Subject: SMML VOL 2753 Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 04:16:24 +1100 The Ship Modelling Mailing List (SMML) is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com For infomation on how to Post to SMML and Unsubscribe from SMML http//smmlonline.com/aboutsmml/rules.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Question about ORP "Piorun" 2 Italeri 1/720 USS Ronald Reagan (inbox preview) 3 Re "Fowler Wheel" propulsion 4 Re Thunderchild/USS Alarm 5 Seawolf propeller 6 USS Alarm/ Fowler Wheel 7 Obscure predreadnought kits 8 Re Deck Planking 9 USS Alarm 10 USSR Subs in 1/350 11 USS Alarm/ Fowler Wheel 12 First impression project 1134 Kronstadt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information 1 FOTS party ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From "Piotr KLEPKA" Subject Question about ORP "Piorun" Hi, I am going to make model of ORP "Piorun", which was in Polish Navy during II WW. This ship was oryginaly made as british "N" class destroyer. She will be presented in 1200 scale. During my study and preparing I foud 2 paper models from polish "Maly Modelarz" (12/ 2001 & 1-2/ 88) and plans from "Plany Modelarskie" number 120. There is- in my private opinion- god background, but i dont have any information about color scheme of this ship. I am not going to use "strange" colors to paint model. I am looking for picures of color scheme of this ship an other informations about colors of paint- specially in accordance with popular model paints of Model Master, Ravell or Humbrol. If You Have any informations about oryginal colors of paint (even Royal Navy names or number of colors) I will be very happy to recive this informations from You. Than You for Your help, Piotr KLEPKA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From "Roy.McKay" Subject Italeri 1/720 USS Ronald Reagan (inbox preview) Hi all, Here is a little inbox preview to all interested. I bought this kit 2 days ago. It is the full Nimitz kit sprues with the add-ons for the Stennis/Truman issues, with the extra aircraft from the newer issue Roosevelt and another (4th) sprue for the Reagan Island and masts, rear sponsons and other details, including a new part for the bulbous bow. It even includes the correct ram launchers as well as the now un-needed (but nice) CIWS. It even has the boat dock for the stern. It is basically accurate, a little short on detail maybe but looks OK to my eye. For the first time in an Italeri carrier, the bow and island CV numbers are ACCURATE in size and a Belknap pole is included! For only 13 euros, it's very hard to complain. You still get all the original parts, including the original island and masts (good for me as my Carl Vinson lost it's mainmast). In short, from this kit you can build Nimitz and Ike as built, CVN 70 to 75 can also be built but without most of the domes seen on them now. The best bit for me is that it looks very possible to build a post-refit Nimitz from this kit. This will need some surgery to the original Island, but the important bits are there. Add a plastic card hangar deck and some GMM P/E, and a nice model will result. As a bonus, I have plenty spares for my older models! As I said, for 13 euros it's hard to complain, especially if as me you would like a collection of all the Nimitz class. Trumpeter have announced a 1/700 Nimitz class, but going on their latest prices, expect that to be around the $40-$60 mark. 13 Euros! No contest! HTH Roy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From BRADFORD CHAUCER Subject Re "Fowler Wheel" propulsion From "Ouellette, Lawrence M" >> The second photo on the page shows the stern of the USS Alarm and the "Fowler Wheel" propeller. Anyone out there know how that thing works? I'm fairly good mechanically and understand the real basics of how a propeller works, but that thing looks like it would just churn water, not move a ship! << From the photo it looks like the vanes pivot to alter what in aeronautics would be the attack angle. I suspect that the vanes are designed to pivot into a position that would propel the boat forward duting part of the revolution and then into a neutral position for the rest; sort of the way oars are sometimes turned to only work against the water during the propulsion stroke. Regards, Bradford Chaucer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From Ron Subject Re Thunderchild/USS Alarm >> Any good plans for the USS Alarm available? << I think I saw them listed at NARA. I'll check next week. Ron ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From Rusty White Subject Seawolf propeller I just got my first look at the 1/144 Seawolf. One thing I really noticed was the less than spectacular propeller. It