Subject: SMML VOL 2623 Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:43:58 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Re. Liners , etc 2 Model shops in Shanghai 3 Re Liner kits I'd like to see, etc 4 Re Revell Flower Class Kit 5 Renwal & Aurora kits 6 U-Boat Type VII C detail question? 7 Liners i'd like to see 8 paper ship models 9 Trouble in Trinco, 1944 - my first flight 10 HMAS Australia II 11 German 1/72 MGs and cannons -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1 Flower Class Corvette Stuff For Sale ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From SceneN3D@aol.com Subject Re. Liners , etc A nice addition to the list would be one of the "Matson" company vessels, a la "LURLINE" or one of her sisters. Any scale would do. bob bracci ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From Duane Fowler Subject Model shops in Shanghai Does anyone know of any hobby shops in Shanghai? I will be here for a couple of days and though it might be worth a look. Thanks and best regards, Duane ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From "David T. Okamura" Subject Re Liner kits I'd like to see, etc Doug Marrel wrote >> This is a brilliant idea. It could be called "Davy Joneses Locker Series". Titanic, Lusitania, Morro castle, Andrea Doria, etc. Maybe even expanding the line to include smaller famous disasters like the boat in the "Perfect Storm" movie and the Mary Celeste, maybe even an SS Minnow ) << Doug, check this http//www.bobdenver.com/Gilligan_s_Gifts/Gilligan_Goodies/Great_Gilligan_Goodies/Minnow_Paper_Model/minnow_paper_model.html I test built one for designer Matt Sparks. The only problem was that I couldn't get that blasted them music out of my head for MONTHS afterwards! ;-) David T. Okamura ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From Richard Albert Walton Subject Re Revell Flower Class Kit Tom refers to a website listing photos, documents, models of Corvettes. I bookmarked the website. This may be of interest and asistance to you for building a quality Marine Models Corvette. Richard ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From "Robert Healy" Subject Renwal & Aurora kits Greetings from sunny Northern Virginia, As I was perusing E-Bay and considering bidding on another outrageously priced Renwal kit....simple but good kits ( perhaps a bit of nostalgia too...) I had a question. I was wondering who wound up with the molds and rights to the Renwal military kits. Similarly, I know that some Aurora stuff is being produced under the Polar Lights label. They seem to make mostly re-pops of the monster and off the wall kits. I have never seen a repro Aurora military kit though, so I guesst he same questions applies. I remember reading somewhere that Revell picked up the rights and molds to some of their stuff. I am curious about this since I like to buy a kit now and then for one of the kids to build. I cannot see buying one of the DML or newer Revell kits due to their complexity and fragility.. It seems those older (and yes, less accurate) kits were simpler and more robust. Perhaps a repop of some of these older Renwal and Aurora kits would find a market with folks like me for that reason. Any ideas? Bob Healy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From "\"Honest Bob\" LaBouy" Subject U-Boat Type VII C detail question? While I researching the external details to build another Revell Type VIIC, I have one question I can't seem to find a documented or definitive answer for. Does anyone know, based on experience or a visit aboard one of the surviving U-boats (hopefully a Type VIIC) know whether the main deck is metal or wooden? I realize the U-505 is a wooden decked vessel, but its type and date of construction may account for that difference. A friend put his foot "through" the main deck due to its rotting wood surface a few years ago. In Steve Wipers very nicely done book on the Type VII, he indicates that the decks are metal. Faced with both the aftermarket wooden and brass decks, I would like to use the one most appropriate and can't seem to find an answer to this question. Can anyone help me with this basic research question wooden or metal decks on the Type VIIC u-boats? Thanks, Bob ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From andrew jones Subject Liners i'd like to see I would like to see a model of the P & O Himalaya in any scale. Be something nice to build for my parents. Andrew ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From JRKutina@webtv.net (John Kutina) Subject paper ship models There is a company that sells paper ship models Paper Models 9910 S.W. Bonnie Brae Drive Beaverton, Oregan 97008-6045 Does anyone know their E-mail address? Thank you for any help. Please message me directly. Regards, John Kutina ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From "Tony Ireland" Subject Trouble in Trinco, 1944 - my first flight Hi Shane, No official reprimand, fortunately, followed the inglorious Titanic-like maiden voyage of the kayak and my filthy desecration of the Admiral's boarding ladder and quarterdeck. Not even from the sub-lieut. in charge of us midshipmen. He was the nephew of Admiral Ramsay who had as S.N.O. Dover in May 1940 organised Operation Dynamo - the evacuation of the B.E.F. and French troops from the Dunkirk beaches. He went on to plan and carry out the entire naval support for Operation Overlord off the Normandy beaches in June 1944. It seems possible, however, that Captain Norman was alarmed that I'd splashed towards his battleship in broad daylight that Sabbath afternoon pushing a 15-foot torpedo-shaped, black, submerged object - without being spotted and reported. Memories of those two brave Italian frogmen back in December 1941 in Alexandria must have arisen for Admiral Somerville, that night he had hurried in pyjamas and dressing-gown on to his darkened quarterdeck after the saboteurs' charge detonated, causing the 'Queen Elizabeth' to settle on to the mud. Another incident, concerning the 'Barber's Pole', showed the ship's vulnerability to a possible kamikaze human-torpedo attack. In 1941,one dark night in Reykjavik, Iceland, a couple of midshipmen from the cruiser HMS Sheffield had souvenired a traditional gaily coloured ten-foot sign-pole from the wall of a barber's shop. Back on board it was embellished with a carved crown and placed in a rack in the midshipmen's gun-room. In Scapa Flow, word then went round the Home Fleet gun-rooms that this trophy was being held 'safe under our guns!' Over the next three years this pole had been seized in raids by midshipmen from ships moored nearby, who in turn painted their ship's name along the white curling stripe. It adorned our gun-room when I joined 'Q.E.' Anyway, one moonless night about 2.0 a.m. a sentry on our fore-deck spotted shadowy figures climbing over the bow. He trained his Lanchester sub-machine gun on them, slipped off the safety catch, and yelled a challenge. Back came a whispered, hoarse stream of basic Anglo-Saxon, lower-deck naval expressions of a scatological and sexual nature. Reassured, the sentry arrested the small raiding party from the battle-cruiser HMS Renown, who'd swarmed hand-over-hand up the mooring cable from the buoy. They'd planned to sneak aft to our gun-room, grab the pole, toss it through a scuttle, and retrieve it from their dinghy. Sadly, when this was reported to Admiral Somerville he ordered that the Barber's Pole be taken ashore and burned ceremonially on the beach at China Bay, as the risk to life was becoming too great. We midshipmen were given a new, fascinating duty. After a short training in handling explosives some of us spent hour-long watches patrolling along the ship's side with a satchel full of 2-pound guncotton charges. Our orders were to light the short fuse and toss a bomb into any suspicious swirl in the sea - 'at irregular intervals'. As we had a monopoly of running the ship's boats it was easy to co-ordinate this miniature depth-charging routine with the collection of fine bonito that floated belly up after most explosions. One day, some of us got our turn to spend a few hours in a fleet aircraft-carrier outside the claustrophobic confines of Trincomalee harbour, learning about the problems of operating F.A.A. planes. It may have been HMS Victorious - or was it 'Indomitable'... We studied take-offs and landings by TBF Avengers, and Grumman Hellcat fighters, and we revelled in the refreshing clean breeze as the 30,000 ton vessel steamed at 30 knots into the warm light wind. Not far away on the sea-bed lay the bombed wreck of the much smaller carrier - HMS Hermes - sunk in April 1942 by a Japanese Task Force.... After this enjoyable interlude we returned to our ship, and a couple of us were instructed to take a boat over to China Bay Naval Air Station and undergo a short flight. This was exciting for, although I had grown up close to London's former airport at Croydon, I'd never been aloft in a plane. The closest was in October 1940, when I was a small boy billeted in the Park Hotel on the mountain slope above Muizenburg, near CapeTown, after being evacuated from the bombing of London. A group of us older boys went by train to SimonsTown, and into the small compact dockyard, and were shown over HMS Hermes. I recall being lifted by Lieut.-Cdr. Esmonde on to the lower wing of a Fairey Swordfish, and peering into the front cockpit. Sadly, he lost his life 16 months later, but was awarded the Victoria Cross, when he led his obsolescent 'Stringbags' in a suicidal torpedo attack on the 'Scharnhorst' as she raced through the Dover Straits under a cloud of circling Me109 fighters. At China Bay we reported to the operations HQ of the F.A.A. and were amazed to view an enormously long, wide, white runway stretching away to the south-west across rice paddy fields - built for B29's to range far across the Indian Ocean to Japanese-occupied S.E.Asia, but never much used by them. Our pilot led us across to the nearest of a group of the most ugly aircraft I'd ever seen. He explained that they were Fairey Barracuda Mk.2 torpedo bombers. With their long glasshouse cockpits for 3-man crews they reminded me of the ill-fated Fairey Battle light bombers used in France in May 1940, except that these had far more powerful 1,600 h.p souped-up Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. The oddest feature of their ungainly fuselage was the elevator perched precariously high up on the tail fin. Short poles with radar dipoles stuck up near each wing-tip - and the complex landing gear was large and ungainly, as was the huge air-scoop under the nose. But I did later learn that six months earlier, astonishingly, these planes from HMS Victorious had actually dive-bombed the 'Tirpitz' in a Norwegian fiord - and had scored hits, although their bombs were too light to cause serious damage. The two of us settled ourselves in the aft double cockpit for the observer and rear gunner, with the pilot some distance ahead. After taxying back down the wide runway we turned and roared along it, lifted and began climbing NE across the fleet moorings in the inner harbour. We'd reached perhaps five- or six-hundred feet - when the engine failed. In unreal silence the nose dropped, to prevent stalling, and down we dived. I got a glimpse to port of our sister ship 'Valiant' with her bridge and foremast rising 150 feet. Then the plane flattened out slightly and hit the water. We lads were jerked forward, but luckily my head hit a sturdy rubber viewing hood enclosing a radar screen up front. Water cascaded over the perspex canopy as we porpoised along, until the nose dived under. A frantic blow on a red lever up at the rear of the cockpit caused the canopy to spring upwards, just as water flooded in. Then the three of us were treading water as the plane sank from sight. Very soon an air-sea rescue launch raced up and we clambered aboard. We were lucky to be wearing only short-sleeved white shirts, and white shorts. But I was upset over the effects of sea water on my pair of fine white buckskin shoes, and a good Swiss wrist-watch. Ashore, we walked back to the operations building, where the pilot advised us to stay outside where we'd dry pretty quickly in the warm sun - while he went in to make a written report and "do all the paper work.." After some time the pilot came out and walked past us towards the other aircraft, saying "Right! We'll take this one.." By now my clothes were sticking to my skin uncomfortably and the idea of undergoing another flight revolted me. So I said firmly "I'm sorry, we're due to be back on board very soon." I suppose I should have complimented him on his copy-book crash-landing. On the other hand, he did not seem at all apologetic. About six weeks later I began dual-control flying instruction in a North American T4 Harvard trainer, with the aim of piloting F.A.A. Hellcat fighters from R.N. carriers. But this was after the third and greatest disaster in Trinco. Sorry to deal with wingy things instead of ship models. But I am gradually completing a one-tenth scale R/C sailing model of my son's 72-ft. 40-ton steel ketch 'Kiwi Electron' which he sailed in Jan.- Feb. around from Portland, Oregon via the Panama canal and up to Panama City in the Florida Panhandle. Can send a jpeg photo of the model, &/or the yacht itself, or a web link to the diary of the 7,000 mile trip, if you contact me direct. Just before hurricane Ivan arrived my son anchored her in St. Andrew Bay well out from Panama City, using a 170lb plus an 85lb anchor and 750 feet of half-inch chain. He had to fly from Atlanta to Europe on business last Tuesday and won't be back till next Friday. Have been monitoring Ivan, mainly using the fine web-site of 'The St. Petersburg Times', in Tampa Bay, but would be grateful to hear from any member down there in the Panama City region for an update on the devastation - especially if the yacht has been mentioned in the news media... Many thanks. Cheers, Tony. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From "Allen Stevens" Subject HMAS Australia II Question for the Australians amongst us. I have just started the Combrig HMAS Australia and have been doing my usual web searches for info on colours etc, I cannot seem to find any decent pictures could anyone point me in the direction of a good site and/or post information on colour schemes approximately mid war (42-43). Gratefull as always Allen Stevens Poole, Dorset, UK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From "Harold Stockton" Subject German 1/72 MGs and cannons For those wishing to replace the light weapons on either Revell's S-boat or U-boat, one might consider the Goffy Model http//goffymodel.czweb.org/index2.html , which includes a collection of resin 1/72 scale machine guns for WW2 German Luftwaffe airplanes. A review and pictures of this Czech company's products can be seen at http//www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=536 . The 7227 kit set contains 15 machine guns and 20 ammunition cans molded in cream resin. Included guns are MG15, MG81Z, MG131, MG151 and MG FF (3 pieces of each). Eight ammo cans for MG FF and 12 magazines for MG 15 are provided. Some loss of detail is lost on the smaller pieces, but still not bad as far as weapons accessory kits go. The set is offered for around 7.00 Euros. Also offered from this company are their 7204 Universal ammo boxes, 7206 WWII German ammo & equipment boxes, 7209 Oil barrels and 7210 Food supplies. One can contact Goffy Models at goffymodel@centrum.cz . And, Czechmaster has announced their crew set with G3 torpedo. Harold Stockton ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From "Randy O'Malley" Subject Flower Class Corvette Stuff For Sale The following books and 1/72 detail set are for sale ENSIGN 3 Flower Class Corvettes by Preston & Raven $40.00 USD CANADA'S FLOWERS History of The Corvettes of Canada 1939-1945 by Thomas G. Lynch $25.00 USD HMCS SACKVILLE 1941-1985 by Marc Milner $12.00 USD PE and cast metal detail set for Revell kit 1/72 Great Little Ships 4" Mk.IX Breech Loading Gun $40.00 USD Shipping by insured mail is extra. Per order (USD) Canada $3.00; USA $6.00; Int'l $12.00 Payment by Paypal or Int'l MO. Randy O'Malley ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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