Subject: SMML VOL 1803 Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:06:53 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: PT-109 2: Re: PT109 3: Re: PT-109 4: Re: PT109 5: micro modeling at mach 2 speeds across the room 6: Re: Russian Submarine Seattle, WA 7: End of the line for Newport Class 8: Re: PT 109 9: Algiers '43 10: HMS Nottingham 11: Re: PT-109 12: Re: PT-109 13: Re: Russian Submarine Seattle, WA 14: Re: PT-109 15: Re: accurate 5"/38 mountings in 1/700 16: Ballard & PT-109 17: PT109 has been found ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information 1: Re: IPMS/USA Convention SMML ID 2: IPMS/USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Daniel" Subject: Re: PT-109 >> Has any one heard about the search for PT-109 by Robert Ballard in the Solomon Islands? Has he found anything. After 60 yrs in those supposely warm south pacific waters I would think a plywood hull wouldn't last. Any one heard anything? << There was a piece on it on NPR this morning. They do not expect to find much or any of the hull. What they're looking for are the engines, guns and torpedo tubes, which they think ought to be fairly conspicuous on a sandy bottom, but might be hell to spot if there's a lot of volcanic rock scattered around. There's also a lot of other ship wreckage around there. In the NPR piece they report that after just a day of scanning they had over 60 potential targets that were large enough and hard enough. They also report that some researchers do not agree with the traditional view of the accident (as depicted in the movie) that PT-109 was rammed broadside on and cut in half. They think the boat was struck at an angle on the starboard bow and that therefor the aftermost section would be larger than is generally thought, and that more of the wreckage will be concentrated together. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Bradford Chaucer Subject: Re: PT109 Heard on TV tonight that it has been found. Pictures are to be forthcoming. Regards, Bradford Chaucer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Stan Katinsky Subject: Re: PT-109 I heard a report this morning on National Public Radio about the boat having been found. I just checked the NPR site and they have a short piece there with links to a National Gerograpic report on the expedition. http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2002/jul/index.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "George Frey" Subject: Re: PT109 I don't think there was any thing left any way after all the thing was split in half by a Jap destroyer, they wern't called "plywood coffins" for nothing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Phil Stewart Subject: micro modeling at mach 2 speeds across the room Darshan Ward's commentary on modeling teensy 1/700 paravanes sounds *very* familiar to me! My girlfriend thinks I'm crazy. She shakes her head. "Photo Etch" to her ears is a sign of my insanity. Fitting angels on the head of a pin may suit philosophers of yore, but handling 1/700 paravanes between tweezers requires a taste for the empirical that philosophers have long forgotten. Have they forgotten also the *frisson* of grappling objects out of the way under a table where that paravane has gone? So my girlfriend thinks I am crazy, and she thought so well before the expeditions under the kitchen table began. It didn't take her too long a look at my 1/700 Hasegawa BB/C Ise, and the work I was doing to accurize it (something master modeler Paolo Pizzi laments is a forbidding task for this particular kit), to start making pronouncements about my mental health. As part of my first modeling project since childhood, I've spent the last few nights fixing up the shape of a pile of IJN 12.7cm 40cal AA Gun "89 Shiki,Model A-1," bought in a generically marked kit from the 1/700 Waterline Model Consortium. *Man*, do those things fly! ;) Squintingly, Phil Stewart Washington, DC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Seawaves Magazine Subject: Re: Russian Submarine Seattle, WA The Russian sub is the same one that used to be in New Westminster, then Victoria before Seattle. I know it well as myself and my former business partner were unsuccessful bidders when it left New Westminster in bankruptcy. The current owner is the same guy who bought the one in Sydney and towed it to Long Beach and is now next to the Queen Mary. Most of the radio equipment and yellow emergency lights inside the Seattle sub are taken from the former HMCS Saskatchewan when she was being prepared to become an artificial reef. They are visible in the website John forwarded. http://www.river-road.net/temiller/sub/Sub1/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Seawaves Magazine Subject: End of the line for Newport Class The last Newport Class LST, USS Frederick LST 1184 will decommission in Pearl Harbor October 5th. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Bruce Buchner" Subject: Re: PT 109 I found this story today on the MSNBC site. The rest of the story is at the link. "HARTFORD, Conn., July 10 — The undersea explorer who discovered the Titanic announced Wednesday that he has found PT-109, the torpedo boat commanded by John F. Kennedy during World War II." http://www.msnbc.com/news/747448.asp?0bl=-0 Bruce Buchner ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Cisco Academy" Subject: Algiers '43 Hi Guys/Gals, A request. My next dio is going to feature Force H ships in Algiers harbour in spring of 1943. Although I have a number of photos of the harbour at this time I don't have any which show the detail of the 'mole' (breakwater/quayside) which is quite long and creates the harbour proper. Does anyone have a close up photo of this quayside during WWII era that I could use as a basis for my model? Cheers! Happy modelling. Regards, Chris Drage (CISCO Academy Manager / E.A.Z. Primary ICT Support) John Kelly Girls' Technology College............. ......BUT off to EnZed in a couple of weeks to visit the 'old' country. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Mike Kear" Subject: HMS Nottingham From a thoughtful letter sent to the Times, as quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald today: >> Sir, The captain of HMS Nottingham should be treated leniently. On BBC News, on teletext and in your paper today, Wolfe Rock at Lord Howe Island has been variously described as being 200,300, 400 and 500 miles from Sydney. Clearly the wretched thing is mobile and its position unpredictable. Yours faithfully .... << Also I noted that on Channel Nine news last night, a reporter who had been on the island for two days by then had not discovered yet that the ship wasn't a battleship. He referred to the "battleship HMS Nottingham". I wonder if this guy reports on accidents on the highway referring to passenger cars as coaches or buses or motorbikes. I noted that the ship, which was referred to on Channel Seven as "stricken" on Monday had been inconsiderate enough not to sink and was thus being described as "crippled". Cheers, Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia www.modelwarship.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: schiefet@cs.com Subject: Re: PT-109 There were two recent news reports on PT-109 here in New England. The New England Cable News did a spot on this topic on Wednesday evening. They announced that Ballard had indeed discovered the remains of the PT boat. Also, National Public Radio form Boston had a two part "Radio Expedition" reporting from the Ballard expedition. Part 2 was this morning and they also reported the find. The confirmation was that they found remains - a torpedo tube with torpedo, in approximatly the same spot as the boat was reported to have been sunk and no other boats were reported sunk in this area. They believe this material is form the bow section and that a good protion of the material is under a sand dune. Now wood material was found and there are no plans to salvage any pieces or to clear away the sand for a better look. Steve Pelham, NH ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: ironship@vic.com (Jon Warneke) Subject: Re: PT-109 Hi Craig, According to MSNBC last night, Ballard found the remains in 1300 feet of water. They also showed pictures of a lump on the sea floor. Jon ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Darren Subject: Re: Russian Submarine Seattle, WA >> There is now a second "Foxtrot" class Russian sub moored at pier 48 - next to the Coleman Ferry Dock. I toured the boat this morning. The attached is a URL on the same type sub moored in British Columbia, Canada. << I'm curious, the Foxtrot in New Westminster BC was moved to Victoria BC, I saw it there last September. Has it been moved to Seattle, or is it still in Victoria? Any of our SMMLie friends in the area have a visual of it still there? Darren ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Hub & Dianne Plott" Subject: Re: PT-109 On TV this AM they found the ship in 1200' of water 90%of it is buried in the sand and per sonar there is about 80' of ship under the sand. so it looks like it did not break in half. Hub ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: DortaB@aol.com Subject: Re: accurate 5"/38 mountings in 1/700 Gernot, Here in America a company called Loose Cannon Productions makes, besides very nice 1/700 WW2 ships, the best USN Mk31 5"/38cal twin mount I've seen. I've replaced all the mounts on all my carriers, battleships and destroyers with them. I buy them through Pacific Front Hobbies. Hope this helps. George Cost ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: MDDoremus@aol.com Subject: Ballard & PT-109 Ballard claims to have found the wreckage of PT-109. Reported at least on ABC and National Geographic TV last night. No direct evidence i.e. ship's number on any wreckage. But, clear photos of a Mark 8 Torpedo, in a Mark 18 launcher, with a crank for swinging the tube outboard. Supposedly the Mark 8 and 18 were only used by PT boats. Ballard reports that the USN lists no other PT boats sunk in the region. Seems like he's done it again. Mark Doremus St. Louis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: Rod Dauteuil Subject: PT109 has been found Funny you post this, because just this morning there was a news piece on TV that Dr. Ballard found the wreckage. There was some underwater footage, and the only recognizable item was a torpedo tube. They think the remains of the stern are buried in the bottom mud, with only the tube protruding above the bottom. Dr. Ballard says there are no plans to raise it. And the Navy is usually pretty strict with "their" shipwrecks. As usual, National Geographic has a nice spread about the expedition online at www.nationalgeographic.com complete with pictures and story. Kind of makes me want to pull out one of my Revell PT-109's and build it. Gee, I wonder if there will suddenly be a demand for this model on Ebay? Rod ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: ironship@vic.com (Jon Warneke) Subject: Re: IPMS/USA Convention SMML ID Hi Skip, >> I have some yellow "happy faces" (could be construed as SMMLie faces) stickers, about 0.7" in dia. They could be stuck on our badges so we could identify and introduce ourselves if we so desire. I will leave them at the Commander Models table since they have already consented to be a message center for SMMLies, assuming they don't mind. << No problem, we'll have room. They'll be at tables A20-24 in the back of the room. Jon Warneke Commander Series Models ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: TechnoInfidel@webtv.net (John Collins) Subject: IPMS/USA Greetings: Despite having started this thread by saying that I would be at this event, I still haven't made the official list. I repeat: I will be there. I agree with Skip Hassler. Some sort of visual ID on our name tags would aid us to recognized one another. I have commitments to help at the Victory Models booth which may prevent me from participating in any group activity away from the convention. Nonetheless, I will seek out SMML listmates. So if you get pinged, it's just my search sonar. John Collins Atlanta, GA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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