Subject: SMML30/05/99VOL561 Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 00:30:09 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: USS MONTROSE 2: Re: Airbrush and compressor 3: Re: Blucher, German Wrecks 4: Re: PE correction 5: Re: Double range clocks 6: Oribi and Onslow 7: Fins, wings, etc. 8: Pearl Harbor panorama 9: Bureau of Small Warships shutting down. 10: USN depth charge colours 11: Re: brass sails 12: Savannah 13: Great lakes Ore Carrier 14: Re: Range clocks 15: Re: Range Clocks 16: Re: Shore based torpedoes 17: German E-boats 18: C.C. Bikini-kit? 19: JUNG AT HEART -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Kits needed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John Snyder Subject: Re: USS MONTROSE The Revell kit of MONTROSE can likely be had from Bill Gruner at Pacific Front Hobbies (425-821-2564). John Snyder -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Kurt Van Dahm Subject: Re: Airbrush and compressor Roger Clemens asked.... >> 1. I first piped it through a pressure regulator/moisture separator into a 5 gallon tank. So the tank would be at my selected pressure. Then a small hose up to the airbrush. 2. Next, I tried connecting the compressor at full pressure to the air tank. I mounted the pressure regulator/separator directly on the tank outlet fitting. Then a small hose goes to the airbrush. I found that during Chicago's winter weather, the low relative indoor humidity resulted in very little moisture collecting in the tank in either scheme. I have not owned my equipment during our muggy summer weather yet. I suspect one scheme may be better at handling moisture. << Roger: Method #2 is the correct method for controlling the pressure to your airbrush. It is also effective for trapping moisture prior to the airbrush. Remember to drain the moisture from the 5 gallon tank at regular intervals and keep an eye on the in-line moisture trap at the regulator. Empty it before (and possibly during) each painting session. For the absolute best methods of keeping moisture out of your paint job, always drain the tank and moisture traps, keep the compressor in the air conditioning and pick up a small plastic auxilliary in-line moisture trap and install it in the airbrush hose about 18" from the airbrush. This is what works for me 3 miles to the West of you so it should work in Hinsdale just fine. Take care, Kurt Van Dahm Westmont, IL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: K-Marsh@webtv.net (Rich Hahn) Subject: Re: Blucher, German Wrecks Hello! Just thought I'd comment on the Blucher discussion. I've always appreciated this ship's stylish, graceful appearance, and if anyone is really interested, there are some worthwhile books on the subject. The first two are written in German, but loaded with very informative photos and drawings. "Schwerer Kreuzer Blucher" by Binder/Schlunz, shows in drawings how Blucher lies upside-down beneath Oslo fjord, and how her turrets fell out also. Also, "Die Schweren Kreuzer der Admiral Hipper Klasse" by Koop/Schmolke, contains invaluable photos and diagrams of all three completed Hipper class, and also info on the uncompleted Seydlitz and Lutzow. Both of these I bought from a German language bookseller in Pelion, SC who's email address is: Mailto:DIEBUCHERSTUBE@compuserve.com. Another fine book is M.J. Whitley's "German Cruisers of WW2", with excelklent illustrations. As far as wrecks go, what about Scharnhorst, Prinz Eugen, and Graf Zeppelin? Has anyone examined them in great detail? Glad to be of any help! Rich Hahn Bensalem, PA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: PE correction >> My photo etcher offers 12"x 24" or 12"x 36" panel sizes. << Sorry for the mistake here. I meant 18"x 24" instead of 12"x 36". Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://warship.simplenet.com/Flagship.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Double range clocks I'm an amateur when it come to this era of ships so bear with me if this is a dumb observation. Since range clocks are used judging the range to a target wouldn't the forward clock be for the forward batteries and the rear clock for the aft batteries. It would make sense. Depending on the angle of the ship, one range clock couldn't be seen at all times by all gun batteries. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Vimieraa@aol.com Subject: Oribi and Onslow Can anyone confirm that Oribi and Onslow were painted in dark hull/light upperworks in the late 1941 early 1942 period. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: tom Subject: Fins, wings, etc. Mau Cat writes: >> The Musashi painting (with an nice Ise battleship-carrier refit in the background) is at: http://www.aoshima-bk.co.jp/siryou/musasi.JPG with the Yamato (with some kind of 2-deck Kaga-like?? refit in the background) is at: http://www.aoshima-bk.co.jp/siryou/yamato.JPG Both of the updated superbattleships have "jet" nacelles on port and starboard with vertical fins to the rear of turret #3. Perhaps they can also fly? << Those saddo wings aren't just for science fiction boats. For years powerboats marketed to the, um... "less experienced" boater have featured aerodynamic wing/rollbars and earlier this week I actually saw a typical low quality fiberglass mass production sailboat equipped with the same... a 35 foot or so Hunter with this great big back swept race car style wing over the cockpit. Presumably this keeps the back of the boat from lifting out of the water as it speeds along at, say, 7 knots or so. It is the triumph of style over function. Best regards, Tom Kremer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Burl Burlingame / Pacific Monograph Subject: Pearl Harbor panorama The Pearl Harbor in 1944 panorama that we gave y'all a peek at a couple of weeks ago has been tweaked and we did a story on it at: http://starbulletin.com/1999/05/28/features/index.html Any guesses as to specific time period? It's very late 1944. Burl Burlingame Pacific Monograph, 1124 Kahili Street, Kailua HI 96734 A historical interpretation company. Visit our web site at http://www.PacificHistory.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: dhjonespsm@juno.com Subject: Bureau of Small Warships shutting down. I received a letter from Mark Pace, Bureau Of Small Warships, announcing that he will cease operations. Mark's company, Bureau Of Small Warships, produced 12 USN WW II destroyers kits and 2 tanker kits (T-2 & T-3) in 1/700. While the kits were not perfect (show me one that is) they were very cleanly cast, complete, and in my view, offered a good value for the money. The last orders are being cast as this is written. There is no remaining overstock. No new orders will be accepted. I think it is certainly true that BSW raised the quality bar in terms of both casting quality and completeness, forcing the competition to put out a better product. When BSW arrived on the scene 4 years ago most of the kits (at least those produced in the USA) were not complete, requiring the addition of Skywave parts. Mark's were complete, even including a base to display the model on, and required no additional purchase apart from the photoetched railings if desired. His casting quality was as good as any, and much better than most. Now most of the competing kits include all the components needed, some even including photoetch. I hope that someday the Bureau will return, but if not, I for one am grateful for his contributions to our hobby. Mark has asked me to make the announcement in the next issue of PSM, and (as I believe he does not subscribe to this list) I felt it appropriate to announce it here also. As for the reasons BSW is shutting down - I will quote excerpts from his letter. (The full letter text will be published in the next PSM). "When I started the Bureau almost 4 years ago I made an unwritten pact with myself that when the time came that I ceased to enjoy operating the Bureau and it became a chore, I would bring it to a close. That time has arrived so I am sending this notice that as of May 24, 1999, the P.O. Box has been closed and I will complete the orders already received. After that, I will cease producing kits and return to creating new ships as a hobby". "I did not decide to call it a day because of any criticisms, but rather, the need to address other areas of my life tended to make the production of the kits, which I have always accomplished by myself, more of a chore". In the end, I have calculated that I have launched at least 310 ships to be commissioned across the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, and New Zealand. The number may be small in terms of mass production, but each one was created and quality inspected by myself, in which I take great pride. If my production methods played a part in the competition to improve quality, I will have served a purpose". Mark Pace. A hearty "Well Done" to Mark and the Bureau of Small Warships. I will miss his products. Daniel Jones Plastic Ship Modeler magazine -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Robert Lockie" Subject: USN depth charge colours Some time ago, there was a thread on the subject of the colour of depth charges during WW2. The conclusion, as I recall, was that they would tend to be the deck colour and countershading was not employed due to the difficulty (and pointlessness, where consumption was high) of lining up the demarcations. I was looking at a friend's copy of the Polmar and Morison book 'PT Boats at War' this afternoon and the cover has a shot of PT141, an 80ft Elco, with side-mounted racks, one of which is holding a countershaded depth charge. I think there was another one further aft as well. The same photo appears inside, where the boat is captioned as having seen no combat, so this may explain why the charges were painted as they were but combat photos show solid colours. Any comment from our PT boat experts? Robert Lockie Cambridge UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: SantMin@aol.com Subject: Re: brass sails Langton Miniatures makes etched brass sails for their 1:600 ship kits and the do make ship kits in the smaller (1:1200, 1:2400) scales. You might want to check with them to see if they make brass sails in the smaller scales. They do make cast metal sails in the small scales that are sold seperately. They are at: http;//www.rodlangton.com Cheers, Bob Santos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "arthur" Subject: Savannah A week or two ago somebody was looking for a kit of the nuclear powered Savannah. There is one available at http://www.modelair.co.nz if the person is still interested. It is the 1/350 scale Glencoe kit retailing for NZD 39.95 ( about USD 20.00) If you want me to do a personal then contact me offline at: mailto:arfabuck@ps.gen.nz Arthur. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: LRobin9900@aol.com Subject: Great lakes Ore Carrier Hi Im looking for plans of a ship used in the great lakes in the 1950s It's was built in 1913 and was a Canadian ore carrier Are there people that specialize in these ship models and are there any internet sites about them? Thanks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "larsenal" Subject: Re: Range clocks Range clocks were in large use on French Battleships, Cruisers and Destroyers during the 30's as it was the only way to make concentrated shots on a single target for a group of ships. In these days radio transmission was in its infancy and colored shots were not in great use. So the way for an Admiral's ship to give target range information was only optical. For example a firing range of 12,625 meters is indicated by the following information: 8.25 hour. One hour with the small hand of the range clock corresponds to 1,500 meters Five minutes with the long hand of the range clock correspond to 125 meters. So every ship in the formation knew optically what was the firing range from the Admiral's ship to the target. They had themselves to make minor corrections regarding to their respective position with the Admiral's ship. These were the rules for the French Navy, maybe they were different with other navies. Best regards, Jacques Druel -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "David Hathaway" Subject: Re: Range Clocks Bill, They were large and high enough to be seen by the warships in front and behind of the ship in question when formed into line of battle (ie ships had two - one at the front and the back). Then if a ships target was obscured by smoke they could see the range and bearing of the target from the ship in front/behinds range clocks and turret markings, work out a relative bearing/range and continue firing. They fell out of use when radar spotting became more widespread. The front and rearmost turrets had degree scales marked around the base of the turret to show the angle the turret was turned to. Should be visible on the photographs of ships with range clocks. More fascinating is the whole area of gunnery bearing and range calculators and the realisation that they were all manual machines - they linked the range finders to the calculation machines to the turrets and the range clocks, etc. All with rods and cables and a set of brass cogs. Much more interesting than modern fire control systems! David Hathaway -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: Suvoroff@aol.com Subject: Re: Shore based torpedoes I found out some more information on shore based torpedoes in a book called "Fortress Europe" by Kaufmann and Jurga. The torpedo battery which was based on North Kahomen Island and which sank the Blucher was cut out of the living rock, with an excavated central chamber and three fan shaped launching tunnels below (under water) the torpedoes were not fired in the conventional sense but swam out. The book contained a photograph of another torpedo battery at Bergen, this one had conventional above water torpedo tubes in a casemate; the casemate is of cut stone masonry, the upper edges of the casemate are strongly radiused and there are three small square windows visible near the water. Yours, James D. Gray -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Jean-Cyrille WAAG" Subject: German E-boats Thanks to all for your help, I just need some further information about the "Profile book" and about "Hummelchen" because I can't find them. Jean-Cyrille Hi Jean, The Profile book is out of print. Try the following websites, they might have a second-hand copys. White Ensign Models: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models Pacific Front Models: http://www.pacificfront.com/ Kingkit: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/KingKit/homepage.htm Naval base: http://www.modelshipbuilding.com Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: CHRIS DRAGE Subject: C.C. Bikini-kit? Hi Bob (S), >> I vote YEA on the Caroline in a bikini pic. << Careful here Bob. You need to be more specific where Caroline is concerned: Firstly, there is the question of scale. Do we want to have Caroline in a diminuative 1:700 or a busty 1:72? Secondly, you must specify either full-hull or water line. Thirdly, you must ask her how many resin or (possibly) white metal detailing parts are to be included to enhance the resulting pic. Fourthly will there be fully detailed etchings available? Fifthly, will can we honestly expect Dave to provide the (now standard) six pages of instructions including both plan and isometric, exploded diagrams? Sixthly, will there be room for it all go up on the website? ....In the 'pre-owned' section possibly? Seventhly, who is going to be asked for the detailed, full-build article in order to help others obtain the most pleasure from it...? Dave perhaps? Lastly, do we honestly expect WEM to market this product themselves? Perhaps Iron Shipwrights might like to knock it out. One has to be fully aware of all these attendent problems when one asks a lady in Caroline's position to adopt a new pose. It's not just simply a case of donning the apparal and 'going for a take'. Regards, Chris He tao rakau e taea te karo, tena he tao kupa kaore e taea te karo.... (Te reo Maori) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: Baker Subject: JUNG AT HEART The Jung and Jentshura book was originally published in German,with wonderful 1:120 (or 1200) drawings a la Erich Groener but no photography. The format was essentially the same as used with the multi-volume Groener series about the German Navy An English translation prepared by J.David Brown (Historian of the Admiralty) and well known English naval writer Antony Preston was issued by Arms and Armour Press in the U.K. about 20 years ago. Brown and Preston added an excellent selection of photographs, which considerably improved the value of the book from a modelling standpoint. The information in the book was in a condensed format but was probably about the best that could have been assembled at the time of its writing. It's still the best available book on the entire Imperial Japanese Navy (from formation to its end in 1945) available in a non-Japanese publication, but individual sections have been superceded by works such as the recent--and superb--JAPANESE CRUISERS OF WORLD WAR II by Lacroix and his co- author (it's late, I'm half asleep; forgive me Linton!) published by the USNI Press. It's definitely worth owning if you can only afford one book in the IJN and is vastly superior to anything published before it in English. Best/Dave Baker -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Jeff Herne" Subject: Kits needed Hi gang, Need a Fujimi Saratoga and a Samek Alaska (1/700) for this monster-dio Pearl Harbor project. Will barter for kits or books, or will buy if reasonable... Many thanks, Jeff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume