Subject SMML20/12/99VOL765 Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 00:11:51 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: 54mm 2: Fiber Optics 3: Re: SMML gathering 4: 1960 RN Cruiser projects 5: Re: Japanese translation. 6: Re: 1960 RN Cruisers 7: Big E at Midway 8: Re: Lighting the Enterprise Hangar, AMT Fibre Optic set 9: Re: RN 1960 Cruisers 10: HMS Rodney 11: Re: Chinese ships 12: Re: 1/125 Sailors 13: Gun muzzle covers 14: Re: Combat Fleets vs. Janes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: NEW LST Model Kits. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "David Warden" Subject: Re: 54mm I am not a ship modeller, but do draw ships, aircraft etc for a number of organisations. I am a figure modeller amongst other things and responded to one of your members queires the other day. Airfix made a series of figures which can still be obtained called multi-pose and they were to 1/32 scale and could be modified and clothed to suit ships to that scale. Another company famous for its 54mm figures is Historex - although mainly Npoleonic, there are I believe some mannequin type figures which could again be clothed to suit the subject. I hope this is of some use to the Smellies out there. David Warden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Jens H. Brandal" Subject: Fiber Optics As I checked out the Todds Fiber site, it suddenly dawned on me - since the fibers are plastic, they could be heated and bent to a sharp 90 degree angle before inserting in holes drilled in the roof on an Enterprise hangar? Will it work, or will the light loss be prohibitive? As far as I can see, this is the only way around the lack of space between the hangar ceiling and the flight deck... Jens -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "John Snyder" Subject: Re: SMML gathering Would someone please remind me of the dates in May, so that I can block them out on my calendar and start making some plans? John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises The Paint Guys -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Procladius@aol.com Subject: 1960 RN Cruiser projects Derek- "The Postwar Naval Revolution" by Norman Friedman, (Naval Institute Press, 1986) has a chapter that covers RN cruiser projects in the 50's and 60's. It includes design sketches ot some of the 1960 cruiser projects, plus a lot of other cruiser and cruiser-destroyer projects from the postwar period that never made it beyond the design stage. A very interesting book! Charles Watson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "J. London" Subject: Re: Japanese translation. If anyone has access to an earlier Jane's (I am looking at the editions for 1938 and 1943) you will find a table of characters based on the Hepburn system. Useful for deciphering the names on the sides of Japanese destroyers or identifying photos with Japanese captions. Mike London -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: WRPRESSINC@aol.com Subject: Re: 1960 RN Cruisers The studies that you refer to were no more than day dreaming on somebodies part on the Cruiser Desk at Bath They came out of nowhere, they did not relate to anything, they were not part of any policy study, they were simply mental meanderings and were not even half serious. They DIED at birth. No documents preceeded them and no documents came after them. I read through them in 1977 and had they been of any value they would have been included in "British Cruisers of WW Two". I know why they were published, but I am unable to say why for reasons that I am unable to go into. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Marc Flake Subject: Big E at Midway I'd like some information on the magazine article for accurizing the Enterprise for Midway. Also, I'd like to have as full a deck as possible, with representations of each aircraft flown of the Big E during the battle. Would it have been possible (or are there any records that indicate) a deck with F4Fs, SBDs and TBDs just prior to launch? Marc Flake Tarrant County, Texas (Where it's almost time to airbrush the Texas -- I'm getting giddy now that I've almost finished with the PE.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Lisa and Bill Wiseman Subject: Re: Lighting the Enterprise Hangar, AMT Fibre Optic set I have used the following method to light the Hull sections of the "Other" Enterprise (NCC 1701) Several companies make small, stick on flourescent lights fixtures that run on 3 volts (2 AA batteries). The fixture is about 6 inches long. I stripped the PCB and contacts out of the light fixture. From an auto supply store, I purchased 3' wide mylar tape striping. The Tape is self adhesive and ultra reflective. I put the tape on the underside of the hull top and placed the fluorescent tube in the hull area. Run the wires from the battery terminals out the bottom of the hull and viola!! Cool, blue-tinted, diffuse light. To further diffuse the light cut up a plastic milk jug or similar translucent beverage/cleaner container and use it like a lens.. Paint or put mylar tape in a checker board type pattern on the new lens and you will get spots of light like individual light fixtures. Whole cost; about 10 dollars US. The AMT/ERTL fibre optic set comes with the fibres cut to about 18 inches in length and bundled with tape. it comes with several xenon bulbs and bulb holders and a nifty battery operated drill which I adapted to accept the micro chuck from my dremel tool. Now I have a small power drill. By fusing a piece of brass rod, bent in to an "L", to the working end of a second drill, I adapted one of those drills to become my paint stirrer. Happy Holidays Doc Wiseman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Edd Pflum Subject: Re: RN 1960 Cruisers From: Derek Wakefield >> A friend gave me a used copy of "Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships, 1947-1982, Part 1: The Western Powers" as an early X-mas present. Thumbing through it this evening, I located simplistic design drawings for four RN gun cruisers, listed as "1960 Medium Cruiser", "1960 Small Cruiser", "1960 Large Cruiser (Missile Armed)" and "1960 Large Cruiser (Gun Armed)" From what I read, these came about from a design study done in 48-49 for a series of ships that could be in service within 10 years. This is the only book I've seen with any refs to these very interesting looking ships (that bear a resembalence to the Tiger cl ships). However, the Large Cruisers remind me of some designs I came up with back in HS for a modern gun cruiser. Does anyone else know of any other books that feature other drawings or historical background on these ships? << Hi Derek, There is a large amount on the proposed 1960 cruisers in "The Postwar Naval Revolution" by Norman Friedman. I got my copy from Naval Institute Press. The book covers developments in ship design, tactics and weapons following the war in both the US and Royal navies. Edd -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: HMS Rodney Hi Richard Rodney's colour scheme was overall medium grey (AP507B). Humbrol 145 is a good match. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: Re: Chinese ships The kit is from Fouzhou Zhengdefu Toys Co., Ltd. The kit requires some work but appears to be fairly accurate overall, if lacking in detail. It also is motorized, which lends itself very nicely to doing it as a static waterline model. Here's what I was able to find from websites at the University of Alberta and the naval museum in Taipei. The Taipei site has some computer generated illustrations of the vessel, but all the text is in Chinese. I found what I wanted by scanning the site until I found a match for the characters for the ship's name. However, I had to get a local Chinese antiques dealer to translate the kit instructions for me. I started the model by replanking the decks, and I intend to use PE railings. Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ Ting Yuan, 1881-1895: the Defeated Naval Giant SHIP Ting Yuan and her sistership Chen Yuan were the fond men-of-war of Li Hung-chang who led China against Japan in 1894 and 1895. Reputed to be the largest and most powerful ironclad battleship in the Far East, Ting Yuan was naturally the vowed target of destruction for the Japanese navy whose naval war songs repeatedly alluded to her. At Weihaiwei, the once formidable Chinese fleet was wiped out, mainly by torpedo attack. Builder Vulkan Shipyard in Stettin, Germany Launched 28 December 1881; Delivered to China in 1885 Cost 6.2 million Marks Captain Liu Buchan Crew 350 Displacement & dimensions 7,430 tons 308 ft x 59 ft x 20 ft Armour Compound 14 inch belt, etc. Armament 4 x 12 inch Krupp guns, 2 x 5.9 inch Krupp guns, 3 x 13.8 inch torpedo tubes Performance 15.7 knots (29.1 km/h) coal 1,000 tons Highlights of Ting Yuan's life 1886 & 1891: Visited Nagasaki and Yokohama, Japan. This perceived threat spurred Japan to build cruisers like Matsushima as a counter-measure. 17 September 1894: Led the Peiyang Fleet in the Battle of the Yellow Sea as the flagship of Admiral Ding Yuchang. Suffered damage as the whole deck was ablaze. However, her shells did hit the Japanese flagship Matsushima and other vessels. Shortly after 2:00 AM, 5 February 1895: In Weihaiwei Harbour. Hit at the stern quarter on the port side (ie, left side) by one or two torpedoes from the Japanese torpedo boat No. 9. She had to be beached. According to a Japanese source, the Chinese officers subsequently blew it up at the funnel part, using 250 lb. of explosive, apparently fearing it would fall into enemy's hands. In the torpedo boat raids at night on 4-5 February, four Chinese warships were hit. Some time after 12 February 1895: The Peiyang Fleet surrendered on 12 February. Now possessing everything in Weihaiwei, the Japanese naval personnel boarded Ting Yuan to examine her damage and took photographs. One of these photos shows her with her twin funnels gone. The same fate probably befell her twin pairs of 30-inch Krupp guns. Such damage was apparently the result of the blast set off by the Chinese. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Alan Simon Subject: Re: 1/125 Sailors My 1/125 USS Johnston DD557 will be populated with figures adapted from old Atlas N-Scale model RR standing passengers set (should have been 1/160 but were scaled more like 1/125) and from Revell Germany 1/125 U47. Did not pursue TT scale model RR figures; however, German imports (Prieser, and others) should be available from U.S. distributors like Walthers - http://www.walthers.com Wishing all a Happy Holiday Season and a glitch-free Y2K. Alan Simon Atlanta, Ga. P.S. HO model RR scale is 1/87, just 10% larger than 1/96. HO is by far most popular model RR scale; should be something that works onboard ship. AMS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Jens H. Brandal" Subject: Gun muzzle covers I am just about to finish work on the secondary armament on my Yamato, and I was wondering whether the gun muzzles would be covered with these "corks" often seen in photos, or open to the elements. I wish to portray her as underway, but not expecting action, and the guns seem a bit more "in business" with their muzzles opened up. Any advice anyone? If they should be covered up, what colours would the plugs be? Jens -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Allan and Crystal Plumb Subject: Re: Combat Fleets vs. Janes >> I know that few of the world's naval enthusiasts have heard of COMBAT FLEETS << Hey! I'm on my third copy! IIRC, 1987-99, 93-94, both now replaced by 1999-2000. Combat Fleets has more information about the underlying design and how well it was implemented (e.g. "reputed to be noisy and due to be replaced") than Jane's. I'd consider it the better deal even at the same price, and since Jane's seems to think their annuals are printed on gold-leaf, the choice is clear, IMHO. Especially since I get the member's discount. Now, if you'd only do something equivalent that would let me keep from shelling out $400US+ to replace my 1990-91 Jane's Armour and Artillery, I'd really be happy.. :-) Allan Plumb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Shaya Novak Subject: NEW LST Model Kits. We are proud to announce NEW LST model. Highly detailed Resin kit 25" long one piece hull. This kit can be made into either a 2, 4, 6 boat Davit LST. 1/160 N-Scale for Train Layouts. These are not inexpensive plastic models these are museum quality models. To build these ships we recommend a book on how to build these kits. Which we also have. To see infromation on these kits goto: http://www.navalbasehobbies.com/amphibious_and_support.html To build Resin kits look at the top of the page in the blue and yellow boxes for "What's Resin" for an explanation. Shaya Novak Naval Base Hobbies The Store for The Model Ship Builder www.modelshipbuilding.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume