Subject: SMML VOL 2539 Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 03:49:56 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Re Card Conversions (was Trumpeter's Future Plans - Model Kit Survey) 2 Re Glues and multimedia problem 3 One Question One Comment. Deck edge railings, and Trumpeter 4 1/350 Korean War-era Jet Fighters and Helicopters 5 Interesting item on eBay 6 Motorizing small models 7 Trumpeter's Future Plans - Model Kit Survey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From David Wells Subject Re Card Conversions (was Trumpeter's Future Plans - Model Kit Survey) Graeme Martin wrote >> Same goes for Scharnhorst and the proposal to put twin 15 inch mounts on her. The resin kits that have been turned out so far (some very poor, some very good, but very expensive) may fill a void for a few with money to burn. But the majority of us are left with the question, shall we try a card model conversion to sheet plastic or just dream on? << I have such a conversion on my work table right now, (albeit in 1/570 scale rather than 1/350) and it's not really that hard. The only tricks were stretching the bow and reshaping the stem. If I'd been a little more ambitious, I would have moved the anchors a bit further forward, but overall, the conversion worked well. Mostly what I did was cut the bow off, and splice in some sheet plastic. I had to trim the "keel" of the bow section down a little bit to fit the narrower section of the bow. Before putting the sheet plastic in place, I glued plastic strips to the inside of the hull to keep the bow section properly aligned with the hull. The ridge inside the hull that were intended to support the deck helped align some of the strips, and made the longer "Atlantic bow" slope up nicely. These strips also served as a backing to the sheet plastic that I eventually inserted into the splice. A bit of putty and paint made the flaws in my splice invisible. Turrets came from a same-scale Bismarck. I would encourage others to try similar conversions. It's really not that bad. Sheet and strip plastic can be your friends. ;-) Speaking of this conversion, I'm trying to figure out a suitable paint scheme for her. I've decided on a peacetime light grey, but what about deck colors? I'm most concerned about the first superstructure level. Several German ships seem to have that deck painted dark grey during wartime, but I haven't found any pre-war pictures showing the deck. I have some similar deck color issues with my simultaneous HMS Lion (WW2) project, probably late WW2 RN camouflage. (Dirty little secret Revell's recently re-issued 1/570 King George V kit is almost the perfect size to convert into a 1/600 Lion!) "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/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From LHDockyard@aol.com Subject Re Glues and multimedia problem >> I had a sudden urge to build the many boat kits I had accumulated over the years and for starters there are a three Billings kits that will be motorized and will have two channel RC. I'll be motorizing and RC several plastic kits too including Linberg's PT boat and the Blue Devil Fletcher class destroyer too. I have problems with glues. After asking the hobby shop guys they recommended 12 minute epoxy (NPH Co.Inc. of Lowell, MA.) to bond ABS plastic to wood and to other materials. I made and added wood parts to the Lindberg boats so that I can use metal rails, install better motors, battery packs, etc. Don't laugh. While using a table saw to cut wood parts for the Billings boats the work in progress Lindberg PT boat that was on the saw table slid off its stand and crashed onto the floor. That broke the transom into several pieces but nothing that plastic glue and bondo won't fix. But the wood bow insert and inside hull wood rim strips that were glued with epoxy popped right out. It was obvious that while the glue held the wood parts in place, there was never a "welded" bond because the plastic surfaces were pristine. I also checked the epoxied mend on the Billing hull I had made earlier on a small crack and that didn't hold either. I had already tried regular model plastic glue, generic epoxy, balsa cement, crazy glue and ABS glue. They didn't work either for mending ABS or for bonding wood to plastic. Before I spend time and money on more experiments can you guys recommend a good general solution or direct me to a webpage that has a good discussion on model glues for bonding to different materials. << Kelvin As you have noticed epoxy does not adhere very well to plastic. If you scuff up the plastic first with 80 grit sandpaper it helps a little but it still not great. For wood to plastic or plastic to just about anything else I usually use superglue. Either the variety intended for plastics or the new rubber toughened varieties. They really hold very well. For the utmost in holding power to plastic there is an adhesive called cyanoepoxy and it is a mixture of superglue and epoxy and sticks almost anything to anything. You might want to try Loyalhanna Dockyards website as they have a large variety of these glues and also a great deal of experience with R/C scale boats. Renee ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From "Martin Short" Subject One Question One Comment. Deck edge railings, and Trumpeter Good Morning from a grey overcast Auckland. 1) Question and probably a dumb one at that I only have have a few photo's of WW1 German heavy units, and the 'action' shots I have are all immediate post Jutland and . The query I have is that in all cases the main deck edge railings appear to have been cleared or dropped for action. I have seen something similar in photo of a Japanese cruiser in action in WWII, but the USN, RN, and KM appear to leave their's in place. What is normal practise? I'm currently building the WSW SMS Lutzow, in battle at Jutland, so I need to know whether I should fit railing to the main deck.. or not?. Thanks in advance for any assistance 2) A comment of the future plans of Trumpeter. It would be interesting to know what is on the stocks right now.. however I guess that is top secret!. From a comment on SMML a while back, I recall Steve Wiper is involved in research for Trumpeter and has inside knowledge( for 5 subjects?), but even TWO cases of Lion Red would not be enough.... Though it just speculation, I think Steve alluded to 3 subjects under tooling, and the other 2 being researched? I would pick HMS HOOD as a no brainer.. the ship modelling community has been calling loud and hard for a long time for this one.. so I rank that my No1 guess. The USA is probably still the largest market by far for any Ship models and Sales dollars talk, so second would be a South Dakota class, again for popularity and the possibility of relatively easily accomodating the 4 ships of the class. A not too distant outsider for the second spot would be Indianapolis. As for the third, could be Japanese.. Kongo class having the inside running.. or German.. Scharnhorst class. Either should sell well. Heavy Units still seem to hold the most fascination even for kids, if my nephews' and their friends are anything to go by, particularly 'historically obvious' vessels like the Hood. I am sure it is mostly only the size and number of guns for these youngsters, but that is enough to start them off and hopefully kindle some real interest in the subjects. If nothing else, Trumpeter through Stevens, have to be commended for at least asking for what we would like to see. Hopefully this is a trend, as Revell did something similar recently and called for requests from the modelling community. Cheers, Martin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From Joseph W. Reyna Subject 1/350 Korean War-era Jet Fighters and Helicopters Greetings SMML-lies, I hope someone out there can help - I have tried in vain to discover whether anyone plans to manufacture 1/350 scale Korean War-era Jet Fighters (F9F-5 Panther, F9F-8 Cougar, F2H Banshee) or Helicopters (H03S Sikorsky Dragonfly, HUP or H-25 Piasecki Retriever) to supplement the Trumpeter ESSEX class carriers? Does anyone currently issue these or plan to do so? Fingers firmly crossed, Joe Reyna ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From paulship37@aol.com Subject Interesting item on eBay I saw this item for sale at eBay, Title of item EUII 1/72IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY KAITEN TYPE 1 SUBMARINE http//cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?RedirectEnter&partner=777701&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi%2Eebay%2Ecom%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI%2Edll%3FViewItem%26item%3D5905289211%26category%3D4248%26ssPageName%3DADME%3AB%3AEF%3AUS%3A1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From Kelvin Mok Subject Motorizing small models I always wanted to do it but balked somewhat at the size of the motors, batteries, RC equipment, etc. to fit into the 1/72 Revell PT boat, the Tamiya Vosper MTB or the 1/350 ships. Anyway this is the final idea. I just bought a 10 pack of cell phone vibrator motors for $9.90 from Princess Auto, a Canadian hardware and tool place that has a good section on salvaged equipment parts and components. Cutest little motors I ever saw. I'll have to remove the unbalanced weight (that's the vibration generator.) The motor has the diameter of a pen barrel. The motor itself is 5/8" length, has a tiny 1/4" long shaft extension and a pair of 1/2" contact leads. The motor's contact leads are a pair of sprung fingers that can easily be pressed onto a PCB (prototype board or custom made). The motor's plastic housing has a flat side. It will therefore be quite easy and convenient to mount the motor on a PCB and have the sprung leads touch conductor pads and that connect to a mounted battery pack and other electronics on the same PCB. I envisage that I can remove the servo motor from a RC unit and resolder the leads to the trio (or quartet) of cell phone motors and power all the "scale" propellers in a multi-shaft boat. This way I will have full RC forward and reverse plus speed control using commonly available servo circuitry. The motors are so tiny that the servo circuitry should be able to handle the power draw. I am quite impressed by the motor's output on just one AA cell. Speed is not important, just the ability to make everything fit into a electronically and mechanically compact and light package. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From GUSDOCVILL@aol.com Subject Trumpeter's Future Plans - Model Kit Survey Graeme Martin has an excellent idea!!! Go one step further - imagine injected models of the Leahy class, or the Iwo Jima class or the Kilauea class or the Hunley class, or any of the early AO, AOR, AES, AS class and barrack ships!!! ALL affordable!!!! Product the original ship and then sell the parts to convert to whatever era a builders wishes!!! With regret, makes more sense in a larger scale than my scale of 1/700. I'm still trying to save up for the Sac at $120. Grace and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, bless you and your beloved family forever. Gus Semper Fi ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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