Subject: SMML VOL 2102 Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 14:49:43 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Bismarck?'s 2: Getting Kids Into Ship Modeling 3: Ward - not Aaron Ward 4: Campbelltown - Plus night diorama hints 5: Re: USS NJ 1/350 scale Tamiya cont...... 6: Nichrome wire 7: Three part deck on Tamiya 1:350 KGV...filling ideas? 8: Re: Beginers 9: Revell 1:72 scale Type VIIc U-Boat - this is no drill! 10: Civilian aircraft catapults 11: 8 mm to dvd 12: Re: Pabiedonosiec planking 13: Re: Beginners 14: mailing lists and search engines -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Re: Book review - Osprey German E-boats 1939 - 1945 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Keith Butterley Subject: Bismarck?'s Fellow manglers of styrene, I have had a half built Academy 350 Bismarck dropped in my lap and have been asked to finish it. It has been preached here many times, that KM ships were painted in two greys. I want to know if the lighter colour is for the superstructure or the hull? Would this apply to Bismarck in May 1941? If not then what grey should I be using? How were the ships boats hull and superstructure painted? They look white with a teak deck and a black bottom. Does anybody have any decals of swastikas I could use for the bow and stern? Paint them? Ha! Not these shaky hands. Thanks. Keith Butterley ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Victor M. Baca" Subject: Getting Kids Into Ship Modeling >> a friend of mine and I were talking about how to get kids ages 9+ into ship modeling. Car and airplane modelers have snap kits. Are there such things as snap together ships? If not, what do some of u suggest to get kids into ship modeling, wathcing while u work? << Hi Justin: Last week I cleaned out my garage of extra kits and assorted boat things. Finding a couple of Heller submarine kits got me to thinking about the kids down the street. I had just spoken with their mom; she groaned that her three boys (ages 9, 11 and 13) constantly play video games to the point of it being very weird. The next day, I chucked the ship models into my truck and delivered a late Christmas present. The gift consisted of 2 Heller subs and a couple of Chinese surface warships marketed to young builders. The Heller submarines were particularly appropriate for kids as they included paints in tins. Subs are naturally easy to build out of the box--they're IMHO superior to almost any other ship subject for a first build. Stacy was really pleased to have the kits. Last time I saw her, she was looking forward to sharing a quiet Saturday with her boys, helping them build their first models. I'll find out tomorrow how it went. My garage is a little bit cleaner and hopefully we'll have a few more ship modelers joining us in the hobby. Victor Baca ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Ned Barnett Subject: Ward - not Aaron Ward >> For Ned Barnett; USS WARD (Not AARON WARD, must've been a major typo) Was not in the same configuration as REUBEN JAMES at the time of her loss. I don't have the kit, but assume from what I've seen here that it might take a bit of work to convert (funnels, different guns, etc). It could be interesting to do. << Nope - major mistake, not typo. Typos are accidental - here, I was just wrong. Thanks Ned ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Ned Barnett Subject: Campbelltown - Plus night diorama hints >> I produced an illustrated article on the Campbeltown for Airfix Magazine Annual way back in about 1967, and this might be of some use to you. I'm darned if I can lay my hands on my copy at the moment, but I'll keep looking. Contact me offline. Roger << Were any of the escort vessels in the raid unconverted four-pipers? That would make a fascinating diorama. BTW - I've discovered a way of creating a "night scene" diorama. It worked for an aircraft diorama, and might work for a ship scene. I took a picture frame the size of the diorama base (which was foam board cut to fit into the picture frame), and cut an acrylic five-sided box to sit on top of the frame, completely covering the scene. Then I took dark gray self-adhesive graphics film (I ran a design shop as part of a marketing department, so it was easy to find - but should be available at any graphics supply shop) and put it on the four sides, permitting me to view the scene only from the top. I then painted everything in blacks and grays, to illustrate how the night washes out colors. In this diorama, a 1/200th F-117 Stealth (the awful Dragon kit that came with the B-2 - inaccurate, but in this case, not easily noticeably inaccurate) mounted on a thin pylon (a narrow-gauge nail) above a 1/700th Skywave hangar and a couple of 1/700 MiG 29s on a runway hard-stand). The effect was looking down on a Stealth about to bomb an Iraqi airport. The same impact can be done using ships (for an overhead view, it's easy); I think you could also do it by putting the film on the top and three sides, leaving the front open for a horizon-level view. The key is to keep the ship far enough from the viewing space that the lack of colors seems to work (I haven't tried this yet, and think the overhead would probably work better - at least for a first attempt). I'd like to tackle this with a scene of night naval combat scene, before the first gunshot ... but haven't decided on a scene yet. Maybe I'll use the WEM Elco 80-footer and a 1/350 Japanese destroyer (is there one of the right class) for the PT-109 sinking (or find a way of making the 109 in 1/700th scale to go with an available Japanese destroyer). Could be right dramatic from overhead ... showing the moment of impact ... Ned ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: "Michael Aono" Subject: Re: USS NJ 1/350 scale Tamiya cont...... >> Here is a link to a small "how to" on planking the New Jersey. If you have any further questions on the technique, just let me know. Hope this helps. http://pub143.ezboard.com/fmodelfleetfrm20.showMessage?topicID=14.topic << Dan, The URL you sent on planking the USS New Jersey, does not work. Do you have another address for this site? Michael ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Graeme Martin Subject: Nichrome wire While on this subject. Can anybody tell me correct gage for 1:96? And is there a gage for stanchions at that scale? Graeme Martin Auckland NZ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Stephen Varhegyi" Subject: Three part deck on Tamiya 1:350 KGV...filling ideas? I've started working on the Tamiya KGV and aren't those 3 part decks a pain in the butt. Especially if you're planning on doing a nice wooden deck effect with different colours and using a wash to highlight the decking joins. When I did my Bismarck I ended up sanding all the decking detail off with a toothpick wrapped in 800 grit wet and dry. I don't fancy going through that exercise again. Can anyone suggest a good way to fill these gaps without having to sand off surface detail. I've already filled them with a couple of thin beaded coats of Gunze Mr Surfacer 500. I recall someone talking about using Mr colour thinner to remove excess filler, does anyone know if this works? If so I'll buy some. Thanks Steve PS One of my mates lost his house in Duffy in the ACT fires. Luckily noone was hurt or killed. They also managed to get their dog and cat out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "bert" Subject: Re: Beginers Terry of budapest, I know of three of the miniships not on your list, they are, New Jersey, Wisconsin,and the Littorio. My Son and I made these and many conversions of the kits in the late 60s early 70s for my sons wargaming period, before he moved on to tanks and suchlike. Airfix also produced some to the same scale Hood, Ark Royal, Suffolk, and Cossak good for many ships. Bismark, Prinz Eugen, good for Hipper, Blucher. (TaT) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) Reply-To: "michael thrupp" Subject: Revell 1:72 scale Type VIIc U-Boat - this is no drill! Check this out - page 64 of the Revell AG catalog 2003/04 shows kit no. 05015, a Type VIIc U-Boat 93 cm. long!! A dream come true. Just shows the power of prayer. Mike Thrupp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Fkbrown90 Subject: Civilian aircraft catapults I just ran across an interesting bit of nautical aircraft history. In 1929 the North German Lloyd's passenger ocean liner BREMEN and in 1930 the EUROPA had aircraft catapults which were used to dispatch a single engine double-float low wing single seated float monoplane plane. This plane would be launched when the liner approached land and came within the range of the aircraft, weather permitting. The idea was to speed up the delivery of selected mail which had made most of the trans-Atlantic crossing by ship. At first I couldn't see why they used a float plane, but then came up with the idea that the plane could touch down (do you "land" a float plane on water?) in the port of destination of the liner and later be towed to the side of the docked vessel and hoisted aboard. It must have been an expensive operation, considering the cost of building, maintaining, and operating the catapult and the airplane, the wages of the various specialists involved, aborted flights because of rough sea surfaces, accommodations for the pilot and shoreside space rental and towing to recover the plane, etc. I seriously doubt if the plane was used to fly last-minute mail out to the departing ship, for obvious reasons. Methinks a modern cost analysis would have deep-sixed the idea quickly. I don't know how successful the project was, but it surely must have been a great job for the pilot and the "ground" crew. Any comments, SMML people? Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: VONJERSEY Subject: 8 mm to dvd maybe I'm taking this thread a bit too far but given that dvd is the new standard and will presumedly be around for at least a few months - (and is in every way better than VHS) is there a way to transfer 8 mm movies (a great format and had lasted for decades) directly to dvd by skipping the transfer to dvd ken auslander ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: Re: Pabiedonosiec planking Peter, I have yet to see a clear photo of a deck of any of "Ekaterina II" class but if I were to make an educated guess I would say that Kombrig is almost certainly right about deck planking of those ships. As Steve McLaughlin suspects, planking of the decks "in sections" was adopted relatively late on Russian battleships. In fact, while it was widely used on Russian cruisers (at least as far back as Rurik I), AFAIK Potiemkin was the first battleship where this style of planking was adopted.* Best wishes Darius *exceptions: 1- battleship "Imp.Aleksander II" unusual forecastle planking, 2- Andriej Piervozvannyj and Imp.Pavel decks were planked in sections but while those ships were laid down before Potiemkin they were completed much later and so I still think that Potiemkin was the first. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: David Wells Subject: Re: Beginners Fellow SMMLllies: My usual recommendation is to start kids with a 1/535 Revell Iowa-class. While far from perfect, it's easy for kids to put together, and robust enough to survive being played with. The parts are far easier for kids to put in place than those on a 1/1200 scale kit. The Revell 1/535 Iowa class is readily available, as it's been in almost constant production for 50 years now. Terry Wiltshire wrote regarding Revell Miniships: >> Any idea what 06813 or was it missed for superstitious reasons? << I believe that 06813 was the New Jersey. I'd appreciate it if you and John Fox could contact me off-list, as I'm overhauling the List of Ship Kits right now, and I could use some reviews of the Revell Miniships. I'm at dave dot wells at att dot net. (anti-spam/virus version of my address) "There seems to be something wrong | David R. Wells with our bloody ships today" | Adm. D. Beatty, May 31, 1916 | http://home.att.net/~WellsBrothers/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Friedrich Kappes Subject: mailing lists and search engines 2 questions this time: Are there other mailing list providers than yahoogroups? Do you know other good mailing lists? What search engines do you use? Friedrich The FriedrichFiles http://www.geocities.com/friedkappes/flagship.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SteveWiper Subject: Re: Book review - Osprey German E-boats 1939 - 1945 >> Overall, i cannot compare it to Steve Wiper(?)'s book on this subject as i never saw it in Australia << Andrew, Hylands Bookshop in Melbourne and Battlebridge Military Books in Parramatta (Sidney?) both carry my books. I just sent a batch of WP #15 KM Schnellboote to Battlebridge, so call them and reserve one. If you liked the Osprey book, I think you will find mine much more informative. 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