Subject: SMML VOL 2377 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 23:38:54 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: WSA 2: Re: Master and Commander 3: W.S.A. 4: Re: Chesapeake v. Shannon 5: Re: Warship Journal 6: Airfix 1/600 Liner PE 7: Polish Ship Kits 8: Re: Kirov Kits 9: 1/700 flight IIA now available 10: Warshipbooks 1/350th ships 11: WEM PE proposal 12: Russian Battlecruisers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: Re: WEM hiding their light under a bushel ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Mike Jackson Subject: Re: WSA >> I have been asked the question - "What do the initials W S A mean"? I understand it is of the late WW II period, and something to do with small U.S. Coast Guard Cutters. Your thoughts on this one would be appreciated. << Sir, According to "U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II" by Robert L. Scheina, WSA stood for War Shipping Administration. This organization apparently was involved with emergency acquisition of craft for the Coast Guard. The book has several references to the WSA in the vessel sections. V/R, Mike ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: "Erhardtsen" Subject: Re: Master and Commander In SMML 2374 Rich Sweeney write >> Hornblower knew enough not to take a 14 gun ship against a 44 Gunner. << But that would have been a typical action of the Danish/Norwegian hero Peter Wessel (Tordenskjold) On the 13 Aug. 1713: With the 18 gun Løvendahls Galley he did battle with Swedish Calmer and Nya Älvborg (total 94 guns) - and got away after 3 hour of fighting 26-27 July 1714 (still on Løvendahls Galley) he caught the privateer De Olbing Galley (28 guns) and did running battle with it, until he had to let him go the next day because of low ammunition (the English/Swedish privateer was ready to surrender) Then he takes the bigger frigate Hvita Ørnen from the Swedish - Danish Hvide Ørn (30 guns). With this ship on the night of 9 Aug. 1715 he attack the 2 Swedish ships of the line Gotland and Øsel (total more than 100 guns) but they escapes. The same happens the 1. of October 1715 when he (still in 30 gun Hvide Ørn) hunts the Swedish ship of the line Øland (54 guns) and frigate Fenix (30 guns) - After 5 hours battle the Swedish ships escapes But now Peter Wessel really get started........... Erik Erhardtsen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "David L. Fisher" Subject: W.S.A. W.S.A. stands for War Shipping Administration. During WWII this agency was the charterer of many merchant vessels. I believe it was a branch of the U.S. Maritime Commission. Dave Fisher ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: LBart73@aol.com Subject: Re: Chesapeake v. Shannon As I recall, the captain of HMS Shannon violated admiralty orders in engaging the Chesapeake. RN frigate captains had been ordered to avoid single ship combat with American frigates following Constitution's sucesses. It should be noted that Chesapeake was not one of the three large frigates (Constitution, United States, and President). She was on of three smaller frigates (Chesapeake, Constellation, and ???? *brain fade*) that were more comparable to European frigates of the period. Standard disclaimer: This is an historical comment and is not meant to disparage the courage, abilities, etc. of any of the participants. Larry Bartlett ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Brooks Rowlett Subject: Re: Warship Journal >> I recently acquired a few volumes of Warship Journal, currently edited by Antony Preston. Understand there are 25 volumes, so far. Warship is great stuff, I have considered acquiring additional volumes. But, without an index their utility as modeling reference is limited. Does anyone know if an index exists for Warship? << There is an index online. http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/periodicals/warship/ Brooks A. Rowlett ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Jtennier@aol.com Subject: Airfix 1/600 Liner PE Hi: I'm looking for some PE suitable for the Airfix 1/600 "liner" series (specifically RMS Mauretania). I quickly had a look at the usual suspects, but nothing seemed to jump out as appropriate. Anything commercial out there? TIA John ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Maurice O'Brien" Subject: Polish Ship Kits >> Does anyone know of any kits (other than that mentioned in #1 or those made by Mirage) of Polish naval vessals of the inter-war period? Preferably 1/400, but I'd be interested in knowing about any scale - in any medium - plastic, resin, vac, paper, metal, whatever. << John Models of many/most inter war Polish warships have been produced in paper and I think the following catalogue includes many/all of them http://moduni.com/ click on english version/scale models/shipping &navy/navy/and the 2 lots of paper models. You may find http://www.marcle.co.uk/ and http://www.papermodels.net/ easier to navigate. There is also a free download of the V108 - later ORP Kaszub - available from www.digitalnavy.com Many are in larger scales than you want but of course they can always be scanned and rescaled. Another technique that I don't recall seeing much mentioned is that the patterns from paper models can be used as templates for transfer to styrene sheet, for hollow eggcrate construction at larger scales or filling with car body putty at smaller scales. For scratch building, all the information is there and little design effort is needed. Excellent models have been made in this way. In view of the relatively limited range of subjects available in plastic, not to mention their (to me) appalling cost, I would have thought this technique would have been more widely explored. (I would love someone to be able to take me apart on that very last point :-) ) Maurice ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: NAVYDAZE@aol.com Subject: Re: Kirov Kits DMLs KIROV and Pyotr Veliky are absolutely beautiful models - the detail on them is just wonderful. I cannot comment on Trumpeters but I am willing to bet that both companies offer a great comparable kits - I just like the art on DMLs :-) Michael Donegan NAVYDAZE - Naval & Coast Guard Artist http://www.navydaze.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: NAVYDAZE@aol.com Subject: 1/700 flight IIA now available DML now has a Flight IIA destroyer kit in 1/700 scale - so that should complete your fleet of Burke class versions. DMLs site is at: http://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/catalog/dml/ Michael Donegan NAVYDAZE - Naval & Coast Guard Artist http://www.navydaze.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: "Phil Gollin" Subject: Warshipbooks 1/350th ships Great news, I wish you luck with the new line of 1/350th ships. I sometimes think the RN is hard-done-by by the kit manufacturers, but the RCN is even worse off. Especially good news regarding the proposed aircraft carrier. HMCS Bonaventure is THE obvious candidate (I will probably buy one), but an Escort Carrier (the ill-fated Nabob, or perhaps Puncher) would probably sell better (as everyone seems to be ignoring them). Good luck with your (bon) venture Phil ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "John Clements" Subject: WEM PE proposal Great idea. I'd be in for a few sets of these generic RN destroyer frets - too late for the Glowworm I'm just making, though, with spare bits off the existing ones. Ideally, of course, I'd like to see WEM making the kits as well........... John Clements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "Graeme Martin" Subject: Russian Battlecruisers Can anybody tell me which is the better quality kit of Kirov? Trumpeter 1:700 Kirov or DML's 1:700 Admiral Ushakov ex Kirov? Graeme Martin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: "WEM" Subject: Re: WEM hiding their light under a bushel Hi Phil, Yes you're right about the WEM K 742 1/700 HMS STARLING. The 1/700 Scale patterns are complete, although we haven't seen them yet! When Peter Hall's done with K 738 1/700 HMS RENOWN 1942, in the middle of January (and do I have some awesome photos of his progress on this!) he'll be working up PE and instructions for us on the Starling. You can, of course, pre-order. At this time, we're about to take delivery of the first of the K 721 1/700 HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 1918 castings (those who ordered earliest will get their kits first), although it's going to take a while to get the whole production run done, and the large numbers of back orders out to everyone. However, during this hectic kit-casting time, production WILL have to cease temporarily on casting up the restocks on many PRO and AIRSTRIKE items.. you can't have your cake AND eat it! Oh, and for folks waiting for their 1/72 Type VIIC U-Boat, please check out the news page below. Cheers! Caroline Snyder White Ensign Models. For the latest news from WEM, Click Here: http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/brochure/whats_new1.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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