Subject: SMML VOL 883 Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 00:38:53 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: website translator 2: Re: Revell Fletcher, Kiev & New Jersey 3: Second Annual SMML Luncheon at IPMS/USA Nationals 4: Re: Which Royal Navy Ship? 5: Re: Doctored Photos 6: Naming the RN destroyer 7: Re: Gato/Balao subs 8: Re: Blackbird on deck 9: Korean Airliner 10: HMAS Perth 11: Exocet in the Falklands; ICM KOENIG 12: And now for something............. 13: New Navy Yard Book 14: Re: Belknap Models 15: Re: French cruiser KLEBER, query by David Orzel -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Allan and Crystal Plumb Subject: Re: website translator >> I have seen that website used for various translations and it might do just fine for instructions, etc especially since you probably already have a pretty good idea of what it should say - but be prepared for some howlers which can offer great entertainment value. << >> I thought of that, too, after posting the address... but after reading English translated Japanese technical manuals, one might be used to those sorts of literal errors... :-) << I've done the same thing a few times, with the same result. The problem is that human (and computer) languages are not one-to-one, with word X in language A precisely identical to it's approximation in language B. That's based on English/French/German/Russian/FORTRAN/Ada/Jovial/C/C++ and a few others. For some SMML relevance, I can usually puzzle through instructions in French/German/Russian, but what I'd really like is something to translate Japanese colors to English. Although that's doable, the problem is the different character set: how would I type hiragana or katakana or whatever into the translator? (A rhetorical question.) Allan Plumb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: CBNJBB62@aol.com Subject: Re: Revell Fletcher, Kiev & New Jersey Hi Guys Concerning the Revell Fletcher I recall the main deck has a habit of popping out on you so I would would fit them together after sanding off any excess spruce and use rubber bands for 2 days so the deck and hull line up. I have 2 questions. Does any one know the fate of the Soviet carrier Kiev? I recall hearing that majority of her class were over due for maintenance and it was too expensive for the CIS govt. I have been working on the Nichimo 1/900 Faces 2 New Jersey and does any one know when they might have converted the Iowa class with a flight deck for harriers, copters, vertical launch system with Aegis radar. It was never done. Thanks for any reply Craig Bennett -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: TechnoInfidel@webtv.net (John Collins) Subject: Second Annual SMML Luncheon at IPMS/USA Nationals Greetings SMMLmates: As I recall, the SMML lunch at last year's nationals was the result of someone asking, "Hey, you guys hungry? Let's met here for lunch at 1pm." So we all went to the hotel cafeteria and had lunch, told war stories, talked models and stared out the window at the attractions in the swimming pool. I expect that it will be about the same this year. The easiest way for us all to contact one another is to find one of the ship vendors in attendance, many of whom are list-mates: Steve Wiper/Classic Warships, Mike Cvibovic/Corsair Armada, John Snyder/Snyder & Short, David D'Angelo/Loose Cannon, Jon Warnecke/Iron Shipwright and James Corley/Nautilus Models. (I hope I spelt everyone's name properly.) I don't know if they are all planning to vend this year. Perhaps, list-mate vendors could declare their intentions shortly. We had a great time last year. Hopefully, the more, the merrier. For those needing a formal invitation: "Let's meet for lunch, ya'll." And that's as formal as it needs to be, even in Dallas. I hope to see you there. John Collins Atlanta, GA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "John Snyder" Subject: Re: Which Royal Navy Ship? Regarding ARETHUSA: >> There is also some information that she was painted in Mountbatten Pink. << She certainly was at some time. A sample of Mountbatten Pink from ARETHUSA's paint locker will be included in our Royal Navy Set 3... John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises The Paint Guys http://www.shipcamouflage.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "John Snyder" Subject: Re: Doctored Photos Not a doctored photo per se, but in the realm of the one shown in the link in today's SMML, is a bit of wartime fun I ran across years ago in Popular Science or Popular Mechanics magazine, circe 1943 IIRC. It is an article proposing a flight deck battleship, along the lines of ISE and HYUGA but with a proper "through" flight deck. The illustration (again, IIRC) is of a ship of most definite Royal Navy lineage with two four-gun main battery turrets (a la KGV) forward and a definitely RN bridge structure. I seem to recall it is shown wearing what appears to be Admiralty Disruptive camo. If anyone is interested, I'll dig out the xerox I made, scan it and post it to the SMML or Warship site. John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises The Paint Guys http://www.shipcamouflage.com Hi John, Sounds cool. Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Jens H. Brandal" Subject: Naming the RN destroyer Thanks Chris and Dimi for your entries in "Name that ship". I must admit I didn't know there was so much activity from the Royal Navy in the area. Somehow Narvik seems to have "stolen" all the attention. I will definitely ask him if he recalls any more details about the ship; colour, pennant number, appearance - anything. If the destroyer is the Arethusa, then that would make an awfully interesting model. He only mentioned one ship, so it was probably on a scouting mission rather than an escort or just looking for a fight, and the Germans would probably attack anything identified as being non-German anyway. Still it is an interesting theory. Haven't done any research in the Naval Msueums Archives yet as I thought I'd use the collective wisdom on the SMML to find out whether this is searching for a needle in a hay stack. Jens PS: A belated thanks to Martin for his help in the King George V mystery. Will now go to the Imperial War Museum archives to pick out the relevant and most helpful pics and meet a Chris at the same time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Ives100@aol.com Subject: Re: Gato/Balao subs >> In that light, I must say I have learned a tremendous amount about the Gato and Balao subs. Pardon my ignorance here, but are no two of these boats alike? I have lots of drawings and photos supplied by friends and NO two boats look the same. The conning tower in particular, changes quite drastically from boat to boat. Tell me if I'm wrong here, but my guess is, since submarines were still very new to the Navy, they learned as they went along. When a boat came in for dry-dock, they were modified to correct or improve on problems discovered on the previous cruise. This would explain the sometimes drastic differences between each