Subject: SMML VOL 1245 Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 23:00:46 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Corsair Armada's 1/700 USS WASP kit 2: Little Ship Big War 3: Colorizing Black & White IJN Photos 4: Duck off? WASP mystery solved 5: Re: first ship 6: First Kits 7: Bibliography of significant naval books 8: Re: Ship Names 9: Re: USS Wasp - aircraft composition 10: Re: Seeteufel 11: Information about "JAIME I" Spanish Navy Battleship -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation 1: SMMLcon 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Book For Sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Loren Perry Subject: Corsair Armada's 1/700 USS WASP kit I just received an early sample of Corsair Armada's new 1/700 USS Wasp kit. This is now the Crown Jewel of Mike's product line. The quality and thoroughness of detail is of such a level that it looks like one man's life's work. Full hangar deck detailing (I mean FULL), lots of superb small resin castings, elaborate surface detail, nicely shaped hull with loads of engraved detail and a perfectly straight flight deck, outstanding instructions with professional artwork, detailed history and complete painting schemes, and very detailed and delicate photoetched brass details. Definitely a strong potential for a Judges' Grand Award here, especially in the hands of an expert in this scale. Some of the smallest parts will make some of you crazy, but if you're capable, this kit will deliver the goods. Mike Czibovic can be justified in taking great pride in this latest effort. Bravo Zulu, Mike! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "hugh1lottie2" Subject: Little Ship Big War Ed Stafford has been attributed to writing in his book that the Alaska was the handsomest cruiser afloat which is not quite accurate. He states that Alaska and Guam are the "only large cruisers in the world and that the Atlanta class were probably the handsomest warship afloat with its symmetrical pyramids of twin 5"/38s. I have always thought the Atlantas were the best looking ships ever built. Anyone know of any good hobby shops in Las Vegas? Hugh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Victor M. Baca" Subject: Colorizing Black & White IJN Photos Steve Wiper posted an inquiry about interest in colorized photos of naval ships. What a great idea. Steve is expert in the uses of graphics applications, PhotoShop and Quark X-Press specifically, and the history of naval ships. This is not to be confused with colorizing movies ala Ted Turner, but more in the way of a 3-D visual of the ship's color scheme rather than the usual side profiles and (sometimes) end views we are used to seeing. Having the colors based on painstaking research will add to the authenticity of the image as well. I can hardly wait to see Steve's work on the covers of his books. This is an interesting way to present ship photos in color when they were originally shot on B&W stock. It takes a deft hand and a good eye to pull it off convincingly. To his credit, Steve also intends to include the black and white image inside the book to give the reader a sample of the original un-retouched image for reference. Victor Baca MODEL SHIP JOURNAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Mike C" Subject: Duck off? WASP mystery solved James, I did not mention the Duck because it wasn't listed by Lundstrom on the page cited. You may be right and it was indeed aboard, but I assumed the Duck had been beached to allow more room for combat aircraft and that the escort's SOC's would have assumed the duty... ...I just double checked the "First Team" book and there was, indeed, a Duck aboard! Page 223 gives a listing for types and locations of the aircraft on the flight and hangar decks just before she was torpedoed. The Duck was there and the only spares noted as hanging from the overhead were four F4F's, two forward and two aft. Lundstrom does excellent research. I seem to recall reading several instances of Wildcats breaking landing gear on hard landings, which may explain why they were the only ones in the rafters. Aircraft of all types were in too short a supply at the time, so I doubt intact aircraft were kept as disassembled spares. I could be wrong about that, too, but it wouldn't make sense to me. Thanks for pressing the point, James. Once again I've learned the hazards of making assumptions. The Duck will make an interesting detail when I build one for my collection. I won't be at Chicago; too many other projects to do. The first batch of WASPs has been shipped, but I believe almost all of them were claimed by people on waiting lists except for the four that went to Brookhurst Hobbies on Tuesday. The next batch will be ready in two to three weeks when the next order of brass comes in. They retail for $180. Have fun, Mike Czibovic Corsair Armada Productions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Sean D. Hert" Subject: Re: first ship >> There is a crazy bunch of guys around the U.S. that build WW1 and WW2 ships and then arm them with BB guns and fight and sink each other. This is not a hobby for a true scale enthusiast, however a few ships are highly detailed. Check out the web page at: www.modelwarshipcombat.com and judge for yourself. << Well, there's actually battlers in Australia and Sweden currently, as well as the US. Of course, we fight "that other format". http://www.midwestbattlegroup.org/ The Australia group; http://www.ausbg.org/ All these sites have lots of great pictures of model warships sinking! Sean D. Hert Capt, IJN Mogami RM Littorio "Molti Nemici, Molto Onore" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Wilgossett@aol.com Subject: First Kits This is just weird! My spotty memory is being jiggled by many of your posts. When this thread first started, I immediately wrote down what I remembered as the first kits that I built (or started) as a kid in the 50's but as members sent in their lists all sorts of memories came flooding back. I started with the balsa airplanes where one cut out the bulkheads with a single-edged razor blade (lots of cut fingers there), added stringers and paper, wound the rubber bands and........usually crashed. Then came the Aurora P-40, mostly solid, the Gambier Bay by Strombecker (wood), the Sea Witch by Marx (with metal pre-printed deck), the B-24 by Monogram (mostly wood with some plastic parts), the WWI subchaser by Ideal, Revell's Chris-Craft cabin cruiser, hospital ship, Oriana, and United States. Some members were correct when they said it was a lot more fun then, no worries about detail parts, correct paint, etc. Most of my early purchases were from a drug store or Ben Franklin's five and dime stores. It was a great treat when a hobby shop finally opened in Ft. Lauderdale in the late 50's. In the early 1970's a car modeling friend and I took a Saturday trip from West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and visited all of the remaining (but fast disappearing) five and dime stores and by searching under cabinets and in back rooms filled the auto trunk (boot) with very old and hard to find kits for very little money. The stores were happy to get rid of them. My friend still has a steamer trunk full of the car kits, but my airplane kits are all gone now. Thanks to all who reponded with the Liberty Ship data. Will -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Wilgossett@aol.com Subject: Bibliography of significant naval books It would really great for some of us if a member (or members) could list all of the books by certain authors such as Alan Raven, John Lambert, etc., and such series as Anatomy of the Ship, etc., by title, author and year published. The list could be limited to significant books for the naval modeler. I only re-entered ship modeling in the last couple of years and thus missed picking up books published earlier. If we knew what to ask for we could search out the missing books where possible. A recent tread listed many of Raven's earlier books and I realized that I had never even heard of a lot of them. Maybe this list could be kept on the SMML home site and updated as new books came out. Anyhow, something to think about. I would be happy to compile and keep track of the list if help is needed. Will Hi Will, Sounds like a good idea mate ;-) Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Subject: Re: Ship Names Hi Folks, On the subject of dashing RN ship names. How about HMS Pansy or even Buttercup. Maybe we could tickle the opposition to death. Or there is that well hard concrete shopping mall St Albans that one of the latest type 23s has been named after. Sorry!!!! But I did serve on the Battlestar HMS Illustrious twice and I do tend to wonder what inspired some of the names of ships, but then, what the heck, having seen slugs smitten by the most unimposing of flowers, I say whats in a name. A name is what you give something and a reputation is built around it, no mattter what. All the Best Peter Hall PS. The Illustrious's nickname was Lusty!!!!!!! Draw your own conclusions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Harold Stockton" Subject: Re: USS Wasp - aircraft composition Sir: My comments about the Wasp's airgroup was in no way meant to be a slant on your research on the same subject, but rather a furtherance of what you had already contributed. If I gave the impression that I was trying to belittle your work I am indeed sorry. Concerning the loss date faw-paux on my part, that is a clear reason for never editing one's own work. The work that Morrison did in his excellent for the time work on naval history was based on purely raw historical and personal memoirs. Though these prima facia sources are the most essential part of any historical account, as a military historian myself can attest, there are always those pesky details that sometimes elude the best of historians, even Morrison at the time. Concerning your statement about: "As for where each particular aircraft was spotted on deck, do you really know? Or are you simply relying on what you read in a book. My source was Morison, Volume V, published in 1949." I personally know Mr. John Lundstrom and of what resource material that he used in writing his books. John had access to many of the individual surviving squadron pilots and their log books, who flew the missions of the day, and with many of the individual ship's officers who were present during the operations quoted in his books. In your statement about: "I suppose it is possible that the 12 planes were lost in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and I did not include the ships plane primarily due to the fact that it is not part of the air wing, but also the lack of certainty concerning the presence and numbers/types assigned to USS WASP." Also, there were also many accounts of what aircraft were present on the Wasp when she sailed from Noumea. Rear Admiral Noyes put paid to the request for either shore basing aicraft at CACTUS (Guadalcanal) or of keeping an aircraft carrier stationed in those restrictive waters for the simple fact that strategic maters precluded any tactical consideration for any off-loading of all available aircraft. In your statement about "By this point in the war, the air wing staff had taken to using operational combat aircraft for utility purposes and the SNJs, J2Fs and SOCs had been beached.", I would at first have agreed with you except for the fact that the Wasp's flight and hanger deck records at the time of her loss have survived and are a matter of public record. Your statement about "Aircraft hung in the rafters were generally not included in the squadron totals until they were "claimed" by a squadron as attrition replacements." is not in fact true. When aircraft or crew are delivered to a squadron, even on TDY duties, they are "officially" part of that squardon's compliment until they are "assigned" to another command by NAVAIR. "Was there only 4 wildcats hanging from the rafters? I find it hard to believe that there were at least no spare Dauntlesses, especially considering there were 4 wildcats to be left unused. I bet the VMF ashore would have like to have had those airframes." Such a statement is a personal opinion at this point and bears nothing to the historical record. Again, please accept my apology for giving any inclination about your very worthy contribution to this now very pertinant discussion. I think that the exact compliment, the deck and hanger space spotting of the Wasp's aircraft, and which aircraft devisions on deck, are all really important facts to consider now that we can depict the Wasp at the point of the first torpedo strike. Harold Stockton -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: Re: Seeteufel There are less than a couple of pages and a single photo of a model devoted to this craft in Paul Kemp's "Midget Submarines of the Second World War". MWL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "CAYETANO MARTINEZ" Subject: Information about "JAIME I" Spanish Navy Battleship Dear Friends of SMML: Need Information About Tower number 3, of British design Spanih battleship "Jaime I", recent information discovered in Spanish Army archives, about the explosion of the ship during Spanish Civil war, located it at spare parts room, of Board side Artillery tower 380mm. If any information available, about the different levels of the tower or if the original british design drawings, are available at the web, please let me know. Best Wishes. Signed CMB.-Madrid (spain) E-mail: camarbel@teleline.es -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: David Sepos Subject: SMMLcon 2002 My vote is for Buffalo, NY Home of The Sullivans, Little Rock, Croaker and a PTF http://www.buffalonavalpark.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John_Impenna@hyperion.com Subject: Book For Sale Hi Folks, I have a Classic Warships "Yorktown Class Carriers" photo album for sale. It is brand new. I bought a second one by accident. $10 plus postage(at cost) gets it. Regards, John -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, 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