Subject: SMML VOL 2092 Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 15:49:32 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Acrylic white 2: Re: Gator Navy Kits? 3: Acrylic whites 4: Re: African Queen 5: Re: African Queen 6: Re: ENTERPRISE Flight deck 7: Re: AFRICAN QUEEN 8: Cutty Sark 9: Re: African Queen 10: Enterprise flight deck 11: acrylic white & undercoats 12: Pontoons 13: Re: Enterprise web site 14: Various -as below 15: ENTERPRISE FLIGHT DECK 16: Re: IJN Yamato Class 4th hull/turret armour 17: IJN Tama colours for 1943 18: Boat Davit 19: Re: African Queen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Loyalhanna site update 2: Warship Pictorial #15 - Kriegsmarine Schnellboot SOLD OUT! 3: Next Titles from Classic Warships - Aprill 2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: GUSDOCVILL Subject: Re: Acrylic white Good morning, Lord knows how much I "hate" dealing with white!! I have had good success with spraying on a prime gray first, allow set a couple of days and shoot on the white. I "love" Humbrol White!!! Majority if my painting is done by brush. This color is the only one I know that will go on with good coverage the first time around! Yes, it leaves "gaps". But depending on the subject, makes for perfect weathering. Otherwise, in couple of days I can go back and get the 100% white covering I want. Hope this works for you too. Gus Semper Fi ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Dave Judy" Subject: Re: Gator Navy Kits? Check Commander Models. the link is on this home page. They have a number of kits of amphib. ships in 1/350 scale. In Christ Dave Judy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Ken Durling Subject: Acrylic whites One of my favorite water-base whites has always been the "Reefer White" from Accuflex. As Ralph mentioned, any white could take a few coats to cover, depending on the substrate, but the Accuflex is fairly opaque, and has a wonderful eggshell finish when dry. 2nd on my list is Tamiya. Ken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Clive Lawford" Subject: Re: African Queen Hi Ned, You could try the African Queen web site at http://www.africanqueen.net/ I hope this helps. Regards, Clive. Please visit my homepages: (note new addresses) 44ft Motor Lifeboats (Waveney Class) http://home.online.no/~lawford/xrl/xrl.htm Ramsgate Lifeboat http://home.online.no/~lawford/rl/rl.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Clive Lawford" Subject: Re: African Queen Hi again Ned, The African Queen is in fact still around and was rescued by the Ramsgate Lifeboat (http://home.online.no/~lawford/rl/rl.htm) on the 24 May 1990 while participating in the "little ships" crossing of the English channel. This was the 50th anniversary of the event and even though the African Queen did not manage to complete the trip on this day, she made the crossing in 4 1/2 hours on the 15 June 1990 when the conditions were more favourable. Regards, Clive. Please visit my homepages: (note new addresses) 44ft Motor Lifeboats (Waveney Class) http://home.online.no/~lawford/xrl/xrl.htm Ramsgate Lifeboat http://home.online.no/~lawford/rl/rl.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Brooks Rowlett Subject: Re: ENTERPRISE Flight deck >> I've seen some very useful posts and suggestions concerning the tan/brown deck phenomenon. I don't think it is necessarily always related to the use of wood or wood/composite deck coverings, as the same shade is clearly used on unquestionably steel surfaces - for example CVAN 65's steel mesh elevators. << But there are other pics where they DO stand out as being clearly grey just as the other area of the deck is clearly tan - the URL that was sent to the list a day or two ago,for example. >> Would you be willing to scan some of those photos that show the tan deck and send them to me? << Hey guys, instead of scanning the deck, why doesn't somebody with the National Geographic on CD just find those pages? They are already JPEGS! Brooks A Rowlett ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "David N. Lombard" Subject: Re: AFRICAN QUEEN Billings makes a model of this, about 24-30 in long. Not bad, but the hull and boiler are all wrong. The boiler is too squat, and the firebox faces the wrong direction. The engine is a single lunger, but is still wrong, especially the reversing gear. I had found a set of plans once in one of the live steam mags or a catalog of a fairly good match, at least the reversing gear looked right. A google search will yield pointers to the actual boat, in FL I think, but I couldn't find any reasonable pictures online. At any rate the current version is not the same as filmed, so it's not as useful as you would hope. The best best is to get the movie. There are some outstanding detail scenes that can help you get the right look of the mechanics. David N. Lombard Rossmoor, Orange County, CA N 33 deg, 48', W 118 deg, 5' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Kerry L. Jang" Subject: Cutty Sark Bill, I've been following your search for a Cutty Sark plastic kit with some interest. I built the Airfix kit many years ago. I think that your choice of kit should be on the size you want the hull. Your posts have suggested that the choice of kit will be based on the quality of the ratlines. Of all the plastic sailing ship kits I have seen, all of the ratlines are wrong. They are 1) grossly overscale, 2) moulded round on one side with a fake rope texture and flat on the other, 3) the ratlines (the rungs of the "ladder" are almost as thick and heavy as the shrouds (the lines that keep the masts straight in the port/stbd plane). The Airfix kit had rubberized thread, or sometimes a loom. These are difficult to use, and instead of being overscale, are underscale... and the shrouds and ratlines are the same diameter. The solution -- take the plunge and rig the model yourself using wire. There are two books that are essential: Ships in Miniature by Lloyd McCaffery Building Sailing Ships of War by Philip Reed These two books (I like Reed's best as its got TONS of how to pictures) are all you need. Both are in print by Conway's. I tried rigging with wire last year, and it turned out really well. Wire can be purhcased in modeller sized quantities from the Pelican Wire Company in Florida. They have a website and you can get copper and nichrome there for rigging. Happy Modelling! Dr. Kerry Jang ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Edd Pflum Subject: Re: African Queen BK Wrote: >> Expo Models used to have a model of the 'African Queen.' A model that was built up just like the real thing, with wood. << Well, yeah, but IIRC the "real" (movie) "African Queen" was steel hulled. The original is still in operation in south Florida as a tour boat and exhibition. I've seen it on one or another of the cable TV boat shows. Billings makes a kit of the Queen with plastic and brass fittings. Scale Ship Modeler, Model Boats or Marine Modeler (or all three) have published reviews of the kit and/or articles on the real thing (the boat that starred in the movie.) I've never read the book so I don't know how the movie version stacks up against the print version. If you are looking for scratch building aids, try the model railroad section of your LHS. Steam locomotives had fittings which could be pressed into use. Also, Plastruct makes kits of LPG storage tanks and other structures which include plastic tubes for boiler, stack, etc. I've never had the Monogram "Rag" boat, but I believe it would be a better fit than the hard chine "Swift" hull. Edd ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Mike Petersen Subject: Enterprise flight deck All you really have to ask on this subject is why. Why would they put a wooden deck on it in the first place? This is not a post WW2 carrier where props were still standard. The risk of a wooden deck with jet aircraft and rockets would be too great imo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Bud Link" Subject: acrylic white & undercoats Silver paint makes an excellent undercoat for white and other light colors. The metallic pigment gives excellent coverage with thin dry film thickness so details aren't hidden. Bud Link ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: andrew jones Subject: Pontoons I recall in uniforms & equipment of the British Army in WW2, in the 2nd volume had line drawings of the various forms of pontoons etc.... i'll see if i can find the book in my mess, or if someone else has this book just in case i cant find it regards Andrew Jones Oz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Stephen Allen" Subject: Re: Enterprise web site And finally, here is a web site run by a 'plankowner' of CVAN 65: http://www.ussenterprisecvan-65.com/index.htm Lot's of useful photographs of early Enterprise, including some scanned reproductions of color images of the ship as first commissioned. regards Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Flt Hrbr Mstr RRN Subject: Various -as below -Craig re: vol 2089 Oakland Dragon kits -Brooks Rowlett and Roland Mar re:vol 2090 Yamoto hull and 6.1 turrets -Joe Poutre re: vol 2090 "What if,s" -Jeffery Fontaine re: vol 2090 deck colour debate -Darren Scannel re: vol 2090 snow (closing comment) First,thank you Craig for that very useful list of which Dragon kits contain extra parts trees. I have copyed it out to take when shopping. TO: Brooks and Roland re: Yamoto's name and turrets. Thank-you and yes that seems to confirm all my research regarding names. I have run across a few notes where steel from the fourth hull ended up. Mostly merchant carrier conversions I think. Regarding the 6.1 turrets. I was defending the Yamato at the time using much the same points as you brought out. The argument was being made that this represented a potential ship killer ala HMS Hood. I thought the example of American 5 inch turrets should have covered it also. I also put forward,that one of the many lessons learned at Jutland was that ship design had to pay more attention to providing flash barriers within the turret "trunk" (is that the right term?) itself. ie ridgidly isolating ready use and magazines. That it,is/was this "air lock"type barrier between those areas above and below the main Horizontal deck armor,and the protection afforded to them, that varies with class? And was it not a break down of proceedures at that very interface that resulted in an explosion in a New Jersey class turret sometime in the eighties? TO: Joe Poutre re: "what if's" As you may note from my post in vol 2090,that my entire Fleet is a "what if". Actually the "prototype" is a "zoom in" view of one "Battleship" piece, late in an Axis and Allies (Milton Bradley) game that is loaded with"optional"rules. Pretty much covers any concievable ship or combination thereof that I can come up with! And segues nicely into my comment ... TO: Jeffery Fontaine re: the ongoing debate about deck colours. I've been bemused by it all. I just see it as so much justification for my choices! I just use what ever colour I feel like and that I think fits in well with the rest of the Fleet! Hence a recent trend towards more exotic camo scemes to "brighten up" the Fleet! And finally to Darren Scannell regarding snow...PLEASE send it west!!! Randy in drought country ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "DUCKMAN" Subject: ENTERPRISE FLIGHT DECK HI YA'LL, TAN?, RED?, BROWN??? Herz an interesting stat. that i picked up somewhere. One in ten males are red/ green/ tan/ brown/colorblind. This being the case, this will drag on forever. DAVID IN DIXIE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "chisum1012" Subject: Re: IJN Yamato Class 4th hull/turret armour >> on the other hand, reportedly a bomb penetrated the top of one of the 6 inch turrets during YAMATO's last battle. Note that her after magazines - where there was perhaps a fire burning from this hit - blew up when she sank. << The Yamato had an armor "box" separate from the triple 6" guns. The fire you mention was the aft triples that was on fire. She blew up when she rolled over; the fire went Up to the 6"magazines.....They weren't Achilles' heals but rather Yamato's damage control was a tad overwhelmed.... R Chisum ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "melee" Subject: IJN Tama colours for 1943 Hello SMMLers, A friend of mine has a question, and since I don't paint ships, I figured asking you would be a good idea. What would the deck color be for the IJN Tama during the Battle of Komodorski Island, March 27, 1943. Thanks a lot. Lee Shackelford ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: "Devin J. Poore" Subject: Boat Davit I have a question, something that just hit me. Take a look at the following photo: http://www.devinjpoore.com/davit.jpg Circled in red are the boat davits (at least I think that's what they're referred to as). With the boat stowed, the point inward, BUT to launch a boat, they each swing out 180 degrees. How is this done? They obviously can't simply rotate out at the same time, as the boat would not fit between the gap separating the davits. Did perhaps the forward one rotate back and swing the bow of the boat out over the water first, and then the aft one rotate out, swinging the stern over the water? I'm preparing to mount the boats on my USS Juneau kit, and sitting and looking at the plans and the kit parts, it just hit me that the way I THOUGHT they worked wasn't possible. Thanks, Devin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: Richard Rathgeber Subject: Re: African Queen What was the 'Louisa, in the African Queen? Was it real and what was its real name? Rick ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: LHDockyard@ Subject: Loyalhanna site update We have recently updated our WebSite with new products and more listings. We now have "Sanding Files" in all shapes and sizes. These are great for any modeler to use from start to finish on every model. A variety of shapes and from heavy to fine touch-up grains available. 1/96 Scale Brooklyn and 1/96 Scale Fletcher in stock ready to ship. There are several more U.S. being shipped to us now. Available with these are the Rudders, Running Hardware & Turrets. We have "New" Rudder Shafts & Stuffing Boxes available with pictures to show you exactly what you get. Incredible craftsmanship, these will save you alot of time and headaches. We are listing several "New" Fittings and will be adding more. We will soon have a supply of the 1/100 German WWII Naval Fittings previously supplied by Radestock available. To view this and much more, please visit our site. Renee/Loyalhanna Dockyard Loyalhanna Dockyard WebSite http://www.loyalhannadockyard.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: SteveWiper Subject: Warship Pictorial #15 - Kriegsmarine Schnellboot SOLD OUT! I wanted to post this letter to thank all of you who purchased my Warship Pictorial #15 Kriegsmarine Schnellboote for helping to make that book my all time fastest selling book ever! I have sold out of this title as of yesterday and do not plan on a reprint in the near future. I need the money to publish the next two titles! This title was printed in January 2002 and I sold the last ten copies yesterday, out of a run of 3200 printed. I hope all of you got as much enjoyment out of it as I did putting it together. One of the reasons for not reprinting at this time is that Squadron Publishing will be printing one of the Warships in Action titles on this subject in the second half of this year. The author is Garth Connelly who wrote the Vosper MTBs in Action for that publisher. My personal opinion is that that title is one of the better Warships in Action titles published, so his title on the Schnellboote should be good. Another reason not to reprint my S-boat book is that a French publisher, Naval History, will be releasing a title in May on this subject. All I know about the book is that it will be hard bound, 140+ pages with lots of color and B&W photos and illustrations. Yet another good reason not to reprint is that it will take me almost a year just to break even! The final reason not to reprint my S-boat book is because I will be publishing my book on the Bismarck in March and will do a larger print run of 5000 copies and that will cost me big time! I think you will all enjoy this upcoming Bismarck book as I have found hundreds of unpublished photos on this ship. I will also be using the fantastic graphics by Thomas Schmid. If you saw the James Cameron "Expedition Bismarck" on the Discovery Channel, then you saw Schmid's computer graphics, which I found quite stunning. For the best web site on the Bismarck go to www.bismarck-class.dk So if you were not able to purchase WP #15 KM Schnellboote at this time, contact your favorite dealer right away, because they will not be around much longer. Once again, I would like to thank all of you who made this Schnellboote book one of my most successful books, Steve Wiper Classic Warships www.classicwarships.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: SteveWiper Subject: Next Titles from Classic Warships - Aprill 2003 Warship Pictorial #18 - USS New Mexico BB40 72 pages packed with 70+ B&W photos, two sets of copies of original USN "General Booklet of Plans", one from 1934 and another from 1944, both in 1/400. The centerspread will have a color illustration of BB40 in December 1941 in 1/400. Lots of detail drawings of weapons, floatplanes, and ships boats. Price - TBA(most likely $16.00US) Warship Pictorial #19 - Kriegsmarine Bismarck 72 pages of many photos most of you have never seen before. I was amazed at how many photos we were able to find on my trip to Germany this winter. I was also amazed at how many have never been published. Also included are the stunning graphics by computer artist Thomas Schmid, who did the graphics for the "James Cameron Expedition Bismarck" for Discovery Channel. This book will be filled with mostly never before printed images. Price - TBA(about $16-$18.00US) Publication date is planned for April 2003. Thanks, Steve Wiper ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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