Subject: SMML VOL 891 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 23:55:20 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Pegasus plans 2: PT Boats 3: Re: Who Knows the Best Way to Mold Small Parts? 4: Re: U-571 Movie 5: Cabot 6: Deck Planking and Hull Bottoms 7: USS TICONDEROGA 8: Re: Ship at Philly 9: Re: Belknap at Philly 10: german paint colors 11: Re: Japanese I-400 Class Submarines 12: Re: Belknap at Philly 13: US Naval Historical Center - USS North Carolina -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: 1914 Weyers Book for Sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Pegasus plans Since I posted looking for the fellow who wanted some plans of the Pegasus Hydrofoil, I have been covered up by requests wanting the plans. Posting the request for the guy looking for the plans publicly was a mistake on my part. The original poster has contacted me and I will be LOANING the plans to him. However, there is no way I can provide plans to everyone who asked for them (21 at last count) without violating Mr. Morrison's (the owner) copyright to the plans. To provide the plans would mean I would have to make a printable vellum and print them on my blueline machine here. In every sense of the word that would not be honest. In short, I want to apologize to everyone who requested copies of the plans, but I just can't in good conscience provide them. In the future I'll contact the people off list. I'm certain that these plans are still available through Replitech (the company that printed mine). Sorry, I don't have the address, I bought these plans in an auction. Once again, my apologies to everyone that requested the plans. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Kenneth Perry Subject: PT Boats Hello, I am building a 1/32 Elco 80 PT boat. I'm wondering where I can find good detail pics of control panels, masts, exhausts, bottom side, etc, hopefully of later models. This will be R/C equipped. What size props should I be using, are they couter-rotating, how many blades? Thanks. Ken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: eddp Subject: Re: Who Knows the Best Way to Mold Small Parts? Ralph wrote >> I have read some of the past SMML Archives about molding small parts, but what mold & resin material is best without using a vacuum? How do you keep bubbles from forming? Where do you get the stuff and how much does it cost? Does it require mold release? << I have used RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing -- don't ask!) Silicone rubber for molds, and Polyurethane resin for casting. A positive of the part desired is placed in a container, and the two-part RTV is mixed (sort thick, oatmeat consistancy), and poured around the part, and cures into a tough rubbery block in about 24 hours. The Polyurethane is also two-part, but this cures in about three minutes. Both these products are available from Bare Metal (the foil people) in the states. De-airing (creating a vacuum around the mold to encourage bubles trapped in the mixture to escape) is recommended for both RTV and Polyurethane, but I have achieved good results without this step (though a second or third try might be needed.) In general. "Painting" the RTV on to the part will ensure it fills the small crevises. Once the part is covered, the remaineder can be poured in to fill the mold. Things are a little different on the production side. If the part being molded has long, thin appendages, air will be trapped in the mold, and the resin will not fill the appendage, resulting in a "short shot". I have had some success in placing the mold, full of resin, in an ultrasonic cleaner, and using the cleaner's vibrations to break the bubbles free. Better than this, is to provide "vents" from the end of the appendage to the outside, to allow trapped air to escape. Before the RTV is poured, pins or wire is glued to the end of a gun barrel (for instance) and the side of the container surrounding the part. When the RTV mold is cured, removing the wire leases a small channel running to the end of the barrel. When the mold is filled with resin, the resin forces the air down the gun barrel and out the channel. (The resin usually also follows the air, escaping the mold, running down the side, and making a mess--but a small one.) Vents should be placed at any sharp corner (the corners of a locker, for example), or narrow protrusion which can trap air. Another dodge is to put the resin filled mold into a chamber, and INCREASE the air pressure. This forces the bubbles in the mixture to assume a smalle size (the air in the bubbles is at room pressure). The bubbles are still there, but the size is reduced. No mold release is needed to free the parts from the RTV, but I understand the use of no-stick cooking spray will extend the life of the molds. A release is needed if you want to produce a two-part mold. Fresh RTV will stick to cured RTV. Best advice: get some RTV ($15) and some resin ($15) and give it a try. You'll learn a lot about the process (and probably get a few usable parts, too.) Edd Pflum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Devin J. Poore" Subject: Re: U-571 Movie I also caught this movie this weekend. Despite the historical inaccuracy of the entire Enigma capture, and liberties taken with the German "Destroyer" and the PBY paint scheme, I found it highly entertaining and definitely worth the price of admission. Check it out. (As far as enlisted men arguing with officers? I plead guilty on a couple of occasions, but that was peace-time...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: GrafSpee34@aol.com Subject: Cabot I emailed the Cabot assn, got an email right back from a real person. They are trying to get corporate donations... Says they arent taking personal donations at this time, but would appreciate anyone's help in getting the word out. So tell all and sundry and direct them to the website! www.ironwoman.org This guy seems to be on the ball, as he got some prominent people in on the cause. It makes me ill thinking about the USS Cabot at the scrapper's yard. Its just a pile of metal to the scrapper, to them makes no difference if its a WW2 ship or train loads of toasters. Plenty of genuinely insignificant scrap metal laying around, so why cut up something significant? If only somebody would just swap another ship of the same tonnage. The US Navy has got to have a few junky boring depot ships from the 50's laying around that they can trade for the Cabot? According to the museum guide books, the Massachusetts and Alabama were saved from the scrapper in the 50's by donations from SCHOOL CHILDREN! Has something gone wrong with us Americans in the meantime? The Cabot situation, at such a properous time, and at a time when WWII veterans are supposedly our most honored citizens, is a scandal and a national disgrace... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Mike Connelley Subject: Deck Planking and Hull Bottoms Howdy: Regarding the deck planking, I had the same delima when I decided to replace the deck on my 1/350 Missouri. I found that the N-scale car siding (I presume for model RR builders) was the finest grooved sheet styrene. And it just so happened that the groove separation is almost exactly the scale width of the deck planks on the Missouri! Luckly a local hobbyshop (D&J Hobby for those of you in the San Jose area) had just enough in stock for me to do her decks. In the case of the Missouri, the sheets aren't long enough to do the deck in one piece, or even two. I am lucky that I was able to hide the joints under the superstructure so that the joint is almost totally covered. Rergarding hull bottoms, I have wondered about the same thing myself for my 1/700 Yamato and other waterline battleships. The way I'd do it is to cut 20-thou sheet styrene to the shape of the hull cross sections that you have. Then I'd laminate those together with other pieces of sheet styrene to build up a good approximation of the lower hull shape. Then I'd glue that to the upper hull, then apply milliput epoxy putty to fill in the gaps and file to shape. I did a similar job on my Revell 1/429 USS Arizona where the lower hull was totally the wrong shape. I didn't have to scratchbuild a whole new lower hull, but I had to add a lot in many places such as the stern as well as adding the anti-torpedo bulges. I hope this helps. Cheers Mike Connelley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "graham" Subject: USS TICONDEROGA Hi guys, I need a bit of help, I am building Revels effort in 1/700 it is quiet good as I look at it on its sprue's. Looking at its plans I have one or two questions though: 1 the hanger doors should open side ways or open up on a roller, most pics I have seen always shows the flight deck with the door already open so you can not see. 2 believe it or not I have never had to use transfers on a ship before!! (not very often I build modern ships) now I have read about "future-kleer" and its use before placing transfers(decals), but how do you get rid of the gloss finish? can you use a matt varnish? I live in the UK so most American stuff you cannot get here. I have used Humbrol before But I really do not like it it seems to have a odd tint to it, at least in the two tins I have here. best wishes from graham @the cruiser sig ipmsuk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: MRTIBABS@aol.com Subject: Re: Ship at Philly To: Keith Bender Hello Keith, now that you have relocated I hope you will still be able to show you fine work at the IPMS Stratford Show this June. Custodian Ship Assignments at NISMF Philadelphia show two possible ships as you describe, ex-Harry E. Yarnell CG-17 of the Leahy Class, or ex-Biddle CG-34 of the Belknap Class. One way to tell these ships apart as you said you can see the missile launcher on main deck. CG-17 was a "double ender" and would have a twin Mk 10 Terrier launcher aft. CG-34 was a "single ender" and would have a single Mk 42 5/54 cal. gun mount aft. Nick Tiberio -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "James Johnson" Subject: Re: Belknap at Philly Has my memory failed me, or was the USS Belknap the ship that had a collision with an aircraft carrier during the 70s and burnt her superstructure off. I was temporally assigned to our refinery in Marcus Hook and drove by the Philadelphia Navy Yard a number of times back then and the ship that was involved, was moored there in the mothball section, along with 2 Iowa class BB's and some cruisers IIRC. My recollection was that it was the Belknap, but as I grow older and try to put more stuff in the hard drive, it has to erase some older info to make room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "JODY KELM" Subject: german paint colors I am building a large battleship in 1/128th scale and I was hoping someone could tell me what the formula is for getting the right shade of paint down to this scale? Thank you, Chris Kelm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Dengar Subject: Re: Japanese I-400 Class Submarines Hi, Anyone with an interest in these subs may find this site interesting. All in Japanese unfortunately but with 21 good images and a plan view. http://member.nifty.ne.jp/heart_2/i400/ Happy modelling. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: SCALSHPYRD@aol.com Subject: Re: Belknap at Philly Keith: Both the Belknap and the Leahy class ships had a knuckled bow that was almost the same length and at the same WL level of the hull, the main visual differance in their hulls was the stem and the sonar dome. Lee Upshaw The Scale Shipyard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Ed Grune Subject: US Naval Historical Center - USS North Carolina Good morning SMMLies: This week at the US Naval Historical Center there has been posted a new photo essay on the USS North Carolina (BB-55). Check it out at: http://history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-n/bb55.htm The presentation includes several color pictures, including one from her shakedown cruise in May, 1941. The ship is dark blue/grey overall with light topworks. Because of the sun angle the face of the A turret has almost the same color value as the topworks. The deck is still natural teak - it hasn't been stained yet. Ed Mansfield, TX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: GrafSpee34@aol.com Subject: 1914 Weyers Book for Sale Hi Still thinning out piles of books here. I have an extra reprint of Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten 1914 (German version of Janes) up for grabs on eBay, starts at $1. no reserve as usual. Also check out my other nautical-naval books for sale while you are there http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=316591721 Thanks for looking -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume