Subject: SMML VOL 1723 Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 00:29:13 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Paints for Yamato and where to get them 2: Re: Chih Yuen, Diomede and Modelkrak kits 3: Exhibit at National Geographic 4: You want a relic...HERE is a relic! 5: Re: Chinese Ships 6: Re: WWII ASW 7: Re: Ship Relics 8: Re: 1/350 Enterprise 9: Falklands War 10: searching for info 11: Ship Relics 12: Searching books about U.S.S. Monitor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Re: WEM 1/400 HMS HOOD etched brass set/further news -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Senkan@aol.com Subject: Re: Paints for Yamato and where to get them White Ensign Models doesn't carry a paint comparible to the Hinoki Cypress whick made Yamato's deck. They do carry Kure Arsenal paint. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: Re: Chih Yuen, Diomede and Modelkrak kits There was an interesting article about Chinese cruisers in Warship 1996: "The Peiyang and Nanyang cruisers of the 1880s" by Richard N J Wright. It includes photos of Chao Yung (or Yang Wei), Lai Yuen, Chih Yuen (the Solent one) and interesting photo of officers of Chih Yuen taken aboard this ship probably in 1894. Article also contains inboard profile and plan view of Japanese cruiser Tsukushi a sister ship to Chao Yung / Yang Wei pair. AFAIK all foreign build Chinese ships carried the "Victorian" livery after delivery but while Chao Yung / Yang Wei, Lai Yuen and Chih Yuen were painted overall gray before delivery it appears from the photographs that Ting Yuan and Chen Yuan pair were painted in "Victorian" scheme even before their delivery trip to China. However good or bad Modelkrak's Itsukushima might be the good new is that Seals Models have just released 1/700 plastic injection set of Itdukushima / Hashidate which, judging from their earlier release Mikasa, are bound to be better than anything Modelkrak can offer. The set is available throu Hobby Link Japan. Seals Models promissed Izumo as one of their future releases and let'd hope that they will keep their promisse. Regards Darius Przezdziecki -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Diodor@aol.com Subject: Exhibit at National Geographic For SMML members who might be in Washington DC from April 10 to September 2, 2002, there's a ship model exhibit presented by Explorers Hall in the National Geographic Society building (17th & M Streets NW) that should be of interest. All the models were built by craftsmen used by Fine Art Models. The main attraction is an 18-foot R.M.S.Titanic model built, according to Fine Art Models, with the full cooperation of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland, the builder of the original R.M.S. Titanic. The model weighs 1500 lbs and took over five years to construct. Should also mention that my prized Fine Arts model of subchaser U.S.S. SC 648 acquired a couple of years ago is being donated this week to the Navy Museum at Washington Navy Yard. They are glad to have it, the first SC in their extensive and impressive display of warships. Ted Treadwell -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: SeaPhoto@aol.com Subject: You want a relic...HERE is a relic! Check out the offerings from this guy: http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=metroebay@memach.com&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=25 This is a company that dismantles warships (along with the English language). Right now they are selling a jackstaff, capstan and other goodies off a KNOX class frigate. Kurt Greiner SeaPhoto Maritime Photography www.warshipphotos.com Order via our online catalog...now taking credit cards via Paypal Warship Models Underway www.warshipmodelsunderway.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Kerry Jang Subject: Re: Chinese Ships >> Additionally I need information regarding the colours of the Chinese protected cruiser Chih Yuen, which I just started to scratch build in 1/700. The only photos I know were taken in Solent in 1887, but she was repainted in the 'Victorian' livery after delivery to China. 'The Chinese steam navy' by Wright doesn't contain other photos. The article in PSM Vol.3 No.4 is about is a about the three Chinese ships of the Sino-Japanse War 1894-95, which was released in 1/250 by a Chinese company (Ting Yuen, Chen Yuen and Chih Yuen), but the author confused the Armstrong-build protected cruiser Chih Yuen with the Vulcan-build protected cruiser Tsi Yuen (also spelled (Zhi Yuen or Chi Yuen). Does anybody has drawings of the other Chinese cruisers of this period? << Hi Lars, I am the author of the PSM piece you refer to and I didn't confuse "Tsi Yuen" with "Chih Yuen". I wrote that article to cover the "Kobo Hiryu" resin kits of the Ding Yuan, Chen Yuan mostly. Any mix up in names is of your own commission -- I'm not being defensive, but illustrates the point that unless you have the Chinese characters in front of you, its easy to mix up the names. As I pointed out in that article, the systems for Romanizing Chinese names at the time as very mixed up as they based their systems on differnt dialects of Chinese. My own surname "Jang" is Jung, Chang, Zheng, Cheng, and even Chan by some methods... Heck, my mother-inlaw speaks a different dialect of Cantonese and (mercifully) I can't understand her (my wife says I just refuse to understand her mother....) Reurning to your question on paint scheme of Chi Yuen, they typical Victorian scheme would have been black hull, grey upperworks and buff funnels and masts. Othen than that the Chinese ships were painted either light grey or dark grey! In regards to photos, check out the bibliography in Wright's book as a place to start. The Warship International issue from 1976 is the best one place collection on the Chinese Steam Navy. Hope this helps! Kerry -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Dave Shirlaw Subject: Re: WWII ASW >> Who can tell me which ASW is shown on this drawing? What is where? << Forward of the 40mm gun is the Mousetrap system which probably killed more US sailors than German. Between the gun and the superstructure would be a ready use locker for 40mm ammunition. Dave Shirlaw Editor, Seawaves Magazine www.seawaves.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: NAVYDAZE@aol.com Subject: Re: Ship Relics Well, I found some more stuff. I have a signal flag for "M" which is call the Mike flag, since that is my name. Used to have a lot more of them but I think one of my sons has them. They all have the brass clips on them to attach to the signal line/lanyard. Also used to have solid brass (about an inch thick) brass bell with USN on it and a Navy telegraph key (it was my fathers) from the old battleship USS NEW MEXICO. I donated both to a small museum in Oologah Oklahoma (birthplace of Will Rogers) as I lived there for a time. Mike NAVDAZE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: LBart73@aol.com Subject: Re: 1/350 Enterprise Just measured mine (the Tamiya kit)Length: 39", Width 10", Heigth 8". Mine's in a case, so I measured by lining up the tape measure thru the glass, dimensions should be accurate within 1/4 ", by the way, my kit is waterlined, so a full hull will be taller. My case is 47.5" X 17.25" X 10" Larry B -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Chris.Evenden@ga.gov.au Subject: Falklands War Hi All, For those interested in the Falklands War, the RAF website has a presentation it at the moment. Go to www.raf.mod.uk/falklands Thanks, Chris -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Douglas G. MacAhonic" Subject: searching for info Hi all, I am searching for a member of SMML as I have been in hospital since January and have finally made it home. The computer has been reformatted and his email was lost. I am looking for Gordon Hogg and if he reads this, please email me at xcalibur@shaw.ca. I am also seeking any information regarding a German W.W.II sub designed to run on Hydrogen Peroxide, does any one here know anything about this. Thanks Doug -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Tony Ireland" Subject: Ship Relics Encouraged by the soothing, politically correct title of this current thread I may mention how I acquired a few relics back in Sept.1945 when I was an R.N.R. Midshipman in the Flower Class corvette HMS SMILAX (K280) in Singapore soon after the war ended. It began when I landed at Clifford Pier, which was crowded with naval personnel eager to see the city, but sadly not always following the grim warning on a big blackboard beneath a skull and crossbones emblem: *Drink Only in NAAFI Canteens! Death Toll = 12 so far!* This score rose daily in the next week, including two from the small crew of an M.L. moored alongside our ship. Something to do with wood alcohol in the local hooch. Two tots could cause permanent blindness next day, I was told, and four would kill. I bumped heavily into someone, turned to apologise, and was astonished to see my cousin David, from Hastings, Sussex, who I learned was a seaman in the Purser's office of the fine destroyer HMS MYNGS moored at the Seletar naval base up the Strait of Johore. I went with him back to his ship, which I found was lying close to two crippled IJN heavy cruisers, TAKAO and MYOKO. One had had her stern blown neatly off by a torpedo. The other had lost her bow almost aft to her foremost 8" gun turret. Towing them there from the Philippine area had been a remarkable feat of salvage. Emboldened, I suppose, by being together, we approached a gangplank, were saluted smartly and then went aboard TAKAO, to be greeted with lots more salutes by officers. It would have been churlish not to have inspected and admired their fine ship. I was struck, almost literally, by the low headroom between decks and the piling up of so many heavy gun turrets, secondary armament, and A.A. guns. The machinery spaces were flooded and sealed off after the attack by X-Craft a few months before. I noted that the uniform of their seamen was practically identical to our men's, even to the stripes around their collar that commemorated Nelson's greatest victories. A reminder that the R.N. had played a key part in creating the IJN and the two had been allied in W.W.1. An IJN cruiser had helped escort ANZAC troopships to Suez in 1915. The first relic that caught my eye was a 9mm Luger automatic pistol. I was puzzled to see the maker's name VICKERS engraved on it. Clearly it did not belong rightly on this ship. I examined a rifle that was lighter than a .303, and turned out to be, I think, .265" calibre. What interested me most was the single large knurled machine screw that was all that held the barrel and the stock together. I thoughtfully detached both parts, which laid together measured under 18 inches. Again, clearly, the crew were unlikely to have any further need for this relic, as they waited patiently to be repatriated much later. I borrowed a brown brocaded silk dressing-gown to wrap both relics and protect them from the salt-laden air. On its pocket were neat embroidered symbols that were later translated as:- 'May your children be as numerous as the pebbles on the beach.' My cousin did not share my interest in small-arms which stemmed from my stay in South Africa on the sheep farm of a former Captain in the Grenadier Guards in W.W.1 in Flanders. To my surprise, he felt that a smallish wooden statuette of Buddha would bring him more good fortune than to the owner. So he reverently wrapped it in a cotton kimono lying nearby. He ended up as a solicitor back in England - perhaps the only Zen Buddhist one.... We made our way ashore to the accompaniment of more mutual saluting and inscrutable smiles from the TAKAO's officers. If any should read this, may I say gratefully that the silk dressing-gown was my most prized garment for 20 years in the heat of South and Central Africa, and always reminded me of that most impressive IJN cruiser. "Arigato!" And three of our six children did survive the rigours of the tropics despite a rhesus-negative blood group snag, and medical incompetence. Both cruisers were scuttled in 1946 in deeper water beyond the western end of the Straits of Malacca. The Luger pistol lacked ammunition, but this was solved in a curious way. A party from our ship was taken to go swimming at Blakang Mati island on the far side of Keppel Harbour - now renamed Sentosa Island. However,I lost interest in swimming when I spotted a couple of sea snakes cruising offshore. So I walked up a nearby winding road to take in the view and came upon some huge concrete emplacements with 15-inch guns - which Mr Churchill said he was shocked to discover could not be trained around to fire at an enemy advancing by land from the north. Of greater interest was a huge, sprawling dump of rotting wooden crates of Japanese munitions, plus some sadly marked '.303 Ball. Made in the Mint, Pretoria,1941.' I had to hurry, to get back down to the boat, so I used a make-shift crowbar to prise open crates. Most held mortar projectiles and shells, but I finally found one that held smallish boxes of 9mm semi-rimless cartridges. Sweating under its weight in the clammy heat, I lugged one box triumphantly down to the boat. Shortly afterwards our corvette was detailed to be an air-sea rescue vessel. It involved using our whole anchor chain plus extra cable to moor about 100 miles off Malaya in the fairly shallow southern Gulf of Thailand - in about 8 N, 102 E.long - midway between Singapore and Bangkok. The R.A.F. was running a makeshift airline with C47 Dakotas and converted bombers, so we were to rescue survivors if one ditched nearby. None seemed to do so... We found we were lying becalmed in a sort of stagnant Sargasso Sea covered with floating logs, branches and reeds washed down the rivers of Malaya and southern Thailand. And this swarmed with poisonous sea snakes. To provide a diversion, I got permission to rig up a 12-inch round target on a pole well above the bull-ring in the bow, and to use this for target practice with my pistol, for brief pre-arranged periods, firing from the bridge compass platform about 20 yards away. Crew glad of this break in the monotony stood below the bridge aft of the 4' gun and Hedgehog, voicing their opinion of my marksmanship. If other officers were on the bridge near me, I showed off by nonchalantly reaching out my left hand to catch the empty cartridge cases after they were ejected vertically. The pistol was very accurate, and I could put half of a clip of eight bullets into the target when I really concentrated. After a few days the novelty wore off. Then I noticed a huge snake close to us, awkwardly placed beneath our port-side 16-foot boat that was swung outboard on its davits. I clambered out into the boat and looked down at the snake. The crew lined the rail expectantly. When the first bullet grazed him he lashed about, but didn't move away very far. He went on like this as the next shots splashed close to him, and the pistol was empty. The snake was rearing up, cobra fashion, angrily under the boat. Laying down the pistol, I fashioned a loop in a light rope. Then I tried to lassoo the snake - to the delight of the watchers. As the snake wriggled further away I leaned more outboard to twirl my noose over him. Suddenly the two broad canvas steadying gripes running under the boat lost their grip, and the boat swivelled nearly 90 degrees, throwing me out. I landed flat on my stomach beside the snake, very painfully. I let myself sink and then groped underwater aft along the weed-encrusted ship's side. When I came up the snake had vanished. The crew had almost fallen over the rail with laughter. Nobody tossed me a lifebelt, but I was helped back aboard, and I later found my pistol safe in the bottom of the boat. After all, we had to amuse ourselves somehow. No TV, newspapers, pubs, organised sport and pop music. And no women, of course..... Someone who's built a 1/72 scale 'Improved' Flower Class corvette may check the length of my shooting range. Hard to envisage - after 57 years. I never found cartridges for the neat little rifle, and it was confiscated later in Cape Town by Customs. I believe my father eventually threw the pistol into the Thames as his train was crossing the bridge, and later tossed away the empty clip as he came back. I wonder whether Vickers Co.Ltd established a factory in Japan long ago, which could explain the pistol's history. Cheers, Tony -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Dirk Emmermacher" Subject: Searching books about U.S.S. Monitor Hello list. A colleague is searching books about the U.S.S. Monitor. Is here someone, who give me some tips? Thanks in advance. Best regards. Dirk Emmermacher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "WEM" Subject: Re: WEM 1/400 HMS HOOD etched brass set/further news Hi Nick et al, thanks for the "prompt"! WEM have now made a firm decision on producing the etched brass for the Heller Hood kit. The estimated price that was originally quoted was based on an all-singing, all-dancing, "ULTIMATE" set, along the lines of our KGV set. This set would have been pretty large, and probably in at least two thickneses of brass. The decision has now been taken to do a smaller set that will suit the pockets of the average modeller, which will supply goodies such as funnel cap grilles, doors, hatches, boat bits/tackle, together of course with the usual rails/ladders and accommodation ladders. The new set could be available inside a month, and will be designed by Peter Hall .. price yet to be set but we think it will be around 25 to 30 Pounds.... ish! It even has a product code... WEM PE 4004. This follows on after the PE 4002 1/400 DKM SCHARNHORST/GNEISENAU for the Heller kits and PE 4003 1/400 PRINZ EUGEN/HIPPER for the Heller kits. We have also released the following sets, shipping tomorrow: PE 744 1/700 ADMIRAL HIPPER CLASS (for the new TAMIYA PRINZ EUGEN) 11.08 ($16.00) and 12.95 (EU) http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/wembrass/wempe744.jpg PE 745 1/700 SCHARNHORST/GNEISENAU (for the TAMIYA kits) 11.08 ($16.00) and 12.95 (EU) http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/white.ensign.models/wempe745.jpg Oh, and we are awaiting first delivery of the Heller Hood kit which retails at 17.01 Pounds worldwide ($24.15), and 19.99 in Europe. Orders cheerfully taken for any or all of the above ;^) Cheers! Caroline Snyder White Ensign Models -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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