Subject: SMML VOL 1350 Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 00:36:40 +1000 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Banner Arizona 2: Re: PSM-25 is in the mail 3: Re: Rigging Material 4: 1/72 scale weapons 5: Re: JN PT Boats 6: Re: Dullcoat yellowing (a cure) 7: model shops 8: H.M.S. Albion (plans) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation 1: Re: Congrats to SMMLies 2: IPMS Ft Worth Supercon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: 1:700 WW1 British Kits Coming -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Rodney Dauteuil Jr." Subject: Banner Arizona I just bought the Banner Arizona ($24.00) and am very pleased with it. Definitely not the highest quality molds I have ever seen, but this kit has a lot of potential. I also bought a Tom's brass railing set with ladders, and also their early battleship set. The kits catapults, boat, and aircraft cranes will look so much better with these brass replacements. (BTW That set also includes the cagemasts for backdating the ship.) Quickly scanning the kit and test fitting the decks shows that the main decks are mis-aligned at the bulkheads (where the casement guns are placed). Plus, I don't like those holes for the portholes. In scale a person could crawl through those portholes. I think I'll be replacing those bulkheads with Evergreen styrene, and making a shallow drill mark for the portholes. That will also keep the porthole sizes consistent with the hull. However, in test fitting the other separate deck parts, the little foredeck insert fits snugly, as does the aft deck where the aircraft catapult is. Speaking of aircraft, the Kingfishers will need a some work too, or just replace them with WEM castings. Overall I'm very pleased with the purchase, and I can't wait to start in on it. Rod -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Daniel H Jones Subject: Re: PSM-25 is in the mail From: SteveWiper@aol.com >> Really! What is Model Ship Journal? Nothing like a little competition to make us manufacturers all do a little better, whether it be models, books, or magazines. Steve Wiper << Model Ship Journal covers working models (starting in issue "zero" ) as well as static models - we don't. Plastic Ship Modeler has always dealt exclusively with static display models. So, the statement was accurate and was not meant in any way to belittle the efforts of Mr. Baca. I welcome his magazine and fortunately we do not do the same kind of publications so we compliment rather than compete in my view. Daniel Jones -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "David Griffith" Subject: Re: Rigging Material Hi SMMLies worldwide!! Just came down from my playroom upstairs, having been given a six hour pass by the wife while she watches rubbish sci fi videos, and I have to share something with you. I've begun rigging my 1/700 Hood and it is possible to use something that is of nearly scale appearance. I'm using fly-tier's floss. This is the type of thread used by fly-tiers to give bulk to their flies. It's some kind of acetate and is not twisted like the ordinary thread. This means that it is easy to tease out individual fibres, and when they come out they are not twisted. These individual fibres are incredibly thin, many times thinner than human hair and you have to look twice to see them. It's so thin, in fact that I think it may even need to be beefed up with some paint in order to represent standing rigging. It comes in various different colours, so it is quite possible to use black for rigging and aerials and brown and light grey for ropes and signal flag halliards. Yes, I think it is even possible to do these convincingly in 1/700 with this stuff! But it is possible to use it. It's very fragile and can be broken by the tweezers if they have a sharp edge. It blows away in the faintest breath of air, except that is, when is sticking to the sweat on your fingertips. But when you've got it stuck to the model (I'm using ordinary stationer's gum) it can be made to pull up tight(ish) by holding a small soldering iron close to the fibre. I think the final result will be not too bad from my fair hands, but I reckon it could be totally amazing if used by someone who is really expert. Another advantage has just crossed my mind. If I find it's so fiddly that I get really pissed off by it, then it's too fine and fragile for me to hang myself with it!! Anybody else used this stuff. I'd be interested to hear. Regards, David PS: The men in white coats have just come into the room with that nice canvas coat with the buckles down the back. "What's that? Largactil. How nice! ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Stuart Batchelor" Subject: 1/72 scale weapons Matt, Please forgive my heresy, but if my memory serves, either the Hasegawa or Fujimi HH-60 Blackhawk rescue chopper have door mounted M-60 types of MGs. You might also try posting over on Think Tank as there are a bunch of small scale armor modelers over there and they might be able to direct you to some 1/72 weapon sets. Stuart Batchelor Tulsa, OK (where some funny wet stuff fell from the sky finally) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: PT Dockyard Subject: Re: JN PT Boats I just bought a CD from History on CDROM (http://www.history-on-line.com) on Japanese Small Craft. It is an electronic reprint of the USN Naval Intelligence book from March of 1945. It has some good data that I have not seen anywhere and a great shot of a camouflaged Type 1 MTB, but is far from comprehensive. Foch's book " Fast Fighting boats 1870-1945" has some coverage too, with some simple drawings. There is another book that I forgot the name of that has some info on the individual boats but only have the same drawings as Foch's book. This is a tough subject that I have poked at for years. There is very little out there and much of it is conflicting. From what I can tell, the only place they really came in contact with the USN is a few battles in the Phillipines in 1945. Dave Gregory The P.T. Dockyard http://ptdockyard.homestead.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Subject: Re: Dullcoat yellowing (a cure) I've been following this thread for a while so I wanted to comment on a solution to the yellowing problem experienced by some on this list. I posted this about a year ago so I thought I would repost it again. Some years back I read in FSM that if you put a few drops of dark blue enamel paint in a full jar of Testors Dull Coat it will prevent the yellowing problem. I thought I would give it a test of my own which I will be the first to say wasn't scientific. Nevertheless I was impressed with the outcome. I had painted a B-70 Valkyrie with the Testors Dull Coat several months before reading the article. I then put three or four drops of dark blue enamel in a full bottle of Testors Dull Coat and painted two coats on a little X-2 models I had just finished up. Since the B-70 had the same two coats I figured the conditions would be close enough for me as a comparison study. That was about 5 or six years ago. The B-70 has yellowed but the X-2 is as white as the day I painted it! Yes, they both had the same shade of white. Maybe not a scientific study, but damned impressive. From what I understand, the blue tint (which is not noticeable using two coats) blocks the yellow so the human eye can't see it. Fascinating. Rusty White 2003 IPMS/USA National Convention Chairman OKC IN 2003! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Mithrand@aol.com Subject: model shops hi gang this is for the brit pack, does any body know of any good model shops in the Oxford area as im down there this coming weekend. cheers Roy Allen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: david.c.mundell@bt.com Subject: H.M.S. Albion (plans) Can any one help, I am trying to find plans for the light fleet carrier H.M.S. Albion as she would have appeared in 1958/60 as this is when my father, and father-in-law served together on this ship. I wish to make a model in 1:350 for their 65th birthday. Many thanks for any help received. Dave Mundell, Brighton, U.K -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Infomation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Marc Flake Subject: Re: Congrats to SMMLies Thanks to C.W. for your kind words. Only thing is, there weren't any other 1/700 entries. I did appreciate all the compliments I got, though. All I can say is, you other ship modelers shouldn't let cage masts intimidate you. I *would* like to brag about my kids who got four medals between the two of them. We all have expressed concern about kids not getting involved in the hobby, but at the Fort Worth show Saturday, they had to split the Children's category (that's the category for the youngest modelers). It was already split between civilian and military. The judges formed another split to separate the pre-fab (pre-painted and/or snaptites) from the glue-together models. There was barely enough room to get all the Childrens and Juniors models in their designated areas During the show, there were a couple of children who went around recruiting other chldren to take part in the Make and Take program. My six-year-old did this for the first time and had a blast. Also, both he and the three-year-old won door prizes. And, like the North Central Texas IPMS, everyone who entered got an award (which explains the three-year-old's honorable mention). Oh, and one more thing, the Theme Award went to a Junior modeler, who put in a great deal of work to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack, using a map, a diorama of 1/700 Japanese aircraft swooping in at sea level and a 1/426 scale Arizona. The future of the hobby is in good hands here in the Metroplex. Marc Flake -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Ed Grune Subject: IPMS Ft Worth Supercon Thanks for the kind words Charles. The USS Abinaki and WEM PT-109 were at the IPMS Nats. I had picked up the that Brooklyn Tug from Jon & Ted of Iron Shipwright at the IPMS Nats. It was supposed to be a quick & dirty build - for some color in the display case. I screwed-up the first paint application with a thumbprint right on the aft deck house. I popped it in an ovencleaner bath to strip it and then had to paint/mask/paint & detail it. I ended up going to bed late & getting up early to finish that little tug. My airbrush died as I was trying to spray the final flat coat and I had to strip the brush down and soak it over night in thinner. (Yes, I removed all the gaskets). Up early to reassemble the brush & spray the final coat before leaving for the show. Mike Quan and I were discussing the cage masts on Marc Flake's USS Maryland (Very nice job on her, Marc. And a nice hob of hiding that seam in the cage mast - I won't tell anybody where it is). The masts were supposed to be parabolic, but the ones in the kit rolled into a truncated cone. Do any of the single-piece etched cage masts roll into a parabolic format? I know that someone made some two-part masts that joined in the middle to make the waist. I saw the Arizonas that Charles mentioned - but I'm still waiting. After the Pearl Harbor anniversary feeding frenzy is over in December these kits will begin appearing at a price that, in my opinion, is more in line with their quality. I saw that there is another player's name associated with them now - "Something" Minatures Line. The box looked like Trumpeter's, with the white end with the blue band. The new company logo replaced the Trumpeter logo. Otherwise the boxes were a one-for-one match. I did notice that the Trumpeter/"?" Miniatures box appeared to have a different packing scheme (more air from China) than the Banner boxes I looked at in Chicago. So now there are three different names for the same kit manufacturer. What I did pick up from a vendor - and is nautical related - is an Andreas Miniatures Navy Seal/ARVN Ranger in a zodiac boat. Its 1:35 scale in resin & white metal. The zodiac and water base (resin part) is pretty nice, but the wake being thrown up looks to be a bit frothy. I've done a few DML figures for club contests, but now I'm going to need to learn how to handle white metal, do tiger stripe fatigues and green face paint. Ed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Michael Bartel Subject: 1:700 WW1 British Kits Coming >> The wish list below, lists all the dreadnought classes from the dreadnought programme (1905-1920). Obviously, one can only wish for one from each class, but in most cases that would allow the modeller to also construct the other ships of the class without an inordinate amount of difficulty. The scale wished for is 1/700 in resin. 1. Dreadnought BB 1906 (Available in 1/350 and 1/700 but the latter could be improved on considerably) 2. Invincible Class BCs - Invincible, Inflexible and Indomitable (1908) 3. Bellerophon Class BBs - Bellerophon, Superb and Temeraire (1909) 4. St. Vincent Class BBs- St. Vincent, Collingwood and Vanguard (1909-10) 5. Neptune BB 1911 6. Indefatigable Class BCs- Indefatigable (1911), Australia (1913) and New Zealand (1912) 7. Colossus Class BBs - Colossus and Hercules (1911) 8. Orion Class BBs - Orion, Monarch, Conqueror and Thunderer (1912) 9. Lion Class BCs - Lion, Princess Royal and Queen Mary (1912) (Lion is due for re-release from CW) 10. King George V Class BBs - KGV (1912), Ajax (1912), Audacious (1912) and Centurion (1913) 11. Iron Duke Class BBs - Iron Duke, Marlborough, Benbow and Emperor of India (1914) 12. Tiger BC 1914 13. Queen Elizabeth Class BBs - QE 1915, Barham 1915, Malaya 1916, Valiant 1916 and Warspite 1916 (Yes, there is some possibility that the WEM QE1918 and Warspite 1916 could become a reality "soon", so we shall have to be patient.) 14. Royal Sovereign Class BBs - Ramillies 1917, Resolution 1916, Revenge 1916, Royal Oak 1916 and Royal Sovereign 1916. 15. Erin BB 1914 16. Agincourt BB 1914 (We'll patiently await the re-release from CW) 17. Canada BB 1915 18. Renown Class BCs - Renown and Repulse (1916) 19. Courageous, Glorious and Furious (1917) 20. Hood BC 1920 (Tamiya's plastic kit is excellent especially after modifications with after market products from WEM, etc.) << I probably shouldn't do this because I don't want to fall into the 'promises' trap that manufacturers sometimes fall into, but I have a total of three of the classes (and one-off types) listed below in the planning stages (i.e. masters are in preparation and at least 75% done at the moment). All types I have chosen will allow me to amortise tooling costs over at least two distinct appearances per ship/class. All kits will be done in metal. No official announcements on types will be made until after I have released the 1:700 Algerie, and then, probably one subject/class per year will be done by IHP out of what I have planned. I can give some other hints: they are all significant subjects, and I never care about what another manufacturer is doing. So, relief is coming for WW1 enthusiasts!! Mike Bartel IHP http://ihphobby.tripod.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Backissues, Member's models & reference pictures at: http://smmlonline.com Check out the APMA site for an index of ship articles in the Reference section at: http://apma.org.au/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume