Subject SMML18/10/99VOL702 Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 23:55:05 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: model hose 2: Lead Wire Source 3: Re: Scharnhorst plans 4: Re: Horror Story 5: "US" Tanker Refueling U-Boats 6: Empire Ships 7: Re: Dennis Buckley DDR 8: Re: SCHARNHORST colors 9: Contents of Model Shipwright Number 70 10: KINKY LIBERTIES 11: SMML meet clarification 12: SS Prairie 13: Re: Demise of the Hood 14: CA Tone: Aoshima vs Fujimi 15: Re: Tanker Questions 16: Re: Myron Smith Books 17: USS California Reference Materials 18: Re: Barrels 19: Re: QUAKE! 20: Re: APDs 21: TV viewing 22: Tubing for 1/700 gun tubs 23: Fujimi USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri 24: OrangeCon 25: Whole lotta shakin' goin' on 26: General Enquiry. 27: USS Alabama camouflage 28: Review of Samek 1/700 HMS York 29: Re: APD 30: Normandie -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SantMin@aol.com Subject: Re: model hose Not to worry. I have 40 year old models with some lead used (such as the hose mentioned) and with a good coat of PRIMER and paint there is no problem. On larger scale models I prefer to use A+B epoxy putty, rolled out flat like pie dough, and cut into flat strips (a more natural hose) and rolled onto the hose reels before it hardens. Cheers, Bob Santos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Ed Grune Subject: Lead Wire Source Hello SMMLies Rusty asked where does one find fine lead wire & what is is used for in the real world. In the "real world", the fine lead wire or fuze wire which we're talking about is used to wrap around hook shanks to add weight for subsurface (wet) flies. [Fly fishing & fly-tying is one of my previous vices. Ship modelers have nothing on fly-tyers and fly fishers for excentricity! We plunk down $250 for a 5 pound hunk-o-resin. They will pay $500 for a 5 oz splinter of kevlar reinforced graphite.] I have some lead wire in my attic - but I stopped in the fly-tying section of the Bass Pro shop at a mega-mall not too far away just to see what they had. They had some 0.015 inch diameter lead wire. (Thats 5 and a quarter inches in 1/350 scale). They also had some "French Tinsel" which is a finer diameter NiChrome wire. Its not as flexible and pliable as lead. Since it comes coiled on a spool it would have some memory which would have to be worked out before it could be used. While you're in the fly shop, look at the tippet material for very small diameter monofilament lines which couls be rails, antennae, or flag halyards. You might also want to look at the small fly hooks (size 20 and smaller) for eye-bolts which could be used for tying off lines. Snip off the bend and super-glue the shank into a hole drilled in the deck/bulkhead. If there isn't a fly shop in tour neighborhood - they do offer catalogs. Once you get on the Orvis or LL Bean mailing list you will never have an empty mailbox again. A final alternative for fine lead wire is your local Radio Shack/electronics hobby shop for the smallest diameter solder they sell. For a another source of small diameter - flexible wire, find a small electric motor and take it apart. I found one with the rotor and stator magnets wrapped with soft copper wire. I like Fritz's tip about replacing the center cylinder on a reel with a larger piece & wrapping that with just one layer of thread - I might try that with the copper wire. Ed Mansfield, TX That mega-mall mentioned above is on the wive's/girlfriend's/significant other's shopping trip itinerary for the 2000 IPMS-USA Nationals in Dallas. Bring money! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: GrafSpee34@aol.com Subject: Re: Scharnhorst plans The plans are reprints of the Loef's Plans, published for children during the Nazi era. Loef's also made plans for the Prinz Eugen, SMS Emden, destroyers, etc. Although they make a nice first impression, they are notoriously inaccurate. Skip the plans, but I would recommend the photo book, from what I have seen on the website. I have pre-ordered a copy myself. Cheers Dave Krakow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Darren Scannell Subject: Re: Horror Story Thought I'd share a suggestion, If you have a modeling bench that you can modify drill a hole in it for the lamp and throw away the clamp. If it is the same type of cheap (I'm sorry, I mean inexpensive) lamp that I used, it has a metal round support post that goes through the plastic clamp unit. On one lamp I mounted a block of wood onto the wall with a hole drilled into it vertically that supports the lamp and on the other I have a plywood shelf on my workbench that I drilled a hole into and set the lamp into. Without the clamp, it is much sturdier. Hope it helps. Darren -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: GrafSpee34@aol.com Subject: "US" Tanker Refueling U-Boats Hi The "American" oil tanker "Prarie" seen in the photo is actially the German oiler & U-boat tender Nordmark, sister ship of the Altmark. Paul Beaver, the author who wrote the caption for the photo, interpreted the markings exactly as intended-- to fool the observer into believing the ship was a (at that time) Neutral. It was common practice to paint auxilliary ships as neutrals, striking the assumed colors and showing the battle flag at the last possible second before opening fire, or being fired upon. In fact, the Kriegsmarine contracted and issued flags of various nationalities to their ships. I own a "British" White Ensign made in Germany during the war, replete with the Kriegsmarine markings. I have even seen photos of the Admiral Hipper flying an American flag. No doubt that US Oil Companys would have loved to sell their products to the Germans, but the US Government was enforcing an embargo on war materials to Axis countries (You may remember that's why the Hindenberg was filled with nasty German Hydrogen instead of friendly American Helium). After the war, American oil companies tried like hell to sue the US Government for destruction of company stockpiles during the retreat from the Phillipines. Presumably, they were ready to sell it to the Japanese for a tidy profit. At any rate, they lost. Resulted in a tort law case which is required reading for first year law students. Cheers Dave Krakow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Sven E Dorsey" Subject: Empire Ships Funny you should ask I just purchased a book at a used book store called The Rescue Ships.by Vice-Admiral BB Schofield and Lt Commander [SP] L.F. Martyn. The class of Empire ships were the Convoy rescue ships ,assigned to pick up the survivors of the ships that were sunk. Many time it was a ship in existance that met the needs of the service. ie low freeboard room for bunks and a surgery. Some names listed in the book were Empire Antelope,SS, Beaumont,SS, Dell,SS,Gold,SS . There was even a Corvette converted to the Empire Rest I don't know what her Corvette name was? Andrew Authur's Royal Navy site might give that Information -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Dave Judy Subject: Re: Dennis Buckley DDR Kenn I got this kit about 2 mos. ago and I have looked it over, this kit is a superb kit w/ very well done instr. It is a 2 peice hull, so you will have to do a little body work to fill the seam. It seems that you can build it as a late war DDR or post war DDR. You can't go wrong with this one! Dave Judy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "John Snyder" Subject: Re: SCHARNHORST colors Well, if Falk Pletscher and Dave Krakow promise not to laugh too hard, following is a rough (emphasis on rough) translation from the German using one of the available on-line translator programs: "Color specification: Underwater hull: Dark-brownish-red; Boot topping: grey-black; Superstructure: light-grey; Deck: Light wood colours; Superstructures deck: Siena brown" The latter color would be the linoleum, and is probably close to Burnt Siena rather than Raw Siena, which is pretty yellow. John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises The Paint Guys -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "David Hathaway" Subject: Contents of Model Shipwright Number 70 Can someone on the list tell me if the HMS Polyphemus article is about the Napoleonic sailing warship of that name or the later steam-powered turret ram ship (the one I am interested in!). This will save me spending the money to get it and then being cross when it isn't the one I want. Many thanks David -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Dave Baker Subject: KINKY LIBERTIES A warning for anyone thinking about building one of the now-several Skywave kits of various Liberty ships (all pretty much the same kit, with different artwork): the kit suffers from the notorious Skywave "kink" to the hull that makes their kits of the SUMNER/GEARING classes, all their DE kits, and possibly others very difficult to reconfigure with the proper sheer to the upper deck. The Skywave Liberty has a noticable sharp bend to the hull forward (rather like that on a real USN SPRUANCE hull) that was simply not there on the real Liberties, which had a graceful continuous sheer over the entire length of the hull. The Tom's Modelworks Liberty kit is far more accurate, if a bit more work because is is in resin, but in the end you have a far better model. To anyone considering sending me an e-mail, we'll be offline for about a week while moving to a new home. Should be an interesting time . . . E-mail address will be the same. Best/Dave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: CA139JOHNF@aol.com Subject: SMML meet clarification Maties, My post of yesterday was a call for volunteers to help plan our first meet scheduled for sometime next year. The meeting on November 13 is jjust for planning and discussion. Results to be put to the entire list the next day. I hope I didn't scare too many with my muddled thinking while writng yesterday. Any questions, feel free to fire when ready. John Frohock USNSM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Brian Selzler Subject: SS Prairie Hello Craig, The SS Prairie in the photo you mentioned was in fact the German supply ship Nordmark. It was common for these ships to disguise themselves as neutrals to avoid drawing attention to themselves if they encountered other merchant vessels while cruising to their next rendezvous. On this particular cruise Nordmark also supplied Scheer, Thor, Kormoran, Pinguin and Atlantis as well as various U-boats. Apparently, there was no such ship as the SS Prairie on the Lloyd's Shipping Register at this time so why they chose that name is unclear. However, there was a USS Prairie, a destroyer tender, whose profile wasn't anything like the bogus Prairie so who knows. So, in this case I don't think there was any sort of oil company conspiracy to sneakily trade with the Nazis. for what it's worth, Brian Selzler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Mike Connelley Subject: Re: Demise of the Hood Howdy: Who ever engineered those clamp type bases must have failed thier physics classes! I avoided that type and got a nice little desk lamp with a 6" round base. It's practically impossible to tip over, and if it ever tips over it's balanced so it'd tip over backwards and not onto my Missouri. The desk space isn't wasted since the base is flat and I can put any small items on there (my keys for example). Plus it uses a 60W incandescent bulb so you don't go nuts from looking at a 60Hz greenish buzzing florescent light for hours on end. I don't know how I modeled without it before. Cheers Mike Connelley P.S. I've personally never lost a model to a lamp,but I have to a cat. There's a nice horror tale on the Warship page of a Hood being lost to an evil bookshelf that would not defy gravity any longer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Mike Connelley Subject: CA Tone: Aoshima vs Fujimi Howdy: I noticed that both Aoshima and Fujimi offer Tone class heavy cruisers for sale. Can anyone say which is better, or which company offers better ship kits in general? Cheers Mike Connelley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "The Shannons" Subject: Re: Tanker Questions >> 1. In a book called World War 2 photo album No. 11 U-boats in the Atlantic by Paul Beaver copyright 1979 on page 51 is this statement "The American tanker PRAIRIE refuels a group of U-boats, including U-107, just 6 months before the US entered the war on the Allied Prior to Pearl Harbor, many Americans were more pro German than pro British and, in fact several senior officials in major oil companies were naturalized American citizens of German extraction. Indeed, there were four American tankers waiting to supply the Bismarck when she sailed on her ill fated cruise "With it is a photo of the SS Prairie with U-boats. Who owned the Prairie? What oil companies or company was involved in this? Any one heard anything about this? << Be a little careful on this. The "Nordmark" a German supply ship, at one point did disquise herself as American, and may have used the name "Prairie". I remember a line about this kind of disquise in Admiral Krancke's book of his cruise as captain of the Scheer. While it would have been perfectly legal to sell oil to both sides, I doubt there was a setup for refueling U-boats or other German combatants at sea and the senior officials would have faced treason charges if this had continued after December 9, 1941. In addition, if caught by any British forces doing this, the American ship could have been siezed at the least and sunk at the most. While the British would have faced flack for the deaths of American crew if they attacked without warning and did not give the crew time to escape, the American owners or leasors would have a hard time explaining what a neutral American ship was doing in supporting a belligerent ship on the high seas. Probably the most support would have been selling (at possibly reduced prices) to German ships that were supporting the U-boats and surface raider operations, the loads could even have been picked up at a third country port in a new version of the Triangle Trade. This was a very controversial item then, and still is in war situations. The morality of "Selling to both sides" in terms of supplies to extend a war can get very sticky. Usually, the side that can enforce an embargo gets the final say on what constitutes contraband carried in Neutral bottoms. Mark. The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: Derek "Tiger" Wakefield Subject: Re: Myron Smith Books Dasvidanya! >> Myron Smith wrote 5 Battleship books, published by Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. of Missuoula Montana. These were well done and provided line drawings and color photos as well as the ship's history. I have not seen any of his books on the New Mexico class battleships. Does anyone know if such a book exists? Is Smith still doing these books? << I have his "Golden State Battlewagon: USS California (BB-44)" book of that series. I bought his "Keystone State Battlewagon: USS Pennsylvannia (BB-38)" book for a friend, so I had the opportunity to at least flip though that one. If everything goes according to plan, I should soon have his "Volunteer State Battlewagon: USS Tennessee (BB-43)" because according to Jon Warneke that's the book included with the IS 1/350 Tennessee kit. A quick check on Amazon shows no books in this series on any of the New Mexicos, and some of the existing books are stated to be OOP. The only ones I've seen or heard of were on the PA, TN, CA, MD, and WV. I have no idea whether he's still doing these books or not, but I'd hope he plans on doing more of them. They remind me of the squadron books to a large degree, and such are great reference books for the price. _|_o_|_ Derek "Tiger" (/\)akefield /---(.](o)[.)---\ iscandar2@chatter.com o oo O oo o http://www.iscandar-66.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Derek "Tiger" Wakefield Subject: USS California Reference Materials Has anyone here bought or seen either of these books? Blue Water Beat: The Two Lives of the Battleship USS California by George F. Gruner, Glencannon Pr 1996; ISBN: 1889901016 USS California (BB-44), Turner Pub Co 1997; ISBN: 1563112523 I'm considering getting these as part of my research (historical as well as modeling) on the ship. However, given given they're over $50 each, I'm curious to hear what they're like. On the warship site, the review for the IS 1/350 Tennesee also mentions a Profile Morskie USS California book (which Jon W has informed me the kit *does not* come with - but the Myron Smith Volunteer State Battlewagon one instead). Beyond that though, I haven't seen this book listed for sale anywhere. Is it still available, or is it OOP? Last but not least, Floating Drydock has a set of plans for the Tennessee as she appeared in 45. Those would probably suffice, but there are some noticable differences between the TN and CA in as far as their AA armament was concerned, and I'm wanting to build a CA c.1944. Does anyone know if there are any plans available for the CA during that time frame? Dasvidanya! _|_o_|_ Derek "Tiger" (/\)akefield /---(.](o)[.)---\ iscandar2@chatter.com o oo O oo o http://www.iscandar-66.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: Derek "Tiger" Wakefield Subject: Re: Barrels >> I am wondering about the barrels of the main guns, and I'd like to know the best way to add 'depth' the business end of these guns. Should I drill them out? Assuming I can find a bit small enough, I'm not particularly confident in my ability to do this correctly (I cringe at the thought of slipping just an eensy bit) What about replacing them with brass tubing? Again, an issue for me is if I can do this justice i.e. not glue the damn things on crooked and off-center. Any suggestions on doing either of these, or other methods?<< TBK, this is something I'm skittish about myself and first off I'd like to thank those who have shared their techniques here thus far. As far as properly aligning the brass rod barrels... After reading this it dawned on me that you might be able to mount a small piece of sprue or rod across the interior of the cavity of the turret with pegs behind each of the sleeves. As long as this mounting jig is mounted perfectly horizontal, it would give you a guide to mount the barrels. Then use a carpenter's pen insure they are level with one another out to muzzles. This is just an idea (that would only work with injected kits with hollow turret shells) with no foundation in practice so I can't say for sure if it will work, but it might be worth a try. Dasvidanya! _|_o_|_ Derek "Tiger" (/\)akefield /---(.](o)[.)---\ iscandar2@chatter.com o oo O oo o http://www.iscandar-66.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: b29@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: QUAKE! You guys in England are a crack-up, Caroline. Either you were smoking somthing funny and got transported back exactly 10 years or you're referring to the Landers quake of yesterday which occurred in the Mojave Desert and mostly shook up the tumbleweed. Anyway, we appreciate the sentiments, and thank you for thinking of us. Ten years ago today at this very minute I was standing in the middle of a busy intersection directing traffic (no I'm not a police officer-I'm a lawyer) since all the traffic signals were out. THAT quake, known as the Loma Prieta, was really a shaker! Paul Jacobs Saratoga CA -in the beautiful Santa Clara Valley (aka Silicon Valley), the heart of earthquake country. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: Derek "Tiger" Wakefield Subject: Re: APDs >> There were two classes of US navy destroyer escorts converted to fast transports. Buckley class DE's were converted to Charles Lawrence class APD's and Rudderow class DE's changed into Crosley class APD's (See the literature recommended by Marc Flake). Why is this bad news? Your father's ship APD-135 Weiss was not a Buckley conversion but a Crosley class ship, see: << I was familar with "Lawrence" Class, but didn't know about the "Crosley" cl. Unfortunately, the editions of Jane's FS I have seem to lump all the ships into a single category and don't mention the fact there were two separate classes (sigh). I haven't spent much time studying DDs and DEs, so it's not surprising I didn't know this. OTOH, given what I do know, it makes sense that they would've built some of these ships from Rudderow cl ships. FYI, I found the site you mentioned the night before I received your message. Guess I must've missed the Crosley class part. >> Don't give up the ship. As I noted, my father-in-lw served on the Bass, a Crossley-type APD. I kit-bashed a Skywave Rudderow-class DE and the Classic Warships APD to make him a model of his ship. I simply cut the forward superstructure off the Skywave kit, made a few cuts, sanded here and there, assembled it and positioned it properly on the Classic Warships' hull. And frankly, the tripod crane is much esier to construct than the lattice work nightmare on the Lawrence-class APDs. << Don't worry, I'm not too keen on giving up ships anymore . Sounds doable, but I'll have get more kitbashing experience before I try something like this. I would've prefered to find the needed kits in 1/350 scale, but it's probably better dealing with this at 1/700 than trying to deal with a scratchbuild project at the larger scale. Dasvidanya! _|_o_|_ Derek "Tiger" (/\)akefield /---(.](o)[.)---\ iscandar2@chatter.com o oo O oo o http://www.iscandar-66.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21) From: Stuart Robottom Subject: TV viewing This is a heads up and applies only to Aussie listmembers. This week on TV we have: 2000 on SBS: Decisive Weapons -- Wings Over the Ocean British Doco on carriers. Pearl Harbor and Midway are specifically mentioned. 2030 on ABC: Australian Story: Last of the Steam Demons About HMAS Perth -- she decommed last Friday I believe. This is the info for Vic viewers (info from the local papers), of course, check your local guides for other areas. Good viewing. Regards, Stuart Robottom -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22) From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: Tubing for 1/700 gun tubs Folks: I've been looking for a long time for very thin walled tubing to use to simulate gun tubs in 1/700 scale, and finally found a source (to my knowledge, most of the major manufacturers such as K&S don't produce tubing with walls thinner than about .014"). I thought some of you might be interested. Special Shapes Co. produces brass and aluminum tubing, rods, etc., for the hobbyist. In particular, they produce 5/32" tubing with a wall thickness of .006" which is very thin indeed, and looks very much "in scale" for 1/700 scale models. I ordered some from them last week and was very happy when it arrived. I haven't tried cutting it yet, but this should not be a problem. They have a web site at and can be reached by phone at: 1 (800) 51-SHAPE. Their mailing address is: Special Shapes Co. P.O. Box 7487 1356 Naperville Drive Romeoville, IL 60446-0487 United States of America Hope this helps some of you! Mike Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23) From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: Fujimi USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri Folks: Someone inquired a few days ago concerning the differences between the Fujimi 1/700 scale kits of the USS Iowa, New Jersey, and Missouri. To my knowledge, there are none. They are the identical kit of an Iowa class battleship with a square bridge in different boxes. I know, because I had the Iowa and New Jersey kits once. Best wishes, Mike Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: OrangeCon Will the fellow SMMLer who modeled USS Catawampus AO-123 stand forward and take a digital bow? With the noise and lack of a PA system at OrangeCon, I didn't quite catch his name. His rendering of an old Revell (I believe) injection kit was truly amazing. Even if I had judged that category, which I also entered, I would have had no trouble in picking his model for first place. Seeing that kind of workmanship inspires me to try harder. Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: Whole lotta shakin' goin' on Thanks to Caroline and Shane for your concern. Luckily, we are over a hunderd miles south of the epicenter. The quake awoke my wife and me, and we spent 45 seconds seemingly afloat as our house undulated rather gently up and down. Then we went back to sleep. It mostly was a reminder to refresh our emergency water supply. Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26) From: "Michael D'Silva" Subject: General Enquiry. Hello Shane, Would you kindly post this message on the SMML. It has perplexed me for a while and I've consulted many books and other references with no success. We all know what HMS, RMS, DKM, etc. stand for. The one I've yet to work out is SMS. Any suggestions?. Best wishes, Michael D'Silva -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27) From: "Pletscher-Lenz-Schneider" Subject: USS Alabama camouflage Profile Morskie No. 18 shows a color drawing of USS Alabama BB 60 as camouflaged in 1942 on the back cover. Can anybody confirm this pattern? What colours were really used for this scheme? Thanks Falk Pletscher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28) From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: Review of Samek 1/700 HMS York Folks: As promised, here is my review of the Samek 1/700 scale HMS York. Overall, I feel this is a wonderful kit that is a fantastic value at $45. Though it has some minor shortcomings, most of these are easily rectified. The quality of the casting in this kit is superb: I found absolutely no air bubbles; the molding is as sharp as a razor; the breakwater, gun shields, and cradles for the ship's boats are paper thin (literally); and the deck is delicately scribed to simulate planking. I put the quality of the casting on par with Waveline and Hi-Mold of Japan, who in my mind set the industry standard. Dimensions-wise, the kit appears to be slightly undersize. She is about 1/8" shorter than the Matchbox Exeter kit, and ¼" shorter than the 1/700 scale drawing of York in the Profile Morskie publication. Based on my own measurements, she is probably closer to 1/8" undersize. By contrast, she appears slightly too beamy by perhaps 1/64". Nonetheless, the master-maker has really captured the character of the ship, with its straked stacks and awkward, stubby little bridge. The kit represents York in her wartime fit (1940-41), with her complex trapezoidal light/dark grey wartime camouflage pattern. The hull, deckhouses, and catapult turntable are molded integral to the hull, which greatly simplifies assembly. The only other major components that require assembly are the guns, bridge, and stacks. These other components are molded on paper thin resin wafers (which are easily removed), or heavier casting blocks (here removal is slightly more difficult, but anyone with any experience with resin kits should have no problem). The funnel caps are cast solid onto the stacks and most modelers will probably want to route them out and to add caps fashioned from brass wire. The piping on the funnel is perhaps a little too fine, and probably should have been heavier, but this is a minor criticism. Other minor criticisms: the hawse pipe holes are nicely rendered, but they lack their characteristic rims, which can be simulated by a link cut from one of the larger model railroad chains. Likewise, the ports for the 8" guns in the main turrets are represented by lightly scribed ovals. These should be drilled out to show some "depth." This was easily accomplished. In addition, because some of the moldings are so finely rendered, you must be very careful handling the kit. As a result, the paper thin armor shielding for the 4" guns (which are located amidship) broke off during shipping, but this should be easy for a modeler with some experience with resin to fix. The PE set is a little basic by todays standards, lacking any kind of elaborate detail or relief etching, and most modelers will want to replace the catapult with one from White Ensign Models (though I think that York's catapult may have been a one-off design, and I'm not sure which catapult one would use to correctly represent it). Likewise, the davits should have semicircular goosenecks, and should not be angled at the top, as rendered on the PE sheet. This is easily remedied by replacing the PE davits with fine brass wire. Finally, some of the ships boats are a bit "toy-like," and should be replaced by WEM boats, as should the four 4" HA guns. The only major criticism concerns the bridge, which is incorrectly rendered. The shape of the lower bridge wings are wrong. They should be nearly identical in configuration to the middle bridge wings, but are not. The source of this error is unclear, since the drawings in Raven and Roberts (British Cruisers of the Second World War), and Profile Morskie No. 3 (HMS York) show them as being identical in outline. Moreover, the upper bridge has several additional errors. The bridge face is simplified (compare to the nice photo of the bridge face of HMS York on the cruiser web-page at: http://www.world-war.co.uk/York/york.html) while the open bridge is rendered as a closed bridge by the addition of a roof (obviously the master-maker mistook the floor of the open bridge in the drawings he was working with to be the roof - this is one of the pitfalls of trying to translate two dimension drawings into a 3-D model). Finally, York had an enclosed armored catwalk in the rear of her upper bridge level which is not represented in the model (nor is it evident in the drawings in Raven and Roberts or Profile Morskie, even though it is clearly evident in photos from the 30s and WWII - see the photo of HMS York in A.B.C. Whipple, "World War II: The Mediterranean," (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981) pp. 128-129). These shortcomings should be easy to fix by any modeler with some experience in accurizing in resin. Those who aren't purists will probably be satisfied with the effect obtained by building the kit straight out of the box; it looks acceptable enough as it is. The kit is superbly engineered; it literally falls together and could be assembled in a few evenings without the aforementioned modifications. And if you want to accurize it by correcting the bridge, and some of the other shortcomings, this shouldn't take more than a few additional hours of work. Overall, despite these criticisms, I am very pleased with this kit. Three out of four kits I buy - from all manufacturers (this includes even the best - such as Wave Line, Hi Mold, White Ensign, Tamiya… you name it)have inaccuracies of some sort than need to be rectified. This kit needs more than the average amount of tweaking (at least from my point of view), but Samek has done such a nice job in so many ways, the problems are so easily fixed, the kit is so well engineered and so easy to build, and at $45 the kit is so inexpensive, that I won't hold these shortcomings against it. I should also mention, that if you have been planning to do the HMS Exeter in her 1941-42 fit, get the Matchbox kit for the bridge and the stacks, and use the hull and main guns from the Samek HMS York (of course you'll still have to do a fair amount of scratchbuilding and modification). The Samek HMS York should provide an excellent foundation for a beautiful HMS Exeter conversion. It's certainly better than using the Matchbox kit as a foundation. In short, I highly recommend this kit for the modeler with some experience with resin, due to the delicacy of some of the parts and its complex trapezoidal paint scheme. Mike Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29) From: drwells@hogpb.mt.att.com (David R Wells) Subject: Re: APD Bernhard wrote: >> There were two classes of US navy destroyer escorts converted to fast transports. Buckley class DE's were converted to Charles Lawrence class APD's and Rudderow class DE's changed into Crosley class APD's (See the literature recommended by Marc Flake). Why is this bad news? Your father's ship APD-135 Weiss was not a Buckley conversion but a Crosley class ship, see: http://www.syix.com/fletcher/Weiss%20folder/weissstory.html To my knowledge, there is no kit available for this class of ships. << There are at least three different Rudderow class kits out there that I know of. There are two Lindberg Rudderow class kits, one in 1/300 scale and one in 1/600 scale. Both of these kits are quite old, so they're really not up to the best modern standards, but they are out there. The 1/300 kit is usually readily available. It's not a great kit, but it is salvageable. It's also cheap. Getting the deck to seal nicely against the hull is a bit tricky. The raised panel welding should be sanded off. Fit is not that great. The hull isn't especially accurate. The 1/600 Rudderow class is usually sold as part of Lindberg's "Task Force 4" package. It's kind of a mini version of the 1/300 kit, with many of the same faults. It's a bit harder to find. Skywave used to make a 1/700 WL Rudderow class, but I've never seen one out of the box. I haven't seen any of these kits lately. Any of these three kits could be converted into an APD. David R. Wells "There seems to be something wrong | David R. Wells with our bloody ships today" | AT&T Middletown, NJ Adm. D. Beatty, May 31, 1916 | Email: drwells@hogpa.mt.att.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30) From: WALKERHOME@webtv.net (David M. Walker) Subject: Normandie I stumbled across your website completely by accident while doing a websearch for model kits on DOGPILE (I normally use Alta Vista). Was the resin kit that got 9 advance orders instead of the 10 required to begin production the ocean liner Normandie? I would have loved to have my name on that list. THANKS. Sincerely, David Walker Salisbury NC USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume