Subject: SMML VOL 1638 Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 13:09:45 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: New Clancy movie, Indiana Jones 2: PE Bending tool 3: Heller HMS Victory 4: Movies 5: Re: Partial review 6: Book recommendation 7: USS Thresher SSN-593 color scheme 8: Re: Movie wish list 9: Interesting items on eBay 10: HMS Glamorgan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: 1:700 Sims and Algerie and 1:400 De Grasse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "john fiebke" Subject: New Clancy movie, Indiana Jones While "Red Storm Rising" isn't being filmed, "The Sum of All Fears" is. I haven't read the book, but i've seen the trailer. There's a really quick scene in the trailer where a US Supercarrier is under attack by, I'm assuming, Russian aircraft. The island takes a direct hit. It looks very convincing. No Harrison Ford this time, though. Ben Affleck takes the Jack Ryan role, and from what I hear does a surprisingly good interpretation of a younger, more naive Ryan. Its out in May I think. And while watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, my girlfriend posed the same question about him surviving on the outside of a U-Boat. I went into a long discussion about how it was peacetime and wouldn't need to submerge, and how at the time subs were faster above water...and then a little more on running on a battery vs diesel power, and on and on. Funny, she rarely asks me about historical points in movies. Why could that be? j. fiebke -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Kris Chaconas" Subject: PE Bending tool What I have found very useful and accurate is a stainless steel piano hinge. They come in 30" length, closed the two edges are almost perfect. You can cut the hinge to any desirable length,ie 3",4" etc. Set the side of depth charge rack, catapult, whatever, and bend to 90 or the desred angle. Just thought I'd pass it along. Jim C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Joel Labow Subject: Heller HMS Victory >> I've just purchased the Heller 1/100 model of the Victory from Modelexpo and was wondering if anyone has the actual measurements of the finished model. On the site they say that it's over 40 inches long and 28 inches high but working from the stats of the actual ship this seems a bit big for the scale. Also, has anyone made or is making this kit as I'd like to know if there are any problems with it? << Colm, The length overall (LOA) is not particularly useful in dealing with sailing ships since the length of the jib, flying jib and spanker gaff varied considerably over time (Victory was in active service for over 40 years) and season of the year, since ships often carried reduced rigs in winter. The standard measure that was used was the length of the lower gun deck, which in Victory's case was 186 feet. Using the lower gun deck perpendiculars contained in G. F. Campbell's drawing in Longridge's book the Heller kit lower gun deck length is 22 1/3" = 2233 scale inches = 186 1/12 scale feet. Not much to complain about there! In general the kit is highly accurate...with a few oddities. The most significant one is that the entry port on the middle gundeck present in 1805 is not included...the space where it should be is merely another gunport on the model. Secondly the copper plating detail is not carried down all the way to the keel...easily fixed but annoying. The injection molding also carries with it a number of minor problems: (a) The plastic bulkheads are much thinner than those of the real ship...this can be fixed by adding port sills of the proper width. (b) The engraved wood grain of deck and side planking is a bit too pronounced...needs to be sanded down slightly. (c) The plastic masts and yards are too flexible...they will inevitably whip and/or bow over time from the tension of the rigging. I recommend reinforcing all the hollow lower masts with telescoping brass tubing and replacing everything else with wood. (d) Finally, I would recommend using the plastic decks as a foundation for wooden ones...1/100 is to large a scale for convincing painted plastic decks. I would also consider replacing the plastic blocks with wood ones. Finally, there are two excellent books available. C. N. Longridge's 'The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships' is a classic description of Dr. Longridge's construction of a 1/48 Victory...it is profusely illustrated with photos and drawings and includes a full set of plans. John McKay's 'Anatomy of the Ship - HMS Victory' has complete plans and 3-D perspectives of Victory as well as lots of detail photos. If you can get both, do so...otherwise go with the Longridge book. In my opinion you have one of the best plastic kits ever made...have fun! Best regards, Joel Labow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "ebrown" Subject: Movies There is a naval film complete with "feel good" feeling. The real ship stars. Best supporting ship is a class mate of the real thing, spoilt only by a modernised bridge block, but otherwise spot on. Not a single woman insight or even referred to as far as I remember. The foreign chap, the baddy naturally, was definitely bogus. Do I insult everybody by saying name the film. Incidentally why remake sink the Bismark with CG? Surely the original employed model makers! Isn't that more in our line? Edward -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: Re: Partial review Let me deal with the last part of Edwin Marsh's post first: while kit of Invincible is not mentioned on ISW's 1/350 scale resin ships list it is clearly decribed as ISW's product by Steel Navy.com. in their review of the production stage hull of the ship. This fact is easily checkable by anybody so inclined. My review was based on a very comprehensive set of photographs of the ship's hull posted on Steel Navy.com. I do not need to have the kit itself to spot the problem areas described in my first post. What is more I have contacted ISW first with the hope that the errors could be corrected before the kit was too advanced but was informed that, unfortunatelly, hull was in a production stage and it was too late for any correction. Althrou E.Marsh tries to cloud the issue with sophistry he clearly doesn't appear to understand that multiple references are used exactly so that they can be double-checked and compared with each other. Burt's and Roberts's drawing of Invincible agree with each other rather closely but Burt show the ship as in 1909 with nets still in place while Roberts chooses general appearance in August 1914, after 4inch guns in forward superstructure were "plated in" and nets removed. Apparently Roberts did not have an access to the close up photos of the ship because (according to his plans of Invincible) he got the net shelving completly wrong and the details of "plated in" 4inchers very unclear. It just go to show that even people of Roberts's reputation can commit an occasional mistake and that one reference source might not be enough to avoid all the errors. >> Another question. "D.P." claims not to be slamming the kit, but could not the definition of slamming be unfair criticism based on a lack of information? Thus, if nobody but one person has this kit, and that person is not "D.P.", then can it not be said that "D.P." is slamming the kit based on the simple fact he is relying on second or third hand information? << I am sorry???? I am not relying on somebody's description of the kit but on a comprehensive and detailed set of phoptographs of a PRODUCTION STAGE of thew hull. None of the problems described by me could be possibly caused by the trick of the light or the camera angle. Even if it's not first hand it is as close to it as can be. >> It sounds to me like this is some sort of vendetta against the kit itself, and the manufacturer in general. It is sad that some people need to do this to make themselves feel important. << I am sorry again??? And just what would be the cause of the alleged vendetta??? Am I notorius for attacking ISW and their products in the past??? Have I invented or imagined the errors I am talking about??? The only sad thing about is that some people are prepared to defend indefecible no matter what the strenght of their argument is. Regards D.Przezdziecki -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Fernando, Yohan" Subject: Book recommendation Can anyone recommend a book along the lines of M.J. Whitley's excellent "Battleships/Cruisers/Destroyers of World War II: An International Encyclopedia" trio of books that covers aircraft carriers? I was hoping Whitley would follow up with such a volume but had heard that he lost his life a few years ago in a tragic diving accident. (is this really true by the way?) I have books specifically on US and IJN carriers but would want something to cover all nations like Whitley's books. I'm looking for a decent 'survey' book of all classes rather than details on a specific few. Thanks, Yohan Fernando -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "" Subject: USS Thresher SSN-593 color scheme Hello, Working on a model of USS Thresher SSN-593, and I'm wondering if anyone would have an idea of the paint scheme thereon. From the pictures of her launching, to be found at http://history.navy.mil, it appears she was all black, is that correct or is it just me? If so, was she all black throughout her lifetime? It seems that she would be either all black, or black on top, red on bottom. If I'm wrong and someone can correct me, I will be very grateful! Scott -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: HAZEGRAYADM@aol.com Subject: Re: Movie wish list As long as this is a,"Wish list", I would be willing to get involved in a TV miniseries of immense proportions like the "Winds of War" or some such thing. Shelve the idea of the Battle of Samar; why not the entire battle of Leyte! Week one would cover the Palawan Passage sub actions and the later air attacks in San Bernadino straights. Next, the night battle in Surigao Straight. Finally Halsey's run north and THEN the battle off Samar. Should be good for at least two weeks on TV (Including all of the commercials, of course). Now THERE was a naval battle! Bert McDowell. P.S.: They would need a TON of good modeling people. Any takers? BEM. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: paulship37@aol.com Subject: Interesting items on eBay I saw these items for sale at eBay. Book The Iowa Class Battleships by Muir http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529741025 1956 Picture History of The US Navy HCDJ http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529735047 Jane's Fighting Ships 1941 Large WWII Naval http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529732893 POLAR OPERATIONS 1969 US NAVAL INSTITUTE BOOK http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529703770 Eminent Americans,Namesakes Polaris Sub Fleet http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529742432 Cmndr Edwards The Royal Navy & Allies 1943-44 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529677966 The Ayesha The Emden Von Mucke 1917 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529733595 SILENT VICTORY :U.S. Submarine War v. Japan http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529587249 The Great White Fleet ~Robert Hart 1st. Ed. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529563329 Tugs;Towboats;Tugboats;towing;boats;1962 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529597885 WW2 Naval Singapore Protection Force Z Japan http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1529544479 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: annobon4@aol.com Subject: HMS Glamorgan Hi Guys I'm working on a Airfix 1/600 Devonshire class DDG that has the exocet missiles and decals for the Antrim and Glamorgan that were in the Falklands Island War. What was the paint job for the under hull. A black booting with hull red?I have a opsrey book with two color pics of sinking ships and one the Coventry shows a black under hull while the Antelope is splitting in two with the black booting and a hull red. I would like to make the kit into the Glamorgan. Also for Heliocopter markings. Did the Glamorgan have one double ring landing marking or two? Now the kit comes with a Wessex copter. Was a Wessex in service then or a Wasp or Lynx copter on the Glamorgan? What paint color is correct for the hull and decks. My Skywave Sheffield SP-2 kit has a drawing but the hull color looks too bluish when compared to photos showing a light gray. Is there any decal sheets in 1/600 for this kit? I have no decals for the copter pad but in my 1/700 collection I have the Skywave Exeter decal sheet which could be used but would it seem realistic? Any one know? Craig -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Mike Bartel Subject: 1:700 Sims and Algerie and 1:400 De Grasse An update on the progress of IHP's 2002 ship kit releases: SIMS: Preproduction work is finally completed to my satisfaction. Production tooling is being made right now. If you reserved SIMS and/or WALKE kits, you will be getting an email notice when the kits are ready, hopefully by the end of this month. ALGERIE: This kit has entered the preproduction stage. Release is scheduled for October/November 2002, if all goes well. The parts count is currently over 150 pieces, and will go higher as some final masterwork is completed. Also, an eBay announcement: I am putting my 1:400 De Grasse model up for auction on eBay. This model may be known to some of you. I kit-bashed the Heller 1/400 scale De Grasse kit and backdated it to represent the cruiser as she might have appeared as designed, with 9 6-inch guns. The model is incomplete- it's structurally complete, but I didn't finish painting it or detailing it. If you're interested in bidding on it, it's on eBay right now. If you have any questions about it, feel free to email me. Thanks, 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