Subject: SMML VOL 1087 Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 00:06:49 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: U 505 & Taiho 10cm guns 2: Re: Hunley, a Different View 3: Old / Odd kits 4: Jap Naval Aircraft Colours 5: Re: Xacto Knives 6: Re: Closet modeler other than ships 7: Trivia 8: Re: Holt & helicopters 9: HMS LAFOREY 10: My own admissions and weak rationalizations 11: Modern Marvels - Please Help 12: Fleet Boat Black 13: The Tenth Zero? 14: Evergreen Scale Models styrene shapes 15: HELP 16: Japanese Mini Sub found 17: First ship -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: International Maritime Modeling December 2000 Update -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Franz Aigner GmbH" Subject: U 505 & Taiho 10cm guns What was U 505's AA outfit at the time of capture? I could not figure it out from the U 505 museum webpage. The Tamiya-supplied 10cm turrets for Taiho are incorrect, should be Oyodo-style mountings. Is there any aftermarket firm that produces these turrets? (Buying 3 Tamiya CLs or 2 Oyodos just for the mountings is not attractive) Greetings, Richard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: MDDoremus@aol.com Subject: Re: Hunley, a Different View Folks, Sorry, I wasn't clear on what I did. I sent the two pages to Mike for the SMML Pic Post. I'm sure he'll have them posted soon. Basically it was two pages of text with a general description of the process used to raise the boat. One real good picture of the fron of the hull showing the diving plane, one so-so picture of the rig used to actually raise her and 3 line drawings of the ship's general arraingment. Nothing special, just some ship picturers. Mark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "larsenal" Subject: Old / Odd kits Hello! The 1/730 Arromanches was produced in the early 60's by a French company named DEL. The kits were quite correct for the period, but hard to find in hobby shops, this certainly why DEL disapeared soon. In the same series they proposed: Richelieu BB Surcouf Jean Bart BB Chasseur 123 small escort ship Fougueux Destroyer Lansquenet ex US PC I currently have the good fortune to be in possession of Le Terrible who wears very well her name, because a big carpenter's nail is included in the kit to make the model float in your bathroom! I also have a chromed version of the Arromanches of the best effect possible! This one was given in washing machine powder boxes as a gift! Unless to say that I was always happy to go to the supermarket with my mother! Best regards, Jacques Druel L'Arsenal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Cooper, Mike" Subject: Jap Naval Aircraft Colours Dear SMMLies A 1/72 Jake at our Club meeting yesterday provoked this. Does anyone have a source for Jap naval aircraftt colours that will give a. Colours used with official references/sources b. Some point of comparison to FS or Humbrol? You know the sort of thing - a source where "Dark Green" isn't enough of an answer. IPMS UK were advertising something, but I can't find my mag with it in. SAM did a series on Pearl Harbour, but I don't think this gives the info Mike Cooper (Damp and gloomy Reading. Eeyore would feel at home.....) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Xacto Knives >> Check with Rusty. It might have rolled off the table and landed in his foot! << No, I still am scratching the back of my head. It stuck in the back of my head. Rusty White Flagship Models - Photo Etched Details for Warships http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ We now accept Visa & MasterCard world wide via Pay Pal "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Closet modeler other than ships >> I'm so sorry, I couldn't help it. I just... Oh God, please forgive this unworthy one. Just a couple, really. I mean, can it hurt if I just build, you know, a bit of armor here, a plane or a helo there? WHY, WHY WAS I SO WEAK? << Don't worry about it Joe. Think you got it bad? I build some sci fi stuff every now and then. Check out the new book on building Star Trek models by Rick Jackson put out by Kalambach. Rick's a good friend of mine AND A SHIP MODELER! And he wrote the book. He wanted to borrow a couple of mine for his book. You can see my Reliant and the Klingon Bird of Prey in there somewhere. But seriously, I enjoy doing them because you don't have be technically accurate. Just make them look good. It's a great release from the technical accuracy our hobby demands from ship models. I have experimented with a number of different painting techniques on sci fi models. Rusty White Flagship Models - Photo Etched Details for Warships http://www.okclive.com/flagship/ We now accept Visa & MasterCard world wide via Pay Pal "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Trivia Hi all Many thanks for your responses to my trivia question and Pirie was 100 per cent right followed by Pieter. The individual I had in mind was Eugine de Savoy. The question of legitimacy is easily answered, Eugine served the Austrian branch of the Hapsburg family who ruled over the Holy Roman Empire until 1805, then the Austrian Empire until 1867 and the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. This was an unbroken chain of rule and as such they had a legitimate claim to use the name of one of their greatest servants. Eugine was not a proponent of an independent Italy but a committed imperialist and the Nazi claim to be the successor of the Holy Roman Empire is laughable. Incidentally, Ramillies was the only battle in which Marlborough did not collaborate with Eugine (they were apparently great friends). Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Craig R Bennett Subject: Re: Holt & helicopters Hi Shane Thanks for the reply . I wondered why they choose him. All I know is that the Holt was the ship used to transport marines to the seized Merchant ship Mayaquez in the effort to recapture it from the Cambodians. Who seized it just after the fall of Vietnam. In the newspapers articles at the time this was brought up and it sorta stuck in my memory. What a way to die by a shark. About the New Jersey's helicopters. Yes she did have them. Now remember this ship wasn't built with hangar like her 3 sisters. All I know about her is that her first helicopter was a SH-2F Seasprite. My source is a cruise book from her first deployment 1982-84.There is a page about the Air Det (I guess that means Detachment )and it reads "Flight deck operations is a phrase one might might normally associate with aircraft carriers,but not battleships. Yet though the deployment, member of HSL-33,otherwise known as the AIRDET were assigned to the battleship to maintain and fly a Seasnake-the lamps (Light Airborne Multi Purpose System) helo that was an integral a part of the battleship as the wooded decks. New Jersey's flight deck was extremely busy place for helos of all types and from variety of squadrons landed and took off from it, leaving an impressive set of statistics: 1,500 daytime landings,over 5,000 passengers transferred across to the New Jersey, almost 2,000 vertical loads of supplies were carried to the battleship. 900 of the 1500 landings by the ships helo Seasnake (Is this the Navy's nickname for a SeaSprite?) with pilots and flight crews from New Jersey's Air Det logging nearly 1,000 flight hours. While in the Beirut area the battleship flight deck became known throughout the Op Area as the Multi National Helo port because it seemed that anyone who flew in the area stopped at the battleship. I know that airfix produced a model of Seasprite in 1/72 scale that is a dead ringer for the ones in the pictures. Well Joe I hope this is of help. Craig -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Dana-Nield.com" Subject: HMS LAFOREY I just read Michael Eisenstadt Review of the HP models HMS LAFOREY and it really made my day. As some of you know, my Grandfather, Richard Sumner served aboard her and I have posted his wartime photos: http://www.dana-nield.com/clemswar/index.htm There were a few pictures of L classes in his scrap book and many are within Clem's War. In the Laforey Section there is a good image of the HMS LOOKOUT in Med Camo. If anyone would like a larger photo, I will rescan it at a higher resolution and post it on the site. Looks like I'll be buying a few for Christmas. I have a feeling if the Sumner's find out about the kit I'll have to order several! Cheers! Dana -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Ned Barnett Subject: My own admissions and weak rationalizations Yes, fellow modelers, I too build things other than ships ... though I'm damned careful to have my rationalizations fully in place. 1. Tanks were created by First Sea Lord Winston Churchill for use by naval landing forces on the Belgium coast (I think he can take some kind of credit for armored cars, too). 2. Planes have been flying from ships for almost as long as there have been planes - and arguably, the first Allied fighter planes in the Great War were RNAS fighters - and the first armed planes were also naval-related. 3. Figures represent people - sailors are people - 'nuff said. 4. World War II Americans had to go by naval ship to fight on land ... the link is clear and unbreakable 5. If you want to get serious, we're all descended from Noah, one hell of a righteous sailorman ... So get off my back! (whew - a day without at least one good rationalization isn't worth living) Ned -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Ned Barnett Subject: Modern Marvels - Please Help Hi I'm going to need several original video copies of the December 12 Modern Marvels (in which I'll be one of the talking-head experts). Are there any USA-based volunteers with good quality VCRs who'd be willing to make copies for me (I'll replace your tape with new - though I probably don't have time to ship you a tape before the show airs). Please contact me directly if you can help. Thanks Ned -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: MDDoremus@aol.com Subject: Fleet Boat Black A while back, in a discussion about Measure 9 paint for USN W.W.II Fleet boats someone suggested not using a straight black (or flat black). Instead they suggested lightening the black to a gray (grey), maybe even suggested a Testor's match. Anybody with a better memory or faster search recall what was suggested? TIA Mark Doremus Eden Prairie, MN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Burl Burlingame / Pacific Monograph Subject: The Tenth Zero? Whilst chatting with one of the Japanese pilots at Pearl Harbor commemorative ceremonies, he said a TENTH Zero was lost during the Pearl Harbor attack. The pilot was flying CAP over the carriers and crashed during approach -- both plane and pilot were lost. Does this ring any bells? Burl Pacific Monograph, 1124 Kahili Street, Kailua HI 96734 808-263-6087 buzz@aloha.net A historical interpretation company. Visit our web sites at http://www.PacificHistory.com/ and http://www.PacificHistory.net "He's supposed to be dead. This is vexing. I am terribly vexed." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Douglas Subject: Evergreen Scale Models styrene shapes I'm wondering if I'm the only one who's noticed that many of Evergreen's styrene rods are out-of-round. I've taken to carefully rolling the rods inside the poly wrap to ascertain their roundness before purchasing them. Checking several sizes, I found most of the rod suffered this defect...thinking it might be a bad batch, I checked several other hobby shops at two month intervals and still found the same problem. I even mailed Evergreen samples of the defective rods and requested an exchange...but I never heard back from them. I've since been ordering my styrene rod from Plastruct and have experienced no similar defects. Doug Bauer Poway, CA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Shaya Novak" Subject: HELP Does any no Jim Klopp I need to contact him. He has very large naval photograph collection. Especially the USS Alaska. Shaya Novak Naval Base Hobbies The Store for The Model Ship Builder www.modelshipbuilding.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: Bradford Chaucer Subject: Japanese Mini Sub found There was a report on MSNBC tonight that Bob Ballard has located the Japanese Minisub that was tracked and sunk by the USS Ward 1 hour prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The report also noted that he has also found downed planes, unexploded torpedos and many other relics of the attack. One wonders, whether the USS Arizona has ever been yideo surveyed from below??? Regards, Bradford Chaucer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Tony Ireland" Subject: First ship In Jan 1942, aged 15 and the youngest cadet in our new intake, I reported aboard the South African Merchant Navy Training Ship 'General Botha', moored since 1923 near the Royal Navy's South Atlantic base at Simons Town, on False Bay. This venerable ship was then almost four times my age, having been commissioned in 1885 as the Protected Cruiser HMS 'Thames' - one of the four 'Mersey' Class cruisers that also included the 'Severn' and 'Forth'. She had survived 57 years afloat mainly, I believe, because she was not built of steel - but of half-inch thick plates of low-carbon wrought iron that had better corrosion resistance. Sadly, she was eventually towed out into False Bay in 1946 and sunk by the 9.2-inch guns of the naval shore battery. We 120 cadets doing our two-year course joked that the ship was held together by paint. When we surreptitiously chipped off souvenir patches we could count the layers of multi-coloured paints slapped on at the 3-yearly dry docking refits - rather like tree rings. Our ship resembled the famous Russian cruiser 'Aurora' moored in the River Neva at St. Petersburg, whose 6-inch gun signalled in 1917 the attack on the Winter Palace that launched the Bolshevik revolution. I believe she is still afloat, which would mean she is over 100 years old. Has anyone any info on her? As commissioned, HMS 'Thames' was 300 feet in length by 46 ft beam, a draft of 19 ft. and displaced 4,050 tons. She was armed with two single-mount 8-inch guns, and ten 6-inch guns in broadside batteries mounted in semi-circular sponsons jutting out from the hull. She had two torpedo tubes mounted on deck. Coal-fired boilers fed her 4,500 h.p. reciprocating engines that drove her twin screws, giving her a top speed of 17 knots - surprisingly, faster than the Canadian-built Flower Class Corvette HMS 'Smilax' (K280, commissioned in Toronto in April 1943) that I later served in for 13 months. Using 'Forced Draught', HMS 'Thames' could manage 18 knots in the 1880's - equalling WW2 U-Boats' top speed surfaced. She had a wicked-looking ram bow, similar to that of HMS 'Dreadnought' which rammed and sank a U-boat in 1914. Her engines must have been rather unreliable, however, as her single funnel was hinged and could be lowered flat. Her two 85- foot high masts and yards could carry sails, enabling her to limp to the nearest coaling station. I don't know if she was towed from UK to Simons Town in 1922, or managed under her own steam plus sails. Bought by a philanthropic S.African mining magnate in memory of his son killed in WW1, HMS Thames was converted into a ship for training merchant navy officer cadets. In the gutted boiler- and engine-rooms were classrooms, mess-deck, a vast gymnasium, and sleeping quarters where 120 hammocks were slung at night, over the 3-inch thick armoured main deck, then neatly rolled up and stowed in the chilly dawn. Moored at the bow and stern about half a mile offshore, the ship rolled uneasily in the surge of the 'Cape Rollers' coming in from the South Atlantic. My first memory is of the everlasting whistle of the wind through the open ports of the sponsons, and in the rigging, and of my chilled, bruised feet - as we were not allowed any footwear, and the upper deck was festooned with sharp metal fittings invisible on dark nights. A broken, bent toe on my left foot still reminds me of those bleak first months. Responsibility for discipline was entrusted by the ship's officers to the second-year Senior Cadets, or 'Old Salts' - who had virtually total power over Junior Cadets, or 'Chums'. All cleaning chores, deck scrubbing, laundry, brass polishing, etc was done by cadets, organized in the Port, Starboard, Foc's'le, and Quarterdeck Divisions ruled by 'Old Salt' Cadet Captains. We learned seamanship by rowing the 27-ft whalers and 32-ft cutters to and from the town wharf to ferry supplies & passengers. All punishment was delivered at once up in the 'Heads' (lavatories near the ship's bows) by any 'Old Salt'. Usually a 'Chum' was told to clench his jaw, and he was knocked out, then doused with water if he didn't come round quickly. One really did 'see stars' - I discovered. Based on naval discipline in Nelson's time, this Spartan regime produced remarkable self-discipline very fast. Any lazy, loutish or thoughtless action, like dropping litter, was a crime against the well-being of all 120 cadets and merited instant 'Cock-a-Jaw' by any Old Salt who spotted it. Theft from a fellow cadet was a capital offence. e.g. On the very last day of my first year, as all cadets were clearing their lockers into suitcases, one Old Salt was found in possession of a stolen article. He was ritually knocked out by most of his fellow Old Salts and ended up in hospital with a broken jaw. One Instructor Officer spotted this disturbance in the 'Heads' but ignored it, I noticed. A bit like a mutineer being 'flogged around the Fleet' in Nelson's day.... On my first day aboard, an Old Salt asked me: "Chum! - how d'you think you'll get along with your shipmates?" I said, "I like those I've met so far." He spat out, "Forget that! The only thing that matters here is what all your shipmates think of you!" When we came aboard we were searched and our cash was stored in the ship's safe, and thereafter we were paid one shilling per week to buy soap, tooth-paste, etc at the pusser's store. Thus boys from wealthier homes could not show off in front of shipmates with less well-off parents. Comradeship, cohesiveness, unselfishness and a unity in face of danger affecting equally every crew member at sea during the war - was being instilled into us. A few Old Salts were natural bullies, so became detested by us Chums, though we could do nothing about it. A bit like the Mafia... In our periods of free time, any Old Salt could yell: "Chum!" Instantly all 60 of us had to come running, and the last to arrive was ordered to clean his shore-going shoes, or darn his socks, etc. One lad, named Van B. - one of the very few Afrikaner cadets - often ordered:"Chum! Flash stamp!" which meant giving him a postage stamp costing a quarter of our weekly allowance. He may have resold them to his mates. He was a dapper, handsome lad, and a keen member of the ship's official boxing team that held matches against schools like Bishops, in Rondebosch. Every cadet had to take part in our annual boxing championship, and I was set down to fight him in the featherweight division of the semi-finals. That morning he told me, to my astonishment, that I would win our bout. He explained that the winner would have to fight the redoubtable McGillewie - the Captain of the Boxing Club - who had sworn to win the silver cup for the Best Boxer of 1942. The Chums were seated on one side of the ring, with the Old Salts opposite. Our fiery P.T. instructor refereed. Van B. started by displaying his fancy footwork and elegant punching, but kept back-pedalling and never hurt me, to my relief. The referee soon stopped the bout and yelled to him to "FIGHT! - Don't RUN AWAY!" after which Van B. hit me hard a few times. Being unskilled, I lost my temper and went for him like a demented kangaroo, thrilled that my arms were a little longer than his. The Chums were overjoyed and bawled encouragement, and by the end of the 3-round contest I saw many Old Salts also cheering me on. It was a great moment when the ref. held my arm up. Van B. had a tooth missing and lots of blood smeared on his face. (I was reminded of all this when I read recently Bryce Courtenay's 'The Power of One' ..) Next Saturday evening I duly met McGillewie in the Finals. He knocked me out in 30 seconds. I was told later that it had been a hard Right Cross punch. But I remembered nothing of that opening round. Nor did I realise for a long time that my nose had been broken, and I had a ruptured septum that has given me breathing problems at night, as I didn't care to have a red-hot wire used to enlarge the airways. McGillewie was enraged, because the judges hadn't had time to assess his skills, so the Cup was given to another boxer. So that same evening, after the Finals ended, he took me to the Heads and knocked me out in the usual bare-knuckle 'cock-a-jaw' manner. That was the most vile behaviour by an Old Salt that I can recall. A highly religious person might even feel some significance in the fact that he later had one leg amputated after being kicked on the football field.... The ship's officers seemed rather aloof, presiding over the 0800 Morning Colours when the flag was hoisted, and at the reverse ceremony at sundown, with an excellent cadet bugler sounding the calls. Also at the ceremonial morning 'Divisions', when the Cadet Captains made their roll-call reports. But the instructors in practical subjects were friendly 'old sweats' who'd been Petty Officers in the R.N. and were mostly cheerful Cockney Londoners. The physical training instructor was a small, wiry, active man with a blazing temper. He would glare at us and warn: "I don't care if you're a fool! But don't be a bloody fool!" Since we did a lot of P.T. we all experienced his tongue-lashings - especially when he tried to teach us new skills such as fencing, boxing, wrestling, climbing the rigging, and some weird exercises swinging heavy wooden Indian clubs which he would use to clout some poor clumsy cadet on the backside - sending him sprawling - while bawling "Up! Over the mast-head!!". One then had to climb swiftly up the ratlines, squirm awkwardly through the lubber's hole and then ascend the narrow unsteady rope ladder against the top-mast to eventually touch the wooden truck at the tip of the 85-ft mainmast, and then descend via the opposite rigging. A rope safety net was spread about twenty feet above the deck, but as the ship rolled it was a scary experience. The trick was never to look down. A few Old Salts who were strong swimmers, and good at diving, would earn a bit of cash during our free time in the First Dog Watch ( 4.0 - 6.0 p.m.) - while the officers were absent having a pink gin in their wardroom near the stern - by 'dumping' themselves. This involved climbing part way up the top-mast, waiting for a big roll to port, and then leaping outwards to dive outside the safety net and into the sea alongside our hull. The last time I watched this, just as the daring cadet was hauling himself back aboard at the landing stage, we saw an enormous shark glide up from beneath our keel and lazily circle around the disturbed patch of sea - as if inviting him to repeat the stunt... Our P.E. instructor, ironically, later ignored his own wise advice and was killed while out poaching deer up in the bush-clad hills overlooking Simons Town. He had wounded a stag and was wary of approaching its dangerously sharp horns, yet didn't want to waste another cartridge. So he grasped the double-barrelled shotgun at its muzzle and clubbed the animal on its head. His body was found some days later, with his stomach blown away, beside the dead stag. An ex-cadet named Green, an R.N.R. Midshipman, paid us a visit. He'd been in the crowded Gunroom of the battleship 'Barham' with the other 50-odd Middies, one afternoon as they escorted a convoy in the Mediterranean. Three torpedoes hit their side of the ship and she began to roll over. A mad rush to get out into the passageway ensued, but Green instantly unclipped the heavy steel deadlight over a porthole, opened it, kicked off his shoes, and managed to slither through just as the sea began to pour in. He struck out away from the still-moving ship to get away from the superstructure and masts as they bore down on him, but was still not far off as the ship capsized behind him. A 15-inch shell in X or Y turret fell off its hoisting cage and exploded, detonating the whole after main magazine. The appalling explosion was filmed memorably from a nearby ship. Thousands of tons of steel debris rained down from the disintegrated stern, but Green was miraculously unscathed. About 850 crew members perished. We learned that disaster and death on a huge scale occurred at sea without warning. e.g. only one man survived out of 700-odd in the cruiser HMS 'Neptune' when she ran into an Italian minefield in the Mediterranean that same year. On May 6th I beheld a birthday treat soon after dawn. The liner 'Queen Mary' had anchored not far off during the night, and close to her I beheld the world's most beautiful ship. She turned out to be the pride of the Dutch merchant navy - the 36,000-ton Holland-America Line's 'Nieuw Amsterdam'. All that day we watched fascinated as about 3,000 Afrika Korps P.O.W's were trans-shipped by tugs across to the huge Cunarder, which sailed that evening on a solo high-speed dash to Canada - probably refuelling at Freetown. Nearly two years later I had a memorable voyage in this Dutch liner from Durban to the Clyde, in company with 4,000 Australian air-crew on their way to help Bomber Command devastate Germany's cities. Their temper was not improved by learning after boarding the ship in Sydney that no alcohol of any sort existed on board, as the ship for some reason was subject to the U.S.N. prohibition regulations. Not many weeks after the two great liners had lain off-shore, like sitting ducks, in Simons Bay, an enemy submarine entered False Bay and a gun battle ensued at night with the Armed Merchant Cruiser 'Cheshire'. Next day we saw this liner had a shell hole in her funnel. We supposed that a Japanese sub had been refuelled by the Vichy-French in Diego Suarez, Madagascar, before our forces occupied it. We never heard whether the sub had been sunk. Anyway, this incident - and the likelihood of U-boats coming our way after their 'Happy Time' off the U.S. Atlantic coast in early '42 - caused us to be suddenly evacuated from the 'General Botha' and dumped into a cricket pavilion high in the hills overlooking Simons Town. The U-boat campaign around South Africa began in August '42 and 72 ships were sunk in ten months without the loss of a single U-boat. Two of our newly-graduated cadets were killed after only 36 hours on their first voyage, after their tanker was torpedoed in heavy weather near Port Elizabeth. Another cadet survived in a lifeboat which was hidden in troughs in the big swells as the U-boat used a small searchlight while it shelled the other three boats. He visited us, and we were shocked to see his uncontrollable bodily tremors. The U-boat captain was tried in Hamburg in 1946 for war crimes, and hanged. He pleaded that his sub would have been quickly sunk by air attack if he let survivors reveal his position close inshore. We were sent home on leave while new timber huts were hastily built. Luckily, my wartime guardian (since I'd been evacuated from London by the UK Govt. in Sept.1940) had been transferred from distant King Williams Town to be Magistrate in Paarl, conveniently near to Cape Town. When I returned to the new shore-based 'General Botha' I smuggled in my Agfa folding roll-film camera, as we were now a couple of miles outside the actual naval base. Later that year, my camera was discovered by an Old Salt, with a curious result. Smoking was the official most heavily punished offence, next to deserting the ship, and four cuts of the cane resulted. All the Old Salts were habitual smokers, and they began to commission me to take highly compromising photos of small groups of them with fags stuck in their mouths. My exposed film was taken back to CapeTown by an American who came twice-weekly to tutor me in French, which I was allowed to study in place of Afrikaans, and the resulting prints brought back clandestinely by this interesting man, who joined in the joke. Finally, with the utmost careful planning reminiscent of the stunts pulled by the P.O.W.'s in Colditz Castle, I took a photo of every one of the 60 Old Salts in a huge group, all with cigarettes stuck in their mouths and another held up jauntily between their fingers. They ordered very many enlargements, and laid one on the table in Captain Pennington's cabin at the last moment before they all departed at the end of 1942. I held my breath. But in spite of this revelation that an illegal camera was in the possession of a cadet, I was able to smuggle it in all through 1943. It was eventually incinerated in the cordite flash from the muzzle of a 7.5-inch gun on D-Day off Normandy.... B.T.W., I may have been the only non-smoker among the 120 cadets. Back in October 1940 a group of us evacuee children from U.K. were taken over the big Springbok cigarette factory in CapeTown, where I learned that cigarettes began with an endless paper spiral rolled tube filled with tobacco which was then chopped to the required lengths. Seeing some waste lengths in a rubbish bin I asked for one, about a foot long, as a souvenir. I had never smoked a cigarette, but later was dared by another 14-year old boy to smoke this unusually long one. I did so, and was more sick for the next 12 hours than I have ever been. After this 'aversion therapy' I've never smoked another cigarette, happily. In place of nicotine, I became addicted to the fascination of astro-navigation and spherical trigonometry, in spite of my inability to grasp algebra that caused me to fail all my maths exams. In 1943, my navigation instructor was an RNR Lieut.-Commander who had been invalided out of the R.N. He'd survived the sinking by Stukas of a couple of small ships taking supplies to Tobruk for the Australians beseiged there. We described him disrespectfully as being 'bomb happy'. In the clinical term, he was suffering from post traumatic disorder. As a Cadet Captain, I occasionally had to help him to bed on a Saturday night after he'd drunk too much to try to expunge the sight of his shipmates blasted to pieces by high explosive. Thus I respected him so much that I soaked up all that he had to teach me. Mr Frame, the ship's Headmaster, a dour Scot, was my mathematics teacher. He took a dim view of my failure to pass maths because of my aversion to algebra. Many years later, he would have been pleased when my eldest son gained a perfect score in Pure maths, Applied maths, Physics, and Chemistry in his university entrance exams - all less 3% for his disorderly presentation, handwriting and spelling, however. Since I was the only cadet ever to have already passed his University Matriculation exam before joining the 'General Botha', my fatherly navigation instructor set out to ensure that I gained 100% in my final British Board of Trade Fourth-Mates Certificate exam in November 1943. I let him down, although I did win the Howard Silver Medal for Navigation and Seamanship. "94 percent, eh?" he growled, at the year's end, "Just remember this means that six percent of your ship is on the rocks!" A final oddity. When the winter rains died away about September 1942 the big tanks collecting water off the roofs were unable to supply our needs, and the 'General Botha' was about to be closed down. Geologists had searched for possible underground water in our barren, sandy hilltop site, but drilling produced nothing. So Captain Pennington had us all out on parade, to break the bad news. He ordered us to take the day off and experiment with home-made water-divining rods that he had read about. It soon transpired that, to our incredulous excitement, about 80% of us were definitely able to divine underground water. All that day we pegged out the course of a subterranean stream that passed beneath the cricket pitch and across to a corner of the site. We blindfolded each other and rigorously tested repeatedly the strange, inexplicable manner in which the Y-shaped twigs and even fencing-wire rods were pulled downwards as we shuffled across the invisible stream and added ever more marker pegs. When the drilling machine was brought in, it easily struck potable water. So we were saved!. A swimming pool began to be excavated in the corner - using cadets' labour - with a couple of hours hard labour taking the place of the traditional 'cock-a-jaw' and lesser brutal punishment dished out by the Old Salts. I confess I never did hit any cadet, sissy that I must have been. I spent the last three months limping around on crutches, then hopping in an ungainly fashion, after breaking my left foot while running down-hill as the 'hare' in a cross-country paper-chase. I was enjoying leaping over the low scrub like a springbok and landing in the soft, blindingly bright white sand. Then the ball of my left foot landed smack on a sharp little spike of rock almost level with the sand, and I rolled over like a shot rabbit. The other cadets hated having to carry me a mile or so back to the pavilion. My foot grew worse, sprouting a weird rubbery layer like crepe-rubber on the sole which was burned with a nasty caustic liquid and scraped off each evening. Then my left leg rebelled and swollen veins developed. Finally, a week before my medical to join the R.N. a clever specialist injected the veins - and they died down. The naval doctor did not notice them or the tiny marks of the needle. My foot still breaks down if I walk more than a mile or two. So I've depended on my 400cc Honda motor-cycle for years. P.S. Am about to apply the double-diagonal 2mm marine-ply planking on to the 7-foot long, 1:10 scale R/C sailing model of my son's 40-ton steel ketch moored in Portland, Oregon. Please excuse the length of this tale of my first ship. Cheers, Tony -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Felix Bustelo Subject: International Maritime Modeling December 2000 Update I am pleased to announce the December 2000 update to International Maritime Modeling. http://members.tripod.com/~Febus65/imm.htm The December 2000 update to the site includes: Photos of Carl Erickson's 1/600 Ditmar Koel pilot boat, Dave Flynn's 1/600 IJN Yamashiro, Peter Hall's 1/600 scale HMS Cotswold, Jason Brian Johnson's updated and completed 1/350 scale Titanic Wreck model, Harold Lincoln's scratchbuilt 1/600 scale SAS Durban, Bob Santos' 1/35 DSV Alvin and 1/96 scale Maple Leaf, Paddy Taylor's 1/600 scale HMS Fearless and box-scale Aurora Viking Ship, and Peter Van Buren's 1/400 scale RMS Titanic in the Gallery. Reviews of the Airfix 1/600 scale kits of the HMS Devonshire, HMS Fearless and HMS Tiger in Quick Kit Reviews. Reviews of the White Ensign Models 1/600 scale King George V Class Battleships Detail set, 1/600 "Ultimate" Modern Royal Navy Set One and 1/600 "Ultimate" Modern Royal Navy Set Two in Photoetch Reviews. Reviews of Vosper MTBs in Action, PT Boats in Action, Leander Class (Modern Combat Series 1) and Type 21 (Modern Combat Series 5) in Book Reviews. Updated the Atlantic Models pages to include new resin upgrade/conversion parts in the Photoetch List Page. Updates to the latest arrivals at Warship Books. Related updates to the Links page. Please stop by for a look. Thanks, Felix Bustelo International Maritime Modeling URL: http://members.tripod.com/~Febus65/imm.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for backissues, Member's models & reference pictures at: http://www.smml.org.uk Check out the APMA site for an index of ship articles in the Reference section at: http://www.tac.com.au/~sljenkins/apma.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume