Subject: SMML VOL 1118 Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 23:11:24 -0800 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Portuguese Invasion/Yeovilton 2: Welcome to the UK and FAA show 3: Re: Flower Class Gunshield Artwork 4: White Paint 5: portholes 6: Tamiya PA - 3 PTF & Bofors mountings 7: References on the US Steel Navy in the Pre-Dreadnought era 8: Paper K-gun & Swedish Visby 9: Sailing Ships 10: Re: New Wiper books. 11: Re: Portuguese Invasion 12: Chicago Blue, etc 13: Flower class gunshield artwork 14: Re: Chicago Blue & RAN, RNZN Cruisers 15: Bob Pearson: Re. your request about Gunshield Artwork 16: Re: Chicago Blue 17: Re: Great Little Ships Reviews -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation 1: APMA meeting this Saturday -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: WHITE ENSIGN MODELS 1/350 USS KNOX 2: MODEL SHIP JOURNAL SHIPPED -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John Snyder Subject: Re: Portuguese Invasion/Yeovilton The Fleet Air Arm Show at Yeovilton will be on Saturday, February 17 and all SMMLies should certainly congregate at the White Ensign stand. Just look for the White Ensign (I assume it will be hung and visible). Barring that, look for lovely Caroline. As a last resort, look for the Yank sailor in dress blues.... ;^) John Snyder Snyder & Short Enterprises and White Ensign Models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "aa8." Subject: Welcome to the UK and FAA show Fillipe I live about 30 miles north of London and all being well I will attending the model show at Yeovilton (FAA Museum) on Saturday 17th February. If you would like a lift in the car I would welcome the company. It takes about three hours so an early start is recomended. Please contact off list or by phone when you get settled in the UK if you are interested. Andy Jones aa8.@tinyworld.co.uk or 01582 861614 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: Re: Flower Class Gunshield Artwork >> In his book Canada's Flowers, Thomas Lynch mentions that there would be a forthcoming volume of such, however I have never heard of it since. << It's called "Gunshield Graffiti" and was published by Nimbus Publishing in Halifax in 1984, It is essentially a collection of black and white photos or sketches of gunshield art, one ship per page. Al Ross -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Nuno Andresen Portela" Subject: White Paint Hello Bill, I am sorry but you didn't state if you want gloss satin or flat white. Assuming that it is flat, in my opinion the best white on the market is Revell Germany White Primer. There is no problem in being quoted as primer as long as it is WHITE. This is availliable as a large spray can and costs around USD6.00. Two coats are enough even in black styrene to cover any part with a pure white shade (doesn't fade to dirty cream or gray). If you want a high gloss shade try Tamiya Spray Pure White after a coat of Revell white primer. For a satin coat, spray Gunze Sanyo Satin Varnish after Revell White Primer, as I don't know a single good satin white and Gunze Satin Varnish doesn't yellow. I cannot say the same about gloss varnishes. If you want to do things by brush use a cream shade first like Humbrol 103 (it is universal for the daunting whites, yellows and oranges). then coat the part with a mix of this shade and white. Finally any white on the market will tack the part. but the less transparent white I know is Humbrol Matt 34. If you prefer acrilics Tamiya is also an excellent choice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: melee Subject: portholes Hello, There are several reason's why I disagree with Steve Wiper, on his reasoning for welding over the portholes. But, to keep the situation friendly, I have written to a friend who works in the US Naval Institute. I have written to her, stating Hoyt's claim and Wiper's. Let's await her reply. I'll foreward her reply when it comes. Sincerely, Lee Errin Shackelford -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "KOSTAS ORNERAKIS" Subject: Tamiya PA - 3 PTF & Bofors mountings Hallo to all Some days ago, I lost an auction at German ebay with describtion : Tamiya PA - 3 motor torpedo boat. It was a kit I met first time. Does anydody have any infos about this kit? I'd like to ask something more: I am intersted in plans of post war naval mountings of 40mm L70 Bofors. I am building a Tjeld (Nasty) class PTF She carries 2 different 40mm mountings. From some photos I have I can see that the aft gun mounting has an allaround shield which ends to ammo storage and the fore one has a shield only in front which continues to the sides up to the middle. It's someway curved at the sides and also has ammo storage at back. I'd apreciate any info. Forgive my poor English Kostas Ornerakis Canea - Crete GREECE Hi Kostas, Don't worry mate, your English is far better than my Greek ;-) Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Ned Barnett Subject: References on the US Steel Navy in the Pre-Dreadnought era I was asked off-list about this, and recommend a couple of books. War at Sea in the Ironclad Age is not a depth book, but it has decent coverage and lots of interesting illustrations, maps, etc. It is more about battles than about ships (if you know what I mean). John Keegan as series editor insures a level of historical accuracy. There's a new book in trade paperback - Teddy Roosevelt and the Great White Fleet, that I strongly recommend for those who want to see how the fleet evolved from the pre-ABCD era to the end of the pre-dreadnought era. This is sound history, well written and worth reading. There's another book some have trashed as revisionist history - I view it as an alternative perspective - and one loaded with lots of sourced material - that's "Sacred Vessels" - it's bias is against battleships (a bias I do not share - I think it was a mistake for the USN to retire all of them - again). However, the book is well-written, filled with sources and offers a different view - and when it comes to history, I like to get lots of diverse views and make up my own mind. So with the reservations noted, I recommend that one, too. None of these will be great help for modelers, per se, though they all have interesting illustrations. Ned -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Bill Rowe Subject: Paper K-gun & Swedish Visby 1) DigitalNavy's mine sweeper has been an enjoyable project. You don't have to worry about colors or weathering. I'm hung up on the k-gun part 30, a, and b. The three pieces don't obviously make what I think a k-gun looks like. If anyone has a reference to the weapon or the model, please contact me directly. 2) "Mechanical Engineering" the monthly publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers has a short article on the Swedish Visby corvette. There is a photo of the port bow of the lead ship and a drawing from the starboard bow of the anti-surface version to follow. Unfortunitly, thought you have two sides, the camaouflage patterns are distinctly different. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Reynaga, Tim@EDD" Subject: Sailing Ships >> I've started a nice little Heller sailing ship named La Tartane and I need a bit of advice. Two questions: 1) Some of the instructions I've read state that the threaded rigging should be waxed prior to installation. I would suppose that this would give the thread a bit more body and possibly make for tighter knots, but are there other reasons which are not obvious? Are there drawbacks? 2) Need some suggestions for making the plastic cut out sails come alive. My current plan is to spray them with a flat white and then apply a light beige wash. Hopefully this will give them the look of worn canvas. Maybe a little darker wash along the lower edges of the sails for dramatic lighting effects. All suggestions would be appreciated. << Waxing your rigging thread is a good idea. I discovered through unpleasant experience that those little stray fibers barely visible on new unwaxed thread attract dust which over the years can turn your rigging into a fuzzy mess that's impossible to clean. Waxing will bind these things closely to the thread to minimize this effect. It will also provide a tighter, more scale appearance to your lines. Bees wax is supposed to be the best for this. I haven't tried other waxes, I've used bees wax and it does work well. You can get it from hobby shops catering to ship modelers, but a cheaper source is a candle store. There you can buy a bees wax candle, cut off the bottom inch for more than enough for your project. For an added bonus you can pick up a candle holder, surprise the wife with the rest of the candle and score yourself some extra points. For the sails, I would recommend replacing those plastic cut out things with silk. It may sound elaborate, but it is actually easier than trying to make plastic look like canvas. The close weave of silk makes a great scale effect, and the material is literally tougher than steel. And it doesn't have to be expensive: my wife gave me an old silk slip which has kept me in scale canvas for years. All you have to do is cut the silk into the approximate shapes of the sails. Using the kit parts as forms, attach the sails to them by saturating the silk with heavily thinned off white or light beige paint. Then when dry just pry them off, trim, and you have a lovely set of billowing sails. Not only that, you get to enjoy your wife's expression when you ask her if she has any old silk undergarments you can use! Tim -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: HAZEGRAYADM@aol.com Subject: Re: New Wiper books. Steve: SOLD! I wonder how many realize the bargain these books are. Just count the number of photos in each book and figure what the cost is for just those alone. I know I have kidded you in the past about including plans, but seriously, these are very fine efforts. I look forward to every one to come. Keep up the good work. Bert McDowell. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "WEM" Subject: Re: Portuguese Invasion Hi Filipe, Would just like to add to Chris Drage's and other folk's ideas. The Fleet Air Arm Musem model show is about 2 hours drive from London at the Yeovilton Naval Airbase in Somerset, and is on the 17th February (though no convenient train station nearby as far as I am aware) so you would need to drive or get a lift off another SMMLlie in the London area. White Ensign Models will be there, with the usual huge array of stuff for sale, and I expect the usual conglomeration of SMMLlie folk to descend on the stand. You KNOW there will be some superb models on display, as both Peter Hall and Jim Baumann (and Chris??) will be entering for starters!! It would be great to see some more entries from SMML list-members this year. Time to mention that WEM are co-sponsors with AIRFIX and TOYWAY and will be offering up, once again, the "GREY FUNNEL TROPHY" for best warship model. And no, I won't judge it this year unless all the entries are in one place (I walked about 8 miles and judging took 3 hours last year as the entries were scattered all over the museum!). Incidentally, John Snyder will be running the stand with Peter Hall, Dave and myself this year. For those of you who don't know John, he'll be the "furriner" in the US Navy uniform... Blues I believe?? We'll be in the exhibition hall just behind the Swordfish Centre. By the way, if you just wanted to visit WEM, then you don't even have to go into the museum (though most people do!). If you ARE planning on going into this wonderful museum, to avoid the huge queues that you get every year (around 500 yards as I rememeber), you can pre-order your tickets online or by phone..... Phone 01935 842619 or 842614 or e-mail enquiries@fleetairarm.com You can also visit: http://www.fleetairarm.com for further information and the opportunity for online pre-booking. Portsmouth IS a must though, and easily visited by train. I took John Snyder there back in November and we'll be going back to get married on board HMS WARRIOR in August this year ;^)) Ahhh.. life is grand!!! Cheers, Caroline Carter White Ensign Models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Clifford Franklin Subject: Chicago Blue, etc John Snyder wrote: >> * HMNZS Achilles came in with disruptive camouflage but had mixed her own paint to what they thought was the right colour and matched to a coloured sketch, which was forwarded to the ship. * In May 1941, Perth, Australia & Adelaide returned home bearing differing camouflage patterns whose designs had been left to the Captains of the ships and Perth's was that from a competition that a rating had won. << >> And no photos of these, either? [sigh] << Au contraire, John, photos do exist. For HMNZS Achilles, see Alan Raven's excellent book on RN camouflage for the pattern she carried. For the Australian ships, the Australian War Memorial on-line photo database has the following images: Perth: Her earler Alexandra scheme can be seen in Neg nos P1345/16/01 and 301159, dated June 1941. Neg nos 301407 and 301409 show both sides of a more angular scheme and are dated 1 August, 1941. Other photos in this collection from this time are PO041/31/31, dated 15 Dec 1941, showing an overall light tone, and 128105 and 301160 from 15 February, 1941 which both show the starboard camouflage at this time. No port side photos, unfortunately. Australia: Neg nos 300275, 300288 and 300289 show the scheme she wore. Adelaide: Neg nos 128062 and 300082 show the camouflage she wore in 1942, while Neg nos 300083 and 300081 show the scheme she wore in 1944. cheers Cliff Franklin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Clifford Franklin Subject: Flower class gunshield artwork Bob The book you are after is called "Gunshield Graffitti" by T. Lynch and J. Lamb, published by Nimbus in 1984, ISBN 0920852270. It is a small book but has a good collection of photos and drawings of gunshield artwork, as well as ships crests. cheers Cliff Franklin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Sanartjam@aol.com Subject: Re: Chicago Blue & RAN, RNZN Cruisers Hi John & SMML, On the subject of the 1941-42 camouflage patterns of the cruisers Perth, Adelaide, Australia, and Achilles, I would offer the following.... HMAS Perth: Photographs of the Perth in early 1942 do exist; a port-side shot in "early 1942" is in Ross Gillett's "Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945" and shows her in a single medium-to-dark color, and a starboard-side shot taken from the Adelaide on 15 February 1942 in Hermon Gill's "Royal Australian Navy 1939-42" shows her in a two-color pattern (that is different from the two-color pattern she carried in the Med). The same scheme is shown to better effect in another photograph in Gillett's book and in Alan Payne's "H.M.A.S. Perth." There is a file at the Public Record Office (I'll dig out the reference if anyone wants it, but I'm sure someone has it already) on Australian warship camouflage that states, I believe, that her port side was painted up in a single color of medium blue-gray; I presume that is the color she was in when the aforementioned "early 1942" shot was taken. HMAS Australia: At some point in 1941-42, she was in an interesting two color pattern (of 507C and 507A?), and photographs of her do exist, in Robert Stern's "The US Navy in World War Two 1941-42" and Ross Gillett's "Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945." HMNZS Achilles: As early as August 1941 and as late as February 1942, she was in what appears to me to be a three-color pattern. This pattern is more or less depicted on page 30 of Alan Raven's book on Royal Navy camouflage 1939-41. For photographs, see Jack Harker's "HMNZS Achilles" and Robert Stern's "The US Navy in World War Two 1941-42." HMAS Adelaide: There is a 1941 shot of her in Ross Gillett's book that may or may not show her in camouflage (it's hard to tell), and I think there's a shot at the Australian War Memorial that may show her in a 1941 scheme; something tells me that this has been a topic on SMML before. Don't know if this sheds any light on the subject or not, but it's all I know.... Art Nicholson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: stillmo@mb.sympatico.ca Subject: Bob Pearson: Re. your request about Gunshield Artwork Bob, Several years ago there was a smallish hardcover book published here in Canada called GUNSHIELD GRAFFITTI, I snapped up a copy and then sat on it for years till someone offered me a fair trade on it....Cannot remember who published it, but maybe email Dan Jones at Plastic ship Modeler magasine as he buys and trades books, he even might have my copy and give you info. I sure wished I had tons of money years ago to buy up six copies of everything and use them for trading in later years....who knew?? RDB -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "M & R Brown" Subject: Re: Chicago Blue Re John's email: 1) The notes on Perth say only Dark Grey no ID for colours but it does say the light grey is 507C so I assume as 507A is not mentioned it was not the dark grey. 2) Haven't found photos of any of the vessels but they are mentioned in the notes, still trying to find the drawing that was sent. 3) The notes say ships left Sydney in RN/RAN schemes and were repainted when joining the USN. To me they must have been given the paint by the USN. Presumably later when US ships were regularly repaired in Sydney they either used USN paint or had some paint mixed up to match it. We assume Chicago Blue as the RAN operated with Chicago before her loss. 4) The Cruiser is I assume a County as there is a bad drawing of one on file. Michael Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: DJParkins@aol.com Subject: Re: Great Little Ships Reviews Our main purpose in corresponding with Mr. Brown privately [or so we thought] in recent days was to point out that in large etched kits and sets in a scale such as 1/72nd, it is inevitable that etched brass will be used constructionally as well as decoratively. In smaller scales such as 350th or 700th, etched parts are used mainly to replace over-scale plastic items or to add more details. We then felt it only fair to point out to Mr. Brown that when constructing large stand-alone replacement sections of a 72nd model, such as a bridge or gun platforms etc. [where all the parts supplied are in either etched or cast metal], soldering is the obvious choice for strength, quality of assembly and durability. It also holds every item in place immediately, allowing the builder to move on to the next part or to clean up joint lines etc., without any fear of undoing previous work. For this reason soldering can also speed up assembly time. Soldering has been standard practice in other areas of the hobby that work with etched brass constructionally [such as model railways] for over 30 years. Our approach in the sets for the Flower Class Corvette [and indeed the same methods we will be using on our up-coming boat kits in 72nd] are closer to the old John Piper kits produced back in the late '70s than to anything else around today. For this reason we felt Mr. Brown's continued comparisons to resin etc. were unfair. We are primarily metal kit manufacturers [It states this clearly in the company profile section on our web site], so to say we should use other materials is pointless. We live and operate in a free-market however, and another manufacturer may well feel that the opportunity is there to produce a range of resin 72nd Flower Class accessories & structures. Just as a reviewer is fully entitled to express his opinions about ours [or anyone else's] products, he should not be surprised if a manufacturer might, in turn, have opinions to express about his review! This should not be confused with trying to silence the reviewer - or is criticism only allowed one way? Any detail set for a plastic kit is a compromise, as by its very existence it is seeking to rectify faults, omissions or inaccuracies in something. To try and avoid as much of this compromise as possible we took the course of producing complete sub-kits that tend to completely replace most areas of the Flower Class kit. The modeller can add as few or as many of these from our range as he wishes. Whatever, the response of any two manufacturers who produce a detail set for the same kit will be very different. What we would have in common though, is that we are all simply trying to offer a service to the modeller, whilst hopefully making a profit! David and Yvonne Parkins, Great Little Ships. www.djparkins.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Shane Subject: APMA meeting this Saturday Hi gang, The first APMA meeting of the new Millenium is on this Saturday. If you live in Sydney & it's environs, or just visiting on the day, please feel free to attend. Check out the site for more details. Speaking of which - it's been updated today with a bunch of models from APMA member (& SMMLie) Ian Wrenford, including his "APMA AGM Model of the Year" from 2000. Also, check out the new member offer as well. Regards, Shane APMA VP http://www.tac.com.au/~sljenkins/apma.htm Having FUN making models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "WEM" Subject: WHITE ENSIGN MODELS 1/350 USS KNOX Hi Guys, Pix posted of the new WEM 1/350 USS KNOX castings. These have been cast by Tom Gardner of JAG Collective who did such a wonderful job with the CF ADAMS Class. Please click on links below. The kit will be available inside 8 weeks we reckon but we are taking reservations right now. I know that most of you who had an ADAMS are also buying the WEM KNOX now they've seen the quality. Price will be around the price of the ADAMS, though has not been finalised yet. Oh.. I failed to mention that the ADAMS and the KNOX both come with a set of decals. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350knox/knox2.jpg http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350knox/knox4.jpg http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350knox/knox5.jpg http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350knox/knox6.jpg http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/350knox/knox7.jpg Thanks for your attention. Please E-Mail your orders to me, Caroline at the above address or go down to the online order form at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/wemorder.htm Caroline Carter White Ensign Models, http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/plist1.htm (Updated plastic kits, resin kits, videos, p/etch and books) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Victor M. Baca" Subject: MODEL SHIP JOURNAL SHIPPED The Winter 2000-2001 issue of Model Ship Journal will be arriving in your mailboxes this week and next (weather and the holiday rush slowed delivery). Foreign surface, as usual, will take longer. Lots of changes from our previous content listings due to excellent submissions and top notch artwork. Next issue (Spring 2001) will have detailed centerspread drawings of USS Wichita dated 1939, courtesy of Steve Wiper. We'll reproduce as usual in a common modeling scale so you can detail a current kit or try your hand at scratchbuilding a small scale model. An address will also be given so you can obtain full size copies. By referencing the 15 photos of Wichita published in our Premier Issue (Summer 2000), you'll have plenty of info on this important warship. The next issue also features expanded kit reviews as more manufacturers come on-board with kit submissions for review. If you haven't seen Model Ship Journal--get a subscription now and see why Scottie Dayton of Ships In Scale Magazine called it, "A slick paper publication with excellent photographic reproduction...fills an important but overlooked area." And it's still $30.00 world-wide until February 2001 for SMMLies and WARSHIP Web Page members only. Call toll-free in the U.S. (877) 371-0290 or (360) 371-0290 outside U.S. for subscription details or write: MODEL SHIP JOURNAL P.O. Box 28516 Bellingham, WA 98228-0516 modelships@earthlink.net www.modelshipjournal.com IN FRANCE CONTACT: L'ARSENAL BP No.2 14790 Verson FRANCE e-mail: larsenal@mail.cpod.fr IN GERMANY CONTACT: Christian Schmidt Sauerbruchstrabe 10 D-81377 Munchen GERMANY www.christian-schmidt.com e-mail: info@christian-schmidt.com Victor Baca Editor & Publisher MODEL SHIP JOURNAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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