Subject: SMML VOL 1736 Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 12:37:36 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Size of RR Tracks 2: Re: Civil War Rail Size 3: Re: Railroads and Moving House 4: Jecobin Plans 5: Re: Authors and Publishers 6: Re: Polish Site 7: WW 2 call letters 8: Re: K-19 still around? 9: Re: K-19 10: Re: Resin query 11: Re: A message to authors and publishers 12: Sims Class 13: misc 14: USS Penn 15: How Specs Live Forever 16: commission for Alan Raven -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Re: Jecobin Plans -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: aandmblevins@att.net Subject: Re: Size of RR Tracks With all due respect to the kind members who have replied, I thought the original question referred to the dimensions of the rail, not the gauge (width between rail flanges) of the tracks. I say this because I saw a similar question on another list and it had to do with the rails used to armor monitors and gunboats, especially in the CSN. Unfortunately I do not remember the dimensions quoted in the reply, but they referred (to my surprise) to railroad rail material, not the finished rails. Apparently the material, not the finished rail, was used to armor the vessels. Hoping this passes muster with our literary friends, Al Blevins -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Fred Bultman Subject: Re: Civil War Rail Size Railroads in the South would be standard gauge or broad gauge; narrow guage was not common until the 1880s. Rails would be either 35 poud (or similar) t-rail or strap rail (an iron strap nailed to a wooden rail and spiked to the ties). Strap rail was still widely used in the South during the war. A seach of the online used bookstores will turn up many books on civil war railroads. Also the NMRA's Kalmbach Library will do railroad research for a fee. So what maritime topic does this relate to? (now that you've flushed out all the closet railroaders on the list.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Alan Scheckenbach" Subject: Re: Railroads and Moving House >> Sorry Joel, you're letting the model railroader part come through--your recovery isn't yet complete. The "code" system you refer to is strictly model railroad terminology. The U.S. railroads simply refer to rail by weight in pounds/yard, i.e., 40-pound rail, 90-pound rail, 133-pound rail. << Hi, decloaking and delurking for a moment.... I can certainly concur with this. I personally used to drag those bloody things around and not just by the yard but by the 20 or so foot length.... Jolly heavy is a term that comes to mind. In Australian coal mines we commonly used 20lb, 40, 60 and 90lb line, depending on where you were in the pit, the weight of expected traffic and how soon we were going to pull it up again. I was never "fortunate" enough to have to test out how heavy a 133lb length of rail is. And yes, Australia also suffered from the differing gauge problem until something like the 1970s. Cheers Alan Scheckenbach former trainee rail-layer (amongst other things) BHP Northern Collieries (now defunct)(I seem to have that effect on places. Let's see how long the Defence Department lasts....) (never won a spelling competition but got close) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Leslie Brown" Subject: Jecobin Plans >> Does anyone know of a source for Jecobin Plans? << Try White Ensign Models. Les Brown, Fareham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Michael London" Subject: Re: Authors and Publishers As a frequent writer myself (I usually use a nom de plume) I have often had comments about my work and have, in the course of exchanges made many new friends and aquaintances around the world. While bouquets are nice I would far rather get brickbats. It is these that keep me on my toes and make future efforts that much better. I like to treat comments as friendly advice and, where the comment is justified, follow through. Michael London -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Damian Pliszka Subject: Re: Polish Site I took a look at Migare's address. The frigates are marked there as planned. And I'm afraid they don't sell their models to other countries. Hope this helps Damian Pliszka Slupsk, Poland -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: URUDOFSKY@aol.com Subject: WW 2 call letters According to Paul Schmalenbach (Artillery Officer in Prinz Eugen) the Morse codes are: BS Bismarck* HP Hipper LW Lützow GU Gneisenau PE Pelikan PG Prinz Eugen* SC Scheer SH Scharnhorst TP Tirpitz * I have seen BM and KB used in some books, although KB means Kriegsbereitschaft/combat readiness, not Kriegsschiff Bismarck. Often Prinz Eugen is mistakenly called PE. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Ken Goldman" Subject: Re: K-19 still around? Although I can't directly answer the question about K-19, I do know that a friend of mine who worked on the design of the open bridge for the movie, among other parts of the vessel, never saw the vessel and had to do a fair amount of "best-guessing" as to location of the various instruments, etc. based on similar Soviet vessels, available information and simple logic. Ken Goldman THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER unique wood sculpture and fine scale models www.walruscarpenter.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: joe.sus@att.net Subject: Re: K-19 The K-19 was stricken in 1991. By then it was a missile test boat with the aft 2/3 of the sail removed so it didn't look quite like its former self. The latest that I can confirm its existence is 1994. Are any good plans available for the modeler? Joe Suszynski -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Keith Bender" Subject: Re: Resin query Hi SMMLies, As an answer to the question I posted the other day about putting polyester resin over the top of casting resin, well it works and did NOT affect the casting resin at all. The polyester resin does not stick to it very well but that doesn't mater in this case. As for the rest of you before going ahead and trying this you should check it out for yourself before trying it on a good piece. What I did was fill the interior of a skeg on a large model with casting resin. Then I could sand the skeg to proper shape and some of the resin has shown through the wood. So my advice again is to test it before you do it on a good piece. KTB -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: Re: A message to authors and publishers >> Another problem is that more and more books are getting away from being text-based to being photo-based. So the need now is for effective captions rather than effective writing. That, however, is a market-driven reality. << John raises a valid point here. I am producing my line of small soft bound books on warships for the following reasons. 1. I wanted an affordable book on the subject. I came to the conclusion thru my own market analysis, that the $10 to $20 price range would be the best area. 2. I was after visual information, not textual. I think that if one needed textual information, then I would use books by authors like Norman Friedman. I believe that I provide good captions. 3. Provide the best reproduction quality for the lowest price. I think I have been quite successful at this. Last years book sales were well in excess of 12,000. It really comes down to a personal preference. You either will like it well enough to buy it, or you will not. Steve Wiper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "William B. Smallshaw" Subject: Sims Class I am looking for photographs of a Sims class destroyer (any ship) in the south Pacific, 1942. Can anyone suggest a source with a port and starboard photograph of the same vessel in measure 12 scheme? Thank you, Bill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Andrew Jones" Subject: misc Pearl Harbour Cammo: With the Arizona, what about those 2 books that are out & one cant recall which one, has painting of the Arizona being tied up to the cement pier/buoy.. is that dark blue correct??? & in the book batleships vol 1 (squadron) there is a colour painting of the Nevada in dark blue with a bow wave..is this the same colour that Arizona would have worn? RAN stops Open days: Saw on the news last week, that due to the fact that Aussie forces are involved in anti -terrorism operations, there will be no "open days". This was mainly for Navy ships, but who knows how far this may include..so the navy has set up "open days" on their web site..so people can get on the web site & "look around " some of the navy ships... So hurry up & finish the war George ..i wanna have open days again!!!!! what bout in the US of A , with yur navy celebrations comin up right? will they have open days??? How navy week is not till October..so guess that will down graded to photo displays & a zodiac or 2..sigh...... Well back from doing battle in Canberra with my kits... did as I expected, went up against some doozies of models, heck wasn't expecting to do any god anyhow .. the winner of the ship was a little bloody beauty of the Hiryu all beat up & burnt .. Shane could probbaly describe it better, but it was a wonderfully built kit & I belive it won the Melbourne comp as well..there were other wonderful models there even a well done sunk Bismarck when discovered by the Bollard team ..i still have a long way to go till I reach that level of professionalism , but still got plenty of time.....i hope,lol also need a few thoughts on something... was watching "above us waves" about the attack on the Tirpitz by the mini subs.. was thinking of maybe doing a 1/72 sub think I saw them on the japan hooby web site... now question is the anti torpedo nets, if I remember correctly they had 2 styles in the film, one circular & I think the other was like a diamond pattern.. anyone know the exact pattern of the anti-torpedo nets or german styles.. I may not contine with it as im toying with about a dozen different ideas for end of year well that about does it for now... too hard to think with first day back @ work.... double sigh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Shaya Novak" Subject: USS Penn Does anyone know where there is an article or so on line how to convert the 1/350 Ariz. to the Penn? Or maybe magazine article. Shaya Novak Naval Base Hobbies The Store for The Model Ship Builder www.modelshipbuilding.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Donald Morgan" Subject: How Specs Live Forever With regard to the gents who were curious regarding rail spacing, the following might be of some interest: The US standard railroad gauge (distance between parallel rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That is an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the original US railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that spacing. Okay, why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Because if they had tried to use any other wheel spacing, the wagons would have been broken on some of the old, long distance roads, because that was the spacing between the old wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts which everyone else had to match for fear of damaging their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel tread or spacing. Thus we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge is 4 feet, 8.5 inches, and it derives from the original specification for the Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and Bureaucracies live forever. So next time you are handed a specification and wonder just who was the horse's arse who developed it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two Roman war horses. Don Morgan Retired Aerospace Engineer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Doug Willis" Subject: commission for Alan Raven Greetings! I have recently noticed some of the online photographs of scratch-built models of RMS Aquitania and Queen Mary by Alan Raven. I have been searching (in vain, so far) for someone such as Mr. Raven who does similar ocean liner models on a commission basis. Would you please kindly forward my name (email) to Mr. Raven . . . perhaps he (or someone in the USA willing to undertake such a project. Sincerely, Douglas Willis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: wem Subject: Re: Jecobin Plans You can obtain Jecobin Plans through us here at White Ensign Models. Best, John Snyder White Ensign Models http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/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