Subject SMML18/11/99VOL733 Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 00:11:04 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Ken Summa's E-Mail Address 2: In topic - Troops in East Timor 3: Re: Hiragana, katakana, kanji 4: Shaky waters 5: Re: Judging colors 6: German WWII Cruisers 7: Masts 8: HMS Dido 9: Judging 10: Re: Giorgios Averoff 11: Re: Dido and Cossack 12: FS595a chips 13: Re: Books on wooden ship modelling? 14: WW1 Q Ship 15: Re: 1/450 Akagi (kind of) and Japanese writing 16: Museum Ships 17: Great Book Series 18: Conversion kit, CA-38 19: IJN HUMBROL COLOURS 20: USS Houston 21: Mast Assemby 22: Hi-my computer is totally whacked!! 23: Trivia 24: Arleigh Burke -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Naval Base Hobbies 2: Corvettes or not corvettes, that is the question 3: Flagship Models new URL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Courtney Regan" Subject: Ken Summa's E-Mail Address Hello; I'd like to get the e-mail address of Ken Summa so I can e-mail him (or possibly he could e-mail me now) and ask him some questions about his Classic Warships 1:350 Scale Kit of the USS North Carolina that he built, and then reviewed in a article that is on the Wrships site: http://warship.simplenet.com/CWNCarolina.htm). He did an awesome job overall and especially on the paint scheme. I'd like some advice or tips if he can offer me, as I'm about to begin my 1/350 scale model of the USS Iowa as she appeared in Jan. 1944. The Iowa had a unique Camouflage measure at the time (Measure 32: Design 1 B), which had similar colors to the Model Ken built Well thanks a lot Courtney Regan Boston, Ma -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Luis Verissimo" Subject: In topic - Troops in East Timor After some fine words from Ed, Shane wrote, >> The Kiwis, Gurkhas & some Asian countries(can't remember them off the top of my head) are also in East Timor as well. Shane << And Portuguese too ! Meko class frigate Vasco da Gama just arrived in East Timor after a month's journey and a short replenishment stop in Australia (Sydney ?). Luis Verissimo Hi Luis, Sackcloth time here, I should have remembered the Portuguese contribution to the East Timor Peacekeeping force. My hunble apologies. Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Fernando, Yohan" Subject: Re: Hiragana, katakana, kanji >> Which leads me to my question; were IJN ships also named using kanji? << All IJN ships' names could be wriiten as kanji and probably were when mentioned in books and documents. Since kanji are based on Chinese ideographs, the characters are alot more complicated than the two forms of kana characters, so would not be appropriate for painting on the side of a ship. It would be very difficult to read from a distance. In everyday Japanese, all three forms of writing are used as thus: Kanji: used for nouns, verb and adjective roots (an comparison for English would be if for the word "reading", there was a symbol or character for the "read" part of the word). Also used for Japanese names of people and places. Hiragana: used for noun, verb and adjective endings such as the "ing" in "reading". So in Japanese you would see the kanji for "read" followed by the hiragana characters that spelled "i-n-g". Since hiragana is an alphabet and does not use ideograms, you can spell any word soley in hiragana if you didn't know the appropriate kanji for the word (basically, you would spell out "r-e-a-d-i-n-g"). Young childrens' books use all hiragana to start with before the kids learn the more complicated (and numorous) kanji. Hiragana is also used for 'particles' as they are termed in Japanese- that is, equivalent words to 'the', 'a', 'to', etc. Katakana: used for foreign based words (like to spell out "computer") as well as foreign names. Technically, you can also write any word in katakana, which is sometimes used in ads or on product packaging (or on the sides of IJN destroyers). So in a Japanese book, you would see all three used together (kind of like how with the alphabet, you see capital and lowercase letters used together, each for its own reason.) So "Yukikaze" is a Japanese name that would be written in its kanji form in books and other documents. On the stern of said destroyer, the name was spelled out in hiragana characters. And on the sides (for awhile), the name was written out in katakana characters. All the same name with the same pronounciation, just different ways of writing it. The name "Fletcher" on the other hand would always be written by spelling it out in katakana, since it is a foreign word. Sorry, if this was a bit off topic, but the language is so much more rich and interesting than English! Yohan Fernando -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "J. Lamontagne" Subject: Shaky waters Fellow SMMLers: I'm not writing this to sollicit sympathy, but... As an old guy who is over 70 years old, I suffer from times when I lose control of my hands and cannot pursue my old hobby of making ship models, particularly those with lots of rigging, ratlines, etc. To make things worse, I also have a condition called Essential Tremor which caused me to stop being a watercolorist. The question I would like to pose is do any of you have special tricks or equipment to assist in holding or placing small parts for gluing, etc.??? They tell me that alcohol is good for stopping shakes, but I don't want to go on being perpetually smashed #;0) !! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Judging colors There has been some discussion about the accuracy of colors in IPMS (USA) competition. I want this to be clear. We do not judge color. As long as it's close, we have to move on. As everyone is aware, colors change from photo to photo depending on lighting, filters used, film (color film was pretty crude in WW2) and age of the photo. What do you do if a modeler has a color photo under the model with colors mixed to that photo? That's why we have to be flexible here. By the way, I really enjoy answering the judging questions posed here. I think most folks on this list are becoming more understanding as to how IPMS rules are interpreted by the ship judges. Rusty White IPMS (USA) Head ship judge http://warship.simplenet.com/Flagship.htm "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Alan Lindstrom" Subject: German WWII Cruisers I just acquired the Samek Koenigsberg and Leipzig, and the WSW Karlsruhe. I quickly noticed that the Samek kits didn't show any simulated deck planking while the WSW kit does. After checking some photos, it appears that the Koenigsberg and Leipzig may not have had planked decks. I couldn't find a good closeup of the deck of the Karlsruhe. Can anyone shed any light on this issue? Is it possible that the Koenigsberg did not have a planked deck, while the Karlsruhe did, even though they were of the same class? Still on the subject of decks, I was noticing that on about page 90 in Preston's Cruiser book, there is a color photo of the USS Savanah in Algiers in 1943. The camo is MS22, but there is some evidence, to my eyes, that at least the forecastle deck, was natural wood, ie., no deck blue stain. Any other opinions? Alan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Masts Hi Alan I use superglue to stick the various bits together. This works very well and provides a good bond. You could notch the mast but I've never found it necessary. My approach is to assemble the mast and legs using a template and then quickly add any supporting strutts to give strength. Allow the structure to set and then add platforms. Paint the mast and superglue it to the ship then add the final little extras like yards and radars. The great thing about brass rod masts is that they look superb and more accurate then most plastic ones. An important point to remember is not to rush things and take as much time as you would on all the other details of the model. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: HMS Dido Hi WRPRESS I seem to recall photos of the Dido carrying out bombardment duties during 1942-1943 in overall light grey. This was quite an extensive series and is held in the Imperial War Museum. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Judging Hi All Correct me if I'm wrong but reading the threads over the past few days if you're an American IPMS judge:- 1. You can remove glass cases thereby damaging someones model and if the builder doesn't want to do this you don't judge their entry. 2. You cannot mark down an entry if it is inaccurate and incorrect in some details. What kind of morons devised these rules? Actually I know the answer - RIVET COUNTERS!. I'm just glad I don't have anything to do with this ridiculous scene. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Erhardtsen" Subject: Re: Giorgios Averoff >> This ship was a unit of the Italian Pisa class and was practically identical except for the main guns which were Armstrong with the turret fronts being less rounded in plan view. There do not appear to have been any major changes in her external appearance other than searchlight platforms being mounted on the two tripod masts. There is an excellent booklet (in English) obtainable from Akritas Publications, Efessou 24, 171 21 Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece (Tel: 9334 554) which has photos of her in both World War periods and in her present guise as a museum ship, as well as her history. << What is the name of this publication? Erik Erhardtsen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Edward Brown" Subject: Re: Dido and Cossack >> There was mention that by late 1940 ALL Tribal class destroyers had the twin 4.7" mounting in X position replaced by a twin 4", the aft funnel cut down, and the mainmast replaced by a short pole. I have a very clear photo of the Nubian taken at Alexandria in 1941 where she still retains the 4.7" in X position, the aft funnel has NOT been cut in height. The rig has been changed with a type 286 radar aerial at the foremast head. The mainmast has been removed and replaced with a very small aerial spreader. As the ship did not leave the Med until after being damaged off Crete in May of 1941, she would not have had any refit up to the time of said damage. Her first major refit and repair took place at Bombay in 1941/42. I hope that this note is of value to modellers. << Well, not for the first time, I was wrong but you will appreciate that I am not a professional and have to rely, largely, on published materail. My reason for picking up on the matter was that I thought that the remarkable part of the photo was that the twin 4.7" mounting had been replaced by the twin 4" - obviously I missed the point. What was your reason for remarking on this photo? Edward -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Robert Lockie" Subject: FS595a chips I am sure someone posted a source for the book of chips here but it was a few months ago and I have, oddly enough, not kept a record of where it was. Someone has asked me how to acquire said document so can anyone give me an address and vague idea of price please? Many thanks. Robert Lockie Cambridge UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Erwin Van Deynze Subject: Re: Books on wooden ship modelling? There are several books on wooden shipmoddeling available. I have Harold A. UNderhill's book : Plan-On-Frame Models and Scale Masting & Rigging It consist of two parts, and describes the building of wooden models. It is published by Brown, Son & Ferguson from Glasgow. The book dates from 1958, but has been reprinted several times (mine's from 1985). Erwin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Peter Mispelkamp" Subject: WW1 Q Ship Some one asked about a WWI Q ship kit. Not 100% postive but I think the kit in question was released by Lindberg (of all companies?) in the early to mid 1960's. Although, I could be wrong and it depicted one of the few Q-ships used in WWII. I can still remember building it - but of course mine has vanished into the great abyess known as kit heaven. Don't even have the instruction any more. It was a pretty basic kit, with hollow plastic blocks that you lifted up to reveal some rather bizarre looking small caliber cannons. Good luck and happy modeling Peter K. H. Mispelkamp. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Y.Sakurai" Subject: Re: 1/450 Akagi (kind of) and Japanese writing Hello, My name is Yoshihiro , I live in Japan. I don't understand English well. Please bear my broken English. >> Actually, the character is the katakana for 'a'- as in 'Akagi'. Kaga had a 'ka', Hiryu had a 'hi' and guess what? Soryu had a 'so'. << It is correct except for Soryu. The Japanese used the old writing style till the end of the war. Some words are diferent between the speaking and writting. The old writing word of the Soryu is "Sauryau". So, Soryu had a "sa". Also IJN destroyer Kagerou is "Kagerofu". Yoshihiro Sakurai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: Museum Ships Last Saturday my wife and I were vacationing in Charleston, South Carolina. Took the boat ride out to Fort Sumter and after that drove to Patriot's Point. Each cost $10 per person. My previous visit to see Yorktown and the other museum ships there was in 1980, just before I went off to OCS, and the museum fleet seems to have visibly deteriorated over the years. I guess getting periodically blasted by hurricanes will do that. Several of the aircraft that the tour guide listed as being on the flight deck were missing, probably as a result of storm damage. Yorktown was swarming with Scout groups, and as we took a few of the self-guided tours we ran into people who seemed hell-bent on ignoring the directional arrows, so there were bottlenecks around every corner. Susie didn't like the steep ladders and asked how sailors could manage them. I replied that it helped to be skinny and 19 years old. For whatever reason, the displays were a lot less impressive than I remembered them. I had especially wanted to see the Battleship Room and Cruiser Room, but neither was very interesting. Few of the models onboard were particularly impressive and most were really pretty crude and inaccurate. One exception was a phenomenal 1/96 scale light cruiser Atlanta by John Ficklin, who also designed the 1/350 kit for Gulfsteam Models (it's down in the basement closet with so many others). I continued on to the Coast Guard cutter Ingham and got a lot of exterior detail shots which should be helpful when I get back to work on the Revell kit of Taney. I missed various details when I photographed the sister ship in Baltimore and didn't want to make a special trip back there, so I hoped there was enough in common between the two of them. Ingham's wooden main deck must have rotted away so badly beneath the non-skid layer that they'd torn it up in several places, and there was a two to three inch drop where the rusty bare metal under-deck was exposed. The submarine Clamagore looked awful, too, but a sign said they had plans to renovate it next summer. I figured I wouldn't even have time to see the FRAM destroyer Laffey, so I just took some pictures from the pier. The one new display was a mock-up of a Vietnam "Brown Water Navy" support base, with a PBR sitting in a water-filled ditch and a couple of helos and some green-painted trailers nearby. One trailer contained several large builder's models of riverine craft, which I'd be willing to bet were the ones that used to be in the now-defunct amphibious museum at NAB Little Creek. Just goes to show what an enormous effort must go into preserving and maintaining a museum ship, and the struggle for funds they must put up with. I suppose, too, that after seeing Kidd in Baton Rouge anything else would be a let-down. Next year we hope to take in HMCS Sackville in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mike L Alexandria, VA USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Stephen C Gustafson Subject: Great Book Series Fellow and Fellowette SMMLies, I need to take this opportunity to tell you about an interesting publishing company called Arcadia. The have a large list of books in their Images of America series, some of which should be of great interest to naval enthusiasts. This is a series of approximately 128 page, soft cover books measuring approx. 9 x 6.5 inches and filled with black and white photos. Captions only, no text! Amongst the ever-growing list are the following titles: The Navy in Newport The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Quonset Point Naval Air Station Quonser Point Naval Air Station II And, as of 3:00 pm today, 11-17-99, two new titles: Charlestown Navy Yard (this is Boston, not Charleston) Brooklyn Navy Yard I have the first four and ordered the two newest today. For those of you who subscribe to Dan Jones PSMQ, he reviewed the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard a couple of issues ago. Prices vary from US $14.99 to 16.99 and I think are worth every cent. The web site is: http://www.arcadiaimages.com/arcadiacatalog.html Thanks and I hope you enjoy. Steve Gustafson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: "Don Carner" Subject: Conversion kit, CA-38 Greetings! Well, I need some help... I have E-mailed the manufacturer of my '42 version of USS San Francisco in 1/350th. I inquired about a '44 refit conversion kit. No reply. Is there anyone out there that knows of a company that provides a retrofit for this model? It's a resin, full-hull rendition and I would like to do it as she appeared when my Dad reported aboard. Yes, I know...scratch build it...but as this is my very 1st resin kit and having never worked with photo-etch before, a manufactured conversion kit is my easiest way out...IF available! Any one know of a source? Many thanks! Don Carner -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: "Simon Wolff" Subject: IJN HUMBROL COLOURS Hi you all... Anyone out there in Cyberspace help with a suggestion for IJN ship colour match in the Humbrol range ????? pretty please! I am building the new 1/700 Tamiya Musashi, and very nice it is to.. what colours can people suggest that Humbrol do that match the IJN warship colours??? Come back yer hear.. Simon (Sundance) Wolff I love a sunburnt country.. but this ain't it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: Derek Wakefield Subject: USS Houston Is there a 1:700 model available that can be used to build the USS Houston (CA-30)? I've heard of several there is a Northhampton available, but is it suitable. I seem to recall reading the Houston had a different bridge structure? Dasvidanya! _|_o_|_ Derek "Tiger" (/\)akefield /---(.](o)[.)---\ iscandar2@chatter.com o oo O oo o http://www.iscandar-66.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21) From: "John Clements" Subject: Mast Assemby I can sympathise, remembering the jump from those easy but usually overscale plastic combined masts and yards to brass rod. Having used soldering in other modelling contexts, my preference is to solder together those pieces which are most likely to come adrift if glued, or are at odd angles like ensign gaffs. If you hold the pieces steady on a bed of bluetack (I don't know if it is called that in the States - it's that sticky blob stuff your kids use to stick posters to the wall and ruin the paint), and use the minimum of solder, it's not as difficult as it seems. Other pieces like stays between soldered bits can then be glued. Filing a slight notch in both parts can help to locate them but obviously has to be spot-on, which is not that easy if the parts are very small. Hope that helps. John Clements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22) From: Minadmiral@aol.com Subject: Hi-my computer is totally whacked!! Hi Guys; My computer is in really bad shape, has to go to shop for a day or 3. AOL 5.0 corrupted, favorites dissapeared, mouse stutters and jumps all over. I either have a bug or some kind of problems. I`m writing this using addresses still on 4.0. Took me an hour to do this. Allen- got check-package will be mailed tomorrow. Craig-got Navy book, will do review ASAP. If anything comes up on a list where you know I usually listen then let them know I`m out for 2-3 days. Chuck Duggie AKA- Chuck the Elephantmeister -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23) From: "Myhrman" Subject: Trivia >> Here is the Minadmiral trivia contest. No prizes, just braging rights. 1-What was the first navy to operate combined task forces of battleships, cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carrying ships IN COMBAT? 2-What was the first ship attacked from the air by this navy? << Hello! I belive one of the first "ever" naval air operation in war was from the Japanese sea plane tender Wakamiya. It was a sortie flown to investigate if the SMS Emden was at Chiao Bay in China which she was not. There were however several other German ships there. In early September 1914 the Japanese Navy launched their Maurice Farman seaplanes from the Wakamiya and attacked the German cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth. No bombs hit but they managed to sink a small torpedo boat. Was this the first naval ship sunk by enemy naval airpower? Cheers Johan Myhrman Yokohama -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24) From: Shane Subject: Arleigh Burke Hi gang, I'm currently editing an article for the last APMA issue of the year & require some info. Apart from Rusty's set for the Skywave 1/700 Arleigh Burke, is there any other sets applicable for that kit. Also, is there any other kits of the Burke class DDG available. Regards, Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Shaya Novak" Subject: Naval Base Hobbies Has updated it's site to make it easier to navigate. Shaya Novak Naval Base Hobbies The Store for The Model Ship Builder http://www.modelshipbuilding.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: Corvettes or not corvettes, that is the question Following his recent heart attack, we have been talking with Brian Fawcett, and decided that in order for him to gradually work himself up to full steam, he will construct a couple of small 1/700 Scale master patterns for us, before launching himself into the proposed schedule of bigger stuff. For the first of these, you have a choice. Bangor Class minesweeper, Algerine Class minesweeper, or Short Foc'sle Flower Class. To save taking up unneccessary space on SMML, please cast your votes direct to us, otherwise I will make the decision, and then you'll be sorry! All The Best Caroline Carter White Ensign Models http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Flagship Models new URL Flagship Models Inc. has a new permanent URL for our web page. SEE our entire product line as well as learn what slime sucking low lifes Viking Models are. You can download order forms and email me from there. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk/ for the back issue archive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume