Subject: SMML VOL 1602 Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 01:15:26 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Cutty Sark Instructions 2: Why is a ship called "she" 3: Bad Brooklyn 4: S-100 5: Panay 6: Re: Why is a ship called "she" 7: Thanks 8: Re: Book Idea-Panay 9: Re: USS Fletcher 10: HMS Laforey 11: Re: Scratchbuilding 12: H.M.S. FEARLESS Bows out 13: Re: Prinz Eugen Stripes 14: Wheelhouse interiors -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Address change -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Ted0330@aol.com Subject: Re: Cutty Sark Instructions Have you contacted Revell? I bet they have a copy you can buy or that they will send you. Ted Tsaltas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Norman Samish" Subject: Why is a ship called "she" >> Not all ships take the feminine gender. Ships in the French and German Navies, for example, employ the masculine. << I heard on the news tonight that Lloyd's will no longer call ships "she." Ships will be "it," which seems like an appropriate designation for most modern ships. Norm Samish -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: Bad Brooklyn DP wrote - >> I know that you probably took it as a challenge but don't you think it would be as time consuming and (probably) less frustrating if you attempted to scratchbuild the whole thing from the start??? << Maybe in hindsight, but before the warping problem manifested itself, the basic shape of the hull looked OK. It was easy to cut out the solid middle section and make new bulkheads from styrene. Scratchbuilding a hull isn't something I've tried yet, in any scale. >> 2- after your work will be over, what procentage of the original resin would be left in this kit??? << Oh, maybe half! I kept the smoke stacks and gun turrets, and was able to salvage a few of the boats. Most everything else went into the trash. I'll be interested in comparing it to the Iron Shipwright BROOKLYN, now that it may finally see the light of day. MWL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Kelvin Mok Subject: S-100 >> Warship Pictorial #15 - Kriegsmarine Schnellboote. Lots of good photos, drawings and color illustrations. << Fact: The colour photos were a kind of dull, probably because WWII era colour film was not as vibrant as modern colour film and time also does tend to fade the colours of the print reproductions. Questions: 1. Is computer colour enhancement of those photos an acceptable practice for publishing historical pictures. Wouldn't it be a wonderful if the photos can be computer enhanced to look as if they are taken with modern high definition colour film? Except for colour no historical data has been altered. And usually the researcher has an intimate knowledge of the actual colours that cannot be conveyed in the original source. 2. On the same thread will it be acceptable practice to use the computer to colour black and white historical photos of ships where the colour is based on good data? 3. The third suggestion is to use programs to improve the definition (sharpness) of otherwise fuzzy photos. If you look at medical, astronomical and intelligence imaging the things they can do to a poor image these days is miraculous. The result generates more information than the original photo could ever have provided and no one has yet claimed that the information is fraudulent although they had been manipulated. I don't know about costs but for a start enhancing the colours to match factory colours will be a great selling point. Kelvin Mok -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Mike Leonard" Subject: Panay Art wrote - >> Be careful using the Floating Drydock (FD) drawings of PANAY << Thanks for the information. My ISW Panay is about halfway done and I'm feeling motivated to get back to it after reading those tips... MWL Alexandria, VA USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Ernst-Bernhard Kayser Subject: Re: Why is a ship called "she" >> Not all ships take the feminine gender. Ships in the French and German Navies, for example, employ the masculine. << Dear Michael, I racked my brains to come up with at least one example of a masculine German ship but I couldn't. They are always feminine even if the actual name suggests otherwise. Just a few examples: It is: "Prinz Eugen, DER edle Ritter" (if the guy von Savoyen is meant)...but DIE "Prinz Eugen" (the ship after him). "SIE war ein schwerer Kreuzer" = She was a heavy cruiser. It is: DAS Wappen von Hamburg (if the city's crest is meant)...but DIE "Wappen von Hamburg" (the ship). "SIE war ein Segelschiff." = She was a sailing ship. It is: DER Theodor Heuss (if the first post-WW2 German President is meant) but DIE "Theodor Heuss" (the ship). If a ship is not addressed by name the proper pronoun in German is always SIE, never ER or ES. Thus in English or German ships are always ladies. Bernhard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Mark Brayshaw" Subject: Thanks Thanks to all those on SMML who responded to my pleas for help on white metal kits Regards Mark Brayshaw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Preston L Hassler Subject: Re: Book Idea-Panay Art Herrick, thanks for the tips and cautions on the variations of the Panay. I have the Iron Shipwright model and for all I know it seems fairly accurate. There are a few things that I thought should be changed, however I was basing that on the FD plans. Maybe I need to back up and do even more research. As far as interest in a book, the thread here wasn't very long, so it seems like the interest isn't there. I wonder how many models IS has sold, if that might be an indication. Thanks for the help, Skip Hassler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "M & R Brown" Subject: Re: USS Fletcher When first commissioned Fletcher seems to be in measure 12 which states that horizontal surfaces are deck blue. Does this include the tops of her turrets? Some photos seem to indicate that the aft turret tops are dark but the forward ones have a turret top colour the same as the sides. Michael Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Chris & Lulu Langtree" Subject: HMS Laforey Hi Dimi Laforey commissioned with a Type 286 in place, two Oerlikons on her searchlight platforms and quad 0.5 machine guns on the bridge wings. She carried this fit until her first refit when she added three more Oerlikons. Two replaced the quad machine guns and one was located in the centre of the quarterdeck. Another was later added. On the Ls and Ms the quarterdeck Oerlikons were jammed up hard against the aft deckhouse and were difficult to see. The Type 291 was installed about mid 1942 if I recall correctly but I can find this out definitely by consulting the Pink Lists which give some indication of the changes in radar fits up until about 1944. Chris Langtree -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "David Griffith" Subject: Re: Scratchbuilding Dear Boatbldr, I meant to reply to your posting a couple of days ago, but my computer was playing silly b**gers and wouldn't let me get in to do it. I'd like to echo everything Bob Steinbrun said about the joys of planking a ship. To see a model with the gentle and smooth flow of the planks from bow to stern is a wonder to behold. It is also something that the most leaden-headed layman can appreciate. (The type of person who looks at a resin and photo-etch masterpiece and says "Oh, you glue together little Airfix kits. And do you paint them, too?" To do this certainly requires patience and pernickertiness, but then if we weren't all incurably pernickerty, we wouldn't be doing this hobby in the first place, would we? However, that aside, it isn't an essentially complicated procedure. Provided you are systematic about it, it is fairly straightforward. Tools are not expensive. Apart from usual knives, saws etc, you nedd a vice, a very small plane, possibly a plank bending tool, something to save your fingers when pushing pins into wood, and most importantly, a set of proportional dividers. These enable you to take a space on the hull, and automatically divide it into a number of equal plank widths for pricking directly onto the planking strip. No need to measure with a ruler or use a calculator and far more accurate. These are available from Micro-Mark, and although fairly expensive are a damn sight cheaper than any CAD program. As a reference I recommend "Plank on Frame Models" volume 1, by Harold A Underhill. This was published originally 50 years ago, but I think I saw it in print a few years ago. This must be the planker's bible, and the guy probably died of short sight and terminal pernickertiness! I saw another book a couple of years ago called, I think, "Planking Techniques for Ship Modellers". I don't know who wrote it, but it was the worst book on any modelling subject I have ever read, confused, going of at irrelevant tangents, interpolating comments that he admitted he should have said several pages before, and in desperate need of an editor and proof reader, but too late as it was already printed! Look before you buy, and then don't! Regards David Griffith (Happy planker) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "sell4853" Subject: H.M.S. FEARLESS Bows out As seen on UK TV HMS Fearless the last steam powered ship serving in the Royal Navy made its last voyage home to its base at Portsmouth this week. Attached is a photo taken in the Carribean when my son was serving aboard her. She is to be laid up pending disposal, and according to my son it was only the paint that was holding the rust together on the ol girl so it is doubtfull if she will ever sail in a navy elsewhere in the world. Norman SELLS Photo uploaded to the SMML site under Misc Reference. Shane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Sanartjam@aol.com Subject: Re: Prinz Eugen Stripes Hi SMML, Yes, the Prinz Eugen's "Baltic stripes" were painted out before Rheinuebung, but weren't they still faintly visible, perhaps because a different shade of gray was used from the basic hull color? I think you can see at least one of the photos of her returning to Brest, but it seems particularly obvious in a photo of her in February 1942 (with stern still attached) on page 66 of Robert Stern's book "Kriegsmarine." Any thoughts? Art Nicholson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Robert Lockie" Subject: Wheelhouse interiors >> 26. Wheel and engine telegraphs for sad gits that want to detail inside of wheelhouse << Huh. Not much of a challenge in 1/72 scale. Try it in 1/700 Robert Lockie Swindon UK lunatic asylum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "George Frey" Subject: Address change To all on the list my E-MAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED old address was IAAFru2@aol.com New address is iaafru2@surfside.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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