alternatives, one is to just replace the part with wire or cylindrical bar stock. The other is to remove the sprue in sections. The "trick" is to use a rotary diamond saw, a flat disk mounted on a mandrel with diamond dust impregnated around the rim. I originally picked up a bunch at a local flea market and more recently have seen that on Ebay. The diamond tooling for a dremel is really super for resin work. You just carefully saw and grind away the portions you don't want. It is tedious and dusty but with care it does work. Regards, Bradford Chaucer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Rob Mackie" Subject: Re: Casting Plugs Mr. Clifton wrote: >> "Wait a minute; I'm supposed to remove those casting plug things? No wonder I don't do well in competition. Hell, this opens all kinds of new doors to me and my modeling! Now I know why the parts never seemed to fit right!" << Mr. Clifton still doesn't seem to "get it". Those so-called "casting plugs" are model parts. The bothersome resin thingies attached to the "casting plugs" -often shaped like gun tubs, deck levels, turrets and even hulls - are nothing but resin detritus and should be disposed of posthaste. It is a mystery to me - not to mention being highly irritating - why resin sprues look so much like ship fittings. This seems like a terrible waste of good resin. One would expect resin producers to do a better job of cleaning up kits prior to shipping. No doubt they are too lazy to fix this recurring problem (and it's not confined to any one producer. All of them do this). Hell, they've got the customer's money and that's all they care about. Let the customer clean up his own damn model. Just my 2 cents worth. And I hope this helps. Rob Mackie Warship http://warship.simplenet.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Michael Quan" Subject: Re: Skywave web site >> Some time ago, someone was looking to see if Skywave (Pit Road) had a web site. Here is a possible sight: http://giao.com/pit-road/ It's in Japanese, but navigating through it is as simple as it gets (click on Next to progress through two or three pages.) It is very sparce and looks more to be a sight for a store, but it the title says Skywave and there are no other links to other manufacturers. The map and directions could be to an outlet or a showroom. I have looked for other Skywave sights and have come up empty-handed. If this is their only official presence on the web, it is quite a letdown... << Yohan, Further to your inquiry about this web site, I consulted with the j-aircraft modelling homepage message board. Mr. Tennessee Katsuta replies: "Yes, it is an official Pit-road site. It looks like it`s just started. Hopefully it will grow bigger. They mentioned on the site that they might do Akitsushima, the Japanese flying boat tender. If it becomes official, they will announce it around May. Tennessee Katsuta" HTH! sincerely, Mike Quan Garland TX 80 degrees with sunshine (it feels like summer coming on!) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Marc Flake Subject: Removing Paint I've been reviewing past SMMLs on removing paint. All references seem to be about removing paint from plastic. I need to remove paint from resin. Has anyone used the oven cleaner or brake fluid methods on resin? If these aren't resin-safe, what method has been successfull? Also, BTW, I finished the Lindberg Olympia I've been working on this winter. Many thanks to those of you who helped with the warped superstructure and to the Warship page for posting the Olympia rigging. She looks nice up there next to the Oregon. Now I need to find room for the Aurora and Potemkin. Marc Flake Mansfield, Texas (where it's approaching 80 degrees on a daily basis) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Shane Subject: Help!!!! Hi gang, On the weekend I took my newly completed ship to the local IPMS meeting & in the process of taking it off the travelling tray, my fingers slipped (dohhh) & I damaged part of the kit. Now I can fix most of the damage, but one of the decal flags came of with a clean rip just past the flagstaff (it's still stuck together, but the part that wraps around the staff is now loose). Do you think another application of water will fix it back to the flagstaff or should I just leave the flag off, seeing as I don't have a spare? Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Jeff Herne Subject: Fletchers Hi guys, The first book from WR Press, Fletcher, Gearing & Sumner Class Destroyers in WW2, by yours truly, has plans by Alan Raven for both round bridge (Lavellette '42 & Fullam '44) and square bridge ships (Black '44), including plan views of the different levels. You also get the added benefit of having all the most-widely used camo design sheets, and a list of which ship wore what and when... Don't think you can get any of that out of Squadron's book. Save yourself time and contact WR Press @ 516-887-0072. While you're at it, order the Atlanta book from Glenn Arnold. As for visiting any of the Fletchers still afloat, only the Kidd in Baton Rouge will give you accurate info on WW2 Fletchers, all of the others have post-war mods (FRAM) to the bridge areas. And my book has 34 pictures of the Kidd, not to mention other ships. Is this a shameless plug or what???(YES: Shane :-þ ) Unless of course you WANT to go to Baton Rouge... Jeff Herne Accurate Image Models WR Press -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: March '99 Internet Modeler Shane beat me to this, but here's the official announcement: With a little imagination, you can hear the bo's'n piping you aboard the March issue of Internet Modeler, now available through your favorite ISP. http://www.internetmodeler.com/ Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Bill Gruner Subject: Pacific Front: New items We have just received a lot of re-stocks from Revell Germany, among them the 1/720 German carrier Graf Zeppelin, 1/700 USS Flint (a re-mold of the Skywave USS Oakland), 1/144 Modern German Albatros schnellboots, 1/144 Modern German Type 206 subs, and 1/250 (?) HMS Bligh which turns out to be a re-mold of the old Buckley class DE kit, which I believe many are looking for. We also have the Modelkrak 1/700 Russian ships, and Anatomy of the Ship on IJN Battleship FUSO, new low price at $48.00. WSW 1/700 battlecruiser SMS Lutzow should finally arrive by Friday. The all-new Gold Medal Models US Navy 1/350 scale photoetch railing sets have just arrived, and are superb. They have several styles of rails, including curved and canvas-covered, and give you about 5000' of scale rails....price is $20.00. Thanks, Bill Gruner http://www.pacificfront.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Derek Frost Subject: Books for sale All prices are in $U.S. & postage is extra. Derek Frost "BIG GUN MONITORS". I.Buxton. History of Design, Construction & Operation of the R.Navy's Monitors 1914-1965. Rare subject matter. hc. 215pp. prof.ill. b/w photos & line drawings. vg condition. $35.00 "MAN-OF-WAR". D.MacIntyre. 1969. A history of the combat vessel. hc but dust-jacket missing. 273pp. prof.ill. b/w & col. Extremely good line drawings of vessels & equipment. Good reproductions of naval artwork.gd condition. $8.00 MODERN SUBMARINE WARFARE". D.Miller & J.Jordan. 1987. Detailed survey. Evolution, design, technology & tactical employment of subs & their weapons systems. hc. 208pp. 275 photos, 46 full-col.perspective drawings & more than 90 explanatory diagrams. vg+ condition. $24.00 "ROYAL NAVY SHIP'S BADGES". P.Smith. 1974. Hist of warship badges & naval heraldry. hc. 96pp. all ill. in full color. dust-jacket missing, otherwise vg. Scarce. $40.00 "SHIPS AND THE SEA". D.Haws. 1975. Chronological review. All drawings, no photos. Strength of the book lies in it's b/w & color scale drawings. hc. 240pp.coffee-table size. vg+. $25.00 "WARSHIPS OF THE WORLD". G.Galuppini. 1986 English ed. An ill. encyclopedia of full color drawings by historical period. hc. coffee-table size. 320pp.2 appendix, one of line scale drawings of the ships & the second is all technical data of listed vessels. vg+ condition.$40.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume