Subject: SMML VOL 1471 Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 00:25:51 +1100 shipmodels@tac.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Worst kit 2: Resin Foam 3: Worst Kit 4: Re: Richelieu Colour Scheme 5: Heller Victory review 6: Re: Worst Ship Model 7: Re: worst kit 8: Yorktown class SBDs 9: worst kit 10: Artillery shell casing 11: Re: Worst ship Model 12: Re: Triton 1:600 Ships -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Check out the New Products at Model Flags! 2: New kits from WSW/B-Resina -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "RAY MEHLBERGER" Subject: Re: Worst kit Many moons ago, when white man come over big pond in large canoe....nah...let's not get into that. Anyways...it was a long time ago....I bought the Revell USS Olympia kit. I am primarily an armor modeler, but this ship interested me because I was born and raised in Philadelphia...where the real McCoy resides in the Delaware River as a floating museum. I had visited it several times while a teenager. I found my kit to have badly warped cabin parts. This was back in the early days of my model building and I was too darn dumb to know how to fix a warp. I gave up on this kit. Donno if the thing is still available any more....but maybe some day I will come across another kit of it and give it the old college try again. It could have just been my example of the kit...donno. However, mine was warped....big time. Also, I haven't got a clue as to how accurate that kit was. The mold has to be 30 years or better old....so probably not state of the art for what you ship modelers expect today. Regards, Ray Mehlberger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Denis Keegan" Subject: Resin Foam I recently used a product called Precision Board to make a hull for a HDML. It is manufactured by Coastal Enterprises Co. I do not know their address but the phone # is 714-771-4969 and I will look on the Net to see if they have and e mail address. I was given samples of this by Laird Plastics, a Distributor in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is available in various densities and is VERY easy to work with.....almost TOO easy. Be careful when sanding. It is too easy to go beyond the point of no return. This can be Routered, sawn, sanded, drilled or carved with a sharp knife. It is normally used to make Signs. I will be visiting the Distributor again soon and if anyone is interested, let me know if you have any questions on the product and I will try to get the answers. Surface preparation is quite easy. I sprayed multiple coats of Automotive primer and used Spot and Glaze Putty to make minor repairs. Denis Keegan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Pletscher-Lenz-Schneider" Subject: Worst Kit Hi everybody One of the worst kits I've ever built was a model of Yamato in about 1/600 scale from Aurora (or was it Airfix?). It showed the 6'' beam turret on one side and the late-war AAA on the other. I also had a plan which showed this layout - and the kit was probably based on this plan - not explaining that it showed two different stages of fitting. I didn't know much about Japanese warships in these days. So I was very impressed with the "exotic" look of this ship. Falk Pletscher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Michael London" Subject: Re: Richelieu Colour Scheme A week late but here is an interpretation I have received from Philip Baggaley who built the magnificent 1:1250 model that won a silver medal at the 1997 Model Engineer Exhibition in London. He did extensive research including the Dumas book as well as consulting colour photos of the model at the Musée de la Mariné in Paris. In 1946 when she returned from her spell of duty in Indo-China she was painted as follows:- Basic colour with exceptions noted was light grey (HUMBROL #64 [Light Grey]). The panel on the side of the hull, which extended from the after point of the foredeck breakwater to the forward end of the quarterdeck and up to main weather deck level, was blue (HUMBROL #25 [Blue] and HUMBROL #34 [White] in equal parts. The panel ends were sloped at 20° off the vertical with the longest panel length at deck level. Main and secondary gun turrets, tertiary guns and tubs, smokestack and adjacent superstructure and boats were blue (HUMBROL #104 [Oxford Blue]). Exception was the bottom half of gun barrels (HUMBROL #64). Decks were blue (One tin HUMBROL #79 [Blue Grey] + 20 medium brush loads of #104). Waterline was black as were anchors, bitts and light AA. Michael London -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Robert Lockie" Subject: Heller Victory review I have seen a very detailed review of the kit, by someone who clearly knew his subject (if only all reviewers were as knowledgeable about the things they review.) as he pointed out several accuracy errors. I seem to recollect that the deck planks are too wide and that the whole thing is lacking any camber, also that the gun carriages are wrong. He did give a source for rigging information as well. Not being a stick and string enthusiast myself, I have never had use of the review, but I will see if I can track it down. I would guess at an old Airfix Magazine or Scale Models. Can anyone give me an idea as to when the kit was released, as it may narrow down the search area? Even though the subject matter was not of direct interest, I am not prone to throwing away such things, so it will still be around. Robert Lockie Swindon UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Frank Cox" Subject: Re: Worst Ship Model Hi Andrew; Without doubt, the worst ship model I have ever purchased or seen was a 1/96 scale model of a Gearing Class Destroyer that I purchased for about $250 from BaD Ship models in New Jersey. I suppose its my own fault. The name of the company should have told me a lot. The only part of the kit that was useable were the materials supplied for building the hull (Balsa strips, plywood pre-cut decks etc.) All of the resin cast parts were so full of large holes as to be completely unusable. All of the other fittings were made of poorly formed vacuum-formed plastic which may have been satisfactory if you were to view the finished product from a hundred or so yards. The "Manual" consisted of poor copies of the original and was sorely lacking in any detail as to proper placement of almost all fittings. I finally threw away all fittings and ordered John Haynes fittings from the Floating Dry Dock which turned out to be very high quality, accurate fittings. I highly recommend his products. I finally had to order a set of plans from the Floating Dry Dock to insure accuracy. The plans were quite accurate and saved me a tremendous amount of time in researching placement of deck structures and some fittings I also purchased a book "Sumner-Gearing-Class Destroyers, Their Design, Weapons, and Equipment which contained numerous photos and text that was a great research resource. If you ever plan to build a model of American Destroyer, I highly recommend the book. While this is the only model I purchased from them, I can't speak for the quality of their other models; but, strongly suspect that they would be of the same poor quality. If anyone is considering purchase of one of their models, I would suggest that you save money and much frustration by looking elsewhere or obtaining plans from the Floating Dry Dock and building it yourself. Frank Cox -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: Re: worst kit Without question, the worst kit I have ever built is the Billings DANMARK. The wood and engineering are atrocious, the plans vague. I could have scratch-built it quicker. Al Ross -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Keith Bender" Subject: Yorktown class SBDs Hi SMMLies, Lets put on our thinking caps here. Does anyone know the number of SBD's that could be hung from the hanger overhead on a Yorktown class carrier. I'm more interested in the Hornet CV 8 but any of the three in that class should due. I've seen one photo of the Yorktown CV 10 with a few hanging but she is an Essex class. If there isn't anyone out there who may have an answer for me then maybe someone could leed me in the right direction to find this info. thank you, Keith -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Andrew Jones" Subject: worst kit well Daniel, i have just about given up on 1 aircraft kit .know this is not a ship thing, but will be brief..was building a 1/72 A-7 AER WW2 russian glider, faults = one wing was not mould completely & so the wing 1/2 didnt match had to putty the front part of 1 wing to conform to the top part, rear wings the plugs didnt match the holes.. instruction sheet that shows doors on both sides yet kit only has doors on 1 side.. canopy that didnt have lines to paint the frames in, also was 50% misted up..& the internals didnt have proper lines to lay the floor & seats down! Wheel assembly that didnt match the holes & didnt match their instruction sheet.. Model companies of the world ..Hear our plea ..Please be more careful! we humble model builders appreciate it! wonder if we need a patron saint or maybe a shrine hmm any ideas a image of a figure with a human body, wings for arms no arms but sits on a ships hull, a sci-fi head & on 1 wing glue tube & the other a paint brush & sitting before it a empty paint can so we lost should can place our offerings so that our kits will be get a good grade silver or gold (means then i will have to offer a lot to get out of my bronze rut), magic candles only when there is no thinners or other flammible stuff around,lol -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: annobon4@aol.com Subject: Artillery shell casing Hi Guys I have two requests for the readers and perhaps you guys can help me. In the U.S. what is the legal limit for saving records. As in personal items :Old check books, paychecks, recipts of purchase, taxes, union dues, car insurnace coverage and the recipts for the premium. I kept them because I wanted to be prepared for the accountant at tax time.I think it's 9 yrs but I'm not sure. 2. I have from my late father a old Artillery shell casing that stands nearly 3ft tall and is 4inches in diameter. I use it for saving change. Who can I contact to find out it's age. It says WRA Co. 5-1900 (Could that be a date of manufacture?) on the shell's bottom.Any help would be appreciated. Craig -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Marc Flake Subject: Re: Worst ship Model The Viking 1/700 USS Texas. And now that I've spent the money to buy it and invested the time to build it, it's hard to think about purchasing and making the Samek Texas. Even though it looks to be so much better. Decisions, decisions. Marc Flake -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Minadmiral@aol.com Subject: Re: Triton 1:600 Ships Hi I have a large number of the Triton 1:600 coastal ships for wargaming. I buy them directly from Skytrex in the UK at WWW.skytrex.com/ They are fast and easy to deal with. They will also sell you extra guns and such to modify the ships. SDD has a similar line of models in 1:600. There is some duplication with Triton but they also have ships that Triton doesn't have. Unfortunately SDD are hard to get. The origional owners sold to someone else and he hasn't kept the production up. I used to get them through Brookhurst or Scale Specialties. He doesn't have an URL or e-mail address, but the Miniature Page has a UK address and phone number in their manufacturer's directory at The Miniatures Page PT Dockyard has a very large line of 1:600 small ships. Unlike Triton and SDD these are cast in resin instead of white metal. They are nice models, as well. He is a nice guy and easy to deal with. I'm working on one of his WWII Italian SPICA class destroyers. It will be my first PE effort, if I can find Italian style PE. He is at ptdockyard. I do a lot of wargaming and WWII coastal is one of my favorite areas. I have 300+ finished and almost as many to do. Chuck Duggie -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: ModelFlags@aol.com Subject: Check out the New Products at Model Flags! In addition to 40 new flag designs (bringing the total to over 200 National, Maritime, Historical, Club and Company designs) the following new products are now also available online at www.ModelFlags.com Two New Smaller Flag Sizes In addition to the current 8 flag sizes: A. 3/4" (20mm) to H. 6" (150mm) the complete range of flag designs are now also available in 2 smaller sizes: AAA. 3/8" (10mm) & AA. 1/2" (15mm) length Self Adhesive Vinyl Flags The complete range of over 200 flag designs and 10 sizes are now also available on Self Adhesive Vinyl New Large Cotton Signal Set Previously offering 2 sizes: Small & Medium covering scales 1:128 to 1:48 a new Large set is now available corresponding with scales 1:48 to 1:24 Individual Vinyl Lettering In addition to our popular range of Sheet Vinyl Lettering in 3, 6, 10 & 15mm height in various colours we can now supply Individual Vinyl Characters A to Z & 0 to 9 in Pennant Font "Warship Typeface" and Arial Font in 4 sizes: 3/4" (20mm), 1" (25mm), 1 1/2" (38mm) & 2" (50mm) in matt black or matt white with removable outlines for shadow borders RNLI Bow Emblems Both original and current logos on Self Adhesive Vinyl in 10 different sizes from 3/8" (10mm) to 6" (150mm) Our easy to follow "Price List" page is in UK Pounds with "indications" of individual price in US, Canadian, Australian & New Zealand Dollars and Euro plus a user friendly currency converter for calculating total prices and other currencies. Please do check out our "Your Photos" and "Reviews" pages to view the flags and vinyl on various models and to find out what previous customers think of the products and our service. http://www.ModelFlags.com ["MODEL FLAGS" is an independent authorised distributor of Miniature Cotton Flags, Signal Sets, Self Adhesive Vinyl Flags, Vinyl Lettering and RNLI Bow Emblems manufactured by BECC Model Accessories] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: rms Subject: New kits from WSW/B-Resina Please check out our web site for great prices on all WSW and B-Resina 1/700 resin ship kits and accessories: www.wic.net/~rms/ In addition to the kits listed, the following new kits are also now available: WSW 700-19; Potemkin, Russian battleship, 1905, $49.00 BR 712; HMS Glowworm, G-class destroyer, 1940, $20.00 BR 717; HMS Eskimo, Tribal class destroyer, 1942, $20.00 BR 719; HMS Vanguard, battleship, 1946, $65.00 I will fax a purchase order to WSW in Germany on Monday, 28 January. Questions/orders? Please contact me off list: rms@wic.net Thanks and have a great weekend! Lisa D. Norman/Rocky Mountain Shipyard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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