Subject: SMML02/05/99VOL533 Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 00:21:20 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: IJN Colours 2: 1942 USN Insignia 3: Re: USS IOWA explosion and CO 4: IJN Yamato post war WW2 5: Re: SMML Across America 6: Re: USS Langley 7: Iron Shipwright Hood 8: Re: Reading SMML off line 9: Re: Close In Weapon System Drawings 10: MIDWAYs and the Med. 11: RNN Tjerk Hiddes (WWII Dutch Destroyer) 12: WWII German Auxiliary Cruiser Kormoran 13: Resin distorsion 14: Painting imperial japanese navy ships -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "graham peter walker" Subject: IJN Colours Hello I am looking for information on the IJN pre WW1 colours as the Russian/Japanese war Thanks Graham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Joe Norris" Subject: 1942 USN Insignia Greetings, I'm trying to remember exactly when the US Navy dropped the red circles from the center of the white stars on their aircraft insignias. If I remember right, they also dropped the red and white stripes on the rudder surfaces at the same time. Was it before or after the battle of Coral Sea in 1942? Joe & Adrienne Norris -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Norman Samish Subject: Re: USS IOWA explosion and CO >> A tad off topic, but former Captain Fred Moosally, USN (Ret), CO of the IOWA at the time of the explosion works just down the hall from me. We cross paths often during the course of duty. When he came aboard here he pretty much acted the way described in the book, "predators eating their young", abrasive, etc. with his new staff. However, he has said more than once to his staff that he will answer any questions regarding the tragedy. I am thinking of having him autograph a copy of the IOWA Class BBs for me. I am not defending him, the Board, or the Navy, which I dearly love in spite of itself at times. << After studying this topic, what do you think really happened (unless you'd prefer to not express an opinion). My guess, from what I read, is that the most probable cause was human intervention, not a static spark. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Robert Vancel Subject: IJN Yamato post war WW2 I have this interesting project underway. About two years ago I came across a picture in an old ARII catalog (okay, its old now, it wasn't then) of a 'modernized' Yamato. It seemed to have its rear main guns replaced with a heli-pad and the stack (or funnel or whatever) was rerouted to side discharge. Anyway, while fiddling with the carcass of a Tamiya Yamato I picked up for nothing (beat THAT!) because it had been used in a 'Modeler's Olympics' at a show that year as a javelin. I was cleaning it up and removing damaged parts for subsequent repair when I hit upon the idea of doing the 'modern' version. Since the main guns were pretty much wasted, I took them off, leaving the barbettes. After a few minutes of studying this, I wondered about building an 'alternate historical' version of the ship. I hit upon the idea that it wasn't sunk but damaged, and she made it back to Tokyo (or wherever it was trying to get back to). One of the surrender agreements was that the Yamato was to be disarmed (but not decommissioned). I'm building it to appear as she would today, a sleek massive ship with no armaments on it. Perhaps a floating museum or hotel. Part of the fun has been removing the barbettes, gun tubs, etc, and filling them with styrene. I've thought about building up the superstructure to extend forward, maybe with cruise ship style pools and such. Anyone got any ideas? Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: SeaPhoto@aol.com Subject: Re: SMML Across America Hello All, Well, I am in Wilmington, North Carolina, were they have issued a flash flood alert. You know, I washed my van 4 days ago in 'Florida, and have not been out of the rain since....see if I make THAT mistake again.... I toured Patriot's Point this morning. The Yorktown makes an impressive museum, and is in generally good shape. The airplanes on the flight deck suffer from exposure to the elements, but there are some fine examples of World War II aircraft on the Hanger Deck. For me, the high point of the visit would have to be the model rooms. You would expect them to have some nice examples of aircraft carriers, and they do, mostly in 1/96 scale. What is unexpected is the quality of the battleship and cruiser models on display -- every class active in World War II is represented in 1/96 scale. For those interested in plastic models, just about every ship model released since the 60's is on display in one room - kind of fun seeing the old SS Brazil Kit, all the old Monogram US warships, and many more - dozens if not over a hundred models there. The museum has a lot of weapons on display, including a rare 1.1 inch quad - the "Chicago Piano" used during the early part of the war. A Talos missile is on display in the parking lot, along with a very large model of a Thresher/Permit class sub sitting on a trailer. Of the other ships on display, the USS Laffey (DD-724) is by far in the best shape. A little DASH helicopter sits on her diminutive flight deck, with nice displays of DD history in the former hanger. A good portion of the vessel is open for touring, including one of the 5 inch mounts. The Coast Guard cutter Ingrahm looked a bit tattered since the last time I saw her, she needs paint at the least. The submarine Clamagore has really deteriorated, major damage to the aft casing, with a lot of rust damage. She will need extensive work if a restoration is performed. All in all, Patriot's Point is still a very worth destination for the ship enthusiast. Tomorrow, I hope the rain lets up for my tour of the North Carolina. I would like to get some shots of her in the new camo paint scheme. Kurt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Bradford Chaucer Subject: Re: USS Langley >> That scratchbuilt 1/700 LANGLEY in FSM is mine. The PE shown was drawn by me and sent to PhotoCut to be etched. That''s only half, I needed two identical sheets (I drew portside parts and needed an almost dupe set for starboard side). I know that when you make a kit you get a price break on PE by ordering a large quantity but I still think a 1/350 LANGLEY would be very expensive. That being said, I think I'd buy one!!!!! << Hi Bob: I too admired your Lankly. Your note above gave me an idea; how about a half kit?? It seems that much of the cost in any large resin model is in the hull. Suppose that you were to blow up your 1/700 artwork to create a 1/350 set. Additionally perhaps someone could do a set of the hardware and smaller parts, i.e. the island, stacks guns other fittings, leaving the modeler to do a hull from drawings in wood. That would seem to be far cheaper than doing a full kit in 1/350 scale resin. What do you think? Regards, Bradford Chaucer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Evert-Jan Subject: Iron Shipwright Hood I have recieved Iron Shipwrights HMS Hood (1/350), and after a good look, I will send it back. There are many things I am not really pleased with. For starters, the line between the teak and steel decks on the aft deck part are not lines but gaps. These gaps can also be found on roughly half of the places were the bulkheads meat the decks, on the deck parts and the hull. The decks are apparently made with Evergreen V-grooved styrene, but on some placed, the master has evidentily been damaged, and roughly repaired. When washed with oils, these repairs will be very visible. Some parts show a lot of glue spots, some on places where it is almost impossible to remove them without ruining detail (On the tops of the turrets) The funnel sides, when looked on from above, are not straight but curved. Some of the horizontal lines on the funnels are very misplaced. Some of the doors on the master are glued at an unacceptable angle, and I do not mean 0.5 degrees. I mean really glued at an angle at which I start using my scraping tools. The winches are just a square piece of plastic with two pieces of rod glued at an 90 degree angle. That's not what I would call a winch, but three hastily glued pieces of plastic. These are just a few eamples. There are many airbubbles, which are present in any resin kit, but not as many as in this case. Some parts were just an empty shell. I might be setting my standards too high, but when I buy an expensive kit, I do not want to worry about bulkheads not being at 90 degree angles, or replacing a lot of parts, and the IS Hood needs a lot of parts replaced. Some parts are very good (Most of the bridge tower), and I would not be able to copy that, but that's not enough for 520 dollars. A model of this price should not force someone to start rebuilding many large parts, or spend hours correcting unfilled gaps or rescribing lines of the deck. A resin kit like this should make me wonder how on earth they made these parts, not why they didn't spend some extra time on trivial things like checking for large airbubbles in tiny parts. I'm not sure if I'm going to buy the WEM Hood now. I think I'll just let this set in and start scrapping a Tirpitz. Evert-Jan Foeth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Reading SMML off line This is how I do it. Maybe there's a better way but I don't know what it is. I download SMML to the desktop. I then minimize AOL and double click on the SMML icon. It come up using Clipboard. To reply, copy the sentences you want, click on the AOL window and it comes to the front. You can then click reply and paste the sentences and reply as you normally would. Take care though. If you don't click AOL to stay on line when they ask (you may be reading SMML from the desktop) it will kick you out and you'll have to sign on again. Hope this helps. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Close In Weapon System Drawings I designed and built the master patterns to the kit (shameless plug). I tried forever to try to find any drawings of the CIWS. I told the company that made them at the time (can't recall the name. Sorry) I wasn't interested in any of the internal hardware but they never sent any drawings. Maybe I didn't go to the right place but if the contractor tells you no I figured that was that. Finding photos of the latest mark of the weapon (which had the barrel bracing and larger ammo drum) was just as hard. Not classified, but it was so new no one had taken photos of them for the archives. I asked for any photos I could get from SMML. BINGO! Master modeler Philip Toy sent three wonderful photos of the new gun. I had no trouble at all finding lots and lots of photos of the older mark guns. I got several good ones from the National Archives and a number of photos from the manufacturer. One photo from the Archives gave me the break I needed. One photo of the CIWS on a Perry class frigate had a photographer standing next to the railing in front of the CIWS. Being a CAD draftsman by profession I decided to make my own drawings since I had photos of every inch of the gun. I assumed the railing was 42" high and I was able to make drawings from the photos I had. Between the rail and the man I used for reference, I guarantee you the final product is accurate to about 2 or 3 inches either way. I still have the drawings and I can send them to you if you wish. I can also send you some really good photos to help you out. Contact me off list and we'll work something out. Sorry to ramble but if not for SMML readers and their generosity that kit may not have made it to market. PS: I didn't forget the guy who faxed the great flightdeck drawings of the Essex class antisubmarine carrier! Thank you again. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://warship.simplenet.com/Flagship.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: PulligS@aol.com Subject: MIDWAYs and the Med. Someone correct me if I am wrong but the reason that the MIDWAYS were always in the Atlantic/ Med. was that they were the only nuclear capable naval ships. I believe they carried Savages that were capable of hauling one of the early nukes. Sam Pullig -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: RNN Tjerk Hiddes (WWII Dutch Destroyer) Ladies and Gents: I'm looking for photos of the Royal Netherlands Navy Destroyer Tjerk Hiddes (a British N class destroyer manned by Dutch personnel during WWII) in the British style admiralty disruptive camouflage scheme that she wore in 1942 and perhaps part of 1943. I've perused several books at the Naval Historical Center in Washington DC on the Dutch Navy in WWII, but no luck so far! Would anyone (perhaps some SMML subscribers in Holland... do we have any???) be able to help with references or photos? With many thanks! Yours truly, Michael Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: WWII German Auxiliary Cruiser Kormoran Ladies and Gents: A few weeks ago someone requested info about the WWII era German Auxiliary Cruiser Kormoran. Last night while perusing the Australian War Memorial data base at: http://www.awm.gov.au/database/ I came across two photos which might be of interest: a starboard shot of the ship in her pre-war appearance (negative 053867), and a line drawing showing a profile and plan view of the ship as she appeared during wartime (negative 053869). Hope this helps! Best wishes, Mike Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "MichelVERMOUT" Subject: Resin distorsion Resin parts (hull...) are often a bit distorted when arriving out of the box. I have read something about a "hot water" method to correct this. Does anybody have some explanations or experience about this? Michel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: MSi3498042@aol.com Subject: Painting imperial japanese navy ships I'am interested in ships of the IJN in the scale 1/700. Therefore I want to know which original colors were used by the IJN to paint their ships. Can you help me? Marc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume