Subject: SMML VOL 2171 Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 02:59:31 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Scale black 2: Re: Super model (no, not Cheryl Teague) 3: Re: S Mars DDG-51 4: Were 6" guns used as AA weapons in WW2? 5: Happy Easter to all 6: Seeking 1/1200 plastics after house fire 7: Pacificfront.com 8: Today's math lesson 9: Re: scale black... No No.. Blue! 10: Re: Hull Lettering in SMML VOL 2170 11: Math lessons redux, or, stats can lie 12: Re: USN Ship Number Font 13: Supply ships ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS Hi all, Lorna and I would like to wish all on the list a Happy Easter. Shane ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Graham Boak" Subject: Re: Scale black I mix Tank Grey and Black in roughly equal proportions. That's just enough to "take the edge" off it. Perhaps be a bit more generous with the black - it is a matter of taste. Certainly the result is superior to a dead black, which should be left for holes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Fkbrown90 Subject: Re: Super model (no, not Cheryl Teague) I just saw a "photo" on the Internet showing the carrier U.S.S. LINCOLN on her way home from the war zone, and I suggest that it might make a great waterline model. Picture it. It is a "photograph" of a carrier, but with the forward half of the hull out of the water and with a tremendous white water bow wave starting where the rest of the hull meets the water, and a huge wake, like an old mahogany Gar Wood or a ChrisCraft running at full throttle. Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Steven P. Allen" Subject: Re: S Mars DDG-51 For those interested, an update: I've found a serious problem with the mold: the stern is twisted about 7 - 10 degrees from true: when viewed from dead astern, the kit's hull with deck attached looks like someone grabbed hold when it was still hot and twisted. I discovered this only AFTER I had sliced - 'n - diced the deck (I've decided to convert the model into a Flight IIa and wait for the "good" kit to build as is). Now, that d@mned stern is making the project much harder than it needs to be. "Shucks and other comments." Further complicating both the building and the converting is the VERY thick cross-section of the parts. Worse, the hull sides aren't even the same thickness; the *thin* side is over 1/8" thick! A bonus but not for me, as I'm not that masocistic) is that the hull is thick enough that someone who had nothing else to do could probably round the bilges to something almost right by a LOT of sanding. Steve Allen PS: Any more word on the 1/350 SCB-125? PPS: Still looking for odds - 'n - ends 1/350 F-18s, S-3s, and SH-60s as well as for a pair of Mk 29 IPDMS Sea sparrow mounts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Norman Samish" Subject: Were 6" guns used as AA weapons in WW2? Somebody recently stated that USS Helena was the first to use proximity fuses on anti-aircraft cannon, in 1942. The Helena had 15 6" guns in five turrets plus 8 5" guns. Did the USN use 6" guns as AA artillery, or only 5"? Thanks, Norm Samish ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: andrew jones Subject: Happy Easter to all Happy Easter to all..try to keep those chocolate covered fingers off those models! regards Andrew Jones Sydney OZ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Reid, John (AFIT)" Subject: Seeking 1/1200 plastics after house fire My house was one of the ones burnt down in Canberra fires in January. Also lost was a large collection of Eaglewall and Pyro ships from the 60s and Airfix from 70s (sob) and ex-Admiralty wooden models from the 50s (again, sob). No personal injuries, thank goodness. Does anyone have email addresses or fax numbers of dealers in old kits, either in Oz or Europe or USA, who might have some of the above or of the Airfix 1/1200 or old Esci ranges (Yes, I know that some of the latter are reissued by Revell Germany)? Built items also of interest John Reid (an Aussie presently in Rome) if off-list replies preferred ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: roger.antrobus Subject: Pacificfront.com Hello all I am having difficulty getting a response from Pacific Front to an item I have ordered. All my e-mails are returned by the 'administrator' - but the 'e' address I'm using is the auto address on the site. Does anyone know if they are still in business? Regards Roger Sussex, England ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "John Rule" Subject: Today's math lesson >> The statistics are nowhere near as improbable as all that. A torpedo is about a foot wide. Yamato was about 800 feet long. The chance for one torpedo to hit within the same linear foot as a previous are therefore around 3 in 800. Further, torpedos were launched by aircraft flown by pilots with the same basic training; therefore they would tend to release their torpedos using the same aim point on the target vessel, and at similar distances, with similar settings, thereby increasing the chances of multiple torpedo strikes on a particular area of the target ship.<< Are you sure the math works? By saying that Yamato is 800 feet long you have narrowed the field dramatically. Statistically speaking most torpedoes missed their target entirely. Thus the length used in the mathematical equation should be much longer than the ship. Also, as you are dealing with two bodies moving at different speeds and directions, with the ability in the case of one object of changing speed and direction, the statistics become even more complicated. I think the original post was correct in stating that statistically it was improbable to obtain two hits very close together. But all of this mathematics is blind to Lady Luck. Sincerely, John Rule ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: darren Subject: Re: scale black... No No.. Blue! I might be shunned for this......... but I don't use any percentages when picking my 'scale' black. In 1/350 scale I use Non Specular Sea Blue (FS35042). It looks pretty good. Try it! ( My Halifax had it on at the nat's last year, fooled all the judges! ; ) Damn, gotta stop letting out my secrets! I just hope they don't find out what I use spaghetti for. Darren Scannell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Chris Herron" Subject: Re: Hull Lettering in SMML VOL 2170 Hi All, Just had a thought about the hull numbering questions recently, did a quick search and came up with the following:- For those of you that may have access to the online standards services, the standard for "Letters and Numerals for Ships" is "ASTM F 906". This shows that the shading is always on the right and lower sides of the letters and gives the relative dimensions of the letters. Might be of use to some of you out there! Chris ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Melvin Burmaster" Subject: Math lessons redux, or, stats can lie Joe the mathematician, nice clean computations would underlie your argument but apparently you've disregarded, excuse the pun, a ton of variables which support my statement. Just for starters: moving airplanes subject to flak and idiocyncratic handling by pilots, trying to hit a moving tarhet presenting varying angles of deflection and hull inclination, dropping torpedoes which are "mass produced" and accordingly subject to potential variables on depth, wind deflection, water deflection (by ship waves or perhaps by shellfire) with respect to their running depth. Now, further, the very two pilots/torpedo release officers would have had to had the exact same training - and since you and I do not know who those men were in order to compare their training, neither one of us can muster facts on that point - and although I'm rusty from not using math in quite a few years, I vaguely remember my college stats and science to suggest that all of that together supports my general statement (I admit, precision applies as best as possible, even in courtrooms) and corresponds to observations that ballistics still amounts to an art as much as a science. Respectfully, MJB ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: Michael McMurtrey Subject: Re: USN Ship Number Font In SMML 2169 i suggested TLai Enterprises (http://www.tlai.com/) as a source for computer fonts for both USAF and USN lettering. Their USN font, it has been pointed out to me, is for aircraft, not ships. Silly me! I had assumed the hull numbers on USN ships used the same style lettering as USN aircraft, but I guess not. Michael McMurtrey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Terry Sumner" Subject: Supply ships Hi all, Are there any kits available of the U.S. replenishment at sea ships? Also, does anyone know of any plans available anywhere for one of these ships? I checked with the Floating Drydock and found none. Any of these ships will do... Sacramento, Camden, Seattle, Detroit, Rainier, Arctic or Bridge. TIA, Terry ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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