Subject: SMML VOL 1900 Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 10:29:36 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Best place to live! 2: Re: History 3: Re: International scope 4: Re: Surface bombardment 5: In defence of the History Channel 6: Australia vs Texas 7: Re: Jim Baumann's rigging 8: U Class destroyers 9: HMS Ariadane 10: Some observations and a question 11: So much misinformation, so little time 12: Re: Multi sources 13: Re: Portland 14: Re: Airfix HMS Tiger 15: Don't Tread On Me -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: DE 413 kit ready ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Darald Bantel Subject: Best place to live! Greetings All! When the topic of best place to live comes up - I would like to pitch in my $0.02 worth! Bin to Texas (not the land of Oz yet) and I think that Alberta Canada is the place to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Darald (LOL while playing with the hornets nest! grin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: John Snyder Subject: Re: History >> I suggest that anyone concerned look up the complete definition of the word "history" in a dictionary. Nowhere do the words "true", "truth", or "accurate" appear (in my copy of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, anyway). << Nor do they appear in that icon of English definitions, Chambers Dictionary. However, Chambers DOES use the word "authentic" in defining "historical" (I haven't looked to see how Chambers defines "authentic"). >> Granted the media is in the business of selling, but where did the reporters learn their history. << Ah, Roy, there you go again: assuming that they in fact DID learn history...or that schools/colleges/universities know how to/bother to teach history any more.... Cheers, John Snyder, M.A. Architectural Historian White Ensign Models ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: Re: International scope Steve Wiper Classic Warships Tucson, Arizona USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Daniel" Subject: Re: Surface bombardment >> Perhaps the future of surface bombardment will come from a little higher up. Jerry Pournelle, the sci-fi writer, describes the 'Thor' orbital weapon platform as throwing six foot semi-guided 'crowbars' at tanks. Once surface-to-orbit transport costs come down a lot, this could be a viable way to get stubborn dictators out of the way, eliminate pesky terrorists, destroy warships, etc... << Orbital bombardment systems have been investigated ad-nauseum since the 1940s. They were a prime engine behind the space race. It's always been determined that they are not practical. The expense is incredible, but more fundamentally, the laws of orbital mechanics limits any particular platform's choice of targets to a very small range within a few degrees of it's orbital path, and only within a target 'window' at best for maybe 5 minutes out of every 90, and which sometimes will probably not be targettable at all for days at a time. It's been a while since I read a Pournelle/Niven novel describing the 'Thor" system, but I think it posits a level of technology that is CENTURIES beyond what we have now. Technology in which spacecraft have the massive amounts of reserve energy to freely move from orbit to orbit at will to acquire targets, and to decelerate projectiles quickly enough to make them practical as line-of-sight weapons. The starship Enterprise may be capable of such antics, but nothing forseeable for this century does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Robert Lockie Subject: In defence of the History Channel I should say first that I am not a subscriber to any of the satellite/cable services, but the odd programme in which the History or Discovery Channels have been involved does turn up on terrestrial TV here from time to time. Anyway, my defence is that these organisations, despite their many faults in sloppy research and interpretation, do actually bring some genuine footage to the screen. Admittedly, much of it is very familiar, and mixed in with pretty dodgy 'arty' reconstructions and CGI, and with commentary which sometimes makes me want to lob heavy objects at the TV. However, occasionally, there is an interesting piece of film or a photograph (invariably without any informed comment highlighting the interesting evidence, and usually out of period/theatre/context) which can make the experience worthwhile. My suggestion is to tape them, turn down the volume and have the FFwd button ready during playback.... Robert Lockie Swindon UK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Marc Flake Subject: Australia vs Texas Shane wrote: >>We reside in the best country in the world which is of course Australia -not Texas as I'm sure some people will claim [;-)] << Now listen up, pilgrim. Let's not drag that dead horse in and whup it up agin. I for one will be interested to see jest how many Texans frequent this here list as opposed you antipodal types. Marc Flake Mansfield, Texas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Ian McBean" Subject: Re: Jim Baumann's rigging I've been struggling over the last few days to come up with a good-looking, reproducible rigging technique. I've tried various combinations of very fine fishing line and stretched sprue, but with no real success. The key problem I have is attaching the rigging lines to the mast/spar. I've tried various combinations of knots and/or CA glue but none have really worked. Lately though Jim Baumann has been posting some INCREDIBLE models, with rigging that quite frankly defies belief. Does anyone know the secret of this amazing phenomenon? I've read somewhere that he uses stretched sprue, but just how is the rigging attached to the masts? CA glue? White glue? Thanks in advance for any help, Ian ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: GAZWE@aol.com Subject: U Class destroyers Hi can somebody point me in the direction of colour photos of any U class destroyers and close ups of the bridge and any other structures What was on the floors of the bridge cheers guys ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Mark1griffiths@aol.com Subject: HMS Ariadane Hi' Can anyone tell me where i can get info on this ship. The model is by Wave-line in 1/200 scale and is made in resin with some white metal and plastic. The instructions are in Japanese and the painting scheme is in Gunze San paints. What i would like to know is what the correct colours are? Thanks Mark Griffiths ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Kathy/Pirie Sublett" Subject: Some observations and a question About the time PFH first catalogued the WSW Lutzow, I bought one (although it might have been Bill's second shipment). Wonderful kit! No clean-up to mention, good detail (except for the interior of the funnel - Dr, what were you thinking?), perfect fit. I stuck on some GMM railing, rigged her with brass wire, and she looks like a champ. Perfect model. I get the credit and do almost none of the work. While I had the parts laid out to start building, I noticed the hull wanted to curl a bit. No problem, it's not unusual that in shipment from northern Washington, USA, to southern California, USA, the differences in temperature cause this. I had it happen to even so great a piece of lumber as a 1/350th Quincy. I applied the usual method, the hull flattened out, and I went on. Then... This hull is a nearly perfect aneroid thermometer. It rises and falls within a very short temperature range (we go from upper 40's F to upper 70's F over the course of a year). It happens so fast it can be seen by the casual observer. Only the ends are affected, thank goodness. The thicker center where the masts and all the rigging are concentrated is stable. Last night, after an usually warm day (upper 70's F here in my office and pretty high humidity, I took Lutzow out of her case to find for the nth time both bow and stern raised better than .060 inch above the horizontal (the railing concertinas in most entertaining fashion). The barrels of the fore turret were also droopping into a bow. This a.m., Turret "Salvador" is fine, and the hull has dropped back toward the level. Actually, any more it never really returns to 0 degrees but stays tipped up about .020. This ship sets next to a case of 1/700th Italian cruisers - that is, very long, thin, narrow hulls - and they never vary. It is currently cased with a CW Seydlitz and a WSW Blucher, neither of which act this way. The only other even possible peculiarity is that it continues to outgas. That is, when the case is opened after being shut for even a day or two, the model gives off a smell which to my nose is like kerosine. In the open air, it is not detectible. I doubt seriously this is connected since I have a 1/350th Aaron Ward which did the same thing for two or three years, but never exhibited any other eccentricities. When I eventually complete the case of models into which Lutzow fits, I will drill and tap a hole in both bow and stern and screw the model to the base which will no doubt cure the problem. Still, I worry... I admit to having built far fewer WSW kits than I should have, but I have models by Delphis, RM, CW, NNT, Modelkrak, and Kombrig amoung others, and I have never seen anything like this. Is this a peculiarity of the resin used in this kit, is it my own sometimes fatal touch (a solution not to be rejected out of hand), or is it something others have experienced? If anyone has I would like to know. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Erhardtsen" Subject: So much misinformation, so little time That Roma was sunk at the time she sank, ought not to surprise Doug Marrel in vol. 1899. The interesting point is, that she did not disintegrate at once when her magazine did explode. No other ship type could do that. I do not know much about modern shells ability to penetrate steel. 60 cm steel at 2000 m fore a 5" shell is enormous compare to W.W.2 figures. But what damage can a shell in the 50 ib to 100 ib rang do to a ship build to take 2000 ib hits? Roma did have 3" of amour in front of her 11" main belt. This was backed up by 1 3/8" and 1". At what time will your 125 mm shell burst? By the 3"? or by the main belt? That a 1000 kg bomb might send a ship at repair fore more than 6 month is without importance. What is important, is that the ship is able to fight on after the hit. It is the battle that is the main importance, not the time after. Musashi still made 22 knot after being hit by 9 torpedoes, 7 bombs and more than 15 near misses. She needed another 11 torpedoes and 10 bombs before she went down. After these hits she was still able to fight, and it took 4½ hour before she did sink. Battleships are expensive, but the big guns can carry out jobs not possible in any other way - but so could the airship. My argument is, that battleships has a value today. Whether this value is big enough to justify the cost, is not for me to judge. I am not American, so the fact that USA is giving up the battleships is okay with me - My country gave them up 100 years ago. Erik Erhardtsen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Fkbrown90@aol.com Subject: Re: Multi sources To David J Poore Good point. Although I do this most of the time, it is so automatic that I assumed that everyone did. In fact following this procedure is exactly what precipitated my diatribe against the documentary producers. As the philosopher George Santayana said "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it". But the fly in the ointment is deciding just what is truly history, and what is false. It's a puzzlement!!!! Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Andrew Jones" Subject: Re: Portland ..I just copied off a reuters News printout..if it was wrong don't blame me ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: annobon4@aol.com Subject: Re: Airfix HMS Tiger Hi John Concerning the life boats of HMS Tiger C-20. It appears that the Tiger carried about 5 boats. Two whalers on the davits plus 3 more. What appear to captain's gigs. These could also be used for a Admiral and his staff. At best just aft of the First smoke stack is the ship's crane.To the right of this is one of them but it's parked with the stern facing the front wall of the second smoke stack. But not underneath the crane. Next to that but positioned parrallel with the 2nd boat stern is inline with the 1st boat bow. Now next to that is the whaler on the boat davitts. These are in front of the gundirector for the right side twin 3 inch gun. On the left side of the crane you have the 3rd gig parked with it's bow facing the 1st smoke stacks back wall and then you the left side whaler on davitts. It appears they are in line with the left side gun director for the twin 3inch gun. I used a photo from copyrighted 1960 and a instruction sheet from a Novo Sea kit of the Tiger. I hope this is of help to you on your project. Because even after conversion in the early 70's to a helicopter cruiser the HMS Tiger still carried 5 boats. Craig Bennett ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "Mark W. McKellar" Subject: Don't Tread On Me Saw this today on a news site: U.S. Navy Revives Old Rattlesnake Flag, 'Don't Tread On Me,' To Fly On All Vessels The U.S. Navy is ordering its fleet to fly the defiant "Don't Tread on Me" rattlesnake flag aboard all its vessels to emphasize America's determination in the war on terror, reports TIME magazine on Monday. MORE Navy Secretary Gordon England's directive said the resurrected flag "represents an historic reminder of the nation's and Navy's origin and will to persevere and triumph." Mark Boston ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: ALROSS2@aol.com Subject: DE 413 kit ready The first of the 1/192 scale BlueJacket Shipcrafters kits of the SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE 413) will be packed and ready to go by the end of this week. This is a "modernized" traditional wood kit - carved basswood hull and superstructure, photoetched brass, laser-cut styrene 01 and 02 level decks, cast britannia parts, etc. While the kit is of the ROBERTS, it includes extra fittings to model the 1945 AA upgrade made to other ships in the class (JOHN C. BUTLER). There are three sheets of plans for the ROBERTS, a fourth sheet showing the AA upgrade for NAIFEH, and a fifth sheet of full-size MS 32/22d patterns. The instruction book runs about 45 pages, perhaps a third of which are construction sketches. One item I incorporated into the kit is a sheet of rub-on transfers for the hull numbers and draft marks that will also be available separately. The sheet contains nine sets each of 0-9 in 1/2" shaded, 1/8" shaded, and 1/8" white, plus four (or more, I forget) sets of draft marks. Price for these hasn't been set yet. Visit www.bluejacketinc.com and click on "What's new and exciting" to see a couple shots of the prototype model. Al Ross ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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