boat of the same class << First, a beautiful conning tower! Is the hull also scratchbuilt, or did you use an R/C hull? As far as the great variation you observed in Fleet submarines..... To begin, depending on where the boat was built and which planset (Electric Boat or Gov't), the subs were different in appearance (limber holes and anchor location). Added onto that was the rapid evolution of both strategy and technology. The subs were called "Fleetboats" because their original role was envisioned to be escorts for the fleet (surface skimmers). This idea evaporated in Dec. 1941, and was replaced with their role to wage unconditional warfare. The first thing that went where the large enclosed conning towers, cut down on the Gatos as the war progressed to reduce silhouttes. The subs frequently spent night time on the surface recharging batteries, and the night surface attack became an increasingly important tactic. Thus the need for a reduced outline. The Balaos were built with minimal conning tower and bridge structures, along with the thicker, deeper diving hull. The rapid pace of technology also led to a constant parade of new radio and radar antennas, guns and other innovations. Add to that Adm. Lockwood's policy of allowing skippers considerable leeway in equipping their submarines (e.g., Tang had a "crow's nest" for a lookout in her periscope shears. Other boats drilled additional freeflood limber holes). I have drawings of a single submarine's conning tower, USS Flasher, SS-249, in three very distinct and different configurations from 1943 to 1945. So, Rusty, the answer is probably "Yes, no two submarines looked alike at the end of WWII". I always advise modellers to get specific pictures of the submarine they wish to model; "generic" won't due with Fleet submarines. Tom Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Bradford Chaucer Subject: Re: Blackbird on deck >> If I'm not mistaken, Al Gore's website now claims he INVENTED the tailhook.<< And his boss turned it into a scandal Regards, Bradford Chaucer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Korean Airliner Hi Ken The Korean Airliner was shot down by either a US or Japanese missile definitely not Soviet fighters. The story most of the world knows is a pack of lies constructed to hide an intelligence operation that went drastically wrong. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: HMAS Perth Hi All Some weeks back I posted a request for copies of Pages 61, 62, 63 and 64 of the The Naval Historical Society of Australia's publication HMAS Perth as the ones in mine were missing. Can anyone help? Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Francis Macnaughton" Subject: Exocet in the Falklands; ICM KOENIG Firstly( and I hate to kill off anyone's pet conspiracy theory) but as someone who was there in 1982 and has subsequently been involved in many aspects of Naval Anti Air Warfare, there is no truth at all in any suggestion that the Argentinian Exocets were not recognised by RN systems because they were "friendly" missiles. In fact, with the computer and radar systems onboard the ships at the time, the issue was much more whether you could detect and track the things in the first place let alone worry about who they belonged to! Admiral Woodward, the Task Force commander, wrote an excellent description of the SHEFFIELD incident in his book of the Falklands Campaign and it makes good reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the Falklands and modern Naval warfare in general - the title is something like "The Hundred Days". Secondly, and much more up to date SMMLie, has anyone seen the much talked about ICM KOENIG yet? I fully understand the need to keep ICM interested so that they get onto the really tasty subjects, but WW1 isn't really my scene unless the kit is something specially good. Francis Macnaughton -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Robert Vancel Subject: And now for something............. Something from CNN's Fringe... ============================================================= Frigate commander reprimanded for photo of nude female crew ============================================================= THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Dutch frigate commander has been reprimanded because of a picture of 11 female crew members baring their breasts to passing NATO ships. The photo appeared on the front page of Amsterdam's De Telegraaf newspaper on Monday. Navy officials suspect the event took place last summer, resulting in the photo being passed around on the Internet via e-mail. CLiCK You'RE oN CaNDiD CaMeRa: http://cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/04/10/netherlands.sailors.ap/index.html Robert "Hollywood" Vancel/nWMo Al Team # 78 Night Vision Tiara sold separately... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: New Navy Yard Book "The Washington Navy Yard: An Illustrated History" by Edward J. Marolda. Published by the Naval Historical Center, 1999, and sold by the US Government Printing Office for $17. Softbound, 112 pages, profusely illustrated in black and white and color. Even includes an early view of USS LANGLEY tied up in the Anacostia River. Documents the history of the yard from 1799 to the present day. Highly recommended. More details available at the NHC web site. Mike Alexandria, VA USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Steven P. Allen" Subject: Re: Belknap Models I am assuming that the lack of responses to my request means that there are no Belknap models forthcoming or rumors of same floating about. The Wainwright Veterans Association insists that I insert an aside into the model building article on their page taking manufacturers to task for ignoring the class. :-) Steve Allen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "J. London" Subject: Re: French cruiser KLEBER, query by David Orzel I tried to e-mail David off list but my message "bounced". If he would care to contact me I may be of help. Michael London -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SMMLcon Infomation & posts SMML Convention and tour notices: http://www.mikedunn.freeserve.co.uk/smml/help/smml_con.html If your coming to the SMML convention on friday, we need to know which tour you planning to attend so that we can get an accurate head count for transportation. Contact John Frohock ca139johnf@aol.com and let him know which tour you plan on attending. If you are going on a tour, you need to be onboard the USS Salem no later than 10:00am on Friday May 5th. We will open the ship starting at 9:00am for those who would like a cup of coffee and some schoozing before departure. For those of you who are not going on either tour; the USS Salem will NOT be open to the public on friday (Crew will be on watch to repel boarders if provoked ) so please do not show-up at the ship on friday unless you are attending the tours. Check out Convention and tour info at: http://www.mikedunn.freeserve.co.uk/smml/help/smml_con.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume