Subject: SMML VOL 2218 Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 02:26:12 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: LST 938 (USS MARICOPA COUNTY) Pix 2: Floating Drydock 3: Re: Translation Please 4: Re: Translation please 5: RN Pom-poms 6: Titanic boats 7: Re: Eagle boats 8: HMS Kelly 9: Re: Aircraft carriers 10: Re: Models from Ukraine 11: A little mystery solved.... 12: Re: Misc: Lexington & Titanic 13: Re: Eagle boats 14: Carley Floats? 15: Translations and the result 16: 1:550 Titanic lifeboats 17: Re: Ford Eagle Boats 18: Eagle Boats 19: Pom Pom's 20: Re: Misc: Lexington & Titanic 21: Re: Translation Please 22: Glued Warships ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information 1: Hobbylink Japan at the US Nats ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "David N. Lombard" Subject: LST 938 (USS MARICOPA COUNTY) Pix I've just put some of my father's pictures of LST 938, MARICOPA COUNTY, taken during the Korean War up on my family website at: http://www.lombardsnest.com/dnl_ship/ There are two full ship shots, plus a few shots of a *very* early shipboard helicopter landing. The images marked small are a reasonable screen size; the others are much larger. I'll add pictures of MSC(o) 47, USS FULMAR; MSC(o) 49, USS LORIKEET; DE 369, USS THADDEUS PARKER, and T-AP 197, USNS GEIGER in the (hopefully) not too distant future David N. Lombard Rossmoor, Orange County, CA N 33 deg, 48', W 118 deg, 5' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Raven0222 Subject: Floating Drydock What's up with The Floating Drydock. All the e-mail I tried to send them keeps coming back as an invalid address. drydock@floatingdrydock.com. Anybody have any info on these guys. Bill StDutch ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: PAUL TOSCANO Subject: Re: Translation Please >> A couple of weeks ago, I emailed Hp Models about some missing parts to one of my kits. This is the answer I received from Franz Mollmann: "Mit Freundlichen Gruessen" As my German is very limited I have no idea what this means. << Hi Russel. This is a very common ending saluation on a German letter. The literal translation is "With friendly greetings". Perhaps you could view this as the German equivalent of Sincerly, Or With best regards, Paul ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: ED LARYEH Subject: Re: Translation please "Mit Freundlichen Gruessen" is simply a complimentary close for a normal letter in German It means, literally, "With Friendly Greetings" and is the equivalent of an English "Best Wishes" Did you get the parts? Aryeh Wetherhorn Elazar, Israel ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Robert Lockie Subject: RN Pom-poms Hi Aleck Mr Lambert is better qualified on this subject than I but the RN pom-poms were 2pdr, 40mm. The quad mount used on Kelly and many other vessels had the four weapons mounted in two rows of two. The four in a row configuration you describe on CV-6 is the USN 1.1" mount, which was common in the early stages of the war but replaced by the twin and quad 40mm Bofors (different again to the British pom-pom) as soon as the things could be manufactured and fitted. The aforementioned Mr Lambert does a fine set of plans of the four- and eight-barrel pom-poms (among others) and his website can be found at http://www.john-lambert-plans.com/ Fellow SMMLie Dan Taylor built a 1/76 quad mount from them a few years ago and may also be able to help out with tips. I am part-way into my 1/32 eight barrel mount but have yet to get the first gun completed! Robert Lockie Swindon UK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Robert Lockie Subject: Titanic boats Andrew How about using the kit boats as masters to make hollow boats? Two methods come to mind: 1) Mount the solid boat on a handle attached to the top and plunge it into a sheet of heated styrene through a plan-sized hole in a sheet of thin ply, or 2) Make a rubber mould of the hull and paint some resin round the inside to giev a hollow boat. Then add seats etc and cast as many as you need. Robert Lockie Swindon UK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Fkbrown90 Subject: Re: Eagle boats To: richa5011 Thank you for your reference to books having information about WW1 U.S. Navy Eagle boats. I am not looking for anything special about them. I just would like to see what is out there and encourage SMML to share it with the rest of us, and perhaps even motivate someone to see what they look like and then make a model of one. It would be quite a challenge, for if you see a drawing or a photo of one you will probably come to the conclusion that there are no plans available, and certainly no kits for this ugly duckling. It's the kind of thing in the category of "only a mother could love" (Henry Ford in this case). But it requires a certain perversity to try this, the kind that draws me to the new Honda SUV (well sort of SUV, short on S and long on U) Enterprise with one and one half doors on each side (the half door is a throwback to the "suicide" doors of long ago) and a tailgate. But at my age, getting an Enterprise or starting an Eagle boat model are not likely. Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: "Chris and Kayo Amano-Langtree" Subject: HMS Kelly Hi Aleck The two pounder pom-pom you refer to had a calibre of 40mm. It was mounted just behind the funnel on Kelly and had an arrangement of two guns above a lower pair. John Lambert does a superb set of drawings of the very type of mount used on Kelly. Christopher Amano-Langtree Hi Aleck, Make sure you also pick up Chris's supurb book on "The Kellys". If you're modelling any of the J, K, N Class DDs, this book is a MUST BUY. Shane ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Fkbrown90 Subject: Re: Aircraft carriers To: John Reid Now that's the kind of thing I like to see. One rarely hears anything about aircraft carriers of nations other than England and the U.S. I must admit to total ignorance of any French, Spanish, Italian, Thai (THAI?), or Russian carriers. Are there any others? As Arte Johnson (he of Laugh-In fame) used to say, "Vedy interesting". Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: Re: Models from Ukraine James, Modellers from Ukraine or Russia don't have any particular access to a source of ready made fittings so they have to do almost all of them themselfs. If you are impressed by a fittings used by one particular designer or a company your best bet will be to try and contact the direct (throu Seacraft Classics). Good luck Darius ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "D.Przezdziecki" Subject: A little mystery solved.... It always puzzled me why copies of the original plans of ships from National Maritime Archives in Russia were always a bit distorted and why two reproductions of identical drawings (plan view of Orel's main deck for example) weren't exactly alike..... Now mystery is finally solved!!! Aparently the biggest copier in the Archives is of A3 format... It means that if you want a copy of a large scale plans you need to laboriously do one bit at a time and than assemble the resulting jigsaw puzzle into something resembling the original drawings. The final result will depend on the care taken while copying and assembling but the overall quality of the reproduction will never be the same as the copy taken on a large format copier such as that enployed by NMM in Greenwich. So if those of us interested in Russian ships want more and better quality plans of those ships maybe we should start "Better copier for NMA" appeal??? :-) Regards Darius ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: AAA Hobby Supply Subject: Re: Misc: Lexington & Titanic >> Was just looking at Hobbylink Japan one of their future releases is a 1/700 battle of Coral Sea Lexington by Fujimi ..finally I dont have to worry about figuring out or waiting for someone to do a conversion for their old kit!! << Sadly, if you look at the pictures you will see thay have done NOTHING to the old kits. And worse, the Coral Sea Lex has 5" guns and a rediculous "2" on the bow - a totally imagined configuration!! Saratoga isn't much better as she has the late war markings with the 8" guns. At best, their builder simply reversed the markings as both are supplied on the same sheet. A conversion is still needed. Here is a photo of both kits together: http://www.hlj.com/cgi-perl/hljpage.cgi?FUJ44133 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Diodor Subject: Re: Eagle boats Franklyn, an excellent source that's loaded with information about Eagle boats is Norman Friedman's "U.S. Small Combatants". Several pages of text, photos and drawings tell more than you ever need to know about Eagle boats. It was published in 1987 by Naval Institute Press. Incidentally, this is a book you--and other modelers interested in patrol craft--should own because it has much good information about WWI (and WWII) subchasers also. It's big, heavy and expensive, but is still available at Amazon and from the publisher. I'll bring my copy along for you to peruse when I visit you next Sunday. Incidentally, SMML member Al Ross executed many of the drawings for the book. Ted Treadwell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: Adrian Webster Subject: Carley Floats? Evenin' all. Can anyone help me with some Carley Float confusion. I'm currently working on a couple of Airfix 'oldies'; the Ark Royal and Belfast. Comparing the Carley Floats supplied with each, I'm suprised at the difference in size. Obviously they were manufactured in different sizes to suit the various classes of vessels on which they were used, but are those supplied with the Ark Royal really that large in comparison to the Belfast's? Can anyone tell me how many different sizes of Carley Floats were manufactured? Hoping with your assistance to dispel my ignorance, Adrian Webster Bendigo Australia ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "RUSSELL SMITH" Subject: Translations and the result I want to thank those that emailed me with tranlations and the offer of help I received to my other posting. The result is that I got an answer back in English and the long and short of it is the missing parts to my Hp USS Salt Lake City are being sent to Pacific Front Hobbies and then on to me. I don't know why they are not coming direct but who cares? if I get the missing pieces. Thanks again. Regards; Russ Smith ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "David L. Miller" Subject: 1:550 Titanic lifeboats I have made very small boats (3/4 inch long) by using themoplastic, that is used to stretch form canopies for model aircraft. For a mold, take one of the boats from the kit and firmly mount it upside down on the end of a dowel rod and clamp rod in vise. Heat the thermoplastic in a candle flame, and stretch the softened plastic over the hull of the boat. A few seconds later, after the plastic has cooled, the boat can be trimmed from the plastic with a model knife or extra fine scissors. Practice, of course, makes perfect, and I stretch molded about 15 boats in order to get eight real good ones. If you used a microscope, you could probably put seats, oars, and passengers in the little boats. Good luck! David L. Miller Macomb, IL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Edward F Grune" Subject: Re: Ford Eagle Boats >> Now if I can only get some action from SMML about Henry Ford's WW 1 Eagle (read, ugly ducklings) Boats. C'mon, guys. Somebody's got to have something for us!!! << There is a story recently posted by the US Navy News Service regarding the USS Eagle 56. In April, 1945 the Eagle 56 was sunk by an explosion while towing a target barge in the Gulf of Maine. A Board of Inquiry ruled at the time that the sinking was due to a boiler explosion. Recent research has shown that it was sunk by a torpedo fired by U-823. Records have been amended to show the ship's and personnel loss were due to combat action There is a very good large high-resolution photo of the Eagle-2 in 1918 undergoing builder's trials, and a sidebar story about Ford and the Eagle Boats. You can find the article by going to www.news.navy.mil and searching for "Eagle 56" with the Search Tool. On a related subject, I found a large number of microfilm drawings of Ford Eagle Boats at the US Archives. I made copies of the plans and resizsed them to 1:350 scale. I have made a hull and superstructure master of an Eagle Boat. I sent it off to Jon Warneke of ISW to be critiqued. I have received it back and am working through the punch-list. I hope to have it to ISW for production later this year. The next big effort will be drawing the brass. Ed Mansfield, TX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: "Katz, Gene S" Subject: Eagle Boats If I remember correctly, one of the Fahey's Guides to the US Fleet showed the Eagle Boats. Maybe the Victory Edition in 1945? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: "lamkeel" Subject: Pom Pom's Hi Aleck and fellow smml's For those wishing to know all about the RN 2 Pounder Pom Poms of WW II. This weapon dated from the WW I period and the name pom pom came from the noise it made when firing. It was like a large machine gun, first firing a 1.5 lb shell then the design was improved to fire a standard 2 pounder (40mm) shell. (Although the same calibre as the 40mm Bofors gun, it was totally different amunition and NOT interchangable) (And inferior to the power of the Bofors gun). Introduced in the early 1930's the 2 Pounder Gun was the current "bees knees" idea of the period. The aim then being to fire as much ammunition at the target aircraft in the shortest possible time. Known as hosepipe firing, it was thought that the rapid fire pom pom would upset or destroy enemy aircraft. The British government accepted the theory and an eight barrelled mounting (Mark V and later the Mark VI mounting was introduced). Such was the shortage of money however that the mounting was in very short supply. The mounting was overweight and very complex and required a large gun crew. The range was short and a great deal of the firing effort went into loading the next round into the breech. It was realised that the muzzel velocity was low and another design was sort with a higher MV and a calibre of .661" (if I recall) but funding was lacking and this design never saw the light of day. The 2 Pounder Pom Pom (Mark VIII) Gun was what we got to see us through the war1 (Times was ard)! The design though complex (The gun had over 400 parts) worked, and was produced in eight barrelled, and a lighter Mark VII four barrelled version as well as the single manual Mark VIII mounting and the later wartime power Operated Mark XV and XVI mountings. The standard gun was produced in two versions with different lengths to suit the stagger of the multiple mountings. In my youth the only drawing that I know of was produced by the late Norman Ough. Unfortunately he was unable to obtain original drawings and only worked from photographs. His drawings have the stagger on the mounting wrong. When I started producing weapon drawings some 35 years ago I was able to examine wartime gunnery manuals. These are of great value but in fact only show the various mounting systems. Training, elevation and firing but no General arrangement drawings. I was stumped. I wrote to Vickers and other establishments but got no joy. Eventually in July 1993 I had the idea to visit the Cumbria Record Office in Duke Street, Barrow in Furness where I spent three days, in my element, going through about 40 rolls of blue linen drawings. I found a mass of original wartime Vickers Armstrong drawings, including many of the various Pom Pom mountings. Over the years these have been redrawn. I have continued my research and found other sources of information. The Naval Armament Museum (Explosion) at Priddy's Hard, Gosport has a 2 Pounder Gun on display, and I have measured it from top to tail. I have completed drawings from the manual on the 2 Pounder guns, the earlier Mark VIII and the improved Mark VIII* with its higher velocity. The quad pom pom can be seen in Chris Langtree's excellent publication on the J, K and N class destroyers and ALL the weapons, including the late war "power operated" types are available from my Weapons Plan Service found on www.john-lambert-plans.com, which has just been updated. I must now return to my drawing board as my pen has gone cold. (L/S/211/C is about to commence). Yours "Aye" John Lambert ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: "Edward F Grune" Subject: Re: Misc: Lexington & Titanic Andrew wrote: >> Was just looking at Hobbylink Japan & one of their future releases is a 1/700 battle of Coral Sea Lexington by Fujimi ..finally I dont have to worry about figuring out or waiting for someone to do a conversion for their old kit!! << This was discussed on SteelNavy a while back. Sorry to be the bearer if bad news. It is a re-release of the old Fujimi kit without changes. You still will need to figure the conversion or wait for someone else to do it. >> Titanic: Lee kit 1:550... Figures: is there a set out there for 1:550 or i guess i could use 1:500 scale figures & railings etc... the boats that come with the lee kit are covered..is there any way to get 1:550/500 boats as i want to do one Lee Titanic, sinking & need to show the boats being rowed away & cant really have figures sitting on top of the covered boats, unless i see if i cant drill out the top of the boats & see what that does..... << You could vacu-form the boats using an inverted kit boat as a master. Then detail the boat hull with formers, decks and thwart seats. Ed ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21) From: "Peter Samolinski" Subject: Re: Translation Please For Russell Smith's translation, Herr Mollmann was just saying "With friendly greetings". ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22) From: Steven P. Allen Subject: Glued Warships >> I mean, point me toward a real warship made with GLUE for gosh sakes. << I'd bet the USS Sea Shadow is held together mostly by an adhesive. :-D Steve Allen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SHIPMDLR Subject: Hobbylink Japan at the US Nats Just to let everyone know, HLJ has purchased vendor tables at the Nats. Rusty White # 20181 Chairman 2003 IPMS/USA National Convention http://www.ipmsmetrookc.org OKC In 2003! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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