Subject: SMML VOL 1454 Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 00:47:28 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Plans Reduction/Enlargement 2: Scale conversion 3: Happy Holidays 4: GREETINGS 5: Scale conversions 6: Tips on staying young 7: Merry Christmas and a note on Plan Reduction/Enlargement 8: USS DEALY 9: Maryland Silver Company 10: Lindbergs Perchant for Pirates... 11: Spray painti9ng & AOTS books 12: Seasonal Greeting 13: More plastic sailing ship questions 14: Re: Actual Scale Plans 15: Re: Lindberg Jolly Roger 16: Yamato Hull Question -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Free offer reminder for members of U.S. Armed Forces -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Michael Cuell Subject: Re: Plans Reduction/Enlargement You may find that this page helps. http://www.dsuper.net/~jeep/scalecalc.html There is a scale calculator here that allows you to calculate between different scales and to calculate photocopier settings. Regards... Michael Cuell -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Robert Lockie" Subject: Scale conversion It's actually pretty straightforward. If you work from first principles, you don't need to remember any complex maths ("math" for the colonials by the way, why is mathematics abbreviated to "maths" on one side of the pond and "math" on the other? Oops, rambling now, must have followed that Christmas cake recipe too closely), although a calculator is pretty handy. If the real thing is 1:1 scale, then a model that is half size will be 1:2 scale. To reduce the measurements of the real thing to your 1:2 scale, divide them by &.2. To get a 1:4 scale model, divide the real dimensions by &.4. The starting dimension is before the "divide by" sign and the end one after it. Hence ½ and ¼ in these instances. It is exactly the same when you have an existing drawing in the wrong scale. Say the plan you have is 1:350 and you want it in 1:700. The first number will be 350 and the second 700. This is when the calculator comes in handy but since it's Christmas, I can tell you that the answer is 0.5. In other words, the whole thing needs to be half the current size. It doesn't matter what the two scales are for example, as well as (not) building g models of ships, I (don't) build models of vehicles. Many plans are printed in 1/76 scale but to enlarge to 1/35, the formula is 76/35, which gives approximately 2.17. After a while of doing this, you become so sad that you can remember these things without the aid of a calculator, so you have been warned ;-) Merry Christmas Robert Lockie Swindon UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: DRPREUL@aol.com Subject: Happy Holidays To All Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays and may the New Year bring peace in the world. Jeanne & Don J & D Productions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: HGYL@aol.com Subject: GREETINGS Very warmest Christmas greetings to all on the SMML list. Harold Lincoln -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: JRKutina@webtv.net (John Kutina) Subject: Scale conversions The easiest and most accurate way to secure new scale blueprints is to find a good shop for blueprint printing and specify the scale you desire. They have both the skill and sophisticated equipment to do this work. John -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Ed Grune Subject: Tips on staying young This was sent to me. It has some very good recommendations for us all. I hope you'll read them, appreciate them and take them into the new year with you. 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." The devil's name is Alzheimer's. 4. Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young, that's all you can afford. When they're in college, that's all you can afford. After you retire, that's all you can afford! 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive, don't put out a mailbox on the highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail. 7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health. If it's good, preserve it. If it's unstable, improve it. If it's beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, a foreign country, but not to guilt country. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. SEASONS GREETINGS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MERRY CHRISTMAS, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE. Ed Mansfield, TX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: David Sepos Subject: Merry Christmas and a note on Plan Reduction/Enlargement Merry Christmas to all and a very prosperous New Year. With that out of the way, a word of caution on using copiers to reduce/enlarge plans. Most people do not realize it, but............. Some copiers are notoriously inaccurate in maintaining a CONSTANT ratio on X and Y axis. You may dial in 85%, and it may be OK on the vertical, but the horizontal may be more or less. (or vice versa) This can be checked by drawing a cross with lines of equal length in the middle of a sheet of paper. Lines should be aligned with the axis of the paper. Now copy and see if the reduction/enlargement is constant on both axis by measuring the copy. Spherical abberation is not unique to photography, many older photocopiers are just that, cameras which use a very wide angle lens. Any image near the edge (corner) is quite susceptible to being "bent" due to the physics of light and lens, thus creating a distortion. If you want to try it sometime, draw a right angle about 1/2 inch (12mm for you metric people) from the corner of a sheet of paper. Lines should be parallel to the sheet edges. Now copy it in your copier and take it to a light table. A window will do in a pinch. Chances are very good that the lines won't match when you overlay the two. Generally the right angle becomes obtuse to some degree on the copy. The newer flat panel scanner/copier type machines are probably less susceptable to these problems, but it would still probably be worth your while to check before using those "adjusted" plans as your sole source on that big project. Regards, Dave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: BSteinIPMS@aol.com Subject: USS DEALY Another source of reference for the destroyer escort USS DEALY is a beautiful model in Preble Hall, lower level, at the U.S. Naval Academy. This was made by the model shop of the famous New York ship design firm of Gibbs & Cox in 1/48 scale, I believe, and represents the ship as launched. It would make a dandy reference for a smaller model. Bob Steinbrunn Minneapolis Member, Nautical Research Guild Tin Can Sailors IPMS/USA #3345 Friends of the battleship NORTH CAROLINA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: BSteinIPMS@aol.com Subject: Maryland Silver Company Maryland Silver Company is very reputable and is run by Duane Borchers. Named for the silver service presented to the battleship USS MARYLAND, he supplies plans for U.S. naval vessels, pre-dreadnought mostly, as well as lots of American Civil War stuff. He will also do archival research for a fee in Washington, D.C. His printed catalog is a bit spendy but hefty, and it's full of things you'll not find elsewhere. Recommended. Bob Steinbrunn Minneapolis Member, Nautical Research Guild Tin Can Sailors IPMS/USA #3345 Friends of the battleship NORTH CAROLINA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Richard Sweeney Subject: Lindbergs Perchant for Pirates... Yes, They not only Market "La Flore" as "The Jolly Roger Pirate Ship" and the "Wappen von Hamburg" as "Captain Kidd's Pirate Ship", My Appologies to our good cousins across the pond, But they have the termidity to market the "Royal Sovereign / Sovereign of the Seas" as "Blackbeard's Pirate Ship" I wonder How the world would change if Edward Teach Commanded a 100 Gun triple deck Warship?? Richard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Ted0330@aol.com Subject: Spray painti9ng & AOTS books Hi all- Merry Christmas. I feel simultaneously very privileged to be working on kits of the type discussed here, and very foolish to be asking the sorts of questions I ask here. All have been very helpful with their on and off line advice. Here are two more- 1) I'm having a terrible time getting good spray paint results. It looks fine when it's dry- even and without apparent defect, but when it first goes on it looks soupy thick and 'beads'. What am I doing wrong? I can't really complain about the finished result, but using it is scary and demoralizing, and that inhibits me from using what ought to be a useful tool. 2) Where do I get AOTS books and plans? Would love to have them just for the pics. Thanks to all- just completed the Commander Series 'Seydlitz' using tips given here, and it's the best model I've ever made- might not wow the company here but certainly gets kudos at work. Ted Tsaltas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Mike C" Subject: Seasonal Greeting To all: Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all; and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2002, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishees. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Oh, what the heck: Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year! Mike C- CAP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Marc Flake Subject: More plastic sailing ship questions I really enjoyed the remarks on the Lindberg Jolly Roger. I've been browsing Ebay lately and would like the same kind of comment on two other ships I've seen for sale there. The first is another Lindberg ship, the "American War of Independence Schooner." I think this may be the old Pyro "Sandpiper," but I'm not sure. Any comments on building this kit would be welcome. The other is Aurora's "Corsair." I believe this is another American War of Independence schooner, but not the same as the Lindberg/Pyro offering. I actually built this kit back in the 1960s and have fond memories of it. Unfortunately, the bids always pass $60 on this kit, so I've not had the opportunity to buy it. The bidding is always much lower for the Lindberg/Pyro schooner. Marc Flake (Merry Christmas) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Doug Wilde" Subject: Re: Actual Scale Plans I've encountered a slightly different problem from that discussed by George. I obtained copies of plans of a ship conversion that I started to load into AutoCAD. The drawing had a dimension for the overall length of the flight deck, as well as intermediate dimensions. I used the intermediate dimensions for my drawing and when I asked for the overall length it differed from that given on the drawing by one foot! Double checked the lengths I used and they were correct. Slapped a scale on the original drawing and lo and behold, it too was a (scale) foot longer than dimension given. Now this drawing was prepared and used by the company that constructed the original ship. I've handled THE original drawing, penciled notations and all. The draftsman made an mistake in his addition, that would not be obvious unless checked against other information contained in the drawing. Also goes to show we're all human. Doug Wilde -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: Preston L Hassler Subject: Re: Lindberg Jolly Roger This model was originally issued by Lindberg under the name of La Flore, kit no 817-300. I dn't have an issue date. Also in a book titled "The Ship" by Bjorn Landstrom, dated 1961, page 178/179 there is a drawing of the hull, without masts, as viewed from the side and up a bit, of a ship called La Flore, a French frigate. This picture looks exactly like the model Jolly Roger. I think it is a very nice kit, plenty of detail. It is good enough that I had two of them on my shelf once, but alas I had to do some thinning. I've seen the price from $10 to $25 on the shelf, depending on the type of store. Like most Lindberg kits it is reissued occassionally. I haven't actually built it, another one of those dreams. Skip Hassler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Darshan Ward" Subject: Yamato Hull Question Hi there Dan, You mentioned the other day about adding styrene to a 350 hull to simulate armour. I haven't done this at 350 scale but I have done it at 600 & 700, of course using very thin material, and have been very pleased with results. Tapering is a simple process if required using 600 sandpaper and\or red automotive putty. Some ships did not carry a faired in protective belt. IMO no time (well almost!) is wasted on adding detail. It all shows even if you're the only one who knows so go rivet!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Loren Perry Subject: Free offer reminder for members of U.S. Armed Forces Merry Christmas to everyone on this site! And to all members of the United States Armed Forces currently serving at a bona fide APO or FPO mailing address, a final reminder of our free offer to you: through December 31st of this year, you may order one free GMM product of your choice. See our website (www.goldmm.com) for details - you'll find them in the What's New section. So far, we've shipped a number of free products to our troops around the world, ranging from 1/700 to 1/200 scale. And may you all find something under your tree to make you smile. Loren Perry/GMM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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