Subject: SMML VOL 2608 Date: Sat, 04 Sep 2004 02:02:46 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Hornet at Santa Cruz 2 USS ALLIGATOR 3 Chinese Navy Colours 4 Re CV-12 5 Trouble in Trinco 6 Re 1/250 ARII IJN Yamato WWII Super Battleship -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1 For Sale 1/350 ISW USS Oklahoma & USS Michigan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From "Reynaga, Tim@EDD" Subject Hornet at Santa Cruz I'm working on the Trumpeter Hornet(CV8) as she appeared at the time of her loss. Other than the CAXM radar at the masthead, are there other changes I should incorporate to the ship to make the model accurate for October, 1942? Thanks! Tim ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From SantMin@aol.com Subject USS ALLIGATOR Have completed a model of USS Alligator, 1863. The US Navy's first submarine. Scratchbuilt based on Chuck Viet's digital model. Posted photos to Steel Navy and Armorama. Anyone else interested in this boat? Bob Santos ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From Darren Scannell Subject Chinese Navy Colours Hi everybody, Just finished reading all the SMML's for the past 4 weeks. After a long and successful trip to the IPMS Nat's and up the west coast, I'm almost caught up with everything! Anyway, A few weeks ago there was a post about the colours of the PLAN ships and the grey they are painted. I believe John Snyder replied that they were similar in colour to the RAN grey. While in Esquimalt, BC, Canada's west coast Navy base, a navy officer and fellow modeler remarked to me about the recent visit by several PLAN ships the base. He mentioned that the ships were the same colour as the Canadian Navy ships. This surprised me, but he claims he saw them side by side. Just thought anybody who models PLAN ships might be interested. To get a very accurate representation of the the Canadian grey, you have to mix 3 model master paints together in the following amounts (5 parts) Flat Gull Grey FS36440 + (3 parts) Flat White + (1 part) USSR/Russian Interior Blue Green. BTW, RAN Grey is similar to CN grey, but never having seen them side by side up close, I can't comment on how close. HTH! Darren Scannell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From Bert McDowell Subject Re CV-12 To M Woort A bit late in answering but in case no one did, your choice of EITHER kit (Of Trumpeter's in 1/350) to do the Hornet / CV-12 is good depending on the time. 1944 to 1945, use the Essex kit and late 1945, use the Yorktown. Bert McDowell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From "Tony Ireland" Subject Trouble in Trinco Hi Shane, Recent mention of the HMS Thetis submarine tragedy in Liverpool Bay rekindled vivid memories from 65 years ago. Incidentally, she was re-named HMS Thunderbolt. In August-Sept.1944, while serving as a midshipman in the Eastern Fleet flagship Queen Elizabeth moored in Trincomalee harbour in eastern Sri Lanka (Ceylon), I was privileged to watch other T-class boats slip from their depot ship on their patrols into Malayan and Indonesian coastal waters. I seem to recall only one name *Tactician*. A cool name for a warship whose modus operandi was patient stealth and well-planned boldness. However, one departing River-class boat a little earlier featured in the first of three disasters I experienced in that large tropical natural harbour which we shared with the battleships Valiant and Richelieu, battle-cruiser Renown, and cruisers e.g. London, Uganda (manned by Kiwis..) etc. Here's how the first incident unfolded. On joining the ship in late July my first task was to explore her thoroughly, especially the bridge and compass platform where I'd have duties when at sea; also the large launches and the admiral's barge that we 50-odd midshipmen operated in harbour. Just forward of 'A' 15" gun turret and barbette, on a lower deck, was the carpenters' workshop where a 15-foot canvas-covered kayak lay unfinished - after her midshipman builder had been posted to another ship. With permission, I finished the job and painted her grey. Next Sunday early afternoon I was permitted to launch the kayak over the port side boom to which our boats were tethered, and to conduct her sea trials. The long double-bladed paddle sent her surging forward with little effort, so I set off westward across the Inner Harbour fleet moorings, and cruised southwards down China Bay towards the oddly-named Great Sober Island - a couple of miles away - near the harbour entrance boom. The harbour is about the size of Sydney harbour, or less than a quarter of the area of Scapa Flow. The kayak was surprisingly stable, so as I grew tired of paddling I wondered if a small broomstick mast and tiny sail would be feasible. Impulsively, I started to test her stability by holding aloft the long paddle and waggling it a bit. Surprisingly, the kayak stayed rock steady, luring me to make another test that would have been sensible if conducted back alongside the ship. Unwisely, I hauled myself up and sat on the rim abaft the cockpit, and again hoisted the paddle. The kayak instantly turned turtle in the pleasantly warm water - and I had nothing with which to bail her out. Back then, 60 years ago, my wiry body lacked its present buoyancy. The terse, misleading endorsement "Can swim" stamped on my B.O.T. Extra First Class Certificate from the Training Ship "General Botha" simply showed that I'd managed desperately to cover 50 yards in the Seaforth open-air pool at SimonsTown while wearing a suit of thin cotton duck - cheered on loudly by the other cadets. I'd always consoled myself by recalling that Capt. Joshua Slocum had been the first person ever to sail single-handedly around the world - quite unable to swim. To my eyes, close to the water, the ship appeared far more distant than I'd imagined. Trincomalee is in Latitude 8 North, the noon sun was practically overhead, and the navy's tropical routine allowed crews to sleep or rest below deck until the first Dog Watch at 1600. Thus there was no sign of life, or boats moving, etc. on that humid, sleepy Sunday afternoon. Holding the stern of the water-logged kayak I started pushing it using foot-kicks and one-armed paddling - towards the ship. There were hours of daylight left, the kayak was keeping me afloat, and surely nothing more could go wrong. Suddenly the water grew black, covered with brown scum like scrambled eggs. My eyes, nose and throat started stinging, and the kayak was covered with slippery, stinking slime - just like my arms, upper body and head. A large oil slick had enveloped me and seemed to be going my way. Half blinded, I kept on splashing through the now dead-flat surface of the sea, with the sun burning my head and shoulders. Eventually the oil drifted off to my left, and I saw that the ship was growing larger. About an hour later I approached her starboard side and tied the ruined kiyak to the gash-barge moored beside the aft end of the deserted foc's'le. Then I lay on my back, pulling myself along by the top of the anti-torpedo bulge while doing a back stroke with my right arm. Finally, still without being seen, I bumped into the lower platform of a large boarding ladder near the stern to which I clung until I found the strength to crawl up out of the water. Then I crawled upwards slowly on all fours and flopped down in a black pool on the quarterdeck at the feet of a startled Royal Marine sentry. Past caring, I realised that I'd ascended the private ladder to be used solely by the C.in C. Eastern Fleet - Admiral Sir James Somerville. As other midshipmen gingerly supported me across the immaculately holystoned deck, then down below deck to be scrubbed painfully under a cold shower, my route was marked by a line of black footprints. It transpired that the oil slick came from the unlucky R.F.A. oil tanker *Broomdale* berthed at the fuel jetty over to the west of the entrance to the inner harbour. A River Class submarine setting off on patrol must have been checking the unobstructed opening of her outer torpedo tube doors, which led to a bow torpedo being launched accidentally. By a weird mischance it struck the Broomdale, releasing a flood of thick, heavy bunker fuel oil - although she remained afloat. By a similar chance in a million, the deaths of the 99 men crowded into the *Thetis* in June 1939 stemmed from a tiny blob of enamel paint - applied to the interior walls of her bow torpedo tubes - that had blocked a narrow-tube spigot set in the inner doors of the tubes. If turning on this tap produced a thin stream of high pressure water, this would have shown that the tube was flooded and the outer door was somehow open. In Thetis, 65 years ago, someone had made this test, the tap had stayed dry, so he'd unscrewed the lugs around the 21-inch diameter door - until the sea burst in. The next disaster that befell me in Tricomalee shortly afterwards was a hundred times more alarming. The third one, at which I was merely a close up spectator, was a million times more dramatic - and crippled the Eastern Fleet for several months. OK if I continue this next week, Shane, despite the absence of ship models ? Cheers, Tony ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From "Mitsuaki Kubota" Subject Re 1/250 ARII IJN Yamato WWII Super Battleship Hi Graeme, Arii Yamato (ex-Otaki mould) is much superior than Doyusha. Best regards, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From Billgior@aol.com Subject For Sale 1/350 ISW USS Oklahoma & USS Michigan Hi Everyone I have two more ship for sale out my collection and here they are, (1.) 1/350 ISW kit#4-116 USS Oklahoma BB-37 your price $242.00 with shipping this is a waterline resin kit packed with nice detail. (2.) 1/350 ISW kit#4-145 USS Michigan BB-18 your price $211.00 with shipping this is a full hull resin kit with very nice detail. You can order these beautiful kits by e-mail at (billgior@aol.com) or by phone at (313)295-0293. Happy Modeling Sincerely, Bill Giordano ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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