Subject: SMML VOL 1805 Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2002 01:21:31 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Lutzow, Derfflinger kits 2: Re: HMS NOTTINGHAM 3: Re: best rails for 1/700 scale Jap destroyers & cruisers 4: Accurizing 1/700 IJN 12.7cm 40cal AA Guns 5: Jim's Bibs 6: New Sub 7: Re: HMS Nottingham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: New decal release and PSM 27 2: New Photoetch Set ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Timothy Dike Subject: Lutzow, Derfflinger kits >> I wonder if anyone can give me an opinion on the HP and WSW kits of Derfflinger and Lutzow? I am considering buying a Derfflinger, and am quite prepared to scratchbuild a lot of the small parts. Inaccuracies though should be fairly small or easily fixed....I notice a fair price difference (about 15 to 20 US$) so I imagine one might have photo-etch parts with it, or a higher level of accuracy/casting. Anyone venture an opinion? << Gernot, I don't consider myself an expert on the subject, but I do have an in-the-box review of the HP Lutzow kit on ModelWarships.com. Just check in the ship review section for the 700 scale HP kits. At least you can see what the kit contains. I have not seen the WSW kit but do know that they are nicely cast overall. The HP kit is one of there better kits with nice casting detail. I really am not qualified to critic it's accuracy as I have no detailed plans of the ship. Timothy Dike Webmaster and Editor ModelWarships.com http://www.modelwarships.com/index1.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: NAVYDAZE@aol.com Subject: Re: HMS NOTTINGHAM Same thing here in the States. A quick blurb for NPR radio said that they had discovered the sunken battleship that JFK commanded during the war. I guess we have really, really big PT boats. Michael Donegan NAVYDAZE Naval & Aviation Artist http://www.navydaze.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Dboykap@aol.com Subject: Re: best rails for 1/700 scale Jap destroyers & cruisers >> just a quick question..... the Flagship models WW2 USN navy rails... is that anygood for Jap destroyers or any Japanese warship except for the BB's as they have their own set?? or maybe even the WEM 3 - bar rails or maybe even the walkway set???? if not ..which is best??? << Sorry I'm late on this one. IMHO, the Gold Medal Models Ultrafine IJN railings in brass is the way to go. More accurate, more malleable, more variety. Dan Kaplan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Phil Stewart Subject: Accurizing 1/700 IJN 12.7cm 40cal AA Guns Gernot Hassenpflug asks: >> Do you mean the the guns in the generic WL weapons sprues that come with all newer kits replacing the original (usually poor) molds? In that case, is there really anything to improve? Can you give a couple of details? << Yup, those are the generic IJN WL weapons sprues, packaged in pairs and sold as the (IJN) Heavy Vessel Ordnance Set. I'm accurizing them according to the line drawings in Janusz Skulski's great book, _Heavy Cruiser Takao_, in the U.S. Naval Institute Press's-- now I forget the series-- naval architecture series? Skulski's drawings and presentation are masterful. Mr. Skulski's drawings are very detailed, far exceeding what a 1/700-scale modeler needs. What little is lacking in Skulski's drawings (a couple of oblique-angle drawings would disambiguate some details in the straight-on ones) can be discerned in the WL Heavy Vessel Ordnance Set box art, which is consistent in plan with Skulski's, if not metrically identical. The gun in Skulski's book looks like the box art for the WL Heavy Vessel Ordnance Set; and it seems to me that the plastic molds on the sprue, for the gun and for its mount, differ more than they need to from the drawings. Specific departures from the drawings: A. Gun mount 1. The center plating on the front of the gun mount is vertical in the plastic mold, but is leaning back in the drawings at roughly an 85 degree angle from the horizontal (or 5 degrees away from vertical), I estimate. I'm planning to file a strip of styrene into a wedge shape to get this angle, and just glue it onto the front of the original plastic part. I'm thinking painting will fix the seams that will show where these two parts join. 2. As you face the gun from the front, on the right side (your right) of the gun mount, the gun director's (is this the right term?) armored box is flush with the rotating base in the molded part, but raised a couple of feet (?) from the base in the drawings, and supported by triangular braces perforated with successively smaller holes (left to right, inboard to outboard so to speak), in the drawings. The braces and the holes are too small to mess with (for me), but it's easy enough to make an impressionistic show of an angle or elevated empty space above the rotating base, by filing. 3. This fire control enclosure (?) I've called a gun director's box has a curved top which, as we look from that side of the gun (the side face which is to our right as we face the gun from its front, its barrel pointing at us, yikes! ;)), sweeps back in an arc and ends up a little farther back than the vertical rear edge of the side plate. A diagonal line runs (as we look from this right side of the gun) upper right to lower left on the side plate. A second line runs a little above this, parallel to it. Rivets or screw heads follow these lines. A look at the box art will show you the diagonal lines I mean. Simulating the overhang of that top arced part is easy enough with a file to trim the depth of the box at the base, leaving some overhang at the top, then smoothing that overhang to conform to the diagonal line it's continuous with, and which it helps form. Whether this results in metric accuracy or shaves too much off the depth of the enclosure, I don't know. I'm going for the impression, at this scale. I've shaved (again with a file) that right surface of the enclosure very lightly, to give the impression of relief conforming to the diagonal lines on it. This is inaccurate, but I figure that it will facilitate shading with paints, and from a distance will not be visible (I just don't have a fine enough touch, or fine enough tools, to simulate the metal ridges that actually form these diagonal lines). 4. I've tried to inscribe marks on the front of the gun mount to suggest the details evident in the drawings. At this scale I'm not having much luck, but someone looking won't have much luck either without a magnifier. ;) 5. The rear of the gun director's enclosure (ww again?) has a vertical hole cut away in it for access. A nice thin file will suit well for making this. I plan to paint it very dark grey inside the hole that results to exaggerate the shadows made by the light the model is to be displayed in. The right side of the enclosure (again on our right as we look at the gun assembly from its rear) appears to be open to the gun mount itself (the center area). I leave a vertical plastic section here partly for structural integrity, partly to suggest the leftmost of two foot plates that rides up and down astride the rear end of the gun. 6. The center rear of the gun mount is hollowed-out in the drawings, but solid in the plastic part. Hollowing out is again easy with the right file. I'm leaving a little flash sticking out on the right-hand side of this hole in the rear (now looking forward from the back of the gun, down the barrel so to speak), meant to suggest the loaders (wrong word again?) foot plates attached to the gun assembly on the right side. I've angled this flash, shaving it diagonally at the top, to make way for gun inclination. 7. To the right rear (as we look, again, from the rear of the assembly), there is some kind of a box with an access port to the right of center in the drawings, something like twice as tall as it is wide, present in the Skulski drawings but not on the molded plastic part. Making this port takes some real care and a real fine file, but I've gotten pretty good results so far. I dread seeing paint *fill* this hole, but I'm going to give it a go, with paint thinned for the first try, and maybe clean it out a bit with a pin when the paint sets, or before. The two nubs on the top of this box, present on the plastic part, are about as close as I would hope to get to the drawings, so naturally I'm leaving these nubs intact. B. The gun: 1. The plastic gun barrel assembly lacks a splinter shield (or whatever one calls that curved shield that rests atop the gun). I'm not sure how to put one in, but I'm thinking about it. 2. The rear of the gun just does not look right at all. Again I'm just beginning to think about what to do about it-- because at this scale, this part of the weapon does look to have many more of the details right than I will hope to do by my own work. 3. The underside of the front of the gun, if one elevates it, presents a flat surface devoid of detail. As I plan to display some of the guns in the elevated position, I expect to put some kind of styrene blob in under the gun barrels to suggest the gearing and whatnot that resides in there. C. Miscellany: Microdetailed features of the gun assembly like the side ladder, ladder rungs for handholds, and gun mounting hardware, sights, et cetera, are just too small for me to think about. If I win a very large amount of money in the lottery that I don't play, maybe I will work out some micromachining and styrene-micro-deposition techniques, and get myself a high-resolution video microscope to do it all with, but for now, that's a dream. D. What's good about the WL Heavy Vessel Ordnance Set version of this weapon: It does have the vertical slits in the gun director's box (?) imprinted nicely, which in this scale does give a great gesture towards accuracy that the stock weapons supplied with the old WL kits (egregiously) lacked. Tools: A full set of fine files is de rigueur for this sort of work. Rio Grande Tool & Equipment has a great stock of parts useful for jewelers and others bent on wearing their eyes out. I guess that means I recommend eyewear, which I have yet to procure but which I do get before I set about painting this model (the IJN BB/C Ise). A pin vise, jewelers' bead reamers, and tiny drill bits (mounted in the pin vise, naturally) can help with the tasks detailed above. For anyone interested in that old Hasegawa model of the BB/C Ise, there's a review of the kit by Paolo Pizzi at , to which I'm surprised I can add a few details (argh! some of the aircraft rails on the deck don't line up!...). That's off-topic for this post, though, so I'll close for now. Phil Stewart Washington, DC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Cisco Academy" Subject: Jim's Bibs >> I will now attempt to spread the bib gospel!!! << All submissions of cartoons depicting Jim in his bib are now being taken by the editor. For the lucky winner the first prize is..........you've guessed it! {:¬) Nice one Jim! Regards, Chris Drage ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: MIKE.LEONARD@customs.treas.gov Subject: New Sub Keel Laying Ceremony To Be Held For USS Texas (SSN 775): Special News Release from the U.S. Department of Defense WASHINGTON (NNS) -- A keel laying ceremony for the Navy's second attack submarine of the Virginia class will be held Friday, July 12 at 11:30 a.m. EDT. The ceremony for Texas (SSN 775) will be hosted by Northrop Grumman at their facility in Newport News, Va. Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England will introduce U.S. Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, senior-ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, who will be the keynote speaker. Other distinguished guests include Northrop Grumman Corporation Chairman and CEO Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman Newport News President Tom Schievelbein, General Dynamics Electric Boat President Mike Toner, Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner, U.S. Sen. George Allen of Virginia, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry Scott. Attending as the submarine's sponsor, First Lady of the United States Laura Bush will have her initials welded into the hull near the stern of the ship. Virginia class submarines will provide the U.S. Navy with the capability required to maintain the nation's undersea supremacy well into the 21st century. Texas will have improved stealthiness, sophisticated surveillance capabilities and special warfare enhancements, which will enable it to meet the Navy's multi-mission requirements. Texas will be able to attack targets ashore with highly accurate Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land areas, littoral waters or other naval forces. Other missions include anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, Special Forces delivery and support, and mine delivery and minefield mapping. With enhanced communications connectivity, Texas will also provide important battle group and joint force support, with full integration into carrier battle group operations. The Virginia class attack submarines surpasses the performance of any current or projected threat submarine, ensuring U.S. undersea dominance well into the next century. Northrop Grumman Corporation's Newport News sector is teamed with General Dynamics Electric Boat to build the first four ships of the Virginia Class. Texas is the second ship of the class and it is the first to be built at Newport News. Texas is anticipating a christening date in 2004 and joining the fleet upon being commissioned in 2005. For more information about the Virginia Class Submarine program, go to www.vaclass.navy.mil. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Tommy C. Tria Tirona" Subject: Re: HMS Nottingham I just heard that this Type 42 DD hit a rock or something. Also heard that before, in a Norwegian fjord, HMS Grafton had an accident. This made me wonder: both ships visited Manila harbor, and on both occasions I went there and took some pictures, talked to some crewmen, etc. Two ships I visit, both having accidents. Am I a jinx?!? I hope not! Two, three years ago I also visited and took pictures of HMS Illustrious whilst docked at the pier. Did something wrong happen to her, too? Because if yes, then I guess I'm really a jinx! Sigh.... Tomas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From "Lorna Jenkins" Subject: New decal release and PSM 27 We've just released our own set of decals. These are shaded numbers suitable for USN ships (as well as RAN), so now you can build the ship of your choice even if the numbers don't come in the kit. The decals themselves are produced in two parts for more accurate registration (aircraft modellers will be familiar with this technique). For a closer look, check them out at http://sandlehobbies.com. Trade enquiries welcome. PSM 27 has also arrived today and the subscription issues have been sent out, it should be landing in your mailbox early next week. Dan has put another great mag together, I know you'll enjoy it. Cheers Lorna SANDLE Hobbies ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: John Snyder Subject: New Photoetch Set Our new dedicated photoetch set for the Tamiya 1/700 USS INDIANAPOLIS is now in stock and shipping. PE 746 was designed by our own Peter Hall and will allow the ship to be built in late war fit or backdated to an earlier fit. Price is £11.02 (about $15.75); UK and EU residents add VAT. Cheers, 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