Subject: SMML VOL 1093 Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 23:08:38 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Graf Spee Turret/P1000 2: Bengal and Hokoku Maru 3: Aurora 4: New paints in enamel 5: Re: "Russkies buzzing US Ships off of Alaska 6: Detail and Scale 7: Re: Heroic Self Sacrifice 8: Re: USS Indianapolis 9: WEM BENJAMIN STODDERT (DDG 22) 10: Advice on the Clermont 11: Revised Arizona Book 12: USS VERMONT 13: Re: watercolors 14: Re: This Vegemite Thing 15: Re: Russkies Buzzing US Ships off Alaska? 16: BEAUTIFULL ARRIVAL PHOTOS OF USS WISCONSIN AT NORFOLK'S NAUTICUS 17: Battleship Row 18: 1/300 SCALE IJN WWII DESTROYER KITS RE-ISSUED. YUKIKAZE AND YUGUMO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: USS INDIANAPOLIS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: john.baumann@talk21.com Subject: Re: Graf Spee Turret/P1000 Plans of the P1000 'Ratte' tank were published in the Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Associations journal called Tankette, back issue 35/4 refers. These drawings may reflect the general arrangement of the tank, but perhaps not the ship turret, which is reported as being from Gneisenau according to the author. John (MAFVA Info Officer) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Bengal and Hokoku Maru Hi Pieter Does your information come from Dutch sources as it differs from the Royal Navy version in certain details? The RN evaluation officer put a different complexion on it, the Hokoku Maru was dispatched by the Bengal alone and the account of the tanker's second officer was unreliable in the extreme (the report hints that he was racist). The tanker also ran out of ammunition but was unable to hit anything anyway. I've noticed this difference between Dutch and British reports before, particularly in accounts of the Java Sea Battles. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "chenyangzhang" Subject: Aurora Hi Mike >> Instructions are basic but easy to follow. No information is provided on paint schemes. The box art is hideous but on the side there are some photos of what appears to be a museum model from??? << This is probably the model from the military museum in Beijing. There are a lot of excellent models there but they don't permit photography so you have to be surreptitious about things. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Cataldo Torelli Subject: New paints in enamel Hi WEM and S&S, It's a great idea the development of the naval colour paints but, and it's my opinion, I'd rather they been acrylics. Best wishes, Cataldo Torelli. Madrid, Spain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Roland Mar Subject: Re: "Russkies buzzing US Ships off of Alaska 1) It's not rumor. 2) It was in the Sea of Japan, not off Alaska; but Ivan has returned cruise missile bombers to eastern Siberia and they are back to running mock attacks on Alaska for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union. 3) The incident was confirmed at a Nov. 30 press conference by Asst. Secretary of Defense Kenneth Bacon who said that it "was not serious". He also said that the Sukhoi's were intercepted and escorted, which my other sources deny fervently. From what I have heard from various sources it was both serious and mortifying for the navy. 4) Ivan sent pictures by e-mail to the KITTY HAWK [confirmed by DOD] and to the Brit. press. They have made the pilots and squadron commander available to Fleet Street for interviews. I guess it's ok though, after all they are our friends and strategic partners now, right? Roland Mar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Rod Dauteuil Subject: Detail and Scale I don't know if somebody has already mentioned it, but the USS Lexington in Detail and Scale is in reprint. Looks like it's being issued by Squadron instead of Kalmbach. I just got my copy today for $14. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "FCR" Subject: Re: Heroic Self Sacrifice Hello to all What about the Japanese heavy-cruiser Furutaka that positioned itself between the USN fleet and between the already hit heavy-cruiser Aoba (flagship of Rear Amiral Goto) in the Battle of Cape Esperance (October 11, 1942). OK it isn't a small ship but it was quite a heroic movement to save the flagship. Regards. Filipe C. Ramires Lisboa, PORTUGAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: SMAtouche@aol.com Subject: Re: USS Indianapolis Roger For complete information on the Indianapolis, story of, dates, rescue and survivors organization etc. How the brass covered up the sinking, court marshaling the captain and now over 50 years later the US Congress and Senate set the record straight. Makes great reading, WWW.ussindianapolis.org/index2.htm Paul Shay -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: POGYJIM@cs.com Subject: WEM BENJAMIN STODDERT (DDG 22) WOW!!! I received my copy to this extraordinary kit. I was blown away by its superb level of detail and precise fit. Peter Hall has produced nothing short of a masterpiece. JAG's casting of this kit is flawless and my hull fits together better than many injection moled kits. This is a benchmark in resin ship models and I cannot say enough about it. Hope to see other 1/350 modern subjects. BRAVO ZULU WEM! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: RhinoBones@aol.com Subject: Advice on the Clermont Looking for opinion and/or recommendation on two versions of the ship of Fulton's Folly, the Clermont, and whether these kits can be built into respectable models. The kits in question are the: 1) Lindberg's Clermont from about 1985 2) Ideal Toy Co. Clermont circa 1960 These are probably the same kit released under different brand names and they both look to be about 1:125 to 1:150 in scale. Would like to hear from anyone who has built, or shelved, either of these kits. Regards, RhinoBones -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: Revised Arizona Book Joel Labow wrote - >> The Arizona Memorial Museum Association publishes (or did) a 112 page paperback entitled 'Remembering Pearl Harbor - The Story of the USS Arizona Memorial' which contains a large section of underwater photos and 4 perspective drawings of the wreck. I picked up my copy last time I was there in 1987: there is a postcard in the book which indicates that that copies are available for $7.95 + $3.40 priority mail or $1.95 book rate from the Association at: #1 Arizona Memorial Place Honolulu, HI 96818 Could a more recent visitor confirm if this book is still available and/or if the price has changed? << I haven't been privileged to visit the memorial, but I have a 50th anniversary edition (i.e., 1991) of the book that Joel refers to. The author is Michael Slackman. No price is listed on the cover. It's slightly bigger, at 120 pages, and covers the survey work done by Navy divers and the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit in 1983-84. Mike -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Bill & Kaja Michaels" Subject: USS VERMONT There were two USS Vermonts that I know of: One was a 74 gun ship of the line. Three 74s were laid down in 1818: North Carolina, Delaware, and Vermont. The first two were launched in 1820, but Vermont was worked on sporadically, and not launched until 1845! (Source: Howard Chapelle's History of the American Sailing Navy.) The other Vermont I know about is the Connecticut class battleship USS VERMONT, BB-20. She served from 1907 until 1920. (Source: Reilly & Scheina's American Battleships 1886-1923.) Both of these books have a lot of information about the ships. There are no model kits that I know of, of either of these ships... Bill and Kaja Michaels Check out my US Coast Guard subjects model list at: http://www.tiac.net/users/billkaja/kitlist.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Shane Weier Subject: Re: watercolors RE: Bradford's question in Vol. 1091: Don't forget watercolour pencils. I use these extensively and with some moderate success. For example, rust stains can be run down hulls at likely points using a sharpened pencil of appropriate colour, then blended in with a barely damp brush, fingertip, Qtip or whatever best suits. If you dislike the result, it wipes away with a wetted brush and can be redone as often as needed. I seal the result with varnish Shane Weier -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Kelvin Mok" Subject: Re: This Vegemite Thing >> I am still on a search for Vegemite and will not stop until I find it. Any idea of where it can be found? << Try your Chinatown grocery store. They carry stuff normally found only in British stores such as MILO, Ovaltine, Horlicks and of course Marmite/Vegemite, Brovil plus some other staples and beverages whose names I no longer remember. Kelvin Mok -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: stillmo@mb.sympatico.ca Subject: Re: Russkies Buzzing US Ships off Alaska? Yes, it is true regarding Russian overflite of USS KITTY HAWK CV 63 in October this year. The CBG had (allegedly) painted the Russkies on radar as they approached down to an extreme low alititude and DROPPED THEIR LANDING GEARS MAKING A STERN ON APPROACH. CV 63 deck was crowded with AC and the Russkie swooped in low stern on and flew directly overhead taking pictures of the panic stricken deck force as it overflew. The CV apparently, allegedly, was not able to scramble an alert for 45 (?) minutes and even so was just an EA6B. The USN has prided itself for years that no UNESCORTED Russian AC was able to penetrate their inner airspace thus declaraing a tactical victory for the good guys, up until now. Apparently and allegedly the Russkie Tupelov (?) emailed a photo of this overflight back to KITTY HAWK. (How did the Russkies get CV 64 email address I wonder......I'm trying still to get Elizabeth Hurleys email address, maybe I should write them.....???) Some 7th Fleet Flag officers must be some pissed these days I tell ya...... Ray D. Bean -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: stillmo@mb.sympatico.ca Subject: BEAUTIFULL ARRIVAL PHOTOS OF USS WISCONSIN AT NORFOLK'S NAUTICUS http://www.hamptonroads.com/usswisconsin/index.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Deke Wakefield Subject: Battleship Row A gent at work the other day asked me an interesting "what if" question that I couldn't answer. I'm not sure if there are any historical documents that might even provide a hypothetical one, but I thought I'd toss it out. Had the Vestal not been tied up alongside the Arizona on 7 Dec 41, and had either the Colorado been present or the Pennsylvania not been in drydock, would either of those ships have been moored along side the Arizona that morning? I'm not sure if there can be an answer for this because I've yet to see any evidence that the USN had a "standard" berthing plan for battleship row. As I told the gent, all the pre-war photos I've seen had different ships tied up at the various quays. My guess was that the ships were moored to what ever quays were available at the time they came into port. That and there's simply the fact the Colorado was at Bremerton and the Pennsylvania was in drydock. His other question was what would've happened to the other ship had there been a battleship moored there. My reply was "Well, the Vestal survived being along side her when the Arizona's magazines blew, and it was an ancient WWI era collier converted into a repair ship." To which I added "It would've been hit by the one torpedo the Arizona took after it slipped under the Vestal, and it would've taken the bomb hits received by the Vestal (possibly more). The heat from the explosion and fire would've caused it's steel plates to buckle and warp (as did the Tennessee). If it wasn't too badly damaged, they probably would've tried to pull it away to prevent futher damage, but the crew may have had to abandon ship due to the fires aboard the Arizona. Beyond that...it's anyone's guess." Anyone wanna try to add to this. Derek Wakefield -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: "NICK & JOY ROGERS" Subject: 1/300 SCALE IJN WWII DESTROYER KITS RE-ISSUED. YUKIKAZE AND YUGUMO Xmas Halloos, Recently on the www.warship.simplenet.com Noticeboard I note that Tamiya has re-released two 1/300 scale kitsets. Hobbylink Japan list them. At www.hlj.com They are described as being with a Waterline and Full Hull Option. See http://www.hlj.com/cgi-local/hljpage.cgi?TAM92140 c/w with box art. * I am totally gobsmacked that Tamiya had 2 lots of 1/300 scale old kit tooling lurking in their attic. * Has anyone sighted or built these kits? How highly you do rate them? * Are there any other obscure scale warship kits in Tamiya's back catalogue? * One wonders about dioramas with the 1/300 scale Lee Models HMS Aurora (aka Chungking) Arethusa Class light cruiser. * Are there any other 1/300 ship kits out there? Or are these three models orphans? Regards, Nick Rogers New Zealand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Tom & Carolyn Harrison" Subject: USS INDIANAPOLIS Tom's Modelworks set #748 was sent to the etched last week and we should have brass in hand by end of the month. This set was designed with the Tamiya kit, along with the fine Indianapolis book by Classic Warship. The set is designed specifically for the kit and contains rails, radars, cranes, catapult, inclined stairs "especially for the aircraft well deck" flotation baskets and more. We will have it up on our web site as soon as the brass comes in. Set cost is $12.00 Don't forget our end of year Holiday discount offer which is also posted on our web site. www.tomsmodelworks.com Happy Holidays and see ya on the Hornet in April. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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