Subject: SMML VOL 1650 Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 00:12:27 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Armada scale models HMS VEGA - V AND W DESTROYER -RESIN KIT 2: Correction 3: Fine Models National Geographic Society Display 4: Re: IGNORANCE 5: Re: People around New York area May 2nd 6: Re: Banner Arizona and 'clocks' 7: Re: Harold E. Holt 8: Re: Akron / Macon 9: Military show in NYC 10: Re: USN WWII. Carrier decks 11: Models 12: Enterprise -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Whittaker, Joe" Subject: Armada scale models HMS VEGA - V AND W DESTROYER -RESIN KIT I am trying to trace Armada to obtain the above. Do you have any idea of whehter they still exist in Winnipeg or relaible stockists of their product. My father served on HMS Vidette in WW2 hence the interest. Regards J.Whittaker -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: Correction As Jon Warneke pointed out to me, Roberts' plans of Invincible do indeed include a note that the quarterdeck, forecastle and SHELTER DECKS were planked. The information was there all the time and I have missed it!!! I would like to apologise to Jon and all SMMLers for providing information which was incorrect. However, as Jon himself agrees, my points about the kit's stern, hatches arrangement and net shelving are still valid and I stand by them. Regards D.Przezdziecki -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: BECJPARKER@aol.com Subject: Fine Models National Geographic Society Display If you live in or will be visiting the Washington DC area Fine Models currently has a ship model display at the National Geographic Society Museum thru Sept 2nd 2002. The display is called "Icons of the Seas", The Artistry of Ship Modeling. The Museum is at 17th and M Street and is free to the public. The museum is open from 9-5:00 PM on Mon-Sat and 10-5:00PM on Sun. The feature model of the display is an 18 foot 1/48 scale model of the Titanic that took five years to build and has 5 miles of fiber optic line in it for lighting. While the largest model there, there are 15 or 16 other models in the display of just as outstanding a quality. Most steel hull ships are in 1/192 scale and most of the wooden sailing ships are in 1/48th scale. Most of the Steel hull models can be seen on the Fine Models web site at . The wooden ships however are not shown on the site. Overall this is a great disply of the art of ship modeling and if your in the area the price is right and it's well worth the time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Kevin W. Woodruff" Subject: Re: IGNORANCE >> A LITTLE HELP PLEASE. I AM BUILDING THE BANNER ARIZONA. BOTH MASTS HAVE A CLOCK-LIKE FIXTURE ON THEM. WHAT ARE THEY? << David: Those were called "range clocks" or "concentration dials" The were used by the ships when steaming in battle formation to signal to the ship ahead and astern and communicate shooting ranges before the era of voice radio was common. The two hands indicated thousand and hundreds of yards so that so that individual on other ships armed with binoculars could tell how far to shoot. Kevin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Devin J. Poore" Subject: Re: People around New York area May 2nd This is the first I've heard of this event. Anyone else in the NYC area going? The 2nd is a Thursday, so I find that a bit odd, but I'll be emailing the contact to see anyway. I work in Times Square, so it's a short trip for me. Devin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Ted0330@aol.com Subject: Re: Banner Arizona and 'clocks' What you describe is, I believe, a range clock. This was a device used to give the range to all guns simultaneously, as determined by a range finder. Deflection scales painted on the turrets gave the deflection in the same manner to all turrets. You can see these devices on many pictures of US battleships taken between 1918 and 1935. These were introduced by the USN after observations of British gunnery methods during WW I. The British, after Jutland, used massed firing, an entire battle division firing whole salvoes using range and bearing found by the division flagship. They communicated the range and bearing by radio, but had deflection scales and range clocks so that, should ship-to-ship or intra-ship communication break down, the target could still be found. US gunnery was found deficient during trials with the RN in WW I. US shell dispersion was excessive. This is waht led to these changes. There is an excellent book on US battleship design that has discussion of this and many other technical issues related to US battleship design. It is- 'US Battleships, An Illustrated Design History', by Norman Friedman, published by Naval Institute Press, 1985. It also has a terrific discussion of US pre-dreadnught designs, and some of the socio-political controversy around becoming a great naval power. It also has GREAT plan drawings. Ted Tsaltas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Mike Kear" Subject: Re: Harold E. Holt The whole Harold Holt disappearance/drowning is surrounded with bloopers. My favourite is the news reporter who was standing at Cheviot Beach reporting on the dramatic disappearance of Australia's Prime Minister, and who said "it seems at this stage that the search for the Prime Minister has come to a dead halt.... " Cheers, Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia www.modelwarship.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Kevin W. Woodruff" Subject: Re: Akron / Macon AMT/EMTL Models made the injection molded models of the USS Akron/Macon kit in 1/520 scale Kit number T572. They are currently out of production. Kevin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Jeff Herne, NJAHOF" Subject: Military show in NYC I've just made arrangements to attend this event at the Intrepid. I will let everyone know, maybe take some digital photos. Jeff Herne Director, NJ Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: Re: USN WWII. Carrier decks >> I need your help. As far as my information are correct, the flight deck of the Yorktown class carriers were made from Douglas fir. The planks of the wooden deck were 9 inch wide and 5 inch thick and there were 11 planks between two drains. The wooden decks were stained in deck blue from '42 onwards. Can anybody please affirm, that this is correct? Do you know what was the length of the planks? Was it applied on other class carriers the same way (i.e. later ESSEX or Independence classes) or was it different on every ships << Zsolt, Also, to anyone else interested. USN carrier decks before and during WWII were covered with Douglas Fir. The plank size was 6" x 2.5" x 22', or shorter. I am not sure if the planking was laid down with the pitch rope as the IJN used, but I do believe that some pitch was used between planks. I also think the planking was laid down in a brick pattern. The planking had a recessed bolt hole, filled with a wood plug to secure it to the steel deck below. As to the expansion joints and the USN style tie downs on the Yorktown's, Wasp and Essex and all CVE and CVL class carriers, I can tell you that it was not a consistent pattern on the entire deck. One really needs to get close-up photos on the entire deck to determine the layout. Langley and the Lexington class used a tie down very similar to the IJN style 6"? cup with a bar thru the middle. Pre war the decks were stained with Mahogany, a redish-brown and had insignia yellow deck markings, although, some may have had some, or all deck markings in white? See the color photo on the back cover of my 9th book, Warship Pictorial #9 - Yorktown Class Carriers, for both the deck stain and the markings. Sometime about the beginning of the Second World War for USA(1941), the carrier decks were stained with a dark blue/black. See the Snyder and Short paint sets for the USN. If anyone else has further knowledge on the subject, please speak up. Steve Wiper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Rollmax Subject: Models I have the Tamiya kit of the "O" class....My comments are that 1/700 scale is too small. It is harder to assemble.........Some years back, I had a "Battle" class destoyer, the model was about 12" to 14" long, and it looks more impressive at this size. Are there any models of the larger size available? "they" go to all the trouble of making the molds, why can't they be larger?............I served on H.M.S. Petard on its last commission in 1960....a famous ship indeed.... Regards... Steve Bentley......Vancouver BC.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Jansen, Matthijs" Subject: Enterprise I am building the 1/350 Enterprise by Tamiya. An irritating problem has occurred. There are a lot of little stairs you have to glue to the side of the hull. The top of the stairs has to be glued to the under side of the catwalk on the edge of the flight deck. When you follow the Tamiya instructions, the top of the stairs ends on the underside of the catwalk, but not on the place of the hole in the catwalk, but next to it. So if somebody wanted to walk upstairs, he would hurt his head. If somebody wanted to walk downstairs, he would fall in the sea. Maybe this a special design feature to get rid of terrorists trying to take over the ship very fast. Has anybody who has build the big E had the same problem and would that person tell me how he has solved that problem? Matthijs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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