Subject: SMML VOL 968 Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:36:27 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Revell CSS Alabama 2: Re: Who is Clay Blair 3: Re: Radeau 4: Re: DD-21 5: Who's Clay Blair??!!! 6: Re: eBay item 368930817 SUBMERSIBLE DRYDOCK, 7: Re: Clay Bair 8: RV Triton 9: Does anyone know anything about this book on IJN destroyers 10: Who Is Clay Blair? 11: Modern US color help needed 12: Re: Forced perspective 13: Alan Mcgivern 14: gunshield graffiti 15: Re: DD-21 16: Re: Radeau 17: New Submarine Book (to me) 18: Re: PTs at Pearl Harbor 19: Re: Clay Blair 20: King Gerorge V 21: Duane Fowler's "Big E" decals 22: Re: USS Zumwalt 23: HMS Cloaca? 24: Re: Clay Blair 25: Re: Radeau/ Radeaux 26: Re: Largest Island 27: Thanks 28: FriedrichFiles part 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Kitlink.com Konig Update 2: New AH U-10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Joel Labow Subject: Re: Revell CSS Alabama The kit is in 1/96 scale. The hull appears to be a modification of the Revell USS Kearsarge with different deck details, cannon etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: ECammeron@aol.com Subject: Re: Who is Clay Blair In WWII, he was an enlisted man aboard USS Guardfish. After the war, he became a noted reporter and writer. He wrote two classics - Undersea Victory - US Subs against Japan and Hitler's U-Boat War. Both are well worth reading and reading again. Eugene -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: URUDOFSKY@aol.com Subject: Re: Radeau This is a strange coincidence, since the Times Union in Albany, NY, USA, had an article about the RADEAU or RADEAUX boats recently. Some are still at the bottom of Lake George and Lake Champlain from the French-Indian Wars and are apparently well preserved and are being surveyed. See: www.timesunion.com, Sunday, July 2, 2000, or write to Lori Soderlind, Assistant City Editor, at the Times Union, 645 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY 12211, USA. Also www.lakegeorge.com and www.historiclakes.org may be of some use. Ulrich H. Rudofsky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: RhinoBones@aol.com Subject: Re: DD-21 >> Anyone else see the AP story floating around about the US Zumwalt class destroyer announced this week at Operation Sail? A good bit lower and flatter than other artist's renderings I've seen. They likened it to a US civil war gunboat. All electric propulsion and a 155 mm gun with a 60 mile range. It would make an interesting kit. Anyone seen more info on this or heard of anyone working up a kit? << Over the past year I've had the grand opportunity to work with one of the two industry teams competing for the DD-21 contract. To do the ship justice what is be needed is a cut away model. All of the real exciting stuff is hidden inside . . . away from the optic and electromagnetic sensors. By the second quarter next year the Navy plans to announce the winning team and let out the contract. I would guess that a model will soon follow. In the mean time you can do a web search of "DD 21" and check out the Navy's home page. Regards, RhinoBones -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Paul Jacobs Subject: Who's Clay Blair??!!! Who's Clair Blair??!!! Shame on you Shane! That's almost like asking: Who's Samuel Elliot Morison? (Don't you dare ask that one). Amongst Blair's many books, a number of which are on submarines, Blair wrote SILENT VICTORY, a history of U.S. submarines in the Pacific War. It remains THE definitive history on the subject 25 years after its first publication in 1975. If you have an interest in the Pacific War this book is a MUST read. Paul Jacobs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Mike Settle Subject: Re: eBay item 368930817 SUBMERSIBLE DRYDOCK, >> Hey guys see what you missed, just the thing for that realistic diorama!! It didn't sell, and it was a mere $825,000 for the opening bid :-) http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=368930817 << Well, I WAS going to bid on it, but I could not get approval from my primary financial institution (read this as wife). :-) Mike Settle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: CapnAgee@aol.com Subject: Re: Clay Bair Shane ... shame on you for not knowing who Clay Bair is! Actually, it is Clay Blair Jr and he is the author of the 2-volume 'Silent Victory' the U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. P.S. I just happen to have an extra set available if anyone is interested. Ray Agee aka CapnAgee@aol.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Michael Dunn" Subject: RV Triton Yup, the RV Triton is an interesting ship; for those who don't know about her the DERA page is a good one to start with...... I am putting some bits'n'bobs together for the revamped SMML site on her, and will of course be adding imagery of her when I see her in a few months. Just think......in a few decades all major Navies will have some, or all, of this style of ship...... BTW - if anyone out there has imagery of other ships, please mail them to me at mailto:picpost@smml.org.uk, esp if you have walkabouts...... Mike SMML Webmaster -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "JEL" Subject: Does anyone know anything about this book on IJN destroyers I have a chance to buy this book; its title is "IJN Torpedo Boats and Destroyers 1878-1945". Apparently, it's a Russian book and cost around US$45. Since it not cheap, I was wondering if anyone has seen or own it and if they can give any recommendations. Thanks ahead of time. Ed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "DJMartin56" Subject: Who Is Clay Blair? A good question.... As I swivvle to the left and stretch out behind me, my sticky paw clutches at: Hitler's U-Boat War, The Hunted 1942-1945, by Clay Blair......(a present for cat sitting....just around 900 pages of paperback reading.....) Vol 2 deals with the 'peak and demise' of the U-Boats, not all the comments I can agree with, but what do I know.... Vol 1 (to arrive for my next bout of cat sitting.....) deals with the 'Hunters', when the U-Boat rose to fame (infamy) depending on your point of view. Quite fascinating, and another reason for you all to visit Bletchley Park at Milton Keynes to gen up on the Codebreakers, Enigma and Ultra. Unless of course, there are more than one Clay Blair's..... Douglas (Scotland) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Subject: Modern US color help needed Need some recommendations for paints. I am sure there is something in older posts, but if anyone can tell me off the top of their heads, it would be appreciated - what Polly Scale colors match US modern ships - both deck and hull? This is for a MB 1/350 Perry Class FFG. I am terrible at mixing colors (always seems to end up a dark shade of mud) so off the rack colors are preferred. Many thanks. Kevin Wenker -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "chisum" Subject: Re: Forced perspective You are correct that RR modelers use it. Also in photagraphy it is used to fool the eye since the focal point, distance has to be compressed. There are some books on photographing models through ? Kalmbach? Randy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "chisum" Subject: Alan Mcgivern Seeking contact with Alan Mcgivern. Can anyone put me in contact with him. I have some questions on his ship models. Randy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: gunshield graffiti While thumbing through John's latest on the FLOWER class, I remembered a book that I had squirreled away that might be useful for the superdetailers. Written by Tom Lynch and published by Nimbus Publishing LTD (Halifax, NS) in 1984, the book is titled "Gunshield Graffiti". It is essentially a collection of black and white photos of the various emblems which emblazoned a wide variety of RCN ships during WWII and beyond. Sadly, there are no indications of colors, but the book implies that all of the originals depicted were donated to the Maritime Command Museum in Halifax. If you can find a copy, it is well worth having. Al Ross -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Norman C. Samish" Subject: Re: DD-21 >> Anyone else see the AP story floating around about the US Zumwalt class destroyer announced this week at Operation Sail? A good bit lower and flatter than other artist's renderings I've seen. They likened it to a US civil war gunboat. All electric propulsion and a 155 mm gun with a 60 mile range. It would make an interesting kit. Anyone seen more info on this or heard of anyone working up a kit? << A "155 mm gun with a 60 mile range" sounds remarkable, though I don't doubt it. I also heard it can hit a tennis court at that range. How is this achieved? Is the shell rocket boosted? Does it have guidance fins and a TV camera to achieve that accuracy? Unfortunately, a 155 mm shell isn't big enough to do much damage - a 3000 lb battleship shell with that range and accuracy would be something else again. TIA, Norman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: AandMBlevins@gateway.net Subject: Re: Radeau Take a look at either (or both) of two books by Russel P. Bellicoe; "Sails and Steam in the Mountains", and "Chronicles of Lake George", both published by Purple Mountain Press. Both feature information about the radeau "Land Tortoise" and other vessels used in the French Indian Wars. "Land Tortoise" has recently been found under Lake George in upstate New York where it, and other vessels, were purposely sunk for the winter months to prevent their capture. Al Blevins East Greenbush, NY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Stephen C. Gustafson" Subject: New Submarine Book (to me) I wrote: >> I just received a new submarine book by Claude C. Conner. Entitled Nothing Friendly in the Vicinity...My Patrols on the Submarine US Guardfish during WWII. The ISBN is 1-882810-41-4 with cost approx $25.00 for 200+ pages. Mr. Conner was a radar technician on the Guardfish and relates his experiences during the war. An interesting point to the book is it is written from an enlisted point of view not an officers (very few this way). He was a shipmate of Clay Blair (we all know and revere this name) during the last year of the war. The book is available at all the usual stops or from the author at: ccconner@earthlink.net He's a very nice gentleman and I recommend doing business with him. << >> Hi Stephen, Ok, I'll bite - who the hell is Clay Blair? Shane << Shane, Knowing that I am about to become the butt of that well known Australian humor here goes- Clay Blair is the author of: The Atomic Submarine and Admiral Rickover Nautilus 90 North MacArthur Return From the River Kwai A General's Life (co-written with Omar Bradley The Forgotten War: America in Korea 1950-1953 Silent Victory: The US Submarine War Against Japan Hitler's U-Boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942 Hitler's U-Boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945 That's a lot of good reading. I do believe I hear Shane saying "Oh, that Clay Blair." All the best to you down under, Steve Hi Steve & all the others who answered, Thanks for the clarification of who Clay Blair is. By the looks of things, he's another author to add to the ever growing list of books I need to get ;-). Regards, Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: CBNJBB62@aol.com Subject: Re: PTs at Pearl Harbor Hi Chris About your question concerning the PT's seen in Hawaii at the end of the war. It was probably PT Squadron 26 which was stationed in Pearl Harbor for the entire war. They used Huckins boats (78 ft long) I don't know if a model has been done on them. The boat numbers ran PT 255-264. All the others were destroyed at the end of the war. Craig Bennett -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: "Ken Goldman" Subject: Re: Clay Blair Okay Shane, the late Clay Blair - actually Clay Blair, jr - wrote HITLER'S U-BOAT WAR 9two volumes, THE HUNTERS, THE HUNTED), SILENT VICTORY - THE US SUBMARINE WAR AGAINST JAPAN, THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE AND ADMIRAL RICKOVER, NAUTILUS 90 NORTH (with William R. Anderson), A GENERAL'S LIFE (with Omar N. Bradley), RIDEWAYS PARATROOPERS, MACARTHUR, COMBAT PATROL, THE VOYAGE OF NINA II (for Robert Marx), THE HYDROGEN BOMB (with James R. Shipley), ALWAYS ANOTHER DAWN (with A. Scott Crossfield), etc...... Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER http://www.wman.com/~khgold/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: "Frank and Carol Berger" Subject: King Gerorge V Could anyone out there with the Tamiya 1/350 KGV possibly scan and send me the camo scheme for the pre 1944 era? Thanks! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21) From: Michael John Zwierko Subject: Duane Fowler's "Big E" decals I'd be interested in procuring a set or two of these...where can they be purchased from (and for how much)?? Any info would be appreciated. Mike -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22) From: Christopher Crofoot Subject: Re: USS Zumwalt >> Anyone else see the AP story floating around about the US Zumwalt class destroyer announced this week at Operation Sail? A good bit lower and flatter than other artist's renderings I've seen. They likened it to a US civil war gunboat. All electric propulsion and a 155 mm gun with a 60 mile range. It would make an interesting kit. Anyone seen more info on this or heard of anyone working up a kit? << There's quite a good bit of info at the Federation of American Scientists site. There are some nice views and a good dio would be the DD-21 in escort with the CVX! The link to the DD-21 page is: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/dd-21.htm Enjoy. Chris Crofoot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23) From: maeisen@erols.com Subject: HMS Cloaca? Two days ago, WRPRESS wrote concerning the camo scheme worn by HMS Curacoa during here collision with the Queen Mary: >> Specculation, smeculation my rear end.. << Maybe you're referring to HMS Cloaca, not HMS Curacoa? >> Too many dinkies with G Arnolld, she was in overall Mountanbatten Pink. << Ahah! Got you finally to cough up the information! I knew you were sitting on it all this time! But how would you account for the light semicircular panel and the light area on the forward deckhouse per the photo of HMS Curacoa on the WWII Cruiser Operations web page? Bottoms up, and reveal some more info, pray tell! Yours truly, Mike Eisenstadt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24) From: Ives100@aol.com Subject: Re: Clay Blair >> Hi Stephen, Ok, I'll bite - who the hell is Clay Blair? Shane << Geez- He is a god of submarine books. He wrote THE definitive book on US Submarine Operations during WWII entitled "Silent Victory". Incredible research and analysis of the entire US submarine war campaign. Still can get some copies over on Ebay from time to time. There is a large, single volume edition of about 1100 pages, or two smaller volumes of around 550 each. Clay Blair also finished, just before his death last year, a massive 20 year project in 2 volumes: "Hitler's U-Boat War" Vol. 1 is "The Hunters", Vol. 2 is "The Hunted". During the 50's, he was involved in two controversial books; one on the building of the H-bomb (Shepley and Blair) and one on the construction of the Nautilus, which was really a PR book for Rickover, and played a role in enhancing Rickover's broad political power base. His later books stand as monuments to military history scholarship. Tom Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25) From: Rick Heinbaugh Subject: Re: Radeau/ Radeaux Burl Burlingame wrote: >> Hey, anyone out there know anything about radeau, the "floating fortresses" used in the 1700s? Are there any drawings or pictures? They even had names, like Land Tortoise and Thunderer. << Try the following: "American Ships of the Colonial & Revolutionary Periods", John F. Millar, W.W. Norton & Co, 1978 - possibly hard to find - Has a page about the British radeau (French for "raft") Thunderer, along with a draft of the hull "The History of the American Sailing Navy", Howard I Chappelle, W.W. Norton & Co, 1949 - Reprinted a zillion times by Bonanza - ought to be available pretty cheap; try Barnes & Noble's bargain shelf (They DO have a store on Oahu, don't they?) - Has draft, with body plans of Thunderer. "The History of American Sailing Ships", Howard I Chappelle, W.W. Norton & Co, 1955 - Also reprinted by Bonanza. Chappelle's books overlap, and if they contradict, use the "Sailing Ships" over "Sailing Navy", as it was a later work. These books are a delight for anyone vaguely interested in 18th/19th century sailing ships. From "Sailing Navy", radeux (plural) were "...employed by the Americans as harbor defense craft, and these were, like gundalows, popular with the state navies set up by some of the colonies. A radeu was nothing more than a rather large sailing scow; the model was probaly based on the Thames River barges of the period so far as the English and the Americans were concerned." At any rate, Thunderer was one of the British vessels built on Lake Champlain, prior to their meeting at the Battle of Valcour Island with that great American naval commander, Gen. Benedict Arnold. Thunderer was the only radeau there. She was a flat-bottomed scow (technical word - not a values judgement) with a plan similar to that of the LCT, square across the bow and stern. The bowsprit stuck out from the middle of this square bow. She was keth-rigged (taller mast amidships; shorter one aft). Her dimensions are given as 91'6" long on the range of the deck, with 33'4" beam and only 6'8" deep in the hold. She may have had 18 guns. This flat bottom made Thunderer a rotten sailer and she was a wonderful example of a "fleet in being". Due to the typical winds in Lake Champlain being contrary and her unhandiness, she never got to the battle of Valcour Island. After Arnold won there, most of his fleet was burned to avoid capture by Thunderer and the other British ships, if they could ever meet. A radeau is not in the top 500 models I intend to get around to building. Rick -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26) From: =?windows-1252?Q?Bergsch=F6ld_Pelle?= Subject: Re: Largest Island >> Yes, you are correct we are the smallest continent, but we are also the largest Island ;->> Shane << Ah, well, in fact not. As a descendant of vikings, I have to point out that Greenland is larger. And, by the way, by definition, you are either a continent or an island. To sum up - you are ether the second-largest island, or the smallest continent. ;-) Best regards P Bergschold Small, but nice, Sweden Hi Pelle (?), Ummm, I was always under the understanding that Australia was the largest island & after just checking one of my atlases, will admit that it looks a pretty close contest between Greenland & Australia. So, for the moment, until I can check it out some more, I'll just say we're the smallest continent ;-). Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27) From: Friedrich Kappes Subject: Thanks Thanks John! Could you also give the letter-codes (p.e. C2-S-B1) of St.George and Cadmus? Regards Friedrich The FriedrichFiles http://www.egroups.com/mygroups/navalships http://www.egroups.com/mygroups/aeroplanes http://www.egroups.com/mygroups/airships -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28) From: Friedrich Kappes Subject: FriedrichFiles part 3 Here´s part 3 of my question list. I hope there are some people having answers. Daring (Brit destroyer 1952) line drawing Eagle (Brit. paddle-steamer ~1810 -> 1824 Danish yacht "Kiel" -> 1849 German gunboat...) completed in ? Enterprise (1926, Brit. cruiser) line drawing Faulknor (Brit destroyer WWI) line drawing, date of commission Fly (Brit. cutter, purchased in 1763 by the Royal Navy) completed in ? Fly (US-schooner, captured ~1812, became "Sea Lark") completed in ? Francis-Lifeboat (small rescue-boat ~1863) completed in ? Götheborg (Swedish Indiaman, sank in 1745 in a gale) completed in ? Gorgon-class (Brit. monitors, 1918) line drawing Grana (Spanish frigate, captured in 1781 by HMS Cerberus) date of commission Grossendorf (former Polish tug "Pollux" ~1936) completed in ? Thank you in advance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Mike Hall" Subject: Kitlink.com Konig Update Our second shipment of Konigs has finally arrived, and all remaining pre-orders will be shipped out the first of the week. We thank all of you for your patience, and apologize for the lengthy time in fullfilling your orders. We have learned much about ICM with this release, and because of these lessons we did not offer a pre-order on the Grober Kurfurst. (spotty delivery, and broken promises) Yes, we will still be getting all ICM releases, (we are a distributor for them) we just won't be offering them until we have them in our paws, or until they have more timely introductions. BTW, we have plenty of Kurfursts in stock now, and available for quick shipment. Mike Hall Kitlink.com http://www.Kitlink.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Leodegar Berger" Subject: New AH U-10 There is a new model in scale 1/1250 by my company (Bergers) It is U 10 of the Austro-Hungarian navy of WWI. The price is $4,50. Leodegar Berger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for having SMML at your home, why not stop by our home at: http://www.smml.org.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume