Subject: SMML VOL 779 Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 00:35:41 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: HMS Rodney 2: HMS Rodney Radars 3: Re: Waterlining Mission Capistrano 4: Magazines that you read 5: Linoleum colors 6: Low Melt Metal 7: Measuring Paint 8: Re: More FRAM Stuff 9: Re: Waterlining Mission Capistrano 10: Re: Waterline Mounting 11: Special Thanks 12: Re: Waterline Mounting 13: Re: New Years woes 14: 1991 Survey of the Jutland Wrecks 15: Toy fireworks barge 16: USS PANAY 17: Plastic to wood adhesive 18: USS Texas finished 19: Re: HMS RODNEY, Radar at time of the BISMARK Action, May 1941 20: Re: New Years woes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Virus(worm) warning - Happy99 2: 1/350 USS Ward 3: HMS Warspite and HMS Rodney... Two Old Ladies -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: HMS Rodney Hi John Rodney only carried one type 279 radar at the time of the Bismark encounter. She was on her way for refit in Boston when interrupted. When she was finally refitted she received a much more extensive radar outfit. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: John Clements Subject: HMS Rodney Radars In reply to >> Could anyone out there help me please, I am building the RODNEY at the time of the sinking of the Bismark, could anybody tell me what her Radar fit was if any at that time,(including fire control radars). I am using the beautiful etched brass set that WEM produce along with items from their superb 1/700 PRO series. << According to Raven and Roberts, British Battleships of WW2, the Rodney only carried type 279 air warning radar at that time, a fuller suite being installed during her refit at Boston in September 1941. Sorry I can't put a picture up for you, but the set basically consisted of two large H-shaped aerials mounted on the mast head, one above the other, the H shape being laterally positioned across the ship. There is a diagram on page 387 of Raven and Roberts. I don't know if the 279 is included in the WEM set, but at least you know what to look for. In the 1941 pictures in the book, the aerial is mounted on the mainmast only; its later replacement, the type 281, was mounted on both masts, it seems. Hope this helps and that others can provide pictures if needed. John Clements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "lcp9" Subject: Re: Waterlining Mission Capistrano Hi Derek, Here's the method I used for cutting off a MO and making a waterline modelof it. First I drilled 2 holes in the flat bottom & screwed it to a piece of plywood about 3" wider all around. Then I cut a block of wood the height of cut I wanted to make. I screwed a used (with the point broken off) #11 Xacto blade to the block of wood. I used 2 #00 (I think) wood screws,they sell them in most hobbie shops. 1 thruogh the slot in the blade & the other along the sharp side o the blade to keep it from rotating.. Drag the block of wood along the hull, letting the back side of the broken tip lightly score the hull for its full length. After a couple times a grove is cut that will guide the blade, then you can and some pressure to the blade & cut deeper. Go about half way through & then do the other side. Keep alternating sides till the hull is cut through. I finished the cut at the ends with a razor saw. I then traced out the inside of the bottom on a 1/4" thick piece of wood,& cut that out. I screwed that to the piece of plywood with a piece of Saran wrap in between, & set the upper hull over. The wood was a little undersize, so I didn't try clamping them together, instead I mixed up a large batch of 5 min. epoxy & poured that into the gap. Some ran out under the hull, I cut that away before it fully hardened, then after it cured removed the new water line hull. An alternative would be to glue plastic strips inside cut off hull to make a thicker ledge to glue a new plastic bottom to the hull. You could cut the sides off the discarded lower hull & have a properly shapped flat bottom ready made. On using the Revell kit for a WWII oiler, THe kit isn't even close to what an oiler looked like. Revell took their post war civilian T-2 kit & stuck a couple of gun tubs on it. Have you seen the drawing in the 1997 /3 issue of PSM? That showes a very good example of a wartime civilian T-2, The Navy oilers had a lot of extra deck houses, 12 20MM mounts; 2 twin 40MM mounts; 4 3" mounts; & a 5" mount (the only correct gun mount in the kit) plus a spar deck on the aft well deck, resited king posts, and a lot of other small details. I got to know this design intimately from building the master for the 1/700 kit I put out. In 1/400 it would make a facinating finished product, I also don't think it would be too hard, most of the shapes are either square sided blocks or circular gun tubs. I can send you some drawings & other info if you are interested. Or just cut the hull off & enjoy building the kit as is! Regards, David Angelo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Gary Au" Subject: Magazines that you read I am only targeted on modern fighting ship and I usually buy the followings. What magazine you read for ship modelling? I would like to try some new magazine from other countries, any suggestion. 1) Defence International (monthly, Chinese, from Taiwan, defence news) 2) Defence Technology Monthly (Chinese, from Taiwan, defence news) 3) Ship of the world (Japanese) 4) Plastic Ship Modelers 5) Fine Scale Modelers 6) Modern Ship (monthly, Chinese, from China) 7) Naval & Merchant Ships (monthly, Chinese, from China) Gary. Hi Gary, Good selection there. I can recommend the following: Ship Monthly Scale Models International Warship International Tamiya Model Magazine Navires & Histoire (French) Conway's Warship Out of production, but worth picking up if you see them. Army & Navy Modelworld Airfix Magazine And lastly a blatent plug ;-)) APMA Magazine In fact most model club magazines have covered modern ships at some time. I included some of the above because of their history, not neccsarly because current issues may be of interest. Check out second hand bookshops & you might get lucky. Regards, Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "J. London" Subject: Linoleum colors This question is really for the Paint Guys but I'm putting it out to all and sundry in case some of you have a similar question. There are several Japanese publications illustrating 1:700 scale models in color and showing, where linoleum is used, a milk chocolate brown. Snyder & Short's excellent sheet of color chips however shows linoleum as a dark reddish-brown. Which is correct? Is there more than one type/color of linoleum and, is so, what were the locations? I have always assumed that the milk chocolate color was correct following RN practice since many of the pre-WW1 Japanese ships came from Britain and would have been so fitted on delivery. I know German and French linoleum was reddish in color, and the paint chip from S&S seems to be much the same, so could it be that the IJN was following this practice? Mike London -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Kelvin Mok" Subject: Low Melt Metal >> The method was to use low melting temp metal to make the part .020" undersize (cut, file or make a plaster mold and pour). He copper plated the low temp metal .020", then put the whole works in boiling water.The metal melted out leaving a copper cowl vent with an .020" wall! << In case anyone wants to know a source of low melting temp metal the is a toy metal molding kit "Metal Molder" available from Toys R' Us. (around CDN$50). A box of 10 tubes of metal pellet refills cost perhaps CDN$10-$15, I bought a box of refills more than a year ago and can no longer remember the price. Each tube contains enough metal pellets to fill a teaspoon. The metal melts at around 100 deg C (boiling water). The product is made by Toymax Inc of Plainview NY, 11803 USA and on the corner of the box packaging is their logo "Grand" and product ID 80051. The metal molder kit itself is an enclosed plastic heater box (mains powered) with several molds for making small superhero type figurines. For a source of white metal (melt temp under 250 deg C?) the jeweler's supplies store in my city stocks them. They are sold in 5 pound lumps but I don't know the price (it is Sunday so can't phone up either.) Kelvin Mok -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Kelvin Mok" Subject: Measuring Paint >> The pharmacies and medical supply shops I located all told me that due to their popularity with drug addicts, they couldn't sell them without a perscription. << The pharmicist I approached freaked out when I asked the same. Anyway I went to a farm hardware shop near my place of work and they had syringes and needles from real teeny ones to some that can impress an elephant. The sales clerk didn't bat an eye when I picked up a selection of needles and they were cheaper than those from the medical supply houses too. They are great for stuff like gun barrels. Kelvin Mok -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "John Snyder" Subject: Re: More FRAM Stuff >> Also, I read that the standard peacetime practice for the USN in the 60's and 70's was to use deck blue for horizontal surfaces. Is this true? << Nope. Deck Blue disappeared after World War 2, replaced by the present deck gray. Try FS 36008 (26176 for scale effect). John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises The Paint Guys (where we're considering an emergency airlift of cigars and scotch to Long Island to alleviate the present state of affairs at WRPRESS) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Rod Dauteuil" Subject: Re: Waterlining Mission Capistrano I recently built the Revell SSP issue of the USS Pine Island. I hate those early flat bottom vessels, so after attaching the main decks to the hull, I carefully scribed the waterline with an X-acto knife, and detached it. Once you attach the main decks, the hull becomes considerably stronger. I didn't add any bracing inside, but that would make the assembly even stronger. It just seems like too much work to router out a base. You have to get the waterline shape exactly, or use plenty of celluclay. I plan to use the same methods on my Mission Capistrano and FDR Carrier. BTW I just built Revell-Monogram's USS Lionfish submarine using the Dolphin Models resin conversion kit. The conversion kit is for the USS Bluefish, and includes a new conning tower, periscopes, deck guns, and some other odds and ends. You need to supply the PEB. I also added some pistons to the forward dive planes (from the model RR box) and the model looks superb. If anybody's planning to build this model, I highly recommend discarding the junk conning tower and purchasing this resin kit. You'll be very satisfied. (Dolphin also makes a resin island for Revell's USS Yorktown.) Rod. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Kenneth H. Goldman" Subject: Re: Waterline Mounting It is completely unnecessary to route or gouge out a level depression in a base in order to mount a full hull model as a waterline display. I generally pencil in a rough outline of the vessel, then use a woodcarving gouge to dig out the base a little deeper and a little wider than the hull. Next, simply squirt some Dap or similar caulking compound into the gouged area and seat the model into caulk. This lets you fine tune the display angle, depth, and desired list. When the caulk dries, add your "water." Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: JRuotsala@aol.com Subject: Special Thanks A very special thanks to Tom Daugherty and Mike settle for the information on the Polly paints. I appreciate the information very much. Cheers, Jim Ruotsala -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: cwjerden Subject: Re: Waterline Mounting Hello All, To respond to Derek's Question, yes cutting off the hull is the way to go. If you will, note how much hull you'll be removing, then you can simply place a few braces of thick plastic just above that line in the hull. I use Evergreen shapes .60 or .80, just whatever is around. Some folks use scrap spru, as it is allways around and it's free! Cut the hull off and carefully sand flat. I use wet, 400 grit sand paper, taped to an old picture frame. Still not stiff enough? All you need do is place the hull on a sheet of evergreen plastic, say 40 thou or better, and run a bead of glue around the inside. After that sets up I just cut the ship off the plastic sheet and sand smooth. You will then have a hull every bit as strong as Revell made it, but at your chosen waterline. In my opinon a better way to do it then routing out a base. Good luck, and have a good day Charles Jerden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Mike_C Subject: Re: New Years woes Perhaps the esteemed Mr Raven should take a tip from W.C. Fields. A friend of his was visiting W.C.'s mansion and discovered that he had stockpiled case upon case of gin. The man asked, "Bill, why do you have so much gin? Prohibition has been over for years." To which W.C. replied, "It might come back." As with any treasured commodity, be it scotch or your favorite paints (I have to put in *something* model related), it never hurts to put a little extra aside "for later." ;-D I hope you survive this debacle. Mike Czibovic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: 1991 Survey of the Jutland Wrecks Does anyone know of the 1991 Anglo-German survey of the Jutland wrecks, and the results of the survey? This was mentioned in the new book from Naval Institute Press, "The Grand Fleet". I would like to know if any photos and or drawings were made of the wrecks. Thanks for any help, Steve Wiper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: GrafSpee34@aol.com Subject: Toy fireworks barge >> but are there any small fireworks that could be used to make a reasonable working representation of one of these barges. << The ubiquitous "bottle rocket", a miniature 1" long rocket which uses a small bamboo stick as a stabilizer, and a bottle for a launch pad would work. Available from shady Chinatown doorstep peddlers by the bushelful just before Independence Day & Chinese New Years. Cost about 10 cents each when purchased in bulk. Well-known to kids as a handy and cheap surface to surface missile when launched horizontally. Range about 15-25 yards. I have seen them launched remotely on modern RC ships to simulate SAMs. Model rocket guys can explain how to make low voltage electric igniters, and can probably explain how to make miniature working rockets, but now you've gotten yourself another -- somewhat dangerous-- hobby. Who's got the time for that? The toy-like effect of minitature rockets and fireworks is probably not for modelers who take their work seriously. Dave PS: large molded rubbery plastic sled/toboggan thingies sold at discount department stores in the US like Target or K-Mart may be just the thing you need to make a big barge. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Susan Grouell" Subject: USS PANAY Hello, Not sure if this where I send my querries concerning ship building, but if not please give me the address. So, here it goes! My Wife(santa claus) gave me the USS Panay for Christmas......However My reference library is limited on this subject. so I need help with the following: (1) good set of Plans on everything above the waterline (2) what were the colors used at time of sinking (3) good source of 1/92 scale deck fittings. Thank you for your help....love reading ssmmlies......can be reached at Gary Grouell at sgrouell@caribbeansun.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Hank Christen" Subject: Plastic to wood adhesive I want to glue .010" styrene to the plywood deck of an FFG-7 (1:96 scale) to simulate steel. Can anyone suggest a good adhesive for plywood to plastic? Is the entire FFG-7 deck non skid? If not, what areas are non-skid? Hank Christen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: Marc Flake Subject: USS Texas finished SMMLers: Finished the 1/700 Viking USS Texas today -- a fairly significant event when you consider that I've been wanting a model of the Texas ever since I emptied my piggy bank about 35 years ago to help with her restoration. This is a long posting, scroll on down if you're not interested. As you may remember, we left off just as I was about to add the PE. I was concerned there wouldn't be enough PE splinter sheilding to add the 20mm galleries to the tops of turrets 2 and 4 -- something that's not mentioned in the instructions, but essential to complete the Texas after early 1944. Here's what else you need in the way of splinter shiedling: 1) six completely enclosed gun tubs, each holding two 20mm cannon 2) two "C" shaped gun tubs each holding one 20mm cannon 3) two "C" shaped gun tubs each holding three 20 mm cannon 4) two "C" shaped gun tunbs each holding four 20mm cannon 5) four large tubs each holding a quadruple 40mm mount 6) four large tubs each holding a 3" gun 7) armored railing around main mast platforms 8) sheilding around the upper deck 3" guns There's not enough brass for all of this. Because I had rebuilt the main mast, I had already applied sheilding around its platforms. There still wasn't enough. I also used .10 thou strip styrene around the upper gun deck and for the turret tops. I was able to eke out additional millimeters when I realized I was making my original gun tubs way to big. On the diagram of the ship's deck each type of 20mm gun tub is number coded (exactly the way I've number coded them above). On the fret, there are corresponding number codes. I cut off the strips of brass and used a dowl to from them into tubs. But when I placed the formed tubs on deck, there wasn't any room for the 3" and 40mm mounts and tubs. And you could've put four 20s in the two 20-sized tub. Then I used page 30 of the Classic Warships USS Texas book as a template for all the gun tubs. Again, I only had enough PE splinter sheilding for numbers 1-6 (above). During final assembly, I noticed several samller parts missing, 2 parts 53, six parts 47, six parts 51 -- all of which were replaced with Skywave parts from set E-6 (now out of production). I also replaced the 40mms and 3" guns from this set. I had to add 14 additional 20mms to make up the full coplement of these guns -- most going to turrets 2 and 4. That's 44 total 20mms -- and I didn't lose a one to the carpet monster (Yes, I do have a special way to prevent this problem). A note about the 20mm -- there is very little tab on the bottom. I usually use this tab folded over as a base to glue it to the deck. This tab isn't big enough so I folded over the bottom 1mm of the guns' bases to help keep them up while the super glue dried. She's a handsome ship and I love the way she looks in my glass case alongside the 1945 Pennsylvania. I spent most of the time working on the main mast and curving and recurving the gun tubs. I found the Classic Warships book indispensable in the construction of this kit. Marc Flake Tarrant County Texas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: "Judy Graham" Subject: Re: HMS RODNEY, Radar at time of the BISMARK Action, May 1941 Hi John, According to the 2 sources that I have on RODNEY, (British Battleships of WW 2, by Alan Raven and John Roberts, and MAN o' WAR - Battleships NELSON and RODNEY, also by Raven and Roberts), RODNEY was equipped as follows: 1. Late 1938: Type 79Y Air Warning Radar (2nd ship so equipped) 2. Mid 1940: Type 279 Air Warning Radar, with Barrage Predictor, (Original equipment converted to 279) 3. Sep. 1941: After the BISMARCK action, and on completion of a refit in Boston, USA: Type 281 Air Warning Radar (Replaced Type 279) Type 271 Surface Warning Radar Type 284 Main Battery Radar - fitted to front of Main Battery Director. As far as I can tell, the only radar carried by RODNEY at the time she engaged the BISMARCK is Type 279, with aerials on both the fore-topmast, and main-topmast. In May, 1942, her radar outfit was again updated. Hope all this helps (and that I have it right !! ) Chris Preston, Victoria, B.C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: Minadmiral@aol.com Subject: Re: New Years woes >> Everybody else may have gotten through to the new year alright, but I can tell everyone that things have definately turned very bad where I live. I went out this morning and found that the corner shop WAS CLOSED! That means there was NO CIGARS. I was upset, and I had also run out of scotch; even MORE upset, >> Poor baby!! You think you got it bad??? The maid forgot to put a mint on my pillow this morning, when she got out of bed!! God!! Everyone`s a critic these days. On the other hand, she did get me Freidman`s _U.S.Small Combatants_ for Christmas. Chuck Duggie ( Yes dear, you can have some more diamonds on that french maid costume.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: Response to A.D. Baker's posts Guys, I have been in contact with a number of current ex- and serving naval and military personnel over the past few days since Dave Baker started his posts. These guys are frustrated!! They are unable to respond to his blanket statements as they are covered by the Official Secrets Act. Unexpectedly, I received an anonymous (i.e. untraceable) Hotmail post this morning, I know not from whom... but it makes for VERY interesting reading. =========== >> The date is September 1985 and the event is Exercise Ocean Safari, in which the scene is set for a NATO relief of Northern Norway by way of the USA. Against, that time, hyperthetical aggression from Soviet forces. First a bit of back ground. During the Falklands conflict, it was apparent that the Royal Navy lacked effective AEW capability which resulted in the loss of assetts, that maybe could have been prevented. The Brits being inventive, shoehorned the Searchwater tactical radar out of an RAF Nimrod into a Seaking helicopter, made it work, then spent a couple of years fine tuning it. And Lo we had AEW capability again, and from a helicopter, even better. A new naval air squadron was formed in July 1985 which was then split into two flights of three aircraft to be placed on each of the Invincible class carriers. I joined the first of these flights, 849 A flight, in time to go to sea for the very first time operationally onboard HMS Illustrious, and of to the eastern seaboard of the USA for the first leg of Exercise Ocean Safari. It had been arranged for the ship to put into Norfolk naval base for a few days proir to the exercise starting for certain and to give time for the ships of the task group to muster. The AEW flight was allowed to disembark to NAS Norfolk so that flying operations could continue and a bit of Anglo American bonding could take place. We were to be hosted by VAW 126, an AEW squadron equiped with E2C Hawkeyes, a beautiful aircraft absolutely full of modern detection technology. The Americans seemed intigued that although we operated helicopters, we were a pure AEW outfit. Then our aircraft flew in from the ship. I have never seen so many jaws impact the deck as did that day. A Seaking helicopter taxied passed us from left to right showing off the retracted radar scanner attached to the outside of the aircraft by what appeared to be a length of gas pipe and covered by an inflateable plastic bag. The immortal words of John MacEnroe echoed through that squadron for ages. Up went the snoots. The following week the task group had proceeded to sea, with the Illustrious out ahead providing the anti submarine screen for the main part of the group, which included the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower the USS America and several escort cruisers and destoyers. It was a great bit of cross co operation that visits were arranged for personnel, to other ships, and so a great couple of days or so were spent on the America seeing how the other side works.( Or not as in this case) It was not long before the weather blew up rough, well it was the North Atlantic after all, and not long after that the Americas deck became out of limits for flying ops. Apparently the Eisenhower was the same, although the sheer size of these ships was not making the effects of the now Force 10 storm apparent, a great deal of wallowing and flopping was happening. If a fixed wing launch had taken place off the Cats the aircraft would have been airless, like being in a flat spin before even leaving the deck. Splash!!!!!!! Wet feet. Next thing is, " You guys are going to have to go back to your own ship now" and in comes one of 814's Seakings to take us back. Strange that!! On the way back, I caught sight of Illustrious plowing through the waves, the front end disappearing now and then, but what a spectacular sight. We had to hold off landing on for a while whilst aircraft were being launched "WHAT". Sure enough the bows dipped down through a wave and up again the other side, and off the ramp jumped a Sea Harrier, and back down went the bows into another wave. Magic!!!! Up again, another Sea Harrier leapt into the air. Had those Harriers been bombed up and hostile, they could have gone to the Eisenhower and the America unoppossed and sunk them there and then. BANG GONE. However we were not the bad guys, but it seemed we were the only ship ship able to operate in any capacity. In come the real bad guys for a look. The untidy looking helicopters with a big bag strapped to the side were airborne and carrying out AEW duties for the Fleet (Because the Hawkeye's could not get off the deck. Hmmmmmm!!!) Then it happens, a large aircraft is detected heading towards the task group, a real Soviet Tupolev Bear. The range is too great for the Harriers at that point, the Yanks cant get anything off the deck anyway and are totally useless, so its a Do it Yourself job. Our AEW Seaking carried out the first known air intercept of a Soviet fixed wing aircraft by a helicopter. And probably the only one to date. I would have loved to have seen the looks of suprise on the Russians faces, as the old bag of bolts pulled across in front of them, frantically flapping its wings trying to keep up. Surely this goes to prove that you can have all the technology in the world and huge resources, but if it don't work on anything but a millpond then its just useless cannon fodder. Admittedly those conditions were extreme, and everybodies small ships were out of operations and riding it out, but what if that had been a real situation. The Illustrious's down time due to bad weather was minimal compared to any others in the group. Yes we Brits do know how to design seaworthy ships, and for that we are among the best in the world, but then the idea is to be operational in as many situations as possible, sod the weather. If you let a bit of wind and rain stop you then you may just as well stay home. American ships leave an awful lot to be desired in their seakeeping qualities. It's all very well having state of the art weapons on board, but if the dammed ship is moving around so much that you can't fire them, you're dead meat to those that can fire theirs. In a war you cannot gaurantee flat calm all the time. There is also another point that I think that Mr Baker has missed and that is that the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D Roosevelt was put aground in the 1970's which broke its back. It had to be withdrawn and scrapped because it was not viable to repair it. If that is not a major loss due to either action or accident then I don't know what is. << Best Regards Caroline Carter WEM http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models White Ensign Models, for a fine range of photoetched brass for 1/600, 1/700 and 1/350 scale kits, and THE finest warship kits and upgrades in the world -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Shane Subject: Virus(worm) warning - Happy99 Hi gang, Well since it's the New Year, please be extremely careful about opening any email attachments that you are unsure of. This applies especially to the virus worm known as happy99.exe. If by chance you have opened this or other attachments, i can recommend the following site from personal experience. There are other sites as well. Symantec AntiVirus Research Center: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ Regards, Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: 1/350 USS Ward I re-released the old kit from Gulfstream (now all former Gulfstream kits are Classic Warships Kits, and you will see a vast improvement in their quality), the 1/350 USS Ward with IJN mini sub. There were some additions to the kit in the way of new photo-etch, white metal fittings, decals, and a much better instruction booklet. This kit can be built as a number of ships from the Wickes class, four stack destroyers. In the painting instructions, it also states to paint the ship Navy Blue (5-N), where all ships present at Pearl Harbor from about October 1941, on were painted in this fashion, evidence through the color photos recently found. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Caroline Carter" Subject: HMS Warspite and HMS Rodney... Two Old Ladies Hi Guys! Well, I spent most of yesterday scanning photographs and writing webpages.. and I think that you will agree that the results are well worth it. Please go and check the following for Chris Drage's stunning build of the WEM 1/700 HMS Warspite and the Tamiya 1/700 HMS Rodney in a D-Day diorama (many of you are already familiar with Chris's work from the pages of PSM and elsewhere). He includes details on how he actually makes his seascapes. Re the Warspite kits, we are currently repairing the hull master, so hopefully, supplies of Warspite will be back by the end of January. http://whiteensignmodels.simplenet.com/rodspite/rodspite.htm All The Best Caroline Carter WEM http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume