Subject: SMML VOL 2280 Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 01:11:48 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: 1/700 Ark Royal 2: Re: Y - Gun 3: Re: SMMLie author achieves fame! 4: Re: Brown Water Navy 5: Re: Onslow and Y Gun 6: Re: flags 7: S.S. Catalina and kits 8: Re: Y gun - what it means in the Royal and associated navies 9: Re: HELP-3"50s 10: Kits of Victorious and Ark Royal 11: High density polyurethane source needed 12: Problems with Naval Historical Center 13: Vintage Australian postcards ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "Poutre, Joseph A" Subject: Re: 1/700 Ark Royal From: "Stephen Varhegyi" >> Also, does anyone make a 1:700 Ark Royal or Victorious? << Steve, Revell made a 1/720 Ark Royal, which included a Tribal class DD. 1/720 is close enough to 1/700. WEM makes PE detail sets for both kits, in case you want to do the Tribal as one of the DDs in the Bismarck chase. For that answers to these questions and more, there is the Ship Model Kit list, found at: http://www.quuxuum.org/rajens_list/shiprevs.html Note: it will be moving sometime soon. I will post the new URL in as many places as I can. Also, I promise I will spend time this weekend putting in all the new reviews people have sent us. Thank you! Joe Poutre ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Richa5011 Subject: Re: Y - Gun John Reid wrote: >> Onslow carried A, B, X and (except for one photo!) Y guns. (Question: was she fitted for minelaying and had this mount removable, like HMS Express and the 4" armed O-class?) << Onslow, like a number of the O/P class ships also carried a 4 inch HA gun in place of the after bank of torpedo tubes (this would have been Q). Onslow was not fitted for minelaying and lacked the rail mounting fittings in the deck (the rails were only installed when the ships was to be actually used as minelayers) and stern sponsons (that allowed the mines to drop clear of the stern and propellers) that all of the minelaying capable ships permanently carried. None of the 4.7 inch armed ships were fitted to carry mines. Technically speaking, all gun mounts are removable. In the sense you are asking the question, No. The minelaying O/P class ships used the standard 4" HA mounting - there were no design of mechanical modifications made to the mountings...they were simply removed when required to free up the space for minehandling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Fkbrown90 Subject: Re: SMMLie author achieves fame! To: Bob Steinbrunn. Subject: NRJ article about sub chasers. "Aw shucks, 'twarn't nothin'" say I as I stand there with my head lowered modestly and draw imaginary circles on the floor with the toe of my shoe. But thank you for your kind words. My only regret is that my parents are not here to hear what you so generously said. My father would have been so proud, and my mother would have believed you. Franklyn ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: "Leonard, Michael W" Subject: Re: Brown Water Navy For preserved Vietnam War era Riverine craft, there's a PBR at Patriot's Point, Charleston, NC and another at the Washington, DC Navy Yard Museum. The latter has been inaccessible for a long time because the building is being slowly renovated. The prototype "Swift" boat (PCF-1) sits on a large concrete block in front of the same building, so unfortunately it's impossible to really get a view of anything other than the bottom! MWL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: WRPRESSINC Subject: Re: Onslow and Y Gun Dear Mr Ward, Your note in SMML 2276. I am sending a copy of a photo to Shane Jenkins of the Onslow taken at the same time on the same day, re a view that you state does NOT show Y gun fitted on the 10th December 1942. If what is fitted on the quarterdeck is not a 4.7" gun then I am an American! It will be a few days before Mr Jenkins gets a copy of said photo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Darren Scannell Subject: Re: flags Hey David! You found the caps lock key!! Bravo Zulu!! And yes, the last email was funny! Anyway, in order for me to email you, I need your address, which Shane no longer includes (for very good wormy reasons), although it would be nice if he did when someone asks to be contacted, especially when said someone forgets to include the address in the text! : ) Send me note at hawkone@sympatico.ca and we can fix you up good. Better hurry before Shane decides to banish my slightly sarcastic butt from this fine forum fit for fickle ship modelers. Darren ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Victor M. Baca" Subject: S.S. Catalina and kits Ohhhh, the S.S. Catalina! Bruce's posting in 2278 brought back good memories of a good ship. What a grand old steamer. When I was a little boy, she was the first ship I ever set foot on and she looked as beautiful as any I have seen since. From that first 26 mile trip across the channel to Catalina Island, watching flying fish from her rails and marveling at how her bows cleaved the deep blue water with a hiss, I was hooked on ships! This is the first I have heard of anyone making a kit of her; was this a plastic model, Bruce? I will definitely keep an eye out for one and will let you know if any of my e-Bay searches turn one up. BTW, I did a short write-up on the S.S. Catalina for the Winter 2002 issue of Model Ship Journal as part of the "Page From The Scrapbook" photo feature we run in each issue. The photo is undated and shows her along the dock in Avalon taking on supplies from a 1920s era delivery truck. I got the original vintage photo on e-Bay and decided to share it and a bit of her history with our readers. Sadly, this issue is sold out, but if you'd like a copy of the print, I'll zing one off for you on the inkjet printer if you drop me a line. Definitely post a message about your progress in locating a kit. Best Regards, Victor Baca Editor & Publisher MODEL SHIP JOURNAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Sab1156 Subject: Re: Y gun - what it means in the Royal and associated navies Dear John Reid, The fourth turret on german heavy cruisers and battleships was always named "D", also "Dora". Best Regards Detlef Hartwig ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: WILLIAM ORETO Subject: Re: HELP-3"50s Derek, 3"50 singles and doubles open mounts can be found on the old Skywave E-6 set. The dual semi enclosed mount can be found on the new E-1 set. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Iain Wyllie Subject: Kits of Victorious and Ark Royal There are kits of both ships available, the Ark Royal from Revell and Victorious from Aoshima, the latter is OOP but should be easily found. Neither, sadly, is a very accurate replica but a bit of work can render a satisfactory model. I have been wrestling with the Ark for about six weeks and have arrived at the point where it looks good enough without being superdetailed and the main areas of inaccuracy have been addressed. Briefly, and starting with the flight deck, the main points are:- 1. Fill the troughs at the catapults. 2. Cut out the fwd. end of the flight deck and insert round down. 3. Fill the fwd two lifts flush with the deck and rescribe the after lift which is its own length too far fwd. Remove and replace barriers and arrestor wires and sheaves in correct positions. 4. The whole aft third of the deck gets progressively too narrow and needs the edges widened. 5. Add bulwarks round the pom-pom mountings fwd. and aft of the island, adding the blast screen between the fwd. pair and raise the height of the second mounting. 6. Add safety net round stern and various ramps at the catapults and barrier, plus the three windscreens fwd. On the hull:- 1. The bow is totally the wrong shape and the hull halves need to have epoxy putty added inside the bow as correcting it will entail going through the thickness of the kit hull. 2. Remove all the "octopus tentacle suckers" and drill the sidelights in the correct positions. 3. Cut out the shipside openings at the bow and stern - the latter in the corrected positions and add decks inside. 4. Add the armour belt, the degaussing belt which is missing forward and as many details as you feel are needed such as hawsepipes and anchors, gash chutes, accommodation ladders, boat booms, sponson brackets,Typhon whistle, etc., etc. On the island:- 1. Funnel top needs to be removed and vents, pipes and grill added. 2. Pom-pom mounting, blast screen and bulkheads added. 3. Complete new mast, platforms etc. All the above can be done using styrene sheet and rod, "stretched sprue" and, most importantly the as-fitted drawings published in the Chatham book by John Roberts, "British Warships of the Second World War" A similar exercise is needed on the Victorious kit which, at least, does have the anchors reproduced but in the wrong position. Iain Wyllie ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "cjoleary" Subject: High density polyurethane source needed Hi, I'm making a plug for a 1/16 PT18 and I'm trying to find a source for high density polyurethane foam in Ireland of the UK. Does anyone know where I can get a supply of this? Colm O'Leary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "F. Pletscher" Subject: Problems with Naval Historical Center I'm not quite sure, but it may be more than halfa year that I visited the Naval Historical center website at www.history.navy.mil/index.html for the last time. Since then, I am facing problems to get access to it. Every attempt was and is rejected. All I am getting is the standard note that this site is not available. Does nybody know what's up with them? Could it be that I am a victim of scurity restrictions? Falk Pletscher ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: Diodor Subject: Vintage Australian postcards As some of you may know, I was on a U.S. subchaser in the Pacific during WWII and published a generic book about WWII subchasers titled "Splinter Fleet." I'm writing a second book titled "Taste of Salt" which is also about subchaser life, but more personal. It tells stories about my own ship and some of our adventures. During the first half of 1943 we operated out of Brisbane, escorting convoys to points north such as Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.Those picturesque towns have probably changed a great deal in the intervening years. Gladstone was such a frequent stop some of the townspeople got to recognize us as the "Yanks from that little ship." I've combed eBay and the internet in an effort to find postcards of that era from those towns to no avail. I did succeed in finding a picture of Heron Isle, a beautiful, sandy-beached atoll that, at the time, was uninhabited. (Today it is a popular scuba-diving resort.) The picture has significance because we were sent to Heron Isle to rescue five men of an Anson medium bomber that had crashed on it. We brought the flyers back to Gladstone, the nearest port. (3 dead, a 4th died two days later, the 5th man survived.) I'd give an arm or a leg (almost) for a vintage postcard of Gladstone, Brisbane or Cairns--or the others--for use in "Taste of Salt." Can any of you Australian friends direct me to sources "down under" where I might look? I realize this subject is totally unrelated to model making and apologize for that. Ted Treadwell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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