looks terribly flat to me with virtually no pitch to the screws at all. Does someone have a drawing of the same type of propeller so I can construct a more accurate one? The one in the kit just doesn't look right. Rusty White ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From "JAMES HATHAWAY" Subject USS Alarm/ Fowler Wheel Hi Larry- I saved the drydock picture of Alarm, and enlarged it and there appears to be some sort of eccentric on the shaft which causes the blades to go to a high pitch as they pass the rear 180 degrees of rotation. It looks a lot like the modern cycloidal propellers. I would imagine with the technology, the MTBF was awful- I sent a link to a friend who is a naval archetect, and will pass on anything he can add. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From "Kerry L. Jang" Subject Obscure predreadnought kits Chris, There are a lot of obscure pre-dreadnaughts in 1700 scale. Check out the kits by SEALS MODESL in Japan as a start for Japanese kits. Hope this helps, Kerry ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From SantMin@aol.com Subject Re Deck Planking >> do you mean actually gluing the printed sheet on the deck ? I think it could work if printed on the appropriate paper (decal sheet something, maybe...) and then coated. Could be an idea for some aftermarket decal supplier. If ordinary paper, glueing could be an issue (I fear CA could ruin the paper and the surface). << I did just that, I scanned a picture of planking, use a drawing program ro shrink and duplicate it, and printed it out as a decal. I used those decals on my 1/350 USS Pennsylvania converted from a Trumpeter 1/250 USS Arizona. Looks like wood planking to me. Bob Santos ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From Paul Konings Subject USS Alarm Larry, Although this is the first time I see such a kind op propeller, my guess is that it looks a bit like a waterwheel from the Mississippi Queen, but turned 90 degrees. Or it is a adapted idea from Voight Schneider, these propellers where in that era in development for hydro-electricity. regards, Paul Konings ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From "Olafur Sigurdsson" Subject USSR Subs in 1/350 Hi all, some time ago I took a strange love to Subs in 1/350. I have built the Ohio, Dallas, Alpha and I have had the “project 941 Akula” which Nato calls Typhoon on my bench for some time. This is the model from Dragon and I stopped all work when I realised that the rear of the model has absolutely NOTHING to do with the real thing. To my great surprise I found a Russian model maker yesterday at the Nurnberg Toy fare, that have launched a series of Russian Subs in 1/350. The company is called ALANGER and the models look real good. I had a chat with the people and one of the responsible is former Soviet Sub commander and it was pleasure to talk to them. The models are highly detailed and far superior to the Dragon models. The Commander assured me that the models have been well researched and that the model makers had access to the Russian Sub bases and that the models were accurate to the last detail. They have released two subs already - Project 667 BDRM “Dolphin” (NATO code Delta-4 Class) K-407 “Novomoskovsk” - Project 971 “Pike-B” (NATO code Akula Class) K-267 “Dragon” Then they have three more announced - Project 941 “Akula” (Nato code Typhoon-Class) TK-17 “Archangelsk” (Meaning Arch Angel) I saw the drawings of this model and it looks superb. The propellers are correct, the tail plane is correct, the front is like on pictures I have seen, the missile hatches pattern is correct and the brick like surface is correct. I don’t know what the others are, but I hope it is a Victor or Sierra. Oliver ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From "JAMES HATHAWAY" Subject USS Alarm/ Fowler Wheel I had another look at the Fowler Wheel on Alarm, and the eccentric mentioned may have been a simple ramp arraingement. Each blade would have had a pitch rod attached and springloaded to a zero pitch angle, each with a roller riding on the ramp. This would have the effect of increasing pitch through the rear 90 degrees (or whatever the ramp was cut to permit) and flattening through the other 270, something like the cyclic control on a helicopter, but not controllable. It would also explain why in the drydock photo, the aft blade was in a high pitch condition, while the forward one appears to be at zero pitch. A naval archetect said it was mentioned in period texts, but the operation was not described, and it was a bit of a dead end in development. It may have also been the reason she remained as a test ship. I wonder if any other ships were fitted with it? Jim Hathaway ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From Pieter Cornelissen Subject First impression project 1134 Kronstadt Hi list, My Kombrig Kronstadt (project 1134A or Kresta-2) arrived in the mail last friday. First impression is that it looks like one of the older Kombrig kits like the Moskva (project 1123 helicopter carrier, not the recently released missile cruiser) . Not too much surface detail, sharply formed superstructure shapes and radars supplied in the form of resin structures . Stairs are 'aztec temple' type and must be removed. You will have to scratchbuild the suppports for the helicopter deck. On a second look the small parts have really have changed, for the better. The 57mm and 30 mm guns are perfect, with barrels that are actually scale thickness (how they do this without running into shrink rate problems is mystery to me) and Kombrig again has the right shapes and sizes where Skywave is wrong. I have a lot of documentation on these missile cruisers as I converted a Skywave Sovremenny to a Kresta 2 some years ago. So I went on measuring the parts. The size of the hull and superstructure parts are exactly right. I had my doubts about the bow shape until I realise that most photographs I have were concentrating on this area thus exaggerating the sheerline. The "Head Lights" fire control radars are a bit oversized but they will be replaced by GMM parts anyway. Some major superstructure parts are cast on a resin wafer which is uneven in thickness. I spent the last two days carefully wet-sanding the superstructure parts and dry-fitting them to the hull. Most parts fit very well, even the bridge support structures which are the most distinctive features of these ships. The unevenness of the resin wafer is problematic however for the largest part, the 01 deck level which runs aft from the bridge to the missile launchers. I also had some doubts about the flying boat deck between the funnel and the after radar tower, which was only fited to some ships. Looking through my references I found that Kombrig is probably right in giving Kronstadt this flying deck. As most other structures are built up using the 01 deck level as a base any mistake here will be translated in more mistakes higher up. So I have cut out the part and have used it as pattern for making my own in 0.7mm styrene sheet. Then there's is the problem that the helicopter hangar and hangar doors are much simplified, but the hanger roof and hangar doors can be added using .3 mm sheet styrene. The large ECM bulbs are better than those supplied with the recent project 1164 Moskva. One will have to scratchbuild the large waveguides and support platforms that run along these bulbs on the main superstructure. The best way to do this is probably to treat this part as a seperate model, only integrating it with the rest of the kit in the final assembly phase. With these modifications and some GMM PE (one will need parts from both the new cruiser/destroyer and the new carrier set) anyone with some experience in resin can build a convincing Kresta 2 form this kit. It cries out for real superdetailing however. Contrary to most soviet navy vessels of the period the Kresta 2's have a real 'ship' look to them, with a strong sheer line an a relatively low superstructure which is mostly concentrated amidships. The Kombrig kit is a very good starting point for building a 1/700 version of this vessel. Pieter Cornelissen Delft The Netherlands ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model club & SMMLcon Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From JB Subject FOTS party Hello all, here is a DATE FOR YOUR DIARY!! -------------------------------- 02 July 2005 I will be hosting the SMML/Modelwarships.com/SteelNavy.com and friends party at my House near Southampton UK-- It is the Saturday evening of the International Festival of the Sea held at Portsmouth Dockyard--Food/ drink/ swiming pool/ live music and 150 plus friends and modellers! ----looks like it will be a whole Hog roast and non-pork BBQ and pasta etc as well as copious amounts of beer etc etc. It can be a 'family affair'--well behaved model aware (!) children are welcome with parents.... So as to allow me and my organising team(Katrin!) get an idea of proposed amount of catering people to order in for the event I would like if possible an RSVP with an indication of persons in group. Please e-mail me at jbys1@tiscali.co.uk or respond via smml .... http//www.festivalofthesea.co.uk/ Hopefully see you all(?) here! Best wishes JIM BAUMANN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Reviews, Articles, Backissues, Member's models & Reference Pictures at http//smmlonline.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume