Subject: SMML VOL 2014 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 01:54:46 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Teak and flight decks 2: USS Texas Oct '44 to Feb '45 colors 3: Re: USCG white 4: Re: Airfix Leander 5: Re: USCG white 6: Re: Real wooden hulled W W 2 Sub Chaser 7: Trumpeter CV-8 8: Texas is on the way 9: Re: USCG White? 10: Re: Italian sub colours (was KIT REVIEW)/USCG White 11: Re White ships and the painting thereof... 12: Advice needed ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Doug Wilde Subject: Teak and flight decks As many have pointed out, Doug Fir was the usual wood for US carrier flight decks in WWII. A lot of that has to do with durability and traction. Ease of repair is another factor. When 'planes overshot or tripped in the barricades the deck was subject to propeller nip. The blade would chew up and rip out a bit of one or two planks and still penetrate the underlying steel deck. A patch, such as a steel plate (my guess) would be nailed over the gap and flight ops continue in a few minutes. A more thorough repair could be made later, at a less busy time. The National Archives has a great bit of color footage of activity on the WOLVERINE (IX64) and in one shot you can see such a short term repair being made. At the same time SABLE (IX81) was being used as a test bed for non-skid surfaces in a flight deck application, being the first US "carrier" with a steel flight deck. They had upwards of six or eight different materials on deck at the same time. In fact her commissioning was delayed due to problems in applying some of these coatings. That is one reason some photographs of her show a patchwork quilt for a flight deck. There were problems with these coatings breaking down, especially underneath the arresting gear, both from hook nips and the cable dragging back and forth. Grits would wear off, potentially damaging to 'planes as well as pretty abusive to flight deck crew. And the coatings were adversely affected by all the oils, fluids, and rubber left by the 'planes, often becoming quite slick. Other factors in grading the suitability of a material were ease of cleaning and repair. Repair to the steel deck entailed heating the plate either side of the rent and hammering it closed. Welding took care of the rest. This could be done relatively quickly, but I don't think as fast as the plate patch on a wood deck. Perhaps a plate tack welded would be just as quick. A lot of props ripped through the deck, to such an extent that power cables were exposed and just by luck were not severed. Some cables were relocated as a result. Doug Wilde ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Loren Pike" Subject: USS Texas Oct '44 to Feb '45 colors David Griffiths asks " >> I wonder if anyone out there can help me. I want to start doing the Samek model of the USS Texas. I understand that she wore a disruptive scheme for a short period of time from October 1944 to about February 1945. << David, in Steve Wiper's book on the USS Texas from his Warship Pictorial Series (number 4), on pages 47 - 52, he has several starboard views of the full ship and he calls the colors (on page 49) a 31A-8B (Navy Blue, Ocean Gray and Haze Gray) with the deck and horizontal surfaces 20-B. This may give you the information that you need in a fairly readily available source (check Pacific Front Hobbies, etc.). HTH Loren Pike ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: billkaja Subject: Re: USCG white >> John S. is not going to like this, but, I recommend Floquil "Reefer White" avail. in acryl as: Polly Scale, they're railroad colours. << I'll second that -- I also use "Reefer white" from the RR line for my USCG white. Sea Story time: I was First Lieutenant for a Reliance-class cutter. My Chief Bosun would always add a touch of blue to the standard issue USCG white when he had the deck force paint the hull. He always said that it held up better-- that it looked whiter, longer. I had to agree with him-- on the rare ocasions when a sister ship was in port with us, their weathered paint looked a little on the "french vanilla" side! Bill ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Mike Potter Subject: Re: Airfix Leander Many thanks to Geoff Baker and Ant Phillips about this kit. I went ahead and ordered it tonight. Ant, those Airfix magazine articles would indeed interest me. Do you need my snail-mail address? If yes, please e-mail me off-list so that I can reply to you directly. I'll trade you images of other RN ships, which I can e-mail you. Regards, Mike Potter San Diego ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Gerald McKinney Subject: Re: USCG white Hi, Stephen. Having spent some considerable amount of time slapping Formula 30 white on various parts of USCGC Vigilant, I would suggest if anything white with just the merest touch of blue. That's not a scientific opinion, just what I can dredge up from twenty-plus year old memories. By the way, Vigilant moored at the same pier in New Bedford, MA as the Taney's sister ship Bibb, and IMHO they are the best looking cutters the Coast Guard ever had. Hope this helps. Jerry McKinney ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "David N. Lombard" Subject: Re: Real wooden hulled W W 2 Sub Chaser From: Fkbrown90 >> I also have some drawings of the Navy's suggestions for converting a war surplus W W 1 S/C into a yacht, back in 1921. << Ooh! Now that would be an interesting subject... Are these dwgs still available from the original source? If not, how much effort ($) would it be to make copies? David N. Lombard Rossmoor, Orange County, CA N 33 deg, 48', W 118 deg, 5' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Joe & Adrienne Norris Subject: Trumpeter CV-8 Greetings, Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge re. the 1/350 Trumpeter CV-8 (or Trumpeter kits in general)? Are there any PE kits avail. for the kit? Let me know if you have ANY thoughts. How does the quality of Trumpeter compare with, say, Tamiya. I'm very interested in picking up the CV-8 kit if it looks to be of decent quality. Joe Norris ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: SHIPMDLR Subject: Texas is on the way >> BTW: I want to keep all my ships at the same scale... 1/350. It is been very frustrating to me that no one has made that model in years. I think Viking was the last company to do so, and that model received very negative reviews. I keep hoping one of the better modeling companies will come out with a new 1/350. I would think it would sell quite well... especially now that the ship is a living museum here in Texas. << Iron Shipwright had the master patterns to their 1/350 Texas at the Nats in VA Beach. So you don't have much longer to wait for a decent (but not cheap) kit. Rusty White IPMS/USA #20181 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: MGFoster Subject: Re: USCG White? >> With all of the talk about scale whites and blacks, I wondered if any smmlies had any specific preferences or comments about the white used by the USCG? Should I use a creamy white, a blue-white, or white with a tint of gray on my Revell Roger B Taney? << When I was in the CG the white ones were very white. White-white. Unless they just came in from Ocean Station (floating around [and sometimes underway in] a 1,000 sq mile area), which the Taney did a lot of: then they were sorta chalk white with rust and salt rime. So, to scale the white down, I'd probably use a chalky, cream white. Is that a color? Blue-white would probably up the intensity of the white, since blue reflects at a higher frequency than "chalk" or gray. To get an idea how a paint combination is going to work you could paint a portion of the inside of the hull with the different combinations, then choose whichever looks best. MGFoster:::mgf Oakland, CA (USA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: John Snyder Subject: Re: Italian sub colours (was KIT REVIEW)/USCG White >> so I did a little digging on the web & came across a web site of someone who did a large scale diorama of the Scire being loaded with the chariot cargo..that kit has the step coning tower & the wide circular part in front of the coning tower & the colour appears to be a light brown with dark brown splotches, just saw on the web site that is listed for Delphis & it shows the sub in what appears to be overall grey style colour my comments... though have not built it yet... the kit would need some serious research on the subs in question to make sure of the colour scheme, & the arrangements of the deck guns etc << Two of the colors in the Snyder & Short Regia Marina set are specifically submarine colors: Marrone Verdasto (Greenish Dark Brown), and Grigio-azzurro chiaro (Light Blue-Gray). We're not including these in the Colourcoats Regia Marina range at this time because there simply aren't enough kits on the market to warrant the expense of a production of run. However, one could probably produce Marrone Verdasto by darkening up KM11 Schlickgrau 58, and Grigio-azzurro chiaro by darkening up US09 Thayer Blue, or perhaps a 50-50 mix of RN08 Western Approaches Blue and RN11 B6. >> John S. is not going to like this, but, I recommend Floquil "Reefer White" avail. in acryl as: Polly Scale, they're railroad colours. << Oh heavens, I used to use Floquil Reefer White on ships all the time. It is, however, a warm white rather than a cool white. I frankly think our Colourcoats C03 White would work quite well on USCG subjects, though. Best, John Snyder White Ensign Models Home Page for WEM, http://WhiteEnsignModels.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "James Baumann" Subject: Re White ships and the painting thereof... Hello smml There has been much discussion about the "correct" shade of white/black to be used. Having built a fair number of early pre-dreadnought era ship models I thought I would weigh in with my own personal opinion.... For White hulled ships I have painted the base coats with revell matt white as this has VERY good covering power in one coat; unfortunately it is a little creamy and therefore not crisp enough. I overcoat two thinned coats of Humbrol to give a crisp "brilliant" white without too much paintbuildup obscuring fine detail. Most ships of this era were coal burners and even sitting at anchor with a small heaad of steam they were (in my opinion) producing sooty smoke, particles of which would land on the decks etc and even with regular scrubbing and hosing down would streak off from scupppers etc. As a result I streak the hull gently allover with a light shade of grey wash in a vertical plane, accentuating near anchors and natural water collection points. If I feel I have overdone it I "restreak" in white in shade of choice to lighten the picture; as I do not build "Dockyard "models the above is only from my experience of building ship models in an underway situation (when there are presumably more funnel emissions...!) For Black Hulled ships(inc liners) I have always used a matt true black and then washed down (often) with watercolours in shades of grey(use distilled water to prevent limescale stains in hard water areas!!) with localized drybrushing in light grey or if the area has been highlighted already(around door/armour plate etc) to give sense of depth I use a very sharp very soft pencil to gain a crisp dark line to seperate the highlight from base structure(essential to overcoat with clear flat!) I think I should mention that I do all my painting (except the flat varnish coats) with a brush by hand...... This is only a short summation of what I do to produce the effect that I BELIEVE to look lifelike and convincing and that I BELIEVE is borne out by contemporary photographs of the period.....(this is my disclaimer!!) It was nice to meet some smmlers at the Telford IPMS show last weekend, always good to put face to name... JIM BAUMANN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: John Wressell Subject: Advice needed Have no ability with an airbrush and I'm painting a model with Floquil flat black with a bit of glaze mixed in for highlights, using a sable brush. Getting a lot of "streaking". Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. John Wressell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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