Subject: SMML VOL 2094 Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:55:30 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Boat davit 2: Oriskany 3: CVAN-65 brown deck 4: Re: Enterprise - Good onya Ray! 5: Re: IJN Tama colours for 1943 6: Re: Next Titles from Classic Warships - Aprill 2003 7: Cutty Sark and other plastic kits of tall ships 8: 1/350 Liberty ship 9: Re: cockroaches! 10: 1:350 scale styrene Liberty ship 11: Re: African Queen 12: Re: Cutty Sark 13: CV/Tama Decks,White Paint,Liberty ship 14: Re: Old Revell Clipper Ship kits ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: dfisher Subject: Boat davit Having sailed on a 1914 built tanker I can recall how lifeboats were readied using old type boat davits. The fwd davit was rotated aft until the bow of the boat could be clear (past) the shaft of the davit then the bow was pushed out and when the bow was well past the side of the ship the aft davit was rotated fwd and then out. Thus the lifeboat was over the side. The reverse was used to relocate the boat inboard. Dave Fisher ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Shirley Sachsen Subject: Oriskany >> All I was able to find out that she was sold to a contractor for scrap and he defaulted so the ship is now for sale again for scrap. The last location I had was the Beaumont, TX at the Beaumont Reserve Fleet. << the recent Defense Appropriations Bill signed last October included a line item appropriating approx $4mil to scrap Oriskany. also included in this bill were some line items providing $5mil to be shared out among various museums and historical sites--some of them ships--including, IIRC, the Monitor and the Olympia. s ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Mike Petersen Subject: CVAN-65 brown deck I scanned in two pictures of the Big E from the March 1963 National Geographic. Maybe this will shed a little light on the subject of the deck material. http://www.mnworld.com/temp/deck.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Stephen Allen" Subject: Re: Enterprise - Good onya Ray! Ray Yeah, I thought that this kind of interchange of views and information was exactly what SMML was set up to do, and the many posts on this subject have helped to stimulate the creative juices. Many modellers, such as myself, work in isolation from the main sources of archival information, and posting a question to SMML - and to other boards - is an important avenue of research. SMML is particularly valuable because each edition is archived and searchable. I did a number of keyword searches on the SMML archive (and also on the web generally, good old google!) before I made the original post, to confirm that it was new information that I needed, not something that could be easily obtained from an existing source. The views that have been expressed in this thread will now be available for anyone else seeking information on the same topic and, who knows, somewhere further down the line someone may be able to add another piece of information which will illuminate the current puzzle. regards Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "melee" Subject: Re: IJN Tama colours for 1943 Thanks Bob, for the Tama information. He helped me with some info and now I can repay him in kind......no idea what scale his model is.:) Be well Lee Shackelford ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: SteveWiper Subject: Re: Next Titles from Classic Warships - Aprill 2003 >> What happened to the Burke DDG book that had been listed as #18?? << This was posted on the SteelNavy message board. Please read it carefully! >> I am pleased with your announced new titles for 2003, #18 USS New Mexico (BB40) and #19 the DKM Bismark...BUT, previously (as Rusty alluded to) you have announced the following: #18 Arleigh Burke Class DDg -- On hold due to wait on draftsman. #19 IJN Yamato Class BBs -- later this year. #20 USS South Dakota Class BBs -- Might change to USS Indiana. #23 Italian Heavy Cruisers -- Later this year. #24 Essex Class Carriers: Part 1 -- Waiting to hear back from Ticonderoga assoc., so this one may change to USS Ticonderoga. and announced but with no book number: DKM Adm. Hipper -- Will have to wait until Eugen book is sold out. USS Wasp (CV 7) -- Waiting on draftsman. US Navy 1919-1941: Part 1 -- Need more armoured cruiser photos. Italian Heavy Cruisers of WWII -- As stated above. The Pearl Harbor Battleships -- Still trying to find all photos. The Third Reich in Color -- Waiting to afford to print this one. IJN Nagato Class BBs -- Late this year or early next year. Brooklyn Class Cruisers -- Next year. Need to do some battleships. IJN Atago Class Cruisers -- Same as above. Quite a list, but IF you produce as you have been doing, quite "do-able" in the next year or so. SO...What's the status of these "announced" books? Thanks for your answers and keep up the GREAT work. << Steve Wiper ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Kerry L. Jang" Subject: Cutty Sark and other plastic kits of tall ships Hi Bill, Have you looked into the Japanese company IMAI? They make several nice models of "tall ships", mostly modern ones. I recall seeing Nippon Maru, Grand Forch, USCG Eagle and a few others in the line. They released several kits of each ship, all in different scales. I received one of the smallest scale ones as a gift a few years ago and I recall the moulding quality was clean and the fit was good, so if you are interested in any of these ships, this company's line might be an option for you. Another idea I had was to build one of those models of pre WWI ships. Some of those in the Combrig line can be backdated to the time they carried sails! I have often thought of a plastic sailing ship kit as a "quick" build for a model show. I just haven't found a kit of a ship I liked so I have elected to scratchbuild and it turned out to be a loooong build..... Neverthtless, I have concluded to do one one with a minimum of fuss you would need a small scale kit, anything under 1:200 or so. In this way, you could do the rigging in painted wire, the sails in paper, and fake all of the rigging blocks, deadeyes and the like using discs of paper coloured brown with a felt pen or plastic painted over. I have used this method and it looks great in scales 1:200 and under. I have posted this website before, but my model of Le Cerf describes rigging in wire and you can have a peek at how it looks. I copied the methods used by Lloyd McCaffery, Donald McNarry and Philip Reed. They work! Check out: http://www.nutsnbits.com/kerry_cerf.htm A plastic model in 1:200 or so and less could be built easily, and cut down to the waterline for a senic base with a minimum of work. I must admit, I bought Heller's La Belle Poule to do this but instead scavenged the parts for other things! Most of the work would be to fix up the masts. I reckon that you could use the lower parts of the masts from the kit, I would redo the upper masts, spars and bowsprit in brass rod for strength and scale fidelity. Paper can be used to make mast bands to hold things togther (its amazingly strong once coated with CA) and scrap plastic to make mast caps. In a small scale, you can "fake" a lot of things. If you get the quaterly "Model Shipwright", this journal regularly features small scale sailing ships on a senic base. They are amazing and not that hard to do becuase a lot of details are "faked". If you opt for a larger scale model, then you forced to rig it more properly. David G. gave great advice on using thread. However, I find that good quality model maker's rigging line as suggested by Amati or whomever is often out of scale. It can be thick, and some of the smaller diameters you would need are hard to come by at the local model shop. By the way, the books by Harold Underhill that David G. mentions are still in print. He has two books useful for rigging - volume 2 entitled "Masting and Rigging" which gives general advice on rigging suing the brigentine LEON as an example (the model is described in two volumes, and its is large scale model built out of wood) and another book specifically looking at the charateristics of merchant sail. Just search on his name and multiple books will come up. If you want Cutty Sark, there is of course the classic two volume work by C. Nepean Longridge (who also did the calssic work on VICTORY). Its long out of pirnt, but multiple editions have been published and can be found using ABE BOOKS search engine. I found multiple reprint copies around for under $20.00 US. The original edition bookset goes for over $100.00 now... I hope you do a sailing ship for a show! I'd love to see your results. Hope this helps! Best regards, Kerry ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: cfrieden Subject: 1/350 Liberty ship >> A while back i saw something about a 1/350 liberty to be released soon. Does anyone have any info on this? << David, L’Arsenal has a 1/350 Liberty ship that is due out soon. Check out the following link to see photos of the kit master (this is the French page, I am having trouble loading the English one): http://www.larsenal.com/FR/index.htm Trumpeter has also put a 1/350 Liberty ship on their release schedule. In addition, Iron Shipwright made a 1/350 resin Liberty ship. Their website lists it as discontinued, with some still in stock. Regards, Chris Friedenbach Crewmember, Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "bert" Subject: Re: cockroaches! This is a copy of a little piece I incorporated in a newsletter I produce for a Navy group here in Victoria Australia dated June 1996, I have been looking for it for a while "A diesel eating bug has invaded the fuel system of the "Collins" Submarine. The micro organism, which looks like an octopus eats the hydro-carbons in diesel fuel! And we thought cockroaches were bad news! Perhaps it's another sign of the times. In our day at the films it was giant octopus which gave sailors nightmares!. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: EDWARD GRUNE Subject: 1:350 scale styrene Liberty ship David in Dixie wrote seeking information on the scheduled release of a 1:350 scale Liberty ship. Trumpeter has a such a product on their 2003-2004 product list. Trumpeter does not make it a practice to announce anticpated release dates until approximately 90 days before the fact. There is no date announced for its release at this time - so don't expect it in the first quarter of 2003. Ed Mansfield, TX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Pieter Cornelissen Subject: Re: African Queen Google search may not help, and the internet movie datebase (which is almost mandatory when discussing movies) at http://www.us.imdb.com does not yeild much either. In addition to the WW1 on the web links given in yesterday's SMMl there is also one paper reference though. According to a small article by Brian Blancharde in warship No36 the Germans did operate a 1500 ton steamer, SS Liemba, on lake Tangayika from 1914 on. She had been transported in pieces by rail from Dar Es Salaam. She was given a 105mm gun from Konigsberg and after that was called 'Graf van Götzen'. She was damaged by Belgian warplanes and scuttled when German troops evacuated the lake Tangayika area. After the war she fell in Britsh hands and continued to serve until 1970. She did play a role in the movie 'The African Queen' in 1951. The east african campaign was a very interesting episode of WW1, there's also the strange story of an airship sent out from Germany with essential supplies, only to return to Germany when Berlin thought erratically that the territory had been lost....One of the longest non-stop trips ever by an airship. Pieter Cornelissen Delft, the Netherlands ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: spallen Subject: Re: Cutty Sark >> I know that Revell at times had a "Flying Cloud" and a "Stag Hound" in the 16 to 20" LOA size at one time or another. Does anyone know if these were different kits, or were they just the Revell Cutty Sark in different boxes? << Stag Hound, at least, was a different kit. I built her, and she was very different from Cutty Sark. Whether Stag Hound and Flying Cloud were the same kit I cannot say. Steve Allen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Jim Johnson" Subject: CV/Tama Decks,White Paint,Liberty ship In Response to several threads in the past few issues: CV (Enterprise) deck coating; While on board the USS America (CVA-66) in the late sixties, the deck was coated with a dark grey (gray) cement like coating. It was multi-colored depending on how old it was, how much traffic it was subjected to, etc. Making a faithful reproduction of the deck would be quite an undertaking. A " builders model" where the deck is the proper color (if you can figure that out) but monochromatic is much easier. We used to clean the deck once a week while on yankee station in the South China Sea. Operating aircraft for 12 hours a day caused a build up of JP-5 (jet fuel) on the deck. What did we clean it with? Why fresh water!! That's right all you tin can water hour sailors. We had enough fresh water to wash down four and a half acres every week. So when choosing how to paint your deck, you must not only choose what year and cruise you are representing, but you must choose which day of the week you want. Tama Deck; I did a credible linoleum deck using gold decal stripes made by Scale Master. They look good as the brass strips on Japanese ships with linoleum decks. 1/350 Liberty Ship; Trumpeter had a 1/350 liberty ship on their future list of ships, but it has disappeared from their list. I don't know if it is cancelled or postponed, only that it is off their list. White Paint; I have found the perfect white paint. (Well at least the best) You have to go outside the hobby industry. There is a company that makes paint to pinstripe cars called Sign Painters One Shot. It is an enamel and brushes wonderfully but I airbrush it. I thin it with lacquer thinner and it works wonders. I very rarely have to put a second coat on anything regardless of the color of the base. It covers exceptionally well. I can't remember using it over red but I would expect it to cover it. It dries to a hard glossy finish that doesn't yellow over time. The down side is that it dries slow (as do most gloss enamels). There is a window where you can't put on a second coat (also common with enamels). It is something like a half hour to 24 hours. I ruined a Minicraft Boeing 777 by not following that rule. Some enamels gum up over time if you thin them with lacquer (Humbrol for one) but I haven't had that problem with this stuff. The only problem I have had is that sometimes you get small bits of dried paint in the mix and you need to strain the paint before you use it. I get mine through a car restoration shop called Eastwood Company. They are at www.eastwoodco.com The paint is around $ 5-6 USD a pint plus shipping. They have lettering white and polar white ($1 more). I use lettering white. I have a pint of Polar white but haven't used it yet. They also have a lot of other colors but I haven't tried them. Jim Johnson IPMS 1788 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Steve Sobieralski Subject: Re: Old Revell Clipper Ship kits I believe that the Revell Flying Cloud was one of their first sailing ship kits, along with the Constitution (not the big one), Bounty and Santa Maria, and was first produced in the mid-1950's. They later made a few minor changes and reboxed it as the Stag Hound, much as they later reboxed the Cutty Sark as the Thermopylae, the Bounty as the Beagle and the Eagle as the Seeadler. Their first Cutty Sark, which was the large 1/96 kit, was not produced until 1959. Steve Sobieralski ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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